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II 



/ 




OEORGK F. HOAR 



HISTORIC HOMES AND INSTITUTIONS 



AND 



GENEALOGICAL m PERSONAL MEMOIRS 



OF 



WORCESTER COUNTY 

MASSACHUSETTS 



WITH A HISTORY OF 



WORCESTER SOCIETY OF ANTIQUITY 



PREPARED UNDER THE EDITORIAL SUPERVISION OF 

ELLERY BICKNELL CRANE 

I' 

Librarian of the Worcester Society of Antiquity, and Editor of its Proceedings; 

Author of "The Rawson Family Memorial," "Crane 

Family," two vols. , Etc. 



"Knowledge of kindred and the genealogies of the ancient J amilies deserveth the htghesC 
praise. Herein consist eth a part of the knowledge of a man's own self. It is a great spur to 
virtue to look back on the work oj our lines." — Lord Bacon. 

"There is no heroic poem in the world hut is at the bottom the li/e of a man." — Sir 
Walter Scott. 



Vol. I 



STI^.A.TrE:;iZ> 



NKW YORK CHICAGO 

THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY 
1907 



4juj\^ (PaJt- £o- 



INTRODUCTORY 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



The history of Massachusetts — civil, political and military — has been written by 
various authors and at various times, each succeeding writer adding a new chapter of 
annals, or treating his subject from a different viewpoint. Such history , however, splendid 
narrative that it is, is principally concerned with what has been accomplished by the peo- 
ple in a mass, and takes little note of individuals, except those so pre-eminent as leaders as 
to come under the full glare of fame. 

Hence it follows that genealogical and family memoirs are of peculiar importance, 
includino- as thev do, the personal annals of those who make heroes and heroism possible — 

those who have marched in the ranks of 
progress, bearing the heat and burden of 
the day, — portraying the spirit which 
actuated them, and holding up their 
etTort for an example to those who come 
afterward. As was written by Marti, 
neau, "To have forefathers renowned for 
\ionorable deeds, to belong by nature to 
those who have bravely borne their part 
in life and refreshed the world with 
mightv thoughts and healthy admiration, 
is a privilege which it were mean and 
self-willed to despise. It is a security- 
given for us of old, which it were false- 
hearted not to redeem ; and in virtues 
Prescott Homestead, at pepperei-i. bred of a noble stock, mellowed as they 




44- 

V* ■ 



The home of Col. William Prescott, second son of Benjamin are by reverence, tiiere is often a grace 

Prescott. and the grandfather of William H. Prescott. the distin- 
guished historiaa. Col. Prescott was born in Groton. and settled on a 
large tract of land previously owned by his father, located in what 
was calletl the " ' Gore." later included in the town of Pepperell. He 
served as a Lieutenant in the expedition sent in 1755. to remove the 
French Neutrals from Nova Scotia; and as colonel of the Minute Men 
enrolled in and about Groton in 1774. At the battle of Bunker Hill. 
June 17. 1775. he occupied the distinguished position of Commander 
of the American forces. He died October 13. 1795. aged sixty-nine 
years, having been bornFebruaiy -0. 17'Jt>. His widow died October 
21. 1821, aged eighty-eight years; both buried at Pepperell. 



and ripeness wanting to self-made and 
brand-new excellence. Of like value to 
a people are heroic national traditions, 
giving them a determined character to 
sustain among the tribes of men, making 
them familiar with images of great and 
strenuous life, and kindling them with faith in glorious possibilities." 

The county of Worcester affords a peculiarly interesting field for a study of family 
traits, individual character and personal achievements. It is rich in historical associations, 
and its soil has been the scene of events of the utmost importance to the entire nation. To 
it came a sturdy people, men and women, too, of brawn and brain and conscience, their 
hearts fervent in reverence of God and love for religious and political liberty. They came 



IV 



INTRODUCTORY 



up out of great tribulations. They were of that overflow of Pilgrim and Puritan stock 
which traversed an unbroken wilderness to make homes where were savages, ar.d to con- 
quer primeval nature. They builded better than they knew. 

" For Good is not a shapely mass of stone, 

Hewn by man's hand, and worked by him alone. 

It is a seed God suffers hmi to sow — 

Others will reap, and, when the harvests grow, 

He giveth increase through all coming years, 

And lets men reap in joy, seed that was sown in tears." 

Simple and clean in their lives, .is were these 
earlv settlers, the homes which they builded were hum- 
ble, but they were the seat of all the virtues that consti- 
tute ideal manhood and womanhood. The courage, 
fortitude and activity displayed by these hardy pioneers 
was most remarkable, and, when the struggle for na- 
tional independence came, the sons and daughters of 
these illustrious sires were not wanting in patriotism 
and devotion, freely sacrificing comfort, life and prop- 
is.MAH Thomas. LL, a erty, that they might bequeath to the generations that 

Founder of "Massachusetts Spy." and Ameri- ghould follow them a free liberal government "of the 

can Antiquarian Society, born July 30, ° 

1749. died April 4. 1S31. in Worcester. people, by the people, and for the people. They were, 

from the beginning, prime movers in every patriotic movement, and in all looking to the 
elevation of humanity. In 1775, in convention assembled, they expressed their abhorrence 
of human slavery, and that, whenever opportunity should present, they would use their 
influence toward the emancipation of the negro. From here, their birthplace, marched 
Captain (later known as Colonel) Timothy Bigelow and Captain Benjamin Flagg— with 
their companies of minute-men on that 




i?^*X.^ 



memorable l9th of April, 1775, and 
here, in the city of Worcester, the 
Declaration of Independence was first 
read in Massachusetts. Here, too, was 
the home of General Artemas Ward, 
the trusted friend and chief lieutenant 
of the great Washington. In Worces- 
ter was set up, by Isaiah Thomas, 
the first printing press in an inland 
town in Massachusetts, and the jour- 
nal which was printed from it was one 
which was unparalleled in its influ- 
ence upon the minds of the common 
people in their ready espousal of the 
cause of independence from British 

tyrannv. Here entered upon his illus- ^^.^^ ^^^ ^^_^^^^ Farnum in ITOe. and stands in the southerly part of the 

tiious career Levi Lincoln, one of the «'«'' "' U^b"dge. 

Giants in those davs— a great lawyer, jurist and statesman. Here lived and labored repre- 
Tentatives of the famous Prescott, Curtis, Allen, Washburn and Devous families and here 
was born George Bancroft, the historian. Here, too, were heard, at various periods, 
Webster, Sumner, Lincoln, Henry Wilson and Henry Ward Beecher, and, in the yet later 




Karnum House, Uxbridge 





Worcester Art Museum, Salisbury Street. Worcester 



VI 



INTRODUCTORY 




days, the lamented Senator George F. Hoar, all eloquent proclaimers of libert}' and plead- 
ers for humanity. And, in the Civil war, the grandsons of the men of Bunker Hill fought 
at Gettysburg, and on many another glorious field, that the Union might be preserved. 

There were not only patriots among the settlers of Worcester county, but men of 
special note in various fields of industry. Perhaps no spot of the same area on this conti- 
nent has produced so many of superior mechanical genius, or thuse who lutve given to the 
world mechanisms of such great utility and advantage to 

the progress of civilization. Senator Hoar, in a speech ^^^- ' 

made before the United States Senate, on January (j, 
1903, said; " Within twelve miles of the spot where I 
live, was born Eli Whitney, the inventor of the cotton 
gin, who doubled the value of every acre of land in this 
country on which cotton can grow. Six miles in another 
direction was born Erastus Bigelow, the inventor of the 
carpet machine. Six miles in another direction lived 
Blanchard, the inventor of the machine for turning irreg- 
ular forms, perhaps the most important single mechan- 
ical invention that has been made in the country down 
to this time. Eight miles another way was born Whitte- 
more, inventor of the card clothing machine. Twelve 
miles another way was born and lived Elias Howe, inven- 
tor of the sewing machine. When the Civil war broke 
out, Mr. Howe enlisted as private. When, in its em- 
barrassment, in the summer of 1861, the government 
could not pay its soldiers, this private soldier drew his 
check for all the arrears due his regiment of a thousand 
men, forsome months. * * * All around me there are 
homesteads, some bordering my own, owned by invent- 
ors, foremen and skilled workmen, who have acquired 
fortunes in this honorable service, so beneficent to mankind and so honorable to this 
country." 

The founders of the olden time, who laid the foundations for the development of the 
present, left not only a splendid posterity on this their own soil, but they gave a pregnant 
interpretation to the words of Bishop Berkley : "Westward the course of the empire 
takes its way," for from them came an overflow which was destined to continue until it 
reached the far-off Pacific — men and women to carry forth and perpetuate that plain, sturdy, 
personal character of manhood and womanhood for which the people of Massachusetts 
have gained a large degree of renown. Wherever they planted their homes, there the 
church and the school house are found as monuments of their personality. Nor is this all, 
they prided themselves in thrift, and the reward that comes as the fruit of honest toil and 
endeavor; and, wherever placed, have proved a power for ideal citizenship and good gov- 
ernment, for that righteousness which exalteth a nation. 

In each generation and at every stage of progress, the people of Worcester county 
have had the service of men of the loftiest character and highest capability — in arms, in the 
arts of peace, in statesm.inship, in affairs, and in letters. It is to connect the active pro- 
gressive men of the present generation with their illustrious ancestry, that the present vol- 
umes were undertaken, in the conviction that 



Major General Artemas Ward 

Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas. 
October T>. 17T4: General in the Continentai 
army : Cotnmander-in-Chipf of the Massachu- 
setts forces. May 19. 177.5. liorn in Shrews- 
bury. Massachusetts. November 26. 1727. son 
of Nahum and Martha (Howe) Ward. As 
Major took part in the campaign of 1755 
against the hr^nch. near Lake Champlain, at- 
taing the rank of colonel. Member of the 
Massachusetts Lecislature for sixteen years: 
Speaker of that body 17>-.'>; Member of Congress 
1791-9,5; died in Shrewsbury October 27, 1800, 



INTRODUCTORY 



Vll 




" It is indeed a blessing when the virtues 
Of noble races are hereditary, * 

And do derive themselves from imitation 
Of virtuous ancestors." 

The honorable ancestry which belongs to the people of Worcester county is a noble 

heritage, and the story of its achieveinents is a sacred 
trust committed to its descendants, upon whom devolves 
the perpetuation of their record. History is constantly 
making, and that of yesterday and today is as important 
in its place as that of the centuries past. Throughout 
the country are those who are memorialized in its pages, 
through whose sagacity, determination and philanthropy, 
states and communities have been benefited in material 
ways, and in religious, educational and political affairs — 
in all that stands for progress and improvement. 

It was the consensus of opinion of leading men in 
Worcester county — men well informed and loyal to the 
memories of the past, who were consulted with refer- 
ence to the matter — that the editorial supervision of Mr. 
Ellery Bicknell Crane in the preparation of the work, 
would insure the best results attainable in these deeply 
interesting channels. For fifteen years the President 
of the Worcester Society of Antiquity, and the present 
librarian of that body and the editor of its " Proceed- 
ings," he has long been deeply interested in the pursuit 
of genealogical information in the county of Worcester, 
and his wide knowledge and the ample material at his 
command in the library of the above mentioned society 
have afforded to the local writers upon this work a rich mine of information along the 
lines prescribed, and through his instrumentality, also, they have had access to the wealth 
of historical and genealogical records 
in the archives of the American Anti- 
quarian Society, through the courtesy 
of its librarian, Mr. Edmund M. Bar- 
ton. Mr. Crane has also contributed 
to these pages a historical sketch of 
the Worcester Society of Antiquity, 
including a brief notice of the Amer- 
ican Antiquarian Society. The pub- 
lishers have given all possible care 
with reference to the family and per- 
sonal narratives. If, in any case, one 
should be found incomplete or faulty, 
the shortcoming is ascribable to the 
paucity of data furnished by the sub- 
scriber, or to be obtained from public 
record, many families being withoutex- 
act records in their family line ; while, 



Governor Levi Lincoln 

Continued in the office of Governor for nine 
successive re-eleclions, until, declining to be a 
candidate for re-election, retired from the 
office on the induction of his successor, in Jan- 
Unry, 18.S4. Chosen member of 24th Contress. 
Both Harvard and Williams colleee conferred 
upon him the degree of LL. D. He was born 
October 2.5. 1782: died May 28, 1868. 



M 



Si' 



V- 




Bancroft House. Worcester 

The liome of Rev. Aaron Bancroft, in Worcester, Massachusetts. 
Here was born George Bancroft, the Historian, October 3. 1800, son of 
Rev. Aaron and Lucretia iChandler ' Bancroft. 





Views of Polytechnic Institute, Worcester 



INTRODUCTORY ix 

in other cases, various representativesjof a family are at disagreement as to names and dates 
of some of their forbears. In all cases the sketch has been submitted to the subject or his 
representative, and upon him, in case of error, must rest the ultimate responsibility. 

It is believed that the^present work will prove a real addition to the mass of litera- 
ture concerning the families of historic old Worcester county, and that, without it, much 
valuable inform.ition contained] therein would be inaccessible to the general reader, or 
irretrievably lost, owing to the passing away of many custodians of family records, and the 
consequent disappearance of material in their possession. 

THE PUBLISHERS. 



WOllCESIEIi SOCIEiy OF A\TIOIj'ITy 



]T' 




On the third day of May, 1775, was issued 
the first copy of the Massac/iusctts Spy, printed 
in Worcester, by Isaiah Thomas, since which 
date this town (now city), the heart of the 
Commonwealth, has been a prominent news 
center. 

Worcester has also been a great book 
publishing center, "The Royal Standard 
English Dictionary " (Perry's), the first dict- 
ionary published in America, was printed here 
=- -^^ ^_ by ]\/[r_ Thomas, as was also the first music 

books printed from types, music having been 

Worcester Society of Antiquity . , . . '^ , . 

previously printed from engraved plates. 
Various editions of dictionaries, lexicons, Bibles, medical works, law books and standard 
works in history and general literature, were printed and kept on sale here. The Koran 
was printed here in 1806, a Greek Lexicon in 1808; Plutarch's Lives, in six volumes 
(1802); JosephuS, in six volumes (1794). A folio edition of the Bible published in 1791, 
illustrated with fifty copper-plate engravings, furnishes a fine specimen of the work of 
Mr. Thomas. Almanacs, sermons, school books, broadsides and works on nearly every 
branch of literature of that period, came from the press (or, rather, presses) of Mr. 
Thomas. 

Thus were the people of Worcester early given special opportunity to learn the use 
and value of books, acquiring more or less an honest desire for them, and to appreciate 
the benefits of the knowledge to be gained through their use. The addresses and patriotic 
utterances distributed among the people of New England through the circulation of the 
Massachusetts Spy, had much to do with stimulating the spirit and feeling of resistance to 
the arbitrary measures inaugurated by the government of Great Britain. And, after the 
contest was over, and the independence of the United States secured, the influence of the 
editor and publisher of that organ was exerted for the establishment of a societj' that 
should bring together and preserve the mementoes of that heroic struggle, and also become 
an institution that should take its jilace among the prominent historical societies in Eng- 
land, France and other countries of Europe. 

With that object in view, the American Antiquarian Society was formed in the year 
1812. Its membership included representative men from the various States in the 
Union. The printer, and founder of the society, Isaiah Thomas, LL. D., was its first 
president. The first home or hall of this Society was a brick building, with a main up- 
right part two stories in height, and a wing extending out on the north and also one 
on the south side. The main or center portion of this building was dedicated on August 
24, 1820, and the two wings added about eleven years later. This home, known as 
Antiquarian Hall, stood on the easterly side of Summer street, near the corner of Belmont 
street, and was built at the expense of Mr. Thomas, on a lot of land which he owned and 
subsequently gave, by will, to the Society. In 1852 it was found necessary to have more 
commodious quarters to accommodate the needs of the American Anticjuarian Society, 



xii WORCESTER SOCIETY OF ANTIQUITY 

and land was ^iven by Honorable Stephen Salisbury, father of the late Honorable Stephen 
Salisbury, as a site for their new building, which now stands at the corner of Highland 
street and Main street, next north of the Court House, and is the present home of this 
most popular national institution. 

In the year 1820, of the eighty-three names on the membership roll, twenty-four 
were residents of Massachusetts, ten of whom resided in Worcester, the remainder of the 
number were scattered throughout twenty-one other states of the Union. In 1880, thirty- 
nine members were residents of Worcester; forty-four from Massachusetts, outside of 
Worcester; sixty-two from other states of the Union; and seventeen from foreign countries. 
At present the membership in America of this (the American Antiquarian Society) is lim- 
ited to one hundred and forty. In 1893 there were twenty-six from Worcester; forty-three 
from Massachusetts, at large; sixty-two from other states in the Union, and thirty-two 
from foreign countries; total membership, one hundred and sixty-three. 

Since its organization it has been co nucting a noble and most important work. It 
came into the field so soon after the birth of our national government that special and 
most favorable opportunities have been found for the accumulation of books, pamphlets, 
papers and manuscripts treating of historical events, not alone of America, but of various 
other nations — a service to which it was early commissioned. Its sphere of labor was, 
and is, world-wide, special attention being given to the subject of Archaeology, including 
a study of the antiquities of this American continent, and every measure was to be adoi)ted 
that should "make the Society appear respectable as a National Institution," and the 
American Antiquarian Society has not fallen short of accomplishing its mission, and is 
recognized as one of the leading Societies of its class in the world. Its voluminous 
library contains a collection of Americana of rare value, while its stock of original manu- 
scripts may be counted of much more than ordinary interest. But as the population of 
Worcester increased, and the good influence of this parent society was felt among the 
citizens, there sprang up a desire for anotlicr organization, that should give opportunity 
for other citizens of Worcester and vicinity to engage in historical study and research, and 
also to provide a suitable place for preserving and placing on exhibition relics of the past, 
especially those bearing upon the history of the City and County of Worcester, including 
their people and institutions, preserving, for he benefit of future generations, such books, 
pamphlets and documents of every descripfon as would furnish account of and portray 
the habits, life and character of the people that came to reclaim this wilderness and plant 
the institutions from whence so many benefits are at present derived, and to foster and 
encourage an interest in the histor\- of this special locality. 

A number of conferences were held in the printing office of Messrs. Tyler and 
Seagrave, then on Main street, opposite the City Hall. At these preliminary meetings 
there were present Samuel E. Staples, Franklin P. Rice, John G. Smith, Daniel Seagrave 
and Albert Tyler. As a result of these deliberations, notices were issued for a meeting to 
be held at the home of Samuel E. Staples, Number 1, Lincoln Place, January 24, 1875. 
Besides Mr. Staples, there were present at this meeting John G. Smith, Franklin P. Rice, 
and Richard O'Flynn. It was here decided to proceed with the formation of a society, 
and arrangements were made for drafting a constitution, which was submitted at a meeting 
held January 30th, and, after slight changes, was adopted at the third meeting, held Febru- 
ary 13th. The first regular meeting held under the constitution came on March 2, 1875, at 
which time the organization was completed by the election of the following named officers: 
Samuel E. Staples, president; Henry D. Barber, vice-president; Daniel Seagrave, secre- 
taiy; Henry F. Stedman, treasurer, and John G. Smith, librarian. 'For more than two 



WORCESTER SOCIETY OF AXTIOUITY 



xiu 



years meetings were held at the homes of the members, where occasionally a paper was 
read on some historical subject. But usually the time was passed in sociability and exam- 
ining the collection of books and relics in the possession of the member with whom the 
meeting was called. 

The infant society soon came into favor and was received by the citizens of Wor- 
cester with open arms, and grew with such rapidity that it became necessary to clothe it 
with a charter, that was secured in the month of March, 1877, Honorable Clark [illson 
having been chosen by a vote of the Society, at its annual meeting, held January 2d of that 
year, to secure such an act. The names of the charter members were Samuel E. Staples 
Clark Jillson, EUery B. Crane, Daniel Seagrave, Franklin P. Rice, James A. Smith, Albert 
A. Lovell and Albert Tyler. 

The organization of the corporation took place at the meeting held on March 6 
1877, at the home of Eldward I. Cornius, on Wellington street, Worcester, at which time 
the following officers were elected: President, Samuel E. Staples; vice-presidents Clark 
Jillson and Ellery B. Crane; treasurer, James A. Smith; clerk, Daniel Seagrave. These 
officers constituted the executive committee and Albert A. Lovell, Franklin P. Rice with 
Charles R. Johnson, were chosen to serve as the committee on nominations. Thus was 
the organization set in motion and started on its errand of usefiilness. Good moral char- 
acter and an interest in the pursuit of historical studies, with the agreement to contribute 
five dollars each year, and also pay such other assessments, not exceeding one dollar, levied 
at any one time, as the society might elect, was the early test of qualification requisite for 
membership. At the annual meeting January 4, 1876, twelve names constituted the mem- 
bership roll. The next year saw the number increased to thirty names, and at the meet- 
ing held January 2, 1877, the librarian reported four bound volumes and four pamphlets 
as the extent of the Society's library. 

The first book given the Society was entitled "Worcester in the Revolution," pre- 
sented by the author, Albert A. Lovell, at a meeting held Septemb< r 12, 1876, at the home 
of Ellery B. Crane. There was no special effort put forth for rapidly increasing the mem- 
bership. Some care was, however, given to securing workers in the cause that would enable 
the organization to make a showing sufficient to attract the attention of other persons of 
similar desires, and, if possible, secure their co-operation, and it is the belief that in this 
direction the efforts advanced were not futile. 

In the year 1878 the Society counted sixty-nine names upon its roll, fifty-two of 
them classed as active, two as life members and fifteen as honorar}^ members. Among the 
latter class were men occupying exalted places as literary men and writers of history, all 
of whom, we regret to note, have now passed away, and gone to their eternal reward. At 
this writing not one of these fifteen gentlemen is left. 

The monthly reports made by members of their additions to their private collections 
stimulated the work of collecting, and helped to create interest in all matters of a historical 
nature, with the result that, when the time came for forming the Society's Collection, there 
was a generous response from those private sources, making it possible to create a com- 
mendable showing within a comparatively brief period of time. That the handful of books 
and pamphlets which by gift had become the property of the Society might receive proper 
care, and the secretary have a place for his books and papers, some kind of a repository 
was needed for their safe keeping, and the secretary purchased for one dollar and a half 
the Society's first book case. For want of a better place it was temporarily set up in the 
printing office of Messrs. Tyler and Seagrave. 



xiv WORCESTER SOCIETY OF ANTIQUITY 

But the institution was growing, and June 19, 1877, steps were taken toward secur- 
ing a room in which to hold business meetings and deposit the Society's treasures, and on 
the fourth of September a vote was passed instructing the Treasurer to hire a room in the 
Bank Block, Foster street, and the first meeting of the Society was held there in room 
Number Six, up one flight of stairs, on Tuesday evening, October 2, 1877, twenty-one 
members being present. This was a notable meeting in the life of the young organization. 
More than two hundred and forty gifts of books and pamphlets with a few pictures were 
presented that evening, manj' of them being of special value. Honorable Clark Jillson's 
contribution included a large folio volume of Cicero's Orations, printed in the year 1472, a 
fine specimen of early printing. Four honorary members and three active members were 
voted in at that meeting, and Elihu Burritt, "the learned blacksmith," was proposed for 
honorary' membership, and notice of the death of Harvey Dwight Jillson, M. D., of Fitch- 
burg, was given, it being the first death within the Societj^ 

For more than thirteen years the designation painted on the door of room Number 
Six announced to the visitor or the passer-by that it was the home of the Worcester Society of 
Antiquity, and many pleasant hours were passed within those walls by the little band of 
faithful and constant workers who, by common consent, met there not only on the first 
Tuesday evening in each month, but on every Tuesday evening, unless absent from the 
city or detained by sickness, for all Tuesday evenings were consecrated to the interest 
of this Society. Not all who met there then are now within the sound of the human voice. 
But their influence and their works abide, and the memories of those pleasant, fascinating, 
edifying social gatherings linger in the minds of those living today, who can, perhaps, more 
fully appreciate the value of those social conclaves in bringing together and centralizing 
the forces out of which this Society has been evolved, and also the words uttered by a mem- 
ber of that circle who has gone hence, one who in those days was a tower of strength, a 
giant among the weaklings, and possibly did more at the critical moment to put this 
Society in a condition to stand alone, than any other man. These are his prophetic words: 
"Our mission is not one that changes with the seasons. When we become weary with the 
labor it imposes and seek other employments, the places we leave will be filled by zealous 
laborers from a new generation, but the corner stone laid by our hands will continue to 
support the superstructure, though the sound of the builders' hammer may ring through its 
arches for centuries to come." 

Before the close of the year 1877, members of the Society were greatly encouraged 
in their work, as well as in the future prospects of the organization, by the kindly, stimu- 
lating words received from certain gentlemen prominent in historical and literary circles, 
in reply to notices sent them by the secretary, informing them of their having been elected 
to honorary membership in the young Society. Among those who responded with special 
reference to what had been accomplished, and the future outlook, were Benjamin J. Loss- 
ing, Rev. Adin Ballou, Rev. Abijah Marvin, John G. Metcalf, M. D., Holmes Ammidown, 
Elihu Burritt, William S. Barton, Esq., Dr. Guilermo Rawson, and Rev. Carlton A. 
Staples. Of these, at this writing, not one remains. 

During the life of the Society, there has been no step taken that apparently pro- 
duced more beneficial results, and brought the Society into more popular favor, than print- 
ing and disseminating its transactions and literature. Thus was attention called to the 
valuable work being performed, and the publications of the Society soon found a demand 
which to this moment has continued to increase. Among the early tasks assumed was copy- 
ing and printing the inscriptions upon the tombstones in the ancient cemetery in Worces- 



WORCESTER SOCIETY OF ANTIQUITY xv 

ter, known as the Mechanic Street Burial Ground. And, before the summer of 1877 
was ended, much had been done in securing inscriptions from burial grounds in Lancaster, 
Lunenburg, Mendon, Shrewsbury and three of the ancient cemeteries in Worcester, while 
some progress had been made in copying those from the burial grounds in Brookfield, 
Leicester, Rutland, Southbridge and Sturbridge. This initial effort awakened fresh inter- 
est throughout the community in the preservation of both public and private records, and, 
through persistent exertions of members of this S ociety, and the co-operation of friends, 
the early records of Worcester were published, from the earliest date down to the adoption 
of the city charter in 1848, including the vital records, all of which have been assembled 
within the covers of the Societj^'s publications, and constitute apart of the historical work 
accomplished through its members. 

At the close of the year, 1879, the librarian, Albert Lovell, reported that the Socie- 
ty's librar)' contained thirteen hundred and twenty-five bound volumes and four thousand 
three hundred and fort^'-two pamphlets and in the spring of 1881 it became necessary to 
add another room to Number Six, the latter being used for meetings, while the second room 
was for the accommodation of the rapidly increasing library and a small collection of rel- 
ics. It was thought, with this addition, ample room had be?en provided for some time to 
come. But in June, 1885, came a substantial increase to the library, of a gift from Mrs. 
Charlotte Downes, of a collection of books and pamphlets, once the property of her late 
husband, John Downes, Esq., of Washington, D. C. It was a pleasant surprise, and 
caused no slight enthusiasm throughout the membership of the Society, for they fully ap- 
preciated the value of the gift. 

On the thirty-first day of March, 1883, occurred the death of Rev. George Allen. He 
had been a frequent visitor at the meetings, and much interested in the work of the 
Society. During his lifetime he had accumulated a large library. A short time before his 
death, a considerable portion, however, had been sold at public auction in Boston, but 
there still remained at the time of his decease about three thousand volumes, and, through 
contributions of money from members and their friends, this collection of books and 
pamphlets was added to the Society's library. 

The next red-letter day was the observance of the tenth anniversary of the organ- 
ization. The exercises were held in the Old South meeting-house, then standing on the 
common on the site of the present City Hall. It was held on the twenty-seventh day of 
January, 1885. Rev. Carlton A. Staples delivered the principal address. The proper date 
came the twenty-fourth, but as that fell on Saturday, it was decided to celebrate on the 
following Tuesday. There was a large attendance at the meeting in the church, after 
which there was a banquet served at the Bay State House. Alfred S. Roe was toastmaster, 
and it was after midnight when the end came to the good things that were said there. Not 
long after this event, Honorable Stephen Salisbury, one of Worcester's prominent philan- 
thropists, who had been watching the growth and conduct of this institution, offered to 
assist in providing a home for it by contributing a lot of land on which to erect a building, 
and also to give a certain sum of money toward a building fund. His offer was accepted 
•with most grateful acknowledgments, committees were chosen for carrying the work for- 
ward, and in due time the Society came into possession of a substantial, commodious, 
brick building, well adapted to the needs of the Society, and through the exertion of its 
members and their friends, chief among them the late Stephen Salisbury, it is the posses- 
sor of a property valued at fifty thousand dollars, not including its valuable library of 
twenty thousand bound volumes, thirty-five thousand pamphlets, and an interesting mus- 



VI 



WORCESTER SOCIETY OF ANTIQUITY 



eum containing over six thousand relics of Indian, Colonial, Revolutionary, Civil and 
Domestic life, many articles of which it would be exceedingly difficult to duplicate, all 
debts paid, and eleven thousand dollars of invested funds. Truly a remarkable showing. 

The home of this Worcester Society of Antiquity is located at Number Thirty-nine 
Salisbury street, Worcester, Massachusetts, and was dedicated on the afternoon of 
November 24, 1891. 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



HON, GEORGE FRISBIE HOAR. No more 
popular and truly meritorious family name comes 
to the mind in writing of the many celebrated family 
circles of Worcester county than that to which the 
late lamented United States senator, George F. Hoar, 
belonged. Others have attained to high eminence 
in local, state and national fame, but to recite the 
history of their accomplishments is an easier task 
than to pick from a vast collection of important 
data the facts from which a sketch suitable in 
length for a work of this character can be compiled 
and do justice to the memory of him for whom it is 
written. Senator Hoar was born at Concord, Massa- 
chusetts, August 29, 1826, and passed from earthly 
scenes September 30, 1904 — seVenty-eight eventful, 
well spent years. 

His ancestors from the early day "^Massachusetts 
Bay Colony," were men of great courage and activity. 
One writer says "They were in advance of the times 
in which they lived and were leaders to a higher 
and better sphere, both in social and political sense." 
The earliest of his male ancestors in this coimtry 
was John Hoar, one of three brothers who came 
with their sister and mother from Gloucester, Eng- 
land. The husband and father, Charles Hoar, was 
sheriff of Gloucester and died before his family came 
to America. His wife, Joanna, died at Braintree, 
1661. They had three sons and two daughters. 
The sons were Daniel, who returned to Eng- 
land in 1653 ; Leonard, who graduated at Har- 
vard College, 1650, and was president of that insti- 
tution from 1672 to 1675, when he died, and John. 
(See Hudson's "History of Lexington," page 104, 
Genealogical Register.) 

(H) John Hoar, son of the first family who 
located in New England by this name, was a lawyer, 
distinguished for bold, manly independence. He 
resided in Scituate, Massachusetts, from 1643 to 
1655. It was about 1660 when he settled in Con- 
cord and died April 2, 1704. His wife Alice died 
June 5, 1697. Their children included Elizabeth, who 
in December, 1675, married Jonathan Prescott; Mary, 
married Benjamin Graves, October 21, 1668; and 
Daniel, who married (first) jNIary Stratton, (sec- 
ond) Mary Lee. The Hoar family were among the 
early bay colonists and some true conception of their 
character may be had' by referring to a matter of 
New England history, wherein it is recorded that 
after the Indian massacre at Lancaster at the time of 
King Philip's war. John Hoar, at the request of the 
colonial authorities, followed the Indian band far 
into the wilderness, and after great hardship and the 
exercise of great ingenuity, recovered by ransom 
Mrs. Rowlandson, a lady captive from Lancaster. 
Her account of her ransom is published. The rock 

where she was redeemed is situated in . 

close bv the base of Wachusett Mountain, and has 
I 



been marked by the senator with a suitable inscrio- 
tion. ^ 

(III) Daniel Hoar, son of John, born about 
1655, married, July 19, 1677, Mary Stratton, and 
October 16, 1717, Mary Lee. By these marriages the 
lollowmg children were born: John. October "4 
1678; Leonard, a captain, died April, 1771, ag"ed 
eighty-seven years, in Brainfield, where a part of the 
desceiidants now reside— some having taken the name 
ol Homer; Daniel, 16S0, married Sarah Jones- 
Jonathan, died at the Castle, October 26, 1702- 
Joseph died at sea, 1707; Benjamin; Mary,' March 
14, 1689, died June 10, 1702; Samuel, April 6, 
1691; David, November 14, 1698; Isaac, May 18 
1695; Elizabeth, February 22, 1701. ' 

(IV) Daniel Hoar, son of Daniel (3) and great- 
grandson of the ancestor, born 1680, inarried Sarah 
Jones, daughter of John and Sarah Jones, December 
20, 1705, lived in southeastern part of Concord 
where he died February 8, 1773, aged ninety-three 
years. Their children were: John, born January 
b, 1707; he was twice married. Jonathan, born 
January 6, 1707 (twin brother of John), graduated 
at Harvard College, 1740; was an officer in the 
provincial service during the war of 1744 to 1763. 
In 1755 he went as a major to Fort Edward; the 
next year was a lieutenant-colonel in Nova Scotia, 
and an aide to Major-General Winslow at Crown 
Point. After the peace of 1763 he went to England 
and was appointed governor of Newfoundland and 
neighboring provinces, but unfortunately died on his 
passage thither, aged fifty-two years. Daniel, en- 
tered Harvard College, 1730, but did not graduate; 
he married Rebecca Brooks, November 2, 1743, and 
removed to Westminster, where he died, leaving two 
sons and two daughters. Lucy, married John 
Brooks. Elizabeth, married a Mr. Whittemore of 
West Cambridge. :\Iary, married Zachariah Whitte- 
more. 

(V) John Hoar, born January 6, 1707, married 
in Lexington, June 13, 1734, Esther Pierce, by 
whom he had two children. She died and he married, 
August 21, 1740, in Watertowni, Elizabeth Cooledge. 
He died in Lincoln. Massachusetts, May 16. 1786, 
and his widow died March 20, 1791. He lived suc- 
cessively in Lexington, Watertown and again in 
Lexington and Lincoln. It is not quite clear when 
he first came to Lexington. lie was taxed for a per- 
sonal and realty in 1729, and had a seat assigned him 
in the meeting house in 1731, when they reseated 
the house. He was a member of the school committee 
in 1743. He subsequently filled the offices of con- 
stable, assessor and selectman. His home was in that 
part of Lexington set ofif to Lincoln in 1754. His 
children were: Rebecca, born in Lexington, July i, 
1735, married, May 6, 1755. Joseph CiUler; Esther, 
born in Watertown, January 28, 1739, married Ed- 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



mond Bowman, 1760; John, born in Lexington, July 
14, 1741, died young; Samuel, born at Lexington, 
August 23, 1743; Elizabeth, born in Lexington, 
October 14, 1746; Mary, born in Lexington, October 
5, 1750, died young; Sarah, born in Lincohi, June 
9, 1755 married Nehemiah Abbot ; Leonard, born 
in Lincoln, June 29, 1758, was twice married ; Re- 
becca, born in Lincoln, October 18, 1761, married 
Joseph White, Lancaster; Mary, born June 17, 1764, 
married Thomas Wheeler, March 27, 1788; Joseph, 
born July 30, 1767. 

(VI) Samuel Hoar, son of John (5), born in 
Lexington, Massachusetts, August 23, 1743, was an 
important man in Lincoln ; he frequently represented 
his town in the house of representatives, and was 
a state senator from Middlesex county, Massachu- 
setts, from 1813 to 1816. He married Susanna 
Pierce, by whom he had ten children — five of each 
sex. 

(VII) Samuel Hoar, eldest son of Samuel (6), 
born May 18, 1778, graduated at Harvard College, 
1802, received the degree of LL. D., 1838. He taught 
school in Virginia two years, and was admitted to 
the Massachusetts bar in 1805. He was an eminent 
lawyer, contemporary with Choate, Mason and 
Daniel Webster. He frequently represented the town 
of Lincoln in the Massachusetts legislature, was a 
senator from the county of Middlesex from 1813 to 
181 6, and was elected to congress for the years 
1835-37-44. The legislature of Massachusetts sent 
him to South Carolina to test the constitutionality 
of certain acts authorizing the imprisonment of free 
colored persons held as prisoners in that state. By 
order of the governor of South Carolina, he was 
forcibly ejected from the state and compelled to 
leave before fulfilling his mission, but acquitted him- 
self manfully throughout the entire case. He was a 
man of marked character and standing. He died 
at Concord, Massachusetts, November 2, 1856. He 
married Sarah, youngest daughter of Roger Sher- 
man, of Connecticut, who was one of the signers of 
the Declaration of Independence ; one of the framers 
of the United States Constitution; judge, and later 
United States senator, and mayor of New Haven 
until his death. The children of Samuel and Sarah 
(Sherman) Hoar were: Elizabeth, born July 14, 
1814; Ebenezer Rockwood, February 21, 1816; Sarah 
Sherman, November 9, 1817; Samuel Johnson, Feb- 
ruary 4, 1820, died 1821 ; Edward Sherman, Decem- 
ber 22. 1823, graduate of Harvard College, 1844; 
George Frisbie, August 29, 1826. 

(VIII) Ebenezer Rockwood Hoar, eldest son of 
Samuel and Sarah (Sherman) Hoar, born February 
21, 1816, graduated at Harvard College, 1835, and in 
1839 began the practice of law in Concord, Massachu- 
setts, and aside from representing his native county in 
the state senate was, in 1849, made judge of the court 
of common pleas. In 1859 he was appointed a justice 
of the supreme court of Massachusetts, and in Gen- 
eral U. S. Grant's administration was appointed 
attorney general of the United States in March, 
1869. In 1871 he was high commissioner of the 
Washington treaty, and a member of congress from 
Massachusetts from 1873 to 1875. 

(VIII) George Frisbie Hoar, son of Samuel and 
Sarah (Sherman) Hoar, born in Concord, Massa- 
chusetts, August 29, 1826. The scenes of his boy- 
hood were cast in pleasant places, midst fine influ- 
ences, all calculated to unfold the germ of the true 
life to be enacted. After his common school days at 
Concord he entered Harvard College, graduating 
in 1846. He chose the honorable profession of law 
for his calling in life, fitting himself in Harvard 
Law School and in the law office of Judge Thomas 
in Worcester. He was admitted to the bar in 1849 
and at once began the practice of his profession in 



Worcester, which city has ever since claimed him 
as one of her most honored citizens. Among his 
legal associates were Hon. Emery Washburn and 
later with Hon. Charles Dcvens and J. Henry Hill, 
Esq. Mr. Hoar rapidly rose to a very eminent rank 
in his profession. The native genius of his mind, 
well disciplined by a thorough educational training, 
and augmented by an uncommon energy, he steadily 
moved forward and became a recognized leader. In 
1869, when he entered congress, after twenty years 
at the bar, his legal practice was the largest of any 
west of Middlesex county and the most valuable in 
a financial point of view. 

It was in 1849 when George F. Hoar first en- 
tered the political arena as the chairman of the Free- 
Soil party for Worcester county, where the party 
was the best organized of any county in the United 
States. When he was twenty-five years of age, in 
1851, he was elected as a representative to the gen- 
eral court of Massachusetts. He was the youngest 
member in that body, but became the leader of the 
constitution in law matters and to him was given 
the task of drawing resolutions protesting against 
the compromise measures of the National govern- 
ment in 1850. He had so far advanced in political 
life that he could have succeeded Hon. Charles 
Allen in congress, but he would not listen to the call 
made by his friends to enter congress as it would 
be to put politics ahead of law — his chosen pro- 
fession. Had he at that time entered the con- 
gressional field, he would no doubt have been among 
the foremost in civil war and reconstruction periods. 
He would not go to congress, but did not refuse to 
serve in the state legislature, which was pressed 
upon him. In 1857 he was a member of the senate 
and chairman of the judiciary committee. In that 
body he made a masterly report. He was always 
ready to make campaign speeches, and but few ad- 
vanced more thorough, extended and logical ar- 
guments. 

In 1868 Mr. Hoar was elected a representative 
in congress (Republican) as the successor of the 
late Hon. John D. Baldwin. In this, the forty-first 
congress, he was a member of the committee on 
education and labor and his chief work was the 
preparation and advocacy of the bill for national 
education. The bill did not pass in that session, 
and Mr. Hoar reported it in the next, and finally in 
the forty-third congress it passed by the house but 
failed in the senate. In the same congress he 
vindicated General Howard and supported Sumner 
in his opposition to General Evarts' scheme of an- 
nexation of Santo Domingo. As a member of the 
election committee in the forty-second congress, he 
drew the bill and had much to do along this line. 
In the following congress he made his famous 
eulogy on Senator Sumner. He was instrumental 
in passin.g the Ead's jetty bill, and thus was opened 
up the New Orleans ocean commerce line. But 
perhaps of more importance than all was his con- 
nection with the electorial commission bill, he be- 
ing associated with General Earfield, Judge Abbott, 
of Massachusetts, and Payne, of Ohio. In 1872 
and again in 1874 Mr. Hoar had made known his 
desire to retire to private life, but each time felt 
his duty was in serving, because his state de- 
manded it. 

In 1876 his resolve to not be a candidate again 
for re-election was announced as final, and the 1. 
people elected his successor; but the next Massa- || 
chusetts legislature chose Mr. Hoar to succeed Mr. ' 
Boutwell as United States senator, and he took his 
seat March 4, 1877, at the beginning of President 
Hayes' administration. Here he rapidly rose in the 
scale and dignity of a true American diplomat and 
statesman. He became chairman of many important 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



committees, including that of privik-gcs antl claims 
and on judiciary. He was author of the bill for 
distributing the balance of the Geneva Award ; the 
Lawell bankruptcy bill ; the presidential succession 
bill, tenure of office act, bureau of labor statistics 
and many others. The most of his time in the 
house and United States senate was spent in work- 
ing for bills, laws and measures of large scope and 
wide range, leaving others less competent than him- 
self to discharge their duties in maltirs of not so 
nuich real importance to the great and growing 
nation. 

In 1883 and 18S9, he was re-elected to his seat 
in the senate. To have been elected by the legislature 
so many times by a unanimous vote of its members 
was a new record for Massachusetts, and only be- 
spoke of merit for him of whom this brief memoir is 
compiled, giving him a rank along with Charles 
Sumner and Daniel Webster, who were in the saine 
office, and as a cotemporary with Samuel Hoar, his 
father. His voice has been heard in the national 
halls of legislation for thirty-five years, and he 
served as United States senator twenty-seven years 
of this period, his service being as long if not longer 
than any American of our time. 

Mr. Hoar has four times served as the chairman 
of the Massachusetts Republican State Convention. 
In 1880 he was president of the National Convention 
at Chicago, by which General Garfield was made 
presidential nominee. In his deliberations upon 
that occasion he proved his masterly fitness as a 
leader of great bodies of great men in exciting, 
eventful history-making times. In l8g8 President 
McKinley tendered him the ambassadorship to Lon- 
don, but on account of his extreme age and desiring 
to further serve in the senate, he respectfully de- 
clined. He enjoyed travel, especially in Europe. 
From his first visit to England in i860, he has made 
trips as follows: 1860-68-71-92-96-99. He was a 
member of the Worcester Fire Society for fifty 
years. This society was formed in 1793, and was 
limited to a membership of thirty persons ; it has 
come to be a social and historical body of much 
interest. 

In 1903 Senator Hoar wrote and had published 
what is known by its title, "Autobiography of Sev- 
enty Years." It is a neat and well written detailed 
account of his own life. It embraces two volumes, 
and is dedicated to his wife and children — -"a record 
of a life which they made happy," he says in its 
dedication. One paragraph in his introduction of 
this work reads : "The lesson I have learned in 
life,' which is impressed more deeply as I grow old, 
is the lesson of Good Will and Good Hope. I be- 
lieve that to-day is better than yesterday . and that 
tomorrow will be better than to-day. I believe that 
in spite of so many errors and wrongs and even 
crimes, my countrymen of all classes desire what 
is good and not what is evil." 

While much of his time for more than one-third 
of a century has been in Washington, yet has Wor- 
cester felt the touch of his influence and life. He 
was the prime mover in establishing a free public 
library in this city. He materially aided in placing 
the Polytechnic Institute on solid foundation. He 
■was a great friend and help to Clark University. 
He was trustee of the Leicester Academy and first 
president of St. Wulstan Society, at Worcester. He 
also was instrumental in founding the Worcester 
Art Society and Worcester Club. He was an hon- 
orary member of the Worcester Mechanics' Asso- 
ciation. He was the oldest member at the time of 
his decease of any save two of the American Anti- 
quarian Society, and was an honorary member of 
the Worcester Society of Antiquity, as well as 
active in the ^lassachusetts Historical Society. He 



was chairman of the public preservation committee 
of Massachusetts, and heljjed to mark permanentlv 
the old revolutionary landmarks by proper stones 
tablets, etc. He bought the old house in whicli 
had lived General Rufus Putnam, at Rutland, and 
made it a permanently preserved historic relic of 
revolutionary times. 

That the effect of his noble impulses and the 
care and consideration he always gave to the help- 
less and oppressed be not lost sight of, it should here 
be given as an illustration of this marked trait of 
his character, what relates to the early abolition 
days, when he, a young lawyer practicing in Wor- 
cester, helped to defend a person from mob violence. 
It was the case wherein a slave "kidnapper" during 
the "fifties" was arrested and tried in Worcester, 
but finally allowed to depart, with the promise of 
never reiurning. Many colored people here and 
many more radical abolitionists felt justice had not 
been meted out to him, and had it not been for 
young George F. Hoar and his associates he would 
have been violently mobbed. While Mr. Hoar was 
a life long friend and helper of the colored race, 
he did not believe in the theory of mob law. He 
ever took deep interest in the freedmen of the south 
and gave liberally toward their educational insti- 
tutions, believing, as he did, that education would 
sooner or later solve the race problem. 

One more recent act of his great kindness was 
seen in securing the discharge of two small .\ssyrian 
girls, who accompanied their mother to this country 
from Assyria in 1901 to be with the head of the 
family who had been here several years and de- 
clared his intention of becoming a citizen in Wor- 
cester. Before landing at Boston harbor the o-ISicers 
discovered that one of the little girls was afflicted 
wnth a disorder of the eye known as trachoma and 
considered incurable in adults and contagious. They 
under the law, were ordered not to land on our 
shores and to return at once to their native coun- 
try. The family was poor, the father a hard work- 
ing citizen of Worcester, and the mother was to be 
thus ruthlessly torn from the two idols of her heart. 
The various officials tried in vain to evade the ex- 
isting law, but were thwarted. The steamer which 
was to take the little girls back was to sail the 
next day, but through the interposition of Senator 
Hoar, whose son Rockwood made the facts known 
to him, finally through a touching telegram to 
President Roosevelt, secured a peremptory order of 
release of the children, and they were brought to 
Worcester, cared for and soon cured. When the 
kindhearted president visited Worcester, a few- 
months later, he wished to see them and they met 
him at Senator Hoar's residence, where all parties 
were pathetically touched by the scene. It is small 
deeds that introduce to us great characters and 
tender hearts, such as was that of both Senator 
Hoar and President Roosevelt. Soon tliereafter 
Senator Hoar had the law so amended that such a 
proposed hardship could not again exist in this 
country through "red tape." 

While he of whom we write had his political 
enemies — and within his own party — perhaps no 
other man has been in public life so many years and 
made so few enemies, and even those who opposed 
his position were at all times personally his friends. 
In the part he took in opposing the action of the 
present Republican administration policy regarding 
the Philippine Island question.^ — one where he crossed 
swords politically with many of our brainiest 
statesmen — all, even President McKinley himself, 
knew of and respected his manly independent stand 
as a.gainst popular opinion. McKinley was of a 
different opinion regarding a vexed question, but 
personally was one of Senator Hoar's warmest 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



friends. In Mr. Hoar's Autobiography, he says : 
"It has been my ill fortune to differ with my party 
many times." One such occasion was when he 
bluntly said to McKinley, "you cannot maintain a 
Despotism in Asia and a 1-lepubIic in America." 
The man with no opposers has accomplished little 
and has made but few friends, but he who in the 
pride and spirit of his manhood advocates the right, 
as he sees the right, and not from policy, is sure 
to accomplish what is demanded of a well rounded 
character, whether in politics, social or private life. 
Senator fioar was broad-minded, scholarly and 
patriotic in all he said and sought to accomplish. 
Of his domestic relations it may be stated that 
in 1853 he married Mary Louisa Spurr, daughter 
of Samuel D. Spurr, who conducted a dry goods 
house in Worcester, kept in a large two-story brick 
block on the north corner of Main and Central 
streets. Near it stood a large two-story frame 
house, which was the residence of Mr. Spurr. Mrs. 
,Hoar at her death left two children, a daughter 
Mary, and a son Rockwood, who graduated from 
Harvard College in 1876, and was elected district 
attorney for Worcester county in 1899, serving until 
January i, 1905. In the autumn of 1904 he was 
elected to a seat in congress as the nominee of the 
Republican party for his district. For his second 
wife Senator Hoar married Ruth Ann, daughter of 
the late Henry W. Miller, of Worcester. She died 
about a year in advance of her husband. Finally 
the end came and he who had been styled "the 
grand old man" was claimed by the death mes- 
senger and the spirit took its flight at his home in 
Worcester, September 30, 1904. He was a firm 
believer in the Unitarian faith, and was identi- 
fied with that church many years. His funeral w-as 
attended by one of the largest concourse of people 
ever seen in the commonwealth on such a sad oc- 
casion. His remains now repose in Sleepy Hollow 
cemetery, at the place of his birth. 

ROCKWOOD HOAR, late congressman from 
the third congressional district, was the only son 
of the late Senator George F. Hoar. While the best 
wishes of the friends of the honored sire always fol- 
lowed the son, while the ability and character of the 
father seemed to be in large measure inherited by the 
son, Mr. Hoar won his own spurs. He gained his 
election because he had evinced the capacity essential 
to represent this district in congress, because he was 
one of the most accomplished lawyers in his native 
city, because his record as district attorney deserved 
endorsement and commendation. He demonstrated 
an unprecedented popularity when a candidate for 
office. His vote for district attorney showed increas- 
ing strength at the polls every time he ran. His 
friends took an unqualified pride in his career. 

Rockwood Hoar was born in Worcester, August 
24, 1855, and always lived there. He fitted for col- 
lege in the Worcester public schools. He graduated 
at Harvard College in the class of 1876 and entered 
the law school. He received the degree of LL. B. 
in 1878 and A. M. in 1879. He was admitted to the 
bar in 1879 and immediately began to practice in 
the law office of his father, which was then shared 
by Colonel A. George Bullock, president of the State 
Mutual Life Insurance Company, at present, and the 
Hon." Thomas L. Nelson, late justice of the United 
States district court. In 1884 he was appointed 
assistant district attorney for the middle district of 
Massachusetts, a district which includes the city 
and county of Worcester. He was assistant while 
Colonel W. S. B. Hopkins was district attorney until 
1888. In i8gg he was elected district attorney of 
the middle district and served until January, 1905. 
He was thus closely identified with the administra- 



tion of justice in this county for twenty years. He 
had an excellent general practice, but his reputation 
as a lawyer and public official depended chiefly on 
his record in the district attorney's office as assistant 
and as chief. It would be difficult to find anywhere 
a man who had shown more sympathy for the un- 
fortunate, combined with absolute faithfulness to 
his duty as prosecuting officer. No district at- 
torney of Worcester county showed more discriminat- 
ing judgment in performing his office. His ideal 
seemed to be, not the one of securing convictions at 
any cost, but to see justice done and the spirit of the 
law executed in good faith. 

The detective officers of the district have a high 
reputation for intelligence and thoroughness in the 
pe-rfurmance of their duties. By a careful and sys- 
tematic preparation and supervision of important 
criminal cases, Mr, Hoar was able to thoroughly 
master the questions at issue and to ascertain in 
advance what disposition should be made of them. 
He rarely lost cases in which he went to trial. The 
counsel for defendants soon learned that his recom- 
mendations to the court were carefully considered 
by the presiding judge and that they could obtain 
the best results for their clients by submitting to 
his careful and sympathetic judgment and to his 
recognition and frank endorsement of all that could 
fairly be said in favor of the defendant. The first 
trial in Massachusetts upon an indictment for mur- 
der in the second degree was conducted by him and 
the indictment sustained by the supreme judicial 
court. The murder trials conducted by him were 
held without the expensive relays of stenographers, 
which had so largely increased the expense of these 
trials in earlier days. His cases were promptly 
and vigorously presented. 

Shortly after he was elected district attorney he 
became convinced that the probation system was in 
line with modern methods and a means of making 
the law more efficient. In 1900 he secured the ap- 
pointment of Colonel James M. Drennan as proba- 
tion officer for the superior court. Under this 
system about one hundred cases annually are taken 
on probation by Colonel Drennan. That means 
about a third of the cases presented to the court 
that would eventually come to trial. This policy 
gives the first offender a chance to reform and avoid 
a criminal career. The harsh and indiscriminate 
treatment of criminals has been found to defeat the 
very purpose of criminal law, and manufacture and 
harden criminals rather than to teach them a lesson. 
First offenders in all the more serious crimes, as 
for instances boys who have committed theft, burg- 
lary or embezzlement, have been put in the care of 
the probation officer. Of the four hundred and 
twenty-five cases put on probation during Mr. Hoar's 
term as district attorney, only a very few have 
proved to be second offenders. The probation system 
is not only humane and reasonable, but it is a Chris- 
tian and philosophical way to teach men who have 
erred to keep straight, to demonstrate that the law 
of nur times is not provided as an instrument of 
vengeance, but merely to protect society and to 
correct the criminal himself. What The Worcester 
S/^v said of Mr. Hoar when he was elected dis- 
trict attorney is very fitting at the close of his service 
as he enters upon a new career in the public service : 
"In all his official acts, Mr. Hoar has been scrupu- 
lously painstaking, no matter what degree of im- 
portance was attached to them and his tenure of the 
office of assistant district attorney was characterized 
by a measure of success that augurs well for a satis- 
factory administration of the department with him 
as chief." 

He held many other positions of honor and 
trust. He was a member of the common council in 




'C^i>LK^ <^x^xzL^k^^x.^j^ 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



Worcester from 1887 to 1891, inclusive, being presi- 
dent the last-named year. These were important 
years in the municipal history of Worcester, and 
Wr. Hoar was always useful and energetic. He was 
a private in the jNIassachusetts Concord Artillery 
Company, Company C, Fifth Regiment, Massachu- 
setts Volunteer JNIilitia, from 1875 to 187S. He was ap- 
pointed aide-de-camp on the staff of Governor Oliver 
Ames and served from 1887 to 1890 with the rank 
of colonel. He was appointed judge advocate gen- 
eral on the staff of Governor Roger VVolcott in 1897 
and served four years, acting as president of the 
military board of officers, having charge of the 
equipment of the ^Massachusetts troops in the war 
of 1S98 with Spain. He had the rank of brigadier- 
general. He was known by all the prominent men 
of the state, and well liked by his associates in 
office. He was a director of the Worcester Trust 
Company. He was formerly a director of the Wash- 
burn & Moen Manufacturing Company before it 
was absorbed by the American Steel & Wire Co. 
He was a trustee of Clark University. He was 
for twenty years a trustee of the Worcester Insane 
Hospital, having in charge also the Worcester In- 
sane Asylum, both institutions being a part of the 
state system for the care and cure of the insane. 
He received his appointments from successive gov- 
ernors. He always took great personal interest in 
the development and conduct of these hospitals. 

He was a member of the Grafton Country Club, 
Tatnuck Country Club and the Worcester Club, but 
too busy to take advantage of his privileges often. 
His recreations were golfing, driving and hunt- 
ing. He was a lover of good horses. He 
took an occasional hunting trip in New Hamp- 
shire, but he followed in a general way the 
old fashioned devotion to his home and 
his office more closely than most of his professional 
brethren. He was a member of the parish committee 
of the Church of the Unity, of which his mother 
was a charter member, and which his father attended 
from the time of his coming to Worcester till his 
death. He was one of the most prominent laymen 
in the Unitarian church in the state, and an active 
and enthusiastic participant in all concerning the 
welfare of the Church of the Unity. i\lr. Hoar 
occupied the modest house at Washington which his 
father purchased about a year before he died. 

He would have been an interesting figure among 
the new congressmen, partly because of the prom- 
inence of his father, partly because of his having 
redeemed the third congressional district by a sub- 
stantial majority. His was a district where a Democrat 
was elected to congress for three successive terms 
and in a year when a Democratic governor was 
elected in Massachusetts (1904), he was elected to 
congress, the vote of his district standing : Rock- 
wood Hoar, Republican, 17,796 ; John B. Ratigan, 
Democrat, 10,617; John W. Brown, Socialist, 733. 
Incidentally it may be noted that never before in 
the history of the government has a father in the 
senate been followed upon his death by a son in the 
house of representatives. His grandfather, Samuel 
Hoar, his uncle. Judge E. Rockwood Hoar, and 
Judge Hoar, son of Sherman Hoar, were prominent 
i\Iassachusetts congressmen. 

He married, June i, 1893, Christine Rice, daugh- 
ter of William E. Rice, of Worcester, Massachusetts. 
(See Skttch of Rice Family and William E. Rice.) 
^Irs. Hoar is well fitted for her social duties at 
Washington by training and personal attractiveness. 
At the recent visit of President Roosevelt to Wor- 
cester he was the guest of Mr. and Mrs. Hoar, at 
their charming home at 16 Hammond street. Their 
children are: Frances Helen, born November 24, 
1895; Louisa Ruth, born August 22, 1898. 



.•\t the close of the last se>sion of congress he came 
home greatlj' fatigued and almost immediately started 
on a European trip in search of rest, accompanied by 
members of his immediate family, and although the 
trip proved restful, the severe strain to which he 
had been subjected, had laid the foundations for a 
disease of the brain which finally terminated his 
life. Soon after reaching Worcester on his return 
from Europe, he placed himself under the care of 
his family physician, and all that was possible for 
human hands to do, was done to save his life, but 
he passed away on Thursday evening, November i, 
1906, at his home. No. 34 Oak avenue, Worcester, 
in the same house in which his father died. 

SALISBURY FAMILY. The earliest rec- 
ord of the Salisbury family goes back into the 
history of Great Britain, and it is very likely that 
the family had ancestors in Wales. From family 
records and those of Suffolk county, Massachusetts, 
it is clear that John Salisbury, who came to Boston 
between 1630 and 1640, was the founder of the 
family in America. But little can be learned of his 
history either on this side or beyond the seas. It 
is certain that he was a Boston ta.xpayer in Suffolk 
county, JNIassachusetts, in 1689; that he was among 
"The List of Inhabitants in Boston," 1695 ; and that 
he died in 1702. 

(I) John Salisbury, earliest known at Boston, 

married first, Annabel , and (second) 

Bridget Williams, from whom were children, includ- 
ing Nicholas and James (twins), born August 20, 
1094; Nicholas was baptized in the Second Church 
of Boston, John was styled in the Suffolk county 
probate records as "late of Boston, a marriner,'' 
generally understood in those early days to mean a 
sea captain. 

(II) Nicholas Salisbury, son of John and 
Bridget (Williams) Salisbury (i), born August 20, 
1694, was a mere boy at the time of his father's 
death. Little of positive record can be had of the 
career of Nicholas, who was described as a "Mer- 
chant" in the Boston records, but that he grew to 
manhood and married Martha Saunders, and to 
them were born Elizabeth, Sarah and Stephen. The 
date of the marriage of Nicholas and Martha was 
October i, 1724, and tradition says "he fell in love 
with her at first sight, at tUe Old South Church in 
Boston." Her father was Josiah Saunders, who in 
the records was described as "Marriner" (sea cap- 
tain). Martha's mother was Rebekah Eldridge. 
whose brother John left a legacy of eight thousand 
pounds sterling to "My Sister and all her daughters 
and their children in New England." In the will of 
Nicholas Salisbury, April 4, 1748, he is called "shop- 
keeper." He gave three hundred pounds sterling 
to his son Stephen, and the balance of his estate left 
at the time of his wife's decease. He also gave "My be- 
loved brother Benjamin" one hundred pounds ster- 
ling or its equivalent. "Viewed in the light of what 
was the true fact, and what transpired in later years 
in connection with the Salisburys' standing and 
worth as men of means and integrity of character, 
the following copied from the proceedings of the 
selectmen of Boston, at a meeting held July 9, 1711, 
is amusing: "Ordered that Nicholas Salisbury, who 
belongs to Charlestown and came lately to our Town 
to dwell, be notified to appear before the Selectmen 
with security or depart out of our Town." In ex- 
planation of this it should be stated that it was then 
the law and custom in New England to require se- 
curity of all newcomers, this being for a twofold 
purpose ; first, to insure the town against people 
who might be paupers or liable to be a financial 
burden; and second, to make sure of the religious and 
political loyalty of the newcomer before admitting 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



him as a citizen who should have their protection, 
and who should walk and live in harmony with 
them. 

(III) Stephen Salisbury came to Worcester in 
1707 to establish a branch house for Samuel and 
Stephen Salisbury, of Boston, his partner being an 
elder brother. He was born in Boston, September 
25, 1746, the son of Nicholas and Ivlartha (Saun- 
ders) Salisbury. The above firm were importers of 
hardware and kindred goods from England and the 
West Indies. Worcester proved a favorable centre 
for a large country trade, then numbering about one 
thousand people. Tbe Salisburys imported their 
own merchandise, and hence could ati'ord to sell 
almost as cheaply in Worcester as in Boston. When 
Mr.^ Salisbury first moved to Worcester, political 
affairs were engaging the attention of the people, 
and the trouble with the mother country was be- 
coming more and more serious. Here controversies 
had become more acute than in most places, for here 
lived numbers of obstinate Tories, as well as many 
who were fearless defenders of the colonial rights. 
Mr. Salisbury early took his stand with the patriots 
He accepted no office, but his name frequently ap- 
pears m town records as being on committees to 
prepare resolutions against some act of tyranny. He 
bought a large farm to the northward of the city, 
and his place of business was at Lincoln Square. To 
the east of the front door of his "mansion" was 
the counting-room and salesroom. Until well ad- 
vanced in life his mother presided over his house- 
hold.^ January 31, 1797, after his mother's death, he 
married Elizabeth Tuckerman, daughter of Edward 
and Elizabeth Tuckerman, of Boston. By this mar- 
riage one son was born— Stephen, March 8, 1798 A 
daughter, Elizabeth T., was born in 1800, died in 
1803, and a son, Edward Tuckerman, born in 1803 
died in 1809. Mr. Salisbury died May 11, 18 V 
eighty-four years of age. "His figure was slight and 
very graceful, and it is said that his face was very 
handsome, and he retained a complexion of youth- 
ful freshness until the end of his life." His pastor 
and friend, Rev. _ Dr. Aaron Bancroft, described him 
as a "just man." He was an original member of 
the famous Worcester Fire Society, organized Jan- 
uary 21, 1793, and continued an associate until July 
6, 1801. A part of the above facts have been gleaned 
from writings of his contemporaries, each and all 
plainly verifying all that is here claimed as to the 
sterling qualities of his manly character, 

(IV) Stephen Salisbury was born at Lincoln 
Square, in the city of Worcester, IMassachusetts, 
March 8, 1798, at the old Salisbury mansion, erected 
by his father Stephen, who came from Boston to 
Worcester m 1767 and built the above residence in 
1770, in which he dwelt for the remainder of his 
days. Stephen Salisbury obtained his primary 
education at the Old Centre district school 
prepared for college at the Leicester Acad- 
emy, and graduated with honors from Harvard Uni- 
versity in the class of 1817, celebrated for what its 
members accomplished after they went forth to 
the actual work of their lives. Among them were 
Hon. George Bancroft, Hon. Caleb Cushing, Pro- 
fessor Alva Woods and George B. Emerson. He 
studied law under Hon. Samuel M. Burnside, and 
was admitted to practice at the Massachusetts bar, 
but owing to his extensive local interests never en- 
tered actively into the practice of the legal pro- 
fession, though a well read and highly capable at- 
torney. His own business interests kept his time 
fully occupied, but his legal schooling was of lasting 
benefit to him in after life. While he never sought 
office, he yielded to the calls of his fellow-citizens, 
and served in various prominent positions, all of 
which he filled with a most thorough completeness. 



Among the places of trust thus accepted by him 
were those of selectman, 1839; representative in the 
general court of Massachusetts, 1838-39; senator, 
1846-47, and alderman during the first year Wor- 
cester was an organized city, 1848. In i860 and 
again in 1872 he was elected presidential elector 
from his state. As early as 1840 the records show 
he was an active member of the American Anti- 
quarian Society, a member of its council from Octo- 
ber, 1853, and president in 1854, continuing as such 
for more than thirty years. He was the third presi- 
dent of the Worcester Free Public Library, and 
served from 1864 to 1865, and again from 1868 to 
1872, inclusive. He generously contributed toward 
the reading rooms connected with this library. He 
was also a member of the Massachusetts Historical 
Society. The d«gree of Doctor of Laws was con- 
ferred on him by Harvard University in 1875. He 
was overseer of the University for two full terms 
from 1871 to 1883. He was also a conspicuous figure 
in the history of the Worcester Free Institute, now 
the Polytechnic Institute; was its first president, an 
office which he held until his death in 18S4; he gave 
the valuable land on which the buildings stand, 
and contributed liberally to the support of the in- 
stitution. 

In reviewing his many responsible financial 
trusts it is found that from 1845, when Hon. Daniel 
Waldo died, for more than thirty-nine years he 
served as president of the Worcester Bank, and was 
for fifty-two years one of the directors, being first 
elected in 1832. He also held the office of president 
of the Worcester County Institution for Savings for 
a quarter of a century, resigning in 1871. He was 
made a director of the Worcester & Nashua Railroad 
at the date of its organization in 1845, and was its 
president from 1850 to 1851. At Lincoln Square he 
built the factory long known as "Court Mills," for 
the manufacture of farm implements, and when 
the site was needed for other purposes he built for 
the Ames Plow Company (which had succeeded to 
the business of the earlier partnership), a large fac- 
tory on Prescott street. He built the first wire-mill 
on Grove street, and enlarged the works to adapt 
them to the expanding business, finally selling the 
site to the Washburn & Moen Manufacturing Com- 
pany. He built other large factories on Union 
street. 

While busy with a multitude of cares, he neg- 
lected not the weightier matters. He was identified 
as a member of the Second Parish Unitarian Church, 
in which he ever took a deep interest. In all of his 
relations he was .every inch a man, honored and 
trusted by a wide circle of friends throughout the 
coninionwealth. Whether he be viewed from a social, 
religious, civic, or financial point of view, he always 
showed a full, well rounded character — a genuine 
type of American citizenship. His personal manner 
was genial, courteous and obliging to a marked de- 
gree.^ His own interests were always gauged by the 
best interests of his friends and neighbors. He was 
a well-read gentleman, deeply versed in historical 
and antiquarian lore, art and literature, in vifhich he 
took great delight, with the added years of his 
busy, eventful life. 

During his latter years he accomplished much 
for the substantial improvement of the northern por- 
tion of his home city, aiding very materially in 
building up a great manufacturing centre. He built 
the spacious business block on Lincoln Square, and 
in 1837 his residence on Highland street. His 
father's ancient "mansion" in which he was born, 
presents at this writing about the same homelike 
appearance that it did a century ago, when it was 
occupied by a trustworthy loyal revolutionary 
patriot. 





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WORCESTER COUNTY 



Of his domestic relations it may be said that no 
more affectionate husband or loving parent ever 
graced a Massachusetts home and fireside. His 
first wife, to whom he was married November 7, 
1833, was Rebekah Scott Dean, of Charlestown, New 
Hampshire, who died July 24, 1843, leaving as their 
only child, Stephen Salisbury, Jr. He next married 
Nancy Hoard, widow of Captain George Lincoln, 
who died September 4, 1852. In 1855 he married 
Mary Grosvenor, widow of Hon. Edward D. Bangs, 
former secretary of state for Massachusetts; she 
died September 25, 1864. He died August 24, 1884, 
in his eighty-seventh year. In the language of one 
who had long known him, "He was a considerate 
gentleman of the old school type, a model of which 
this generation has none too many imitators." At 
his funeral the Rev. Andrew P. Peabody, DD., 
LL. D., used for his text, "We all do fade as a 
leaf." With his demise a generous property passed 
to his only child, Stephen Salisbury, Jr., a consid- 
erable portion of this property being composed of 
farm lands lying in close proximity to the business 
portion of the city of Worcester. The son, with 
wise business discretion, erected many dwellings, 
factories and business blocks thereon, thereby con- 
tributing greatly to the growth and prosperity of the 
city, and a proportionate increase in valuation to 
the estate. 

(V) Hon. Stephen Salisbury is one whose name 
is familiar to every citizen of Worcester, who has 
any knowledge of the city and its principal institu- 
tions. His local pride has been evidenced by his 
many generous acts for the public welfare, and it 
is justly to be said that scarcely any undertaking 
of magnitude has been attempted during recent years 
without his co-operation, directly or indirectly. 

The only son of Stephen and Rebekah Scott 
(Dean) Salisbury, he was born March 31, 1835, i" 
Worcester, in one of the brick houses near the end 
of Main street, opposite the court house. He began 
his education in an infant school taught by Mrs. 
Levi Heywood, on Main street. When six years old 
he passed the winter of 1841-42 with his parents in 
Savannah, Georgia. In the latter year he attended 
the private school of Mrs. Jonathan Wood, at the 
corner of Main and School streets, Worcester, 
Massachusetts, and for a short time in 1844 was a 
pupil in Jiliss Bradford's school in Boston. In 
1845 he was a student in the grammar school under 
Warren Lazell, later kept by C. B. iSIetcalf. until 
1848, when he entered the Worcester High School, 
then in charge of Nelson Wheeler. He matriculated 
in Harvard College in 1852 and graduated there- 
from in 1856 after completing the four years' 
course. After his graduation he went to Berlin and 
became a student in the Frederick William Uni- 
versity. During the spring of 1857 he attended 
lectures at the Ecole de Droit, in Paris. He spent 
the summer and autumn with his classmates Rice 
and Kinnicutt in England, Scotland and Ireland, 
and late in the year visited Turkey, Asia Minor and 
Greece, including a month's tour on horseback, ac- 
companied by a guide. This trip gave hirn much 
interesting and valuable information concerning the 
country and customs of Greece. Aftervvard he re- 
sumed his studies at Berlin, then re-visiting Paris, 
and set out with his father's family upon a tour 
covering portions of Italy, England. Scotland, Ire- 
land and Wales. In December, 1858, after an ab- 
sence of more than two years, he returned to Wor- 
cester, and took up bookkeeping for a time as a 
special study. He subsequently entered the law 
otfice of Dewey and Williams as a student of law, 
and in 1859 entered Harvard I>aw School. Two 
years later he received the degree of Bachelor of 
Laws, and was admitted to the bar in Worcester in 



October, 1861. During the following winter months 
he visited David Casares, a college classmate, in 
Yucatan, where he made a study of the Maya In- 
dians' ruins and monuments. In 1885 he traveled 
through the same country and other portions of 
Mexico and Cuba, re-examining some of the ruins 
which he had seen on his former visit. In 1S88 he 
again visited Europe, his tour including France, 
Belgium, Holland and Spain. In Spain, especially, 
he found much to interest him, as also in portions 
of Portugal. He was also an extensive traveler in 
his own country, and with his taste for the study of 
history and natural history became possessed of a 
large fund of useful knowledge, a review of which 
he has given to American societies of historical 
investigation. 

Mr. Salisbury early entered into the responsi- 
bilities of business life. In 1863 he became a 
trustee of the State Mutual Life Assurance Com- 
pany of Worcester. In 1865 he was chosen a director 
of the Worcester National Bank, and after the death 
of his father (in 1884) succeeded him in the presi- 
dency. In 1877 he became a trustee and member 
of the board of investment of the Worcester County 
Institution for Savings, of which his father had 
been president; and in 1882 he succeeded the late 
Governor Alexander H. Bullock as its president. 
He was also a director of the old Worcester & 
Nashua and of the Boston, Barrc & Gardner Rail- 
roads. He also gave much attention to public affairs, 
In 1864, 1865 and 1866 he was a member of the 
common council of Worcester, and president of the 
board during his last term. In 1889 he was made 
one of the commissioners of the sinking funds of 
the city, and served in that capacity to the time of 
his death, November 16, 1905. As a Republican he 
represented the first Worcester district in the state 
senate in 1893, 1894 and 1893, serving as cliairnian 
of the committees on education, banks and banking, 
and the committee on the treasury. In all these 
various positions he displayed the qualities of the 
well equipped man of affairs, and discharged every 
trust with scrupulous fidelity. 

Mr. Salisbury was conspicuously active and tise- 
ful in his relation to many educational, historical 
and charitable institutions, devoting to them not 
only his service, but liberally of his means. He 
was a prominent member of the Worcester Lyceum 
and Natural History Association, vice president of 
the Worcester Agricultural Society, a director of 
the State Mutual Life Assurance Company, a trujtee 
of Clark University from its founding in 1887 until 
his death, and was at one time its treasurer. He was 
also a trustee of Leicester Academy, and for ten 
years served as treasurer of theMusic Hall Asso- 
ciation, as well as one of its directors. He was 
a trustee of the City Hospital at its incorporation 
in 1S72, and secretary for eighteen years; trustee of 
the Memorial Hospital, and secretary for ten years, 
and vice president of St. Vincent Hospital. He was 
also a trustee of Rural Cemetery, and secretary 
of Hope Cemetery. Mr. Salisbury became a mem- 
ber of the American Antiquarian Society in 1863, 
a member of its council in 1874, vice-president in 
1884. and in 18S7 was elected president, a position 
which he occupied to the time of his death, and by 
his will this society received about two hundred and 
fifty thousand dollars and his library. In 1884 he 
was elected a trustee of the Worcester Polytechnic 
Institute, and president in 1895, to which institution 
he recently gave three hundred thousand dollars. 
He was a member of the faculty of the Peabody 
Museum of Archaeology connected with Harvard 
University; a member of the Massachusetts His- 
torical Society, to which institution by his will he 
gave five thousand dollars; a member of the Wor- 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



cester County Horticultural Society, and formerly 
its president ; tlie American Geographical Society ; 
the New England Historic Genealogical Society; the 
Sociedad Mexicana de Geografia y Estadistica 
and the Conscrvatorio Yucateco. In all of these he 
ever maintained a deep and intelligent interest. His 
writings include important papers on the people of 
Yucatan and their arts, which he contributed to the 
American Antiquarian Society. He also translated 
several valuable papers from the German of Dr. 
Valentine on the same and kindred subjects. In 
1888 lie prepared and read an exhaustive paper on 
'"Early Books and Libraries." JMr. Salisbury was 
an accomplished linguist, and enjoyed a good speak- 
ing knowledge of the Spanish and other languages. 

Mr. Salisbury's public spirit was shown not only 
by his interest in municipal and state affairs, but 
his more tangible works show him to have had 
at heart the beauty and convenience of the city. 
Among his public benefactions may be further men- 
tioned a building for the City Hospital, a laboratory 
and electrical station for the Worcester Polytechnic 
Institute ; eighteen acres of land bordering on 
Salisbury Pond given to the city in 1887, and by 
him named Institute Park; a lot of land to the 
Worcester Society of Antiquity and contributions 
to their building fund, and by will another lot of 
land and five thousand dollars. In 1896 he gave 
land for the Worcester Art Museum, and con- 
tributed with other citizens funds for the erection 
of a museum building and for the endowment of 
the corporation, and by his will made that institu- 
tion his residuary legatee. In 1899 he gave land 
for a building for the Worcester Woman's Club, 
which has been recently erected. In 1900 Mr. Salis- 
bury built on the summit of Bancroft Hill, one of 
the most prominent elevations in Worcester, a gate- 
way of rough stone, known as Bancroft Tower, 
which affords an excellent opportunity for observa- 
tion. This has been opened to the public, together 
with the grounds surrounding it. 

It is unusual in any family for one generation to 
succeed another during so long a period of time as 
that between John Salisbury in 1640 and his repre- 
sentative of the present day, without degeneration in 
some instance. Of the Salisbury family it is to be 
said that from the emigrant ancestor down the name 
has been a synonym,, for industry, integrity, public- 
spirit, and civic duties ably and faithfully performed. 
Each bearer of the name, in his own generation, has 
shown the faculty of making his work bear fruits 
beneficial to the general welfare of his fellow-citi- 
zens, and in no instance has he hesitated to devote 
himself, intellect and means to these ends. 

The late Mr. Salisbury never married. The 
value of his estate at the time of his decease, which 
at this writing has not been settled, has been by 
estimate fi.xed at from three to four millions of 
dollars. 

WASHBURN FA^IILY. This name is derived 
from two simple words — wash, which imples a swift 
current of a stream, and burne (or bourne), signi- 
fying a brook or small stream. It has been said of 
this family, whose origin is in England, carrying a 
coat-of-arms, that the posterity of John Washburn, 
who was the first emigrant to locate in New Eng- 
land in 1632, "will seldom find occasion to blush 
upon looking back upon the past lives of those 
from whom they have descended. Fortunate indeed, 
may the generations now in being, esteem themselves, 
if they can be sure to bequeath to their posterity 
an equal source of felicitation." 

In this illustrious family have been found some 
of our nation's greatest characters, in public and 
private life, including great lawyers, statesmen and 



military men in all of the American wars. Maine, 
Vermont, Massachusetts and Wisconsin have each 
had governors from this Washburn family, and 
three brothers served as congressmen from three 
states at the same time, and all with much ability. 
Authors and college graduates may be found to a 
score or more, who have left their impress upon the 
world. As manufacturers, they have excelled, and 
wherever wire goods and wire fencing are known, 
there is found the name Washburn as being pioneers 
in this line. 

(.1) John Washburn, the original immigrant, 
who settled at Duxbury, Massachusetts, in 1632, 

married Margery ■ , and by her was born 

a son named John, of Bridgewater, who married in 
1645 Eliza Mitchell. His father was secretary of 
the Massadiusetts Bay Colony, and he, with his two 
sons, John and Philip, were able to bear arms in 
1643. The immigrant and his son John were among 
the original fifty-four persons who became proprie- 
tors of Bridgewater, Massachusetts, in 1645. They 
bought the lands of the old Sachem Massasoit, for 
seven coats of one and a half yards each, nine 
hatchets, eight hoes, twenty knives, four moose 
skins, ten and a half yards of cotton cloth. The 
transfer was signed by ^liles Standish, Samuel Nash 
and Constant Southworth. 

(II) John Washburn was born in England, 
1621, and his brother Philip at the same place in 
1624. He died unmarried. John (II) and his wife 
Eliza Mitchell had these children : John, married 
Rebecca Lepham ; Thomas, married (first) Abigail 
Leonard and (second) Deliverance Packard; Jo- 
seph, married Hannah Latham; Samuel, married 
Deborah Packard ; Jonathan, married ;\Iary 
Vaughan ; Benjamin, died on the Phipps expedition 
to Canada ; Mary, married Samuel Kingsley ; Eliza- 
beth, married (first) James Howard and (second) 
Edward Sealy ; Jane, married William Orcutt ; 
James, married Mary Bowden ; Sarah, married John 
Ames. 

(III) Samuel Washburn, son of John (2), called 
"Sergeant," was born in 1651 at Duxbury, Massa- 
chusetts. He married Deborah Packard, by whom he 
had six children, including Israel. 

(IV) Israel Washburn, born at Bridgewater, 
1684. married Waitstill Sumner in 1708, and had four 
children — one named Israel. 

(V) Israel Washburn, who settled at Rayn- 
ham, was born August 11, 1718, and married Leah 
Fobes. He was committeeman of "Inspection and 
Safety" and captain of a train band, 1774, and served 
a short time in the revolutionary war. His son 
was Israel. 

(VI) Israel Wahburn. son of Israel Washburn 
(S), was born in 1775, and married a !Miss King in 

1783. He served in the revolution and was at the 
Lexington alarm. He served in the general court 
and was a member of the constitutional convention. 
He talked but little and made but one speech in 
pubHc life. He died at Raynham, 1841. Of his 
ten children Israel (VII) was one. 

(VII) Israel Washburn, son of Israel (6), was 
born at Raynham,' Massachusetts, November 18, 

1784, died at Livermore, Maine, September i, 1876. 
He went to Maine in 1806 and taught school for a 
time and then engaged in ship and boat building. He 
removed to Livermore in 1809 and bought a farm, 
store and goods, and continued in trade until 1829. 
This farm was later and is still known as the "Nor- 
lands." He represented his "district of Maine" be- 
fore it had been set off from Massachusetts, which 
was in 1820. He served in 1815. 1816, 1818 and 
1819. Toward the end of his life he was afflicted by 
blindness and his friends used to read the news to 
him, of which he never tired. He was great in 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



cheerfulness, rivaled Lincoln in story-telling and 
could remember events well. It is said he could 
name all congressmen and give the district to which 
they belonged, when he himself had three sons in 
congress. 

His noble son, Hon. Elihu B., of Illinois fame, 
wrote from Paris, when Minister to France, as 
follows : 

"This is the eighty-si.xth birthday of my father. 
All hail to the glorious, great hearted, great headed, 
noble old man ! In truth, the noblest Roman of them 
all. How intelligent, how kind, how genial, how 
hospitable, how true !" 

This same worthy son had carved on his father's 
monument at death, "He was a kind father and an 
honest man." Passers by. to-day, may see this in 
the cemetery overlooking the family place, "The 
Norlands." 

(Vni) Hon. Elihu B. Washburne, the only mem- 
ber who still clung to the final "e" on his name, 
was the son of Israel (7), born at Livermore, 
Maine, September 23, 1816, and died at Chicago, 
Illinois, October 22, 1887, aged seventy-one years. 
In his early manhood, he taught school for ten dol- 
lars per month and "boarded round." In 1836 he 
entered Kents Hill Seminary, and in 1839 the Cam- 
bridge Law School. In 1840 he moved to Illinois, 
practicing law at Galena. In 1852 he was elected to a 
seat in congress, continuing sixteen years, and upon 
retirement was known as the "Watch Dog of the 
U. S. Treasury" and also as "Father of the House." 
He swore into office Schuyler Colfax and James G. 
Blaine as speakers. To him and William Seward 
alone did Abraham Lincoln confide the secret of 
the runnnig of his train from Philadelphia to Wash- 
ington, March, l86r, when Washburne had the tele- 
graph wires cut, fearing trouble would ensue en route. 
Both Seward and Washburne agreed to meet him 
at the depot in Washington, but Washburne was the 
only friend who did in fact meet him. He was a 
constituent and admirer of General Grant, who 
owed to him promotion to high office. In 1869 Grant 
ottered him a place in his cabinet as secretary of 
state, which he soon resigned and accepted the 
office of Minister to France, and was there during 
the trying days of the siege and commune, coinci- 
dent with the Franco-Prussian war. He remained 
there nearly nine years, and longer than any prede- 
cessor. During the Andrew Johnson impeachment 
trial, he was chairman of the house committee. 

He married in 1845, Adele Gratiot, granddaugh- 
ter of Stephen Hemslead, of Connecticut, a soldier 
of the revolutionary war. She died March, 188/. 
aged si.xty, her husband only surviving her until 
October 22. Their son, Gratiot Washburne, was 
graduated from the Highland Military Academy of 
Worcester and from the Naval Academy at New- 
port, Rhode Island. He was secretary of the United 
States legation under his father in France, and was 
one of four upon whom the French government be- 
stowed the Cross of Legion of Honor for services 
performed during the siege of Paris. He was 
secretary of the American Exposition at London in 
1886, and died suddenly in Kentucky. 

(VIII) Governor Israel Washburn, son of Israel 
(7), was born at Livermore, JIaine, June 6, 1813. He 
was admitted to the bar in 1823. He was in the 
legislature in 1842 and congressman from Maine 
in the thirty-second, thirty-third, thirty-fourth, 
thirty-fifth and thirty-sixth United States congresses 
He was first a Whig and later a Republican. He 
was elected governor of Maine in i860, and Lin- 
coln made him collector of the port of Portland 
in 1863. He was a literary man and also lectured 
much. Fie married (first) Mary M. Webster and 
(second) Robina Naper Brown, of Boston, in 1876. 



He died May 12, 1883, at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 
His son Israel was an officer in the Sixteenth 
Maine Regiment during the civil war period. 

(VIII) General C. C. Washburn, ex-Governor 
of Wisconsin, was fully named Cadwallader Colden 
Washburn. He was the son of Israel, born at 
Livermore, j\laine, 1818. xie was a land survcyar. 
went to Illinois in 1839, and settled at Mineral 
Point, Wisconsin. He practiced law, and in 1859 
moved to La Crosse, Wisconsin. He was elected to 
congress, serving from 1856 to 1862. He was dele- 
gate to the peace convention in i86r, and rai-^^ed a 
cavalry regiment the same year and was made 
colonel. During 1862 he was promoted to brigadier- 
general and then to major-general, and was at 
Vicksburg with Grant and under General Banks in 
Louisiana. In 1867 he was elected to a seat in con- 
gress from Wisconsin, serving until 1871, when he 
was chosen governor of Wisconsin. 

(VTI) Governor Emory Washburn, of Massa- 
chusetts, descended from the original immigrant 
thus: I. John and Margery; 2. John and Eliza- 
beth Mitchell; 3. Joseph and Hannah Latham; 4. 
Joseph and Hannah Johnson ; 5. Seth and Mary 
Harrod ; 6. Joseph and Ruth Davis ; 7. Governor 
Emory, who was born in Leicester, Worcester 
■ county, Massachusetts, 1800, and graduated at 
Williatns College, 1817. In 1826 and 1827 we find 
him in the general court of Massachusetts, and in 
1841 and 1842, state senator, in 1844 judge of the 
court of cominon pleas, from which bench he re- 
signed in 1847, and in 1853 he became governor of 
the state he had so faithfully served. He was made 
a professor in law at Harvard College in 1856. con- 
tinuing until March 18, 1877, when death claimed 
him. He was a noted author of many law works, 
genealogy and general historical books and papers. 
including the excellent "History of Leicester," his 
native place. He married Marianna C. Giles, who 
bore him three children. 

(V) John Washburn, son of John (4), was born 
in i6gg, married Abigail Johnson, and had these 
children: John, born 1730, married Lydia Prince; 
Abigail, born 1732; Mary, born 1734; Mercy, born 
I7.?6; Seth, born 1738, married (first) Faer How- 
ard, (second) Ann Fullcrton, (third) Deborah 
Churchill; Phillip; Thankful, born 1742. 

(VI) Seth Washburn, born 1738. married as 
above three wives and his children were : Fear, born 
1766; Perris; Abigail; Seth born 1769. married Sarah 
.A.dams ; Ichabod ; .Anna (by second wife) ; Ephraim 
(by third wife). 

(VII) Captain Ichabod Washburn, son of Seth 
(6), was born about 1771. and in 1793 married 
Sylvia Bradford, whose ancestors came in the "May- 
flower," through the following line : Goyernor Will- 
iam Bradford, who came on that ship, had a son, 
William, whose .son, Samuel, had a son, Gamaliel, 
whose son, Gamaliel, Jr., had a son named Peabody, 
whose daughter, Sylvia, was the wife of Captain 
Ichabod Washburn, who was a sea captain and lost 
his life while off the coast at Portland. Maine, 
helping to care for his brother seamen who were 
sick with yellow fever. He died at twenty-eight 
years of age, leaving three children : Ichabod 
(VIII) and Charles (twins), who subsequently 
came to Worcester, and a daughter Pamelia. 

(VIII) Ichabod Washburn, the founder of the 
great wire industry in Worcester, which is now a 
prominent factor in the Ainerican Steel and Wire 
Company, son of Ichabod and Sylvia (Bradford) 
Washburn, was born August 11, 1798. at Kingston. 
Massachusetts. His father died when he was but 
an infant, and his mother was left to support her- 
self and little ones by working at her loom and 
spinning wheel. When nine years of age Ichabod 



lO 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



Washburn went to live with a harness maker in 
Duxbury, Massachusetts, where he did chores and 
learned to stitch harness, attending school during 
the winter terms. After five years' experience at 
Duxbury, he returned to Kingston and worked for 
a time in a small cotton factory. At the age of 
sixteen years he was employed as an apprentice to 
learn the blacksmith's trade with Jonathan and 
David Trask, of Leicester. After a service of 
two years the firm dissolved partnership, and young 
Washburn found employment with Nathan Muzzcy 
at the same trade, engaging to work for two years, 
to receive fifty dollars for his services, be allowed 
twelve weeks schooling and furnished with board 
and clothing. T^Ir. Muzzey at the end of a year left 
Leicester for the adjoining town of Auburn, Wash- 
burn accompanying him, continuing until his twen- 
tieth birthday. In the winter of 1817 and 1818 he 
went to MiUbury to work as journeyman, but within 
a few weeks the news came that a position as clerk 
in Mr. Warren's grocery store in Portland, Maine, 
was awaiting him, his sister having become in the 
meantime Mrs. Warren. A brief trial at clerking 
in his brother-in-law's store convinced him that he 
was better adapted to mechanical than mercantile 
pursuits, and he returned to Millbury and began 
making ploughs on his own account. lie had no ■ 
funds, but, though a stranger, came to Worcester 
and presented his case to Mr. Daniel Waldo, a man 
of means, whO' heard his story and upon his own 
note gave him money with which to operate. This 
was his start financially. In 1819 he worked in an 
armory making ramrods, and in the autumn of that 
year came to Worcester. 

In 1820 he engaged in business with William H. 
Howard, manufacturing woolen machinery and lead 
pipe, and soon thereafter purchased Mr. Howard's 
interest in the business. In 1822 he took as a part- 
ner Benjamin Goddard, and with the increase of 
business they employed thirty workmen. They made 
the first condenser and long-roll spinning-jack that 
was made in the county. During the winter of 1830 
and 1831, while on School street, he experimented 
in the manufacture of wooden screws. Later he 
and Goddard sold their business and moved to 
Northville, where the manufacture of wire and 
wooden screws began, the wire being made by Wash- 
burn & Goddard and the screws by C. Reed & Com- 
pany, associates. They also made card-wire. Some 
in 1836-37 the screw business was removed to Prov- 
idence, and finally r^^^'ged into the "American Screw 
Company." In January, 1835, lie dissolved with 
Goddard at Northville, and continued the wire busi- 
ness in a building erected for him by Stephen Salis- 
bury, on Mill brook, which furnished the power for 
driving the crude and experimental machinery then 
in use. This building was forty by eighty feet, three 
stories high. In 1835 his twin brother. Charles, came 
from Harrison, Maine, where he had been practic- 
ing law, and formed a partnership with his brother, 
which terminated in January, 1S38, but soon after 
the substitution of the "wire-block" by Ichabod Wash- 
burn, which revolutionized the industry, the busi- 
ness began rapidly to multiply, and in 1842 they 
again associated themselves as partners, the firm 
name being I. & C. Washburn. 

In 1847 the two Washburns put in a rolling mill 
of their own at Quinsigamond, and soon the firm of 
Washburn, Moen & Company was formed. The 
same, however, was dissolved in 1849, the business 
going to Henry S. Washburn, a member of the firm. 
The firm of I. & C. Washburn that same year was 
dissolved and a division of the plant made, Charles 
taking the part at Quinsigamond. April i, 1850, 
Philip L. Moen became a partner of Ichabod Wash- 
burn, the style of the firm being I. Washburn and 



Company. Ichabod Washburn spent much time in 
experimenting in the tempering of wire that it might 
be put to various uses, and at the suggestion of Mr. 
Chickering, of Boston, he produced samples of 
piano string wire, an article which hitherto had been 
brought from England. That branch of the busi- 
ness has been conducted with success up to the 
present time, as well as other musical instrument 
wires. In July, 1859, Ichabod Washburn employed 
one hundred and twenty men and made three tons ■ 
of wire per day. In 1863 he and his partner built H 
a colton-mill, which they operated about ten years, » 
producing sulficient yarn to cover four tons of temp- 
ered crinoline wire per day. January, 1S65, Ichabod 
Washburn and Mr. Moen changed the firm name 
to "I. Washburn and Moen Iron Works" — capital 
stock, five hundred thousand dollars. In i858 it be- 
came the Washburn-JNIoen iSIanufacturing Company, 
with one million dollars capital. In 1889 the plant 
was operated by three thousand workmen. A few 
years since the whole business was merged into the 
American "Steel & Wire Company. 

Ichabod Washburn married (first) Ann G. 
Brown, October 6, 1823. She was the daughter of 
Mrs. David Brown, with whom he boarded in 
Worcester. One son was born to them, December 
1, 1824, but survived only a few days. Two daugh- 
ters were born to them : Eliza Ann, born June 4, 
1826, married Philip L. Moen, and died at the age 
of twenty-six years ; and Lucy Painelia, born March 
8, 1832, who died when twenty-two years old. The 
mother and little granddaughter soon passed from 
earth, leaving Mr. Washburn alone in the world. 
He founded the Worcester Memorial Hospital to H 
the fond memory of his two daughters. For his H 
second companion he married Elizabeth B. Cheever. ™ 

Of his political standing, let it be recorded that 
he was a strong anti-slavery advocate and gave of 
his means abundantly, and urged by a petition to 
President Lincoln the emancipation of the colored 
race. After he formation of the Republican party, 
he ever voted and worked and paid for the princi- 
ples it advocates. He believed that capital and 
labor should alike be busv and ever put to produc- 
ing for the world. He was state senator in i860 
and performed his part faithfully and well. 

He was a life-long Christian and did very much 
to aid the church. He was one of the first four 
deacons of the Union Church, and assisted materi- 
ally in building that church. He was treasurer of 
the Church Anti-Slavery Society in 1859. From his 
own funds, he erected the Mission Chapel on Sum- 
ner street, Worcester. Space in this volume pre- 
cludes the enumeration of but few of the benevo- 
lent causes and benevolent industries to which he 
gave most lavishly, believing as he did that money 
was made to use and to use for mankind. He was 
a systematic giver and in proportion to his income. 
He felt it a duty to donate, and like Peabody, his 
business multiplied on his hand by liberal giving to 
worthy causes, hence he headed all subscription pa- 
pers with a Christianlike pleasure. From him came 
twenty-five thousand dollars to further on the build- 
ing of the Mechanics' Hall, so appreciated today and 
for the past decades used for great audiences, re- 
ligious and political. He also was one of the origi- 
nal promoters of the "Bay State House." He de- 
spised into.xicating drinks and tobacco, giving time 
and wealth for their suppression. When he built 
his first lumber house, he would not ask men to 
help "raise" it, if they asked to have liquor, as was 
customary, but preferred to pay cash to men who 
would do it without into.xicants, furnishing instead 
lemonade and "small beer." Among his benefactions 
should not be forgotten the large amounts he gave 
toward the erection and support of educational and 




m 




<2/^,^ jP-'Jhatl 



WORCESTER COUNTY tt 

for file Afiffd (eif^hty- 1869, with that on Gr' 

a. llarj,) ; ..\' Moen Manufacturing Cuniyaiiv. 

use, the Honi' ate a capital of $i.o.to,ooo, aiir'l 

me, etc., scaiA .; i f, - 

even the lives of the f 
i?e. Seized by a stroke 
S, he lingered on unti. 
the same 3'r3r ITi; !,i 

■. ealliij-, I. 
•n. Char' 



.e. Tiiu 
ime state 



\ cu 1 ■ i-K -t I ;v 



1835 he cai e to Wore 
his brother chabod >" ■ 
the firm of ;. & C. 
years later the ri 
built. In li }9, thr. 
a division o- the. pr 

hands 01 
:;cd in CO 
DUSini -s, wbi' ' 
, when the W 



As early as 1 

■'-■V of the scui . 
losen a niem- 

1 rn -ircsi'"!oiit 



-irj 01 -U^.niKi.. -Mr. \\;.:iiburn ycuuicd 
t in the firm of the Wat-hburn & Moen 
'■ r '"'^ "pany, and ■ ' ■ •' ' 

ui> to I - 

am married Zibeah Cary Blak 
. Blake, of Otisfield. M.Vii- . ^: 
siie died August 12, 18.' 
b— !es F. (IX). born 
lav l6, i:- 



H,, April 



and Anna. > 

irn. son e f 1 

iiaving aci(uired an ry, 

V^ols of Wo'ccstcr and ' . ton, 

cd, was f nem, 

but he : ■ sur- 

werc : 
1., died 
August 
. July 12, 
Henry B., 
Jctober 13, 
nald Wash- 
daughter of 
ificld, Massa- 
june S, 1883, 
of Rev. R. S. 
.11- uijuc , H11UH.I-, rtiHi ur-_ York. He had 

is ganiond pj incorporated, in in infancy. 




j^^im 



^^c^t^A^^ cF^yhuJ-'L^ 



t,-^ 1-^ 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



II 



religious institutions: Home for the Aged (eighty- 
five thousand dollars) ; ^Memorial Hospital, the 
Freedmen's Cause, the Home and Foreign Missions, 
Orphans' Home, etc., scattered from Maine to 
Georgia. But even the lives of the truly great and 
good must cease. Seized by a stroke of paralysis in 
February, 1868, he lingered on until death came 
December of the same year. His last words were 
spoken to a brother, "It is all right," and thus Wor- 
cester and the world lost one of her noblest sons, 
a self-made, wealthy, devoted Christian. 

(VHI) Hon. Charles Washburn, twin brother 
of Ichabod Washburn, was born in Kingston, Massa- 
chusetts, August II, 1798. He selected as his voca- 
tion the profession of a lawyer, and after receiving 
the advantages of a common school education en- 
tered Brown University, from which institution he was 
graduated with the class of 1820. He was admitted to 
the bar, and in 1823 was practicing his profession in 
Otisfield, Maine. The following year he removed 
to Harrison, same state, where he continued to labor 
in his chosen profession, gaining special distinc- 
tion as a lawyer. During the years 1830 and 1S33 
he served his district in the Maine legislature. In 
1835 he came to Worcester, ]\Iassachusctts, to join 
his brother Ichabod in the wire industry, and in 1842 
the firm of I. & C. Washburn was formed and two 
years later the rolling-mill at Quinsigamond was 
built. In 1849, through a dissolution of the firm and 
a division of the property, the plant at Quinsigamond 
came into the hands of Charles Washburn, who was 
actively engaged in conducting this branch of the 
wire business, which he continued until the year 
1868, when the Washburn and Moen jManufactur- 
ing Company was formed, this industry becoming 
a part of the great business plant. As early as 1849 
Mr. Washburn served as a member of the school 
committee ; in 1849 and 1850 he was chosen a mem- 
ber of the common council, having been president 
of the same for three years; in 1851 was a member 
of the Massachusetts legislature, and in 1854 served 
in the board of aldermen. Mr. Washburn retained 
an interest in the firm of the Washburn & Moen 
Manufacturing Company, and was a member of the 
board of directors up to the time of his death, 
October 27, 1875. 

Mr. Washburn married Zibeah Cary Blake, daugli- 
ter of GrenfiU Blake, of Otisfield. Maine, November 
30, 1826; she died August 12, 1845. Their children 
were: Charles F. (IX), born August 23, 1827; 
Grenfill B., ?ilay 16, 1829; Lucia B., October 29, 
1730; Grenfill H., April 20, 1833; George L, May 26, 
1835 ; Henry B., November 10, 1837 ; Maurice B., 
July 25, 1839; Zibeah C, April 15, 1844; Maurice, 
August 9, 1845. Charles Washburn married for his 
second wife Anna F. Brown, February 2, 1847. 
There were three children of this marriage — a son 
John, and two daughters, Ellen and Anna. 

(IX) Charles Francis Washburn, son of Hon. 
Charles Washburn, having acquired an excellent 
education in the schools of Worcester and Leicester 
Academy, from which he graduated, was prevented 
by illness from attending college, but he added to 
his academical knowledge a liberal store of general 
information from his personal reading and observa- 
tion. After an extended trip to Europe he entered 
his father's rolling mills, and from the beginning 
gave evidence of that mechanical skill and business 
sagacity that characterized him in his later career. 
He mastered every detail of the industry, working 
in all departments, and gaining perfect mastery of 
them. In 1857 he was admitted to partnership with 
his father under the firm name of Charles Wash- 
burn & Son. The business expanded rapidly as new 
methods made possible new products, and the 
Quinsigamond plant was finally incorporated, in 



1869, with that on Grove street as the Washburn & 
Moen Manufactur .any, and grew to oper- 

ate a capital of .V and gave direct employ- 

ment to some four tiioii-and people. Originally re- 
stricted to the manufacture of wire for card teeth 
and other similar purposes, the factories began the 
making of telegraph wire as soon as the Morse in- 
vention had demonstrated its practicability, and in 
1850 was begun the making of piano wire, in which 
the product of the Washburn mills soon superseded 
the English make in the markets of the United 
States. The company met every necessity as it 
arose where wire could be used— wire for hoop 
skirts between i860 and 1870, and after that the 
great demand for all varieties of barbed wire for 
fencing. During the last ten years it has produced 
vast quantities of iron and steel cables and ropes, 
spiral springs, etc., and, following the introduction 
of electric energy for heating, light and power, 
thousands of tons of wire annually for these pur- 
poses. The yearly output of steel is about 40,000 
tons, and of all products about 100,000 tons. In 
1891 the company also established works at Wau- 
kegan, Illinois, with wire capacity nearly equal to 
that of the parent establishment. 

In the capacity of secretary, director and vice- 
president of the corporation, Mr. Washburn con- 
tinually took a leading part in the administration of 
its business, and to his perseverence and sagacity 
was largely due the great advancements which were 
made from time to time in the development of its 
usefulness and importance, a signal attestation of 
this fact being found in his securing to his company 
the conrol of the barbed wire patents. 

Deeply absorbed in his business Mr. Washburn 
held aloof from public concerns, except in one in- 
stance where he served the city as a member of the 
common council. He was deeply interested, how- 
ever, in benevolent and philanthropic works, and 
rendered zealous and useful service to two of the 
most notable and praiseworthy institutons of his 
city, acting as vice-president of the governing board 
of the Memorial Hospital, founded by his uncle, 
Ichabod Washburn, and as president of the Home 
for Aged Women. Of a sincere, christian tempera- 
ment, he was a communicant of All Saints' Protest- 
ant Episcopal Church. He was a warm advocate of 
free-soil principles in his early days; was an original 
member of the Republican party, and afllliatcd with 
it earnestly and effectually during the remainder of 
his life. He was a man of culture and refinement, 
delighting in healthful and ennobling literature, and 
devoted his leisure hours to his home and library. 
He died July 20, 1893, leaving behind him to his 
family and the community the fragrant memories 
which cling to a noble and useful life in those broad 
ways where such an unselfish man can make his 
every act a benediction upon the thousands who 
surround him. 

Mr. Washburn married, October 10, 1855, Mary, 
the eldest daughter of James M. Whiton, of Boston, 
jNIassachusetts. Eight children were born to them, 
all sons except one, and all excepting one son sur- 
vived their honored parent. The children were: 
Charles G., born January 28, 1857; James M., died 
in infancy, December 27. 1S58; Philip, born August 
2, 1861, died October 6, 1898; Miriam, born July 12, 
1864; Robert M., born January 4, 1868; Henry B., 
born December 2, 1869; Reginald, born October 13, 
1871; Arthur, born May 27, 1877. Reginald Wash- 
burn married, August 26, 1903. Dorcas, daughter of 
Hon. Edward S. Bcadford, of Springfield, Massa- 
chusetts. Philip Washburn married, June S, 1883. 
Miriam Phillips, youngest daughter of Rev. R. S. 
Storrs, D. D., of Brooklyn, New York. He had 
five daughters, two of whom died in infancy. 



12 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



(X) Robert Morris Washburn, son of Charles 
Francis and Mary Elizabeth Washburn, was born in 
Worcester, January 4, 1868. He was educated in the 
public schools, and was graduated at the Worcester 
high school in 1886. He received the degree of A. 
B. from Harvard University in 1890. He then 
studied law for one year in the office of Rice, King 
& Rice. He was then admitted a member of the 
second-year class at the Harvard law school, where 
he remained for one year, and in November, 1892, 
was admitted to the Worcester county bar. He is 
a practicing lawyer at 314 Main street, Worcester. 
He is unmarried, living at the homestead estate, 42 
Elm street. He is a member of the Republican city 
committee, 1906, and a vice-president of the Repub- 
lican club of Massachusetts, and a member of the 
Republican Club of Worcester. He is also a mem- 
ber of the Worcester Club, and Quinsigamond Boat 
Club. 

(X) Hon. Charles Grenfill Washburn, son of 
Charles Francis and Mary E. (Whiton) Washburn, 
was born in Worcester. January 28, 1857. He began 
his education in the public schools of his native city, 
was graduated from the Worcester Polytechnic In- 
stitute in 1875. and from Harvard University in 
1880. He subsequently took up the study of law 
and was admitted to the Suffolk bar in 1886. He 
has been constantly identified with the manufactur- 
ing interests of the city. In 1880 he established the 
business now conducted by the Wire Goods Com- 
pany, with which he is still connected. In 1882 he 
became treasurer and manager of the Worcester 
Barbed Fence Company, which was subsequently 
absorbed by the Washburn & Moen Manufacturing 
Company, and from 1884 to 1891 was a member of 
the last named corporation, and during a part of 
that period served in the capacity of director and 
executive officer. 

A Republican in politics, Mn Washburn was a 
member of the Massachusetts house of representa- 
tives in 1S97-98, in which body he served the first 
year on the committee on mercantile affairs, and 
the second year as chairman of the committee on 
taxation. On the expiration of his term in the lower 
branch he was elected to the state senate from the 
first district of Worcester, serving two terms — 1899 
and 1900. In 1902 he was a member of the com- 
mittee tO' revise the corporation laws of Alassachu- 
setts. He was a delegate to the Republican national 
convention in Chicago, and the ^Massachusetts mem- 
ber of the committee appointed to notify Theodore 
Roosevelt of his nomination. He was elected No- 
nember 6, 1906, to the si.xtieth congress from the 
Third IMassachusetts District. He is a trus- 
tee and president of the Worcester Poly- 
technic Institute. He married. April 25, 1889, 
Caroline Vinton Slater, daughter of Horatio 
N. Slater, of Webster. Their children were : Eliza- 
beth, born 1892, died in infancy; Slater, born August 
5, 1896; Charles Francis, born May 10, 1898, died 
December 19, 1902; Philip, born October 4, 1899; 
Esther Vinton, born August 10, ' 1902. 

Mrs. Washburn is a great-granddaughter of 
Samuel Slater, founder of the town of Webster, 
and a manufacturer of much importance in his day. 
He was a native of Derbyshire, England, and 
when fourteen years of age was apprenticed to 
Jedediah Strutt, a partner of Arkwright, the cele- 
brated pioneer in cotton manufacture. The offer 
of a premium for the introduction of the Ark- 
wright machinery into the United States brought 
him to America at the close of his apprenticeship. 
He arrived in New York about December i, 1790. 
and established at Pawtucket, Rhode Island, a 
manufactory for cotton yarn. In 1812, in partner- 
ship with Bela Tiffany, of South Brimfield, Massa- 



chusetts, under the firm name of Slater & Tiffany, 
he began the erection at Webster, Massachusetts, of 
mills for the manufacture of cotton yarn. During 
the war of 1812 the firm also engaged in the manu- 
facture of broadcloth. In 1816 ^Nlr. Slater purchased 
the interest of his partner, and afterwards associ- 
ated with himself Edward Howard, a practical 
cloth maker. In 1829 Howard sold his interest to 
Samuel Slater and his sons — George B. and Hora- 
tio N. Slater — who conducted business under the 
firm name of Samuel Slater & Sons. From 1835, 
the year of the death of the senior Slater, the sons 
conducted the business until 1843, when occurred 
the death of George B. Slater and Horatio N. 
Slater succeeded to the sole management, in which 
he continued until his death, in 1888, when his 
nephew and namesake, the father of Mrs. Charles 
G. Washburn, became the owner and manager. The 
business after the death of H. N. Slater, Jr., was 
incorporated as S. Slater & Sons. Samuel Slater, 
the emigrant, was twice married. First, October 2, 
1791, to Hannah, daughter of Oziel Wilkinson. She 
died about 1812, and about 1817 he married Esther, 
daughter of Robert Parkinson, of Philadelphia. His 
first wife bore him nine children, of whom the sev- 
enth was Horatio Nelson Slater. 

(VII) Hon. William Barrett Washburn, son of 
.'\sa and Phebe (Whitney) Washburn, and grandson 
of Colonel Elijah Washburn and Captain Phineas 
Whitney, was born in Winchenden, January 31, 
1820. He fitted for college at the Westminster and 
Hancock Academies, and was graduated from Yale 
College in 1844. He clerked three years and then 
engaged in the manufacture of doors, chairs and 
wooden-ware at Erving. In 1857 he moved to 
Greenfield, where he lived at the time of his death. 
October 5, 1887. He was a member of the house of 
representatives in 1850 and of the senate in 1854. 
He was a member of congress from 1863 to January 
I, 1872, when he resigned to be inaugurated gov- 
ernor of Massachusetts. April 17, 1874, he resigned 
as governor to fill the unexpired term of Hon. 
Charles Sumner in the United States senate, hold- 
ing the office until ]\Iarch 4, 1875. For many years 
he was president of the Greenfield Bank and one 
of the trustees of Yale College and an overseer of 
Amherst College. He married, September 6, 1847. 
Hannah Sweetster by whom were born two sons 
and four daughters. 

(IX) General Francis Washburn, son of John 
M. Washburn, was born July, 1838, at Lancaster, his 
parents having the April previous removed from 
Boston. From the academy of his native town, at 
the age of sixteen years, he went to serve a regu- 
lar term in the Lawrence Machine Compan}'"s shop. 
He next went to the Scientific School of Mining 
and Engineering at Freiburg. Saxony. When in 
1860-1861 the civil war cloud darkened our fair 
national sky, he wrote, "I must hasten my return. 
If the war comes, I shall sail at once." In Decem- 
ber, 1861, he was given a commission in the army, 
which he used as soon as he waited to see his 
father pass from earth. He was mustered in as sec- 
ond lieutenant in the First Massachusetts Cavalry, 
the history of which is well knowil in the war de- 
partment. He became captain, lieutenant-colonel, 
and in February, 1865, commissioned as colonel, 
which he held at the time of his death. He was 
mortally wounded in the brilliant engagement at 
High Bridge, Virginia, April 6, 1865. His braver/ 
was noted by the then Lieutenant-General Grant, 
at whose request he was commissioned brigadier- 
general. Here men fought hand to hand, an un- 
common occurence. He fell from saber stroke and 
pistol shot. He was brought home to the house 
of his brother, Hon. John D. Washburn, where he 




(^L0aiWmA4\ 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



13 



shortly gave up his young life, licing ])ut twenty- 
six years of age. He was called the "While Knight 
of Modern Cavalry." 

(IX) Hon. John D. Washburn, born in Boston, 
March 27, 1833. was the eldest son of John Mar- 
shall and Harriet (Kimball) Washburn. His par- 
ents removed to Lancaster when he was five years 
old and there his youth was spent amid those beauti- 
ful surroundings. In 1853 he was graduated from 
Harvard College, entering the law, lirst studying 
with Hon. Emory Washburn and Hon. George F. 
Hoar in 1854, finally receiving" a diploma from the 
Harvard School in 1856. He practised in Worcester 
with Hon. H, C. Rice. He made for himself a place 
of importance among insurance circles, as legal 
adviser. Later he succeeded Hon. Alexander H. 
Bullock as general agent and attorney of the in- 
surance companies in 1866. Through this associa- 
tion he became connected with Governor Bullock 
as chief of the stafi from 1866 to 1869, receiving a 
colonel's commission. From 1871 to 1881 he was 
trustee of the Worcester Lunatic Hospital, and from 
1875 to 1S85 filled a similar place in the School for 
Feeble ^Minded. He was a member of the house 
of representatives from 1876 to 1879, and a senator 
from Worcester in 1884. From 1866 to 1880 he was 
a director of the Citizens' National Bank. He was 
also a member of the board of investment fur the 
W^orcester County Institution for Savings ; also 
trustee and treasurer of the Memorial Hospital. In 
1883 he became president of the Merchants' and 
Farmers' Insurance Company. For many years he 
was the councilor and secretary of the American 
Antiquarian Society. During the latter years of his 
life he was appointed as minister to represent this 
country in Switzerland. 

He married in i860 Mary F. Putnam. 'J'heir 
daughter Edith, in 1884, married Richard Ward 
Greene, of Worcester. He died April 4, 1903, leav- 
ing a record in itself, a royal legacy to any com- 
munity. He was one of nature's own nohlemen. 
Even to the most humble of his constituents, he 
would grant a personal favor and special attention. 
It is believed that exposure to the hot sun, while 
visiting in Paris, affected his head and that from 
this was traced his lingering illness and final death. 

(VIII) W'illiam Ansel Washburn, deputy 
sheriff of Worcester, was born in Paxton, Massa- 
chusetts, August 14, 1837. He was the son of John 
and Nancy (Bemis) Washburn. His grandfather 
was Francis Washburn, born in Brockton, 1769, died 
1844; the great-grandfather being Jacob Washburn, 
born in the same place. 

John W'ashburn, W^illiam Ansel Washburn's 
father, was born in Leicester, November 14, 1800, 
and died in 1867. He was a shoemaker and black- 
smith and drove the stage many years between Bos- 
ton and Worcester. He married Nancy- Bemis in 
1831. Their children were Delia, William A. and 
Alice (twins), and Julia. 

William Ansel was reared to farm life and then 
learned the trade of shoemaker with his father. 
When eighteen he left home and came to Worcester, 
securing employment in the Hospital for the Insane 
for four years. Then he clerked for a time,' but soon 
began as a nail-maker in the factory of Prouty & 
Allen. He was finally appointed a patrolman on the. 
police force in 1863, and two years later was made 
assistant-marshal, holding the same from 1873 to 
1880; again in 1883, and from 1886 to 1S93. In 
1893, he, by appointment, was made deputy sheriff 
and deputy jailer. Like many another modern man, 
he is closely identified witli civic societies, including 
the Masonic and Odd Fellows orders. He is a 
Knight Templar. Politically he affiliates with the 
Republican party. In his religious belief he ad- 



hcre.s^ to that of llie Universalist faith. November 
29, 1860, he married Emily Delano, of Provincetown, 
Massachusetts. 

(VII) Hon. Peter Thatcher Washburn, once 
governor of Vermont, was born in Lynn, Massa- 
chusetts, September 7, 1814, and died at Wood- 
stock, Vermont, February 7, 1870, He was the son 
of Reuben and Hannah Washburn. The father was 
born in Leicester, Massachusetts, December 30, 
1781. When Mr. Washburn was but three years of 
age his father removed to Cavendish, Vermont. He 
graduated at Dartmouth College in 1835, and began 
law practice in 1838 at Ludlow, Vermont. He be- 
came one of the most marked political figures in 
the state. For eight years, from 1844 to 1852, he 
held the office of supreme court reporter. In 1853-54, 
he was in the legislature, and when the rebellion 
broke out he rai.sed troops and entered the service as 
lieutenant-colonel of the First Regiment from Ver- 
mont, being stationed at Fortress Monroe. He only 
remained in the service about three months, and in 
1861 was appointed inspector-general of Vermont. 
September, 1869, he was elected governor of Ver- 
mont. He was active with his pen, and in 1844 
publislied a "Digest of Vermont Reports" and many 
other works of value. 

BARTON FAMILY. Hon. Ira Moore Barton was 
a gentleman of unusual qualities as a scholar, jurist 
and judge. He was born in Oxford, Massachu- 
setts, October 25, 1796. and was of the fifth genera- 
tion from Samuel Barton, of Salem, Massachu- 
setts, 1693, and of Sutton, 1718. After preparation 
by a private tutor and at Leicester Academy, he 
entered Brown University and was graduated from 
that institution in i8rg. He began the study of 
law with Samuel W. Bridgham, of Providence, con- 
tinuing his legal, education with Sumner Barstow, 
of Sutton, and Hon. Levi Lincoln, of Worcester, 
from whose office he entered the Harvard Law 
School, graduating in 1822. He immediately estab- 
lished an office in Oxford, where his recognized 
ability and skill as a legal adviser and advocate 
soon brought him a large practice. 

For three years (1830-31-32) he represented the 
town of Oxford in the state legislature, and in 
1833-34 represented the county of Worcester in 
the state senate, serving for a time as commissioner 
for the revision of the statutes. He removed to 
Worcester in 1834, and two years later was ap- 
poiiUed by Governor Edward Everett judge of pro- 
bate for the county of Worcester. As the duties of 
the office did not require his entire time, he contiiuied 
his practice in other courts. In 1844 he resigned as 
judge of probate to devote his entire time to his 
growing practice. In 1840 he was chosen presi- 
dential elector, and in 1846 represented the town 
of Worcester in the house of representatives in 
the state legislature. He rendered efficient service 
in behalf of his constituents and the state, exerting 
himself earnestly in favor of an act to extend the 
equity and jurisdiction of our highest court. In 1844 
Judge Barton took as law partner Peter C. Bacon, 
also of Oxford, and two j-ears later William Sum- 
ner Barton, eldest son of the judge, was taken 
into the firm. 

In 1849 Judge Barton went to Europe, where he 
passed nearly two years, enjoying a much needed 
rest. On his return he resumed his practice in the 
firm. He was a member of the American Anti- 
quarian Society, and one of its councillors. He died 
July 18. 1867. and the librarian of that institution, 
Samuel F. Haven. LL. D., in his council report 
of October of that year says of Judge Barton — 
"In every station, public or private, he was dis- 
tinguished for ability, sterling integrity, and earnest 



14 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



devotion to the fullest performance of every duty." 
He was an accomplished lawyer, an upright magis- 
trate, an enlightened patriotic citizen. His widow 
died in Worcester, November 24, 18S3, aged eighty- 
three years. Their children were: William Sumner, 
born September 30, 1824, died July 13, 1899; Hannah 
Maria, born April 21, 1826, died December 
13, igo6; Artemas Bullard, born August 12, 
1828, died June 21, 1831 ; Charles Henry, born 
April 10, 1830, died February 16, 1885 ; Artemas 
Bullard, born December 5, '1831, died April 17, 
1837; Lucy Ann, born July 24, 1834, died Septem- 
ber 25, 190S ; Francis Augustus, born October 24, 
1836, died January 29, 1898; Edmund Mills, born 
September 27, 1838; George Edward, born July 
30, 1841, died May 29, 1878. 

William Sumner Barton, eldest son of Judge 
Barton, was born in Oxford, September 30, 
1824, and came when ten years of age with 
his parents to Worcester. He attended the 
common schools and also the Worcester _ Acad- 
emy, was graduated from Brown University 
in 1844, and later received the degree of A. M. 
After studying law in the office of his father and 
law partner, Peter C. Bacon, and attending the Har- 
vard Law School, he was admitted to the bar in 
1846, and became a partner in his father's firm, 
the style of the firm being Barton, Bacon & Barton. 
In June, 1854, he accepted a position in the Bank 
of Commerce, Boston, where he remained until 
January, 1872, when he was elected treasurer and 
collector of tax^s for the city of Worcester. From 
1876 until his death he was treasurer of the sinking 
funds, and also from 1872 treasurer of all the trust 
funds of the city. Mr. Barton was a genial, court- 
eous gentleman, prompt and accurate,^ thoroughly 
competent to discharge the duties of his office — an 
ideal public official. He inaugurated a new and 
modern system of arranging and keeping accounts, 
which greatly facilitated and simplified the work of 
the department. He was fond of historical study 
and research, and among the articles from his pen 
are, "Sketch of the Bullard Family," "Sketch of the 
Life of the Duchess of Orleans and her Sons, the 
Comte de Paris, and the Due de Chartres," and 
"Epitaphs from the Cemetery on Worcester Com- 
mon, with occasional notes, references and an in- 
dex." After a faithful, honorable service as city 






BULLARD HOUSE. WEST SUTTON 



The Bullard house was built by Ebenezer Waters in 1767. who sold 
it to Mr. Hunt, of whom Dr. Artemas Bullard purchased it about the 
year 180.5. Here Mrs. Henry Ward Beecher was born, courted and 
married. In the parlor at the left as you enter the house, in which 
Mr. and Mrs. Beecher were married, is a painting of Boston Common, 
on the panel over the fire place, and in the chamber overhead is a 
painting of the Boston Tea Party, in a panel over the fireplace there 



treasurer for twenty-seven years, he died July 13, 
1899. 

He married April 4, 1849, Anne Elizabeth, daugh- 
ter of Samuel and Mary Gould (Ellery) Jennison, of 
Worcester. He married for his second wife, No- 
vember 22, 1870, Katharine Almy, daughter of Will- 
iam and Jane Byron Ellery, of New York city. 
His widow and live children survive him ; three 
daughters by the first marriage, and a son and 
daughter by the second. 

Edmund Mills Barton was born in Worcester, 
Massachusetts, September 27, 1838, the son of the 
late Hon. Ira Moore Barton and his wife, Maria 
Waters (Bullard) Barton. She was born January 
25, 1800, in the town of Northbridge, daughter of 
Artemas Bullard, M. D., and his wife Lucy, eldest 
daughter of Deacon Jesse and Anna Mason White, 
of Northbridge. Dr. Bullard was a successful prac- 
titioner, who acquired an extensive practice, and 
as a citizen was greatly respected and beloved. He 
was appointed by Governor Strong surgeon of the 
local infantry regiment, and was in 1814 elected 
a fellow of the council of the Massachusetts Medi- 
cal Society. Mr. Barton's great-grandfather, Asa 
Bullard, of Holliston, Massachusetts, answered the 
Lexington Alarm, serving in Captain Stapels Cham- 
berlain's company. Colonel Samuel Bullard's regi- 
ment. 

Mr. Barton's boyhood days were chiefly spent 
in Worcester. After passing through the various 
graded schools, he took a course at the Valentine 
school in Northborough. The opening scenes of 
the civil war found him at home, assisting in the 
care of his invalid father. In May, 1863, he went to 
the headquarters of the Army of the Potomac, visit- 
ing hospitals on the way, and laboring in the field 
hospitals after the battle of Chancellorsville. He 
then visited the headquarters of General John A. 
Dix, at Fortress Monroe, and accompanied him 
upon his expedition to Bottom's Bridge, near Rich- 
mond. The battle of Gettysburg called him to that 
field for hospital work, and there he was commis- 
sioned field relief agent of the United States sani- 
tary commission, under the authority of the secre- 
tary of war, and was assigned to the Fifth Army 
Corps of the Army of the Potomac. This position 
he held at the front until the end of the war and 
the final review at Washington. (See Marvin's 
"Worcester in the war of the Rebellion" 
for further details.) 

After Mr. Barton's return from the war, 
July I, 1865, he spent a few months in travel 
and on April I, 1866, became assistant 
librarian of the American Antiquarian So- 
ciety, Worcester. Upon the death of the 
eminent librarian. Dr. Samuel Foster 
Haven, he was unanimously elected on 
April 24, 1883, to succeed him in the im- 
portant office. It was a most fitting recog- 
nition of the services of a zealous, pains- 
taking efficient officer, who has at all times 
given the best at his command to further 
the good service of that remarkably well 
equipped institution. For Mr. Barton's 
literary productions, reference is made to 
Ford's partial bibliography of published 
works of members of the American His- 
torical Association, of which Mr. Barton is 
an original life member of the American 
Library Association, of which he was for 
some years a councillor; life member of the 
American Antiquarian Society; life mem- 
ber of the Massachusetts Library Club, and 
at one time a vice-president ; member of 
the Worcester High School Association, 
and its president in 1894 1 also a member 




(§^^^/^^rz;r/-c^^ 



WORCESTER COUXTY 



Df various historical, military, and benevolent so- 
:ieties and cluirch clubs. 

He married, September 6, 1871, Abigail Twycross 
Blake, daughter of the Rev. Samuel Paine Blake, 
and they have one daughter and three sons : Lydia 
Maud, born August 2, 1872 ; Edmund Blake, born 
Dctober 30, 1874; Frederick MacDonald, born June 
[9, 1880; and Harold BuUard, born December 21, 
[88s. 

WOODCOCK FAMILY. We find from "His- 
:orical Collections" that the first settlement in Attle- 
Dorough was commenced by a John Woodcock and 
[lis sons, about 1669. He built a public house on 
Lhe Bay road, and laid out about three hundred 
icres of land for his farm. He took up in several 
parts of the town six hundred acres, some on his 
Dwn shares, and the rest on rights that he pur- 
:hased. His house was occupied for a garrison, 
ind was licensed in 1670. Woodcock was a man 
jf some consequence in those days, his name often 
ippearing in town ofKces and on committees. In 
[691 he was chosen deputy to the general court 
Erom Rehoboth, and at several other times. He 
A'as shrewd, hardy and brave, a strong and im- 
slacable enemy to the Indians. He died in 1701, 
It an advanced age. After his death seven bullet 
loles were counted in his body. He had two wives : 
Sarah, died May 10, 1676 ; and Joanna, who sur- 
ifived him. His children were : i. John, married 
Sarah Smith, 1673. 2. Israel. 3. Nathaniel. 4. 
Jonathan. 5. Thomas ; and three daughters. 

In August, 1894, the following item appeared in 
he Boston Journal: ''The grave of Nathaniel Wood- 
rock, who was killed by the Indians, and who was 
:he first white settler in Attleborough, has prob- 
ibly been located. The discovery promises to be 
jf much historical importance. A few days ago, 
Afhile workmen were grading at the 'Old North 
Burying Ground,' a grave-stone was ploughed up. 
*it present all that can be traced without acids 

s. 'In Memory of N W , died March, 1665.' " 

^Jathaniel Woodcock is known to have been killed 
)y Indians in March, 1665. 

Nathan Woodcock, the great-grandfather of our 
;ubject proper, Theodore E., was married in Easton, 
Massachusetts, September 26, 1765, to Elizabeth 
Stone. 

John Woodcock, their son, was born in Easton, 
Vlassachusetts. October 14, 1775, and died in Leices- 
er in 1814. He was educated in the common schools 
if his neighborhood, and was a man of keen in- 
ellect, shrewd and practical, with a v\-armhcarted 
lature. He was endowed with the gift of inventive 
jenius, and in 1809 he received United States Let- 
ers Patent for a machine, still much in use, for 
splitting leather, and which at that time was of 
jreat value. He is mentioned by Governor Wash- 
)urn in his "History of Leicester," as a very "in-' 
renious mechanic," for whose valuable invention 
he town owes a debt of gratitude which ought not 
be forgotten. He lived but fourteen years after 
:oming to Leicester, falling a victim to consump- 
:ion. but in those j-ears he had built up, in con- 
lection with his partner, a valuable business, known 
IS the manufacture of card clothing, which in the 
lands of descendants and their associates, continued 
nany vears. He married, in Easton, December 15, 
796, Ruth Mehurin, of Easton, Massachusetts, and 
vas at the time of marriage of Rutland, Massachu- 
etts. He left three sons and two daughters, whose 
Ives were all passed in Leicester, "usefully and 
lonornbly:" Hannah, married Benjamin Conklin, 
826, Ruth,' married Dwight Bisco, Esq., January 8, 
:826. John, Josephus, Lucius. 

John Woodcock, son of John (4), was born in 



Rutland, Massachusetts, July 23, 1800, and died in 
Leicester, August 26, 1880. He obtained a common 
school education, and true to the best traditions of 
New England li£e, as well as to the education he 
had received, he entered early, at the age of seven- 
teen upon a course of business industry. He took 
service with James and John A. Smith, who were 
his father's successors in business. In 1825 he be- 
came, with Hiram Knight, Esq., partner in the same 
firm, later known as Woodcock & Knight, and in 
1848 Theodore E. Woodcock and Dexter Knight, 
sons of seniors, came to the firm under the name 
of Woodcock, Knight & Company. He retired from 
business in 1867. During his life, he gave a good 
share of his time to the public service, was a select- 
man, and in other town offices, and in the legislature 
two years. He was always a stanch Republican; 
was a director of the Leicester Bank from 1836 
to the time of his death, a period of forty-four 
years, and a trustee of the Savings Bank from its 
beginning. He was for ten years chairman of the 
directors of the Public Library of the town in which 
he took a warm interest, and to which he made 
many donations of valuable books. He was known 
as a man of intelligence, and of sound, practical 
judgment, of a memory remarkably exact both of 
persons and events. 

Mr. Woodcock was married, in 1823, to Anna 
Jenkins, born in Cambridge, New York, daughter 
of Joshua and Remember Bowen Jenkins, who were 
both stanch Quakers. Reared in this faith, the 
daughter Anna retained the gentle, loving nature 
so characteristic of the Society of Friends, ever 
ready to lend a helping hand to the sick and un- 
fortunate ; of affable and pleasing manner, her many 
fine qualities endeared her to a large circle of friends. 
Three children were the result of this marriage: 
Theodore Earle; Ann Eliza, married Dr. William 
H. Brown, of Bangor, Maine, in 1851, and died in 
1889; Ruth Mehurin, married William W. Cald- 
well, Esq., of Newburyport, Massachusetts, Sep- 
tember 21, 1848. Mrs. Woodcock died in 1856. Mr. 
Woodcock married (second) in 1858, Ellen L. 
Burnett, of North Brookfield, Massachusetts, a lady 
of culture, who cared for him most tenderly in 
his declining years, and still survives him. His 
home was always the happy resort of children and 
grandchildren; his spirit ever affectionate and gen- 
erous, 

Theodore Earle Woodcock, son of John (5), 
was born in Leicester, Massachusetts, February 19, 
1825. He obtained his education in the schools of 
his native town and in Leicester Academy. He com- 
menced at an early age working in his father's 
caid factory, learning the business, and in 1848 was 
adnntted as a partner in the card clothing manu- 
facturing with his father, the firm known for many 
years as Woodcock. Knight & Company, Mr. Wood- 
cock retiring in i88r, the company dissolving by 
mutual consent, having had a high reputation in 
one form or another, since 1802, when the business 
was established by Winthrop Earle and John Wood- 
cock, grandfather of Theodore E., the subject 
proper of this sketch. 

Mr. Woodcock was chosen director of the Leices- 
ter Bank in 1869. serving until 1904, when the bank 
went into liquidation; is second vice-president of 
the Leicester Savings Bank; also a member of the 
finance committee; he has served as selectman in 
his town, and was a director of the Public Library 
for many years. Mr. Woodcock is a man of quiet 
tastes, home-loving and fond of reading. Although 
residing in Worcester, he is still loyal to his native 
town. Leicester, and retains his legal residence there, 
and is also a regular attendant at the John Nelson 
Memorial Church of that place. 



i6 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



In 1850 he was married to Miss Ellen Caldwell, 
daughter of John Caldwell, Esq., of Newburyport, 
Massachusetts, a most estimable lady of pleasing 
manner, but who was unfortunately an invalid for 
several years, and died in 1873. By this union, three 
children were born, viz.: Anna Ruth; Ellen Orne, 
died in 1873, aged seventeen years ; John, died in 
infancy. Anna Ruth married, April 28, 1875, George 
Richardson, of the firm of Clark, Sawyer Co., of 
Worcester. They have two children, and reside in 
Worcester, Massachusetts. 

HON. THOMAS H. DODGE. Among the 
noted and praiseworthy types of manhood whose 
career has brightened and blessed his fellowmen, 
none rises to a more truly noble and lofty attitude 
than an honored son of the "Green Mountain" 
state, of whom the subjoined notice and genealogi- 
cal sketch is .written. With such an abundance of 
real facts from which to draw, one scarcely knows 
which to select for record use and which to leave 
unemployed. The subject of which we write is 

Thontias H. Dodge, who has been an active, 
brainy, never-stand-still character, whose career, 
now well nigh spent by the coming-on of old age, 
will for generations yet to come be kindly remem- 
bered for the work he had so intelligently wrought 
out with his own brains and willing hands. While 
some men achieve great names by military fame ; 
some by statesmanlike lives ; others by money-mak- 
ing traits alone, this gentleman has made for the 
world a true pattern for any young man who wishes 
to improve his time and make good use of the op- 
portunities with which he finds himself environed, 
upon his advent into the world. In this man one 
finds a study, which to fully comprehend needs to 
be re-enforced by a knowledge of his noble an- 
cestry — noble not in a sense of handed-down 
"royalty," but of that sturdy self-making, self-deny- 
ing, painstaking sort of which most truly great men 
are produced. 

Concerning the genealogy of Mr. Dodge, let it 
be said that he is of English origin, and what people 
have been felt more for their intellect and virtues 
than the Anglo- SaxOn race? The Dodges have 
a history known somewhat of as far back as 
1306 A. D., when members of the family held lands 
in Stockport, England. But as the object of this 
volume is to begin with the American ancestry, 
as a rule, and trace the descendants to the present 
time, such facts as might be had concerning the 
English family will not be atteinpted to be repro- 
duced herein. 

In the course of researches for this family his- 
tory only two main branches have been found, one 
descended from William, or Richard, of Beverly, 
Massachusetts, and the other from Tristram Dodge, 
who settled on Block Island, Rhode Island, in 1660. 
April 25, 1629, there sailed from Gravesend, on the 
Thames, two boats — one the "Talbot," a vessel of 
three hundred tons, and the "Lion's Whelp," a 
neat ship of one hundred and twenty tons. They 
reached Yarmouth, Isle of Wight, May _ 8. The 
journal kept by Reverend Francis Higginson, of 
the "Talbot," has been preserved and gives clue 
to the origin of all American Dodges. That record 
says that the "Lion's Whelp" had forty planters 
from Dorchester, many mariners, eight pieces of 
ordnance, provisions, and four goats. Both vessels 
sailed from Yarmouth, May 11, 1629, and arrived 
at Salem, June 29, the same year. 

William Dodge settled in that location now called 
Beverly, but in early times known as Bass-River- 
Side, being separated from Salem by the bay. Tra- 
dition states he was tall, with black hair and a 
dark complexion. He became a freeman April 17, 



T.6zy, and received a grant of land containing sixty 
acres in September that year. William Dodge came 
to Salem nine years earlier than Richard, hence he 
has been called the "father of American Dodges." 
The records, however, show the descendants of 
Richard outnumber his, probably on account of the 
fact that the former had but two sons, while Richard 
had five. 

Richard Dodge, brother of William (i), was 
received as an inhabitant in October, 1638, and was 
granted ten acres by the town of Salem. He was 
admitted into the churcji at Salem, May 5, 1644. 
In 1671 he helped to establish the First Church at 
Beverly. Richard died in June, 1671, leaving a will 
jjy which it appeaiTS that he left a brother Michael : 
the will of Richard, in connection with the will 
of his father, John Dodge, renders the origin of 
Salem Dodges quite clear. Records in the register's 
office of Essex county also show that William Dodge, 
senior, had a nephew William Dodge (Coker Will- 
iam or William Coker), son of Michael, to whom 
by a deed dated May 12, 1685, he gave sixteen 
acres of land where now stands the Beverly reser- 
voir. On the same date he also imposed a duty 
upon his son Captain William Dodge, of Beverly, 
to "pay my brother," "if he came to New England 
and dwell in this town of Beverly, five pounds per 
annum, so long as he shall dwell here" — referring 
to his brother in England — doubtless Michael 
Sprague, then his only brother, Richard having died 
in 1671. 

The Dodges for at least four generations rarely 
engaged at anything besides farming. They wanted 
to possess and improve the soil. They were hard 
workers and seldom irreligious; rarely office seek- 
ers, and were a temperate set of people. With the 
expansion of population they pushed forth for new 
homes, to subdue other lands, and have been found 
on the wild frontiers, through the northern states, 
and today count their descendants by the hundreds 
if not thousands all the way from New England 
to the waters of the Pacific. Men of note and 
national fame may be found here and there from 
out their ranks of workers. They are found among 
the philanthropic, military, literary, clergy, medical, 
legal and college professorships and callings — ever 
ready to do and to dare. 

To come now direct to the line of genealogy in 
this country it may be said, first, that John Dodge 
(i) and wife Margery, of Somersetshire, England, 
had these children : i. William, came to America, 
1629; died between 1685 and t602. He was prob- 
ably born about 1604. 2. Richard, appeared in 
Salem. 1637 : died June. 1671 : probably born 1602. 
3. Michael, lived and died in Somerset county, Eng- 
land, and had five children. 4. Mary, died in Eng- 
land and had one son — John. 

(Ill William Dodge, eldest son of John (l), 
born about 1604, came to Salem, Massachusetts, in 
162Q. A tradition was handed down by Col. Robert 
Dodge to his son Francis, of Georgetown, D. C., 
that "farmer William" came to America when about 
twenty-one years of age. to see how he liked it, 
and returned to England, telling his father that he 
had determined to settle in America, and asked 
him for some oresent. His father said, "get mar- 
ried and I will give it." William is said to have 
had two refusals, but finally succeeded, married, 
and for his "present" his father gave him a pair 
of bulls. "Farmer William," as he was styled, be- 
came a prominent factor in his new home in the 
New World. He was elected to many local ofiices 
and served in courts as juryman, helped construct 
roads; bridges, churches, and was an extensive 
farmer. In 1685 he ,sold his real estate, conveying 
the homestead to his son Captain William. His 




^m^^^.^^ 



c 



:| 



I 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



17 



:hildren were: I. Capt. William, born September, 
[640; died 1720. 2. Hannah, born 1642; married 
5amuel Porter, who died 1660 ; married Thomas 
k\'oodbcrry. Josiah Dodge, killed in the Narragan- 
>ett war in 1O75, may have been another son. 

(II) Richard Dodge, son of John Dodge (l), 
:he English ancestor, and a brother to William above 
lamed, married in England, and had a son John, 
ivho died there. His wife was baptized as Edith. 
[t is quite certain that Richard and wife joined the 
New England colony in 1638, and as the King 
it that time was not allowing emigration, it is 
possible that he left England without royal sanc- 
;ion. He settled in "Dodge Row," North Beverly, 
.vhere he built a house that was occupied and kept 
n the family for more than two hundred years. 
He and his wife Edith were members of the Wen- 
lam Church, but the most of his time and talent 
seems to have been spent in farm improvements, 
lot paying any special attention to church work. 
His wife outlived him seven years, dying June 
27. 1678, at the age of seventy-five years. Their 
:hildren were : John, Mary, Sarah, Richard, Samuel, 
Edward, Joseph. 

(III) Joseph Dodge, son of Richard (2), born 
in Beverly, 165X, died August 10, 1716; married 
Sarah Eaton, of Reading, 1671. He was a farmer 
in Beverly, near his father, on Dodge Row. He 
ivas one of the executors of his father's estate, re- 
:eiving a liberal joint share with his brother Ed- 
ward. The children born to Joseph and his wife 
ivere : Abigail, Joseph, Noah, Prudence, Abigail, 
Jonah, Sarah. Elisha, Charity, Nathaniel. 

(IV) Elisha Dodge, son of Joseph (3), born 
January, 1687, died January 17, 1755. With his 
brother Jonah he shared his father's real estate 
holdings. In his will he gave his wife Mary two 
cows, f6ur sheep and other property, and to his 
son Elisha all real and personal estate. He left 
to his wife a negro woman, Bathsheba, who was 
to belong to his daughters Lois and Mary on the 
death of their mother. His realty was appraised 
at 380 pounds, and personal at 114 pounds. He 
married Mary Kimball, of Wenham, October, 1709, 
and the children born to them were : Jerusha, Lois, 
Elisha, Mary, Elisha. 

(V) Elisha Dodge, son of Elisha (4), born in 
Beverly, May 17, 1723, died after 1777, in New 
Boston, married, first, to Eleanor Dodge ; sec- 
ondly, to Sarah Foster, of Wenham, 1748, who died 
August, 1768: and in 1769 he married Mrs. Deborah 
Lovett. He lived in Beverly until 1777, when he 
moved his family to New Boston, New Hampshire, 
where he died. His children were: Sarah, Jerusha, 
Elisha, Noah, Malachi, Abigail, Ella, Enoch, 
Mehitable, Mary. 

(VI) Enoch Douglas, son of Elisha (s), born 
May. 1762. in Beverly, died December 27, 1834, 
in Eden. Vermont; married, December 18, 1787, 
Jael Cochran, born in New Boston, New Hamp- 
shire, 1768, died at Eden, Vermont, April 6, 1844. 
They moved to New Boston in 1788. Their chil- 
dren were: i. Malachi Foster, born New Boston, 
New Hampshire, August 20. 1789. 2. Elizabeth, 
born March 28, 1792, died February 22, 1793. 3. 
Betsey, born January 17, 1794, died July 22. 1802. 
4. Enoch, born December, 1795, died Crete, Illinois, 
March 4, 1873. 5. Elisha, born February 18, 1798, 
died July, 1802. 6. Jane, born January 25, 1800, 
died February, 1844; married Daniel Cornish. 7. 
Nathaniel C. born -May, 1802, lived at Jefferson- 
ville. Vermont. 8. Joseph, born March 31, 1804. 
died June, 1864. 9. Mary, born June 24, 1806, died 
1880. 10. Hiram, born June 25, 1808, died May 13, 
1859. II John, born December, 1810, died March, 
1814. 



(VII) Malachi F. Dodge, son of Enoch (6), 
born August 20, 17S9, in New Boston, New Ilamp- 
.•ihire, died October 13, 1865, in Nashua, New Hamp- 
shire. He married Jane Hutchins, January g, 1812, 
at Belvidcre, Vermont. They first resided in Bel- 
videre and ne.xt in Lowell, Vermont, whence they 
removed in 1837 to Nashua, New Hampshire. Their 
children were: i. Priscilla D., born May 1813, died 
August li, 1864; married William H. Huntley. 2. 
Malachi F., born January 8, 1815. 3. Elisha 
C, born September 27, 1816, died February, 
1825. 4. Sarah Jane, born July 6, 1818, mar- 
ried, November 18, 1845, Frederick Plummer 
Bixby; both deceased. 5. Daniel Darling, born June 
28, 1820, married Miss Wyman; both deceased. 6. 
Thomas Hutchins, born September 27, 1823, mar- 
ried Eliza Daniels. 7. Abbie R., born June, 1825, 
married Rodney M. Rollins; both deceased. 8. 
Elisha E., born November 17, 1827, married Martha 

E. Fernald ; both deceased. 9. Mary Harding, born 
November 20, 1829, married Mason Boyd ; he is 
deceased ; she resides in New Hampshire. 10. Eme- 
line A., born July, 1832, died October 26, 1865. 

(VIII) Malachi F. Dodge, Jr., son of Malachi 

F. (7), born January 8, 1815, at Eden, Vermont, 
married. May, 1838, Charlotte A. Ober, of Hopkin- 
ton, New Hampshire, first, and after her death he 
married Hannah P. Edwards. Both are now de- 
ceased. They resided at Manchester, New Hamp- 
shire, and had following children: I. Infant son, died 
in 1841. 2. Edward O., born February, 1844; mar- 
ried Ellen L. Dearborn, deceased. 3. Thomas F., 
born October, 1846. 4. Willy H., born November, 
1851, deceased. 5. James E., born March, 1854, 
resides in Manchester, New Hampshire, and al- 
though a Republican in politics has been city auditor 
for many years under the administration . of both 
parties. 6. Frank E., born September, 1863, deceased. 

(VIII) Having brought down from the English 
ancestor, the line of descendants to which our chief 
subjects belonged, it should here be stated that 
he of whom we write, Hon. Thomas H. Dodge (8), 
was born September 27, 1823, in the town of Eden, 
Lamoille county, Vermont. He is the fourth son 
of Malachi F. Dodge (7), and wife Jane liutchins. 
Thomas H. had the early advantages of good dis- 
trict schools, as his father was a well-to-do farmer. 
The family later moved to the town of Lowell, 
Vermont, residing on a farm until he was about four- 
teen years of age, when his eldest brother secured 
a good position with a manufacturing concern at 
Nashua. New Hampshire, and the family removed 
there. Here he applied himself to his school duties 
and became a great admirer of Judge Edmund 
Parker, who was his Sabbath school superintendent. 
The Dodge family there were members of the Olive 
St. Congregational Church. Through the influence 
of Judge Parker, young Dodge resolved on becom- 
ing a lawyer and manufacturer. He proposed to his 
parents to bear his own expenses and thus showing 
what he could accomplish, agreeing to pay to his 
father a sum for the remainder of his time, as he 
had not yet reached his majority. He decided on 
learning the cotton manufacturing business, hence 
commenced at the bottom as a roll carrier, giving 
him a chance to understand all about the raw 
product and its preparation for spinning. All this 
time he was reading books on this subject. After 
earning sufficient money in the factory he entered 
Gymnasium Institute, at Pembroke, New Hamp- 
shire, where he rapidly advanced, and. at the com- 
mencement delivered his first oration, '"The Canadian 
Patriot's .Address before his Execution." Learned 
state lawyers and jurists were present and he made 
a great impression upon all. One judge made the 
remark, "That lad has a bright and eventful future 



i8 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



before him." And true it was. But little did they 
dream that within a third of a century this lad 
would stand so high as a manufacturer and in- 
ventor, as well at the forefront as an advocate and 
jurist in a special branch of law. He returned to 
the cotton mills, and in 1850 published his famous 
review of the "liise, Progress and Importance of 
Cotton Manufactures of the United States." He was 
a close student in many branches of natural phil- 
osophy and chemistry. He was a born inventor, 
and knew to succeed he must needs be fully posted, 
hence his extra training along all mechanical lines 
occupied his time for years. Among his numerous 
inventions was his printing press, patented to him 
by the United States Patent Office, November 18, 
1851. From the use of this and other inventions he 
received a large income at a tinie in his career 
of research and activities when most needed to send 
him up higher. Now having the funds — the product 
of his own brains — he decided to fit himself for 
law, and in 1851 he entered the office of Hon. George 
Y. Sawyer and Col. A. F. Stevens, of Nashua, New 
Hampshire. Having given three years close study, 
he w-as admitted to the bar "at Manchester, New 
Hampshire. In 1854 he opened an office at Nashua. 
He was then thirty-one years of age. Aside from 
his own position as a lawyer he had gained prom- 
inence as a manufacturer and inventor of no small 
skill. By reason of these things, Hon. Charles 
Mason, then United States Commissioner of 
Patents, was attracted toward this rising genius, 
and tendered him the position in the examining 
corps of the United States Patent Office. He was 
first assistant, but soon his peculiar ability and iit- 
ness caused him to be made an examiner-in-chief. 
As long as Commissioner Mason was at the head 
of the Patent Office, the advice and opinion of 
Mr. Dodge were constantly sought after. He was 
finally admitted to practice in the United States 
supreme court, and had very many large patent 
cases, some involving millions of dollars, in which 
he was eminently successful. His clients came from 
one ocean to the other, and from the forests of 
Maine to the cotton belt of the far away South- 
land. In the forepart of 1S64, Mr. Dodge took 
xip a residence in Worcester. He had an office 
and was a third owner of the Union Mowing 
Machine Company, at Worcester, which plant em- 
ployed many men and made goods for all parts 
of the country. In 1881, while still in an extensive 
law practice, he in connection with Charles G. 
Washburn, organized the Barbed Fence Company, 
of Worcester, of which Mr. Dodge was president. 
This was but the commencement of what has become 
an immense barbed wire industry. In 1883 the long 
years of brain work caused a serious break in his 
usual good health, and he was compelled to retire 
from the active routine of business cares to which 
he had subjected himself for so many years. 

In a work such as this, it is impossible to give 
space sufficient to give at length, even an outline, 
of all of interest connected with this man's career, 
but in closing this sketch, a brief review of some 
of the more important acts in both his private 
and public life will be noted. He started out in 
life with a high aim. He worked his own way 
through school. He invented several cotton cloth- 
making appliances by which hundreds of dollars 
were saved each month by each cotton mill. He in- 
vented a printing press in the fifties, which principle 
carried out has given the world its great continuous 
roll printing presses. He improved the manner 
of making mowing machines, whereby over a million 
men's work is saved each haying season. He dis- 
covered the safety valve defect and has taught the 



world much about the cause of steam boiler ex- 
plosions. He was a chief examiner and chairman 
of the board of appeals in the United States Patent 
Office, being appointed by Judge Holt, chairman, 
who succeeded Judge Mason as Commissioner of 
Patents. The latter office Mr. Dodge resigned in 
the fall of 1858. Some idea of the esteem in which 
Mr. Dodge's services were held may be gained from 
the fact that the venerable editor-in-chief of the 
National Intelligencer of Washington said that no 
other public officer had ever received such a genuine 
and high tribute as that which Commissioner Holt 
bestowed upon Mr. Dodge, which was as follows: 

UDited States Patent Office 
November 3, 1858. 
Sir: — I have received with emotions of unmineied sorrow your 
letter of yesterday resigning the office of examiner, the duties of 
which you have for years discharged with such distinguished 
honor to yourself, and advantage to the public interest. It would 
have been to me a source of high gratitication could I have enjoy- 
ed for the future that zealous support which you have so kindly 
afforded me in the past. While, however, I fee! that your retire- 
ment will be a severe loss to the service, as it will be a personal 
atHiction to myself, I cannot be insensible to the weight of the 
considerations which have determined you to seek another and 
more attractive field of labor, I shall ever recall with the liveliest 
satisfaction the pleasant social and oflicial relations which have 
marked our intercourse, and in accepting your resignation 1 beg 
to offer to you my heartfelt thanks, alike for your personal friend- 
ship and for the high, loyal and most effective co-operation, which 
in the midst of circumstances of dilficulty and embarrassment you 
have constantly extended to me in the adminstration of thisofbce. 
In whichever of the variad paths of life it may be your fortune to 
tread, be assured that you will bear with you my warmest wishes 
for your success and happiness. 

Most sincerely your friend, 

J. Holt. 
Mr. Thomas H. Dodge. 

He was instrumental in bringing about a change 
in the United States Postal Department at Wash- 
ington, by which letters not called for, if containing 
a return card, would find their way back to the 
writer, without the long, expensive routine of going 
through the Dead Letter office. He has been an 
eminently successful patent attorney, handling in- 
tricate cases, wherein many millions of money have 
been at stake. He has been connected with vast 
mower and barb wire manufacturing industries at 
Worcester. He has given "Dodge Park" to the 
city — a gift royal in and of itself. He has, together 
with his truly estimable wife, been a faithful church 
and Sabbath school worker. They have donated 
large sums of money from time to time toward the 
building of church edifices in Worcester and other 
places, including Trinity Methodist Episcopal 
Church, and Union and Piedmont Congregational 
Churches. He has given to the Odd Fellows of 
Massachusetts the charming grounds upon which 
stands the State Odd Fellows' Home in Worcester, 
and then gave beautiful grounds adjacent known 
as Dodge Park. These were unselfish gifts, because 
he is not a member of this great order. He wrote 
a twenty page genealogy of one branch of the Dodge 
family in i88o. He was true and loyal to the Union 
cause in the dark and trying days of the civil war. 
He lived in Washington, D. C, and has home was 
ever open to those disposed to care for the sick 
and wounded soldiers. Both he and his truly good 
companion gave of their means and distributed 
delicacies of food, both in and outside the regular 
hospitals. At no time did this far-seeing man ever 
doubt the final triumph which came to the Union 
cause. Not able himself to enter the army, he 
furnished a substitute at a cost of one thousand 
dollars — a young French Canadian, who served with 
great credit, and rose to the rank of a commissioned 
officer. 

Mr. Dodge was married June 29. 1843, to Eliza 
Daniels, of Brookline, New Hampshire, and to her 
he attributes much of his success in life, as she 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



19 



has ever cheered and encouraged his undertakings. 
Tlie deep interest they have both taken in church 
work and the support of the same, with their in- 
terest in the Natural History Camp and the Summer 
schools for boys and girls, give the readers to know 
the tendencies of their minds. May 18, 1905, Mr. 
and Mrs. Dodge each donated five hundred dollars 
to the cause. 

Mr. Dodge is a man of distinguished presence, 
dignified, yet genial. His has been a life of great 
usefulness. He is noted for liberality of mind and 
kind hospitality. The warm place he holds in the 
affections of the people, in a community in which 
he has done so much good work, and spent so large 
a portion of his useful and honorable life, is the best 
evidence of his work as a citizen whom all Massa- 
chusetts may well be proud to own. 

AUGUSTUS GEORGE BULLOCK. Richard 
Bullock, (I) the emigrant ancestor of A. (leorge 
Bullock, of Worcester, settled in Rehoboth, Mass., 
in 1643. He was a man of some prominence in the 
town. Among" other positions he held was that of 
town clerk in 1659. He married (first), August 4, 
1647, Elizabeth Ingraham, probably daughter of 
Richard Ingraham, a settler of -Rehoboth ; he married 
(second) Elizabeth Billington, September 21, 1660. 
His children were: Samuel, born August 19, 1648; 
Elizabeth, October 9, 1650; Mary, February 16, 
1652 : Mehitable, April 4, 1655 ; Abigail, August 
29, 1657; Hopestill. December 26, 1659; Israel, July 
IS, 1661 ; Jilercy, March 13. 1662, died March 19, 
1663; John, May 19. 1664; Richard, March 15. 1666-7. 

(II) Samuel Bullock, son of Richard (i) and 
Elizabeth (Ingraham) Bullock, was born at Reho- 
both, Massachusetts, August 19, 1648. He was a 
farmer and lived at Rehoboth. His name appears 
in the list of proprietors of Rehoboth in 1689. He 
was a contributor to the fund raised for de- 
fence in King Philip's war in 1675. He married 
(first) Mary Thurber, November 12, 1673. He mar- 
ried (second) Thankful Rouse, May 26, 1675. Their 
children were: Mary, born October 4, 1674; Eben- 
jzer, February 22, 1676; Thankful, June 26, 1681 ; 
Samuel, November 7, 1683 ; Israel, April 9, 1687 ; 
Daniel, 1689; Richard, July I, 1692; Seth, September 
26, 1693. 

(III) Ebenezer Bullock, son of Samuel Bullock 
(2), was born at Rehoboth, Massachusetts. February 
22, 1676. He married Sarah Moulton, March 29, 
[698. They resided at Rehoboth. Their children 
ivere : Mary, born June 6, 1699 ; Mehitable, April 
[, 1701 ; Samuel, November 17, 1703; Hugh, April 
[, 1706; Aaron, 1707; Squier, iNIarch 4, 1709; Mir- 
am, September 30, 1711; Thankful, INIay 23. 1714; 
Kathcrinc, died December, 1707; James, August 21, 
1716. 

(IV) Hugh Bullock, son of Ebenezer Bullock 
(3), was -born at Rehoboth, Massachusetts, April 
[, 1706. He married (first) Anna Cole, 1733; (sec- 
ond) Mehitable . He resided at 

Reholioth. His children were : James, born Decem- 
3er 17, 1734; Alethea, March 12, 1736; Ebenezer, 
Fune 30, 1739; Sarah, August 17, 1741 ; Moulton, 
N'ovember ^, 1743 ; Prudence, May 6, 1746 ; Hugh, 
.\ugnst 12, 175T ; Barnet (records give Barnard), 
Fune 20, 1773. 

(V) Hugh Bullock, son of Hugh Bullock (4) 
ind Anna Cole, was born August 12, 1751, at 
Rehoboth. Massachusetts. His brother Moulton rc- 
Tioved to Royalston, Massachusetts, before the rev- 
olution and settled there. Moulton's farm was 
jwned in 1865 by Jason Fisher. Hu.gh went to 
Royalston during the revolution. Hugh Bullock's 
farm was north of his brother's. After his sons 



were grown up and engaged in other business he 
built a house on the common, west of his son Bar- 
net's house. This house was occupied in 1865 by C. 
H. Newton. Hugh died in this house in 1837, at the 
age of eighty-five. His w^ife, Rebecca (Davis) Bul- 
lock, died 1809, aged fifty years. Hugh Bullock 
was one of the company that started for Saratoga 
to repel the invasion of Burgoync. He was in 
Captain Peter Woodbury's company, Colonel Job 
Cushing's regiment, which reinforced General Stark 
at Bennington, Vermont The children of Hugh 
Bullock (5) were: Rufus, born September 23, 
1779; Calvin; iVIoulton, born 1787, died 1865; Bar- 
net, born 1798, died 1884; Candace, was living in 
Royalston 1865. 

Christopher, Ebenezer, Nathan, and David Bul- 
lock also settled in Royalston about this time. The 
history of Royalston states that they were cousins 
of Hugh and Deacon Moulton Bullock. They were 
all stalwart men. David being the tallest man in 
town. Their stay in town was short. When they 
had their places well cleared and were in the full 
vigor of manhood they went westward, following the 
tide of settlers from the .Xtlantic states inland after 
the revolution. 

(VI) Rufus Bullock, son of Hugh Bullock (5), 
was born at Royalston, Massachusetts, September 
23. 1779- He was perhaps the most distinguished 
man who spent his life in the town of Royalston. 
He died there January 10, 1858. With small means 
he laid the foundation of a good education and be- 
came an acceptable school teacher before he was 
of age. He taught .school several winters and 
worked out at farming in the summers. He was 
clerk in the country store, and finally opened a store 
on his own account on tlie common. The business 
prospered and he led the life of a country merchant 
the remainder of his days, accumulating a fortune 
for his day and enjoying to a remarkable degree 
the respect and confidence of the people of the 
vicinity. Mr. Bullock made it a rule to expand 
his business as his means increased, never going 
beyond but always using fully what he had. He al- 
ways gave every detail of his varied business in- 
terests his personal supervision. He began to manu- 
facture at his mill in South Royalston, which was 
very successful. He always conducted a farm and 
took time to work in the fields himself, notwith- 
standing the demands of his store and factory. He 
seemed to find recreation in the variety of his 
interests. 

Mr. Bullock often served the town in public of- 
fice. He was town clerk in 1812 and 1813. He was 
selectman in 1811-12-13. He represented Royalston 
and his district for five years in the general court. 
He was in the state senate 1831-32. He was dele- 
gate to the constitutional conventions in 1820 and 
1852. and was once chosen a presidential elector. 
He left $5,000 in his will to the Congregational 
church, in which he always took a profound inter- 
est ; he gave $2,500 to the Baptist Society ; $2,500 
to the Second Congregational Church at South Roy- 
alston ; $5,000 to the town of Royalston for schools. 
A significant proviso of the last named bequest 
was that the town must keep the cemetery in re- 
pair or forfeit the money. The condition of the 
old graveyards of Massachusetts at times has been 
a reproach to civilization in this state. Mr. Bul- 
lock's bequest will doubtless save the graves of Roy- 
alston from desecration and neglect. Mr. Bullock 
was a trustee of .Amherst College and presented 
the telescope for the observatory. 

He married. May 4, 1808, Sarah Davis, of Rindge, 
New Hampshire. The history of Royalston says 
of her: 'She still .-urvives (1S65) and lives among 



20 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



us, the same indvistrious and cheerful matron of the 
olden type, whose wisdom and energy helped to 
build the house; and who is still spared to enjoy 
it, when builded, and still to attract the children 
and the children's children to the ancient home- 
stead." Of Mr. Bullock it says: "He was a pa- 
triot of the early type — a gentleman of the olden 
school — a friend to be trusted, a man whose prin- 
ciples bore the test of intimate acquaintance and in- 
spection, and whose influence, unobtrusive but po- 
tent, has been eminently useful." Their children 
were : Maria Louisa, born October 14, 1809 ; Emily, 
born September lO, 181 1, married W. D. Ripley, 
died -May l, 1904; Rebecca, born April 28, 1814, 
married Nelson Wheeler; Alexander Hamilton, born 
March 2, 1816, died January . 17, 1882; Charles 
Augustus, born 1818, died^ August 25, 1882 ; Rufus 
Henrv, born January 9, 1821. 

(Vn) Alexander Plamilton Bullock, son of 
Rufus Bullock (6), was born at Royalston, Massa- 
chusetts, March 2, 1816. He entered Amherst Col- 
lege in 1832, was a diligent student and on his 
graduation, in 1836, delivered the salutatory ora- 
tion at commencement. In the catalogue of his 
contemporaries at college are found the names of 
Rev. Richard S. Storrs, Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, 
Bishop Huntington and other famous men. After 
graduating he taught school for a short time at 
Princeton, N. J., and then partly at the wish of his 
father and partly on account of his own inclination 
entered the Harvard Law School. After leaving 
the law school he spent a year in the office of the 
well known lawyer, Emory Washburn, of Worcester, 
where he gained a good knowledge of the details of 
legal practice, and in 1841 was admitted to the bar. 
Senator Hoar said of Mr. Bullock: "He disliked 
personal controversy. While he possessed talents 
which would have rendered him a brilliant and per- 
suasive advocate, the rough contests of the court 
house could never have been congenial to him. He 
was associated with Judge Thomas as junior coun- 
sel in one important capital trial, in which he is said 
to have made an eloquent opening argument. He 
had a considerable clientage for a young man, to 
whom he was a safe and trustworthy adviser. But 
he soon established a large business as agent of im- 
portant insurance companies and withdrew himself 
altogether from the practice of law." 

From early manhood Mr. Bullock took a decided 
interest in politics. The prominence of his father 
in political circles may have increased a natural 
taste for public life. He was particularly well versed 
in constitutional law and that fact, together^ with 
the well defined convictions he held, gave him in 
debate and in administration great advantages: He 
was originally a Whig. Step by step he advanced 
to the highest position in the commonwealth. He 
was a member of the house of representatives for 
eight years, first in 1845, last in 1865. In 1862- 
63-64-65, during the civil war, all legislative 
positions were of extraordinary importance and in- 
volved great responsibility. He was exceedingly 
popular among his colleagues. He was a state sena- 
tor in 1849, judge of the Worcester county court 
of insolvency for two years— 1856-8, having served 
as commissioner of insolvency since 1853. He was 
mayor- of Worcester in 1859. The greatest event 
of his public career was his service as governor of 
the commonwealth in 1866-67-68. At his first elec- 
tion he received nearly 50,000 votes more than his 
opponent. Governor Bullock had many opportuni- 
ties to serve in high positions in the national gov- 
ernment. Among other places that he declined was 
the mission to England offered him by President 
Hayes. 

In financial, humane and all reformatory move- 



ments Governor Bullock was active and efficient. 
He was president of the State Mutual Life Assur- 
ance Company, and of the Worcester County In- 
stitution of Savings ; director of the Worcester 
National Bank ; chairman of the finance commit- 
tee of the trustees of Amherst College, and a life 
member of the. New England Historic-Genealogical 
Society. While editor and publisher of the Daily 
Aegis (now The Gazette) he displayed marked 
ability as a writer and newspaper man. He re- 
ceived the honorary degree of LL. D. from Amherst 
and Harvard Colleges. He was a great friend of 
learning, interested in all educational institutions. 

In 1869 he visited Europe with his family. Upon 
his return the following year he was received with 
a public demonstration to welcome him home and 
give evidence of the respect and love of his towns- 
men. Governor Bullock was an orator of great 
power. A volume of his addresses was published. 
Senator Hoar, who made a special study of orators, 
said of Gevernor Bullock's speeches : "Above all, 
he possessed, beyond any of his living contemporar- 
ies, that rare gift of eloquence which always has 
been and always will be a passport to the favor of 
the people where speech is free." His eulogy of 
President Lincoln in Worcester in 1865 was one 
of many notable public addresses that he delivered. 
He delivered the commemorative oration at the 
centennial of the incorporation of his native town 
of Royalston. 

Governor Bullock married, 1844, Elvira Hazard, 
daughter of Colonel A. G. Hazard, of Enfield, 
Connecticut, founder of the Hazard Gunpowder 
Manufacturing Company. Their children were : 
Augustus George, born at Enfield, Connecticut ; Isa- 
bel, married Nelson S. Bartlett, of Boston ; Fanny, 
married Dr. William H. Workman, of Worcester. 
(VHI) A. George Bullock, son of the late Alex- 
ander H. (7) and Elvira (Hazard) Bullock, was born 
June 2, 1847, at Enfield, Connecticut. His life has 
been spent from infancy, however, in the city of 
Worcester. He attended the Highland IVIilitary 
Academy and graduated there in 1862. After two 
years of preparation under Professor E. G. Cutler 
he entered college in 1864. Professor Cutler, his 
tutor, was afterward professor of English literature 
at Harvard. In 1868 Mr. Bullock graduated at 
Harvard College. Soon afterward he began the 
study of law in the offices of the late Judge Thomas 
L. Nelson and the late Senator George F. Hoar. 
He was admitted to the bar and entered upon the 
practice of his profession. His career as a lawyer 
closed with his election to the presidency of the 
great insurance company, although a legal train- 
ing is perhaps most essential in the education of 
the executive head of such a corporation. Certainly 
Mr. Bullock's legal experience increased his effi- 
ciency and augumented his success in developing 
the business of the State Mutual Company. His 
predecessor in the presidency was Philip L. Moen, 
who completed the year to which Mr. Bullock's 
father, Alexander H. Bullock, had been elected in 
January, 1882, his death two weeks later making a 
vacancy. In the following year A. George Bullock 
was elected. New methods were introduced and the 
company grew amazingly. This company began its 
business in Worcester in 1845. Its first first presi- 
ident, John Davis, its third president, Alexander H. 
Bullock, and its vice-president, Emory Washburn, 
were at various times elected governor of the com- 
monwealth. The second president of the company, 
Isaac Davis, was almost as prominent in public af- 
fairs as his uncle who preceded him. He was 
president twenty-nine years. A vice president and 
one of the organizers was John Milton Earle, who 
was editor of The Spy for so many years. In 




/Z^^ . //. (Z^^-^^t^^^-^^^ 




%• 





WORCESTER COUNTY 



21 



•ecent years, under Ihe present management, the 
)nsiness of the company has increased phenomenally, 
rhe company has among its assets one of the at- 
ractive office buildings of Boston and the most val- • 
lable office building by far in Worcester, contain- 
ng two hundred and one offices. 

Mr. Bullock's other interests are extensive. He 
s president of the Norwich & Worcester Railroad 
Company ; vice-president of the Worcester Con- 
lolidated Street Railroad Company ; president of 
he Worcester. Railways and Investment Company; 
rustee and member of the board of investment of 
he Worcester County Institution for Savings ; di- 
rector of the Providence & Worcester Railroad 
i^ompany ; director of the Boston & Albany Rail- 
oad Company ; director of the Worcester Gaslight 
~ompany ; director of the Worcester National Bank ; 
lirector of the Worcester Trust Company ; director 
>f the Railways anl Lighting Company of Boston ; 
lirector of the State Street Trust Company of Bos- 
on ; director of the American Loan and Trust 
I^ompany of Boston. He was a commissioner 
it large to the Columbian exposition at Chi- 
:ago in 1S93, appointed by the president of 
he United States. He has been chairman of 
he directors of the Public Library. He was 
iormerly trustee of the State Lunatic Hos- 
lital at Worcester. He is a member of the Amcri- 
:an Antiquarian Society and of The Worcester 
jociely of Antiquity. He is a member of the Tat- 
mck Country Club, Commonwealth Club, Worcester 
riub, Harvard Club of New York, University Club 
if New York, Somerset Club of Boston and of the 
Jnion Club of Boston. He attends the First Uni- 
arian church. He is a Republican. He resides in 
I handsome brownstone house at 48 Elm street, 
juilt by Governor Bullock. By a singular coin- 
:idence the former residence of Governor Lincoln 
s directly across Elm street. Mr. Bullock has a 
jeautiful country home near INIt. Wachusett, in the 
own of Princeton. 

He married Mary Chandler, dau.ghter of Dr. 
jeorge and Josephine (Rose) Chandler, of Wor- 
:ester, October 4, 1871. Their children, all of whom 
vere born in Worcester, were : Chandler, born 
August 24, 1872; Alexander Hamilton, November 
■, 1875; Augustus George, Jr., April 20, 1880, died 
4pril 29, 1880; Rockwood Hoar, August 21, 1881. 

(IX) Chandler Bullock married, October, 1900, 
klabcl Richardson, daughter of George Richardson, 
)f Worcester. Their children are: Margaret, born 
n Worcester, December 22, 1901 ; Josephine Rose, 
)orn June 21, 1904. He is a lawyer practicing in 
.Vorcester. 

(IX) Alexander Hamilton Bullock married 

Florence Armsby, widow of McClellan, 

Func. 1902. His wife has a daughter Beulah 
)y her first marriage. He is a lawyer practicing in 
kVorcester. 

(IX) Rockwood Hoar Bullock married Eliza- 
)eth Bliss Dewey, daughter of Francis H. Dewey, 
)f Worcester, June 8, 1905. 

Barnet Bullock was the fifth generation from 
Richard Bullock, the emigrant ancestor. He was 
3orn in the west part of Royalston, June 9, 1798, 
ind during his active life followed the business of 
I merchant in that town. He held for a long time 
:he commission of justice of the peace, doing most 
Df the public business in that line in the town for 
many years, besides filling various responsible town 
offices. He was town clerk from 1837 to 1847; 
selectman, 1840, 1844 and 1845, and representative 
to the general court in 1843 and 1844. One of the 
oldest and most prominent citizens of Royalston, 
he died September i. 1884, being the last survivor 
of the four sons of Hugh Bullock, who came from 



Rehoboth and settled in Royalston during the revolu- 
tion. He married, November 27, 1828, Lucy New- 
ton, daughter of Nathan Brighani Newton. Their 
children were Calvin, born September 21, 1829, died 
March 5, 1S70; Brighani Newton, born .'\pril 6, 
1831, died February 20, 1906; Barnet Ellis, born 
March 22, 1833; Lucy Lee, born May 25, 1835, died 
September 18, 1882 ; Elizabeth Candace, born Octo- 
ber 16, 1838, died March 24, 1843 ; Charles Stuart, 
born January 20, 1841 ; James Frederick, born July 
21, 1842, died May 28, 1870; Mary Elizabeth, born 
December 18. 1847, died i\iarch 21, i86g. 

Brigham Newton Bullock was the second son of 
Barnet Bullock, and was born in Royalston, April 6, 
1831. He spent his early life in his native town, 
where he attended the common schools. February 
24, 1847, at the age of sixteen, he started out in 
life by entering the employment of Joseph Esta- 
brook, who kept a country store and the postoffice. 
Me remained with Mr. Estabrook until the fall 
of 1851, when for a short time he attended the 
fall term of the high school, kept by Crandall Bros. 
On October 20 of the same year he left Royals- 
ton and the high school to enter the passenger de- 
partment of the office of the Vermont & Massa- 
chusetts Railroad in Fitchburg, where he remained 
until January, 1874. He then went to Boston, where 
he was cashier of the Boston, Hartford & Erie 
Raih-oad from March, 1874, until .August, 1874. 
From there he went to -the Home Savings Bank, 
Boston, August 6, 1874, as treasurer, and remained 
until February 27, 1882, when he returned to Fitch- 
burg and entered the Fitchburg National Bank as 
cashier, holding that office until he was made presi- 
dent in 1S88, and as an active working president he 
served the bank for the remainder of his life. Under 
his administration its affairs were conducted w^ith 
great success, and its resources largely increased. 

His acknowledged ability as a financier led the 
trustees of the Fitchburg Savings Bank to secure 
his services as treasurer, when a vacancy occurred 
in that office in July, 1894, and he remained treas- 
urer, to their great satisfaction, until the law 
separating national and savings banks went into 
effect in 1904, when he was chosen chairman of the 
board of investment, and in that capacity was able 
to give to the bank the benefit of his valuable over- 
sight and experience while he lived. In addition 
to the responsibilities of the conduct of these two 
large financial institutions, to which he gave most 
of his time and attention, he served as a director 
in the Fitchburg Railroad Company, in the Fitch- 
burg Mutual Fire Insurance Company, in the Grant 
Yarn Company, and in the Simonds Manufacturing 
Company of Fitchburg. . He was a member of the 
First (Unitarian) Parish. 

Mr. Bullock was not only a successful financier, 
but a man of sterling character, and to all the re- 
sponsibilities which he assumed he honestly and 
faithfully devoted himself. His "word was as good 
as his bond." He would have nothing superficial. 
The whole structure of every institution which he 
managed must be thoroughly sound and strong from 
its very foundation ; and so he left them. Not only 
was he a strong, practical man of business, firm in 
his convictions, and just in all his dealings, but he 
also had a heart sensitive to all needs of humanity 
and the beautiful in art and nature. He was a 
devoted husband and father, and a faithful friend 
and a genial companion to all who enjoyed his 
intimate acquaintance. He always retained his af- 
fection for his native town of Royalston, and spent 
a portion of each summer in that beautiful hill 
town of Massachusetts. He was of the best product 
of tiie New England country town. 

Brighani N. Bullock married, November 13, 1888, 



22 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



Flora Belle Ripley, of Fitchburg. She survives her 
husband, who died in Boston, February 20, 1906. 
Their only child is Richard Bullock, born May 3, 
1892. 

THE GREEN FAMILY. (I) Thomas Green 
was the ancestor of the Green family of Worcester, 
to which belong Samuel Swett Green, librarian of 
the Free Public Library ; Martin Green, a civil 
engineer and contractor ; and James Green, a lawyer, 
of Worcester; Oliver Bourne Green, a civil engineer 
and contractor, of Chicago; Dr. John Green and 
Dr. John Green, Jr., both oculists, of St. Louis ; 
the late Andrew Haswell Green, "Father of Greater 
New York;" and many others, both of the sur- 
name of Green and of other surnames. 

Thomas Green was born in England in about 
the year 1600, according to a deposition which he 
made August 16, 1662. A Thomas Green, who prob- 
ably w-as his son, came over to Massachusetts, at 
the age of fifteen, in the "Planter," which sailed 
from England April 2, 1635. The same name and 
age appear also in the "Hopewell," which sailed 
the next day, and are believed to represent the same 
Thomas Green, Jr. Preceding the list of passen- 
gers in the "Planter," is a certificate which states 
that Thomas Green came from St. Albans, Hertford- 
shire. It seems likely that Thomas Green, senior, 
came to New England at the same time, or a 
little earlier, and settled at Lynn and Ipswich. He 
was living at Lady Moody's farm at Lynn about 
1646. The Green "Genealogical Sketch," which was 
published before some of these facts were dis- 
covered in the records, states that he probably 
removed from Ipswich to Maiden in 1649 or 1650. 
He was certainly in Maiden. October 28, 1651, when 
his wife Elizabeth and his daughter Elizabeth signed 
a petition to the general court. He had a farm of 
sixty-three acres in the northern part of Maiden. 
He was one of the leading citizens, serving re- 
peatedly on the grand jurj', and in 1658 as a select- 
man of Maiden. 

When the "Genealogical Sketch of the Descend- 
ants of Thomas Green (e) of Maiden, Mass., by 
Samuel S. Green of Providence, R. I.," was written, 
there were "reasons for supposing that Thomas 
Green, senior, came from Leicestershire, but no 
proofs of the fact." If the suggestion that Thomas 
Green who came over in the "Planter" was his 
son, is well grounded, the home of the family would 
seem to have been at St. Albans. 

The first wife of Thomas Green, senior. Eliza- 
beth, whom he married in England, was the mother 
of all his children. She died August 22, 1658. He 
married secondly, Frances Cook, September 5. 1659. 
She was born in 1608. married first to Isaac Wheeler, 
secondly to Richard Cook, who died October 14, 
1658. She had children by the first two husbands ; 
none by the third, Thomas Green. Thomas Green 
(I) died December 19, 1667. His will, dated No- 
vember 12, 1667, was proved January iS, 1667-8. 
In it he mentions five sons, five daughters and his 
wife. The homestead was situate in that part of 
Maiden which is now included in Melrose and 
Wakefield. The children of Thomas and Elizabeth 
Green were : 

T. Elizabeth, born about 1628. 

2. Thomas, born in 1620 (if it is true, as the 
ship-records say, that he was fifteen years old 
when he sailed [in 1635,] : but ages in these lists of 
emigrants are not to be relied on'). He married 
Rebecca Hills, 1653. [See his sketch later, "Thomas 
(H)."] 

3. John, born in England about 1632. according 
to the Genealogy ; married to Sarah 'VV^heeler, De- 



cember 18, 1660. (Church records give birth of 
John, son of Thomas, Sr., January 25, 1658). 

4. Mary, born in England about 1633 ; married 
before 1656 to Capt. John Waite, who was select- 
man seven years, and representative to the general 
court, 1666 to 1684. 

5. William, born about 163S ; married first to 
Elizabeth Wheeler; married secondly to Isabel 
(Farmer) Blood. 

6. Henry, born 1638; married January II, 1671-2. 

7. Samuel, born March, 1645 ; married first, 
1666, to Mary Cook; secondly, to Susanna . 

8. Hannah, born 1647; married November 5, 
1666, to Joseph Richardson, of Woburn, Mass. She 
died May 20, 1721. 

9. Martha, born 1650. 

10. Dorcas, born in Maiden, May I, 1653 ; mar- 
ried January 11, 1671-2, to James Barrett of Maiden, 
who was born April 6, 1644. She die'd 1682; he died 
1694. 

(II) Thomas Green, son of Thomas Green (i), 
was born in England 1620, — if the record of the list 
of passengers of the ship "Planter" which sailed 
April 2, 1635, or the "Hopewell," which sailed the 
next day, is correct. He claimed to be fifteen years 
old then. He married in 1653, or before, Rebecca 
Hills, daughter of Joseph Hills, of Maiden, later 
of Newbury, Massachusetts. (See sketch Joseph 
Hills family in this work.) Rebecca's mother was 
Rose Dunster. a sister of Rev. Henry Dunster, first 
president of Harvard College. Thomas Green (2) 
settled in Maiden. He was a farmer, was admitted 
a freeman. May 31, 1670, and died February 13, 
1671-2. His will was dated the same day, and 
proved April 2, 1672. His widow, Rebecca, died 
June 6, 1674. The inventory of her estate was 
filed March 4, 1674-5. by her son-in-law, Thomas 
Newell. The children of Thomas and Rebecca 
Green were : 

1. Rebecca, born 1654; married to Thomas 
Newell, of Lynn. 1674. 

2. Thomas, born February, 1655-6 ; died April 

IS. 1674- 

3. Hannah, born October 16, 1658; died March 
25, 1659- 

•4. Hannah, born February 24, 1659-60; married 
.\ugust 26, 1677, to John 'Vinton, of Maiden, and 
later of Woburn, Massachusetts. 

5. Samuel, born October 5, 1670; married to 
Elizabeth LTpham, about 1692. 

(III) Captain Samuel Green, the only son of 
Thomas (2) and Rebecca Hills Green who came 
to full age. was born October 5, 1670. He was one 
of the principal men in Leicester or Strawberry 
Hill, where he settled in 1717. The town was 
granted February 10, 1713-14. and Capt. Samuel 
Green was on the committee with Col. William Dud- 
ley of Roxbury and others to settle it. He owned 
three lots of forty acres each, and two of thirty each, 
in the town of Leicester, and was highly respected 
and very influential. The vicinity of his old home- 
stead, now a village, is called after him, Green- 
ville. He built a house, grist mill and saw mill. 
At the first town meeting of which there is any 
record, he was elected moderator, first selectman 
and grand juror, and he held like offices in the town 
of Leicester the remainder of his life. Governor 
Washburn, in his history, calls him a prominent man, 
and he is honored as one of the pioneers. He also 
owned land in Hardwick, Massachusetts. He was 
always called Captain, a rank he won at Maiden, 
and he was the first captain of the Leicester com- 
pany of militia. Capt. Samuel Green married Eliza- 
beth, daughter of Lieut. Phinehas LTpham. of Wor- 
cester, a son of Deacon John Upham, w-ho had ar- 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



■ived from England, September 2, 1633, settled at 
A^eymouth, Massachusetts, moved to Maiden about 
:6so, and was one of the original proprietors of 
3uinsigamond. His son Phinehas Upham settled 
n Worcester in April, 1675. After the Indians had 
iestroyed the first white settlements at Mendon, 
Brooktield and Worcester, Lieut. Upham fought 
)ravely in the battle of Narraganset Fort, Decem- 
)er ig, 1675, where he was mortally wounded. Capt. 
Samuel Green died January 2, 1735-6. His will 'was 
nade at Maiden just before he came to Leicester 
o settle, April 18. 1717, and it was proved Febru- 
i'"y 5, 1735-6. His wife died at Leicester, prob- 
.bly in 1761. Their children were : 

1. Elizabeth, born April 4, 1693, married to 
rhomas Richardson of Maiden. 

2. Rebecca, born April 4, 1695, married to Samuel 
Baldwin. (According to Maiden records the first 
wo were twins, born April 4, 1695). 

3. Ruth, married to Joshua Nichols. 

4. Thomas, born 1699, married to Martha Lynde 
n Maiden, January 13, 1725-6. 

5. Lydia, married to her cousin, Abiathar Vin- 
on of Maiden, April 30, 1723. He resided in Brain- 
ree a year or two after his marriage, then settled 
n Leicester, where he lived until his death in 1740. 
iis widow Lydia married secondly, January 15, 
746. Samuel Stower, of Leicester, a native of 
flalden. 

6. Bafhsheba, married to Elisha Xevins. 

7. Abigail, married to Henry King. 

8. Any (Anna?), married to Ebenezer Lamb. 
(IV) Dr. Thomas Green, son of Capt. Samuel 

jreen (3), was born in Maiden in 1699. He mar- 
ied, January 13. 1725-6, Martha Lynde, daughter 
f Capt. John Lynde by his third wife, Judith Worth, 
.'idow' of Joscs Bucknam of Maiden. Martha Lynde 
ras born July 6. 1700. Before Capt. Samuel Green 
emoved his family to Leicester, in 1717, he and his 
on Thomas had driven some cattle from Maiden to 
lie site of their new home, preparatory to moving 
he family. Thomas was left at Leicester in charge 
f the cattle, while his father returned to Maiden. 
Vhile there alone the boy was attacked with fever 
nd became very ill. In his weak state he lay in 
sort of cave made by an overhanging rock on a 
ttlc 'stream, and secured food by milking a cow 
/hich he induced to come to him frequently by 
ying her calf to a tree near the cave. At length 
i\'0 of his former neighbors at Maiden, who had 
ome on horseback to look after their cattle, found 
im, but refused to take him home. They notified 
is father, however, wdio went at once to his relief, 
nd got him home on horseback after a painful 
Durney of four days. 

Thomas Green's attention was early turned to 
le studv of medicine. His impluse in this direction 
; said to have come from two English ship-sur- 
eons — it is even said they were pardoned buc- 
aneers, — who lived iw his father's house at Leicester, 
lught young Thomas with interest and lent him 
ledical books. He grew to be friendly with the 
ndians and learned from them the curative proper- 
,es of native herbs. As the settlement grew his 
ledical practice extended over a wider field and 
ven into Rhode Island and Connecticut. Many 
oung men came to him for instruction in medi- 
ine; he is said to have taught one hundred and 
A-enty-three medical students. The very slight facts 
fhich have come down to us about Dr. Thomas 
Ireen's study and practice of medicine show him 
3 have been the most prominent practitioner of the 
nuntry doctors of his time; but these facts are 
specially interesting because he was the first of 
long line of famous physicians and surgeons. His 



son, grandson and great-grandson, each named John 
Green, were each of them the most distinguished 
physician in Worcester county; while Dr. John 
Green of St. Louis, the descendant of Thomas in the 
next generation, is now the foremost eye-surgeon 
in the Mississippi Valley; and his son Dr. John 
Green, Jr., also of St. Louis, is already a prominent 
and successful practitioner in the same specialty 
of medicine. Five generations of Dr. John Greens 
go back to Dr. Thomas Green as their progenitor 
and their forerunner in the noble art of improving 
the health of man. 

Dr. Thomas Green (4) joined the First Baptist 
Church at Boston, November 7, 1731. But in 1735 
he was dismissed from that church to take part 
in forming another church at Sutton, the parent- 
church of his denomination in Worcester county, 
and the fourth Baptist church in the Province of 
Massachusetts Bay. On September 28, 1737, he and 
Benjamin Marsh were ordained as pastors of this 
Sutton church. One year later to a day, the Leices- 
ter families of the congregation erected a church of 
their own at Greenville (in Leicester), the eighth 
Baptist church in Massachusetts, and Dr. Thomas 
Green, who was a charter member of both the Sutton 
and the Leicester church, was chosen the first pastor 
of the new church, and he remained its pastor for 
almost thirty-five years. In a historical discourse 
delivered at the Greenville church in 1888, on the 
150th anniversary of its foundation, the Rev. Hiram 
C. Estes, D. D., its pastor, says of the church- 
building, "that Dr. Green was the principal pro- 
prietor of the house; that its grounds were given 
by him, and its frame was raised and covered at his 
expense." "While he was preaching on Sunday," 
said Hon. Andrew H. Green on the same anni- 
versary, "at his home across the way the pot was 
kept boiling to supply the needed sustenance to the 
little flock which came from all directions to attend 
upon his ministrations." During his ministry in 
Leicester, he baptized more than a thousand per- 
sons. In "Rippon's Register" he is spoken of as 
"eminent for his useful labors in the gospel min- 
istry." His preaching was not confined to his 
own parish ; he was widely known as Elder Grren. 
In 1756. Rev. Isaac Backus, the Baptist Annalist in 
New England, held a meeting with Mr. Green's 
church, and made the following entry in his diary: 
"I can but admire how the Doctor (Thomas Green) 
is able to get along as he does, having a great deal 
of farming business to manage, multitudes of sick 
to care for, several opportunities to instruct in the 
art of physic, and a church to care for and watch 
over; yet in the midst of all he seems to keep re- 
ligion uppermost — to hold his mind bent upon divine 
things — and to be very bold in Christian conver- 
sation with all sorts of people." Dr. Estes said, 
in his discourse above quoted, that "Dr. Greert lived 
three lives and did the work of three men in 
one. He w-as a man of business, active, energetic 
and successful. * * * He was also a noted phy- 
sician ; * * * and was a preacher of the gospel 
nuitc as eminent in this as in his other spheres of 
life." 

Dr. Green's homestead was next beyond the 
river from the Baptist Church on the road to 
Charlton, where his grandson, Samuel Green, after- 
wards kept a tavern. He died August 10, 1773. at 
the age of seventy-four years. His wife Martha 
died June 20. 1780. They were buried in the church- 
yard at Greenville, but their remains were removed 
to the Rural Cemetery in Worcester, by Dr. John 
Green (7). a descendant, where the graves are suit- 
ably marked. The children of Thomas and Martha 
Green were: 



24 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



1. Samuel, born in Leicester 1726; married to 
Zerviah Dana; married secondly to Widow Fish. 

2. Martha, born at Leicester April 23, 1727, 
married about 1753 to Robert Craig (born Decem- 
ber 10, 1726; he died October 13, 1805); she died 
September 17, 1801 ; Craig studied medicine under 
Dr. Thomas Green, but returned to the manufacture 
of spinning wheels instead of practicing ; they had 
nine children. 

3. Isaac, married to Sarah Howe. 

4. Thomas L., born 1733, married to Hannah 
Fox ; married secondly to Anna Hovey. 

5. John, born in Leicester August 14, 1736, mar- 
ried to Mary Osgood, and secondly to Mary 
Ruggles. 

6. Solomon, married to Elizabeth Page. 

7. Elizabeth, married first, to Daniel Hovey; 
married secondly, January 16, 1776, to Rev. Benja- 
min Foster (Yale 1774; Brown DD. 1792), who 
succeeded Rev. Thomas Green as pastor of the 
Baptist church at Leicester; removed to Newport, 
Rhode Island, thence to Gold Street Church, New 
York city, where he died of yellow fever in 1798. 

"Dr. Thomas Green," says Samuel S. Green in 
his biography of the late Andrew H. Green, "bought 
the homestead in Worcester which forms the nucleus 
of the extensive and beautifully situated estate on 
Green Hill, lately owned by Andrew H. Green. 
This is one of the finest gentlemen's places in that 
neighborhood, contains over five hundred acres of 
field and forest and water, and has lately become a 
part of the park system of the City of Worcester. 
The deed was given by Thomas Adams to Thomas 
Green of Leicester, dated May 28, 1754, in con- 
sideration of 330 pounds." His son John appears 
to have married and gone to Green Hill to live, 
about the year 1757, when he c^nus of age. The 
tradition of the family is that Thomas located his 
son on this hill remote from Worcester village that 
he might be protected by distance from the tempta- 
tions of the town. At Dr. Thomas Green's death, 
August 19, 1773, his entire estate passing through 
the probate office was appraised at 4,495 pounds, 
equivalent very nearly to $22.477 : an estate said 
to have been larger than any that had been entered 
at the probate office in Worcester previous to his 
death. 

(V) Dr. John Green, fifth child of Dr. and 
Rev. Thomas Green (4), was born in Leice'Jter, 
Massachusetts, August 14, 1736. He married first, 
Mary Osgood, of Worcester, apparently just as he 
came of age. in 1757. She was born August 31, 
1740, and died September 5. 1761. He married 
secondly apparently in 1762, Mary Ruggles. daugh- 
ter of Brig. Gen. Timothy Ruggles. of Sandwich, 
afterwards of Hardwick. Massachusetts. , Mary was 
born in Sandwich, on Cape Cod, in 1740, and died 
in Worcester. June 16, 1814, aged seventy-four 
years. 

Dr. John Green studied medicine with his father, 
in company with many other students. On coming 
of age. he moved to Worcester and built his house 
upon the eminence at the north end of Worcester 
which came to be known as Green Hill. Here he 
lived for his whole life. He was very successful 
from the first. He adopted the practice of watch- 
ing over his natients like a nurse, day and night, 
if required. He became even more famous as a phy- 
sician and surgeon than his distinguished father. 
His son, grandson, great-grandson and great-great- 
grandson, all of the same name and title of Dr. 
John Green, have also attained unusual eminence 
in the same profession. No better evidence of in- 
herited aptitude and skill in medicine and surgery 
could be shown. Dr. John Green instructed many 



students, as his father had done. At first he had 
his office at the house on Green Hill, but later in 
a small wooden structure on Main street, on the 
original site of the Five Cent Savings Bank build- 
ing. At that time there were but seven houses on 
Main street between the Common and Lincoln 
Square. William Lincoln, in his "History of Wor- 
cester," writing in 1836, says: "Tradition bears 
ample though very general testimony to his worth. 
Fortunate adaptation of natural capacity to pro- 
fessional pursuits gave an extensive circuit of em- 
ployment and high reputation. Habits of accurate 
observation, the action of vigorous intellect, and 
the results of experience, seem to have supplied 
the place of that learning deriving its acquirements 
from the deductions of others through the medium 
of books. Enjoying great esteem for skill and fidel- 
ity, hospitality and benevolence secured personal re- 
gard." Dr. Samuel B. Woodward writes of Dr. 
Green: "An earnest patriot, he was in 1773 a mem- 
ber (and the only medical member) of the American 
Political Society, which was formed 'on account 
of the grievous burdens of the times,' and did so 
much to bring about that change of public senti- 
ment which e.xpelled the adherents of the Crown. 
He took a prominent part in all the Revolutionary 
proceedings, and in 1777 was sent as representative 
to the general court. In 1778 and 1779 he was 
town treasurer and in 1780 one of the selectmen, 
the only physician who ever held that office" in 
Worcester. 

The father of Dr. Green's second wife. Gen. 
Timothy Ruggles, of Hardwick, was a distinguished 
lawyer, judge, statesman and soldier. He was op- 
posed, however, to the Revolution, and is called by 
historians "Massachusetts' great loyalist." Hon. 
Andrew H. Green of New York, a descendant, had 
a biography of Gen. Ruggles published. 

Dr. John Green died in Worcester, October 29, 
T7g9, at the age of sixty-three. All his children were 
born on Green Hill, Worcester ; the first three be- 
ing the children of Mary Osgood, Thomas's first 
wife, and the last ten being the children of Mary 
Ruggles, his second wife : 

1. John, born April i, 1758; died September 20, 
1761. 

2. Mary, born November 27, 1759; died Febru- 
rary 15. l759-6o. 

3. Thomas, born January 3, 1761 ; married 
October 8, 1782, to Salome Barstow of Sutton. 

4. John, born March 18. 1763, married to Nancy 
Barber of Worcester. [See sketch of his life 
later.] 

5. Timothy, born January 9, 1765; married to 
Mary Martin of Providence, Rhode Island. 

6. Samuel, born May 10, 1767 : married to 

Widow Tillinghast ; married secondly, to 

Waring. 

7. Elijah Dix. born July 4, 1769: never mar- 
ried; he was a graduate of Brown, 1792; practiced 
medicine at Charleston, South Carolina ; died Sep- 
tember 21, 1795. 

8. Mary, born April 30, 1772 ; never married ; 
she died at the house of her brother, Samuel, in 
Columbia. South Carolina. September 24, 1824. 

9. Elizabeth, born July 31, 1774; unmarried; 
.she died at Green Hill. February 3, 1854, aged 

eighty: lived chieflv with her brother Timothy, in 
New York city. 

10. William Elijah, born January 31, 1777. [See 
his sketch, later.] 

11. Meltiah, born July 28, 1779; died unmar- 
ried, December, iSoo. of yellow fever, at St. Bar- 
tholomew, West Indies; ^as a resident of Jamaica. 

12. Bourne, born December 15, 1781 ; died un- 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



narried, August, 1806, at sea ; was engaged in 
ommerce. 

13. Isaac, born September 4, 1784; died Sep- 
ember 9, 1807, while a member of the Sophomore 
lass of Columbia College, New York. 

(VI) Dr. John Green, son of Dr. John Green 
5) and Mary (Ruggles) Green, was born at VVor- 
ester, on Green Hill, March 18, 1763. He studied 
nedicine with his father and began to practice at 
he age of eighteen. He inherited the skill and 
.bility of his father and grandfather. Particularly 
killed in surgery, his services were in constant de- 
nand, "while daily could be seen," says Charles 
fappan, "Dr. Green and his half-dozen students 
nounted on horesback and galloping through the 
itreets as if some one or more were in peril." 
ie lived at first in the little wooden office-building 
)f his father on Main street. Later he built a hou.se 
ust south of it. He was, we are told by the "Gen- 
■alogy," "of industrious habits, patient, pcrsevcr- 
ng; in his manners, urbane and obliging: in his 
udgments, discriminating, and always reliable; a 
nan of ereat powers of observation ; he had an ex- 
ensive practice in Worcester and the surrounding 
egion. He combined with accurate practice as a 
ihysician, rare skill as a surgeon." Hon. Oliver 
~iske, his biographer, said of him : "From his 
:hildhood the natural bias of his mind led him 

that profession which through life was the sole 
(bject of his ardent pursuit. To be distinguished 
IS a physician was not his chief incentive. To 
issuage the sufferings of humanity by his skill 
■vas the higher motive of his benevolent mind, 
ivery duty was performed with delicacy and tender- 
less. With these propensities, aided by a strong, 
nquisitive and discriminating mind, he attained to 

1 pre-eminent rank among the physicians and sur- 
;eons of our country." He was tall, strong and 
tttractive in person. He died August II, 1808, at 
he age of forty-five years, having practiced, how- 
;ver, for twenty-seven years, for the last nine of 
vhich he was practically the only physician in the 
own. The Worcester Spy reported that "To his 
uneral came the largest concourse of people from 
his and neighboring towns ever knowm to be col- 
ected here on a similar occasion." "It has been the 
ligh privilege of few of our community to enjoy 
:o much confidence and respect, to be so loved while 
iving and so mourned when dead." . 

He married Nancy Barber, granddaughter of 
iiobert Barber of Northville, who was among the 
Presbyterians who fled from the religious pcrse- 
:utions in his native land and sought refuge in Ire- 
and, whence he came to America, and made the 
Barber estate near Barber's Crossing, in North- 
ville, Massachusetts. The children were: 

1. John, born April 19. 1784; married to Dolly 
Zurtis of Worcester. They had no children. [See 
sketch of his life later.] 

2. Eunice, born April 29. 1786: married to 
Leonard Burbank, (Brown. 1807). They had four 
:hildren : I. John Green, graduated at West Point, 
irst in his clars. He served in the Seminole and 
VIexican wars, and was killed in the battle of Molino 
lei Rey. where he had voluntered upon a forlorn 
lope. He was never married, but was engaged to 
\nna M., daughter of Gen. Belknap, of the Regular 
\rmy, a contemporary of Gen. Scott. 2. Ann Eliza- 
beth, married to Joseoh Gardner, of Fitchburg. 
rhey had one child. Elizabeth, who lived aiid died 
in Fitchburg unmarried. .\nx\. Elizabeth is now 
lead. 3. George G.. married to Lydia O. Whiting, 
li Worcester. No child was born to them, but they 
idoptcd one under the name of Caroline Amelia 
Burbank. George and Lydia are dead. 4. James Leon- 



ard, married to Persis S. Wood, of Grafton. They 
had one child only, Emma Jourdan. James L. is 
now dead. Emma J. married Frank Richard 
Macullar, of Worcester, son of Addison Macullar. 
They had one child, Margaret Burbank, now living. 
Frank R. Macullar is now dead. 

3. Mary, born March 14, 1788; died unmarried, 
September 16, 1817. 

4. Nancy, born August 28, 1790; married to 
Dr. Benjamin F. Ileywood of Worcester, (Dart- 
mouth, 1812). [See the sketch of the Heywood 
Family, later.] 

5. Samuel, born March 21, 1792; died August 
24, 1796. 

6. Sarah, born August 22, 1794; died August 
23, 1796. 

7. Samuel B., born April 11, 1797; died July 
20, 1822. 

8. Frederick William, born January 19, 1800; 
he settled in Columbia, South Carolina ; married 
Sarah Briggs of Columbia; they had thirteen chil- 
dren and are both dead. 

9. James, born December 23, 1S02; he married 
Elizabeth Swett of Dedham. [See his sketch, later, 
"James Green (VII)."] 

10. Meltiah Bourne, born July 16, 1806: he 
married Mary Stone Ward. [See his sketch, later, 
"M. B. Green (VII)."] 

11. Elizabeth R.. born September 26, 1808; she 
married Dr. Benjamin F. Heywood, who had also 
married her sister Nancy. [See Heywood Family 
sketch.] 

(VI) William Elijah Green, son of Dr. John 
and Mary (Ruggles) Green, (5), w-as born on Green 
Hill. January 31. 1777. and died there July 27, 1865, 
aged eightj--eight years. He was graduated at 
Brown University in 1798. He succeeded his father 
in the ownership of the homestead on Green Hill, 
comprising then two hundred acres. He studied 
law under Judge Edward Bangs, with whom and 
with whose son, Edward D. Bangs, he was as- 
sociated in practice for some years afterwards. He 
was an original member of the First Baptist Society 
of Worcester, but late in life became identified 
with the Universalists. He will be remembered for 
the earnest work he did for temperance and the 
Public schools of Worcester. He was for many 
years captain of the Worcester Light Infantrj-, and 
was a volunteer in the War of 1812. He was one 
of the foremost promoters of the Blackstone Canal, 
and never lost an opportunity to help advance the 
interests of his native town. It has been said ol 
him that he was a man of great geniality and cheer- 
fulness : affable to men of all conditions, hi.shly 
respected and very popular. In his later years. Wil- 
liam E. Green withdrew from the practice of the 
law and spent his time in the development of his 
estate on Green Hill. While this estate has been 
brouglit to its present perfection by his sons. An- 
drew H. Green and Martin Green — the latter one 
of whom resided there for thirty-two vears. — Green 
Hill has been for one hundred and fifty years an 
attractive spot, a gentleman's estate, suggesting the 
old English homes rather than the farms of New 
England. The original house, to which Andrew 
H. Green added a fine modern structure by cutting 
the old liouse in two and putting a new section be- 
tween the front and rear, is approached by Green 
Lane, an old county road. It had a museum of 
familv heirlooms and relics. In itself it is one of 
the choicest inheritances of the early settlers of 
Worcester. What is called the Green Hill Book 
originated Senteniber !,■;. 1861. when the fen chil- 
dren of William E. Green, the old "Squire." met 
together for the first time since their childhood, 



26 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



and this meeting proved also the last gathering of 
the family as a whole. At that time Oliver B. 
Green came from Chicago ; John P. Green was at 
home on a visit from Copiapo, Chili, where he lived 
forty years; Mary R., Lucy M. and Andrew H. 
came from New York ; and Martin from Peshtigo, 
Wisconsin. Some interesting portrait groups of the 
family were taken and are preserved in the Green 
Hill Book, a large folio record book, in which an 
account of this reunion was entered, and in which 
records of interest to the family, including notices 
of visits, have since been kept. It is illustrated 
with photographs of several generations of the 
family ; has clippings from newspapers containing 
obituaries and other family items. 

Mr. Green died July 27, 1865, in the same room 
at Green Hill in which he was born, — at the age 
of eighty-eight years. He was married four times ; 
first to Abigail Nelson, daughter of Josiah Nelson, 
of Milford, who bore him one child, William Nel- 
son Green ; secondly, to Lucy Merriam, daughter 
of Deacon Joseph Merriam of Grafton, who bore 
him one child, Lucy Merriam Green; thirdly, to 
Julia Plimpton, daughter of Oliver Plimpton. Esq., 
of that part of Sturbridge now known as South- 
bridge. Massachusetts. She had nine children ; and 
fourthly, to Elizabeth D. Collins, a widow. From 
this marriage there was no child. The children of 
William E. Green were : 

1. William Nelson, born at Milford, Massa- 
chusetts, February 23, 1804 ; died December 6, 1870. 
He was judge of the police court of Worcester. 
[See his sketch, later.] 

2. Lucy Merriam, born at Grafton, November 
12, 1810. She was for a great many years tlie joint 
owner with her sister, Mary Ruggles Green, of a 
young ladies' school at No. i Fifth avenue. New 
York city, which they made famous ; unmarried ; 
her brother, Andrew H. Green, a bachelor, lived 
with these two sisters and helped them conduct their 
business affairs ; she died May S, 1893, at Worcester. 

3. Mary Ruggles, born in Worcester, June 29, 
T814; she married Carl W. Knudsen, who was born 
in Denmark, 1818, and died in South Norwalk, 
Connecticut, February 27, 1894. She was a teacher 
and joint proprietor with her sister. Lucy M., of 
the young ladies' school at No. I Fifth avenue, New 
York city. She died March 17, 1894. 

4. Julia Elizabeth, born in Worcester, February 
2, 1816 ; she lived at home with her parents ; was a 
teacher ; never married, and died August 5, 1880. 

5. Lydia Plimpton, born at Worcester, August 
4, 1817; died August 27, 1818. 

/ 6. John Plimpton, born in Worcester, January 
^ 19. iSig; he became a physician, practiced in New 

York and lived in China and South America. He 

died . 

7. Andrew Haswell, born in Worcester. October 

6, 1820; a prominent lawyer in New York city, 

associated in practice with Hon. Samuel J. Tilden ; 

president of the Board of Education ; commissioner 

of Central Park, and comptroller of New Y'ork city. 

[See a sketch of his life later, — "A. H. Green 

(VH)."1 
x/' 8. Samuel Fiske. born in Worcester, October 

10, 1822 ;■ a physician and missionary in Ceylon. 

9. Lydia Plimpton, born at Worcester, March 
18. 1824; she lived at the old home on Green Hill, 
and died there September 7, 1869. 

10. Oliver Bourne, born at Worcester. January 
I, 1826 : he married August 28, 1S55, Louisa Pome- 
roy of Stanstead, Canada ; a prominent civil engineer 
at Chicago. Illinois. [See a sketch of his life, later, 
— "O. B. Green (VII)."] 

11. Martin, born at Worcester, April 24. 1828; 



for many years a civil engineer engaged in import- 
ant work; now resident at Worcester. [See a sketch 
of his life, later,— "Martin Green (VII)."] 

(VII) Dr. John Green, son of Dr. John Green 
(6), was born in Worcester, April 19, 17S4. He was 
graduated at Brown University in 1804, and began 
to practice medicine in Worcester in 1807, a year 
before the death of his father and eight years 
after that of his grandfather, Dr. John Green of 
Revolutionary fame. He seems destined to be re- 
membered longer than either, for he will be known 
to future generations as the founder of the Free 
Public Library of Worcester. Having early decided 
to devote a liberal portion of his fortune to the 
founding of such an institution, he was engaged 
for many years in collecting books, which in 1859 
he presented to the city, adding continually to the 
number afterward, and leaving in his will funds of 
$35,000 for the library, with a provision for further 
accumulation.- The funds amounted, November 30, 
1905, to $61,403. 

He studied medicine with his father, succeeded 
to his father's practice at his death, and for half 
a century was the acknowledged leader of his pro- 
fession in this section of the state. He was a good 
student, gentle and sympathetic with his patients, 
especially with women and children, but quite in- 
flexible when it seemed to him necessary ; very 
cautious and also very daring ; but his most valuable 
professional quality was the keenest possible obser- 
vation. 

Although this third Dr. John Green is likely 
to be best known hereafter as the foimder^ of 
Worcester's Public Library, contemporary physicians 
and his own patients generally believed him to be 
the greatest physician and surgeon of the three 
who. under the name of Dr. John Green, had cared 
for this conmiunity for ninety-eight years. He was 
the last Dr. Green of the four in this con- 
tinuous family line who had served this neighbor- 
hood medically for over one hundred and thirty- 
five years without a break. He was given the de- 
gree of M. D. by Harvard College in 1815. and in 
1826 by his Alma Mater, Brown LTniversity. He 
was treasurer of the District Medical Society three 
j-ears, vice-president five years, and president seven ; 
vice-president of the American Medical Society in 
1854 : the first president of the Worcester County 
Horticultural Society : a councillor of the Massa- 
chusetts Medical Society and of the American Anti- 
quarian Society. He was an early and constant 
patron and supporter of the Worcester Natural 
. History Society. On account of age and failing 
health, he retired from practice about 1855. He 
died in his eightv-second year, at Worcester, Oc- 
tober 17. 1865. He married Dolly Curtis, daughter 
of David Curtis, of Worcester, and aunt of the late 
George William Curtis, the distinguished author and 
orator. They had no children. 

(VII) James Green, son of Dr. John Green 
(6), was born in Worcester. December 23. 1802. 
less than six vears before the death of his father, 
who died at the early age of forty-five years, and 
left a family of nine children surviving him. The 
oldest son. John (7), had already received his col- 
legiate and medical education, and had started in 
1826 by his .Mma Mater, Brown University. He 
practice : but James had to go to work at the age 
of twelve, after very little schooling. This 
' calamity made him very eager afterwards to give 
his own children the best education he could. 
He lived all his life in Worcester, and married. 
May I, 183'?. Elizabeth Swett. daughter of Samuel 
Swett of Boston and Dedham. Massachusetts, a 
merchant engaged in foreign trade. They lived at 




-_ ^-^^ 



^K 



I^H-^c^^^f^,, 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



2 Harvard street, in Worcester, for about twenty- 
:iglit years just preceding his death on June lo, 
874. All their children were born in Worcester, 
rhe widow Elizabeth continued to live in the same 
lOUse until she died, May 7, 1901, leaving her three 
ons surviving. Their children were: 

1. James, born February 15, 1834; died Fcbru- 
iry 17, 1834. 

2. John, born April 2, 1S35 ; graduated at Har- 
•ard College, 1855 1 M. D., Harvard ; an eminent 
]phthalmologist and leader of his profession in St. 
^ouis, Missouri. [See sketch of his life later, — 
Dr. John Green (VHI)."] 

3. Samuel Swett, born February 20, 1837; 
L B., Harvard, 1858; Harvard Divinity School, 
864; Harvard A. M., 1870. [See a sketch of his 
ife later, — "Samuel S. Green, VHI."] 

4. Elizabeth Sprague, born April ig, 1839; she 
lied at St. Louis at the home of her brother John, 
anuary 9, 1870. 

5. James, born March 2, 1841 ; Harvard A. B., 
862: LL. B., 1S64; A. M., 1865. [See sketch of 
.is life, later, — "James Green, VHI."] 

(Vn) Meltiah Bourne Green, son of Dr. John 
jreen (6), was born in Worcester, July 16, 1806. 
le married Mary Stone Ward, daughter of Artemas 
Yard of Worcester, Massachusetts. He lived in 
Vorcester, and died there May 24, 1888. His wife 
ied at Worcester, January 7, 1896. Their children 
.•ere : 

1. Meltiah, born August 27, 1838; died August 
9, 1838. 

2. Mary Caroline, born December 13, 1839; 
ied August 13, 1840. 

3. Meltiah Bourne, born Januarv 3. 1843 ; 
L. B. Trinity, 1865 ; LL. B. Harvard. 1867. He died 
t Geneva, Switzerland, December 27, 1877. 

(VH) William Nelson Green, son of William 
'.. Green (6), was born in Milford, Massachusetts, 
;hcre his father lived and practiced law for a time, 
"ebruary 23, 1804. He was educated in the public 
:hooIs of Worcester. He studied law- in the office 
f Samuel M. Burnside in Worcester, and was ad- 
litted to practice in 1827. ' From 1833 to 18.36 he was 
le editor of the National Aegis, a Worcester news- 
aper. distinguished more for the excellence of its 
liting and the greatness of some of its editors 
fter they left the paper, than for any degree of 
nancial success attained. Somebody has said that 
alf the lawyers in Worcester in the early days 
;rved their time as editor of the Aegis. He w'as 
)r a time a school teacher. He will be remembered 
est for his high-minded and efficient service as the 
rst judge of the city court. When Worcester was 
icorporated as a city in 1848. the new charter es- 
iblished a police court, of which he became the 
4stice. Judge Green was undoubtedly the best 
iialified among the justices of the peace who had 
itherto administered the criminal law in the town 
f Worcester. He was not only the first but the 
;i=t and only judge of the Worcester police court, 
k'hen, after a faithful service of twenty years, 
•idge Green retired, the municipal court was es- 
:blished and the police court abolished to meet 
sw needs of the city. Judge Green loved nature 
id was very fond of hunting. He died December 
1870. two j'ears after retiring from the jud.geship. 
■e married. February 23, 1839. Sarah Munroe 
Ball) Staples, who was born in Northhoro and 
as a widow when he married her. They had five 
lildren. born in Worcester: 

I. William Nelson. (S), born January 10, 1843. 
e enlisted in the 25th Massachusetts Regiment, and 
as promoted for gallantry in the battle of Roanoke 
I be second lieutenant in the I02d New York Regi- 



ment. He was in the battle of Cedar Mountain and 
was a prisoner in Libby Prison. He received special 
mention for brave conduct in the battle of Chancel- 
lorsville, and a Commission as lieutenant-colonel in 
the 173d New York Regiment. He was shot at 
Pleasant Hill, Louisiana, during a battle, and died 
May 13, 1864, from the wound. 

2. Timothy Ruggles, born June 22, 1844. He 
lived many years in New York with his uncle An- 
drew H. Green, and after his uncle's death returned 
to Worcester, where he now resides, 

(Vn) Andrew Haswcll Green, son of William E. 
Green (6) was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, 
October 6, 1820. The best account of the life and 
achievements of "the Father of Greater New York" 
is that written by his cousin and friend, Samuel 
Swett Green, librarian of the Free Public Library 
of Worcester, and read at the semi-annual meeting 
of the American Antiquarian Society, April 27, 1904. 
From that account the writer of this sketch has 
draw-n most of the facts and in many cases has 
quoted freely from it. 

.•\t the age of fifteen Mr. Green left school. His 
early education was obtained at the old Thomas 
street school at the corner of Summer street. He 
went to work in New York city, whither he jour- 
neyed by stage and steamboat. He was employed 
first at the munificent salary of fifty dollars a year 
in the store of Hinsdale & Atkins as errand boy. 
His next position was clerk in the store of Lee, 
Savage & Co., wholesale cloth merchants and im- 
porters, where he steadily advanced until he had 
reached nearly the head position when the firm 
failed. After a severe illness and return to Green 
Hill for some months during convalescence and re- 
cuperation, he entered the employ of Wood, Johns- 
ton & Barritt. linen importers. Exchange Place, 
New York. Then he went to the house of Simeon 
Draper. At the age of twenty-one he went to 
Trinidad, where he spent a year on the sugar plan- 
tation of Mr. Burnley, a friend of the family. While 
there he became interested in the cultivation of 
sugar cane, the manufacture of sugar and molasses 
and tried without success to introduce some im- 
provement in the methods and processes in use. 
He gave up the attempt, returned to New York and 
entered the law office of a relative, John W. Mit- 
chell. He began the practice of law in the office 
of Samuel J. Tilden, "whose political principles he 
shared." to quote his own words, "and with whom 
he sustained confidential and trusted relations 
throughout life." 

He was elected trustee of the schools in the 
fourth ward of New York, and afterward school 
commissioner and member of the board of educa- 
tion. He was made president of the board, which 
consisted of forty four members, in 1855. Two 
years later he was appointed a commissioner of 
Central Park and became treasurer of the board of 
commissioners, president and executive officer of 
the board, and for ten years comptroller of the 
park. He had complete supervision of the engineers, 
landscape architects, gardeners, and the whole force 
of laborers amounting at times to three thousand 
men. The office of comptroller of the park was 
created especi-dly for Mr. Green. It happened that 
in the first years of the park there was constant 
friction between the commissioners and the Tweed 
ring, then being formed, and the coiumissioners 
were quite willing to leave the work to anyone who 
would attend to it. So Mr. Green was made both 
president and treasurer. .As the park was developed 
and grew in popularity some member of the board 
intimated that it was not right for one man to hold 
lioth offices, and Mr. Green was elected treasurer, 



28 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



to which the salary, which the legislature had 
authorized the commissioneTs to pay either to the 
president or treasurer, -was to be paid. But Mr. 
Green promptly declined to serve in the salaried 
position, whereupon another member was elected 
treasurer and he was elected president without sal- 
ary. ^ The new treasurer failed to give satisfaction 
and in a few months the office of comptroller of 
parks was created and Mr. Green elected to till the 
position. The nominal president of the board had 
the duty of presiding at meetings, but all the exe- 
cutive and administrative work devolved on the 
comptroller, who was likewise the treasurer. He 
served in this very important and honorable posi- 
tion for ten years, when the Tweed charter of 
1870 removed the members of the hoard from office 
and turned Central Park over to a department of 
the city government appointed by A. Oakey Hall, 
mayor. Although Mr. Green was appointed a mem- 
ber of the new board the conditions were such that 
he resigned in 1872. 

Chancellor MacCracken. of New York Univer- 
sity, in speaking of Mr. Green, said that "by his 
care for Central Park he was led to care for related 
enterprises, such as the Museum of Art. the Museum 
of Science and the Zoological Garden." He was 
constantly alive to the work of beautifying the 
city, whether by individual effort or as a member 
of one or another organization. A recent address 
declared that his thoughtfulness was woven into 
the structure and visible aspect of New York. Here 
we see it in a reserved acre of greensward; there 
in the curve of a graceful line, like the beautiful 
span of Washington Bridge, and somewhere else 
in a sweet sounding name, like Morningside. "Mr. 
Green had a rare combination of qualities," said 
Samuel Swett Green, "to fit him to do the great 
work which he did in laying out and developing 
Central Park. He had an eye for the picturesque 
and beautiful, and a fondness and aptitude for the 
kind of practical service needed. He had too a 
passion for having everything done thoroughly." 

Mr. Green was naturally appointed a mem- 
ber of the original board of commissioners on 
the Niagara reservation, and held the position until 
his death, being president most of the time. An 
island formerly known as Bath Island has been 
named for Mr. Green. Several years ago the state 
of New York established a commission with the 
title "Trustees of Scenic and Historical Places and 
Objects in the State of New York." The name has 
twice been changed and is now American Scenic 
and Historic Preservation Society. Mr. Green was 
the founder and enthusiastic president of this so- 
ciety from its organization until his death. 

In 1865 the legislature imposed upon the com- 
missioners of Central Park the duty of laying out 
that portion of the island lying north of One Hun- 
dred and Fifty-fifth street. It was while he was 
directing the work of laying out Central Park and 
Upper New York that Mr. Green first called at- 
tention in a serious and deliberate manner to the 
desirability of the union of the towns and cities 
now popularly known as the Greater New York, 
The first result of Mr. Green's recommendation of 
the consolidation was the annexation in 1873 of 
Morrisiania, West Farms and Kingsbridge. Mr. 
Green presented to the legislature of NewYork in 
i8qo a notable brief, advocating consolidation. A 
referendum in 1804 resulted in a favorable vote in 
all the four counties concerned. The commission to 
draft the charter was appointed by the state. June 
9, 1896. with Mr. Green as chairman. The charter 
as drafted became a law November d, 1807. The 
new city was established January i, 1898, and May 



22, iSgS, Mr. Green appeared before the legislature 
by invitation to receive congratulations for his work 
in forming the Greater New York. A thoughtful 
address was given by him. A medal was struck 
off as a memorial and presented to Mr. Green Oc- 
tober 6, 1898, and by general consent also he has 
come to be known as "The Father of Greater New 
York." 

Mr. Green's connection with the New York 
library system is interesting history. He was one 
of the executors of the will of his law partner, 
the late Samuel J. Tilden, and was one of the origi- 
nal trustees, three in number, appointed in the will 
to add to their number and establish a great free 
library in New York. Mr. Green's efforts resulted 
in saving much of the property for the libraries 
when all was involved in contests and litigations. 
It was his scheme to bring about the union of some 
of the great libraries in New York, and he quietly 
secured the legislation necessary with the final re- 
sult of consolidating the Astor, Lenox and Tilden 
foundations in the formation of the New York 
Public Library, which, Mr. S. S. Green says, 
"through the assiduous and valuable labors of its 
well known and accomplished librarian. Dr. John 
S. Billings, by means of subsequent consolidations 
and aided by a munificent gift from Mr. Andrew 
Carnegie and by city appropriations, bids fair to 
become one of the most important institutions in 
New York." 

Mr. Green first became prominent in the whole 
country of which New York is the metropolis, by 
his work in the office of comptroller in behalf of 
good government during the exposure of the frauds 
of the Tweed ring. This office he held for 
five years, till in 1876, he became executor of 
the will of William B. Ogden, the railroad 
king of New York and Chicago. Had Mr. Tilden 
been declared president of the United States, Mr. 
Green would undoubtedly have been in the cabinet. 
He was one of the original trustees of the New York 
and Brooklyn Bridge. In 1890 the legislature ap- 
pointed him a commissioner to locate and approve 
the plan of the great railroad bridge across the 
Hudson river which is to join Manhattan Island 
with the rest of the country. He was elected to the 
constitutional convention in 1894. 

He was a member of the New York Historical 
Society, the New York Genealogical and Biographi- 
cal Society and many other societies devoted to 
geography, history, the fine arts, science and philan- 
thropy. He became a member of the American 
Antiquarian Society in October, 1889, and left that 
society $5,000 in his will. He also bequeathed $5,000 
to Clark University in Worcester, and $1,000 to 
the Isabella Heimath, a home for aged women in 
New York. In politics he was a Democrat, although 
he was not in agreement with the majority of his 
party in his position on the tariff. He was a Pro- 
tectionist. He was killed November 13, 1903, by 
a crazy man just as he was entering his home in 
New York. He never married, but lived in his own 
home. Park avenue. New York. 

He was the owner of the old homestead on Green 
Hill, where he made large purchases of land de- 
stined it seems to benefit the city of Worcester, 
where he was born, as greatly as his service in the 
Park Board of New York benefited the city of his 
adoption. He enlarged the old house by cutting 
it in two. moving back the rear portion and building 
between the front and back of the old building a 
fine mansion, thus securing in the middle of the 
house large and higher rooms on the lower floor 
and suits of apartments for himself, his brothers 
and sisters upstairs. Later a spacious porch and 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



29 



veranda were added in front. His deep affection 
for his family and reverence for his ancestors were 
frequently shown. "He always carried his brothers 
and sisters and their children and grandchildren in 
his heart," writes Mr. S. S. Green, "and no one of _ 
them ever suffered for the lack of a home or the 
comforts of life. Mr. Green placed a mural bronze 
tablet in the interior of the church at Greenville 
in remembrance of its first pastor (his ancestor), 
Thomas Green. Had I given him encouragement to 
believe that it was fitting to single out one from 
the thousands of young men who did service in the 
civil war for especial and lavish commemoration 
he would, I am sure, have engaged St. Gaudens, 
or another sculptor as distinguished, to have made 
a statue of his nephew, William Nelson Green, Jr., 
to be placed in an appropriate position in Worcester." 

It should be said of Mr. Green, as of his brothers 
to whom reference is made elsewhere, that they 
were descended from the Bournes of the Cape, from 
Governor Dudley, of the Massachusetts Bay colony, 
and from Rev. John Woodbridge, a brother of 
Benjamin Woodbridge, whose name stands first 
on the roll of graduates of Harvard College. He 
was also descended from the three Tillies and John 
Howland. passengers on the "Mayflower." 

His character has been described by the New 
York Tribune, which said of him at the time he 
was appointed deputy comptroller: "Incorruptible, 
inaccessible to partisan or personal considerations, 
immovable by threats or bribes, and honest by the 
very constitution of his own nature" and as fitted 
for the office by "long experience in public affairs, 
strict sense of accountability and thorough methods 
of doing business." Hon. Seth Low, mayor of 
New York at the time of Mr. Green's death, said of 
him : "It may truthfully be said that to no one 
man who has labored in and for the city during the 
last fifty years is the city under greater and more 
lasting obligations than to Andrew H. Green. The 
city itself, in some of its most beautiful and endur- 
ing features, is the monument of his love ; and the 
city may vv-ell cherish his honored name with the 
undying gratitude that is due to a citizen who has 
made it both a greater and better city than it was." 

(VII) John Plimpton Green, son of William E. 
Green (6), was born in Worcester, January 19, 1819. 
He studied medicine in New York and practiced 
there for a time. He removed to Whampoa, China, 
thence to Copaipo in Chile, South America, where 
he spent most of his mature years, practicing medi- 
cine. He died January 6. 1892, at Green Hill. 

(VII) Samuel Fisk Green, son of William E. 
Green (6), was born at Green Plill, Worcester, 
October 10, 1822: died there May 28, 1884. He 
studied medicine and practiced for a time, but when 
a young man went to Batticotta in the Island of 
Ceylon as a missionary physician for the American 
Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. He 
spent almost a quarter of a century in ministering 
personally to the wants of both the bodies and 
souls of the Taniil population of the Island. After 
his return to Green Hill, he continued to translate 
medical treatises into the Tamil language until his 
death. Besides practicing medicine in Ceylon he 
established there a medical school, and his pupils 
were very numerous. He is given the credit of 
creating the medical literature of the Tamil language. 
He married. May 22. 1862, Margaret Phelps Wil- 
liams. Since his death his family has been occupy- 
ing the mansion at Green Hill. His children were: 
Julia E., born January I, 1S64 ; Lucy Maria. Febru- 
ary 26, 1865 ; Mary Ruggles. September 22, 1867 ; 
Nathan Williams, March i.^. 1871. 

(VII) Oliver Bourne Green, son of William E. 
Green (6), w-as born January i, 1826. He and his 



brother, Martin Green, of Worcester are the only 
survivors among the eleven children of Squire 
Green. His early education was received in the 
school house 'at the corner of Thomas and Sum- 
mer streets. For a few winters he taught school, 
but the building of steam railroads attracted him 
and he obtained a position as rodman on trench 
survey for the New York & Erie Railroad, and for 
a few weeks assisted in the preliminary surveys. 
What he himself calls his first position, however, 
was on the Worcester & Nashua Railroad, w^here, 
begining as rodman, he learned the art and science 
of civil engineering in the way it was then taught, 
by experience. He next went to the Hudson River 
Railroad and took part in the survey of what has 
since become one of the greatest railroads in the 
country. He was particularly strong in field work 
and he obtained more than his share of that part 
iif the engineering. After the Hudson River job, 
lie became resident engineer in charge of part of 
Ihe construction of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. 
He was stationed in West Virginia in the section 
containing the Welling tunnel, one of the longest 
on the road. It is about thirty miles from the 
Ohio line. He stayed there two years and a half 
until the road was completed and in operation. He 
was occupied for a time in the survey for the 
Cincinnati, Lebanon & Xenia Railroad, only part of 
which was built at the time. He accepted the dif- 
ficult task of engineer of a division on the Missis- 
sippi Central Railroad, of which his brother, Mar- 
tin Green, w-as later the chief engineer. He spent 
the years 1853-54-55 in the south. In 1857 he was 
engaged in the dredging and contracting business 
with his brother, Martin Green, and later for over 
thirty years on his ow-n account. He did much of 
the construction along the Lake front, more than 
any other contractor. He had many city contracts 
for breakwaters and in the park system of Chicago. 
He built a mile of the Lake Shore drive. One of 
his best known jobs was done in 1877 for the 
Sturgeon Bay Canal Company. He constructed the 
canal which connects Green Bay with Lake Michi- 
gan and saved all the lumber vessels that enter 
Green Bay at least two hundred miles on their round 
trip. 

Since 1867 Mr. Green has lived at 403 LaSalle 
avenue, Chicago. His house was burned there in 
the "great fire." but he rebuilt later. He continued 
in active business until i8g8, when he turned his 
business over to his son, Andrew Hugh Green. 
Mr. Green is a member of the Western Society of 
Civil Engineers and is one of the oldest members. 
He is a member of the New England Congregational 
Church of Chicago. He is a Democrat in politics 
with a belief in the Republican principle of pro- 
tection that made him wdiat he calls an Eclectic. 

He married. August 28, 1855, and in 1905 cele- 
brated his golden wedding in the mansion on Green 
Hill. It was a notable event socially, from the 
gathering of the relatives and several old school- 
mates and other friends wdio had not met for years. 

His wife, Louise Pomeroy. was the daughter of 
Hazen and Lois Pomeroy. She was born in Stan- 
stead, Canada, and he met her while making the 
survey of the Mississippi Central Railroad. She 
was a school teacher there. Their children are: 
Mary Pemeroy. born April 26, 1857, lives with her 
parents. Olivia, born December 10, 1859, married 
Wyllis W. Baird. and they have two children: 
Warner Green Baird. a student in Cornell ; Katha- 
rine L. Baird. Andrew Hugh, born November 26, 
1S60. graduated at Harvard University in 1892, and 
at the Massachusetts Institute of Technolog)', in 1896. 
He took over his father's business, with which he 
was thoroughly familiar, and having introduced 



30 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



some of thf newest methods and latest macliinery, 
sold it in 1901 to advantage, and has been travel- 
ing since then. 

(Vll) Martin Green, son of William E. Green 
(6), was born in Worcester, April 24, 18^8. The 
room in which he was born in the homestead at 
Green Hill is the same in which his father was 
born and died, and in which his ten brothers and 
sisters were born. He received his schooling in 
the old school at the corner of Summer and Thomas 
streets, when Warren Lazell was the teacher of 
the Knglish department and Charles Thurber of the 
Latin department. He took a course at Little Blue 
Seminary at Farmington, Maine. His father in- 
tended to have him go to college, but he was at- 
tracted to the profession in which his brother Oliver 
was making good progress, and he started his 
career as civil engineer as chainman in the survey 
for the Hudson River Railroad, where his brother 
was also employed. He was promoted rapidly and 
became a proficient civil engineer. When the sur- 
vey was completed to Greenbush, he returned to the 
old home at Green Hill, but went to work for the 
Worcester & Nashua Railroad Company. When the 
work w'as done on the Nashua road he accepted 
a position with the Pennsylvania Coal Company 
Railroad. He was occupied here for three years 
in surveying and building gravity railroads in Lu- 
zerne county, Pennsylvania. When the work was 
done he was offered the superintendency of the 
road. He returned to Worcester but was called 
to take the position of division engineer on the 
New York & Harlem Railroad. He was in charge 
of the construction of the line from Millerton to 
Copake. When the work was done he was selected 
as chief engineer for the Lebanon Springs Railroad 
Company. This road was to run from Chatham, 
New York, to Bennington, Vermont, throu.gh a 
rough and hilly country and presented some dif- 
ficult engineering problems. Tlie work was left 
unfinished on account of the financial troubles of 
the railroads involved in the great frauds of Robert 
Schuyler, who had been president of sixteen rail- 
road companies. 

Mr. Green was then appointed chief engineer of 
the Mississippi Central Railroad, which had been 
begun all along the two hundred and sixty-seven 
miles of its length, and was left by his predecessor 
in the greatest disorder and confusion. Some sec- 
tions he found built a one-fourth mile out of the 
proper course, so that it taxed his resources to build 
curves and schemes to save the work already done. 
He found the engineering force grossly incompetent. 
When he left this railroad was substantially com- 
plete, but so anxious were the planters, who were 
directors of the road, and the president to keep him 
that they offered him whai was at that time a very 
large salary, $20,000 a year, to remain. And' after 
he had actually left, they sent a delegation to New 
York to see him, and another to Chicago to try to 
persuade him to come back. No stronger testimony 
to the value of his work as a railroad engineer need 
be cited. To his natural gift for this kind of work 
he added great physical strength and vigor, and he 
gave all his energy to the performance of the work, 
whatever it might be, that he had in hand. The 
Mississippi Central is now a part of the Illinois 
Central Railroad. As first constructed by Mr. Green 
it ran from the junction with the Memphis & 
Charleston Railroad, six miles north of the Ten- 
nessee line to Canton and Jackson, Mississippi. It 
was a very important railroad in the southern in- 
terests. He had the honor to run the first loco- 
motive ever run in the state of Mississippi. 

Although Mr. Green received offers of positions 
as chief engineer from three other railroads, he 



persisted in his purpose when leaving Mississippi 
and went to Chicago, where he was employed first 
to .<tudy the question of a tunnel under the Chicago 
river, to gather statistics and make plans. He pro- 
ceeded with the work of building the Chicago tun- 
nel and remained with the work until the coffer 
dams were built. He then went into business on 
his own account as contractor and dredger. At 
that time one of the prime necessities of commer- 
cial Chicago was the vv-idening and deepening of 
Chicago river and the construction of proper 
wharves for shipping. He had the contracts for the 
dredging of the river from the lake to the old Rush 
street bridge. He took out the old government 
light houses and government barracks and the old 
fort. The river was made about five times its 
original width. He also improved the north branch 
of the river as far as Ward's rolling mill, and the 
fouth branch for about twelve miles. He was in 
Chicago in its first great period of development, 
and of that work he took a large and im- 
portant part. In 1867 he sold his Chicago 
business and went to Peshtigo, Wisconsin, 
for the Peshtigo Lumber Company, in which 
William B. Ogden was interested, with whom 
Mr. Green was associated during much of his active 
business life. This company owned one hundred 
and seventy-six thousand acres of lumber land. As 
manager of this vast property he had to erect saw 
mills and grist mills and build two large ships for 
the lumber trade. He was in Peshtigo three years. 
He built the ship canal at Benton Harbor, Michi- 
gan. This canal gave steamships access to Benton 
in the heart of the peach country. He owned a line 
of boats and wdien- the work was completed his 
line took during the season forty thousand baskets 
to Chicago every night. Besides his steamship line 
he built and owned saw and grist mills at Benton 
Harbor. 

Before the great fire in Chicago he returned and 
w-as interested with his brother in the contracting 
business. The fire caused hmi to over-work and 
break down. On May 23, 1872, by advice of his 
physician, he returned to Green Hill, Worcester, 
Massachusetts, to rest and recuperate. The life in 
Worcester attracted him and he remained here, 
developing the Green Hill estate to its present state. 
He removed, November 13, 1905, to No. 974 
Pleasant street, where he has since lived. Mr. 
Green has never cared to join secret societies and 
clubs. He is a member of Central Congregational 
church, Worcester. He served three years on the 
Worcester park board and for about three years on 
the board of trustees of the State Lunatic Asylum 
at Westboro. Massachusetts. 

He married, December 25, 1859, Mary Frances 
Stewart, of the New York Stewart family. She 
was born in New York city, December 25, 1821, 
and died at 4 Melville street, Worcester, April 20, 
T005. Their children are: William Ogden, born in 
Chicago, September 26, i860: Samuel Martin, born 
at Benton Harbor. IMichigan. April- 13. 1864. 

(VIII) John Green, of St. Louis, Missouri, son 
of James Green (7), was born in Worcester, 
Massachusetts. April 2, 1835. He was fitted for col- 
lege at the Worcester Classical and English high 
school: entered Harvard College. 1851; was grad- 
uated, A. B., iSss: S. B.. 1856; A. M.. 1859: M. D., 
1866. He studied medicine at Cambridge. Massa- 
chusetts, under the direction of Profs. Morrill and 
Jeffries Wyman: also at the Massachusetts Medical 
College in Boston : and from 1858 to i860 in Lon- 
don, Paris, Berlin, and Vienna. He was admitted 
a Fellow of the Massachusetts Medical Society, on 
examination in 1858. He was elected a member 
of the Boston Society of Natural History in 1856, 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



31 



id member of the council, as curator of Com- 
jrative Anatomy, in 1857 ; i" l^e '^"er year he 
-companied Prof. Jeffries Wyman on a scientific 
cpedition to Surinam (Dutch Guiana). He began 
le practice of medicine in Boston in ibOl. He 
as a member of the Boston Medical Association ; 
le Suffolk District Medical Society, of which he 
-as elected secretary in 1865; and of the Boston 
ociety for Medical Observation. He was appointed 
delegate to the American Medical Association, 
rem B°oston, in 1864 and 1865. He held successively 
le positions of attending physician and attending 
uro-eon at the central office of the Boston Dis- 
en°ary. During 1862 he was in the medical service 
f the Western Sanitarv Commission and of the 
Jnited States Sanitary Commission, and was for 
everal months acting assistant surgeon m the 
Vrmy of the Tennessee. 

In 1865 he went again to Europe for the pur- 
,ose of continuing studies in ophthalmology, in Lon- 
ion Paris, and Utrecht. In 1S66 he removed to 
5t 'Louis, Missouri, where he has since resided 
md practiced his profession. He is a member of 
he American Ophthalmological Society, elected 
866- one of the original members of the American 
Dtological Society, founded 1868; and a member 
jf the International Ophthalmological Congress 
iince 1872. He was a member by special appoint- 
nent of the International Medical Congress held in 
Philadelphia in 1876, and was secretary of the sec- 
tion of Ophthalmology. In 1867 he was appointed 
lecturer on Ophthalmology in the St. Louis Summer 
School of Medicine; in 1868, professor of Ophthal- 
mology and Otology in the St. Louis College of 
Phvsicians and Surgeons, which position he held 
during the two years of existence of that institution; 
in 1871 lecturer on Ophthalmology m the bt. Louis 
Medical College; in 1872 ophthalmic surgeon to 
the St Louis Eve and Ear Infirmary, and consulting 
ophthalmic surgeon to the St. Louis City Hospital; 
and, in 1874 ophthalmic surgeon to St. Luke s Hospi- 
tal In 1886 he was elected professor of Ophthal- 
mology in the St. Louis Medical College (later the 
Medical Department of Washington University, bt. 
Louis. Missouri). He is president of the St. Lotus 
Ophthalmological Society. He is a member of the 
St Louis Academv of Science, of which he was 
president in l8g5 ; member of the board _of trustees 
of the Missouri Botanical Garden (Shaw s Garden), 
since 1895; member of the Missouri Historical So- 
ciety; member of the American Antiquarian So- 
ciety; member (and first vice-president) of the 
St. Louis Society of the Archaeological Institute 
of America: etc. He has contributed scientific 
papers to leading medical journals, to the trans- 
actions of the American Ophthalmo ogica Society,__ 
"Transactions of the American Otological Socie y 
"Proceedings of the International Ophthalmological 
Congress" (London. 1872, and New York. 18/6) 
"Reference Handbook of the Medical Sciences, etc. 
The honorarv degree of LL. D. was inferred upon 
him by Washington University m IQOS.. and by the 
Universitv of Missouri in 1906. He is a charter 
member of the University Club of St. Louis; mem- 
ber of the St. Louis Club, the discontinued) Ger- 
mania Club, the Liederkranz Club; of t^c Roun^ 
Table Club; and member (president from 1890 to 
1906. now honorary president) of the Harvard Club 
ofSt. Louis. He is also a member of the Society of 
the Sons of the Revolution, and of the Society of 

Colonial Wars. .,. TT„,.,:„t 

Dr. Green married. October 2.^ 1868, Harrie 
Louisa Jones, daughter of George Washington and 
Caroline (Partri.lge) Jones, "f J.^^^P''^^""/ ^1=^'^: 
chusetts; of this marriage two children. J"hn (born 
at Templeton, Massachusetts, August 2, 18/3), a"d 



Elizabeth (born in St. Louis, December 3, 1878), 
are living in St. Louis. His home is at 2670 Wash- 
ington avenue, St. Louis, Missouri. 

(VIII) Samuel Swctt Green, was born in Wor- 
cester, Massachusetts, February 20, 1837. He is a 
•son of the late James Green (7), and a nephew of 
Dr. John Green (7). the principal founder of the 
Free Public Library, of Worcester. 

His descent from Thomas Green (I), who came 
to this country early in the seventeenth century, 
has been described already, and an account of his 
ancestors in the line of the Greens has been given 
above. Mr. Green's mother was the late Elizabeth 
(ireen, daughter of Samuel Swett, of Boston and 
Dcdham. Through her mother, a daughter of Dr. 
John Sprague, of Boston, she and the subject of this 
sketch are" descended from an even earlier resident 
of the Massachusetts Bay Colony than Thomas 
Green namely, Ralph Sprague, who came to Charles- 
town 'in 1629, from Upway, Devonshire, England. 
Through his great-great-grandfather. Gen. Timothy 
Ruggles, of Hardwick, Mr. Green is also descended 
from Rev John Woodbridge, one of the earliest 
settlers of Newbury, and from Mr. Woodbridge's 
wife's father, Thomas Dudley, the second governor 
of the colony of Massachusetts Bay. Rev. John 
Woodbridge was the brother of Rev. Dr. Benjamin 
Woodbridge, whose name stands first on the list of 
graduates of Harvard College. Through the same 
ancestor, Mr. Green is descended from John TiUey, 
his wife and his daughter, Elizabeth, wife of John 
Howland. These four ancestors came to this coun- 
try in the "Mayflower." , c- r- 

The first school attended by Samuel S. Grecji 
was that of Mrs. Levi Heywood. Her school was 
discontinued however, before long, and he was 
sent for several vears to another infant school, kept 
by the late Mrs. Sarah B. Wood, afterward a resi- 
dent of Chicago, the wife of Jonathan Wood. 
From that private school he passed, upon 
examination, into the public grammar school 
on Thomas street, which, during his studies 
there was under the charge of Mr. Caleb 
B Metcalf. Going next to the high school, he grad- 
uated from that institution in 1854, and immediately 
entered Harvard College. Among his c assmates 
there were two other graduates of the \yorcester 
hi-h 'school, namely, Eugene Frederick Bliss, who 
has been for most of his life, since graduation, a 
citizen of Cincinnati, Ohio, and the late Lieut 
Thomas Jefferson Spurr, who was mortally wounded 
at the battle of Antietam. Mr. Green graduated from 
Harvard College in 1858. In the early part of the 
summer of i8w he sailed from Boston for Smyrna 
as a passenger in the barque "Race Horse, and be- 
fore returning home, in the same vessel visited 
Constantinople. Remaining two years in Worcester 
on account of ill-health, he resumed his studies at 
Harvard University in the autumn of 1861, ana 
graduated from the divinity school connected with 
that institution in 1864. He visited f-"7P<\ a.Ka>" '" 
1877 190^ 1903, 1904 and 1906, and added m 1903 
to e'xtensive travels previously made in this coun- 
trv a visit to Alaska. During the civil war, and 
while in the divinity school, Mr. Green was drafted 
fo service in the army, but w^s debarred from 
entering it bv delicate health. He took the degree 
of Master of Arts at Harvard University in 1870, 
ind Tunc 28 1877, was chosen an honorary mem- 
ber of the Phi Beta Kappa society by, the chapter of 
the order connected with the same university. 

In 1864 Mr Green became bookkeeper in the 
Mechanics National Bank of Worcester, and in the 
course of a few months, teller .in the Worcester 
\ational Bank. The latter position he Jield for 
several years. He was offered the position of cashier 



32 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



of tlie Citizens National Bank, to succeed the late 
Mr. John C. Ripley, but declined it; as he also 
declined, at about the same time, a place in the Wor- 
cester County Institution for Savings. 

Mr. Green became a director of the Free Pub- 
lic Library, January I, 1867, and four years later, 
January 15, 1871, librarian of the same institution. 
The latter position he still holds, having been elected 
for the thirty-sixth year of service January 2, igo6. 
.The library has grown rapidly in size and use under 
his care. It contained, December i, 1905, 153,176 
volumes. The use of its books in the year ending 
with that date was 366,935. A feature in that use 
is the remarkably large proporlion of books that 
are employed for study and purposes of reference. 
Mr. Green is regarded as an authority among 
librarians in respect to matters relating to the use 
of libraries as popular educational institutions, and 
in respect to the establishment, of close relations 
between libraries and schools. He was a pioneer in 
the work of bringing about inter-library loans and 
in a large use of photographs and engravings in 
supplementing the value of books. He has for a 
few years past set the example of having, in a library, 
talks about books on specified subjects, and is now 
conducting some interesting experiments in bring- 
ing the users of the circulating department and the 
children's room under the influence of the best 
works of art. 

Mr. Green was one of the founders of the Amer- 
ican Library Association, and is a life fellow of 
the society. He was for several years the chair- 
man of the finance committee of that body and its 
Yice-president for 1887-9 and 1892-3. In 1891 Mr. 
Green was chosen president of the association, and 
presided at the annual meeting held that year in 
San Francisco. He was in 1896 the first president 
of the council. He is an original Fellow of the 
Library Institute, founded in 1905 ; an organization 
supposed to be composed of a limited number of the 
most distinguished librarians of the country, Mr. 
Green was a delegate of the American Library As- 
sociation to the International Congress of Librarians 
held in London in October, 1S77, was a member of 
the council of that body, and took an active part 
in the discussions carried on in its meetings. Be- 
fore the close of the Congress, the Library Associa- 
tion of the United Kingdom was formed. Mr. Green 
was chosen an honorary member of that association, 
in July, 1878. He presided for a day over the 
World's Congress of Librarians held in Chicago 
in 1903, and at a meeting of the American Library 
Association held at Chicago University the same 
year. Mr. Green was a vice-president of the In- 
ternational Congress of Librarians held in Lon- 
don in 1897. In 1890 he was appointed by the gov- 
ernor of Massachusetts an original member of the 
Free Public Library Commission of the Common- 
wealth, and was reappointed in 1894, 1899 and 1904. 
Mr. Green was one of the founders and the original 
first yice-president of the Massachusetts Library 
Club. He was for many years a member of the com- 
mittee of the overseers of Harvard University to 
make an annual examination of the library of the 
university, occupied a similar position in connection 
with the Boston Public Library for a single year, 
and began, in 1887, to deliver annual courses of 
lectures as lecturer on "Public libraries as popular 
educational institutions" to the students of the 
School of Library Economy connected with Colum- 
bia College, New York city. He has also lectured 
at the Library School since it became an institu- 
tion of the state of New York, and was chosen a 
member of a committee to examine the school in 
both places. 



As librarian of the Free Public Library, Mr. 
Green has gained for himself and his library a wide 
reputation. In "The Worcester of 1898" it is said 
of him that "his purpose has been from the first 
to make the Public Library an instrument for popu- 
lar education and a practical power in the com- 
munity. To this end he has written and spoken 
much during the past twenty years, and his eflforts 
and advice have influenced, in no slight degree, 
library methods and administration throughout the 
United States. Tlie library methods of Worcester 
have been studied in the Department of the Seine, 
in which the city of Paris is situated. Mr. Green's 
advice has been sought by the Educational De- 
partment of the English government. The Free 
Public Library of Worcester has recently been de- 
scribed at great length by a German scholar as an 
example worthy to be followed in that country, 
in advocating the introduction of popular libraries, 
such as we have in the United States, into Germany." 
There is a picture of the interior of the children's 
room of the Free Public Library in a recent Danish 
pamphlet written by Andr. Sch, Sternberg, of the 
Free Public Library Commission of Denmark. Mr. 
Green was chosen a Fellow of the Royal Historical 
Society of Great Britain, May 8, 1879, and on April 
28, 1880, a member of the American Antiquarian 
Society. Since October 22, 1883, he has been a 
member of the council of the latter organization. 
He was also elected a member of the American 
Historical Association immediately after its forma- 
tion. He was an early member of the Colonial 
Society of Massachusetts and of the American or- 
ganization known as the Descendants of Colonial 
Governors. Mr. Green is a life member of the 
New England Historic-Genealogical Society, and 
was for several years a member of the Archaeologi- 
cal Institute of America, and of the committee on 
the School for Classical Studies at Rome. He is a 
corresponding member of the National Geographi- 
cal Society and of the Historical Society of Wis- 
consin. He is a member of the Bunker Hill Monu- 
ment Association, and was for several years a fel- 
low of the American Geographical Society, and a 
member of the American Social Science Associa- 
tion. He has been a manager of the Sons of the 
Revolution, and was a charter member and the first 
lieutenant-governor of the Society of Colonial Wars 
in Massachusetts, presiding at its first general court 
and the dinner which followed it. Mr. Green is a 
member of the Society of Mayflower Descendants, 
and of the Old Planters Society. He has been a 
member of the University Club, Boston, from its 
organization, and was an original member of the 
Worcester Club, the St. Wulstan Society, and the 
Worcester Economic Club. He is also, a member 
of the old organization, the Worcester Association 
for Mutual Aid in Detecting Thieves. October 12, 
1882, Mr. Green was chosen a member of the board 
of trustees of Leicester Academy, to fill the vacancy 
caused by the resignation of Rev. Edward H. Hall, 
on his removal from Worcester to Cambridge. In 
1886 he assisted in the formation of the Worcester 
High School Association, and was chosen its first 
president, and re-elected to the same position in 
1887. In the summer of 1886 he was chosen presi- 
dent of the Worcester Indian Association and held 
the oflice for two years. 

Mr. Green has been president of the Worcester 
.\rt Society. He was a member of a committee of 
three asked by the late Mr. Salisbury to consult 
with him about arrangements for starting the Wor- 
cester Art Museum and to help him in the choice 
of the list of corporators. When the Museum was 
organized, he was offered a position as trustee, but 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



33 



declined to accept it. Mr. Green has been, from 
the beginning of the organization, secretary lA the 
Art Commission of the St. Wulstan Society. He 
has been treasurer of tlie Worcester Public School 
Art League since its establishment in 1895. He has 
been very influential in promoting interest in the 
fine arts in Worcester by means of exhibitions which 
he started in the Public fJbrary building, and by 
the installation in the library of a large collection 
of the best photographs of the old and more modern 
masterpieces ii> painting and sculpture. 

Mr. Green was also, at two different times and 
for several years, treasurer of the Worcester Natural 
History Society, and has been for many years a 
trustee of the Worcester County Institution for 
Savings. In 1903 Mr. Green was made second vice- 
president of the Worcester Harvard Club (which 
not long before he had helped to form) ; and in 
1904, first vice-president. For several years he has 
been a member of the corporation for the adminis- 
tration of the Home for Aged Men. Mr. Green 
formerly wrote constantly for the Libniry Journal. 
sending an article to the first number, and has 
made many contributions to the proceedings of the 
American Antiquarian Society. He has also written 
papers for the American Journal of Social Science, 
the Sunday Rcviczv of London and other periodicals. 
Two books by him were published by the late Fred- 
erick Leypoldt, of New York, namely, "Library 
Aids" and "Libraries 'and Schools." Both were 
printed in 1883. The former work, in a less com- 
plete form, had been previously issued by the United 
States Bureau of Education as a circular of in- 
formation. At the request of the secretary of the 
Board of Education of Massachusetts, Mr. Green 
wrote an appendix to his forty-eighth annual re- 
port on "Public Libraries and Schools." The essay 
was afterwards printed as a separate pamphlet. A 
paper by him on "The use of pictures in the public 
libraries of Massachusetts" was printed as an ap- 
pendix to the eighth report of the Free Public 
Library Commission of Massachusetts. Mr. Green 
has made many addresses and read a number of 
papers on library and other subjects. Among the 
earliest of these are "Personal Relations Between 
Librarians and Readers." a paper wdiich was pre- 
sented to a meeting of librarians who came together 
in Philadelphia in October, 1876, and formed the 
American Library Association (of this paper two 
editions have been printed and exhausted). It was 
made the subject of editorials in several Boston and 
New York newspapers, and the plans of conducting 
a library, described in it, were regarded at the 
time of its appearance as novel and admirable : 
"Sensational Fiction in Public Libraries," a paper 
read July I. 1879, at one of the of the sessions of the 
meetings of the American Library Association, held 
in Boston that year (this paper was also printed in 
pamphlet form and wddely distributed) : "The Re- 
lations of the Public Library to the Public Schools," 
a paper read before the American Social Science 
Association, at Saratoga, in September, 1880 (this 
address was printed in the form of a pamphlet, and 
has been widely read and very influential in awaken- 
ing an interest in work similar to that described 
in it, in America and abroad) ; papers and an 
address on subjects similar to the one last men- 
tioned, read or delivered at meetings of the Ameri- 
can Library Association in Cincinnati and Buffalo, 
at Round Island, one of the Thousand Isles in the 
St. Lawrence river, in San Francisco, and at a 
meeting of the Library Section of the National Edu- 
cational Association, at a meeting in Washington. 
Other important papers bv Mr. Green on questions 
in library economy are "The Library in its relation 
3 



to persons engaged in industrial pursuits;" "Open- 
nig Libraries on Sundays;" "The diuies of trustees 
and their relations to librarians;" "Address as Presi- 
dent of the /fhierican Library Association ;" "Inter- 
library loans in reference work;" "Adaptation oi 
hbraries to constituencies," printed in vol. I of the 
report of the United States Commissioner of Educa- 
tion for 1892-3 ; "How to encourage the foundation 
of libraries in small towns;" and three closely con- 
nected papers entitled "Discrimination regarding 
"open shelves' in libraries," "What classes of per- 
sons, if any, should have access to the shelves in 
large libraries" and "Lead us not into temptation." 
.•\ddresses have been printed in pamphlet form that 
were made at the opening of library buildings in 
Newark, New Jersey, Rindge, New Hampshire, 
North Brookfleld and Oxford, Massachusetts. * 

Mr. Green made remarks at the library- 
school in Albany and in two or three Massa- 
chusetts towns favoring the purchase of books 
for grown-up inmiigrants in the languages to 
wdiich they have been accustomed. He 

wrote^ "A History of the Public Libraries of Wor- 
cester" for the "Worcester of 1898," and earlier for 
Hurd's "History of Worcester County." He was 
chairman of a committee to supervise the portion of 
that history relating to the town and city of Wor- 
cester. 

The first account of the methods introduced 
by Mr. Green in the conduct of the Free PubHc 
Library in Worcester, wdiicb was printed in pamphlet 
form, was presented as an appendix to his annual 
report as librarian for the year 1874-5, copies of 
which -were sent to the Exposition in Philadelphia 
in 1876. It was afterwards reprinted at the request 
of the directors of the Free Public Library for dis- 
tribution. In the fourth report of the Free Public 
Library Commission of Massachusetts, Mr. Green 
wrote on "Libraries and Schools," in the fifth report, 
oi-i "Loaning reference books to small libraries," in 
the seventh report, "On the use of libraries by chil- 
dren" and, as stated above, in the eighth report, 
"On the use of pictures in libraries." He also wrote 
portions of the reports of the Free Public Library 
of Worcester, while a director, and has written nearly 
the whole of the reports (excepting the presidents* 
reports) while librarian. He wrote sketches of the 
lives of such librarians as William Frederick Poole 
and John Fiske for the American Antiquarian So- 
ciety's proceedings. The more elaborate historical 
papers which have been prepared by Mr. Green are: 
"Gleanings from the Sources of the History of the 
Second Parish, Worcester, Massachusetts," read at 
a meeting of the American Antiquarian Society, 
held in Boston, April 2$, 1S83, and "The Use of the 
Voluntary System in the Maintenance of Ministers 
in the Colonies of Plymouth and Massachusetts 
Bay during the earlier years of their existence," an 
essay which formed the historical portion of the re- 
port of the Council of the American Antiquarian- 
Society, w-hich Mr. Green presented to that society 
at its meeting in Boston. April 28, 1886. Both of 
these papers have been printed in a form separate 
from the proceedings of the society for which they 
were written. The latter was hi.ghly praised by the 
distinguished student of early ecclesiastical history 
in Massachusetts, the late Rev. Dr. Henry Martyn 
Dexter. Other interesting and valuable historical 
papers by Mr. Green are "Bathsheba Spooner," 
"The Scotch-Irish in America," "The Craigie 
House," and "Some Roman Remains in Britian." 



*Ttic address of welcome at 111** dedication in 1(*(M of (lie 
building of Clarlf University Library was printed in the "Pub- 
lications " of tlie library. 



34 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



He has also written for the American Antiquarian 
Society, and the Colonial Society, elaborate sketches 
of the lives of Pliny Earle Chase, George Bancroft, 
Edward Griffin Porter, Andrew Haswell Green and 
Benjamin Franklin Stevens. Mr. Green was invited 
by the late Justin Winsor to write a chapter in his 
"Narrative and Critical History of the United 
States," but had to decline the invitation for lack 
of time and strength. 

(Vni) James Green, a counscllor-at-law in the 
City of Worcester, was born March 2, 1841, at Wor- 
cester, Massachusetts. His parents were James (7) 
and Elizabeth (Swett) Green. He studied in the 
Worcester public schools, and graduated at Harvard 
College in 1862. The college course held pretty 
strictly then to the classics, mathematics and phil- 
osophy, and he was particularly interested in Greek 
and history and English composition. In the social 
life of the college, he was a member of the Institute 
of 1770, the Hasty Pudding Club, the Haidee Boat 
Club. etc. His college rank was sufficient to give 
him a "Detur" (a prize for the work of the fresh- 
man year), and parts at the junior and senior ex- 
hibitions. At the time of his graduation, in the 
summer of 1862, the civil war was going on, and the 
fortunes of the Northern side were discouraging. 
He tried to enter the array, against the medical advice 
of his uncle, who had always cared for him pro- 
fessionally, and he actually signed the enlistment 
roll ; but his company was not filled in time to be 
accepted. He had entered the law office of Hon. 
Dwight Foster, at Worcester, before commence- 
ment, and in the spring of 1863 he entered the 
Harvard Law School, and was a proctor in the 
college, and he received his Harvard degrees of 
LL. B. in 1864, and A. M. in 1865. He passed the 
year 1S64-5 in law offices in New York city, es- 
pecially in the office of Miller, Peet & Nichols, and 
was admitted to the New York bar on examination 
\n 1865. Most of the year 1865-6, he was traveling 
in the western states, and in the latter year he was 
admitted to the Worcester bar. He has been in 
practice in Worcester ever since. In January, 1872, 
he went to Europe on account of threatened ill 
health, and spent two years and a half in traveling 
'in the continent, and largely in Italy, studying the 
languages wherever he went, and also architecture, 
painting and sculpture and modern history. He 
traveled also in Greece, and journeyed as far as to 
Constantinople and Smyrna. Upon his father's 
death, on June 10, 1874, he returned at once to 
Worcester. Since that time he has busied himself 
a good deal in the care of real estate as well as 
at the law. In 1877-8 he traveled another year in 
France and Spain and England. 

On June 2, 1881, he married Miss Mary A. Mes- 
^inger, of Worcester, daughter of David Sewell and 
Harriet (Sawyer) Messinger. and they have lived 
ever since at 61 Elm street, Worcester. They have 
had two children, Mary Sprague and Thomas Sam- 
uel Green, who both attended the public schools of 
Worcester, and are now living. After graduating 
at the Classical High School, the daughter at- 
tended Miss Baldwin's school at Bryn Mawr, and 
the son entered Harvard College in 1905. 

James Green's tastes have always been in the 
direction of literary study, and he has interested 
himself a good deal in modern languages and modern 
history; but his life has been too much occupied with 
the details of business, and handicapped by a defect- 
ive eyesight and a too sensitive constitution, to allow 
him to follow out his tastes freely. He became 
verv much interested in the late war between the 
British and the Boers in South Africa ; and, feeling 
that the British cause was grossly misrepresented 



in the United Slates, he wrote a lecture on this 
subject which he delivered before the Society of 
Antiquity in Worcester and afterwards issued as a 
pamphlet. The ground that he covered had been 
very little touched by other pamphleteers; for he 
tried to show, in contradiction of what was often 
said in American papers, that the British were light- 
ing for the very same principles for which the 
American colonists fought a century before; and 
that the Boers, in their anger at the British policy 
of emancipating the blacks, were as illiberal and 
false toward the British colonists in South Africa 
as King George's ministers had been toward our 
ancestors in America. This pamphlet was circu- 
lated widely in the United States, and was de- 
clared by many thoughtful critics to be one of the 
very best short statements of the subject that had 
been printed. Upon the unsolicited recommenda- 
tion of a high official at Washington, to the Imperial 
South African Association in London, to reprint 
this pamphlet and circulate it freely in all English- 
speaking countries, it was republished by the asso- 
ciation for free distribution, and the distinguished 
Quaker philanthropist, John Bellows, of Gloucester, 
England, reprinted the book for the association at 
his own expense. Mr. Green has also printed va- 
rious other pamphlets and biographical notices from 
time to time, in his own name and anonymously, 
and among them an address to his college class- 
mates at an anniversary dinner; a notice of a new 
edition of Aristotle's Musical Problems that had 
been brought out by certain Dutch scholars ; and a 
tribute to the memory of his associate and friend 
at the bar, Hon. David Manning, etc. Mr. Green 
was an early member of the St. Botolph Club, and 
the Massachusetts Reform Club, of Boston, and of 
various local organizations, including the Worcester 
Club, the Shakespeare Club, the Gesang Verein 
Frohsinn, the Twentieth Century Club, and the 
Economic Club, all of Worcester; and also of clubs 
for reading and conversation in French and Ger- 
man. He was brought up in the historic First Uni- 
tarian Church of Worcester, to which he still be- 
longs. The earlier pages of these Memoirs show 
his descent from four of the Pilgrims of the "May- 
flowei-," and from Thomas Dudley, second governor, 
and other early Puritans of Massachusetts Bay; 
and his connection with Henry Dunster, first presi- 
dent, and Benjamin Woodbridge, first-named grad- 
uate, of Harvard College. 

(IX) John Green, Jr., of St. Louis, Missouri, 
was born August 2, 1873, at Templeton, Massa- 
chusetts, the son of Dr. John Green (8), and Harriet 
L. (Jones) Green. He was fitted for college in 
St. Louis, and also with Mr. Charles W. Stone in 
Boston, and entered Harvard College in September, 
i8or, from which he was graduated A. B. in June, 
1894. He entered the Medical Department of Wash- 
ington University (St. Louis) in October, 1895, 
and was graduated M. D. in -^pril, 189S. receiving 
the Gill prize in Diseases of Children. He entered 
the St. Louis City Hospital on competitive examin- 
ation, and served as junior assistant from June to 
December, 1898. Since November, 1899, he has 
been engaged in the practice of ophthalmology in 
the city of St. Louis. He is a member of the St. 
Louis Medical Society, the Medical Society of City 
Hospital Alumni, the Missouri State Medical Asso- 
ciation, the American Medical Association, the St. 
Louis Medical Library Association and the American 
Academy of Ophthalmology and Oto-Laryngology. 
He has been secretary, vice-president and president 
of the Medical Society of City Hospital Alumni. 
He is also a member of the Society of the Sons of 
the Revolution and the Civic League of St. Louis. 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



35 



Dr. Green has published the following paiiiphlels : 
"The General Practitioner and Ophthalmology," 
"Treatment of Ophthalmia Neonatorum," "Double 
Optic Neuritis occurring durnig Lactation," "Ocular 
Examination as an aid to the early diagnosis of 
Multiple Sclerosis, with report of a Case" {\vM\ 
Dr. S. I. Schwab), "Juvenile Glaucoma Simplex 
associated with Myasthenia Gastrica et Intestinalis," 
"A case of Cerebro-spinal Rhinorrhoea with Retinal 
Changes" (with Dr. S. I. Schwab), "Treatment 
of Certain External Diseases of the Eyes by the 
X-ray," "Ocular Signs and Complications of 
Diseases of the Accessory Sinu.ses of the Nose," 
"Report on Progress in Ophthalmology for the years 
1903, 1904, 1905 and 1906," and "The Control of 
Municipal Medical Institutions, with special refer- 
ence to the City of St. Louis," etc. He is editor 
of the Department of Ophthalmology of Tlic Inter- 
state Medical Journal, visiting ophthalmic surgeon 
to the Jewish Hospital Dispensary of St. Louis, and 
consulting ophthalmic surgeon to the St. Louis 
Female Hospital. 

He married, October 29, 1902, Miss Lucretia 
Hall Sturgeon, of St. Louis, Missouri. Their chil- 
dren are : Helen Celeste, born November 23, 1903, 
and Harmon, born July 3, 1905. His office address 
in 1906 is 225 Vanol building, corner of Vandeventer 
avenue and Olive street, St. Louis, Missouri. 

(Vni) William Ogden Green, son of Martin 
Green (7), was born in Chicago, Illinois, September 
26, i860. He was educated at the Worcester Poly- 
technic Institute. He went to work first in an 
electric light factory at New Britain, Connecticut; 
then for the Merrick Thread Company, Holyoke, 
Massachusetts. From there he went as a manager 
for a silk mill at Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. He put 
it into first class condition and left it highly pros- 
perous to take charge of the Peshtigo Lumber Com- 
pany in Wisconsin, for which his father was man- 
ager years before. Andrew H. Green, as trustee 
of the estate of the late William B. Ogden, repre- 
sented the owners, but Mrs. Ogden herself made 
frequent visits to the property and paid Mr. Green 
high compliments on the reformation he brought 
about and the improvement effected. By his advice 
the property was sold and he wound up its compli- 
cated affairs in a manner so pleasing to the directors 
that they made him a present of $10,000 at their 
last meeting as a testimonial of their satisfaction. 
He is a member of the American Society of Me- 
chanical Engineers. He is now a member of the 
firm of Ogden. Sheldon & Company, one of the 
most important real estate broker firms in Chicago. 

He married, October 20, 1891, Josephine Poole 
Giles, at Bethlehem. Pennsylvania. Their children, 
all of whom were born in Chicago, are : William 
Stewart, born November 7, 1893 : Andrew Haswell, 
born May 10, 1896; Lucretia Poole, born June 19, 
1899. 

(Vlin Samuel Martin Green, son of Martin 
Green (7). was born at Benton Harbor, Michigan, 
April 13, 1864. He was graduated at the Worcester 
Polytechnic Institute. His first position was with 
Frederick E. Reed, the manufacturer of machinery, 
Worcester, Massachusetts, for whom he designed 
and draughted various tools. He also designed the 
interlocking sw'itches on the railroad viaduct in Wor- 
cester. He next went to Buffalo to work for Noyes 
& Company, millers. When his brother, William 
Ogden Green, left the Merrick Thread Company, 
where he was the engineer in charge of the plant; 
the management desired him to remain, but took 
the younger brother in his place on his recommenda- 
tion. Although young and inexperienced Samuel 
Green made good. He successfully completed the 



big mill, one hundred and twenty-five by five hun- 
dred feet. He remained with the Merrick Thread 
Company until the trust was formed, when he was 
chosen engineer-in-chief for the new management, 
the American Thread Company. He has charge of 
all the changes and new construction of the com- 
pany. At the present time, at Ilion, New York, 
he is reconstructing and building a two million dollar 
plant, and the old mills are all receiving modern 
equipment of machinery and power. Me has recently 
constructed at VVaukegan, Illinois, a large factory 
for the United States Envelope Company. His chief 
office is at Holyoke, Massachusetts, and his residence 
is at Springfield, Massachusetts. He is at present 
rebuilding the cartridge factory at Bridgeport. Con- 
necticut. He is a member of the American Society 
of Mechanical Engineers. 

He married, at' Holyoke, June 18, 1890, Ida Mc- 
Kown. of that city. Their children are: Mildred, 
born September 27. 1895, in Holyoke; Lydia, born 
June 2, 1902, in Holyoke. 

HENRY F. HARRIS. From the best obtain- 
able evidence, which includes recorded data, it is 
certain that the Harris family, as represented in 
Worcester. Massachusetts, is descended from 
Thomas Harris, who came with his brother William 
and Roger Williams in the ship "Lion" from Bristol, 
England, to Lynn, Massachusetts, as early as 1630. 
The line of descent is traced as follows: 

(I) Thomas Harris married Elizabeth , 

and they were the parents of Thomas. Mary and 
Martha. As a friend and follower of Roger Will- 
iams he was imprisoned and otherwise illtreated in 
Boston, Massachusetts, in 165S. 

(II) Thomas Harris, son of Thomas the emi- 
grant, married Elnactrau Tew. and they were the 
parents of eight children. 

(III) Thomas Harris, son of Thomas (2), was 
born in 1665 and died in 1741. He married Phoebe 
Brown, and they w-erc the parents of eight chil- 
dren. 

(IV) Charles Harris, son of Thomas (3) and 
Phoebe (Brown) Harris, was born in 1709. He 
married Mary Hopkins, March 19, 1748, at North 
Scituate, Rhode Island, and they were the parents 
of ten children, 

(V) Gideon Harris, son of Charles (4), and Mary 
(Hopkins) Harris, married Rhoda Smith, widow 
of his brother Henry, and of this marriage seven 
children were born. 

(VI) Henry Harris, son of Gideon (5) and 
Rhoda (Smith) Harris, was born August 2, 17S7. 
He married Bernice Randall, and (second) Waty 
Smith. Of his second marriage were born the fol- 
lowing children: r. Alsaide. 2. Linus Monroe. 3. 
Gideon. 4. Mary Smith. 5. Charles Morris, see 
forward. 6. Thomas Henry. 7. Otis Braddock. 
8. Whipple Burlingamc. Gideon and Otis B. passed 
.•iway prior to 1S89; Mary S., widow of Alfred 
Whiting, died in Worcester in the spring of 1904; 
Thnmas IT. resides at Canada Mills. Holden. Massa- 
chusetts : Whipple B. resides in Three Rivers. Pal- 
mer. Massachusetts. The father of this family died 
at the age of thirty years, leaving his family with- 
out means. His wife was a remarkable type of true 
New England womanhood, possessing a strong mind 
and noble character, and gave to her children an 
excellent rearing. 

(VII) Charles Morris Harris, fifth child and 
third son of Henry (6) and Waty (Smith) Harris, 
was born in Providence. Rhode Island. August 3, 
1S22. Througli his mother he was a grandson of 
Captain Jonathan Smith, of Revolutionary fame, 
who. tradition says, stood fully six feet in height. 



36 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



and commanded a company each of whom was oi 
that or greater stature. Mr. Harris was also a de- 
scendant of that John Smith, of Dorchester, who was 
banished for his divers dangerous opinions, and who 
removed from the Massachusetts Bay Colony to 
Rhode Island at the request of Roger Williams, who 
wanted him as a miller, and he was ever afterward 
known as "Smith the miller." 

Shortly after his birth, the parents of Charles 
Morris Harris removed to Scituate, Rhode Island, 
where he was reared. Until he was thirteen years 
old he attended the common schools for eight weeks 
in summer and a like term in winter, and later at- 
tended two short winter terms, completing his school- 
ing when he was fifteen years old. From the age 
of six to fourteen years his time out of school was 
given to labor in the Richmond cotton mills, twelve 
to fourteen hours daily, at the pitiful wage of one 
cent an hour. One dollar and a quartt- a week was 
the highest wages he received until he was almost 
of age, when he was paid six dollars and t-f;y cents 
a week. During this period he had gone from the 
Richmond mills to the Sprague mills at Smithficld, 
Rhode Island, thence to the Blackstone mills at 
Mendon, Washington, and to Woonsocket, Rhode 
Island, and was thoroughly and practically con- 
versant with every detail of the cotton milling in- 
dustry, capable of conducting every process from 
the handling of the raw material to the final finish- 
ing of the product. 

In the spring of 1842. when he was twenty-two 
years old, he engaged in thread manufacturing nn 
his own account, in partnership with David S. 
Wilder. In the autumn of the same year they re- 
moved to West Boylston and purchased a small 
mill at Central Village, wdiere they began the manu- 
facture of satinet warps. They also leased a mill 
at Lovellville, in the Town of Holden, which they 
also operated in connection with that at Central 
Village. In 1845 he became associated in a business 
partnership with his brothers, Linus M. and Gideon, 
and a brother-in-law, Alfred Whiting, who had 
bought the Holt mill, at w'hat was then called Holt's 
Village, but later Harrisville. Under the firm name 
of L. il. Harris & Co. they engaged in the manu- 
facture of cotton cloth, and built up a thriving 
business. The factory was destroyed by fire about 
1851, but rebuilding was begun within thirty days 
after the disaster, and in less than a year the new 
factory was in successful operation and with in- 
creased capacity. In 1857 Sir. Harris bought an 
interest in a cotton mill at Poquonnock, Connecti- 
cut. His beginning was inauspicious. The first 
year he lost six thousand dollars, but he only re- 
doubled his cflort, and with such success that two 
years later he had made good his loss and was 
worth twelve thousand dollars more in addition. 
Early in i860 he sold his Connecticut interests and 
bought an interest in a factory at Savage, Howard 
county, Maryland, where he remained nearly two 
years. In the fall of 1861 he returned to the factory 
of L. M. Harris & Co., remaining until 1863. In 
that year he and his brother, Linus M. Harris, 
bought one-half of the stock of the West Boylston 
Manufacturing Company at Oakdale. This was then, 
as it is to-day, one of the most important manufac- 
turing institutions in the state. In 1814 it received 
from the commonwealth of Massachusetts a special 
charter under which it was authorized to manu- 
facture "cotton and woolen clothes and fine wire." 
On coming into this corporation Mr. Harris became 
general manager and treasurer, and he served as 
such with such conspicuous ability for a period of 
twenty-six years, ending with his death, April 24. 
1880, in Boston. 



Mr. Harris married Miss Emily Dean, on 
Thanksgiving Day, 1848. She was born in Sterling, 
Massachusetts, November 9, 1823, and at the time 
of her marriage was residing in West Boylston. 
She was a direct descendant of Thomas Dudley, 
second governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. 
To Mr. and Mrs. Harris were born three children : 

I. Henry Francis, of whom further. 2. Charles 
Morris, Jr., for several years prior to his father's 
death superintendent of the West Boylston Manfg. 
Co. mills ; he died November 10, 1892, aged 
forty-one years, leaving a widow, two sons and 
three daughters. 3. Emily Armilla, died March 

II, 1892, . aged thirty-five years; she was twice 
married; by her first husband, Lyman P. 
GoodcU, she had one son, Roscoe Harris 
Goodell, now banker in Chicago and married to 
Helen Peabody, daughter of Frederick F. Peabody. 
of Evanston, Illinois; by her second husband, Alonzo 
R. Wells, she had a son, Ray Dean Wells. Mrs. 
Harris, the mother of these children, died August 
6, 1892. 

(VIII) Henry Francis Harris, eldest child of 
Charles Morris (7) and Emily Dean Harris, was 
born in Harrisville, West Boylston, Massachusetts, 
August 19, 1849. He fitted for college in the Green 
Mountain Institute at South Woodstock, Vermont, 
in Worcester Academy and Lancaster Academy, at- 
tending the latter institution two years. In 1867 
he entered Tufts College, from which he was grad- 
uated in 1871 at the head of his class. He then 
entered the Harvard Law School, and after a six 
months' course further prosecuted his legal studies 
for about a year in the office of Hon. Hartley Will- 
iams, of Worcester. He subsequently entered the 
Boston University Law School, from which he was 
graduated in the first class from that institution in 
1873. He was for some time following in the 
office of John A. Loring, of Boston, and was ad- 
mitted to the bar in that city in December, 1873. 
January I of the following year he entered upon 
a professional practice at Worcester. Aside from 
attending to the demands of a constantly increasing 
legal practice, he has been prominently interested in 
the manufacture of cotton goods, succeeding his 
father in 1889 as treasurer of the West Boylston 
Manufacturing Company, whose valuable plant, hav- 
ing been purchased by the Metropolitan Water Com- 
mission was relocated at Easthampton Massachu- 
setts, and doubled in size and capacity. He has 
served as such until the present time. He was also 
president of the L. M. Harris Manufacturing Com- 
pany. Mr. Harris is a member of the board of 
directors of the Worcester Trust Company, the Wor- 
cester Safe Deposit and Trust Company, and is solic- 
itor for that corporation. He was a director of the 
First National Insurance Company : is a mem- 
ber of the board of trustees of the Worcester City 
Hospital ; and was a member of the school board, 
serving on various important committees of that 
body. Mr. Harris is a public-spirited gentleman, 
and among the various organizations with which he 
is conspicuously associated is that of Free Masons. 
He is a man of sound judgment, a safe counsellor 
in matters public and private, and enjoys the confi- 
dence and respect of the community where he 
resides. 

May 17, 1883, Mr. Harris married Emma Frances 
Dearborn, daughter of William F. and Mary J. 
(Hurd) Dearborn, of Worcester. She is a lady of 
culture and an accomplished musician. She gradu- 
ated from the Worcester High School in 1878, and 
subsequently studied vocal music under Madam 
Capianna. Possessor of a sweet and cultivated 
voice, she was for many years a member of the 





^^^^,-^i^-C>!:^^ 




WORCESTER COUNTY 



37 



choir of the Universalist church, and its director 
during much of that time. 

Mr. and Mrs. Harris have two living children ; 
Rachel, born December ii, 1887; and Dorothy, born 
March 22, 1890. They lost an infant son by death. 

DEWEY FAMILY. From among the various 
branches of the Dewey family have come many dis- 
tinguished celebrities, includmg the eminent Judge 
Francis H. Dewey, and the famous Admiral George 
Dewey, who attained fame at Manila Bay, in the 
Spanish-American war. The family is of royal de- 
scent, with coat-of-arms going back many genera- 
tions in England. In America all trace to the com- 
mon ancestor, 

(I) Thomas Dewey, who came to the Massa- 
chusetts Bay Colony from Sandwich, Kent, Eng- 
land, with Rev. John Warham and his little band 
of one hundred and forty passengers, who formed a 
church before leaving England, and .sailed in the 
"Mary and John," and became the first settlers at 
Dorchester, Massachusetts, arriving at Nantucket, 
May 30, 1630, a month earlier than the Winthrop 
colony. On June 6, the following Sunday after they 
arrived, services of gratitude and praise were held 
under the open sky. After being a pioneer in that 
section, the church and the above emigrants mostly 
removed to Windsor, Connecticut. Thomas Dewey 
married the widow of Joseph Clark and had five 
children : I. Thomas, born 1640. 2. Josiah, born 
1641 ; he was the Dewey from whom descended Ad- 
miral George Dewey. 3. Ann, born 1643. 4. Israel, 
born 1645. 5. Jedediah, born 1647. 

(II) Jedediah Dewey, son of Thomas, the emi- 
grant, borii 1647, and died 1721. 

(III) James Dewey, fifth son of Jedediah, born 
1692, and died 1756. 

(IV) Daniel Dewey, son of Stephen, had a son 
Daniel, who became judge. 

(VI) Judge Daniel Dewey, son of Daniel, was 
born in Sheffield, Massachusetts, and moved to 
Williamstown. He was a distinguished man of his 
day, w-as a lawyer of note, and for many years a 
judge of the supreme court of .IMassachusetts, and 
was also a member of congress. 

(VII) Judge Charles Augustus Dewey, son of 
Judge Daniel Dewey, was born March 13, 1793, in 
Williamstown, Massachusetts, died in 1866. He 
became a lawyer, was elected district attorney, and 
was appointed judge of the supreme court of Massa- 
chusetts, in which important position he served for 
the long period of thirty years. He married first. 
Frances Aurelia, daughter of Hon. Samuel and 
Martha (Hunt) Henshaw, of Northampton, Massa- 
chusetts. She died at Williamstown July 20. 1821. 
He married second, July 28, 1824, Caroline Hannah 
Clinton, daughter of General James and .Mary (Lit- 
tle) Clinton, of Newburg, New York, and a sister 
of Gov. De Witt Clinton, of New York. Among 
the eight children born to Judge Dewey, Sr.. were 
Francis H., Charles A., Alary Clinton, wife of 
Judge H. B. Staples, of Worcester, and Maria 
Noble, of Worcester. 

(VIII) Francis Henshaw, oldest son of Judge 
Charles Augustus and Frances A. (Henshaw) 
Dewey, was born in Williamstown, July 12, 1821. 
His career in public and professional life was so 
brilliant that the outline of it must be here preserved 
as an important part of the family history. His 
mother died w^hen he w-as an infant, but he was 
tenderly cared for by his stepmother, Caroline H. 
Clinton, who married his father when he was three 
years old. Francis H. Dewey graduated from Will- 
iams College in 1840, at the early age of nineteen 
years, studied law at Yale and Harvard, and was 



admitted to the bar at Worcester in 1843. He soon 
became the partner of Hon. Emory Washburn, who 
was made justice of the common picas bench the 
following year, and from that time the legal business 
of the otfice was thrown upon Mr. Dewey, who had 
a very large practice. For more than twenty years 
he was recognized as the leader of the bar in Wor- 
cester county. While not elegant in diction he was 
possessed of what all termed "common sense," and 
dealt practically and energetically with whatever 
matters were entrusted to him. He was very suc- 
cessful in the conduct of cases before juries. He 
was appointed to the bench of the supreme court 
in February, 1869, and resigned in 1881. 

Judge Dewey came to Worcester when the in- 
habitants numbered only eight thousand, and he 
lived to see this number multiplied ten times over. 
He was active in all public offices, church matters 
and charitable enterprises. He seemed born for 
diplomacy, and was the embodiment of tact and 
skill, combining with these qualities the abilities of 
the thoroughly equipped and entirely practical man 
of affairs. He was a leading spirit in the organiza- 
tion of various railroad companies and manufac- 
turing and financial corporations, and was an of- 
ficial in and counsel for many of the same. Up to 
the time of his death he was president of the Nor- 
wich & Worcester Railroad,' president of the Me- 
chanics' Saving Bank, a director in the Mechanics' 
National Bank, and a director and one of the 
heaviest stockholders in the Washburn & Moen Man- 
ufacturing Company, attending to a great amount of 
its legal business. He was deeply interested in edu- 
cational and the higher moral concerns of the com- 
munity. He was a trustee of his alma mater, Will- 
iams College, from 1869 to the time of his death, 
a period of eighteen years. He was also until his 
death president of the board of trustees of the Wor- 
cester Public Library, president of the board of 
trustees of the Old Men's Home, a trustee of the 
Washburn Memorial Hospital, president of the 
Rural Cemetery Corporation, president of the Wor- 
cester County Horticultural Society, and a trustee 
of the Young Men's Christian Association. He was 
inclined to business ' more than office holding, but 
at the request of friends in his party h-; served in 
the two branches of the city government, and two 
terms in the state senate. He died in the full vigor 
of his manhood, December 16, 1887, while devoting 
his strength to the many public interests with 
which he W'as connected. 

Judge Dewey married, November 2, 1846, Frances 
Amelia Clarke, only daughter of John and Prudence 
(Graves) Clarke, of Northampton, Massachusetts. 
Her father was the founder of Clarke Institution 
for Deaf Mutes. Jud.ge Dewey married (second; 
April 26, 1853. Sarah Barker Tufts, only daughter 
of Hon. George A. and Azuba Boyden (Fales) 
Tufts; she was born January 31. 1825. at Dudley. 
Massachusetts, and is now ( .-^pril, 1905) living in 
Worcester. By his first marriage Judge Dewey had 
a daughter, Fannie, born September 17, 1S49, d'^'l 
the following day. His children by his second wife 
were: i. Fanny Clarke, born February I, 1854, died 
July 28, .same year. 2. Caroline Clinton, born Decem- 
ber 18, 1854; died December, 1878; married, 1S77, 
Charles L. Nichols, and had Caroline Dewey. 3. 
Francis Henshaw. to be further mentioned. 4. John 
Clarke, born May 19, 1857, who is a lawyer. He 
married his second cousin, Sarah B. Dewey, and 
their children are John Clarke, Jr., and Daniel. 5. 
George Tufts, born Stptember 12, 1S58, who is a 
lawyer; he married Mary L. Nichols, and their chil- 
dren are Marv Linwood, George Tufts. Jr., and 
Charles Nichols. 6. Sarah Frances, born September 



38 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



IS, i860; died; married Oliver Hurd Everett, and 
their children were Caroline Dewey and Francis 
Dewey. 7. Charles Augustus, born and died April, 
1863. 

(IX) Francis Henshaw Dewey, son of Hon. 
Francis H. and Sarah B. (Tufts) Dewey, was born 
March 23, 1856, in Worcester, Massachusetts. He 
was reared in his native city and there attended the 
private schools, after which he spent two years at a 
primary school and four years at St. Mark's School 
in Southborough, preparatory for college. In 1872 
he entered Williams College, graduating therefrom 
four years later among the six highest of his class. 
He was a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Society, 
where membership is based on scholarship. In 1879 
he received the degree of Master of Arts from his 
alma mater. After reading law in the office of 
Messrs. Staples and Goulding, of Worcester, he en- 
tered Harvard Law School, from which he gradu- 
ated in 187S with the degree of Bachelor of Laws. 
In February, 1879, he was admitted to the bar, and 
has since been actively engaged in practice, and his 
prominence in his profession is attested by his 
election in 1897 to the vice-presidency of the Wor- 
cester County Bar Association. In 1880 he became 
solicitor for the Worcester Mechanics' Savings 
Bank and the Mechanics' National Bank, and on the 
death of his honored father, in 1887, he succeeded 
him as a trustee and director in these institutions, 
respectively. In April, 1888, he was elected presi- 
dent of the Mechanics, National Bank, which office 
he still holds. One of his most important trusts is 
the presidency of the Worcester Consolidated Street 
Railway Company, to which he was elected in May, 
1898, having been a director since 1893. and under 
his supervision and management a system of about 
forty miles of track conlined principally to the city 
of Worcester has been extended to one hundred and 
sixty miles, and connects eighteen cities and towns, 
together with frequent service, carrying nearly 
thirty millions of passengers in a year. For many 
years he has been a director in the Norwich & Wor- 
cester Railroad Company, the Worcester Gas Light 
Company, the Worcester Traction Company, the 
Worcester Theatre Association, of which he is also 
treasurer; he is president and treasurer of the Bay 
State House, and a director in many business cor- 
porations. He is a trustee of the Worcester Rail- 
ways and Investment Company. He has also had 
charge of the settlement of many large estates iri 
the capacity of trustee and executor, and possesses 
unusual business qualifications, 

Mr. Dewey has ever taken a deep interest in edu- 
cational and charitable work, and is actively 
identified with many of the most important 
institutions in these lines. He is a trustee 
and vice-president of Clark University, and of 
Clark College, and has long been vice-presi- 
dent of the Art Museum, and a member of 
the American Antiquarian Society. He is a di- 
rector of the Associated Charities, chairman of the 
Commission of City Hospital Funds, and a trustee 
of the Memorial Hospital. He is a member of the 
Board of Trade, of which he was for several years 
a director; vice-president of the Massachusetts 
Street Railway Association ; and a member of the 
\yorcester Fire Society and many social organiza- 
tions. For many years he has been prominent in 
the First Unitarian Parish, and has been superin- 
tendent of the Sunday school and chairman of the 
parish committee. He is a stanch Republican in 
politics. 

December 12, 1878, Mr. Dewey married Miss 
Lizzie Davis, daughter of the late Harrison Bliss, 
and of this union were born two children: Eliza- 



beth Bliss Dewey, July 19, 1883; and Francis Hen- 
shaw Dewey, May 19, 1887. 

EDWIN BROWN. John Brown (i), or 
Browne, the progenitor of Edwin Brown, of Wor- 
cester, was associated with the Pilgrims at Plymouth. 
While he was travelling in his youth he became ac- 
quainted with Rev. John Robinson, pastor of the 
Pilgrims, and through him met many of his people 
in the same way that Governor Winslow and Cap- 
tain Miles Standish came to join the Pilgrims. He 
did not come in the "Mayfiower," however. It was 
not until March, 1629, that he reached New Eng- 
land. He landed at Salem. Two years earlier, how- 
ever, March 19, 1627, the council for New England 
approved a patent for trade soil and planting on 
which a Royal charter was obtained March 4, 1628, 
to certain patentees and their associates, among 
whom were John Browne, John Saltonstall, and 
others who became well known in the colonies. He 
was elected to Governor John Endicott's council, 
April 3, 1629, with Francis Higginson, Samuel Skel- 
ton, Francis Bright, Samuel Browne, Thomas 
Graves and Samuel Sharp. He went from Salem 
to Plymouth and later to Taunton with his son, 
James. In 1643 John Brown and his sons, John and 
James, were residents of Taunton, but next year 
they settled at Rehoboth, Massachusetts. There 
John Browne, Sr., and John Brown, Jr., stayed 
and were among the first settlers, but James Browne 
being a Baptist was forced to leave town in 1663 
and with others of his sect founded the town of 
Swansey, Massachusetts. The designation Mr. 
given hmi in the records always shows that he was 
counted among the gentry. His sons and grandsons 
were leaders in civic, judicial and military affairs. 
John Brown was appointed one of the townsmen 
(an office) in Rehoboth, March 16, 1645, and again 
in 1650-51. He served the town on important com- 
missions. He was on the prudential committee. He 
was for seventeen years from 1636 to 1653 one of 
the governor's assistants or magistrates. In 1638 
the following were the governor's assistants : Will- 
iam Bradford, Edward Winslow, Captain Miles 
Standish, John Alden, John Jenny and John Browne. 
He was one of the commissioners of the United 
Colonies of New England (which foreshadowed the 
later confederation) from 1644 to 1655. In the gov- 
ernor's court June 4, 1652, he won a notable suit 
for damages for defamation against Samuel New- 
man, the judgment being for one hundred pounds 
and costs. Mr. Browne waived the judgment, how- 
ever, and let Newman oflf on payment of the costs. 
Mr. Browne was a friend of Massasoit, and the 
proof of their friendship was shown when the life 
of his son James was spared by King Philip, son of 
Massasoit, when he came on a mission from the gov- 
ernor to the Indians. Colonel Church in his 
narrative says : "that the Indians would have killed 
Mr. Browne, who with Mr. Samuel Gorton and two 
other men bore the letter, but Philip prevented 
them, saying that his father had charged him to 
show kindness to Mr. Browne." It is said in his 
honor that he was the first magistrate to raise his 
voice against the coercive support of the ministry, 
taking the stand that all church support should be 
voluntary and backed his precepts by liberal ex- 
ample. He was a man of abilities, intellect, piety 
and patriotism, and was buried with civic and mili- 
tary honors in 1662. His wife Dorothy died in 
1674. His efdest son died the same year as he 
(1662). His other son, James, was afterwards in 
the magistracy. His grandson, John Browne, be- 
came useful and eminent. In 1685 John Browne 
was one of the first associate justices of the court 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



39 



d{ common pleas in the county of Bristol. In 
[699, during the administration of Lord Bellamont, 
le was again appointed a justice. John Browne, 
5r., was born in 1595 and died April 10, 1662. His 
A'ife died at Swansey, Massachusetts, January 
27, 1673- The children of John Browne (I) 
ivere : Ensign John, Jr., born in England, 
died last of March, 1662; (settled in Reho- 
)oth and had these children : John, born last Kri- 
iay in September, 1650; Lydia, August 5 or 6, 1656; 
\nnah, January 29, 1657; Joseph, April 9, 1658; 
Mathaniel, June 9, 1661 ; Major James, of Swansey, 
)orn in England 1623, died 1710; Mary, born in 
ingland, married, July 6, 1636, Captain Thomas 
kVillett, of Plymouth, the first English tnayor of 
Slew York city, who was twice elected to that of- 
ice. William, resided in Salem, not mentioned in 
KiU and not proved to be son of John Browne (I). 

(II) Major James Brown, son of John Browne 
[l), born in England in 1623, was in Taunton in 
643 with his father, the assistant, and went with 
lim to Swansea, Massachusetts. He was said 10 be 
1 Baptist and preacher. He was chosen an assist- 
mt in 1665. He married Lydia Howland, daughter 
)f John Howland, who came over in the "May- 
iower," and all his descendants are likewise de- 
icended from Mayflower ancestry. He died October 
'.g. 1710. aged eighty-seven years. Their children 
vere : James, born at Rehoboth, Massachusetts, 
vlay 4, 165s, died at Harrington, Rhode Island, 
725 ; Dorothy, born at Swansey, Massachusetts, 

\ugust 29, 1666, married Kent; Jabez, 

lorn July 9, 1668, at Swansey, Massachusetts. 

(III) James Brown, son of Major James Brown 
2), born at Rehoboth, ;May 4, 1655 (or May 21), 
iied April 15, 1718, aged tifty-nine years, (probably 
hould be sixty-two); married Margaret Denison, 
une 5, 1678. She died May 5, 1741, aged eighty- 
our years. He was a sergeant in the militia. All 
lis children were born in Swansey. They were, as 
ecorded : Lydia, born January 23, 1678-9, died Feb. 
uary i, 1678-9; Mary, September II, 1680; Mar- 
:aret (given by Savage), June 28, 1682; Lydia, July 
8, 1684; James, September 7, 1685; Mary, July 5, 
687; Peleg, February 28, 1688; William, June 2, 
690; Dorothy, May 7, 1694. 

(IV) William Brown, son of James Brown (3), 
vas born June 2, 1690. He married (first) Eliza- 

eth , about 1710. She died April 27, 1725, 

ged twenty-seven years. He married (second) 
lebecca Follett, October 27, 1725. He died Feb- 
uary 26, 1731-2. He settled at Rehoboth, where all 
is children are recorded except William. As the 
ecords clearly show that the son is William, Jr., he 
lUst be the eldest son of Williain, there being no 
ther William at Rehoboth or Swansey at the time, 
'he children of William Brown were: Will- 
ini, born about 1710; Consider, September 8, 171 1; 
Vmos, May 28, 1714; .Elizabeth, June 14, 1716; 
Sethiah, July 8, 1718; Jerusha, August 27, 1720; 
Lzra, August 18, 1722; Rebecca, April 17, 1725 ; 
Joah, August 7, 1726; Isaac, August 24, 1728; Ann, 
larch 13, 1729, died October 27, 1731 ; Ann, Jan- 
lary 8, 1731-2. 

(V) William Brown, son of William Brown (4), 
vas born about 1710 at Rehoboth, Massachusetts. Me 
narried at Rehoboth, Ruth Walker, October 10, 
728. The births of their eleven children are all 
ecorded at Rehoboth. He was commissioned a 
avalry ofiicer. Ruth Walker was born December 2, 
710, and died March 6, 1790. She was descended 
rom Widow Walker, one of the original settlers 
f Rehoboth, Massachusetts. Widow Walker vvas 
orn about 1620. Her son, Philip Walker, married 

n 1654 Jane , and died in 1679, leaving sons, 

5amuel, and Philip Walker. 



Samuel Walker, son of Philip Walker (2), was 
born 1655, died 1712. He served in King Philip's 
war under Major Bradford. He married Martha 
Ide (born 1654, died 1700), daughter of Nicholas 
Ide, who also served in King Philip's war under 
Major Bradford. His son, Samuel Walker (4), 
was born in 1682 and died in 1712. He married 
Ruth Bliss, who was born 1687. Their daughter, 
Ruth Walker (born December 2, 1710, died March 
6, 1790), married William Brown, Jr., as already 
stated October 10, 1728. William Brown, Jr., settled 
at Rehoboth. Their children were; Ruth, born Sep- 
tember 10, 1729; Lucy, October 26, 1731 ; Sarah, 
November 6, 1733 ; \Villiam, November 22, 1735 ; 
Sarah, December 4, 1737; Samuel, March 25, 1740; 
Molly, April 18, 1742; John, July 10, 1745; Deb- 
orah, August 29, 1747; Chloe, October i, 1749; 
Huldah, December 4, 1751. 

(VI) Lieutenant Sanmel Brown, son of William 
Brown, Jr. (5), was born at Rehoboth, Massachu- 
setts, March 25, 1740. He married (first) Esther 
Bucklin, January 5, 1764. She died about 1777. He 
married (second) Polly Luther, of Warren, August 
23, 1778. She died in 1782. He married (third) 
Huldah Hunt, January 16, 1783. 

The children of Samuel Brown (6) were : Sam- 
uel, born March 2, 1765, married Polly Brown, 
March 11, 1801 ; Josiah, October 18, 1767; Lucy, 
October 20, 1770; Esther, October 16 1772; Mollie 
(probably a twin of preceding), October 16, 1772 
(1774 on records, obviously an error); Theophilus, 
April 9, 1774; Abigail, February 12, 1780; Eliza- 
beth, October 22, 1781 ; Luther, July 21, 1782; Jo- 
seph, March 2, 1787; Ira, January 15, 1791 ; Peter 
Hunt. January 13, 1793. 

(VII) Samuel Brown, son of Samuel Brown 
(6), born at Rehoboth, Massachusetts, March 2, 
1765, died in 1820. He married Ada Hardy, died 
1847, daughter of Samuel and Betsey (Walker) 
Healy, of Seekonk. Betsey Walker was born in 
1753 and died in 1839, daughter of Nathaniel Walker, 
of North Providence (born 1703, died 1783), who 
married, 1727, Anna Sweeting (born 1707, died 
1772). Nathaniel Walker was son of Philip Walker 
(born 1661, died 1739), who married Sarah Bowen 
daughter of William Bowen (born 1671, died 1739). 
This Philip Walker was son of Philip and grand- 
son of Widow Walker, already mentioned in this 
sketch. Samuel Brown settled at Rehoboth. Chil- 
dren of Samuel and Ada (Healy) Brown: i. Will- 
iam, born August 19, 1797, married Louisa Glad- 
ding, of Providence. 2. Mary (on Rehoboth records) 
born March 17, 1801. 3. Albert, born (date given 
in Rehoboth records) March 20, 1804. 4. Elizabeth 
Walker, (record from her grandson, Appleton L. 
Clark) born September, 1813, died November, 1891, 
luarried Appleton Purdj- Lesure (born May 13, 
1814, died August 4, 1865). 5. Abby, married A. R. 
Marsh, resided in Boston (birth not recorded at 
Rehoboth). 6. Theophilus. born September 12, 1811. 
married Sarah Ann Knowlton. 

(VIII) .■\lbert Broun, son of Samuel Brown 
(7), born at Seekonk, Massachusetts, March 20, 
1804, married, 1828, Mary Blair Eaton. (See Eaton 
Family, also Rice Family). Mary Blair Eaton was 
a descendant of Adonijah Rice, the first white child 
born in Worcester. .Albert Brown learned the 
tailor's trade and located first in Providence.^^ He 
came to Worcester about 1825 and opened an "Ern- 
porium of Fashion" as he called his shop, on Main 
street, opposite Central street. He took into part- 
nership his brother William Brown, and under the 
firm name of W. & A. Brown they were the first mer- 
chant tailors located in Worcester. .'\t the death of Al- 
bert Brown. September 29, 1854, the surviving part- 
ner took his brother Theophilus Brown into the 



40 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



firm, and at present the firm is conducted 1)y W. T. 
Brown, son of Tlicophihis. Albert Brown was a 
well known citizen of Worcester. He represented 
liis ward in the common council. He went to 
England with the Peace Commission, and his de- 
scendants treasure a Bible given to him by Richard 
Cobden, with whom he formed an acquaintance 
there. He was to some extent an owner of shipping. 
He was a member of the Mutual Fire Society of 
Worcester. Children of Albert and Mary Blair 
(Eaton) Brown: i. Albert Samuel, born Worces- 
ter, February 22, 1829, of whom later ; 2. Henry 
William, born Worcester June 21, 1831 ; married 
Harriet B. Rathbone. 3. James Stewart, born Jan- 
iiary 12, 1834, oi whom later. 4. i\Iary Eaton, born 
April IS, 1835, died April 29, 1843. 5. James Stew- 
art, born September 12, 1837; married first, Fanny 
Em.ma Childs of Worcester; married (second) Eliza- 
beth Johonnot; is treasurer of the Worcester Five 
Cents Savings Bank ; veteran of the civil war ; 
prominent in business and financial circles in Wor- 
cester. 6. Sarah Dean, born in Worcester, Feb- 
ruary 13, 1S40, married George Wilson Ryerson, of 
New York. 7. Emily, born January 24, 1842, married 
John Stanton Baldwin, formerly editor and pub- 
lisher oi Worcester Daily Spy. (See sketch Bald- 
win Family). 8. Edwin, born in Worcester, March 
24, 1844, married, June 12, 1872, Mariana jMit'flin 
Earle, daughter of Timothy K. and Nancy 
(Hacker) Earle of Worcester. 9. Charles Eaton, 
born January 23, 1847. 10. Mary Louisa, born June 
I, 1849; married Stephen C. Earle, the well known 
architect of Worcester. 11. Ada, born September 
29, 1852, died February 3, 1869. 

(IX) Albert Samuel Brown, son of Albert 
Brown (8), was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, 
February 22, 1829. He attended the public schools 
of his native town until he was sixteen years old, 
when he entered a wholesale woolen house in Bos- 
ton. After a short time he took a position in Colla- 
more's crockery store in Boston. He finally re- 
turned to Worcester to enter business with his 
father in the store and tailor shop. In 1S53 he made 
a trip to Europe, partly for business and partly for 
pleasure. When he returned home he worked for 
a time in a Worcester crockery store. In i860 he 
bought out J. P. Hale's crockery store and began 
business on his own account. The store was lo- 
cated at i8r Main street. He added wall 
paper to his line of goods and later moved to 284 
Main street. In 1880 he sold his store to E. G. 
Higgins, the wall paper dealer, whose business grew 
to be the largest of its kind in New England, Mr. 
Brown retired from active business life after selling 
his store. He loved travel and spent two years in 
Europe. He made his home in Worcester until his 
death, September 14, 1900. 

Mr. Brown stood well as a citizen and business 
man. He was highly esteemed for his manly char- 
acter and many good qualities. He was a member 
of the First Unitarian Church and later of the 
Church of the Unity and was a teacher in the Sun- 
day school. In politics he was a Republican. He 
served the city in the common council. He was a 
member of no secret orders or military organi- 
zations. 

He married, November 28, i860, Ellen M. Morse, 
daughter of Mason H. and Maria (Bigelow) 
Morse, of Worcester. Mason H. Morse was a car- 
penter and builder. He served on the building com- 
mittee when the Church of the Unity to which he 
belonged erected the present edifice on Elm street. 
Ellen M. Morse, as well as Mr. Brown, was a de- 
scendant of the first white child born in Worcester. 
She was born Jilarch 22, 1837. Maria Bigelow was 



the daughter of Lewis and Sophia Bigelow, and 
was born in W^orcester, April i, 1815, and married 
May 24, 1836. (See sketch of Bigelow family). Mr. 
and Mrs. Brown had no children. Mrs. Brown re- 
sides at her home in Worcester, 21 Elm street, 

(IX) Henry William Brown, .son of Albert 
Brown (8), born in Worcester, June 21, 1831, died 
February 21, 1900, at Daytona, Florida, where he 
was spending the winter. He married Harriet B. 
Rathbone, of Providence, Rhode Island. He grad- 
uated from Harvard College in 1852. and from 
Harvard Divinity School in 1857. He preferred 
teaching to the ministry, and from 1875 to 1896, 
a period of twenty-one years, was an instructor in 
the State Normal School of Worcester. His serv- 
ices in the school are best told by quoting the words 
of Principal E. Harlow Russell. 

" Coming to the school so soon after its bcKinninc. he had 
much to do with shaping its policy and in establishing tiie depart- 
ment which he maintained with so much efficiency and distinction. 
A graduate of Harvard College and later of the Harvard Divinity 
School, in his early years he was a clergyman, but left that pro- 
fession for the more conyenial one of teaching. He may certain- 
ly be said to have given the best years of his life to the service of 
the Worcester school. He was always thoroughly in sympathy 
with the aims and purposes of its administration, loyal to its princ- 
ipal, appreciative of its excellencies, and considerate to a marked 
degree of its defects. With his fellow teachers his relations were 
most friendly They felt the strength that he brought to the 
faculty, and always regarded him with affectionate admiration. 
While not an ambitious man, as the word is ordinarily used, his 
standard of excellence was high, and he gave to his professional 
work the best that was in him. He was a ripe scholar, with a 
thorough command of the classical languages and literatures, but 
he never ceased to be a diligent student, with a genuine taste for 
knowledge of all sorts, in the lines of science as well as of litera • 
ture His most conspicuous service to the cause of education 
was probably his translation from the German of Prof. Preyer's 
famous books, 'The Mind of the Child,' and Mental Develop- 
ment in the Child.' Mr. Brown's intimate acquaintance with 
German, acquired during two periods of residence in Germany, 
together with his command of a clear, idiom Uic English style, 
render these translations of the highest authority and value. "The 
work was published by D. .'^ppleton & Co.. New York, in their 
International Education Series, and the translation received the 
highest commendation from the editor of the series. Dr. William 
T. Harris, United States Commissioner of Education. 

" Mr. Brown was a man of unusual refinement, of lof'y ideals 
and of warm affections. Tl^ese qualities, combined with his ample 
intellectual equipment, made him a teacher of rare breadth and 
power. The graduates of this school will bear unanimous testi- 
mony to the quality and permanence of the influence he exerted 
upon growing minds, an influence appreciated by them more and 
more with the lapse of time. Although his standard washieh, his 
dealings with individual pupils were always felt to be just and 
humane, and in his classes there was no tyranny and no friction. 
It may be truly said that among the hundreds of young people 
who have come under his instruction here, there was not one who 
did not feel toward him not only profound respect but warm 
esteem. And his attachment to the graduates was shown by his 
manifest pleasure in meeting them on their visits to the school 
and his genial speeches to them at their annual reunions. The 
graduates have a permanent memorial of him which they greatly 
prize in the shape of a reunion song composed for them by him 
some years ago. and which is sung s'eirlv to the tune of " I''air 
Harvard" at their annual gatherings. Wlien Mr. Brown was in 
Worcester last autumn he was invited by a committee of graduates 
tositfi)r his portrait for the graduates' room of the school This 
he did, and the result, a large photograph by Notman, of Boston, 
proved a most satisfactory likeness and is now of priceless value. 
To the large body of graduates who for a score of years have en- 
ioyed Mr. Brown's instructions, as well as to the circle of his 
more intimate friends, the news of his death will come with a 
sense of personal loss" 

He had one son, Conway Rathbone, who died 
while a student and undergraduate at Harvard, at 
the age of twenty-three years. 

(IX) J. Stewart Brown, son of Albert Brown (8), 
was born in Worcester, Massachusetts. September 12, 
1837. He was educated in the public and high 
schools of Worcester, and began the active duties 
of life by entering the employ of Henry W. Miller, 
proprietor of a hardware store, with whom he re- 
mained several years ; later he established a house- 
furnishing business of his own which he continued 
until the breaking out of the civil war. At that 
time he was sergeant of the old Worcester Light 
Infantry, and was made sergeant of his company in 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



41 



the famous Sixth Massachusetts Regiment, which 
was mustered out August 2, i86r, and which was 
attacked which marching' through the streets of 
Baltimore to Washington, District of Cohimbia. In 
the fall of 1861 he went to the front with a com- 
mittee of relief, with between eleven and twelve 
hundred dollars contributed for the Worcester sol- 
diers. In November, 1862, he was commissioned 
adjutant of the Fifty-first Regiment, Massachusetts 
Infantry, participated in the battles of Kinston, 
Whitehall and Goldsboro, North Carolina, and was 
mustered out July 2, 1S63. Later he entered the 
commissary department with the Ninth Army Corps 
and remained until the close of the war, receiving his 
honorable discharge April 16, 1865. Upon his return 
to civil life JMr. Brown again entered the employ of 
Mr. Miller, remaining two years. He then engaged 
in business on his own account, manufacturing braid 
and shoe laces, and after conducting the same for 
four years disposed of the business in order to 
accept the office of water registrar of the city of 
Worcester, which he filled to the satisfaction of the 
various administrations, and to the people of the 
city, until his resignation in 1883, when he ac- 
cepted the treasurership of the Worcester Five 
Cents Savings Bank, to which he had been elected. 
For nearly twentj'-five years he has been the ex- 
ecutive head of this large and prosperous savings 
institution, which, judged from every standard, is 
one of the most successful of its kind in the city. 
It has shown a wonderful growth in the total de- 
posits and investments. He is a director of the Mer- 
chants' and Farmers' Fire Insurance Company, of 
Worcester, rendering faithful service in that capacity. 
Upon the organization of George H. Ward Posi, 
No. ID, Grand Army of the Republic, he was ap- 
pointed the first adjutant, and he has been a constant 
and earnest worker for the best interests and welfare 
of the post ever since. He has also been an officer 
of his regimental association since its organization. 
In the war play, "The Drummer Boy of Shiloh," 
which has been given for many years annually in 
the Worcester theatre, he took, for la numlier of 
years, the part of Frank Rutkdge, and his achieve- 
ments in this part will never be forgotten by his 
comrades and those who attended the performances. 
The excellence of the cast originally had much to 
do with the perennial popularity of this grand old 
war play in Worcester. The Grand Army of the 
Republic has netted a considerable income every year 
from the week's performances of the "The Drum- 
mer Boy," as it is commonly called. Mr. Brown is 
a member of the Unitarian church. In politics he 
is a Republican. 

He married (first), September 26. 1872, E. Fan- 
nie Childs, born at Hartford, Connecticut, April 29, 
1845, died in Worcester, Massachusetts, May 1,5, 
1894, daughter of Gardner and F'annie (Goulding) 
Childs, of Worcester. The children of this union 
were : Albert, born November 2, 1877, educated at 
the Worcester public and high schools, and a grad- 
uate of the American Academy of the Stage, which 
he attended for three years ; he has made a very 
promising start in his first professional engagement 
on the stage. Helen Elizabeth, born in Worcester, 
July 21, 1886, attended the Worcester public schools, 
and was a graduate of the class of 1904 of Prospect 
hill school, at Greenfield, Massachusetts, lie mar- 
ried (second), June 11, 1896, Harriet E. Johonnot, 
born September 3, 1848. at Boston, Massachusetts, 
daughter of Ambrose E. and Elizabeth (Gaffield) 
Johonnot, of Boston. 

(IX) Edwin Brown, son of Albert Brown (8), 
was born in Worcester, March 24, 1844. He at- 
tended the Worcester public schools, leaving the 
high school in 1S60 to accept a position in the City 



Bank, afterwards the City National Bank, absorbed 
in 1903 by the Worcester Trust Company. At the 
age of eighteen he enlisted in Company C, Fifty- 
first Regiment, and served in the campaigns in 
North Carolina and Maryland. ^ He returned to 
Worcester with his regiment in l8()3, and became 
book-keeper at the City Bank, but after two years 
was called to the Worcester National Bank, where 
he became teller, remaining in that position for one 
year, when he was called back to the City National 
Bank as teller and assistant cashier. He continued 
there until 1871, when he went into business with 
his father-in-law, Timothy K. Earle, becoming a 
member of the firm of T. K. Earle &. Co., whose 
factory for the manufacture of machine card cloth- 
ing for cotton and woolen mills was located on 
Grafton street, Worcester. In 1880 a stock com- 
pany was formed under the name of the T. K. 
Earle Manufacturing Company, with Mr. Brown as 
treasurer and manager. j\lr. Earle died in 1881, and 
Mr. Brown continued the business for the com- 
pany until 1890. At that lime there was a con- 
solidation of the various card clothing factories of 
the country under the name of the American Card 
Clothing Company. Mr. Brown was treasurer of 
the new corporation, and he held that position until 
190S, when the company was licpndated. 

Mr. Brown is a vice-president of the Worcester 
Five Cents Savings Bank. He was one of the 
founders of the Quinsigamond Boat Club in 1857, 
and in his younger days was the stroke oar of the 
crack crew of that club, which formerly held the 
championship of the lake, and which rowed on the 
Hudson river at Troy, New York, October 9, 1867, 
in the first national amateur regatta in the United 
States. Mr. Brown has always taken an interest 
in healthful athletics and sports. He was a charter 
member of the Worcester Club, and is a member 
of the old Worcester F'ire Society, a veteran mem- 
ber of George H. Ward Post, ' 10, G. A. R. ; a life 
member of the Worcester County Mechanics Asso- 
ciation ; a member of the Worcester Natural History 
Society; the Worcester Society of Antiquity; the 
Tatnuck Country Club, and was formerly a member 
of the Commonwealth Club; the Grafton Country 
Club; and the Worcester County Musical Associ- 
ation. He is a Republican. He belongs to the First 
Unitarian Church. 

He married, June 12, 1872, Mariana Mifflin Earle, 
daughter of Timothy K. and Nancy (Hacker) Earle. 
Their children are: I. Earle, born in Worcester, 
August 15, 1873; graduated Harvard University 
1895 ; was in business two years ; went to Spanish- 
American war in the F'irst Rhode Island Regiment; 
then went lo Harvard Law School ; is practicing 
law in Worcester, 314 Main /Street. 2. Edwin 
Hacker, born Worcester, July 29. 1875; graduated 
Harvard University 1896, and at Worcester Poly- 
technic Institute 1898: is a mechanical engineer 
with the Minneapolis Steel and Machinery Company 
of Minneapolis, Minnesota, and is now (1905) at 
Nome, Alaska, on his fourth trip as engineer for 
gold mining companies. 3. Caspar Mifflin, born in 
Worcester, 'October 13, 1878; graduated at Harvard 
University 1900; with Graton & Knight Manufac- 
turing Company of Worcester, and has had charge 
of their exhibits at St. Louis, Missouri, and Port- 
land (Oregon) Expositions: while in college he 
was a member of the Hasty Pudding Club, presi- 
dent of the Varsitv Banjo Club, and was on his 
class crews and foo'tball teams. 4. Lloyd Thornton, 
born August 20. 1880; graduated at Harvard LTni- 
versity 1903; now in Harvard Medical School; was 
president of the Varsitv Mandolin Club, and a mem- 
ber of the Hasty Pudding and other clubs while in 
college. 



42 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



(IX) Charles Eaton Brown, son of Albert Brown 
(8), was born in Worcester, January 23, 1847. He 
graduated from the Worcester High School in 
1863, and from the United States Naval Academy 
at Annapolis in 1^7. He was one of the officers of 
the U. S. navy who were with the first embassy 
ever received at the court of the Tycoon of Japan, 
and, when Minister De Long was received, the 
Americans were entertained with barbaric splendor. 
The Tycoon had some selected executions of crim- 
inals, and even some crucifixions to entertain and 
honor his guests. The U. S. gunboat "Oneida," of 
which he was an officer, was sunk in the harbor of 
Yokohama, January 23, 1S70, by the British steam- 
ship "Bombay," and one hundred and twenty of- 
ficers and men lost their lives. The body of Ensign 
Brown was recovered and brought home to Wor- 
cester for interment. He was unmarried. 

THE SPRAGUE FAMILY, descended from 
good old English stock, have an honorable history 
covering a period of nearly three hundred years 
in America. The late Hosea Sprague published in 
1828 a genalogy of the Spragues in Hingham to the 
fourth generation. He lived at Hingham, Massa- 
chusetts, and his personal knowledge of the family 
aided him in making a compilation of the records, 
and from it we glean many points invaluable in this 
connection. 

Edward Sprague, of England, was a resident of 
Upway, county of Dorset, where he died in 1614. 
He was a fuller by trade. He married Christiana 
(family name not given in the record)by whom he had 
six children: Ralph, Alice, Edward, Richard, Chris- 
topher, William. Ralph, Richard and William ar- 
rived at Naumkeag (Salem) in 1628, coming over in 
the interest of the Massachusetts Bay Company, who 
decreed that "none but honest and godly men should 
go oyer to settle." In "Prince's Chronology" we 
read: "Among those who arrived at Naumkeag are 
Ralph Sprague, with his brothers Richard and 
William, who with three or four more were by 
Governor Endicott employed to explore and take 
possession of the country westward. They traveled 
through the woods to Charlestown, on a neck of 
land called Mishawum, between Mystic and Charles 
rivers, full of Indians named Aberginians, with 
whom they made peace." Hon. Edward Everett in 
' his address commemorative of the bi-centennial of the 
arrival of Winthrop at Charlestown, said: "Ralph, 
Richard and William Sprague are the founders of 
the settlement in this place, and were persons of 
substance and enterprise, excellent citizens, generous 
public benefactors, and the head of a very large and 
respectable family of descendants." 

Ralph Sprague was about twenty-five years of 
age when he came to this country. He had four 
sons, John, Richard, Samuel and Phineas. and a 
daughter Mary, who married Daniel Edmands 
on September 28, 1630. John and Richard were 
born in England. Ralph was one of a jury 
impaneled which seems to have been the first jury 
in Massachusetts. Ralph Sprague was a lieutenant 
in the train band. In 1631 Captain Richard Sprague 
commanded a company of the train band, and on 
Friday of each week exercised his command at a 
convenient place near the Indian wigwams. Feb- 
ruary 10, 1634, the famous order creating a board 
of selectmen was passed ; Richard and William 
Sprague signed the order. Richard Sprague left 
no posterity. His sword which is named in his 
brother William's will was preserved in one of the 
old Sprague houses in Hingham in 1828. 

(I) William Sprague, son of Edward, of Eng- 
land, was born in England. He married, 1635, 
Millesaint, daughter of Anthony Eames. She died 



February 8, 1696. He remained in Charlestown until 
1636. His wife was admitted into the church in 
Charlestown in 1635, and the eldest son was bap- 
tized there May, 1636. He came to Hingham m 
the same year in a boat which landed on the east 
side of the cove, on a tract afterward granted to 
him by the town, and became one of the first plant- 
ers, the name Bare Cove having been changed to 
Hingham, September 2, 1635. William Sprague's 
house lot was said to be the pleasantest in Hing- 
ham. Many parcels of land were granted to him 
from 1636 to 1647. These gifts show the esteem 
in which he was held by his fellow townsmen. Jan- 
uary 30, 164s, he was one of seven men chosen in 
town meeting to order the prudential affairs of the 
town. In 1662 he was disbursing officer for the 
town, and also constable and fence viewer, etc. Feb- 
ruary 21, 1673, he deeded to his son Anthony cer- 
tain lands for six and thirty pounds of lawful 
money of New England, and nine pounds in mer- 
chantable corn. He died October 26, 1675. The 
children of William and Millesaint Sprague were: 

1. Anthony, born September 2, 1635, married Eliza- 
beth Bartlett, daughter of Robert Bartlett, of 
Plymouth. He was a large landowner of Hing- 
ham. His house was burned by Indians, April 
19, 1676. He died September 3, 1719. 2. John, 
baptized April, 1638, married Elizabeth Holbrook, 
December 13, 1666. Sprague Island was given to 
him by his father. He died in Mendon, 1690. 3. 
Samuel, baptized May 24, 1640. He removed to 
Marshfield, Massachusetts, where he became secre- 
tary of the colony and register of deeds before 
1692. He was the great-grandfather of Hon. Seth 
Sprague, of Duxbury. 4. Elizabeth, baptized May 

2, 1641. 5. Jonathan, baptized March 20, 1642, died 
July 4, 1647. 6. Perses, baptized November 12, 1643, 
married John Doggett. 7. Joanna, baptized Decem- 
ber, 1644, married Caleb Church, December 16, 
1667. 8. Jonathan, born May 28, 1648, moved to 
Providence, Rhode Island. 9. William, born May 
7, 1650, married Deborah Lane, daughter of Andrew 
Lane, December 13, 1674. At a later date he re- 
moved to Providence, Rhode Island. 10. Mary, bap- 
tized May 25, 1652, married Thomas King. II. Han- 
nah, baptized Februarv 26, 1655, died March 31, 
1658. 

(II) Jonathan Sprague, born in Hingham, May 
28. 1648, son of William (l), married Mehitabel, 
daughter of William and Elizabeth Holbrook, and 
in 1672 removed to Mendon, Massachusetts. In 
1675, his father died and left to him sixty acres of land 
in Providence, Rhode Island, where he settled be- 
fore 1680. He aided in surveying the eastern line 
of the colony. His was a strong, manly character. 
He was a piember of the house of deputies for 
sixteen years between 1695 a'ld 1714; speaker of the 
house, 1703 ; and member of the town council eight 
years from 1705 to 1712; clerk of the assembly in 
1707. In 1703, with two others, he w-as appointed 
to draw up the methods and proceedings of the 
court of common pleas. The "Annals of Provi- 
dence" says he was a decidedly religious man, pro- 
fessed the Baptist faith, and preached as an ex- 
horter. He died in 1741. The children of Jonathan 
and Mehitabel Sprague were: l. Jonathan, a resi- 
dent of Providence and Smithfield, Rhode Island, 
married Bethiah Mann, November 28, 1699. She 
was born March 12, 1683. and died April 6, 1712. 
For his second wife he married Hannah Hawkins, 
widow of Stephen Hawkins. He died April 22, 
1764. 2. William, born February 2, 1691, was a resi- 
dent of Providence, and also of Smithfield, Rhode 
Island. Smithfield was set off from Providence and 
organized as a town in 1730. He died in Smith- 
field, 1768. He bore the rank of captain in the 




<^./?,^^ 



Q/rff<7,ia^ 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



43 



econd militia regiment of Providence in 1732. The 
History of Woonsocket, Rhode Island," says : "For 
pwards of a century the Spragiies were prominent 
ctors in the religious and political history of old 
imithfield." He deeded much land to one cause 
nd another, and large tracts to his children. 3. 
'alienee, married William Jenks, and they had ten 
hildren. 4. Joanna, married John Teft, who died 
1 1762. She died in 1757. They had eleven chil- 
ren. 5. Mary, married Daniel Brown, and they 
ad six children. 6. A daughter whose name is 
nknown, married Ebenezer Cook. 

(III) Captain William Sprague, son of Jon- 
than (2), born 1691, married September 16, 1714, 
lies Browne, who was born iMay 31, 1691. Their 
hildren were: I. Nehemiah, born January 5. 1717, 
larried, 1738, Mary Brown. 2. Ales, born October 
, 1720. 3. Sarah, born February 10, 1722, married 
William Sly. 4. Samuel, born September 12, 1724. 
. Jetter, born September 19, 1726. 6. Joshua, born 
uly 3, 1729, married Abigail Wilber. 

(IV) Nehemiah Sprague, son of Captain Will- 
im Sprague (3), married April 16, 1738, Mary 
Irown, and had Elias, born in Smithiield, Rhode 
sland, June 16, 1744; Nehemiah, born January 20, 
750, who died there in June, 1796. These brothers 
'ere farmers, and members of the Society of 
riends. 

(V) Elias Sprague, son of Nehemiah (4), was 
orn in Smithiield, Rhode Island, June 16, 1744, and 
ied in Douglass, Massachusetts, February 15, 1799. 
le married Mercy, daughter of Joseph Bassett, 
LUgust s, 1764; she was sister of Alice, who became 
le wife of Nehemiah (5). Elias moved to Doug- 
iss, Massachusetts, not later than 1788, at which 
ate he deeded his homestead in Smithfield, Rhode 
iland, for three hundred and ninety pounds silver 
loney. The children born to Elias and Mercy 
■Prague were : I. Jonathan, born December 9, 
705. 2. Theodate, born January 4, 1768. 3. Amy, 
orn October 6, 1769. 4. Benjamin, born April 10, 
771. 5. Lavinia, born August 12, 1773. 6. Stephen, 
orn November 18, 1775, married Olive Seagrave. 

Preserved, born October 17, 1777, married Joanna 
rask. 8. Thankful, born October 19, 1779. 9. 
William, born June 3, 1782. 10. Alice, born August 

J, 1784. II. Elias, born . 12. Lucina, 

orn — ■ — . 13. Unnamed. 

(VI) Jonathan Sprague, son of Elias Sprague 
S), born at Smithfield, Rhode Island, December 9, 
765, was twice married. His first wife was Pa- 
ence, daughter of Robert Pixley (or Pidgeley), of 
lew Grafton, Massachusetts. She was born in 
765. They were married in Smithfield by Pelcg 
Lrnold, justice of the peace, August 12, 1785. Their 
lildren were: I. Sarah, born in Smithfield, Rhode 
sland, December 3, 1785. 2. Nehemiah, born 
1 Smithfield, Rhode Island, June 17, 1787. 
. Mercy, born in Douglas, Massachusetts, Janu- 
ry 17, 1789. 4. Federal Constitution, born 
I Douglas, Massachusetts, October 16, 1790. 
. Amy. born in Douglas, October 14, 1792. 
. Daniel, born in Douglas, August 4, 1794. 7. 
'reserved, born in Douglas, April 4, 1796, died in 
:iildhood. 8. Lee, born in Douglas, February 7, 
798. 9. Patience, born in Douglas, March i, 1800. 
3. Jonathan, Jr., born in Douglas, October 6, 1801. 

The father, Jonathan Sprague, died in Thompson, 
bnnecticut, October 29, 1815. Patience, his wife, 
ied December 14, 1801. They were buried in the 
riends' burying-ground at South Douglas, Massa- 
lusetts. Jonathan Sprague married (second) 
lezia, daughter of Daniel and Kezia Torrey, of 
utton. Massachusetts. She was born there April 
5, 1770, and died in Douglas, Massachusetts, May 



10, 1844. Their children were: Almira, Philinda, 
Elias and Emeline. In all, Jonathan Sprague had 
ninety-seven grandchildren. 

(VII) Lee Sprague, son of Jonathan (6), and 
Patience Sprague, was born in Douglas, Massa- 
chusetts, February 7, 1798. He married (first) 
Olive How Williams, May 21, 1821, who was born 
in Pomfret, Connecticut, November 27, 1803. She 
died in Ware, Massachusetts, November 11, 1822. 
The second wife of Lee Sprague was Lucia Snow, 
born April 28, 1805, daughter of Deacon Eli Snow 
and Alice Alden, she being in the sixth generation 
from John Alden of the "Mayfiower." The father 
of Lucia Snow was in the fifth generation from 
Nicholas Snow, who came to Plymouth in the ship 
"Ann," in 1623, and married Constance Hopkins, 
a "Mayflower" pilgrim. Lucia Snow was married 
in Ware, Massachusetts, to Lee Sprague, September 
8, 1824, and died in Worcester, Massachusetts, 
December 4, 1864. Lee Sprague married for his 
third wife Mary A. Bradley, born in 1808, married 
May 8, 1866, deceased. The children of Lee and 
Lucia Sprague were: I. Olive Williams, born in 
Ware, Massachusetts, June 12, 1825; died in East 
Douglas, Massachusetts, December 23, 1840. 2. 
Augustus B. R., born in Ware, Massachusetts, March 
7, 1827. 3. Caroline Florella, born in Ware, Massa- 
chusetts, July I, 1829; died in East Jaffrey, New 
Hampshire, August 7, 1863. 4. Francis Henry, born 
in Ware, Massachusetts. June 3, 1833 ; died April 
13, 1834. 5. William Wirt, born in Ware, Massa- 
chusetts, February 8, 1835 ; died August 20, 1837, in 
East Douglas. 6. William Lee, born in East Doug- 
las, Massachusetts, November 9, 1839; died Jan- 
uary 23, 1841. 

Lee Sprague, the father of these children, died 
in Worcester, Massachusetts, September 9, 1877. 

(VIII) Caroline Florella Sprague, daughter of 
Lee and Lucia Sprague, born in Ware, Massa- 
chusetts, July I, 1829, died in East Jaffrey, New 
Hampshire, August 7, 1863. She married Rev. 
Franklin D. Austin, at Worcester, Massachusetts, 
January, 1853. Their children were: i. Frank Lee, 
born in Tolland. Massachusetts, March 16, 1855 ; 
became a civil engineer, a graduate of Worcester 
Polytechnic Institute, 1877; died in April, 1897. 2. 
Flora Lucia, born in East Jaffrey, New Hampshire, 
December 27, 1857 ; graduated at Mt. Holyoke, 
Massachusetts; died in St. Paul, Minnesota, January 
5, 1900. 3. Caroline Sprague, born in East Jaffrey, 
New Hampshire. July 29, 1863 ; graduated at 
Smith's College, Massachusetts. 

GENERAL AUGUSTUS BROWN REED 
SPRAGUE was born in Ware, Massachusetts, 
March 7, 1827, son of Lee and Lucia (Snow) 
Sprague. He is a lineal descendant in the seventh 
generation from William Sprague, who came from 
England in 1628 with Endicott in the interest of 
the Massachusetts Bay Company to prepare for a 
new colony. His maternal grandmother, Alice Al- 
den, was a descendant in the fifth generation from 
John Alden, and his grandfather, Eli Snow, in the 
same generation, from Constance Hopkins, another 
"Mayflower" pilgrim. 

General Sprague obtained his education in public 
and private schools in Ware and East Douglas, and 
was fitting for college when home circumstances 
compelled a change of plan, and in 1842 he carne 
to Worcester. At first a clerk, he soon engaged in 
mercantile business for himself, and was so occupied 
from 1S46 to 1861, when at the outbreak of the re- 
bellion he gave his services to his country. He was 
well prepared for the emergency, being already a 
well drilled soldier. He had joined the Worcester 



44 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



Guards at the age of seventeen, and had served as 
private, non-commissioned and commissioned officer, 
as adjutant of the Eighth Regiment, and major and 
inspector on the staff of the commander of the 
Fifth Brigade, Third Division, Massachusetts Vol- 
unteer MiHtia, which latter position he was holding 
at the time of the attack upon Fort Sumter. Under 
the call of President Lincoln for the first seventy- 
five thousand men. Major Sprague was unanimously 
elected to the captamcy of the Worcester City 
Guards, designated as Company A, Third Rifle Bat- 
talion, commanded by Major Charles Devens, Jr. 
This body left for the seat of war April 20, 1861. 
Early in July Major Devens was called to the com- 
mand of the Fifteenth Regiment Massachusetts Vol- 
unteers, and Captain Sprague, by virtue of seniority, 
commanded the battalion until its muster-out on 
August 3d, its term of service having expired. Upon 
his return home he at once identified himself with 
the organization of the Twenty-fifth Regiment, 
Massachusetts Volunteers, in which he was com- 
missioned lieutenant-colonel. On his solicitation sev- 
eral who had served with him in the Third Battalion 
were commissioned in this regiment, among them 
being Major McCafferty, Adjutant Harkuess, and 
Captains Pickett, Moulton, O'Neil and Atwood. Be- 
fore the regiment left its rendezvous for the front 
Colonel Sprague was presented with a magnificent 
sword and belt by the members of his old company. 
Later his Worcester friends presented him with a 
valuable horse and equipments, Hon. Alexander H. 
Bullock making the presentation address on behalf 
of the donors. Colonel Sprague served with his 
regiment until November 11, 1862, taking part in 
all the skirmishes and battles in which it participated, 
including the famous "Burnside Expedition," and 
he was officially commended by his superior officer 
"for bravery and efficiency in the battles of Roanoke 
Island and Newberne." He was promoted, on the 
date which marked his separation from the Twenty- 
fifth Regiment, to the colonelcy of the Fifty-first 
Massachusetts Regiment. By special request of Major 
General John G. Foster, the department commander. 
Colonel Sprague was ordered with his new regiment 
back to North Carolina, where he participated in the 
battles of Kinston, Whitehall and Goldsboro. The 
names of these engagements were subsequently by 
order of Major General Foster inscribed upon the 
regimental colors which had been presented by the 
ladies of Worcester. 

When General Lee led the Confederat army on 
the campaign which found its disastrous ending at 
historic Gettysburg, Colonel Sprague's regiment, 
with others, was ordered from Newberne to rein- 
force General John A. Dix at White House, on the 
Pamunky river, after which it returned to Fortress 
Monroe for transportation to Massachusetts, its term 
of service having expired. Learning, however, that 
the rebel army was yet north of the Potomac river. 
Colonel Sprague telegraphed to Edwin M. Stanton, 
Secretary of War, an offer of his regiment for fur- 
ther service. This patriotic proffer was gladly ac- 
cepted, and the regiment was ordered to Baltimore, 
and thence to the Army of the Potomac at Williams- 
port, Maryland, and only left the field when Lee's 
army was well out of reach on its retreat into Vir- 
ginia. The return of the Fifty-first Regiment to 
Worcester was a notable event in the history of the 
city, glad hearts, and the sorrowful ones as well, 
joining in the glad welcome to the returning heroes, 
and making a day long to be remembered. July 27 
the regiment was mustered out of service. 

Colonel Sprague, however, was not to remain 
long inactive. Soon after the disbandment of his 
regiment he was requested by Governor John A. 



Andrew to recruit and command the Fifty-seventlj 
Regiment, but illness in his family constrained him 
to decline. Later he again oft'ered his service to his 
state, and as there were then no new regiments being 
raised, he was offered by Governor Andrew a com- 
mission as lieutenant-colonel in either one of two 
regiments then in the field — the Fourth Cavalry and 
the Second Heavy Artillery. His warm personal 
regard and soldierly admiration for a young man 
well remembered in Worcester county, Francis 
Washburn, who had made a brilliant record as a 
captain in the First Massachusetts Cavalry Regi- 
ment and was well deserving of promotion, moved 
him to decline the first of these offers in favor of 
his friend, and he accepted the latter. He was com- 
missioned February i, 1864, and at once joined his 
regiment, with which he served in some of the 
most momentous campaigns which marked that stir- 
ring period. He commanded his regiment in its 
field service in southern Virginia and North Caro- 
lina, and formed a part of General Schofield's col- 
umn in its march to open up communication at 
Goldsboro, North Carolina, with the army of Major 
General William T. Sherman, which, having come 
thus far from Savannah after its "March to the 
Sea," was now moving against the confederate 
General Joseph E. Johnston. These operations, 
combined with those of General Ulysses S. Grant 
against the rebel army under Lee, worked the down- 
fall of the Confederacy, and soon afterward the 
regiment was sent to the mouth of Cape Fear river 
to dismantle Fort Fisher and repair Fort Caswell, 
and later assembled at Galloupe Island, in Boston 
Harbor, where it was discharged from service Sep- 
tember 20, 1865, previous to which he was commis- 
sioned colonel of the regiment. He was brevetted 
brigadier-general to date from March 13, 1865, "for 
gallant and meritorious services during the war." 
His entire service covered the long period of three 
years and nine months, and ever received the 
warmest commendation of his superior officers. 

Returning to civil life. General Sprague was soon 
called to important civil service, which marked the 
beginning of a period of more than a quarter of 
a century of public life. In February, 1867, he was 
appointed collector of internal revenue of the Eighth 
Massachusetts District. Ou* the death of Hon. J. 
S. C. Knowlton, sheriff of the county of Worcester, 
General Sprague was appointed his successor, in 
July, 1871, and he acquitted himself with such con- 
spicuous ability that he was elected to the posi- 
tion at the next election, and successively re-elected 
until his tenure of office was extended to six terms 
of three years each, continuing until January, 1890. 
Soon after entering upon his duties the Worcester 
prison was greatly enlarged, and after its comple- 
tion General Sprague gave to all the details of prison 
management his close personal attention, entering 
upon a work which was justly regarded as a public 
benefit, and a pronounced advance in the improve- 
ment of modern prisons. He revised the entire 
system of accounts keeping, and introduced innova- 
tions which at once conduced to the comfort of the 
prisoners and awoke in them a sense of gratitude 
to him and respect for themselves which found ad- 
ditional fruits in improved morale and more effi- 
cient discipline. In both prisons under his con- 
trol (at Fitchburg as well as at Worcester) he 
did away with the shaving of heads and the wear- 
ing of parti-colored garments, believing them to be 
unnecessary indignities imposed upon short-term 
prisoners. Food of better quality, in greater variety, 
and prepared under the best hygienic methods, was 
provided, and at less cost than that of an inferior 
quality. Better clothing and bedding were provided, 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



45 



ind the library was largely increased with carefully 
.elected books. General Sprague's efforts, inany of 
hem innovations, were so highly appreciated by the 
lommissioners of prisons that they gave warm ex- 
)ressions to their commendation in their annual re- 
jorts, pronouncing the Worcester count}' prisons 
he model prisons of the commonwealth. Addi- 
ional appreciation was expressed by Governor Long, 
vho urged General Spraguc to accept the appoint- 
nent of warden of the state prison, but he was so 
nterested in his work in the Worcester county 
)rison that he declined. • 

General Spraguc has also rendered useful service 
n both branches of the municipal govtrnment. In 
December, 1895, he was elected mayor of Worcester, 
uid was re-elected the following year, his term of 
jffice being thus extended to January, 1898. His ad- 
ninistration was particularly distinguished as the 
)ne during which was erected the new city hall, a 
luilding of notable beauty and utility, and from 
he beginning of the work until it was practically 
:ompleted, he was an ex-officio member of the 
niilding commission, and gave his oversight to the 
vork of construction. At the present time General 
Sprague is president of the Worcester Electric 
-ight Company, and of the Worcester iMechanics 
Savings Bank. General Sprague maintains a deep 
nterest in the various military bodies with which 
te is connected, and in which he is most widely 
md favorably known. A. B. R. Sprague Post No. 
'.4, G. A. R., of Grafton, was named in his honor, 
^n 1868 he was commander of the ^Massachusetts 
Department of that order, and in 1873-74 was quar- 
ermaster-general on the staff of the national com- 
nander, General Charles Devens. He is a charter 
Tiember of the Massachusetts Commandery, Mili- 
ary Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, 
md in 186S was its junior vice-coinmander. He 
lided in the formation of the Fifty-first Massachu- 
setts Regiment Association, of which he has been 
:or many years president. In 1889 that body pre- 
sented to him a beautiful and valuable diamond 
studded Grand Army badge, and in 1903 it paid him 
;he high compliment of causing his war-time por- 
:rait to be painted and presented to the Worcester 
bounty Mechanics Association, which placed it upon 
;he wall of their hall. He is also a member of the 
Society of Mayflower descendants, of the IMasonic 
fraternity, and of numerous other social and benc- 
icial organizations. 

General Sprague married, December 23, 1846, 
Elizabeth Janes, daughter of Samuel and Eliza Shep- 
ard Rice, who was born January' 25. 1826, and died 
February 20, 1889. Their children, all born in Wor- 
:ester, Massachusetts, were : Samuel Augustus, born 
June 17, 1847, died May 12, 1848. William Augustus, 
Dorn May 11, 1850, died April -9, 1857. Josephine 
Elizabeth, born December 19, 1851, married, Octo- 
ber 16, 1872, Edward H. Knowlton, and died in 
Worcester, December 7, 1879. She left one son," 
Howard Spraguc Knowlton, born iNIarch 4, 1S78. 
He was graduated at the Worcester Polytechnic In- 
stitute, class of 1898, and married, October 17, igoi, 
Alice Frances Conant. Carrie Lee, born April 17, 
1858. died August 28, 1877. Fred Foster, born Oc- 
tober 24, 1864, married, April 12, 1892, Adaline 
Estelle Sprague. He died July 16, 1906. Gen- 
eral Sprague married (second), October 23, 
1890, Mary Jeimie, daughter of William C. 
and Martha Kimball Barbour, of Worcester. 
She was born September 24. 1857, and was 
at the time of her marria.ge assistant librarian of 
the Free Public Library of Worcester. Their only 
child, Alice Aldcn, was born September II, 1893. 



WILLIAM ELLIS RICE, son of William and 
Lmehne (Draper) Rice, was born at Ware, Mas-a- 

chusetls, August 6, 1833. 

He is from colonial stock, being in the seventh 
hne from his first American ancestor. Deacon Ed- 
mund Rice, who, born in 1594. came from Berk- 
hamstead, Hertfordshire, England, and settled in 
Sudbury, Massachusetts, in 1638. His genealogical 
descent is through Thomas, born 161 1 ; Ephraim, 
born 1655; John, born 1704: Peter, born 17^5; Will- 
iam, born 1803. His grandfather, Peter Rice, born 
at Sudbury, Massachusetts, June 25, 1755, moved 
to Spencer, Massachusetts, and married Olive, 
daughter of Major Asa Baldwin, of Spencer, an 
officer in the revolutionary army. Peter Rice was a 
soldier' in the revolutionary war, a member of Cap- 
tain Seth Washburn's company that marched from 
Leicester, and was one of those actually in the fight 
at Bunker Hill, June 17, 1775. Wil'liam, son of 
Peter, and the youngest of thirteen children, all 
born at Spencer, was the father of William Ellis. 
He died at Worcester, November 18, 1882. 

On the maternal side his grandfather, Hon. 
James Draper, born at Spencer, February 26, 177S, 
was the sixth of that name in direct descent from 
James Draper, who, born 1C18, came from Halifax, 
Yorkshire, England, and settled in Roxbury, Massa- 
chusetts, lie was born in Spencer and died there 
in 1868. in his ninety-first year, having served his 
native town in many capacities, such as town clerk, 
chairman board of selectmen, town treasurer, over- 
seer of the poor, town agent, etc. He was also a 
county commissioner, a member of the general court 
for thirteen years, a senator, a magistrate for over 
fifty years, and the author of Draper's "History of 
Spencer," published in 1841. 

His mother, the eldest daughter of James and 
Lucy (Watson) Draper, of Spencer, was a woman 
of unusual dignity of character, intelligent, kind- 
hearted and .sympathetic. She died in 1854. The 
parents of Mr. Rice were residing at his birth in 
Ware, where his father with his father's eldest 
brother were proprietors of the general store of the 
town : some years later his parents took up their 
residence in Worcester. 

The subject of this sketch was given such edu- 
cation as was considered necessary to fit for com- 
mercial business, including a year or so at the high 
school and about the same time at Leicester Acad- 
emy. In 1852, at the age of ci.ghteen he obtained 
the position of clerk and book-keeper in the counting 
room of Ichabod Washburn & Co., in Worcester, 
at that time the principal drawers and finishers of 
the finer grades of iron wire in this country. He 
remained with this firm about seven years, acquir- 
ing a general knowledge of business and of the 
manufacture of wire, and then relinquished his posi- 
tion and engaged in similar business in a smaller 
way on his own account, in partnership with Mr. 
Dorrance S. Goddard, under the firm name of Wil- 
liam E. Rice & Co. Business was started in leased 
premises in Connecticut, and shortly after moved to 
Holyoke, Massachusetts, where a large modern plant 
was erected by them, and the venture made success- 
ful and prosperous. 

In 1865, at the solicitation of Mr. Ichabod Wa.sh- 
burn. whose confidence and favor Mr. Rice pos- 
sessed, this business was joined with Mr. Wash- 
burn's larger business, then incorporated under the 
title of I. Washburn & Moen Wire Works. Con- 
currently Mr. Rice became a stockholder, director 
and executive officer in this corporation. From this 
merger Mr. Rice's influence and activity in the 
further development in Worcester of its greatest 



46 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



industry, the manufacture of wire, began. He was 
in hearty accord with Mr. Washburn in the belief 
that the business could be greatly expanded with 
beneficial results. Closely following this connection, 
a plant in the village of Quinsigamond was pur- 
chased and a company incorporated under the title 
of the Quinsigamond Iron and Wire Works, for the 
manufacture of wire-rods and wire, with Mr. Rice 
as its treasurer and general manager. This com- 
pany was very successful in business, and was 
merged with the I. Washburn & Moen Wire Works, 
imder the corporate title of Washburn & Moen 
Manufacturing Company, in 1868. This merger 
marked an epoch in the enlargement of the wire 
industry in Worcester, and was the occasion of the 
purchase of the manufacturing site on Grove street, 
at that time occupied in part, under lease, by the 
I. Washburn & Moen Wire Works, and the erection, 
under a comprehensive plan, of substantial mill 
buildings and power plants and the installation of 
the continuous rod-rolling system for producing 
rods of small gauge and in longer lengths than was 
at the time practiced in this country. This practice 
was introduced from England,^ where it _was re- 
reported upon by Mr. Rice during his visit to the 
manufacturing districts there in 1867. This system, 
modified and greatly improved by Worcester engi- 
neers, has been a potent factor in promoting the 
growth of the wire industry in Worcester. Mr. 
Rice, who was a director in the corporation and its 
treasurer, was influential and active in the expan- 
sion, as well as in the general conduct of the busi- 
ness which has resulted in adding so noticeably to 
the population and to the property of Worcester. 
In 1870 Mr. Rice visited the iron manufacturing 
districts of Sweden, and arranged for the manufac- 
ture of special bars for the continuous rolling sys- 
tem, acquiring for his company the distinction in 
Sweden of being the first consumer in this country 
to import rolled iron direct from Swedish manufac- 
turers. In 1877 Mr. Rice organized the Worcester 
Wire Company, for the general manufacture of wire, 
with a plant at South Worcester. This also, be- 
came an exceedingly successful company. In 1899 
Mr. Rice, as president of the Worcester Wire Com- 
pany, which office he took in 1877, and of the Wash- 
burn & Moen Manufacturing Company, which office 
he took in 1891, was instrumental, in behalf of the 
stockholders, in efifecting a sale and transfer of all 
the shares of the above mentioned corporations, and 
in merging the business afl^airs of both in the .A.mer- 
ican Steel & Wire Co. The successful conclusion 
of this important negotiation permitted the much de- 
sired withdrawal of Mr. Rice from the business 
affairs upon which his attention had so long been 
concentrated, and his general relinquishment of 
business pursuits. Mr. Rice has filled numerous 
fiduciary positions of importance, and been con- 
nected in matters of consequence with many cor- 
porate and other organizations. 

Mr. Rice married, January 11. 1866, Frances 
Helen, daughter of Thomas L. and Margaret (Bart- 
lett') Randlett. of Newburyport, Massachusetts, who 
died May 3, 1879. December 15. 1S81, he married 
Lucy Draper, daughter of Moores M. and Sophia 
A, (Draper) White, of the city of New York. He 
has two children: Christine, the. wife of Hon. Rock- 
wood Hoar, M. C. ; and Albert White. A. M., Har- 
vard. 1905, now a student in the Harvard Law 
School. 

WHITNEY FAMILY. John Whitney, the emi- 
grant ancester of George C. Whitney and the late 
Edward Whitney, of Worcester, settled in Water- 
town, Massachusetts, in 1635. He was born about 



1589. His wife, Elinor, was born about 1599. With 
seven children they embarked at Ipswich, England, 
in April, 1635. They have a very large posterity in 
America, .'\nother John Whitney settled in Con- 
necticut and founded an equally large family. 

John Whitney bought the si.xteen acres home- 
stall of John Strickland at what is now Waltham, 
in Watertovvn then, situated on what is now Bel- 
mont and East Common streets. Strickland went 
to Wethcrsficld, Connecticut, to live. John Whit- 
ney w^as admitted a freeman March 3, 1635-6. He 
was a constable* in 1641 and a selectman from 1638 
to 1655 inclusive. He was town clerk in 1655. 
His wife Elinor died May 11, 1659, said to be fifty- 
four years old, though other records would make 
her about sixty. He married (second), September 
29, 1669, Judah Clement. He died June i, 1673, 
said to be seventy-four years old. The ancestry of 
John Whitney is given with the Whitney Family 
elsewhere in this work. 

The children of John and Elinor Whitney were : 
Mary, baptized in England, May 23, 1619, died 
young: John, baptized in England, 1620; Richard, 
baptized in England, 1626, married Martha Coldam ; 
Nathaniel, baptized in England, 1627 ; Thomas, bap- 
tized in England, 1629, married jMary Kedall (Ket- 
tcll) ; Jonathan, baptized in England, 1634, married 
Lydia Jones ; Joshua, baptized in England, July 5, 
163s, married Lydia ; Mary ; and Abi- 
gail Tarbell ; Caleb, born in Watertown, July 12, 
1640; Benjamin, born in Watertown, June 6, 1643, 
married Jane and Mary Poor. 

(II) John Whitney, son of John Whitney (i) 
was born in England in 1620. He settled in Water- 
town, Massachusetts. He married, 1642, Ruth Rey- 
nolds, daughter of Robert Reynolds, of Wethers- 
field, Watertown and Boston. John Whitney lived 
on a three acre lot on the east side of Lexington 
street on land granted to E. How, next the home- 
stall of the Phillips (q. v.) Family. Whitney was 
admitted a freeman May 26, 1647, at the age of 
twenty-three He was selectman from 1673 to 1680 
inclusive He was a soldier in 1673, and was in 
King Philip's war. He died October 12, 1692. 

The children of John and Ruth (Reynolds) 
Whitney were : John, born September 12, 1643, 
married Elizabeth Harris; Ruth, born April 15, 
1645, married, June 20. 1664, John Shattuck, son of 
the emigrant William Shattuck ; John was drowned 
while crossing the Charlestown Ferry, September 
14. 1675 ; he was in the Squakeag fight September 
4, 167s, and was on his way to Boston to report the 
disaster to his company : Nathaniel, born February 
I, 1646, married Sarah Hagar; Samuel, born July 
26, 1648. married Mary Bgmis ; Mary, born April 29, 
1650, died unmarried after 1693 ; Joseph, born Janu- 
ary IS, 1651, married Martha Beach; Sarah, born 
March 17, 1653, married. October 18, 1681, Daniel 
Harrington; she died June 8, 1720: he married 
•(second), October 25, 1720. Elizabeth Bridge, widow 
of Captain Benjamin Garfield; Elizabeth, born June 
o. 1656. married. December 19. 1678, Daniel Warren : 
Hannah ; Benjamin, born June 28, 1660. married 
Abi.gail Hagar and Elizabeth . 

(HI) Benjamin Whitney, son of John Whitney 
(2), was born in Watertown, Massachusetts, June 
28, 1660. He married. March .30. 1687, Abigail 
Hagar, daughter of William and !\Iary (Bemis) 

Hagar. He married (second) Elizabeth . He 

died in 1736. His children were : Abigail, born 
in Watertown, March 3. 1688. married, March 18, 
1717. Richard Sawtel ; Benjamin, baptized July 10, 

169S. married Rebecca ; Ruth, baptized July 

10, 1698, married, July 7, I7I,S, John Bond, bap- 
tized November 23, 1690, removed to Worcester 




EDWARD WHITN C Y 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



47 



;fore 1752; John, born June 15, 1694, married 

irst) Susan , (second) Bethia Cutter and 

third) Mrs. Beriah (Bcmis) (Child) Pierce; 
avid, born June 16, 1697; Daniel, born July 17, 
'GO, married Dorothy Tainter. 

(IV) Ensign David Whitney, son of Benjamin 
/'hitney (3), was born in Watertown, Massachus- 
ts, June 16, 1697. He married, 1720, Rebecca 
illebrown, born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, 
ovember 6, 1695, and died 1749. He was one of 
le proprietors of land at Paris, Maine, in 1736. 
[e died in 1745. He resided in Watertown and 
/altham, Massachusetts. Their children were : 
ebecca, born November 2, 1721, married, July iS, 
545, Thomas Stowell ; David, September 25, 1723. 
larried Mary Merriam; Anna, August 8, 1725, mar- 
ed, June 4, 1752, Samuel Merriam ; Nathan, born 
[arch 12, 1726; Ruth, February 23, 1728, died April 
?. 1757; Josiah, November 22, 1730, married Sarah 
.avvrence; Jonas, June 25, 1733, married Sarah 
/hittemore ; Jonathan, February 10, 1735, died April 

1757. 

(V) Nathan Whitney, son of David Whitney 
4), was born March 12, 1726-7. He married 
abitha Merriam. He settled in Westminster, 
[assachusetts. He bought of Benjamin Brown, 
lecember 26, 1750, a lot of ninety acres of land 
1 the southern part of the town ; part of this land 

still owned by his descendants and used as the 
imnier home of George C. Whitney and the family 
f Edward Whitney, of Worcester. He also bought 
f Thomas Merriam, his father-in-law, the south- 
ist ends of the adjoining lots, 83 and 84, on which 
; built his first temporary house. His framed house 
hich was built later forms the older part of the 
resent structure on the old homestead. He brought 
is bride to Westminster in 1752 or 1753. His 
ruggle with the soil and misfortune almost dis- 
juraged him. In the epidemic of 1756 both their 
lildren were taken. Again in 1764 their four chil- 
ren died of the epidemic. Out of nine children 
nly three lived to maturity. 

Nathan Whitney was a persevering and enter- 
rising man, and at length he prospered. He he- 
mic one of the leading men of the town, and had 
1 honorable military record. He was corporal in 
aptain Daniel Hoar's company in 1759. From 1771 
1 1776 he held a commission from George III as 
iptain. He sided with the colonists against the 
ing, resigned his commission and took what part 
is age and health permitted in the revolution. In 
776 he was iti charge of the Hessian prisoners 
■om the British armv stationed at his old home- 
ead in Westminster. He died Aug:ust 10, 1803, 
jed seventy-six. His wife Tabitha died December 
5, 1822, aged ninety years. Mr. Whitney was one 
f the largest property holders on the Westminster 
IX list of 1798. 

The children of Nathan and Tabitha (Merriam) 
k'hitney w-ere: Tabitha, born June 29, 1753; 
fafhan. May 16, 1755. died August 28. 1756; 
abitha, July 6, 1757, died January 27, 1764; Nathan, 
.pril 9, 1760, died July 2. 1764; Jonathan, May 14, 
"61, died June 21, 1764: Ruth. April 17, 1763, died 
uly 7. 1764: Nathan, July I. 1765; David, August 
>,• 1767; John, October 13, 1769. 

(VI) John Whitney, son of Captain Nathan 
^''hitney (5), was born in Westminster, Massa- 
lusetts. He married Elizabeth Stearns, daughter 
E Josiah and Abigail (Emerson) Stearns. December 
[, 1793. He settled on the first lot bought by his 
ither. No. go. and built the house now in use as 

summer home by the Whitney family of Wor- 
sster. He died at the early age of thirty-two years, 
une 25. 1802. His widow married James Walker, 



who died without issue. She married (third) Luke 
Warren, of Hibbardston, by whom she had four 
children. She died October 30, 1838, aged sixty- 
eight years. The children of John and Elizabeth 
(Stearns) Whitney were: John, born January 15, 
179s. died February 22, 1796; John, February 20, 
1797; Betsy, May 3, 1799, married April 30, 1829, 
Thomas Merriam, and resided at Westminster; had 
three children; died July 15, 1888. 

(VII) John Whitney, son of John Whitney (6), 
was born in Westminster, Massachusetts. He suc- 
ceeded to his father's estate and lived upon it all 
his life. He married Lydia Allen, daughter of 
Deacon Ephraim Allen, of Hubbardston (published 
September 30), 1821. They had a family of eight 
children, all of whom were of excellent character 
and reputation. He was greatly interested in the 
education of his children, fitted up a school room in 
his house, and maintained a private school, the ad- 
vantages of which were shared by many children 
besides his own. He became a Baptist in middle 
life and joined the church. Later he was chosen 
deacon. In 1843-4 typhoid fever struck down all 
the members of the household. The father, mother 
and one child died. The date of his death was 
March 15, 1S44, aged forty-seven; of his wife De- 
cember 19, 1843, aged forty-one. 

Their children were: J. Emerson, born Septem- 
ber 13, 1822, married twice, resided at Grafton, 
Massachusetts ; Sumner A., June 27, 1824, married 
Lura Clarke, had three children ; he died August 
29, 1861 ; Ephraim, July 6, 1826, died June 20, 1850; 
Mary, October 23, 1829, married Charles M. Tinley, 
had three daughters; she died February 25, 1859; 
Harriet, May 29, 1832, married twice, resided in 
Worcester and Alinnesota ; had two children ; Ed- 
ward, August 12, 1834; F'rancis S., March 25, 1840, 
died January 16, 1844; George Clarkson, September 
19, 1842. 

(VIII) Edward Whitney, son of John Whitney 
(7), was born on the old Whitney homestead in 
Westminster, Massachusetts, August 12, 1834. He 
obtained his elementary education in the public 
schools of his native town. In 1852, at the age of 
eighteen, he went to New York to strike out in 
business for himself. There he remained for four 
years, holding a position of trust in the Metropoli- 
tan Bank. In 1856 he came to Worcester, joining 
his elder brother, Sumner A. Whitney, in the station- 
ery business which was carried on in the Butman 
block for a few years. His brother died in 1861 
and he continued the business alone. He removed 
soon after to the Bowen block at the corner of Main 
and Mechanic streets, where he remained for about 
twenty years. Early in the eighties he removed to 
the present location of the business at 112 Front 
street. Shortly before his death Mr. Whitney ad- 
mitted to partnership his two sons, Edward Cutting 
Whitney and Harry Sumner Whitney, and they 
have succeeded to the business which is carried on 
under the 'same name. The firm does a large whole- 
sale trade in paper and stationery, blank books, 
manila paper and paper bags, all over New England. 
Mr. Whitney occupied a high position in the business 
community. His sterling character was the founda- 
tion of the great business success of his business. 

During the last few years of his life he turned 
his business cares over to his sons and spent some 
time in foreign travel, visiting various sections of 
.•\mcrica, Europe and the Holy Land, in which he 
took especial interest. He was an active and efiicient 
worker in church and Sunday school. 'When he 
first came to Worcester he joined the Union Con- 
gregational Church and was superintendent of its 
Snndav school for more than ten years. He was 



48 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



also deacon for many years. About 1892 he trans- 
ferred his membership to the Plymouth Congre- 
gational Church. He was president of the Wor- 
cester Young Men's Christian Association for two 
years. He was for several years chairman of the 
executive committee of the Young Men's Christian 
Association of Massachusetts. He was president of 
the Worcester Congregational Club for two years. 
He was a .trustee of the Home for Aged Men. Few 
men have done more for the religious interests of 
the city than Mr. Whitney. He never cared for 
politics to any extent and never considered public 
office. It has been said of him that he was "inter- 
ested in whatever was conducive to human wel- 
fare, and he did much to promote the better life 
of his adopted city and to lift the world to a higher 
level." Mr. Whitney died February 5, 1897. He 
married, November 26, 1857, Susan Louise Cutting, 
born August 29, 1838, died January i, 1880. He 
married (second), October 27, 1886, Emma Louise 
Rice, who survives him; she is the daughter of 
William Rice. The children of Edward and Susan 
Louise (Cutting) Whitney were: Lillie Marie, 
born in Worcester, June 19, 1867, died August 24, 
1868; Edward Cutting, borp July 19, 1869; Harry 
Sumner, born June i, 1873', married Alice Wright 
Gibson, of Germantown, Philadelphia, daughter of 
Alfred C. Gibson, of Germantown, they have one 
daughter, Louise, born March 30, 1905. 

GROUT FAISHLY. Of English descent, we find 
the first representative in this country to be Captain 
John Grout (I), of Watertown and Sudbury, 
Massachusetts. He came from England with his 
gun in his hand and first settled at Watertown. 
His date of settlement was about 1640, and in 1662 
he was granted leave to practice as a "Chirurgeon." 
A few years later it is found that he moved to Sud- 
bury, where for thirty years he served as selectman. 
He acquired the title of Captain, and was given 
charge of defending the settlements at Sudbury. 
May 14, 1648, he testified that, about 1642, Tacomus, 
an Indian Sagamore, or chief man among the In- 
dians at Chapnacunco, came to Boston with his sons 
and received sundry gifts and favors from Governor 
John Winthrop. In return he proposed to give 
Winthrop some land up in his country (Nipmug). 
John Grout, with others, went to take possession 
of the land. His eldest son kneeled down on the 
ground, and Tacomus made his mark to the deed 
on his son's back ; then the father signed it on his 
father's back, and so one, with all the other sons, 
the same way, thus abandoning all right of succes- 
sion to the land. John Grout was recognized as a 
man of great courage and much wisdom. For 
forty years he was in charge of the train bands, or 
militia of Sudbury. He was twice married. Hi,s 
second wife was Sarah Busby, widow of Captain 
Thomas Cakebread. By his first wife Mary he had 
children : John, born 1641 ; Sarah. 1643 ; Joseph, 
1649; Abigail, 1655: Jonathan, 1658; Mary, 1661 ; 
Susannah, 1664 ; and Elizabeth. 

(II) Jonathan Grout, born 1658, married Abi- 
gail Dix, sister of John Dix, grandfather of Dr. 
Elijah, of Worcester and Dixmont, Maine. Their 
children: i. Jonathan, born February 9, 1702. 2. 
Josiah, born 1703. 3. John, born 1704. 4. Abigail, 
born r7o8. 5. Sarah, born 1711. 6. Patience, born 
in 1714. 7. Peter, born 1715. 

(III) Jonathan Grout, son of Jonathan (2), 
born February 9, 1702, married Hannah Hurd, June 
6, 1743, and purchased the farm referred to and re- 
moved from Sudbury to Worcester with his wife 
and one child in 1744. He died 1748, leaving his 
widow with three children : i. Jonathan, born June 



2, 1744. 2. Silence, born November 8, 1745. mar- 
ried Josiah Gates, February 20, 1771. 3. Piiscilla, 
born August 13, 1747. 

(IV) Captain Jonathan Grout, son of Jonathan 
(3), born June 2, 1744, when sixteen years of age 
returned to Worcester, assuming charge of his 
father's estate, left him by his father. He rendered 
valuable service during the revolutionary war. He 
married, March 2, 1769, Anna Harrington, who died 
August 25, 1827. He died October 17, 1828, leav- 
ing children: i. Jonathan, born February 14, 1772. 
2. Anna, born September 16, 1774. 3. Francis, born 
October 30, 1777. 4, Hannah, born May 7, 17S1. 

(V) Captain Francis Grout, second son of Cap- 
tain Jonathan Grout (4), born October 30, 1777, 
remained on the old homestead and became a farmer. 
True to the loyalty of the Grout family, in early 
life he enrolled in the Massachusetts militia, April 
20, 1804, became sergeant of a company in First 
Regiment ; March, 1809, was made ensign, and a 
year later lieutenant, and promoted to captain in 
1811. He married Aumah Davis, of Templeton, 
and their children were : Julia Aumah, Sarah, 
Jonathan Davis. Captain Francis Grout died in 
Worcester. October 31, 1864, aged eighty-seven 
years. His youngest child and only son was : 

(VI) Jonathan Davis Grout, who succeeded to 
the old homestead, and married Adeline S. Wash- 
burn, 1850, and died, leaving two sons: i. Francis, 
born 1851. 2. Charles Henry, born 1854. The latter 
became a popular music teacher of Worcester, where 
he still resides. Francis W. inherited the home farm. 
He was selected a member of the city government, 
serving as Alderman in 1891-92-93-94. 

Jonathan Grout ("Master"), son of Jonathan 
(4), born 1772, after gaining the advantages of the 
VVorcester schools, entered Leicester Academy and 
there fitted himself for a teacher. Success as a 
teacher gave him the title far and near of "Master" 
Grout. He mastered the book-binding trade as well, 
and became an extensive dealer in books and sta- 
tionery in Millbury. He also became a noted author 
of school text-books, including "The Pupil's Guide 
to Practical Arithmetic," published in 1802, the first 
work on mathematics published in this country. 
His books had a wide sale, as his work was a great 
improvement over the old hard-written "lessons" 
and rules on mathematics, which, together with his 
book, are now among the antiquarian relics of the 
Worcester Society of Antiquity. It is said of him 
that "he was a Puritan through and through, except 
their faults." He married Sally De Wolfe, of 
Lyme, Connecticut, and had children : i. Edwin, 
born August 4, 1812. 2. Jonathan, born September 
24. 1815. 3. Sarah Ann, born February 13. 1820. 

(VI) Jonathan Grout, son of Jonathan (s), 
born September 24, 1815, became a popular book 
seller and owned Grout's block, coming to Wor- 
cester from his native town, Millbury, in :84i. He 
first started in a small way. After twelve years 
of remarkable business success, in 1852 he sold his 
business to John Keith. Other changes occurred in 
the business, he having it again, but in 1876 it was 
sold to Putnam & Davis. Mr. Grout built several 
fine business houses in Worcester and was a well- 
to-do man. He died April 4, 1882. His grandfather 
settled in 1744 upon the Grout estate on Vernon 
street. Worcester, which has remained in one branch 
of the family ever since. The subject of this notice 
was the fifth of the same name (Jonathan) in direct 
line of succession from the progenitor in this coun- 
try, Captain John Grout of Watertown, 1640. Jona- 
than Jr. was interested in the making of copying 
presses, perforated paper, etc.. and indirectly through 
pecuniary investment in the enterprise of Dr. Rus- 



■■)(.[ 

; .lA 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



49 



1 L. Hawes, who invented Uic machines for and 
□diiced the first envelopes in the world, which 
:re pirt upon the market by Mr. Grout. He was 
man of great business tact, energy and sagacity, 
icl< to decide and act. His capacity for taking 

large transactions was wonderful. It was in 
JO that he went in company with L. H. Bigelow 
d built another business block. He found time 
)m out all his business concerns to devote some 
ppy hours in the cultivating of his finer instincts. 
; loved art and good pure literature. He loved 
lure and was an admirer of birds, trees and 
wers in their state of freedom. .Mso, in horticul- 
e and floriculture he took great delight. He was 
Whig and Republican in politics, but no office 
■ker. He married Mary J. Smith, by whom he 
1 children: i. Charles Edwin, died in infancy. 
Ellen Manderville, married George H. Gould. 

D., who died May 8, 1899, and she then married 
V. William S. Smith. 3. John William, born 
y 25, 1843. 4. Mary Elizabeth, married Hiram 

.'\dams. 

(VH) Lieutenant John W. Grout, only son of 
lalhan Cjrout (6), born July 25, 1843. was barely 

enough to claim a man's standing when he fell 
i-oluntary sacrifice on the altar of his country, 
the civil war period. He was fine and manly in 

features, and with elastic vigor, and the "criin- 
I glow of health" he seemed every inch a soldier, 
i was a rare combination of qualities. He was an 
omplifhed pianist, was also proficient in nialhe- 
tics, and had an art for drawing, to which he 
led some knowledge of the French language and 

ancient classics. In early youth he exhibited 
ns of military genius. A treasured specimen is 
vhittled dagger with a Union shield on it. now 
ibly prized. He entered the military department 
Caleb B. Metcalf's Highland school at Worcester 
I became an expert in tactics. This peculiarly 
"d him, when the Rebellion opened up, for active, 
fnl service. Upon the organization of the Fif- 
ith Massachusetts Regiment he was welcomed 
Company D as its second lieutenant, and he 
led the company imtil it went to the front. True 
his retiring nature he chose some secluded spot 
which to drill his men. 

The story of Leesburg (Balls Bluff), October 
1861, is familiar to many, and is a matter of war 
artment record, but we wish here to make men- 
1 of the fact enacted by him of whom we write. 
; Fifteenth Massachusetts Regiment was in the 
kest of the fight and suft'ered great loss. Lieu- 
tnt Grout was found adecptate to his duties. His 
Iness and self-possession astonished all of his 
1. _ In the terrific showers of leaden hail, Provi- 
ce shielded him from harm. Upon the foe, who 
lid bayonet a wounded soldier, he executed sum- 
■y wrath. Every blow of his own sword told 
hand-to-hand contest. He declared he w-ould 
er surrender alive. Compelled to retreat, his 
Iness was still maintained. Driven to the bank 
the river, he still forgot himself, in the service 
ig rendered to make good the escape of his 
imand. With inadequate means for transporta- 

he crossed the stream with the wounded men 

returned : again the frail boat was filled to its 
icity and he remained upon the shore, but he 

risked too much for his own safety. The re- 
nder were now reduced to the last extremity, 

when the young lieutenant went up to his 
;rior, with the calm but heroic enquiry, "Is 
e anything more I can do?" the reply of Colonel 
ens was, "Nothing but take care of yourself." 
I when the Colonel cried to his brave men, "I 
' never surrender !" and with benediction, "God 
4 



be with you all," gave the final order," Every man 
lor himself," Lieutenant Grout had done his duty, 
and nobly justified the highest expectations of his 
admirers, .\fter waiting for the first faint glimpse 
of the rising moon, he threw his incumbrances be- 
yond recovery, and with a few companions plunged 
into the stream, but before he could reach the oppo- 
site shore, the fatal ball of the barbarous assassin 
left him only time and strength to exclaim "Tell 
Company D that I should have escaped, but I am 
sliot." He was lost in the dark rolling waters of 
the Potomac, but after some time the river yielded 
up the treasure, and under the flag of his heroic 
love he was borne from the paternal mansion "to 
the house appointed for all living." We are indebted 
lor the facts here given to a memorial written by 
Rev, E. Cutler, soon after the gallant soldier was 
killed, and it is a priceless gem among the family 
possessions, and they have thus had it inserted in 
this volume to further perpetuate the pathetic story 
of one who gave up his young life to save his com- 
rades—and his country as well. 

This sketch of the Grout family would be in- 
complete without a few lines to pla'ce upon record 
some of the accomplishments of a sister of this 
deceased hero, Lieutenant John William Grout. ■ 
Ellen Mandeville Grout was born in the town of 
Princeton, Massachusetts, at the foot of Mount 
Wachusett, in the year 1840. Her father .soon re- 
moved from Princeton, and while prosecuting suc- 
cessful business enterprises in Worcester, the daugh- 
ter attended the graded schools there, and also 
attended the Oread Collegiate Institute, that famous 
school founded by Hon. Eli Thayer for the educa- 
tion of girls. In October, 1862, she was married 
to Rev. George H. Gould, who two years later w-as 
settled as pastoi' over the old Center Church in 
Hartford, Connecticut. About the year 1870 Dr. 
Gould returned to Worcester, Massachusetts, and 
for several years was pastor of Piedmont Church. 
He was a very popular and gifted preacher and dis- 
tinguished for his brilliant oratory. He died May 
8, 1899, and his widow married for her second hus- 
band the Rev. William S. Smith, of Auburndale. 
Mrs. Smith is greatly interested in the subject of 
conchology, and is the possessor of a large and valu- 
able collection of shells, many of them rare and 
very beautiful. She has given much time to the 
study of conchology, and has lectured in Boston, 
Worcester and other places on that subject, illus- 
trating her addresses with selections from her stock 
of beautiful shells, also with fine water-color de- 
signs. She presents her subject not so much in a 
scientific as in a popular way, quoting from litera- 
ture, history and geology. She has published a 
volume of Dr. Gould's sermons, wdiich is entitled: 
"In what Life Consists, and Other Sermons," and 
has written articles for the papers and magazines. 
Mrs. Smith has traveled extensively in this country 
and in Europe. 

WELLINGTON EVARTS PARKHURST. 
The family of which Wellington E. Parkhurst, who 
was born January 19, 1835, in Framingham, Massa- 
chusetts, is a member, is of ancient English origin, 
the name appearing as early as A. D. 1000. The 
signification of the name is seen in its construction, 
"Park" meaning a public ground, and "Hurst" a 
grove or wood. The history of the Isle of Wight 
mentions a royal park called "Parkhurst Forest." 
Two centuries ago a colony of Parkhursts migrated 
from Parkhurst, on that island, to Surrey county, 
in England, from which branch of the family the 
Americans of this name are supposed to have de- 
scended. Bishop Parkhurst, of Norwich, England, 
who died h\ 1574, is supposed to have been the 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



50 

grandfather of the groat-grandfather of George 
Parkhurst. the first settler in America. 

The descent of the American families from the 
George, mentioned above, was as toUows: 1. 
George living in Watcrtown, Massachusetts, in 
r643 il. Geo?ge, Jr., bom in .6.8, lived in \Vater- 
tovvm III. John, born in 1644. also resided m 
Watcrtown. IV. John. Jr.. deacon, born in 1671, 
lived in Weston. V. Josiah born in 706 also re- 
sided ... Weston. VI. Jos.ah, Jr., born m 736. fir- 
settled i.i Weston, and in '762. removed to Farn- 
ingham. bnilding a house near Ci.tler Mills, ater 
a part of the town of Ashland. VII. Ephrani , born 
in Framingha.n, January .6, .765. %;^^"''^'; ']},f_ f 
the homesTead. January 20, .850. VIII. Char e. R 
W.. of whom later. IX. Wellit-.^aon Evarts, ot 

"''' Chade"' F W. Parkhnrst (father) was born 
March ; 1808. in Framingham, Massachusetts a 
^on of Ephraim Parkhurst. a farmer, also the teacher 
of district schools for twenty-one successive w.n- 
ters. Charles F. W. was educated '" th^gtowii 
schools and at Framingham Academy. In 1853 he 
.-emoved to Clinton. Massachusetts, and for tweiity-- 
;,nT Kars was paymaster of the Clinton W.re-C o h 
Co,iipany. also for a part of the tune served as clerk 
at Parker's Machine Works. He served as first 
town clerk of Ashland. Massachusetts, also several 
years as a member of the school committee a justice 
of the peace, chorister of the village choir, and 
teacher in penmanship. During his residence in 
Clint...., he also served as a meiiiber of the school 
committee board, a portion of which time he acted 
as chairman. He was a member of the Congrega- 
tional church, and served several years as deacon 
Originally he was an Abolitionist m poht.cs, but 
later became a Republican. On November 8, 1832, 
Mr Parkhurst married Mary Goodale, born in 
Marlboro. Massachusetts. November 18, 1807, and 
prior to her marriage was a school teacher. Mr 
Parkhurst died February 9, 1878; h.s w.fe passed 
awav March 15, 1887. 

Wellington Evarts Parkhurst attended the public 
schools and Framingha.n Academy. I.i May, .853, 
at the age of eighteen, he went to Cl.nton, taking 
a position in the office of the Bigelow Carpet Com- 
panv. Later he was paymaster at the Lancaster 
Quilt Company's mill, and afterwards assistant 
treasurer of the Clinton Savings Bank. He held 
the office of town clerk six years, and for fifteen 
vears was a member of the school board: he also 
has filled the office of town treasurer, library direc- 
tor and assessor, and for four years was the super- 
intendent of the Congregational Sunday school. He 
represented the Worcester thirteenth district tour 
years in the legislature, in the sessions of 1800 Oi- 
02 and '93, serving as house chairman of the ]vm: 
committee on education, of public char.table .nsti- 
tutions also as house chairman of the state legis- 
lative delegation to the Chicago World's Fair visit- 
ing in the "Massachusetts House," June 17- l893. 

For a time during the civil war. Mr. Parkhurst 
filled the position of city editor of the Worcester 
Daily Sfy and was subsequently promoted to take 
the chief' editorial chair, but declined on account of 
ill health In 1865 he assumed the editorial manage- 
ment of the Clinton IVeeklv Courant. wh.ch posi- 
tion he still fills, after a continuous service of about 
forty-one vears. In 1803 he also became the editor 
of the Clinton Daih Item, having served to the 
present date, a period of about thirteen years. On 
the occasion of a vacancy on the board of trustees 
of the State Sanitarium for Consumptives, at Rut- 
land. Massachusetts. Governor Wolcott. in 1897, ap- 
pointed him to the position, which he_ st.U holds 






by a reappointment in 1902. At the semi-centeiinial 
of the incorporation of the town of Clinton, in ujoo, 
he officiated as chairman of the reception coinmittee, 
and as chairman on the occasion of the public exer- 
cises in the town hall. In 1904 he was elected by 
the Republican convention of the fourth Massa- 
chusetts district a delegate to the national conven- 
tion held in Chicago. Mr. Parkhurst is a member 
of the Masonic Order, lodge, chapter and command- 
ery A member of the Odd Fellows Order. A 
member of the Massachusetts Press Association, of 
which he was one of the original members. A 
member of Pomona and Lancaster Granges. A 
member of Clinton Historical Society, of wh.ch he 
was one of the organizers and for ten years the 
treasurer. A .iiember of the Clinton board of trade. 
On September 13, 1866, Mr. Parkhurst married 
Miss Hattie F. Fairbank, of West Boylston, who 
died December 13. 1885. On August 9, 1887, Mr. 
Parkhurst n.arried Miss Georgiana B. Warren, a 
daughter of George and Pa.nelia (Eames) Warren, 
of Framingham. Massachusetts. Mr. Parkhurst has 
one sister. Miss Helen Adelaide, for many years 
a teacher of music and of day schools, also two 
brothers: Rev. Charles H. Parkhurst, D. D., for 
the past twenty-five years pastor of the Madison 
Square Presbyterian Church of New York city; 
and Professor Howard E. Parkhurst, organist at 
the same church, also a teacher of music, a resident 
of Englewood, New Jersey. 

GENERAL JOSIAH PICKETT. The record 
of Worcester is no exception to that of other cities 
in this great Republic, but the reader has only to 
glance at the long roll of names of patriotic men 
who, during those trving days of the civil war, re- 
sponded to the call of President Lincoln and went 
forth from this city to strengthen the hands of the 
government and help to preserve the Union, to 
in some measure appreciate the service her c.t.zen 
soldiery rendered the country from the spring of 
l86i to the close of the war. A.iiong those names 
representing that honored list appears that of Gen- 
eral Josiah Pickett, who was born at Beverly. Massa- 
chusetts, November 21. 1822. and after attend.ng 
the coiumon schools of his native town was appren- 
ticed to learn a mechanical trade, which he in rea- 
sonable time acquired and in the prosecution of 
which for a number of years he found remunera- 
tive employment. The prevailing gold excitement 
induced him in 1852 to make a trip to Califoni.a. 
via the Lake Nicaragua route, where after a so- 
journ of nearly three years, and in the meantime 
a satisfactory trial at mining, he returned to Mas.vi- 
chusetts, and in the early spring of l8sj found a 
home in the citv of Worcester. 

His military experience began in July, 1840. as 
a member of 'Co.npanv F. Sixth Infantry Ma^^^a- 
chusetts \'olunteer Militia, and with.n three years 
w^a- advanced to a lieutenancy. Soon after h.s 
arrival in Worcester he beca.ne a member of the 
city guards, and in 1859 was elected a lieutenant of 
the company. When the call for troops came in 
April, 1861 . he was a.nong the first to offer his 
services and to encourage others to do likew.se, and 
as first lieutenant he left Worcester April 20, with 
his co.npanv. then assigned to the Third Battalion 
of Rifles Major Charles Devens. Jr.. commanding 
Thi- liattalion reported at Annapolis, then proceeded 
to Fort McHenry, Maryland, where Lieutenant 
Pickett rendered valuable service during a three 
months' campaign. Returning to Worcester in Au- 
gust he became activelv interested in organizing 
the Twenty-fifth Massachusetts Infantry, receiving 
a com.nission as captain in September. This regi-i 




^^^<XJ^'CV&^^^ 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



t'lit left Worcester. October 29. 1861, and was as- 
giied to General Buniside's forces for service in 
ortli Carolina, sailing from Annapolis, Maryland, 
niiiary 9, 1862, and after a perilous experience at 
a reached the scene of the battle of Roanoke Is- 
nd in season to receive their baptismal fire on that 
ghth day of February, Captain Pickett being 
nong the first to effect a landing, and was highly 
immended for gallantry in this engagement. 

The battle and capture of Newberne followed. 
1 March 14, and on the 20th he was promoteil 

be major, in which capacity he commanded the 
giment during the Tarboro and Goldsboro c.xpc- 
tion. and. upon the resignation of Colonel Upton. 
1 October 29. received a commission as colonel 
the regiment. Colonel Pickett gave abundant 
idence of his courage and capability as an otticer 
id soldier. He brought his regiment to a high 
andard of discipline, rendering conspicuous scr- 
ee in all the subsequent battles and military opera- 
Mis in North Carolina, connnanding also, with 
2[nal ability, the forces and defences at Plymouth, 
id of the sub-military district of the Pamlico, at 
'ashington. North Carolina, receiving honorable 
ention for .such services upon his departure- for 
irginia to rejoin his regiment in December, 186,^. 

Early in 1864 the Twenty-fifth Regiment was 
signed to Heckman's brigade of the Eighleenth 
rmy Corps, for service in the Army of the James, 
id, with his brave and loyal veterans in a new- 
Id of operations. Colonel Pickett won further dis- 
iction in the severe engagements that followed, 
itably his gallant repulse of the charging Con- 
derate lines at the battle of Arrowfield Church. 
ay 9. .\gain. in the battle of Drury's BlufT, May 
, at the critical moment in tlie fight, the intrepid 
d decisive action of Colonel Pickett saved the 
nion right from irretrievable disaster. In this in- 
ince the First Brigade was being severely pressed 

the enemy. General Heckman. Colonel Lee. with 
iptain Belger and a portion of his battery had 
lien into the hands of the enemy and were prison- 
5. The brigade was in a most critical and serious 
ght, when the command fell to Colonel Pickett, 
lose self possession served him at this moment 

it had on former occasions. He quickly rallied 
lat was left of the brigade, formed a new line of 
ttle. and succeeded in holding the enemy in check. 
;reby protecting the base of supplies at Bermuda 
.indred from possible capture. 

June 3. 1864. at the battle of Cold Harbor. Vir- 
lia. in a most heroic charge upon the enemy's 
>rks. the Twenty-fifth losing tw'o hundred and 
icteen out of three hundred and two men taken 
action. Colonel Pickett w-as severely .vounded 
lile leading his brave men through that "Valley 

death." and not since the famous charge of the 
i.gadc at Balaklava, immortalized in story and in 
iig. has greater heroism been displayed. So says 
; Confederate General Bowles in his official re- 
rt of the liattle. For his distinguished gallantry 
on this and previous occasions during the war. 

received a commission as brevet brigadier-gen- 
d to date from June .3. 1.864, the recommendation 
■ this commission being signed by Brevet-Major- 
ncral George J. Stannard. and endorsed by Major 
ncral A. E. Burnside, Major General John G. 
ster, U. S. A., and Brevet Brigadier General A. 

R. Sprague, U. S. V Disabled from further 
;ive service in consequence of his wound, and 
;ply regretting his inability to continue with his 
ivc comrades until the final victory, he reluctantly 
ired after a service of nearly four years, on Janu- 
.• 10. 186.;. having won the respect and confidence 
t onlv of his entire command, liut that of his 



su])erior officers as well. It is not the purpose of 
this skelcli to present to the reader incidents as- 
sociated with all of the various engagements during 
the civil war in which General Pickett took part, 
but merely to mention those in which his conduct 
as a soldier and military tactician called for the 
special coimnendalion from his associates in arms 
and from others knowing the facts and competent 
to pass judgment upon his patriotic and praise- 
worthy service. 

.After returning to his home in Worcester, and 
sutTering severely for nearly a year from the wound 
ni bis iiip. the ball was finally extracted, and in 
October, 1865, General Pickett accepted a position 
in the Boston Custom House. Within a year 
( iiaim-ly. in September. 1866) he received the ap- 
pointment as i)ostmaster of Worcester, a compli- 
ment most satisfactory to her citizens. With his 
characteristic promptness and foresight for the ac- 
commodation of the public, he sought new and more 
commodious quarters, and the postoffice was re- 
moved from the old Exchange building to Pearl 
street, and for twenty years he was the efficient 
and progressive postmaster of Worcester. All re- 
forms that seemed to him necessary for the best 
interests of the service he adopted, and the capacity 
(it the office grew with public demand, and the 
present efficient postmaster of Worcester (Mr. 
Hunt) was educated from a boy of sixteen in the 
Worcester postoffice while it was under the man- 
agement of the subject of this sketch. In fact, it 
may be said that other valualile assistants in that 
department were also early brought under the same 
care and training, and still continue in service. In 
i88g he was apiiointed by Governor Ames a mem- 
ber of the State Armory Commission. This choice 
was made by the governor at a time when it was 
nroposed to erect at the expense of the state of 
Massachusetts a number of buildings to be used as 
beidriuarters for the militia of the state, and the 
stately structures, with their convenient appoint- 
ments, that may be .seen in Worcester, Boston, Fall 
River. Lowell. Springfield and other cities within 
the state, attest the .good judgment and wisdom of 
that commission of which General Pickett is still 
(igo?) a member, and for the service on which 
hoard he possesses special nualifications. To the 
military associations that originated through ser- 
vice performed in behalf of the country. General 
Pickett has given most cordial support. While no 
attemnt is made to mention the list it was noted 
that he is a charter member of the Massachusetts 
Commandery of the Military Order of the Loyal 
Lesion,: a member of the Grand .■\rmy of the Re- 
iniblic: president of the Twenty-fifth Massachusetts 
\'etcran Regiment .\ssoeiation : and has been treas- 
urer, of Post 10, Relief Fund from its organiza- 
tion. In 1894 Hon. Henry A. Marsh, mayor of 
Worcester, selected him to serve as a member of 
the I.iccn-^e Commission, and in the discharge of 
tlie perplexing duties devolving upon that board 
his integrity has never been nuestioned. 

Since the day of General Josiah Pickett's retire- 
ment from the army, the citizens of Worcester have 
sought to do him honor in various ways. It was 
the accepted belief that no street parade of any 
considerable magnitude, either of civic or military 
nature, could be hnndled in the streets of Worcester 
withoul General Pickett as chief marshal in com- 
mand, and it is but fair to say that from the mili- 
tary procession Julv 4. 1865. when the war regi- 
ments returned and were received by the citizens 
of Worcester, together with the many subsequent 
military and civic processions, under his direction 
as chief marshal, including the ceremony of laying 



0- 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



the corner .-lone of the new city liall, September 12, 
1S96, there was no confusion in the line, all moving 
on time with promptness and military precision. 

But the latest, perhaps the most deservmg and 
lasting conrplimen't paid this quiet, thoughtful, mod- 
est, loyal citizen and soldier, was the placmg of his 
portrait upon the walls of Mechanical Hall, that 
famous forum of Worcester, the walls of which 
have echoed and re-echoed during the past half 
century as works of patriotism fell from the lips 
of Andrews, Philips, Sumner, Bullock, Devens, 
Hoar, and others. And upon those walls may be 
-cen as companion pictures, portraits of Washing- 
ton, ' Lincoln, Garfield, Andrews, General Ward, 
Sergeant Tom Plunkett and many others. The pre- 
sentation speech was made October 30, 1902, by 
General -V. B. R. Sprague, a comrade thoroughly 
familiar with the military life of General Pickett, 
and the portrait was received by ex-Alderman Ed- 
ward M. Woodward, president of the Worcester 
County .Mechanics Association. Both addresses were 
of high order, and in eloquent language expressed 
the high estimation in which the subject of this 
sketch is held by both his comrades and fellow citi- 
zens— the man who, from the impulse of the hour, 
performed his duty' as he saw it, without thought 
of reward, and on account of such service was 
promoted from lieutenant to a brevet-brigadicr- 
general is certainly worty of respect and special 
mention. The ancestral line of General Pickett has 
been traced to Nicholas Pickett, who was born about 
1649, and an inhabitant of Marblehead. Massa- 
chusetts, as early as 1670, then a young man about 
twenty-one vears of age. He married a daughter 
of John Northey. Of his connection with other 
families of the same name, or from whence he came 
to Mas.sachusetts, the records are silent. It is be- 
lieved that by occupation he was a mariner. He 
was living in 1692. He had children: Henry, born 
about 1676; Nicholas, bom about 1678. died 1825: 
John, born about 16S0, died May, 1763: Dorothy, 
born about 1682. married Thomas Stevens. 

(H) John Pickett, born about 1680, died May. 
1763. was a fisherman, and later a shoreman, resi- 
dence Marblehead. February 16, 1727, he bought 
for 250 pounds a tract of land near the southerly 
end of the town, of Peter Levally. He married, 
January 17, 1704, Elizabeth Kelley, a daughter of 
John and Grace Kelley. Elizabeth died 1720. July 
22, 1737. he bought the mansion house once the 
homestead of his deceased father-in-law. John Kel- 
ley. John Pickett married (second). October 31. 
1721, Elizabeth Savory. By his will dated .^pril 
I. 1763, we learn that he was owner of the schooner 
called" the Pelican, and one-half of the sloop called 
the Lizard in which his son John carried on the 
coasting business. The will also mentions a silver 
tankard. Children were: John, baptized February 
27, 1708-0: Grace, baptized July 17, 1709, died 
young: William, baptized July 27. 1712. died Decem- 
ber, 1761 : Joseph, baptized October 10. 1714, died 
April II, 177.=;; Elizabeth, baptized July 27, 1717. 
died young: Thomas, baptized July 17, 1719-20, died 
about I7=;3: Sylvester, baptized March 25, 1722, died 
young; Elizabeth, baptized May 17, 1724, married 
Thomas Swan, Jr., living 1763: Nicholas, baptized 
November 6. 1726, died before 1762. 

(HI) Thomas Pickett was a mariner, and was 
lost at sea about 1753. He married Sarah, daughter 
of Richard Trevett. Jr.. and wife whose maiden 
name wa- Elizabeth Ingalls. She died 1803. Her 
great-grandfather. Henry Trevett. is reported as the 
earliest resident of Marblehead bearing that family 
name. Their children: Sarah, baptized .August 23. 
1743. died young: Sarah, bantized July 2, 1749. died 
unmarried: Thomas, born June 27. 1750, died July 



10, 1819; Elizabeth, baptized July i, 1753, died prior 
to 1763. 

(IV) Thomas Pickett, born June 27, 1750. He 
removed to Beverly about 1775. where he died July 
10, 1819. He was by occupation a sailmaker and 
married Miriam, daughter of Samuel and Mary 
Striker. April 18, 1775. She died in Beverly, August 
23, 1839. March 8. 1788, he purchased a house and 
lot of" William Abbott, and other real estate trans- 
actions were recorded in his name later. Their 
children were all born in Beverly, but baptized in 
the old Second Church in Marblehead, the parents 
taking them over the river in a small boat, there 
being no bridge over which to cross the harbor at 
ihat time. Their children were: Thomas, born 
December 10, 1775, died July 4, 1817; Miriam, born 
May 22, 1777, died October 17, 1818; married Moses 
Howard. Martha Trevett, born January 25, 1779, 
(lied February 14, 1811; married Nehemiah Roundy ; 
Richard, born November 8, 1780, died December 
20. 1864; John, born July 29, 1782, died June 13, 
1800: Sarah, born June 22, 1784, died February 24, 
1809; Samuel Striker, born March 8, 1786, died 
November 24, 1854; Margaret, born May 31, 1788, 
was the second wife of Nehemiah Roundy; Charles, 
born .-Xpril 15, 1790, died August 8, 1812; Hannah, 
born July 9. 1792. died December 5, 1818, married 
.•\mos Stickney ; Josiah, born February 19, 1795, 
(lied February II, i860; Polly, born March 6, 1797. 

(V) Josiah Pickett, born in Beverly, February 
19. 1/95- clied February 11. i860: married, February 
10. 1822. Mary, daughter of John and Mary (Batch- 
elder) Creesy. She was born September 12, 1799, 
and died in 1879. He served in the L^nited States 
navy, war of 1812, was taken prisoner and confined 
in Dartmoor prison, England. After returning 
home was for some years a seafaring man, but 
finally adopted .his former occupation — that of sail- 
making. Children: Josiah, born November 21, 
1822 ; John William, born December 30. 1824, sboe- 
ipaker ; married Susan H. Tucker ; Charles, born 
December 12. 1826, was a mason in Salem, and re- 
sided in Beverly; Mary Howard, born February 3, 
1S20. died September 25, 1833; Sarah Frances, born 
Dccemlicr 25, 1830, married Dewing Southwick; 
Mary Elizabeth, born November 13, 1832, married 
Samutl Bell; Martha, born November 26, 1834, 
married James H. Kendall ; George Augustus, born 
September 10, 1836. married Agnes G. !\Iunsey; 
Hcpzibah .-Vnn. born June 28, 1843. married (first) 
Charles L. Woodbury; (second) Charles Friend. 

(Vn Josiah Pickett, born in Beverly, Novem- 
ber 21. 1822. at the age of thirteen years left his 
home to carve out his own success in life. He mar- 
ried, December 2. 1847, Elizabeth, daughter of Jacob 
and Anna Burnham, born March 4, 1827. Since 
March, 1855. the family home has been in Worcester, 
Massachusetts. (See sketch). Their children; 
Frank Lewis, born January 25. 1849. died Novem- 
ber g, 1852 ; William A., born October 12, 1857. 

The foregoing closes the ancestral record of this 
branch of the Pickett family to date of July, 1905. 
There was a John Pickett, who landed at Salem, 
with Governor Endicott's company, in 1628, who 
removed to New London, Connecticut, and subse- 
quently married Ruth, daughter of Jonathan 
Brewster, and granddaughter of Elder William 
Brewster, of Mayflower celebrity. Their descen- 
dants are still living in that section of the state. 
The family name also appears among the earliest 
legislative, official and historical records of Virginia 
ami North Carolina, and among the conspicuous 
descendants of more recent date is the Confederate 
general, (jeorge E. Pickett, of Gettysburg fame, irt 
the civil war. Descendants of these early settlers 
are found in many of the southern states. 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



53 



WILLIAM SEDLEY DOGGETT. Thomas 
)oggett (i), the immigrant ancestor of William 
edley Dogget. of Clinton. Massachusetts, was 
orn in England in 1607. His name i-' spelled also 
logged. Doged and Daggett and many of his de- 
:endants have adopted the latter form of the name, 
le sailed for New England in May. 173", from 
armonth in the "Mary Ann," William Goose, 
lastcr. He was registered as servant to Thomas 
llivcr of Norwich, England, for some imftnown 
;ason, perhaps for lack of funds. Many of the 
rni,grants who came here to better their fortunes 
orked out their passage after coming. He settled 
rst at Concord, Massachusetts, removed to Marsh- 
eld, then to Weymouth. He was planter and town 
(ficer, both at Weymouth and Marshfield. In the 
itter town he was selectman. He was fined six 
snce for being an hour late at town meetings May 
5. and August 13, 1657. He took the oath of 
deliiy in 1657. His farm at Marshfield that he 
:cupied in 1659 was adjoining that of Peregrine 
i'hite. famous as the first child of English par- 
its born in New England. The cellar of his house 
believed to be in the field back of the house now 
r lately owned by Asa Sherman, of Marshfield. 
ie was a constable in 1660, on the grand jury May 
5, 1666, and his name is constantly on the records 
I various public services and as holding minor 
ifices for many years. 

He died at Marshfield, August iS, 1692. His 
rst wife died at Concord, August 23. 1642. He 
larried (second) Elizabeth Fry. widow of William 
ry, of Weymouth, and daughter of Jonas and 
ranees Humphrey, of Dorchester. She was prob- 
jly born in England and died 1652, at Weymouth. 
:e married, at Marshfield, August 17, 1654, Joane 
hillingsworth, widow of Thomas Chillingsworth, 
[ Marshfield. She was born in England, died 
eptember 4, 1684. at Marshfield. His children : 
shn. born at Concord, 1642, see forward; Hannah, 

)rn at Weymouth, 1646, iftarried Elancher; 

arah, born 1650, married Sherman; Samuel, 

)rn 1652; Rebecca, born July 29, 1655, married 
Wilder. 

(II) John Doggett, son of Thomas Doggett (l), 
as born in Concord in 1642 and died at Marsh- 
;ld, 1718. He resided at Marshfield most of his 
fe, but in 1662 was at Hingham. where he lived 
)r a time. His father gave him half the home 
irm, April 20, 1672, and he settled at Marshfield, 
here he was admitted townsman May 13, 1672. 
"e was constable in 1682 and highway surveyor in 
J84. He bought some adjoining land of Justus 
ames. April i, 1686, for ten pounds, and one of 
le. witnesses was Peregrine White. John Doggett 
id his brother Samuel hired the flats on the South 
ver of the town, probably to cut the salt hay. 
!e was admitted a freeman in June, i68q. He was 
I the grand jury. May 18, 1691. and highway sur- 
■yor 1692. He held the office of tithingman and other 
a'ces of responsibility and trust in the town. He 
as admitted to the church, May 30, 1697, and was" 
1 the jury at Plymouth as late as December 13, 
•08. 

He married (first), at Hingham, 1673, Persis 
prague. daughter of William and Milicent (Eames) 
prague, of Hingham. She was born there Novem- 
;r 12. 1643, and died at Marshfield, 1684. He mar- 
ed (second), at Marshfield. September 3. 1691, 
[ehitable Truant, daughter of Maurice and Jane 
niant. of Duxbury! He married (third), at New- 
iry. June 22, 1697, Rebecca Brown, widow of 

;aac Brown, of Newbury, daughter of Bailey. 

he was born 1640 and died at Newbury, August 
;, 1731. Children of John and Persis Doggett 



were: Jolin, born at Marshfield, June 28, 1674, died 
March 1, 1678-79; Thomas, born 1676, sec forward; 
John, born February 26, 1674, probably died un- 
married. Children of John and Mehitable were : 
Isaac, born June 7, 1692, died September 21, 1692; 
Hannah, born December 28, 1693. 

(III) Thomas Doggett, son of John Doggett 
(2), was born at Marshfield, Massachusetts, 1O76, 
and died there January 5, 1736-37. He gave his 
son Thomas part of the homestead, February 27, 
1701. He was a juror at Plymouth, May 10, 1708, 
field driver, March 21, 1708-09, on the grand jury, 
January 10, 1710, highway surveyor, hogreeve, etc. 
He was a farmer and prominent in town affairs. 
He married (first), at Marshfield, January 18, 
1698-99, by Rev. Edward Thompson, Experience 
Ford, daughter of William Ford, of Marshfield. 
She was born 1676 and died there October 25, 
172S. He married (second), Sarah Phillips. He 
died January 5, 1736-37, and is buried in Cedar 
Grove cemetery, alongside the grave of his first 
wife. Both graves are marked with stones. His 
second wife married, at Pembroke, September 7, 
1737. Joseph Ford, of that town. The will of Thomas 
Doggett was dated April 19. 1736. The children: 
William, born October 30, 1699, died February 16, 
;6y9-i7oo; John, born 1702; Persis, bor» 1704; 
Thomas, born 1706, see forward; Sarah, born 1709, 
died unmarried, September 30, 1745 ; E.xperience, 
born 1714, died at Lebanon, Connecticut, 1730. 

(IV) Thomas Doggett. son of Thomas Doggett 
(3), was born at Marshfield, Massachusetts, 1706, 
and died at Middleborough, Massachusetts. .August 
II, 1788. He married, at Marshfield, December 11, 
1728, by Rev. Joseph (jardner, Joanna Fuller, a 
descendant of Samuel Fuller, of the "Maynower." 
So all their descendants are eligible to the May- 
flower Society. Thomas was a yeoman of Marsh- 
field and Middleborough. He was executor of 
his father's estate and was part owner of the sloop 
"Middleborough" in 1732. He sold the homestead, 
March 6, 1741, at Marshfield, and bought at 
Marlboro, May 7. 1741, settling there before Sep- 
tember 7. His will was dated August 30, 1785, 
and proved October 6, 1788. Their children, all 
born at Marshfield, were: John, born 1729: Thomas, 
born 1731, died young; Mark, born 1733. died young; 
Jabcz, born JIarch 3, 1734; Seth, born February 15, 
1736; Simeon, born January 4, 1738, .see forward: 
Experience, born May I, 1740, baptized April 23. 
1741, died at Middleborough, 1830; Joanna, born 
March 16, 1742. 

(V) Simeon Doggett. son of Thomas Doggett 
(4). was born at Marshfield, January 4, 1738, and 
died at Middleborough, May 6, 1823. He and his 
brother Jalicz served in the French and Indian 
war under Captain Benjamin Pratt, being at Oneida 
Station, New York, September 28, 1758. He was a 
carpenter by trade, as well as a farmer. • In the 
revuhilion he did not think it ri.ght for the colonies 
to rebel, and as a consequence he was forbidden by 
the town authorities to leave his farm. He and a 
neighbor, who was suffering from the same cause, 
used to meet daily to talk it over, each remaining 
religiously on his own farm. He was a stanch 
Episcopalian in religion. He built his house on 
the highway from Taunton to Plymouth in the town 
of Middleb'oro. and it was occupied for many gen- 
erations by his descendants. He married, February 
28, 1760, Al)igail Pratt, daughter of David Pratt, 
who was a native of North Carolina. The chil- 
dren: Thomas, born at Middleboro, April 14. 1761 : 
Elkanah, born October 27, 1762; Simeon. l)orn 
March 6, 1765, see forward; Abigail, born March 
4. 1775- 



54 



WORCESTER COUNTY 






(VI) Rev. Simeon Doggett, son of Simeon Dog- 
gett (5), was born in Middelboro, Massachusetts, 
March 6, 1765, and died at Raynham, Massachu- 
setts, March 20, 1852. His early associations were 
those of an orderly, industrious and pious Puritan 
home. His mother was a native of North Caro- 
lina and had brought with her from her southern 
birthplace the prepossessions of an Episcopal train- 
ing, and she took care to indoctrinate the mind of 
her son with the tenets of the English church. 
The sterner influences of Calvinism in his home 
were softened by the grace of the Armenian liturgy, 
and while a heretical bias was thus given to the 
faith of the child an attachinent to the English 
ritual was fostered which no length of years, no 
change of opinions, no constant use of other methods 
could weaken. His father, though not rich, w-as in 
easy circumstances and able to prepare and send 
his son to college. Simeon entered Brown Uni- 
versity, where he was graduated in 1788 at the 
age of twenty-three. He taught school for a year 
at Charlton, Massachusetts. His mind was directed 
to theology, and after being refused admission to 
one Congregational church, he was admitted by 
Rev. Dr. Hitchcock's church at Providence and he 
began fo study. He lived si.x months in a planter's 
family in Virginia. In 1790 he went to live in the 
fainily of the celebrated Dr. West, of Dartmouth, 
and studied divinity under this eccentric but able 
teacher. He became a tutor in Boston University 
in 1791 and held the position five years. In May, 
1792, he was licensed to preach by the Rhode Island 
Convention of Congregational ministers and began 
immediately to supply pulpits and preach at every 
opportunity. One of his early sermons was printed, 
and it was one of the first published in the United 
States which openly defended Unitarian views. 

In 1796 Bristol Academy in Taunton was 
formally opened with Mr. Doggett as first pre- 
ceptor, and his address was another milestone in 
theological emancipation in New England. He ac- 
cepted a call to settle at Mendon, Massachusetts, 
and was ordained January 17, 1813. He resigned his 
position at the academy, but remained on the board 
of trustees. The Mendon church was large, in- 
fluential and supposedly orthodox, yet it called him, 
knowing his Unitarian views, unanimously and did 
not rescind the call when he required a change of 
the church creed before he became minister, .\fter 
a notable pastorate he was dismissed January 4, 
1830. at his own request, and settled at Raynham, 
where he wished to spend his declining years. His 
means placed him above the fear of want; he had 
a good library and at Raynham leisure to enjoy 
it. He visited the southern states in 1834-35, and 
preached the sermon at the dedication of the Uni- 
tarian church at Savannah. He retired from the 
ministry at Raynham in 1845. His eightv-seventh 
birthday was celebrated by his townsmen and friends 
very elaborately and pleasantly. He died March 20, 
1852. He and his wife made a joint will. 

He married. October 29. 1797. Nancy Fobes. 
daughter of Rev. Perez Fobes. LL. D., and Prudence 
(Wales) Fobes. She was born at Raynham, Massa- 
chusetts, September 8. 1769. and died there Decem- 
ber 14. 1854. Their children: John Locke, born 
at Taunton. September 9. 1798: Samuel Wales, born 
at Taunton. July 9. 1800: Simeon, born at Taunton. 
November 11, 1802, died in Georgia. July 21. 1826: 
Prudence Wales, born at Raynham. September 30'. 
1804. died at Raynham. December 27. 1854: Perez 
Fobes, born at Taunton, Ma<:sachusetts, June 2, 
1806, see forward; Theophilus Pipon. born at Taun- 
ton. January 20, 1810; Abigail, born at Taunton. 



November 8. 1812 ; William Paley, born June 29^ 
1814, died at Raynham, November 25, 1836. 

(VII) Dr. Perez Fobes Doggett, son of Simeon 
Doggett (6). was born in Taunton, Massachusetts, 
June 2, 1806, and died at Wareham, Massachusetts, 
January 28, 1875. In early life he lived on the farm 
and his education was obtained largely through 
his father's excellent library. He spent two years 
in Florida, working for his brother in mercantile 
business. He decided at length that he would study 
medicine and began in the office of Dr. Usher Par- 
sons, a distinguished physician at Providence. He 
attended the Jefferson Medical School at Phila- 
delphia for three years, and was graduated at the 
age of twenty-five years. He began immediately to 
practice in Wareham, Massachusetts, and was fortun- 
ate from the outset in winning the confidence of his 
patients. He had a good practice. "For forty-four 
years he went in and out among his friends, neigh- 
bors and patrons in his own and surrounding towms, 
meeting with the success which a man may com- 
mand who is well equipped for his business." He 
died suddenly', falling in the street just after making 
a professional call in apparently full possession of 
his physical and mental health. He was sixty-nine 
years old. 

"Dr. Doggett was not a brilliant man and in some 
directions he was as simple-minded as a child, but 
it is believed that few men bring to the study and 
practice of their profession more of those peculiar 
and varied mental and physical qualifications which 
help to make up the true physician and surgeon." 

"Timid and slow in some departments of life, 
in everything relating to his profession he was always 
alert, quick to see. prompt to act. Proving him- 
self the well trained, patient, conscientious physician, 
whose judgment was not often at fault, he also 
demonstrated by delicate operations skillfully per- 
formed that a brilliant surgeon was only con- 
cealed by his narrow field and lack of opportunity." 

He married. November 26, 1832. at Wareham, 
Lucy Maria Fearing, daughter of William and Eliza- 
beth (Nye) Fearing. She was born at Wareham, 
August 27. 1807, and died there October 2, 1885. 
Their children, all born at Wareham, were: (Zharles 
Seymour, born March 9, 1836, resides Brookline, 
Massachusetts ; William Sedley, born November g, 
1837, see forward : Anna Maria, born November 5, 
1839, married in Sandwich, Massachusetts, Novem- 
ber 25, 1858. by Rev. Nathan P. Philbrook. to Walter 
Danforth Burbank. son of Samuel Burbank : she 
died March 16, 1870 ; he was born in Sandwich, 
1834. and resided at Wareham ; died 1893. 

(VIII) William Sedley Doggett. son of Perez 
Fobes Doggett, MD. (7), was born at Ware- 
ham. Massachusetts, November 9. 1837. He was 
educated in the public schools of his native town. 
He chose a mercantile career and began as clerk 
in a Boston dry goods establishment, in which he 
was employed five years. He then went to Glaston- 
bury, Connecticut, was associated with his brother 
in the manufacture of woolen goods and remained 
in that business for some years. He left there to 
conduct a general store at Warren. New Hainp- 
shire, where he remained eight years, doing a modest 
but prosperous business. He removed to Clinton, 
Massachusetts, and engaged in the dry goods busi- 
ness. After a long, honorable and very success- 
ful career there, for a period of twenty years, he 
retired in 1897. Mr. Doggett has taken an interest 
in the affairs of Clinton and has invested largely 
in real estate there. He built one of the finest 
business buildings in the town, known as the Dog- 
gett Block. He is a Republican and has been stead- 



I 



I 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



55 



fast in his support of the principles of his party. 
He has never cared for public office. He is a 
member of Clinton Lodge of Odd Fellows, and 
lias been its treasurer for many years. 

Mr. Doggett married, at Auburn, New York, 
June 21, 1866, Frances Pomeroy Willson, who was 
born at Auburn, July 5, 1842. the daughter of 
Harvey and Fanny (Pomeroy) Willson. Her father 
was a merchant at Auburn. Their children are : 
Lucy Fearing, born at Auburn, August 7, 1867, 
married Ernest Silberburg and they have four chil- 
dren ; Anna Frances, born at Warren, New Hamp- 
shire, May 3, 1871, married Edward Page and they 
have one child ; Amy Willson, born at Clinton, Au- 
gust 31, 1884. 

MOEN FAiHLY. The Moen family, for more 
than a half century prominently identified with the 
manufacturing interests of the city of Worcester, 
and whose members have borne a most useful part 
in promoting the development of its various in- 
stitutions, financial, educational and religious, is 
of French origin. 

Louis Moen and his wife, Madeleine D'Arquienne, 
came from France about 1808, and settled in the 
village of Wilna, Jefferson county. New York. A 
son of Louis Moen by a former marriage remained 
in France, and his descendants still reside in Paris. 

Augustus Rene Moen, son of Louis and 
Madeleine (D'Arquienne) Moen, was born in Paris, 
France, September I, 1799. and was nine years 
old when he accompanied his parents to the L'nited 
States. He was educated in Wilna. New York, 
.^bout the year 1830, having made the acquaintance 
of S. H. Collins, the famous ax manufacturer of 
Collinsville, Connecticut. Mr. Moen removed to that 
place to accept a position as his business agent, 
or salesman. He subsequently conducted a hardware 
business on his own account in the city of New 
York, with residence in Brooklyn, Long Island. He 
afterward made his home in Stamford. Connecticut, 
where he died, August 24, 1867, after enjoying the 
entire confidence and esteem of a wide circle of 
friends. He w'as married, in Utica, New York, 
October 7, 1823, to Sophie Anne Le Clanche, who 
was also born in Paris, France. August 30, 1803, 
daughter of Nicholas and Maria (Pint) Le Clanche, 
the latter born in Treves, a city of Rhenish Prussia. 
Sophie Anne Moen survived her hu.sband nearly 
a score of years, dying January 30, 1887. Their 
children were: 

1. Philip Louis, see forward. 

2. Mathilda. Louisa, born July 11, 1826, in Wilna. 
New York; married Lewis R. Hurlbutt, .April 11, 
1854. and died January 25, 1881. 

3. .Augustus I\L, born May 22. 1830, died in 
infancy. 

4. Cornelia .\nn. born October 3, 1832, in Col- 
linsville. Connecticut; married, November 21, 1855, 
William W. Rice, Esq., of Worcester, Massachusetts, 
afterward mayor of that city and member of con- 
gress from that district. She died June 16, 1862. 

5. Henry A. R.. born September .^o, 18.^8, in 
Brooklyn, New York ; married Mary Biddle. of 
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and died in London, 
England. November 10, 1887. 

6. Edward A., born May 31, 1841. in Brooklyn, 
New York ; married Mary Sophia Cram, of Port- 
land. Maine, and died, 1903. 

Philip Louis Moen, eldest child of Augustus 
Rene and Sophie Anne (Le Clanche) Moen, was 
born in Wilna. New York, November 13, 1824. He 
began his studies in the town of his birth, and 
later in turn attended schools in Carthage, New 
York. Collinsville, Connecticut, and Brooklyn, New 



York. His studies in the later city were prepara- 
tory to a course in Columbia College, New York, 
but an eye ailment necessitated his discontinuance, 
and he turned his attention to commercial affairs, 
setting himself to learn the details of the hard- 
ware trade, the occupation of his father. While 
thus occupied he made the acquaintance of Ichabod 
Washburn, of Worcester, Massachusetts, whose 
manufacturing interests required an occasional visit 
to the city of New York, where he marketed a por- 
tion of the product of his mills. In the year 1846 
the anniversary of the American Board of Foreign 
Missions was held in Brooklyn, and as delegate 
to that assembly the elder Mr. Washburn, accom- 
panied by his daughter, was assigned for the ses- 
sion to the home of .Augustus R. Moen, where a 
friendly acquaintance was formed which later re- 
sulted in young Philip Moen coming to Worcester 
to claim the daughter as his bride. 

Philip L. Moen was first as.sociated with his 
father-in-law. Ichabod Washburn, at his Grove street 
works, and later with Messrs. Henry S. and Charles 
Washburn in the rolling mill at Quinsigamond vil- 
lage. This firtn was dissolved January 12, 1849. 
and .April i, 1850, Mr. Moen became a partner with 
his father-in-law in the wire-drawing industry, where 
he filled a much needed place, assuming the finan- 
cial conduct of the business, while Mr. Washburn 
directed the mechanical operations. Under the new 
firm the business prospered and increased in volume 
and from that modest beginning grew until many 
acres were covered with the great structures from 
which went out thousands of tons of wire to assist 
in the forwarding of civilization throughout the 
world. Mr. ]Moen had the satisfaction of living to 
enjoy the fruits of his energy and financial ability, 
coupled with the technical knowledge of such an 
expert mechanic as Ichabod Washburn. At the death 
of Mr. Washburn, in 1868, Mr. Moen succeeded 
to the presidency of the corporation, a position which 
he retained up to the time of his decease. 

The same characteristics which made Mr. Moen 
so successful in the world of business would also 
have rendered him a most valuable public official, 
but the demands of his life occupation were too 
pressing for many interludes. In 1854 and 1855 
he was a member of the city school committee, and 
in 1885, as a presidential elector from the Tenth 
District, he cast an unsuccessful ballot for James 
G Blaine. Mr. Moen was always a Republican in 
politics, and ever ready to assist in advancing the 
Drinciples of his party. In his religious affiliations 
he was a member of the Union Congregational 
Church, and for many years one of its deacons. 
Tliere was nothing relating to the good of human- 
ity that did not receive his hearty and generous sup- 
port. He w-as a zealous advocate and liberal sup- 
porter of the Yctimg Men's Christian .Association. 
was president of its board of trustees, and as a 
life member he was the second largest contributor 
toward the construction of the elegant home of 
the .Association now standing in Elm street, in the 
city of Worcester. .-Xs an earnest advocate of 
higher education he lent his efforts in behalf of the 
Worcester Polytechnic Institute, and was one of 
its trustees from its founding until his death, a 
portion of the time serving as treasurer of the 
corporation. He was a director of the Central 
National Bank, president of the board of trustees of 
the Memorial Hospital, director of the State Mutual 
Lift Insurance Company, trustee of the People's Sav- 
ings Bank, trustee of the Home for .Aged Women. 
director of the Free Public Library, president of 
the Worcester Countv Mechanics .Association, and 
a member of the Worcester Agricultural Society. 



56 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



Mr. Moen was a man of commanding presence, 
genial, courteous, conscientious, with frank, open 
manners, bearing all the marks of a gentleman of 
the old school. His loss from the social as well 
as the business world was deeply felt throughout the 
city, county, and even far beyond their bounds, 
wherever he was known. He died at his home in 
Lincoln street, Worcester, April 23, 1891. 

Mr. Moen married (first) November 17, 1846, 
Eliza Ann, daughter of Ichabod and Ann G. 
(Brown) Washburn. Their only child, Annie Eliza, 
died in her third year, March 21, 1854. The mother 
died January 25. 1853, in her twenty-seventh year. 
Mr. Moen married (second) March 26, 1856. Maria 
Sloan Grant, of Chelsea, Vermont, a lineal de- 
scendant of Mathew Grant, one of the first settlers 
of Windsor, Connecticut. Their children were: 
Philip Washburn, of whom further ; Sophie, who 
resides in Boston: Cornelia, died in infancy; Alice, 
married Arthur Edward Childs, whose home is in 
Boston. 

Philip Washburn Moen, eldest child of Philip 
L. and Maria Sloan (Grant) Moen, was born in 
Worcester, Massachusetts. April 28, 1857. After 
receiving his early educational training at home, he 
accompanied his parents during a European tour, 
and on their return, after a final year in the high 
school, he entered Yale University, where he took 
the academic course, graduating with honors in 
1878. After his graduation he studied for two 
years in Sweden, after which he spent a year in 
travel on the continent. He then returned home 
and entered upon his business career, in May, 1881, 
joining the firm of Washburn & Moen, becoming 
first a director, later the treasurer, and in 1S88 added 
to the latter duties those of, general manager, re- 
maining in that twofold position until 1899, when the 
American Steel and Wire Trust Company pur- 
chased the business and plant, Mr. Moen being re- 
tained as one of the vice-presidents. As an executive 
officer he was ready and decisive, with thorough 
knowledge of the great industry, which was de- 
veloped to larger proportions under his manage- 
ment. Four years after the property was acquired 
by the American Steel and Wire Trust Company he 
relinquished connection with it, to busy himself 
with his personal affairs. He held positions as a 
director of the Worcester Trust Company, the Wor- 
ce-ster Consolidated Street Railway Company, the 
People's Savings Bank, the Worcester Electric Light 
Company, and trustee of the Massachusetts Lighting 
Company and the Boston and Worcester Electric 
Company. He was vice-president of the Massa- 
chusetts Home Market Club, and a member of the 
Boston University and Union Clubs, also of the 
University 'and Yale Clubs of New York city. Al- 
though a Republican in politics, he seldom accepted 
public trusts, but was a liberal contributor to all 
legitimate expenses of the party, and might have 
held the office of mayor of the city of Worcester 
had he been willing to accept a nomination. He was 
from boyhood a member of the Union Congrega- 
tional Church, of which he became a trustee and 
chairman of the building committee. The Memorial 
Chapel, now a part of the ^church property, was a 
tribute from him, with his mother and sisters, to 
the memory of his father, Philip L. Moen, who was 
for many years identified with all its interests. To 
the Young Men's Christian Association of Worces- 
ter he lent his personal aid, and followed his father 
as chairman of its board of trustees. 

Mr. Moen was married, in Edinburg. Scotland. 
June 5, 1890. to Margaret Brown, daughter of 
Thomas and Elizabeth (Leishman) Struthers, of 



that city, her father being a retired manufacturer. 
These parents are now deceased. After his retire- 
ment from business Mr. Moen took special delight 
in amplifying and beautifying his summer home 
in the hill-town of Shrewsbury. To this attractive 
country seat was given the_name of Ard-na-Clachan, 
suggested perhaps from his associations with Scot- 
tish life and localities. Here he erected upon a 
most sightly outlook a charming residence, where, 
surrounded by the broad acres of a beautiful farm, 
he passed more than half his time in superintending 
the cultivation of fields and the growing of choice 
varieties of fancy domestic animals, in which he took 
special interest, and which he delighted in exhibit- 
ing to the many friends who visited him. At the 
New England Fair, in connection with the Worcester 
Agricultural Society, in September, 1904, as a mem- 
ber of the committee of arrangements and the re- 
ception committee, and also as a department super- 
intendent, he was constant and untiring in his ef- 
forts to make the occasion a triumphant success. 
Immediately after the close of the fair, although 
greatly fatigued, he went on business to Toronto, 
Ontario, returning home September nth, and on 
the night of the following day (September 12th) 
was stricken with apoplexy and passed away. His 
death was deeply felt by the citizens of Worcester. 
That such a generous-hearted broad-minded, public- 
spirited man, with high aspirations, guided as he 
was by a noble purpose, should be so suddenly re- 
moved from his place of usefulness, brought a sharp 
pang of regret to the community, and called forth 
the most profound sympathy. 

COES FAMILY. John Coes (i) was born in 
1748, probably in Scotland. There is evidence that 
he came from a family of Scotch that lived near 
the southern boundary, and some of the same name 
are living in Glasgow now. The name is distinct 
from the family of Coe in this country, at any rate. 
During the Revolution several soldiers by the name 
appear on the Massachusetts rolls. The name was 
apparently spelled Coas and Coose at times, and in- 
correctly. Samuel Coes, of Marblehead. w'as A 
soldier in the Revolution. Joshua Coes, of Bridge- 
water (spelled Coesse) and William Coas, of Cape 
Ann. w-ere soldiers also. It is possible that William 
Coes (or Coose), of East Greenwich. Rhode Island, 
was a relative of the Worcester settler. 

John Coes settled in W^orcester before the Revo- 
lution. He was a farmer. His seven children were 
born here, and so far as is known all of the Coes 
in this country are descended from him and his 
wife Rebecca. He died in Worcester, June 24. 
1S27. aged seventy-nine years. His children were: 
I. Daniel, born December 10. 1776. 2. Simeon, born 
July 9. T781. died March 3. 1833. He married Sabra, 
and their children were: William, married Lucy H. 
Green, April 30, 1835 : Simeon Sibley, born May 22. 
1811, died September 22, 1847: John Green, born 
July 24. 1814; Levi Charles, born July 13. 1819, mar- 
ried Charlotte McFarland, November I. 1846 : Mary 
Augustus, born January 22, 1823, died July 8. 1838. 
3. William, born February 19. 1786, died April 17. 
1829. He married Jemima Chapin. September 14, 
1S09. Their children were': Nancy Chapin. born 
Septemher 10. 1810: Leonard Chapin. born July 7. 
1812: William Seth^ born August 9. 1814; Rebecca 
Salome, born December 24, 1816. school teacher at 
Worcester: married James E. Budlong. of Provi- 
dence. December 13, 1843 : William Seth Leonard, 
born May 29. 1820: Luther Draper, born October 
T3. 1822. 4. Sally, born January 23, 1787. married 
John Pratt, of Fitchburg, Massachusetts, December 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



57 



29, 181 1. S. Mary, born November 28, i/gr, died 
September 12, 1831. 6. Levi, born October 28, 1793, 
married Kezia. 7. Elijah, born May ig, 1795, 

(II) Daniel Coes, son of John Coes (i), was 
born and brought up on his father's farm in what 
is now called New Worcester, December 19. 1776, 
and died January 26, 1838. He married, October 
26, 1808, Roxana, or Roxlany (as the records have 
it) Gates. (See Gates Family Sketch). Their chil- 
dren were: i. Sally, born February 22, 1810, died 
February 16, 1832: Loring, born April 22, 1812; 
Albert, born September 29, 1813, died February 13, 
1837; Aury Gates (name originally was Horatio 
Gates), born January 22, 1816. 

(III) Aury Gates Coes. son of Daniel Coes (2), 
was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, January 22, 
1816, and died December 2, 1875. Fie married Nancy 
Maynard, who was born in 1815, and died December 
I. 1842. He married Ann S. Cutting, May 29, 1845. 
He married (third) a Miss Gibson. He married 
(fourth) a Miss Winch. His children were: John 
Henry, born in Springfield, Massachusetts, Sep- 
tember 25, 1840 ; Frederick Lewis ; Anna Rebecca, 
born ' March 25, 1847 : Mary, bursar of Radcliffe 
College, Cambridge, Massachusetts; Stella, died in 
Dresden, Bavaria, and body was lost at sea. The 
business career of the late Aury G. Coes is given 
with that of Loring Coes herewith. 

Loring Coes. third in line from John, the founder, 
is the son of Daniel Coes, and was born in Worces- 
ter, Massachusetts, April 22, 1812. He has been 
for many years the nestor of Worcester manufac- 
turers, the most wonderful instance of mental and 
physical capacity in the history of Worcester, if 
not of the country. At the date of writing he is the 
active head of the business that he established in 
1836, and at the age of ninety-four years is as alert 
and active ;is the majority of inen are at sixty. 

Mr. Coes spent his jjoyhood on his father's farm 
in New Worcester, where he was born. He at- 
tended the district school in the winter months, but 
his education has been attained largely outside the 
schoolroom. He is a self-educated, as well as a 
self-made man. .A.t the age of fourteen years he 
was apprenticed to Anson Braman, of Worcester, a 
carpenter, to learn his trade, and served with him 
three years. He then worked for Mr. Salmon 
Putnam until he was of age. Afterwards he worked 
for various manufacturers of Worcester, construct- 
ing the wooden parts of woolen machinery then in 
use. He had a contract with Henry Goulding and 
employed six or eight men. Among others whom 
he and his brother worked for was the firm of 
Kimb'all & Fuller, makers of woolen machinery, 
an'd in 1836 they bought the business, forming the 
co-partnership of L. & A. G. Coes. Originally this 
business was carried on at the mill privilege owned 
by the Coes interests for so many years, but in 1835, 
just before the Coes took possession, it had been 
removed to Court mills, where L. & A. G. Coes 
continued in business until October, 1839, when 
the Court mills -were destroyed by fire. 

This disaster impaired th(!ir capital so much 
that they were unable to continue the business, and 
they went to Springfield to work for Laurin Trask 
as pattern makers in his foundry. While there 
they invented a new and very convenient form of 
wrench. There were at that time two styles of 
wrenches in common use, one an English patent, 
the other known as the Merrisk or Springfield 
wrench. Both hands had to be used to adjust either 
of these kinds of wrenches The Coes wrench could 
be adjusted by the same hand using it, leaving the 
other hand of the workman free. In order to 
obtain a patent on the device they returned to 



Worcester and sold the patterns of their spinning 
machinery, that had been saved from the fire, to 
Samuel Davis, a manufacturer of woolen machin- 
ery. With this money they secured a patent, is- 
sued to Loring Coes, April 16, 1841. 

The firm of L. & A. G. Coes proceeded to manu- 
facture wrenches under the patent. They were as- 
sisted by the late Henry Miller, a hardware dealer 
and "prominent citizen of Worcester. He fitted up 
a shop in the northwest end of Court mill with 
the necessary machinery and tools, of which he 
retained the ownership, and he sold for the firm 
all of the wrenches they made. Early in 1843 the 
firm had paid for its plant,, was employing three 
machinists, and had a contract with Calvin Foster 
& Co. to handle their product. The next winter 
L. & A. G. Coes moved to the shop of Albert 
Curtis in New Worcester. 

At the close of their contract with C. Foster 
& Co., April I, 1848, Ihcy entered into a contract 
with Ruggles, Nourse & Mason to handle their 
product for the next five years. They bought for 
$5,500 the old woolen mill at New Worcester, in 
which they had worked in their youth. With the 
mill they got two hou.ses and four acres of land, 
besides the water privilege. The famous Captain 
Daniel Gookin was its first owner, and from him 
the great-grandfather of Loring and Aury G. Coes 
purchased it, and built a .saw mill at the upper 
■privilege, where there had been previously a beaver 
dam. When they moved to New Worcester they 
were employing from twelve to fifteen men. and 
making from five hundred to six hundred wrenches 
a moiith. They repaired and raised the mill, and 
put in new machinery and a new water wheel. Their 
contract with Ruggles, Nourse & Mason expired 
April I, 1853, and after that L. & A. G. Coes sold 
their own goods. They had made many improve- 
ments in the wrenches, and in the special ma- 
chines used in constructing them. 

On July 21, 1853, with Levi Hardy, the firm 
purchased from Moses Conant his shop, machinery 
and business, that of the manufacture of shear 
blades and knives for hay cutting machines. The 
co-partnership continued until May 2, 1864. after 
which the. business was conducted by the firm of 
L. & A. G'. Coes, who bought the interests of Levi 
Hardy. Tn 1865 a dam was built half a mile above 
their mill privilege to form a reservoir, and next 
year a new shop was built at the reservoir, and de- 
voted exclusively to the manufacture of shear blades, 
hay cutting knives, and similar goods. In 1867 a 
new dam was built a hundred rods below the 
reservoir. The two brothers dissolved the part- 
ncrshi]) and divided the business. Loring Coes had 
the upper privilege with the knife business: Aury 
G. Coes having the lower one with the wrench 
business. .'Vt that time the annual product had in- 
creased to ten thousand wrenches or more. 

In 1871 Loring Coes began to manufacture 
wrenches also, the patents having expired. He 
erected the building at Coes Square for the pur- 
pose. At the outlet of the upper pond Loring Coes 
carried on an extensive business in the manu- 
facture of- die stock for cutting sole leather and 
other purposes, as well as many kinds of blades. 
.Aury G. Coes formed the firm of A. G. Coes 
S: Co. in partnership with his two sons, and con- 
tinued to carrv on the very prosperous wrench busi- 
ness until his" death in 1875. The sons continued 
under the same finn name until .April i, 1888. when 
the two Coes firms were consolidated under the 
name of Coes Wrench Co. The officers were: 
President, Loring Coes: treasurer. John H. Coes, 
and secretarv. Frederick L. Coes. The factory was 



58 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



tlicn turning out about fifteen hundred wrenches 
a day. An important patent was issued to Loring 
Goes in 1880, on the "Knife Handle'' or scaled and 
riveted handle, also his invention, replacing the 
old round handle made of a single block. This 
model was very successful and was one of the 
causes that united the wrench business of the Goes 
family in one concern, as it is to-day. Improve- 
ments and inventions have followed, and improved 
models were adopted in 1895 and again in 1901 
and 1903. A little more than a month before his 
ninetieth birthday, Loring Goes bought out the in- 
terests of his partners, John H. and Frederick L. 
Goes, sons of his former partner, Aury G. Goes, 
and assumed the sole ownership of the wrench busi- 
ness. In June, 1902, he consolidated with it the 
corporation of Loring Goes & Go., Incorporated, 
making the capital stock of the Goes Wrench Go. 
$150,000. The knife business is conducted as part 
of the corporation under the name of Loring Goes 
& Go., Incorporated, Department. 

The knife business of the Goes family is hardly 
less famous than the wrench business. It has a 
reputation of producing steel goods of unsurpassed 
quality and merit. Mr. Goes has always followed 
as his maxim in business : "Make the best only, — 
Quality first, Price afterwards" and his reputation 
is literally world-wide. There is not a country in 
the world where the Goes Wrench is not in use. 
Even in the Levant there is a demand for this' 
indispensable tool. Mr. Goes not only /attends to 
his business in person, daily, but continues to iiiake 
improvements and secure patents. The business 
has never been more prosperous than at pi'esent. 

In 1903 a new factory was completed, fifty by 
one hundred and fifty feet, with an ell fifty by fifty 
feet, and with new machinery and equipment the 
product of the company was doubled. The capacity 
of the knife shop within a few years has also been 
increased one hundred and fifty per cent. At the 
present time the Goes factories produce three hun- 
dred dozens of wrenches daily, about three thousand 
six hundred, and four and one-half tons of wrenches 
are completed every day the shop runs. The pay- 
roll includes one hundred and ninety hands, mostly 
machinists and mechanics of skill and experience. 
The Goes wrench shop is the largest wrench shop in 
the world. 

Mr. Goes was representative in the general 
court in 1864 and 1865. He has served the city in 
both branches of the council, and was for more than 
thirty years a director of the Gity National Bank. 
He is a director of the Worcester Electric Light 
Gompany. For some years he has been the oldest 
living manufacturer engaged in the hardware trade. 
He is fond of fishing, and has for many years made 
a fishing trip to Maine during the season. 

The present officers of the corporation are : 
President. Loring Goes : vice-president and clerk, 
Frank Loring Goes; treasurer, Loring Goes; 
directors, Fred W. Blackmer and Frederick Searle. 
Mr. Blackmer is counsel for Mr. Goes. (See sketch 
elsewhere in this work). Mr. Searle is a native of 
St. Austel, Gornwall. England, and for fifteen years 
has been superintendent of the works. He is also 
the master mechanic. He worked in the copper 
mines in 'Vermont and machine shops in Fitch- 
burg, Massachusetts, before coming to Worcester. 

Loring Goes married Harriet Newell Read, 
daughter of Russell Read, of Attleboro, Massachu- 
setts. January 14. 18,35. She died in 1902. Their 
children were: i. Francis Russell, born June 9. 1837. 
2. Ellen Stanley, born October i, 1839. married 
Melvin O. Whittier. who was born in Mercer. Maine, 
May 13. 1834, aid came to work at the Goes shop 



at the age of seventeen, worked up until he was 
superintendent of the manufacturing department in 
1865, and became partner of Loring Goes, his father- 
in-law, when L. & A. G. Goes dissolved. Mr. 
Whittier sold out to Mr. Goes in 1887 and re- 
turned to Maine to live, where he died in 1905. 
His daughter, Mabel Ella Whittier, married George 
Ghurchill, and they have a daughter, Hildegarde 
Ghurchill. 3. Anna Read, born November 12, 1842, 
died May 13, 1845. 4. Ghester E. B., lives with 
his father, never in business. 

(IV) Frank Loring Russell Goes, son of Loring 
Goes (3), was born June 9, 1837, in Worcester, 
Massachusetts. He received his early education 
in the school of his native town. Later he at- 
tended Leicester Academy and Middleboro Academy. 
Early in life he showed an inclination for the mili- 
tary, and at the age of nineteen was a lieutenant 
in the city guards. When the civil war broke out 
he took an early opportunity to enlist in the Twenty- 
fifth Massachusetts 'Volunteers, and served with 
honor until nearly the close of the war, when by 
reason of disability he was compelled to return 
home. (For his business relations with the Goes 
firm and his father's business, see the sketch of 
Loring Goes preceding). 

He married in 1867,' Persis J. Putnam, daughter 
of Salmon Putnam. (See Putnam Family Sketch.) 
The death of Mr. Goes in 1871, at the early age 
of thirty-four, was doubtless hastened, if not 
directly due to exposure in the army. He left 
one child. Frank Loring. born August 30, 1872. 

CV) Frank Loring Goes, son of Frank Loring 
Russell Goes (4), was born in Worcester, Massa- 
chusetts, August 30, 1872. He attended, the Wor- 
cester public and high schools, and took a course 
at Worcester Academy. He also attended a priv.ite 
school at Northboro, Massachusetts. At the age of 
seventeen he went into the shops of the Goes 
Wrench Go. to learn the business. He work'.d in 
every department and learned the trade thoro'ighly. 
He was placed in charge of the knife factory in 
1892. When Loring Goes bought out his partneis 
in 1902, he was put in charge of the main office. He 
is a member of the Gommonwealth Glub, the Wor- 
cester Golf Glub, and the Hardware Glub of New 
York. In politics he is a Republican. On July 11, 
1891. he married Gora Braman, daughter of Gharles 
Braman. of Providence. Rhode Island. Her mother 
was Priscilla Braman. nee Wright, born in North- 
boro. Massachusetts. The children of Frank Loring 
Goes are: Loring, born September 17, 1892; Russell 
Read, born August 26, 1894. 

EDWARD A. GOODNOW. In 1632. twelve 
years after the landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth 
Rock, three Goodnow brothers sailed from Eng- 
land to join the enterprise beyond the stormy At- 
lantic. They shared the hardships of those who 
laid the foundations of the Gommonwealth of Massa- 
chusets. Among the three brothers who came to 
these shores was Thomas, who settled at Sudbury. 

('II) Thomas Goodnow, son of the English 

branch, married Jane , and had a son 

named Samuel. 

(HI) Samuel Goodnow, son of Thomas (2), 

born February 28, 1646, married Mary 

by whom a son Samuel was born. 

(IV) Samuel Goodnow, son of Samuel (3), 
born November ,30, 1675. died about 1720. married 
Sarah Brigham, and they had a son Thomas. 

(V) Thomas Goodnow, son of Samuel (4). 
born March 18, 1709, married Persia Rice, of Marl- 
boro. April 17, 1734, and they had a son Edward. 

(VI) Edward (ioodnow, son of Edward (s). 




^h^ 



6o 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



born October 30, 1742; married Lois Rice, and they 
had a son Edward. 

Edward (6) removed from Sudbury to Prince- 
ton, Massachusetts, and in 1786 built the old Good- 
now homestead, still standing and owned by his 
grandson, William B. Goodnow, the brother of our 
subject proper. 

(,VII) Edward Goodnow, son of Edward (6), 
born December 1776, married Rebecca Beaman. He 
inherited his father's estate. Rebecca Beaman took 
her turn with other girls in going to Worcester, 
thirteen miles, to get the mail. She went on horse- 
back and the trail was through the woods, her only 
guide being the "blazed" trees. To Edward and 
Rebecca Goodnow were born six sons and two 
daughters ; all were born in Princeton, and with 
one exception grew to manhood and womanhood. 
These children were : Erastus D., Edward A., 
Jonas B., Franklin, William B., Harriet E., Louis 
R. and Abel. The father died in 1852, and the 
mother in 1870, both in Princeton. 

(Vni) Edward Augustus Goodnowy son of 
Edward and Rebecca (Beaman) Goodnow, was born 
at the old homestead, Princeton, July 16, 1810. Al- 
though the New England boy of his time had much 
hard work to perform, yet the people believed in the 
value of a good education. To this lot he of whom 
we write was no exception to that rule. His boy- 
hood days were spent for the most part on his 
father's farm. After attending the district school 
he attended three terms at Hadley Academy. With 
this schooling he went forth to meet and to do bat- 
tle with the practical side of life's career. In 1823, 
when he was thirteen years old, his parents opened 
an inn at their homestead, on the Connecticut and 
fioiton road. So well was the house kept that it 
soon became famous. Teamsters and stock men were 
only too glad to reach its homelike rooms and sit 
around its bountiful tables. This inn W'as kept 
open twenty-seven years. Young Edward mingled 
with the travelers and merchants who stopped there . 
and here he first acquired his taste for mercantile 
pursuits. When twenty years of his life had passed, 
he left the scenes of farm life and began clerking 
in the store of his older brother, Erasmus Good- 
now, in Princeton. It was soon discovered that he 
had sought and found the calling for which he was 
especially adapted. So well did he succeed in his 
new role that at the end of two years service, he 
was admitted as a partner in the business. Quick 
to observe the trend and fashion of the times, this 
firm soon improved their golden opportunities and 
commenced the manufacture of palm-leaf hats, in 
connection with the general^ merchandise business, 
the junior partner performing much of the outside 
work. His early farm life fitted him well to care 
for such matters, including the teaming for the 
firm. For several seasons he might have been seen 
rising at two o'clock in the morning and driving 
to Boston, a distance of forty-five miles. There he 
would sell such commodities as his load from 
his country home was made up of, and re- 
load with goods and supplies bought in exchange, 
to be used in the general store at home. JSIuch of 
the time consumed by such long and frequent trips 
was made while others slept. But it was a good 
schoolmaster to him. Antagonism is the, law of de- 
velopment, and hence these early hardships proved 
but stepping stones to a marked and prosperous 
career. 

Like many other sensible and thoughtful young 
business men, Mr. Goodnow sought out a loving 
wife, in the person of Harriet Bagg, of Princeton. 
After five years of married life the angel of death 
called her from his side. Subsequently he married 



her sister, Augusta, by whom one son was born, 
Henry Bagg Goodnow, who died in infancy. Af- 
fliction again settled down on the household of Mr. 
Goodnow and death claimed the second companion. 
Later he married Catherine B. Goodnow, who jour- 
neyed with him for a quarter of a century and who 
was an active member of the Congregational church 
for about twenty-iive years, when she passed from 
earthly scenes. 

In 1836, after four years of partnership, the 
business was expanded by admitting another member 
to the firm, with the view of manufacturing shoes. 
The new firm relations existed eleven years, when 
Mr. Goodnow realized that the domain of Prince- 
ton was limited as a trade center for the carrying out 
of his plans, so, after having been in trade in his 
native town fifteen years in all, he went to Shcl- 
burne Falls in 1847, where he formed a partnership 
with the great cutlery establishment of Lamson, 
Goodnow & Company, but soon finding the damp 
air of Deerfield Valley did not agree with him. he 
removed to Eaton, central New York, remained 
there for a time, and finally returned to New Eng- 
land and located at Worcester, in 1852, when the 
city had but 18,000 people. Being familiar with the 
shoe business, Mr. Goodnow opened a retail shoe 
store, which he pursued for four years, and then 
changed to the wholesale trade in the same line of 
goods. To him belongs the honor of opening the 
first jobbing house in Worcester. Success crowned 
his efforts, and sales ran from one hundred thous- 
and to four hundred thousand dollars per annum. 
Integrity in his business methods was the key to 
his success. After a successful business of fourteen 
year in Worcester, JNIr. Goodnow retired from active 
mercantile life. 

Concerning the political belief of Mr. Goodnow 
it should be said that he was one of the stanch 
Abolitionists, when it meant something to advocate 
such a cause. He was one of eight persons to 
adopt the principles of the Free-soil party, and sub- 
scribe to the principles, "We inscribe on our banner, 
'Free soil, free speech, and free men' and under it 
we will fight on, fight ever, until triumphant vic- 
tory shall reward our exertions." When gun number 
one sounded the alarm from Fort Sumter in 1861, he 
was not surprised. More than a dozen clerks from 
his own place of business, one after another, marchqd 
to the battlefield; all were aided by him, and one 
of the brave number was under full pay by him 
during the entire time of his military service, and 
his business place open for him upon his return 
from the Southland, when victory was for the Union. 
When Governor Andrew proposed to raise a col- 
ored regiment and equip it for the field, he gave 
five hundred dollars for its expenses, heading the 
subscription paper for that amount. When the 
war cloud was darkest and the finances of the coun- 
try were in peril, he subscribed liberally for the 
iirst bond issued. He thoughtfully erected mar- 
ble tablets to the memory of fifteen high school 
students who gave their young lives on the altar 
of their native land. As an object lesson to the 
youth of the city, he placed a bust of General 
Grant in the high school. Among other benefac- 
tions was a life sized oil portrait of President Gar- 
field, to be hung in the hall of the Mechanics' As- 
sociation. The following resolution was passed by 
the Association : 

I\esol7'i-tf. That the VVorrestcr County Mechanics' Association 
hereby tenders a noie of thanks to Mr. Edward A. Goodnow for 
liis public-spirited liberality in presenting to the association a 
full-length portrait of James .\. Garfield, late president of the 
United States. Attest: 

William A. Smith. Clerk. 



I 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



6i 



A few years later he preseiiled the =aiue asso- 
ciation with a portrait of Henry Wilson. 

Mr. Goodnow was never an office seeker, hut did 
hold the position of trustte of the Stale Reform 
School, mider appointment of Governor Andrew and 
by re-appointment by Governor Bullock, serving in 
all seven years. L'pon retirement from business, 
he spent two years in leisure, but that was enough 
to convince him that man is happiest when employed, 
so he accepted the position of presidi.nt of tlie i-irst 
National bank, tendered by a unanimous vote. Here 
Mr. Goodnow was not a hgure-head, but the real 
head. All the paper passed through his hands. He 
took some risks that more timid men would not 
have dared to take. He secured large deposits by 
a liberal attitude toward patrons of the bank. When 
he took the olhce, the bank stock was quoted at 
one hundred and ten ; but under his good manage- 
ment, the par value was doubled. So much was 
his business sagacity appreciated by the stock-hold- 
ers,, that a set of complimentary resolutions 
were passed, thanking him and giving him 
the credit for buildnig up a great banking 
business — second to none in the Commonwealth. 
Whife Mr. Goodnow was a busy man of 
affairs, he found pleasure in spending nnich of 
his means in way of magnificent gifts of a philan- 
thopic and truly charitable nature. He gave not to 
be seen of men, but where good could be accom- 
plished — where the condition of his fellow men 
could be bettered. The list of such generous acts 
is indeed too lengthy to insert in a work of this 
character but a few will here be noticed briefly. 
Beginning with his native town, Princeton, he gave 
a library building known as the "'Goodnow Me- 
morial Building," which consists of a library, read- 
ing-room, two school rooms, w'ith desks for forty 
scholars each, together with an endowment of five 
thousand dollars. Tliis is indeed a magnificent 
memorial, "a thing of bcautj is a joy forever." 
To educational institutions, he has ever been more 
than generous. Among such instances may be named 
the Female Seminary at Jlount Holyoke, in way of 
scholarship, parks and other matters, all amounting 
to twenty-five thousand dollars. He gave to the 
Iowa College at Grinnell ten thousand dollars to re- 
place buildings destroyed by a terrible cyclone. Sub- 
sequently he gave five thousand dollars for the 
erection of a cottage named the Mary Grinnell Mears, 
in honor of the wife of Rev. D. O. Alears, D. D. To 
the Wellesley College and the Moody School at 
Northfield he gave each five thousand dollars. His 
anti-slavery sentiments were e.xpresscd by the gift of 
five thousand dollars to Washburn College in 
Kansas, to found a John Brown professorship. The 
colored race has not been overlooked by the phil- 
anthropist, for he has repeatedly been a contributor 
toward the erection of buildings for the colored 
school at Hampton, Virginia, also at Oberlin, Ohio ; 
Berea College, Kentucky, and Lincoln College, Penn- 
sylvania. Not content with the donating of his 
wealth on this side of the seas, he was the first man 
to erect a building on the continent of .Africa for the 
education of women. Thus he commenced the 
laudable work of Christianity and civilization among 
the female portion of "Darkest Africa." This is 
in connection with the Huguepot Seminary, Wel- 
lington, Cape of Good Hope, Africa. The building 
known as Goodnow Hall was constructed after Mr. 
Goodnow's plans, and then shipped to Africa ready 
to be erected. The expense was over fifteen thous- 
and dollars. 

In connection with his church benefactions it 
should be here recorded that he was long associ- 
ated with the Plymouth Congregational Church of 



W orcester, to which he was a very generous do- 
nator as the years and decades rolkd by. Among 
thc.-,e benefactions must not be forgotten the superb 
chime of bells which each week sounds from the 
belfry of this church edifice. The same was given 
in memory of his late wife, Catherine B. Goodnow; 
also, as a memorial of his only son, Henry B. 
Goodnow, who died in infancy, he gave an organ to 
this church, the total expense being ten thousand 
dollars. In 1887 he gave five thousand dollars to- 
ward the Catherine B. GoodnoW Fund of the Young 
Women's Christian Association of Worcester. To- 
ward the completion of this magnificent building he 
gave not less than thirty thousand dollars. 

•Although having lived four score and three years, 
until recently he of whom we write saw with un- 
liiinmed eye. and was exceptionally robust for one 
so far advanced on the journey of life. He was a 
constant attendant at the church of his choice. In- 
deed, the life of Mr. Goodnow was one of marked 
success, and of such noble characters the world has 
none too many. He died F'cbruary i, 1906, after an 
illness of only two days, and a large concourse of 
sorrowing friends followed him to his last resting 
place. 

SAMUEL R. HEYWOOD. In sketching the 
useful and eventful career of Samuel R. Heywood, 
founder of one of the most enterprising and suc- 
cessful manufacturing establishments of the city of 
Worcester, it is to be noted that his influence has 
touched almost every branch of trade and public 
interest in his community within the period of more 
than a half century. He has not only been one of 
the principal factors in making Worcester an im- 
portant manufacturing center, but a leader in the 
promotion of various other enterprises — financial, 
commercial, transportation, etc. He has rendered 
valuable service to the public in various official sta- 
tions, and has liberally aided with his iiiHuence, 
personal effort and means, all that goes to make up 
the higher life of the community — the churches, 
schools oi all degree, and those beneficent insti- 
tutions which minister to the needs of the suffering 
and afflicted. In all the relations of life he has so 
acquitted himself as to receive sincere recognition 
as an ideal citizen. 

Mr. Heywood was born at Princeton, Worcester 
county, Massachusetts, November 24, 1821, and was 
reared upon a farm, where he developed attributes 
of a model manhood — a splendid physique, which 
enabled him to carry into his octogenarian years 
the ambitions and abilities which in ordinary men 
wane in the sixties; and those habits of industry and 
persistency which were to form the foundations of 
a career of unusual u.sefulness and success. As a 
lad he attended the ordinary country schools, and 
was for two terms a student in the Westminster 
.Academy, defraying his expenses with the earnings 
from his own labors. When about twenty years old 
he entered upon a business life as an employe of E. 
1). and E. A. Cjoodnow, of Princeton, manufacturers 
of boots and shoes, and proprietors of an extensive 
general store. In .August, 1848, he located in Hub- 
bardstown, as senior nrember of the firm of Hey- 
wood & Warren, general merchants, bringing to 
the business a small amount of capital of his own 
earning, and a character which aft'ordcd him all the 
credit he desired. In the course of three years 
he purchased the interest of his partner, and car- 
ried on the business until January. 1855. This ex- 
perience marks the end of his preparation for the 
larger enterprises upon which he was now to enter. 
Fie had not only acquired considerable means, but 
he had duveloped his business abilities to such a de- 



62 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



gree as to justify liim in seeking a wider I'leld for 
his effort, and he decided to remove to Worcester. 
Here he became a partner of one of his lirst em- 
ployers, E. A. Goodnow, under the style of Good- 
now & Heywood, in the wholesale and retail lioot 
and shoe trade. This partnership was dissolved in 
the following year, Mr. Heywood taking the retail 
trade, in which he continued until 1.S64. He at once 
engaged in the manufacture of boots and shoes, ex- 
tending his operations from time to time, constantly 
reaching out into larger and more distant markets, 
and introducing new goods as experience demons- 
trated their worth and acceptability. The Heywood 
boot soon came to be known as the best product 
in its line, from what was for many years the lead- 
ing city in the country in this class of manufacture. 
Later, as a more cultivated taste warranted the 
making of a lighttr and more dressy style of foot 
wear, he turned his attention to the manufacture of 
that style of goods. At whatever stage, his house 
maintained its high reputation by its use of only 
the very best obtainable materials, the most finished 
workmanship, and strictly honorable business deal- 
ings. To the present time the product of the Hey- 
wood factory is the standard in men's high-grade 
foot wear, stylish, perfect fitting and durable, made 
in all the leading styles and shapes, and in sizes 
and widths to fit any foot. Aside from the great 
and constantly increasing demand for the Heywood 
goods from every part of the United States, for 
fifteen years past they have been extensively sold 
in Canada, England, Honolulu. Havana. Buenos 
Ayres, Cape Town, and other foreign markets. The 
constant development of this industry necessitated 
various enlargements of the factory, and changes 
in the managerial force. In 1879 Mi"- Heywood 
erected the VVachusett building on Winter street, 
which was then one of the largest and best equipped 
boot and shoe factories in the country. This estab- 
lishment, after repeated enlargements, now occu- 
pies a frontage of one hundred and forty feet on 
Winter street, eighty-five feet on Harding street, 
and a wing ninety-one feet in depth at the east end, 
near Grafton street, all the principal buildings be- 
ing five stories in height. The plant is equipped 
with the latest and most improved machinery, and 
is a model one in every respect. At whatever 
stage of the development of this gigantic enterprise, 
Mr. Heywood has given to it his close personal atten- 
tion, maintaining a close oversight of every detail — 
the selection of material, the operation of the ma- 
chinery at every step of manufacture, besides keep- 
ing a close touch with the market, its conditions and 
possibilities, and introducing innovations in style 
of goods, seeking new outlets for his product; and, 
in short, ever maintaining for his house a position 
of leadership which was unquestioned throughout 
the country. As they came of proper age, Mr. Hey- 
wood introduced his sons to the business, as will 
appear in connection with their respective names. 
In 1884 the Heywood Boot and Shoe Company 
was incorporated, with Mr. Heywood as president, 
a position which he has occupied to the present 
time, abating nothing of his deep personal interest, 
and exercising general maiVagerial powers. 

While thus busied with the building-up and con- 
duct of a great establishment which would seem- 
ingly tax the abilities of any one man, Mr. Heywood 
has given his aid to various enterprises having a large 
place in the business life of the city. In 1865 he 
Ijecame a director in the Central National Bank of 
Worcester, serving as such until February, 1903, 
when that institution was absorbed by the Worcester 
Trust Company. In 1864 he was also a charter mem- 
ber of the People's Saving Bank, and a member 



of its board of trustees and Iniance committee from 
that time until July, 1884, when he became presi- 
dent, in which position he still continues. He has 
also for many years been a director in the Cotton 
and Woolen Mutual Insurance Company of Boston. 
In all these various positions he has displayed the 
same high ability and conscientiousness wliich have 
characterized him in his personal concerns. He has, 
besides, rendered inestimable service to the com- 
munity and connnonwealth in various important po- 
sitions where he labored with rare sagacity and un- 
failing devotion to the interests committed to his 
keeping. He was a member of the common council 
in 1859, and of the board of aldermen for two 
years following. In 1873 and 1874 'le was again 
elected to the common council, and in the latter 
year was president of that body. In 1875 lie repre- 
sented the city of Worcester in the Massachusetts 
house of representatives, and was re-elected for the 
two succeeding years, .serving on the railroad com- 
mittee each year. He was an ardent admirer of 
that splendid old-school statesman (and his intimate 
personal friend) Hon. George F. Hoar, was an early 
and efficient advocate of his election to the Ujiited 
States senate for his first term, and as a meiuber 
of the legislature was largely instrumental in ef- 
fecting a result which gave to the country the serv- 
ices of one of its grandest men. A man of strong 
convictions and unflinching moral courage, Mr. 
Heywood has never allowed considerations of per- 
sonal popularity or expediency to govern his con- 
duct as a citizen. He was an original ''Free Soil- 
er," and cast his first vote for James G. Birney fcir 
president, and labored in his behalf as zealously as 
though defeat were not foreordained. Mr. Hey- 
wood aided in the organization of the Republican 
party in 1856, and was ever a vigorous upholder of 
its principles. In his political conduct he only re- 
garded legitimate and honorable ends to the good 
of the nation and community, regardless of all per- 
sonal considerations. That he held office from time 
to time was in no instance due to his self-seeking, 
but to the estimation in which he was held in the 
community as a man well equipped, in heart and 
brain, for the service of his fellows. His well known 
interest in education and his broad humanitarian- 
ism led to his being called to connection with the 
system of state charities of the commonwealth. In 
1877 he was- appointed by the governor a trustee of 
the State Reform School at Westboro. and he was 
one of the seven trustees retained by that executive 
out of the entire number (twenty-one) when in 
1879 the state schools at Alonson. Lancaster and 
Westboro were by act of the legislature consolidated 
under one management. He held this position until 
1888. giving to its duties much thought and labor, 
marked with a genuine feeling of sympathy for 
unfortunate youths, and a spirit of genuine helpful- 
ness toward them. He has always been among the 
foremost in the establishment and maintenance of 
the ennobling institutions of this city, and one of 
his most highly appreciated acts was the creation 
of the much needecl library at the Memorial Hos- 
pital. His example and precept have ever been 
recognized ' as a power for practical temperance. 
Without pretension to oratorical powers, he possesses 
the faculty of impressing his hearers through his 
evident sincerity. A Congregationalist in religion, 
he was formerly w'itli the Salem Street Church, 
and with Plymouth Church from its organi-.^ation. 
He was prominent in its creation, active in all per- 
taining to its interests, especially in connection 
with the erection of its edifice and the extinguish- 
ment of its building debt. His personal benefactions 
are ever liberal, being freely bestowed for legiti- 




■^ 



L/lh(^/?/^ayh. /c/ /^<^^?^i^^^e<?<t_ 



WORCESTRR COL' XT V 



male religious moral and charitable work abroad as 
well as at home. His personal character is be>t 
discerned by considering the relations which have 
ever subsisted between himself and his hundreds 
of employees, who recognize m hnn a apprecia- 
tive personal friend as well as a just and kind em- 
olover A half century of Uninterrupted business . 
life is a record made bv but few men of large affairs, 
vet today, thanks to his native vigor of mmd and 
body pure life and equable disposition, he maintams 
an active interest in the great business with which 
his name will ever be associated, and in all the varied 
community interests which have engaged his atten- 
tion during his entire career. 

In June 1856, Mr. Heywood married Harriet 
Butler iMilliken, daughter of Z. T. and Aima H 
MiUiken of Chelsea, Massachusetts, natives of 
Franklin county, Maine. Of this marriage were born 
five children, three of whom were sons, two coming 
to maturity, one passing away 111 infancy and one stil 
rem?ins to share with his father the duties and 
responsibilities of his large concerns. The children 

^^^7. George Ezra, born January 26, 1859, died the 
following month. , ■, ^„ 

-> Frank Everett Heywood. born April 20, 
i860 He was most promising from his 
youth When seventeen he graduated from the 
Worcester Classical High School, and was then for 
a vear a student at Easthampton. He entered Harv- 
ard University, where he was not only a close 
student, displaying a special interest m chemistry, 
but was prominent in athletic sports. He graduated 
with the class of 1882, and the same year was ad- 
mitted to partnership with his father as a member 
of the firm of S. R. Heywood & Company. At the 
incorporation of the Heywood Boot and Shoe Com- 
pany in 1884 he became vice-president and treasurer, 
and served in that twofold capacity until his death, 
October 25, 1899. He was also a director in the 
Citizens' National Bank of Worcester He was 
a man of excellent business ability, and admirable 
personal character— qualities which marked hnn as, 
in the course of events, the fit successor of his hon- 
ored father in the headship of the Heywood Com- 
pany He died universally mourned, and it was 
noted by a local chronicler that seldom had the 
citv seen evidence of such sincere and general gnet 
as 'that which followed him to his untimely grave. 
December 18, 1884, he married Harriet Dodd Jen- 
nings, born December 4. 1864. daughter of Horace 
N. and Maria (Dodd) Jennings, ot East Orange. 
New Jersey. His widow resides in. Worcester, witli 
her children: Chester Dodd, born October 12, i bb/ ; 
Rhilip Butler, born March 24, i88g; Florence Blair, 
born Mav 18, 1893: Richard, born May^8, 1897- 

3. Caroline Louise Heywood, born September i.?, 
1862. died September 16. 1866. 

4. Henrietta Butler Heywood, born May 15. 180.T 
died November 25. 1868. . . ■ , 

Albert Samuel Heywood, only surviving son ot 
Samuel R. Heywood, was born May 31. i8o7. ".<-' 
'was fitted for college in Worcester High school and 
Worcester Academy. He was graduated from the 
Massachusetts Institute of Technology with the class 
of 189^ He became connected with the tieneral 
Electric' Company of New York, and was winning 
distinction in the world of electrical science when 
occurred the death of his brother, Frank Everett 
Heywood, and this untoward event made it desira- 
ble that he should abandon a calling m which he 
was deeply interested in order to share the burdens 
of the father. He accordingly resigned his posi- 
tion January I. 1900. and became vice-president 
and treasurer of the Heywood Company, the po- 



sitions which had been rendered vacant by the death 
of his brother. Taking up his new duties methodic- 
ally and with cheerful alacrity, he has proven him- 
self an earnest and devoted man of atTairs. and a 
worthy companion as well as son to his honored 
parent. September 28, 1899, he married Laura 
Chester Foute, of Atlanta. Georgia, who was born 
in Adairsville, Georgia, October 30, 1873, daughter 
of William Edward and F'liza (Houston) Roberts 
F'oute. Their children are : Edward Foute Hey- 
wood, born July 17, 1900; Harriet Butler Heywood. 
born August 16, 1901 ; Dorothy Heywood, born 
October 5, 1902. 

OBADIAH BROWN HADWEN, who enjoys 
national reputation as a scientific horticulturist and 
pomologist, is a native of Rhode Island, born in 
Providence, August 2, 1824, son of Charles and 
Amy Sherman (Brownell) Hadwen, He comes of 
sturdy English ancestry, descending from John 
Hadwen, of Rochdale, England, who was a settler 
in Newport. Rhode Lsland, in early colonial days. 
His great-aunt was the wife of Obadiah Brown, 
who was prominent as a pioneer in the cotton-spin- 
ning industry in America. Charles Hadwen, father 
of Obadiah B. Hadwen, was a resident of Provi- 
dence, Rhode Island, where he was a leading manu- 
facturer and merchant. In 1835 he retired from 
these occupations and removed to Worcester, Massa- 
chusetts, and purchased and located upon the Wing 
Kelley farm, near Tatnuck. 

Obadiah Brown Hadwen attended in turn the 
Friends' Schools in Providence, Rhode Island, the 
Clinton Grove Institute in Ware, New Hampshire, 
where he was a student for four winters' terms, 
and the Worcester (Massachusetts) Manual Labor 
School, where he remained for one term. The prin- 
cipal preparation for his peculiarly useful life work, 
however, was obtained upon the parental farm near 
Tatnuck. where he developed those tastes and capa- 
bilities which marked his career. In 1844. the year 
before attaining his majority, he came into posses- 
sion of a portion of the home farm which he has 
since occupied for the long period of sixty-two years. 
For forty years of this time he followed market 
gardening, and a nursery and dairy business. Mean- 
time he greatly enhanced the value of the property 
by the erection of new luiildings. But his principal 
delight w\is practical and scientific agriculture and 
horticulture, and in these lines his deep knowledge 
and sound judgment found general acknowledgment. 
He adorned his grounds with trees of his own 
planting, in great profusion, of the most beautiful 
specimens of their kind, many which were unknown 
in that region until introduced by him, and which 
have attracted the admiring attention of horticult- 
urists from every part of the United States, .'\niid 
the changes incident to the great expansion of .t 
thriving industrial city, the rural surroundings of 
his farm have been almost entirely obliterated, but 
his immediate home and the grounds pertaining to 
it have been preserved intact— a veritable rus in urbc. 
Mr. Hadwen's accomplishments as a horticult- 
urist found early recognition, and for more than 
half a ccnturv he has been known as the leading ex- 
ponent of those interests which he has labored so 
earnestly and usefully to promote. He early be- 
came connected with the famous Massachusetts 
.■\gricultural Club, organized April 4. 1840, and was 
for many years its president and is now a most act- 
ive member, and he was long vice-president of the 
Worcester County .Agricultural Society, of which 
be is yet a trustee. His unusual abilities also found 
legislative recognition, and he was for many years 
a trustee of the Agricultural College at .Amherst. 



64 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



where, iiiulcr liis direction in the capacity of chair- 
man of the hoard, many important additions and 
sahitary innovations were made. He became a mem- 
ber of the Worcester County Horticultural Society 
in 1847, serving that body as trustee, vice-president 
and president, and he was re-elected to the latter 
office in 1895, after a period of twenty years from 
his first incumbency, and has since been re-elected no 
less than twelve times. He has also long been 
a prominent member of the Massachusetts Horti- 
cultural Society and the American Pomological So- 
ciety. In 1867 he was made one of the commis- 
sioners in charge of the public parks of Worcester, 
and the great value of his services in that capacity 
is evidenced by his continuous reappointment. For 
several years he was chairman of the parks commis- 
sion, and he still holds membership in that board. 
This brief epitomization of his life work sets him 
forth among the most valuable members of the 
community— one who. in love o'f nature, delightedly 
holds communion with her visible forms, and brings 
her refining and uplifting influences to bear upon 
all about him, conveying the lesson that contentment 
and peace and most real happiness comes to him 
who nestles closest to nature's heart. And so it is 
not strange that in religion he adheres to the tenets 
of the Society of Friends. He was originally a 
Whig in politics, and his abhorrence of human slav- 
ery led him to identify himself with the Repub- 
lican party on its organization, and he cast his vote 
for its first presidential candidate, General (then 
Captain) John C. Fremont. An ardent Unionist and- 
an appreciative admirer of Abraham Lincoln, he 
was a firm upholder of that great statesman in his 
struggle for the vindication of the national author- 
ity and the re-establishment of the Union. His 
natural tastes and habits of mind forbade him tak- 
ing an active part in political affairs, but he suf- 
fered himself on one occasion to be elected to the 
common council of Worcester, and was a valued and 
efficient member of that body in 1868-69. 

;\Ir. Hadwen married, December 25, 1845, Har- 
riet Page, of Westminster, Vermont, a descendant 
of an honored revolutionary family of that state. 
Three children were born of this marriage. A son, 
William E. Hadwen, is deceased ; and another, 
Charles Hadwen, is a prominent produce merchant 
in Chicago, Illinois. A daughter, Amy, is the wife 
of John "H. Goes, of the Goes Wrench Company of 
Worcester, Massachusetts. 

CHANDLER FAMILY. William Chandler (i), 
the immigrant ancestor of one of the foremost 
families of Worcester county, to which John Greene 
Chandler, of Lancaster, belonged, was born in Eng- 
land and settled early in Roxbury, Massachusetts. 
He was there in 1637 and was one of the proprietors. 
He was admitted a freeman May 13, 1640. His 
homestead consisted of twenty-two acres. The fol- 
lowing, from the Roxbury records, gives a con- 
temporary opinion of him : "He lived a very re- 
ligious and godly life among us and fell into a con- 
sumption to which he had a long time been in- 
clined; he lay near a year sick in all which time 
his faith, patience and holiness and contentation 
so shined that Christ was much glorified in him. He 
was a man of Weake parts but Excellent faith and 
holiness ; he was a Very thankful man, & much 
magnified God's goodness. He was poor but God 
prepared the hearts of his people to him that he 
never wanted that which was (at least in his esteem) 
Very plentiful and Comfortable to him. he died 
about in the yeare 1641 & left a sweet memory be- 
hind him." Rev. John Eliot wrote : "A Christian, 
Godly brother." He was buried January 19, 1641-2. 



His widow Annis married (second), July 21, 
1643, John Dane, of Barkhamstead and Bishop's 
Stortford, Hertfordshire, England, and Ipswich and 
Roxburi', in New England. Dane died at Roxbury 
and was buried September 14, 1658. She married 
(third), at Roxbury, August 9, 1660, John Par- 
menter, of Sudbury, a prominent man there, select- 
man 1641. 

The children of William Chandler were : I. 
Hannah, born about 1629 in England, married, De- 
cember 12, 1646, George Abbot; (second), 1690, 
Rev. Thomas Dane. 2. Thomas, born about 1630, 
married Hannah Brew'er. 3. William, born in Eng- 
land, married (first), August 5 or 18, 1658, Mary 
Dane, of Ipswich; married (second), October 8, 
1679, Bridget Henchman, widow of James Richard- 
son. 4. John, born February 16, 1658, married 
Elizabeth Douglas. 5. Sarah, born at Roxbury, 
married (first), November 4. 1659, William Cleaves; 

(second) Wilson; (third), October 11, 1688, 

Ephraim Stevens; (fourth) Allen. 

(II) Deacon John Chandler, son of William 
Chandler (l), was born about 1635. He married, 
February 16, 1658, Elizabeth Douglas, of Wood- 
stock, Connecticut. She died in New London, Con- 
necticut. July 23, 1705. She was born in England 
about 1610, the daughter of William, and Anna 
(Mattle) Douglas. He and his wife were ad- 
mitted to the church May 28, 1665. He was active 
in the settlement of Woodstock and served on im- 
portant committees. He had first choice of a home 
lot and he took one situated on the brook on the 
highway at the north end. He was selectman of 
Woodstock in 1693, 1694, and also moderator in 
1694. He was on the committee to build a meeting 
house on Plaine hill, nearly in front of the Bowmen 
Mansion. He was one of six who bought the 
Moshamoquet Purchase of James Fitch, of Norwich. 
Deacon Chandler died April 5, 1703, aged sixty- 
eight years. By his side in the graveyard at Wood- 
stock are buried a number of his descendants. His 
will was dated June I, 1702. 

The children of Deacon John and Elizabeth 
Chandler, all born in Roxbury, before their removal 
to Woodstock, were: i. John, born March 4, 1659, 
died young, and his gravestone bears the earliest 
date of death of any of the family in America as 
recorded by gravestones. 2. Elizabeth, born Feb- 
ruary 20, 1661, married, November 18, 1680, Robert 
Mason, of Roxbury. 3. John, born April 16, 1665. 
4. Joseph, born April 3, 1667, died in Roxbury, Sep- 
tember 29. 1668. 5. Hannah, born September 18, 
1669, married, July 7. 1685. Moses Draper, of Rox- 
bury. 6. Mehitable. born August 24, 1673, baptized 
June, 1673 ; married, June 25. 1695, John Coit, of 
New London. 7. Sarah, born November 19, 1676, 
died July 3, 1711 ; married (first). June 9, 1697, 
William Coit, of New London; (second), Septem- 
ber 2. 1708. John Gardiner, of Gardiner's Island. 8. 
Joseph, born June 4, 1683, married, June 29, 1708, 
Susannah Perrin, of Roxbury. 

(HI) Hon. John Chandler, son of Deacon John 
Chandler (2). was born at Roxbury. Massachu- • 
setts, April 16, 1665. He married, November 10, 
1692. Mary Raymond, of Woodstock, who was born 
March 12, 1671-2, the fifth child of Deacon John 
Raymond, who married. December 10. 1652, Eliza- 
beth Smith, daughter of Nehemiah Smith. Deacon 
Joshua Raymond was the eldest son of Richard and 
Judith Raymond, of Salem. Mrs. Chandler died 
.\pril 8. 171 1, aged thirty-nine years, and is buried 
on Plain hill. 'Woodstock. There is an interesting 
tradition in the family of Mrs. Joshua Raymond 
and Captain Kidd. whom she had entertained at her 
house for some time. It is said but not universally 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



65 



believed that when the blithesome pirate left her 
hospitable roof he filled her apron full of gold, 
jewelry and costly plunder. Mr. Chandler married 
(second). November 14, 1717. Esther Butman, 
widow of Palgrave Alcock. 

John Chandler was town clerk of Woodstock 
in 1690, 1691, 1692 and 1694, and selectman in 
1693 and 1694. He resided several years at New 
London, where four of his children were born. 
In 1698 he had a tavern license there. He returned 
to Woodstock to live and was surveyor of the town 
in 170J. deputy to the general court in 171 1, Wood- 
stock then being in Massachusetts. When the county 
of Worcester was established he was appointed judge 
of probate. He held the first probate court in 
the meeting house of Worcester July 13, 1731. He 
also held the court of common pleas and general 
sessions August 10, following. The county was 
organized April 2, 1731. Judge Chandler's son John 
was appointed clerk of the courts. Judge Chandler 
held his position as judge of these two tribunals 
until his death. One of his sons, John, Jr., suc- 
ceeded him on the bench, while another, Thomas 
Chandler, became a judge in Vermont, where he 
had settled. Judge Chandler was for forty years 
a commissioner of the peace and was seven years 
in his Majesty's council. He died at Woodstock. 
August 10, 1743, in his seventy-ninth year. 

The children of John and Mary Chandler, born 
at Woodstock or New London, were : John, born 
at New London, October 18, 1693, of whom later; 
Joshua, born February 9. 1695-6, married Elizabeth 
Cutler; William, born November 3. 1698. married 
Jemima Bradbury; Mary, born April 30, 1700, mar- 
ried John McCoy: Elizabeth, born May 13. 1702, 
married Joseph Frizzell ; Samuel, born January 5, 
1703-4, married Dorothy Church; Sarah, born Octo- 
ber II, 1705. died March 7, 1721-2; Mehitable, born 
at Woodstock, August 10, 1707, married, 1747, 
Thomas Buckniinster, of Brookfield ; Thomas, born 
July 23, 1709, married Elizabeth Eliot; Hannah, born 
March 27, 171 1, died May 23, 1711. 

(IV) John Chandler, son of John Chandler (3), 
was born at New London, Connecticut, October 18, 
1693. He married, October 23, 1716, Hannah 
Gardiner, on the Isle of Wight, off Long Island. 
She was born December 11, 1699, and died January 
5, 1738-9. in Worcester, and was buried on the 
Worcester common. Her grave with the others 
has been covered from sight, and the stones cov- 
ered, for some inscrutable reason. She was de- 
scended from Lion Gardiner, who came over in 
163.S and married Mary Williams, daughter of 
Dericke Williams and Hachim Bastians Williams ; 
he bought the Isle of Wight, better known, perhaps, 
as Gardiner's Island (east of Long Island). His son, 

David Gardiner, married Mary' : his grandson. 

Jolin Gardiner, son of David, married Mary King 
and three other wives, and was the father of Han- 
nah Gardiner, who married Judge Chandler. Ac- 
cording to the Chandler Genealogy Gardiner's 
Island was entailed. The attempts to entail estates 
in Massachusetts failed in every case. The old 
English law of primogeniture was broken down 
effectually. John Chandler married (second) Sarah 
Clark, widow of Hon. Nathaniel Paine, of Bristol, 
Rhode Island. 

He was a surveyor by profession and was ap- 
pointed to plot Pomfret. Connecticut, and later he 
surveyed the line agreed upon between Massachu- 
setts and Connecticut, June, 1714. He was coroner 
for Suffolk county before the county of Worces- 
ter was established. He removed to Worcester when 
the county was formed, and was moderator ,of the 
town meeting in 1733. He represented Woodstock 



in the general court and also Worcester in 1732-35- 
,58-39-52-53- He was a selectman of the town of 
Worcester in i7.33-34-.?5-.?7-39-40-42-43 to 1753 in- 
clusive; town treasurer 1741 to 1752 inclusive; first 
clerk of the county courts 1731 to 1754 inclusive; 
sheriff from 1751 to 1754 inclusive (while Mr. 
Chandler was sheriff Timothy Paine was associate 
clerk vyith him) ; register of probate from the or- 
ganization of the county until 1754; register of deeds 
until 1762. In May, 1754, he was appointed judge 
succeeding his father, and in May, 1757, he was 
made chief judge with three associates. He was 
one of the delegates of the American colonies who 
met at Albany, New York, delegates of the Five 
Nations of Indians, and were partly successful in 
making allies of them. An interesting character in 
Judge Chandler's family was a colored slave "Aunt 
Sylvia," who lived to be one hundred and seven 
years old. 

Oi Judge Chandler the hi.slorian of Worcester, 
Lincoln, wrote : "On the decease of his father h« 
succeeded to the higher office of judge, colonel 
and cotmcillor. His talents were brilliant and showy, 
rather than solid and profound. With manners 
highlv popular he possessed a cheerful and gay dis- 
position, indulging in jest and hilarity and he 
c.\crcised liberal hospitality. While Judge of Pro- 
bate he kept open table for the widows and orphans 
who were brought to his tribunal by the concerns 
of liusiness." He was made a member of the 
Ancient and Llonorable Artillery Company in 1734, 
and was elected commander in 17,37. He died Au- 
gust 10. 1762, and is buried on the Worcester 
common. 

The children of Hon. John and Hannah Chand- 
ler were: Mary, born at New London, September 
'). 1717, married, February 7, 17.36-7, Benjamin 
(ireene; Esther, born May 23, 1719, married. May 
9. 1745. Rev. Thomas Clapp ; John, of whom later; 
Gardner, born at Woodstock, September 18, 1723, 
married Hannah Greene; married (second), August 
2. 1767, Anne Leonard; Sarah, born January 11, 
1725, married, 1749, Timothy Paine; Hannah, born 
February I, 1727-8, married. May 17, 1750, Samuel 
Williams; Lucretia. born July 18, 1728. married, 
September I. 1761, John Murray, of Rutland; Eliza- 
beth, born January 5, 1732-3, married, September 
20, 1751, Hon. James Putnam; Katherine, born 
March 28, 1735, married Levi Willard ; a son, born 
and died January 5, 1737-8. 

(V) Hon. John Chandler, son of Hon. John 
Chandler (4), was horn at Woodstock, Connectcut. 
February 26, 1 720-1. He married Dorothy Paine, 
of Worcester, March 5. 1740. She was the daugh- 
ter of Colonel Nathaniel Paine, of Bristol, Rhode 
Island, and Worcester, Massachusetts. Colonel 
Paine's wife, her mother, was Sarah Clark, daughter 
of Timothy Clark, of Boston. Colonel Paine re- 
moved to Worcester in 1738 and had land near 
Lincoln street. Mrs. Dorothy Paine died October 
5. 17^5. tie married (second), June 11, 1746, Mary 
Church, daughter of Charles Church, of Bristol, 
Rhode Island, sheriff, who died December 31. 1746, 
aged sixty-four years. Her sister. Dorothy Church, 
married Samuel Chandler. Their father, Colonel 
Charles Church, was son of Colonel Benjamin 
Church, born in Duxbury, i6,-?9, and wife Alice, 
the daughter of Constant Southworth, of Plymouth. 
(Sec sketch of Southworth family). 

John Chandler resided on the east side of Main 
street near the present site of Clark's block, formerly 
the site of Mower's Tavern and of the United 
•States Hotel. He followed in the footsteps of his 
father and grandfather, both prominent servants of 
tlie Crown. He was town treasurer from 1753 to 



66 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



1760, inclusive; town clerk from 1764 to 1768, in- 
clusive; county treasurer from 1702 to '1775, in- 
clusive; sherifif from 1751 to 17O2; judge of probate 
from 1762 to 1774. Colonel Chandler marched to 
the relief of Fort William Henry, August, 1757. 
John Adams, who was then living in Worcester, 
afterwards president of the United States, wrote: 
"At the time Fort William Henry was besieged 
Colonel Chandler had occasion to send expresses 
often and while keeping school in Worcester I of- 
fered my services and was sent to the Governor of 
Rhode Island." 

He inherited the traits of character as well as 
the offices of his father and grandfather. He was 
cheerful and engaging in manner, hospitable as a 
citizen, friendly and kind as a neighbor, indus- 
trious and enterprising as a merchant. To a 
chivalrous sense of loyalty to the British govern- 
ment he sacrificed during the revolution property 
valued at over 36,000 pounds. In his own schedule 
presented to the British government after he had 
left his country, he reduced these figures which 
were probably about right, to 17,000 pounds, includ- 
ing 6.000 for loss of income from his offices. So 
just and moderate was this compensation ascer- 
tained to be, at a time when extravagant claims were 
presented by others, that his claims were allowed 
in full and he was called in England "The Honest 
Refugee." His portrait iS to be seen at the foot 
of the stairs in the front hall of the American 
Antiquarian Hall at Worcester. Colonel Chandler 
had a pew in Old South Church. 

After the revolution broke out and Colonel 
Chandler left Worcester to affiliate with the Tories 
and British, he never returned. His estate was con- 
fiscated and he was named with his brother-in-law, 
Hon. James Putnam, and others of his family on 
the list of six who were banished and forbidden 
to return under penalty of death. Two of his sons, 
Rufus and William, were among the proscribed, and 
his nephew. Dr. William Paine. The son, William 
Chandler, and Dr. Paine, were permitted later to 
return home, and Dr. Paine regained the confi- 
dence and esteem of the community. Col. Chand- 
ler died in London, September 26, 1800, and was 
buried at Islington. His son Rufus was buried 
in the same grave. The spot is marked by a 
simple stone suitably inscribed. 

The children of John and Dorothy Chandler 
were: John, born March 3, 1742. of whom later; 
Gardner, born December i, 174.?. died December 
t6, 1743; Clark, born December i, 1743; Dorothy, 
liorn September, 174S, married, December 26. 1767, 
Samuel Ward, of Lancaster. The children of John 
and Mary Chandler were: Rufus, born May 18, 1747, 
married. November 18, 1770, Eleanor Putnam; 
Gardiner, born January 27, 1749, married in 1772, 
Elizabeth Ruggles ; Nathaniel, born November 6, 
1750: William, born December 7. 1752; Charles, 
born January 22. 1755. married, November 18, 1706, 
Sally Mower ; Samuel, born February 25. 1757 ; 
Sarah, born December 14, 1758, married, Septem- 
ber 14, 1780. William Seaver, Jr.: Benjamin, born 
August 15, 1761, died December 16, 1775: Francis, 
born July 28, 1763, died December 16, 1775; the 
two latter were drowned together in the mill pond 
in South Worcester; Lucretia, born June 9, 1765, 
married, October 24, 1786, Rev. Aaron Bancroft: 
Thomas, born January 11, 1768, married, Septem- 
ber 25, t8o2, Eliza Davis, widow of William Denny: 
Elizabeth, born February 20, 1770, married. Decem- 
ber 2, 1786, Ebenezer Putnam, of St. John, New 
Brunswick, where the family lived after the ex- 
patriation. 

(VD John Chandler, son of Colonel John Chand- 



ler ($), was born in Worcester, March 3, 1742, the 
eldest child; married, April 4, 1766, Lydia Ward, 
who was born in 1732 and died July 30, 1794, aged 
sixty-two years. She was descended from Deacon 
William Ward, who came over with his second wife 
Elizabeth, from Yorkshire, and settled in Sudbury, 
dying in Marlboro, formerly part of Sudbury, aged 
eighty-seven years. His son, William Ward, born 
in Sudbury in 1640, married Hannah Johnson, 
daughter of Solomon Johnson, widow of Gershom 
Amee. His son, Colonel Nahuni Ward, of Shrews- 
bury, was born 1684, and married Martha How, 
daughter of Daniel and Elizabeth (Kerby) How. 
They were the parents of Nahum Ward, Jr., of 
Shrewsbury, who married Lydia Stearns; was a 
merchant, died when about twenty-five years old, 
leaving two daughters, one of whom Lydia, mar- 
ried a Mr. Chandlee. 

John Chandler was an enterprising merchant of 
Petersham, Massachusetts. His home was about a 
mile from the center and is still remembered for 
the deer park in which he indulged. His deer es- 
caped finally from' the enclosure and he lost them 
all. He was successful in business. He com- 
mitted suicide during a fit of despondency and 
melancholy, to which he was subject, in 1794, aged 
fifty-two years. 

The children of John and Lydia Chandler were: 
John, born July 23, 1667, married, June 5, 1800, 
Elizabeth Greene; Lydia. horn August 28, 1768, mar- 
ried Joseph Head; Clark, born April 19, 1770, mar- 
ried. July 14. 1791. Nancy Lyon; Nathaniel, born 
February 3, 1772, died August 19, 1772; Nathaniel, 
of whom later. 

(VII i Nathaniel Chandler, youngest child of 
John Chandler (6), was born in Petersham, Massa- 
chusetts, October 6, 1673; married. August 17. 1802, 
Dolly Greene, of Lancaster. She was born in Staf- 
ford, Connecticut. February 25. 1783, died July 30, 
1869, the tenth child of John Greene, son of Na- 
thaniel, who was born in Surinam, South America, 
December 10, 1736. John's wife was Azubah Ward, 
born at Woodstock, Connecticut, November 11, 1737, 
daughter of Major Daniel Ward by his wife Mary, 
daughter of Nathaniel Stone, and widow of Henry 
Coggin. Major Daniel Ward was a son of Obadiah 
and Hannah (Harrington) Ward, grandson of 
Richard Ward and wife Mary, daughter of John and 
Elizabeth Moore, and great-grandson of the Sud- 
bury immigrant. 1639, William Moore. (See Moore 
family sketch). 

Nathaniel Chandler graduated from Harvard 
College in 1792. He settled in Petersham and man- 
aged the Petersham branch of the business of John 
Chandler & Brothers. Afterwards he removed to 
Lancaster to assume the estate of his uncle-in-law 
there. Samuel Ward, Esq. He was representative 
to the general court in, 1807. Although troubled 
with an ■affliction that kept him under the care of 
Dr. George Chandler and Dr. S. B. Woodward 
during the last years of his life. Dr. Chandler wrote 
of him: "He was of medium height and size, his 
complexion light and features regular and marked. 
He retained his intelligence, shrewdness, wit and dry 
humor, his dignity of person and character, his 
marked courtesy and gentlemanly bearing to the 
last." He died in Worcester, June 4. 1852, aged 
seventy-eight years. 

The children of Nathaniel and Dolly Chandler 
were: Samuel Ward, born Julv 12, 1803, married. 
November iS. 1830. Eliza Fales Richmond : Catherine 
Amory. born April 18. 1805. married. May 7, 1833. 
Theophilus Parsons. Esq. ; Charles, liorn September 
7. 1807. married. March 25. 1834. Sarah Whitney; 
John Greene, of whom later ; Mary Greene, born 



wo RCESTE R CO U N TY 



67 



May 23, 1818, married, February 25. 1862, D,r. 
John Ware, son of Rev. Henry Ware, of Harvard 
College. (See sketch of Charles E. Ware and 
iamily of Fitchburg. George Fredtrick, born 
ilarch 12, 1822. married, April 22. 1847, Susan Buss. 

(Vni) John Greene Chandler, fourth child of 
Nathaniel Chandler (7), was born in Petersham, 
.Massachusetts, December 18, 1815. He was brought 
up on the farm in Lancaster and attended school 
there. Having a natural aptitude for drawing he 
learned the art of wood engraving, and became 
one of the most proficient artists in this line of his 
day. After residing in various places Mr. Chandler 
returned to Lancaster in 1869 and spent the re- 
mainder of his life there. In religion he was an 
earnest Unitarian. 

He married. June S, 1850, Sarah Ann Guild, who 
was born October 26, 1817, the daughter of Samuel 
Guild, president of the People's Bank of Roxbury. 
Her father was born in Walpole, March 18, 1777, 
and died January 12, 1862 ; married, 1806, Sarah 
Means, daughter of James Means, Jr. Her grand- 
father, Nathaniel Guild, married, 1733, Mary Boy- 
den, of Wrentham : he was the son of Samuel and 
Sarah (Hartshorn) Guild; the grandson of Samuel 
and Mary (Woodcock) Guild. Mary Woodcock 
was the daughter of Samuel and Ann Woodcock. 
The immigrant ancestors were John and Elizabeth 
(Crook) Guild, of Dedham. The children of John 
Greene and Sarah Ann Chandler were : Alice 
Greene, born July 18, 1851, who resides in Lan- 
caster ; Miss Chandler has been connected with the 
Lancaster town library since 1872. For eighteen 
years she was librarian and is now advisory librarian 
and trustee. Fanny Guild, born July 10, 1857, died 
July, 1901. 

CHARLES FR.\ZER, a prominent business man 
of Worcester county, was born in Glasgow, Scot- 
land, April 7, 1838, the son of the late Charles 
and Margaret (Bruce) Frazer, both natives of Scot- 
land. 

Charles Frazer obtained his education in the 
common schools of his native place, and in 1849 
emigrated to this country with his parents, landing 
at New York, proceeding to South Hadley Falls, 
Massachusetts. His father was an expert mill hand, 
and was engaged in the mill business at Hadley 
Falls, where he died in August. 1850, after which 
the family removed to Clinton and Charles was there 
employed in the Lancaster mills. He also was em- 
ployed with his father in the mill at Hadley Falls. 
He later learned the trade of a bricklayer, being 
thus engaged for some time. Subsequently he 
formed a partnership with Mr. Fairbanks, and 
conducted a contracting and building business with 
considerable success. In 1879 Mr. Frazer engaged 
in the coal business in Clinton. Massachusetts, which 
he has since conducted with the most flattering suc- 
cess. During the war of the rebellion Mr. Frazer 
enlisted, in 1861, in Company C. Fifteenth Massa- 
chusetts Infantry. He participated in the various 
engagements that made that company famous, and 
distinguished himself for his bravery and fearless- 
ness on the field of action. He entered the service 
as a private and was mustered out a lieutenant. 

Mr. Frazer's political affiliations are with the 
Republican party, and he has served as assessor and 
road commissioner for his party. He is a member 
of the Masonic order and a member of the com- 
mandery. He is an enthusiastic member of the 
G. .A. R., Clinton Post, a member of the Odd Fel- 
lows, and is also treasurer of the Sterling Worsted 
Mills. Mr. Frazer is pre-eminently a self-made man, 
and enjoys the confidence and respect of the entire 



community. In matters of religion he and his 
tanr.ly attend the Unitarian church. 

On Seplemlier 6, 1858. Mr. Frazer was united 
m marriage to Mary barr, a daughter of Robert 
Harr, of Janu-stown, Scotland, and their children 
were: Charles R., married Bertha Eager, and they 
have two children: Robert B. and Bertha .-X. Etta 
.\!.. married James Charnoek. and two children were 
born to them : Sydney T. and Harold Irving. Fred- 
crick E., married Helen Smith and has three chil- 
dren : Etta F., Helen and Jeannette B. Charles R., 
died June 8, 1906. 

EZRA GREE^N. James Green (i), immigrant 
ancestor of the late Ezra Green, of Fitchburg, 
Massachusetts, was Ijorn in England about 1620. 
He came to Charlestown. in New England, before 
1647, and was admitted a freeman there May 26, 
1647. He removed to Maiden, the Mystic side, in 
1647. and was one of the petitioners for a division 
of the town in 1648. He was interested in church 
affairs, and he appears prominent in various church 

matters. He married Elizabeth . Their house 

lot was on land bought of Richard Harrington in 
1656 and remaining in the possession of his family 
until 1765. It was situated on Green hill and the 
hnuse is still preserved on what is now ."Xppleton 
street. James Green served on a committee to lay 
nut a liigliway in June, 1671. He was a citizen of 
influence in Maiden. He died there March 29. 
'687, aged seventy-seven years. His will was dated 
September 2. 1682, and probated May 5. 1687. It 
mentions his wife and. two sons mentioned below, 
viz.: John, "of the Hill," died 1709, of whom later; 
James, resided in Maiden, 

(II) John Green, "of the Hill." as he was called 
from his place of residence to distinguish him from 
the other John Greens, of Afalden, was son of 
James Green (I), and born perhaps in England 
ar)Out 1645. He was a mariner in 1673. He was ad- 
mitted a freeman in 1683 and died March 22. 1709. 

He married Mary . It is obviously difficult 

to distinguish him from the others of the name 
in some instances. The children of John and Mary 
were: Mary, born December. 1668; Samuel, only 
son. of whom later : Elizabeth ; Hannah. All were 
born in Maiden. 

(III) Samuel Green, only son of John Green 
(2), was born in 1679. He settled at Maiden and 
became a prominent citizen. He was deputy to the 
general court in 1742 and selectman in 1743. He 
bou,ght the dwelling and five acres of land of Rev. 
David Parsons after he had removed to Leicester. 
He ranked high socially as he was called "Mr." on 
various records. He died February 21, 1761. aged 
eighty-two years. His will dated January 30, 1752, 
was proved March 23, 1761. His wife. Martha 
Green, daughter of Samuel Green, died May 29, 
T754, aged seventy-two years. He married about 
1700. His wife was granddaughter of Thomas 
Green (1), of Maiden, so that the children of Sam- 
uel Green are descended from both the immigrant 
Greens of Maiden. 

(I) Thomas Green, the grandfather of Mrs. 
Samuel Green, was born in England. 1606, and came 
to this country in 163,=; or 1636. He was probably 
in Ipswich until 1649 or 1650, and then settled in 
Maiden. Massachusetts. He was selectman in 1658. 
He died December 19. 1667, and his will is dated 
November 12. 1667. He married (first) Elizabeth 

. and (second) Frances Cook, widow of 

Richard Cook, and previously widow of Isaac 
Walker. (.See further facts in sketch of the Green 
Family of Leicester and Worcester.) Ex-Mayor 
Green of New York, was a descendant. 



68 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



The children of Thomas and Ehzabcth Green 
were: Elizabeth, born in England, about 1628; 
Thomas, born in England, about ibJO (Sec Pope's 
Pioneers of Massachusetts), married Rebecca Hills; 
John, born about 1632, married Sarah Wheeler; 
Mary, born about 1633, married Captain John 
VVaite; William, born 1635, married Elizabeth 
Wheeler, and (second) Isabel (Farmer) Blood; 

Henry, born 1638, married Esther ; Samuel, 

of whom later; Hannah, born 1647, married Joseph 
Richardson; Martha, born 1650; Dorcas, born May 

1, i')5.?> niarried James Barrett. 

(H) Samuel Green, father of Martha, who mar- 
ried Samuel Green (HI), was the son of Thomas 
Green (I), mentioned above. He was born March 
164s ; married, 1666, Mary Cook, sister of Frances 
Cook, whose third husband was Thomas Green (I). 
Mary died November 24, 1715, and Samuel (H), 

married (second) Susanna , who survived 

him. 

Samuel Green (H) lived in Maiden and was 
known as Samuel, Sr. He bought, October, 1670, of 
his brother William half of his father's farm and 
occupied the old mansion house. He bought the 
other half June 13, 1684. He died October 31, 
1724, aged seventy-nine years, seven months. Flis 
will was dated January 3, 1721. The children of 
Samuel (H) and Mary Green were: Samuel, born 
January, 1667-8, married Mary Wheeler; Thomas, 
born 1669, married Hannah Vinton ; John, born 
April I, 1672; William, born August, 1674, married 
Elizabeth Farmer; Mary, born about 1677, married 
her cousin, John Green ; Jonathan, born February 

2, 1679-80 married Lydia Buchmann ; Martha, of 
whom later ; David, born 1685, married Martin 
Pratt; Elizabeth, born November. 16, 1687, married 
David Gould; Isaac, born May 20, 1690, married 
Mary Pratt. 

The children of Samuel Green (son of John 
(II)) and his wife Martha Green, daughter of 
Samuel Green (son of Thomas (I) Green) were: 
James, born November 22, 1702, selectman of 
Maiden. 1751 ; Martha, born January 18, 1703-4, 
married John Sweetser, October 2, 1722 ; John, 
born August 11, 1707, resided in Carlisle; Timothy, 
born October 10, 1709, removed to Lancaster; Ezra, 
of whom later; Mary, born December 28, 1717; 
Sarah, born April 24, 1721 ; Samuel, born April 14, 
1724. 

(IV) Ezra Green, fifth child of Samuel Green 
(3), was born in Maiden. Massachusetts, February 
31, 1714-5. He was deacon of the Maiden Church, 
and very prominent in town affairs. He was select- 
man in 1753-57-63-68: deputy to the general court 
1760-61-62; town clerk and for many years justice 
of the peace and magistrate. He died April 28, 1768, 
aged fifty-four years. 

He married (first) Sarah Hutchinson, Febru- 
ary 12. 1740. She died July 7. 1741, aged twenty- 
six years, without issue. He married (second) 
Eunice Burrill, daughter of Hon. Eben Burrill, of 
Lynn. She died October 2, 1760. He married 
(third), April 29. 1762, Mary (Green) Vinton, 
daughter of Isaac Green, and widow of Benoni Vin- 
ton. The children of Deacon Ezra and Eunice Green 
were: Dr. Ezra, born June 17. 1746, graduate of 
Harvard, 1765, surgeon in the revolution; settled 
at Dover. New Hampshire, and died there July 25. 
1847, aged one hundred years, twenty-eight days ; 
Bernard, of whom later. The children of Deacon 
Ezra and Mary were: Mary, born March 22, 1763; 
Aaron, born January 22. 1765. 

(V) Bernard Green, second child of Ezra Green 
(.<'). was born in Maiden. Massachusetts. January 
14 or 15, 1752. He was one of the most distinguished 



and influential men of his day in the town. He 
was in the battles of Lexington, Bunker Hill and 
White Plains, Trenton and Princeton, New Jersey. 
He was a corporal in Captain Blaney Shirley's com- 
pany at Lc.\mgton. He was first sergeant in Cap- 
lain John Walton's company, Colonel Brooks's regi- 
ment, in 1776, and was at White Plains, Trenton 
and Princeton battles. He was lieutenant in Colonel 
Thatcher's regiment of Middlesex militia in 1778, 
and later was captain of the Maiden company. After 
the revolution he was deputy to the general court, 
and for thirty years justice of the peace and magis- 
trate. Much of the early history and especially the 
oral traditions were preserved owing to his interest 
in them. He is described as a man of towering 
frame and colossal mind. His son was the orator 
at the two hundredth anniversay celebration of the 
foundation of the town of Maiden. He died at 
Maiden, July 15, 1834, aged eighty-two years. 

He married (second) Lois Diman, daughter of 
Rev. James Diman, minister of the East Church at 
Salem, Massachusetts, June 7, 17S9, and she died 
February 22, 1839, aged eighty-one years. The 
children of Bernard Green were: Bernard, born 
December 30, 17S3; Mary Anne, born August 5, 
1791, died young; Eunice Burrill, born October 21, 
1792; Ezra, of whom later; Mary Orne, born Au- 
gust 22, 1796; James Dimon, born October 8, 1798, 
graduate of Harvard 1817. pastor Third Church, 
Cambridge, mayor of Cambridge, 1653 ; orator at the 
Maiden bi-centennial. 

(VI) Ezra Green, fourth child of Bernard Green 
(5), was born at Maiden, Massachusetts, February 
II, 1795. He was educated there in the public schools 
and at Phillips Academy, Exeter, New Hampshire. 
He thought he preferred to follow the sea to study- 
ing at the academy and without permission of the 
constituted authorities he shipped before the mast 
and brought his school days abruptly to an end. 
Upon his return home he worked on the farm until 
1858, succeedin.g his father on the homestead at Mai- 
den. He was a Whig in politics and a Unitarian in 
religion. He was interested in public affairs and 
wrote several books of travel. He w-as a man of 
sturdy character, broad views and unusual general 
intelligence. He removed from Maiden to Lancaster 
in 1858. and died there in 1862. He had a handsome 
home in Lancaster, in which his widow has since 
resided. She is a bright and interesting woman 
notwithstanding her great age. She was born in 
1819, the daughter of Ralph 'and Abigail (Childs) 
Richardson, of Vermont. 

Bernard Green married Elmina Richardson, 
1842. Their children were : Bernard Richardson, 
born December 28, 1843, married Julia Lincoln, and 
they have four children: Elmina Minerva, born 
.\ugust 28, 1S45, married H. T. Harwood, and they 
have eight children: Sarah Elizabeth, born .\pril i. 
1847, married Charles Wilder, and they have one 
child; James D., born December 25, 1848, married 
Elizabeth Damon; George Ezra, born September 17, 
1850, died young: Abby F., unmarried; Marion, 
unmarried. They were born in Maiden. Two others 
died young. 

J.AMES LOG.AN. The Logan family, repre- 
>ented by James Logan, a prominent Massachu- 
setts manufacturer, of Worcester, originated in 
-Vyrshire, Scotland. The genealogy of James Logan 
is traced as follows from the middle of the eighteenth 
century. 

(I) David Logan, of Brouchallmuir, in tht 
parish of Dunlop, in Ayrshire, Scotland, married 
Elizabeth Muir. 

(II) James Logan, son of David and Eliza- 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



09 



beth (Muir) Logan, was born in the village named 
above, July iS. 1778, and died March 26, i860, aged 
eighty-one years, eight months and eight days. He 
married, December 25, 1801, Margaret, daughter of 
Archibald and Janet (Gibson) Thompson, of Cor- 
bert, parish of Kilbarchan, Renfrewshire, Scotland; 
she was born in November, 1782, died August 28, 
1825. Their children were: Janet, born November 
3, 1802. died August 23, 1855; married John Alli- 
son: David. September i, 1805. died July 23, 1S18; 
Elizabeth. July 31. 1807. died Sept.ember 30, 1824; 
Mary, March 30, 1809, died February 27. 1829 ; mar- 
ried Alexander Reid : Margaret Thompson, June 15, 
181 1, died October 27, 1812; Archibald Thompson, 
July 22, 1813. died January 4, 1886; Margaret 
Thompson, August 2, 1816, died December 2, 1835; 
David (see forward) : Agnes Logan, July 24, 1822, 
married William Robb. 

(III) David Logan, eighth child and third son 
of James and Margaret (Thompson) Logan, was 
born in Lochvvinnoch, Renfrewshire, Scotland, De- 
cember 5, 1818. He married Mary Kennedy, born 
in Paisley, Scotland, January 25, 1816. With their 
children, tvvo sons and two daughters, they sailed 
in 1852 from Greenock, Scotland, in the ship "Isa- 
bella," and arrived in the United States after a 
voyage of seven weeks. David Logan first settled 
in Connecticut, whence he soon removed to Wor- 
cester, Massachusetts. He found employment with 
the Norwich & Worcester Railroad, serving as watch- 
man for several years, and subsequently located 
on a farm in Clierry Valley, near Worcester, Massa- 
chusetts. He died in Cherry Valley, Massachusetts, 
March 20, 1893. His wife died in Cherry Valley, 
Massachusetts, September 20, 1888. Of his children, 
four were born in Scotland, and two in Worcester, 
Massachusetts. David, born August 16, 1840, in 
Paisley. Scotland, died in Brewster, New York, 
October 10, 1902 ; Margaret, August 2, 1848, in Pais- 
ley. Scotland, died at North Woodstock. Connecti- 
cut, February 2, 1902 : Annie Kennedy, born Sep- 
tember 7. 1850. in Paisley, Scotland, became the 
wife of Lendall Houghton : James, see forward ; 
Oscar Alva, born January 24, 1854, in Worcester, 
Massachusetts : John Kennedy, born December 14, 
1855. in Worcester. Massachusetts. 

(IV) James Logan, fourth child and second 
son of David and Mary (Kennedy) Logan, was 
born in Glasgow, Scotland, May 6, 1852, and was 
a babe three months old when his parents came to 
the United States. His life was one of arduous 
labor from his very boyhood, and his education 
■was in greater part eked out at spare times. As 
was the custom then in both Great Britain and the 
United States, boys became bread winners as soon 
as they were large enough, and at the age of ten 
years young Logan found employment in the Park- 
liurst Woolen Mill at Valley Falls, a village near 
Worcester, ]\Iassachusetts. Labor began at five in 
the morning, the operatives working for two and 
a half hours before breakfast, the entire mill day 
being extended to fourteen hours. The machinery 
was clumsy, even when working at its best the pace 
was slow, and there were frequent stoppages on ac- 
count of breakdowns and want of water, that being 
before the day of steam engines. These delays were 
of great advantage to the young workman. He 
bad attended school some little before, and he now 
devoted his hours of enforced relief from work to 
further improving his mind. The teacher at the 
Valley Falls school was Mary H. D. King, a noble 
woman whose entire life was given to school work 
in Worcester, and whose memory is revered by 
hundreds of men and women as the friend of their 
youth, the faithful guide who inspired them to 



apply themselves to study, and to fit themselves 
for the active duties of life. Upon young Lugan 
slu- left a strong impress, and he ever regarded hei 
with peculiar alfection and gratitude. She induced 
a half-dozen mill lads to come to the school to recite 
in the odd hours when the mill was shut down, 
for want of water power, and at noon hour, when 
the work was more continuous, she heard them 
recite their lessons. Of this company young Logan 
;i!one persisted in continuing his studies and recita- 
tions, and the fact is significant as showing hi.? 
determination to procure an education which should 
enable him to enter upon a larger career than that 
of a mere laborer. When about eleven an accident 
indirectly further advanced him on the highway to 
success. His arm was caught in a machine and 
was broken in three places, being almost torn off 
at the wrist, and leaving a frightful scar for life. 
While his arm had lost some of its power and use- 
fulness, he was not incapacitated, and he resumed 
mill work. At fifteen he was taken ill, and on his 
recovery, after a period of six months, was able 
to perforin only light mill labor, and the fact that 
his left arm was weak turned his mind toward 
bookkeeping. In his sixteenth year he entered B. G. 
How-e's Business College, which then occupied 
(piarters in the building where the Park theatre 
now .stands, and while attending that school assisted 
for a short time as billing clerk in the office of 
S. R. Heywood & Co., the veteran shoe manu- 
facturer. The next year after completing his com- 
mercial course, he took temporary employment with 
the First National Fire Insurance Company, then 
in the building now occupied by Green's drug store, 
at the corner of Main and Pleasant streets; he soon 
obtained a position as bookkeeper with A. Y. Thomp- 
son & Co., dry goods dealers, in the Flagg block, 
on Main street. Here he remained for about two 
years, receiving $150 for his first year's work, and 
sleeping on the counter, as w-as the custom in those 
days, in order to serve as a watchman over the 
store. His course now was one of gradual but sub- 
stantial advancement. After leaving Mr. Thompson 
he returned to the woolen mill of G. N. and J. A. 
Smith. Cherry Valley (now operated by their 
nephew, Channing Smith), in which he had pre- 
viously worked as a mill boy, and in which he now 
served for about two years in the capacity of book- 
keeper. In 1873 he became bookkeeper for Sanford 
& Company, book sellers and stationers, at the corner 
of Main and Maple streets, one of the two book 
stores then in the city, and now conducted by the 
Sanford-Putnani Company. Finding that his office 
duties did not require all his time, he volunteered 
to sell goods in the store in addition to his office 
duties and developed unusual ability as a salesman. 
In 187S he received an offer from David Whitcoihb. 
of G. Henry Whitcomb & Company, envelope manu- 
facturers (established since 1864. to enter their 
employ. The salary was considerably less than he 
had been receiving, but he saw an opportunity for 
a more extended field of usefulness, and he accepted. 
Mr. Logan soon gained an accurate practical knowl- 
edge of all the proces.«s of manufacture, the 
marketing of the product, and the details of the 
business, gaining the entire confidence of his em- 
ployers. His services as a salesman were of 
particular advantage, and he contributed in marked 
degree to the extension of the business. 

In December. 1S82. Mr. Logan associated with 
hiuT-elf George H. Lowt\ of Boston, under the name 
of the Logan & Lowe F.nvelope Company. .\ fac- 
tory was established in the Stevens block, on South- 
bridge street. Leader machines were installed, and 
the business was inaugurated most promisingly. In 



70 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



July. 1883, Mr. Logan received a flattering offer to 
return to the Whitcomb Company, and the firm of 
Logan & Lowe Envelope Company, was dissolved, 
Mr. Lowe returning to Boston to become a partner in 
the wholesale paper house of Carter, Rice & Com- 
pany. Mr. Logan's stay was short, and in January, 
1884, he with Henry D. Swift, D. Wheeler Swift, and 
John S. Brigham (all formerly connected with the 
Whitcomb Company) formed the Logan, Swift & 
Brigham Envelope Company, for the manufacture 
of envelopes. A factory was established at 16 Union 
street, and operations were begun with Leader and 
Rcay machines, which were soon superseded by a 
new equipment designed by the .Swifts, who were 
the mechanical experts of the enterprise, and who 
were the inventors of all the envelope folding ma- 
chinery in the Whitcomb Company. With the ad- 
vantage of the more rapid production made possible 
by improved machinery, and Mr. Logan's splendid 
ability for marketing the goods, the success of the 
firm was phenominal, and it was of world-wide 
fame as the most extensive, most completely equipped 
and most profitable of any in its line in the L'nited 
States. Li 1898 the business was consolidated with 
that of the Whitcomb Company, the Hill Envelope 
Company and seven other large envelope manu- 
facturing firms, under the corporate title of the 
United States Envelope Company, with Mr. Logan 
as first vice-president and general manager, positions 
which he has occupied to the present time. To the 
complex duties thus devolved upon- him, with new 
problems and new conditions continually arising, he 
has brought tireless energy and abilities of the 
highest order, his grasp extending froin the initial 
process through all the stages of manufacture, the 
continual improvement of the equipment, and the 
great responsibilities connected with the marketing 
of the immense product of the factories. At the 
pre.^ent time nearly two thousand operatives are 
constantly employed. Much of the success attend- 
ing the practical work of the establishment is due 
to D. Wheeler Swift, the chief mechanical engineer, 
Of the original Logan, Swift & Brigham Company, 
Mr. Brigham died February ig, 1897, and Henry 
D. Swift has retired from business. 

Mr. Logan occupies much of his time in the 
general offices in Springfield, Massachusetts, and 
makes his home in Salisbury street, Worcester, 
where he occupies a handsome residence. He has 
always taken a deep and active interest in com- 
munity affairs. He was formerly a trustee of the 
Worcester County Institute for Savings : served for 
several years as president of the Worcester County 
Mechanics' Association ; was a director of the board 
of trade ; was a member of the grade crossing com- 
mission of 1898, and would at that time probably 
have been elected to the mayoralty, had he been 
willing to accept a noinination, but having agreed to 
accept the office of general manager of the Con- 
solidating Envelope Company, did not feel he would 
be able to give to the service of the city the time 
which he believed a mayor ought to give. He has 
ever been particularly interested in the educational 
andTienevoIent institutions of the city. He has long 
been a trustee of the Worcester Polytechnic In- 
stitute: is a trustee of the Bancroft Scholarship, 
charged with the use of a fund by George Ban- 
croft, the historian, in aiding Worcester young peo- 
ple to a collegiate education : and is a trustee of the 
Worcester City Hospital, in which he takes an active 
and efficient interest. He was one of the chief 
promoters and has always been, among the principal 
supporters of the Young Men's Christian Associa- 
tion in Worcester, which he has served in the 
capacity of president, and is at the present time one 



of the trustees, and it is largely through his effort 
that this beneficent institution has been preserved 
from financial embarrassment. He is also a mem- 
ber of the state executive committee of the Young 
Men's Christian Association, of Massachusetts and 
Rhode Island. He is a member of the Central 
Congregational Church and of its board of deacons. 
He is an active member of the Congregational Club, 
of which he has been president ; and of the Wor- 
cester Society of Antiquity. He is a member of 
various Masonic bodies — Montacute Lodge, Eureka 
Royal Arch Chapter, and Hiram Council. He is 
one of the thirty members of the Civic Federation 
of New England, representing the manufacturers of 
the state of Massachusetts in that body. Mr. Logan 
gave to the town of Leicester a park adjoining the 
cemetery at Cherry Valley ( where he began his life ,, j 
as a school and mill boy) known as Towtaid Park, U 
the Indian name for that locality. He is one of the Q 
lecturers upon business topics at Dartmouth College 
in the Tuck School of Administration and Finance, 
and in 1904 received the degree of Master of Arts 
from that institution. 

James Logan married, in 1879, Annie D., daugh- 
ter of Levi Johnson, of Worcester, who for many 
years was proprietor of the jewelry store in the 
Bay State House at the corner of Main and Ex- 
change streets. Mr. Johnson is now (1905) living 
in Worcester at his home, 12 John street, having 
retired from business several years ago. He was 
born in 1819. The children of James and Annie D. 
Logan are : Oscar Johnson, born September 23, 
1880. died August 28. 1881 : Donald Brigham. No- 
vember 8, 1881, graduated from Dartmouth College 
in 1904. taking the degree of Bachelor of Laws ; 
after spending another year in the Tuck School of 
.\dministration and Finance he received in 1905 
the degree of Master of Commercial Science; Alice, 
born August 29, 1887; Ruth, born April 20, 1889. 

CHACE FAMILY. Bartholomew Chace d), 
one of the first settlers of Rhode Island, was proba- 
blv the immigrant ancestor of Mrs. Maria .■\. 
(Chace) Haskell, of Clinton, Massachusetts. The 
Chace family of Rhode Island has been distin- 
guished for ability and worth. Most of the des- 
cendants spell the name Chace in distinction from 
the numerous descendants of Aquila Chase and his 
brother, Thomas Chase, of northern Massachusetts 
and of New Hampshire. 

(II) Joseph Chace, perhaps a grandson of the 
immigrant, Bartholomew Chace, was born about 
1680. He settled in Warwick, Rhode Island. His 
wife Abigail died there November 25, 1730. Their 
children born in Warwick, were : Gideon, born De- 
cember 22, 1712; Ebenezer, January 17, 1715: Paul 
May 22, 1716; Mome, July 23, 1718; Arbra, July i, 
1720; Joseph, January 13, 1723, died young; Abigail, 
January 13, 1723 (twin), died young; Mary, June 
18, 1726; David. The children of Joseph and Mary 
Chace, born at North Kingston, Rhode Island, 
were : Joseph, William, settled in Bcllingham. Massa- 
chusetts, and had Isabel, born May 12, 1758. mar- 
ried Seth Hayward; Joseph, born August 16. 1764, 
and others. 

(III) Joseph Chace. Jr.. son of Joseph Chace 
(2). was born at North Kingston, Rhode Island, 
February 16, about 1740. Among the children of 
Joseph was Charles, born in Rhode Island about 
1765. Joseph appears to have been a soldier in the 
revolution from Bellingham, and his brother Wil- 
liam settled there permanently. 

(IV) Charles Chace. son of Joseph Chace, Jr. 
(3), was born in Rhode Island about 1762. He 
was at Cumberland. Rhode Island, November S, 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



71 



1786, when he married Abigail Ide, daughter of 
Timothy Ide, of a well known old family, lie 
lived there a few years, then was at Bellingham, 
where his father lived at one time and where his 
uncle made his home. He married (second), also 
at Cumberland, Rhode Island, December 28, 1794, 
Ruth Jencke. of Wrentham. Charles and his wife's 
brother, William Jencke, of Wrentliam, bought tlie 
Tucker house and farm on what is now known as 
Chace street in the spring of 1798 of Major Merrick 
Rice. As jNlajor Rice was one of tlie lawyers of 
Lancaster and as the property had come into his 
hands from Benjamin Houghton and Josiah Cool- 
idge, who had it two years before from Thomas 
Tucker, it is probable that the estate had passed 
from the hands of the Tucker family on account 
of the hard times at the close of the eighteenth 
century. The house, like that of William Gould 
on the Mill road and that of Elias Sawyer at what 
is now Lancaster Mills, had been begun, but throvigh 
lack of funds had never been finished. It remained 
for Mr. Chace to complete it. a large square New- 
England mansion, still standing on the original site 
between Chace street and the Nashua river. The farm 
contained about one hundred and fifty acres, or 
some thirty-five more than in the old Tucker place. 
The price paid was two housand dollars. In 1802 
Mr. jenks (as the name is now spelled) released 
his part in the ownership to Mr. Chace. 

Mr. Chace was not only a farmer but also a 
tanner, currier and shoemaker. He bought di- 
rectly from the neighboring farmers whenever they 
slaughtered cattle and tanned the hides in vats to 
the north and south of his house. Some two years 
after he bought a skin he had it ready for use as 
leather. His currymg and shoemaking were done 
in a shop one story high, eighteen by thirty feet, 
six rods or so west of the house. The sides of 
leather were hung on the sides of this building to 
dry. On one side of the shop the drying and 
dressing were done, on the other the boots and 
shoes were made by Mr. Chace and his hands and 
apprentices. He had simple tools and all the work 
was by hand. His two eldest sons probably learned 
the whole business of their father, but in later life 
.•\lanson confined his activity to shoemaking while 
the other son Charles became a tanner. Mr. Chace's 
home life is thus described in the Clinton history: 
"The family life was that of the ideal New Eng- 
land home, as it existed in the early part of the 
century (nineteenth). There was great earnest- 
ness of religious belief, but no austerity. Mr. 
Chace belonged to the Rhode Island family of 
Chaces and brought with him from his old home 
the Baptist belief, .\lthough the members of the 
family attended public worship at the old church 
at Lancaster Center, still they clung to their own 
form of faith and gathered their neighors to wor- 
ship with them, and thus became the originators 
of the Baptist organization in the town. When 
John Burdett settled in Clinton, they found in him 
an equally devoted worker. Something of the beau- 
tiful home life of the family can be surmised from 
this extract from a letter written by the youngest 
son to his mother on his thirty-sixth birthday. 
"This day reminds me anew of the untold, unpaid. 
and unpayable debt of gratitude which every son is 
under to a good mother, and for which the only 
return he can make is to shov^f her that he is not 
insensible of it. Frequently when not otherwise 
occupied, does my mind wander back to the days 
of my early childhood, when it was so sweet to 
pillow my head upon my mother's knee, when her 
lap was my home, the safe refuge to which I 
flew from every childish grief and trouble, .^nd 



there are moments when my spirit, worn and soiled 
by the cares of life, has lost its freshness and its 
hope, in which I would fain be that little boy over 
again and nestle in my mother's bosom an<l linil 
it as secure a retreat from the trials of manhocjd 
as 1 did then from the trials of infancy." 

Mr. Chace died in 1852, aged ninety years. In 
his will, which was proved in 1852, he mentioned 
his nephew, Timothy Ide Crowninshield, and his 
four surviving children: Alanson, Charles, Jr., 
George Ide and Diana. The children of Charles 
and Abigail (Ide) Chace were I. Titmothy Ide, 
born March 6, 1787, at Cumberland, Rhode Island, 
died Sptember 12. 1789. 2. Sally, born November 7, 

1789. married Crowninshield. The children of 

Charles and Ruth (Jenks) Chace: 3. Alanson, .see 
forward. 4. Charles, Jr., built the old part of the 
house at No. I Green street; he was a tanner; 
settled at Stillriver (Harvard) and became deacon 
of the church there in August, 1819, and served 
for more than seventy years. 5. William J., died 
young. 6. George Ide, who gained a world-wide 
reputation, prepared for college at Lancaster Acad- 
emy, graduated as valedictorian of his class at 
Brown University in 1830; he was for a year prin- 
cipal of a classical school at Waterville, Maine, 
then returned to Brown in 1831, as tutor in mathe- 
matics, in 1833 became adjunct professor of mathe- 
matics and applied philosophy, in 1836 professor of 
chemistry, geology and physiology, and filled that 
chair for thirty-one years ; was well known as a 
public lecturer, traveled in Canada, Nova Scotia 
and Central America, as well as the western jKir- 
tion of his own country in his capacity as mining 
expert; in 1867 he was acting president of the Uni- 
versity ; resigned as professor in 1872 and traveled 
abroad; returned to Providence and during the re- 
mainder of his life devoted himself to the inter- 
ests of his city and state, chiefly as the chairman 
of the Rhode Island State Board of Charities and 
Correction ; a volume of his essays published in 
1886, reveals his scholarship and ability. Presi- 
dent Andrews said of him after his death, April 
29, 1885 : "Professor Chace had the keenest analyti- 
cal power of "any thinker whom I ever heard dis- 
course * * * and he joined with this a hardly 
less remarkable faculty for generalization." 7. 
Diana. 8. Amia Ann. , ^, , ^, / s 

(V) .\lanson Chace. son of Charles Chace (4), 
was born in Cumberland. Rhode Island, October 
22. 1795. He came to South Lancaster, now Clin- 
ton, with his father when he was very young and 
was educated there in the common schools. He 
learned the trades of tanner and shoemaker of his 
father. In 1818 he and his brother, Charles Chace, 
Jr.. probahlv with the aid of their father, bought 
of " Seth Grout one acre of land and of James 
Pitts one acre of land and one twentieth of the water 
power at the dam now controlled by the Lancaster 
Mills; they erected a small tannery between the 
spot where the present machine shop stands and the 
river He settled on the homestead at Clinton and 
as his father was old took charge of the farm and 
of the shoe making: about 1828 he sold his house, 
shop and water rights to James Pitts. He served 
the district as member of the Lancaster school com- 
mittee; as one of live representing Clintonville m 
the division of property when the town of Clinton 
was incorporated, and was a selectman in the new 
town of Clinton. He was one of the organizers 
and most devoted supporters of the Baptist church 
in Clinton. He built the Chace mansion formerly on 
Prcscott street, now removed to Cedar street. He 
was ill fact, one of the most honored and trusted 
as well as among the most public-spirited men of 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



the town of Clinton in its early days. He died 
February 13, 1875. <it Clinton. He married Maria 
Harris and they had two children: Charles H., 
born February ig. 1826, see forward. Maria A., 
married W. H. Haskell, see forward. 

(VI) Charles H. Chace, son of Alanson Chace 
(5)> was born February 19, 1826, died January 9, 
1904. He succeeded his father in possession of the 
old homestead. He took contracts for cellars and 
excavating in the early iifties. In 1858 he went into 
business with his brother-in-law, W. H. Haskell. 
In 1861 he continued to run the grocery business 
and erected an addition to the store building which 
he occupied at that time on Mechanic street. He 
. is a Baptist in religion. He had been selectman of 
the town. He married, April 11, 1850, Caroline M. 
Ball, of Boylston, now deceased. They left three 
living children : A. Alanson, Addie Eliza and 
Emma Chace. 

(VI) Maria A. Chace, daughter of Alanson 
Chace (5), was born at Clinton, Massachusetts, 
February i, 1833. She married, October 20, 1855, 
William H. Haskell, who was born in Rochester. 
Massachusetts, October 20, 1824 the son of Seth 
and Unice (Hammond) Haskell, a native of- Mat- 
tapoisett, Massachusetts. He spent his boyhood and 
early manhood in Rochester, acquired his education 
there in the public schools and academy. He en- 
tered the general store kept by his father and sub- 
sequently managed a store at North Abington, Massa- 
chusetts. About 1850 he went to Clinton to work 
for his brother, David Haskell, who was seven 
years older than he, and who had already a store on 
Mechanic street on the lot afterward occupied by 
the C. H. Chace building. He soon became a part- 
ner and the business was conducted under the firm 
name of Haskell Brothers. The elder brother 
David was the victim of a dreadful accident, Sep- 
tember 5, 1854. He was returning some "burning 
fluid" to a barrel when it took fire from a lantern, 
exploded, and the cellar of the store was filled with 
flame. He died from his injuries the next day. 
The home of David Haskell was on Water street 
in the brick house built by Asahel Harris. For 
more than three years William H. Haskell con- 
tinued the business alone, but in August, 1858, he 
advertised groceries and dry goods at the old stand 
in partnership with D. W. Kilburn. In the same 
year Charles H. Chace succeeded Mr. Kilburn in 
the firm. In August, 1861, the firm was dissolved 
and the business divided, Mr. Haskell keeping the 
dry goods and Mr. Chace the grocery. Mr. Has- 
kell finally sold his business to Mr. Chace. He had 
a store for a short time at the rear of his resi- 
dence on Chestnut street. During the closing 
years of the civil war he was in the grocery busi- 
ness in the basement of Burdett & Fiske"s block 
on the corner of Union and High streets. In 1868 
he erected the block at the comer of Union and 
Walnut streets, where he continued in the grocery 
business until his death, December 2, 1878. He 
was a leading member of the Congregational church 
of Clinton, and his wife is still active in the church. 
He was a worthy citizen and highly respected. 

The children of William H. and Maria A. 
(Chace) Haskell were: i. Harriet M., born June 
29, 1858, married Clarence H. Bowers, D. D. S., of 
Clinton, and the have three children — George 
F. H., Alice D., and Caroline A. 2. Alice C, 
born June 23, 1861, died in childhood. 3. Elnathan, 
born December 14, 1863, died young. 4. Minnie 
Eliza, born October 28, 1865, died in infancy. 5. 
William David, born July 9, 1867, died July 17. 
1887. 6. Mary Agnes, born February 22, 1873. 
died in infancy. 



WILLIAM H. BLOOD. Richard Blood (i), 
the immigrant ancestor of William H. Blood, of 
Lancaster, Massachusetts, was one of several broth- 
ers who came to New England among the early 
settlers. Some of them owned land in Ruddington, 
Nottinghamshire, England, and it is thought they 
all hailed from that neighborhood. 

James Blood, whom good authority calls brother 
of Richard, was a yeoman and sergeant at Concord ; 
proprietor of the town and was admitted a free- 
man June 2, 1641. He was one of the commis- 
sioners to lay out the Hough grant of four hun- 
dred acres in 1650; commissioner to end small causes 
at Chelmsford in 1660. He deposed March 30, 
1660, that he was about fifty-five years old ; he 
died September 17, 1683, and his will makes no 
mention of Richard or his other brothers. His wife 
Ellen died August i, 1674. 

John Blood settled in Lynn and he was living 
there in 1647, but removed to Concord where James 
Blood was living; his brother, Robert Blood, ad- 
ministered his estate by appointment dated Septem- 
ber 27, 1692. 

Robert Blood, probably younger than John and 
James, was a yeoman and planter at Lynn before 
1647. He and John Blood, his brother, sold a 
moiety of one tenement and half an ox gang in 
Ruddington, mentioned above, to William Crafts, 
of Lynn. He married, April 8, 1653, Elizabeth VVil- 
lard, daughter of Major Simon Willard; he died 
October 22, 1701. 

These four immigrants are ancestors of all of 
the name, or nearly all. Richard Blood, Robert 
Blood, Joseph Blood and James Blood were among 
the original proprietors of Groton, Massachusetts. 
Richard and Robert were petitioners for the plan- 
tation. 

Richard Blood was on the first board of se- 
lectmen and served for several years afterward. 
He was town clerk in 1668 and for years was the 
largest taxpayer. He is called the chief among the 
original proprietors. He died December 7, 1783, at 

Groton. He married Isabel . Their children 

were : Mary, died April 19, 1662 ; Janies, of whom 
later; Nathaniel, of Groton, married, June 13, 1670, 
Hannah Parker, daughter of James Parker ; Eliza- 
beth, married Thomas Tarbell ; Joseph, probably 
the proprietor mentioned above. 

(II) James Blood, son of Richard Blood (i), 
was born perhaps in England before his parents 
came over, about 1640. He was a prominent citi- 
zen of Groton, where he was killed by the Indians 
Septem.ber 13, 1692. He married, September 7, 
1669, Elizabeth Longley, daughter of William Long- 
ley. She died before 1687. He married (second) 
Abigail . The children of James and Eliza- 
beth Blood were : Richard, born Alay 29, 1670, died 
July 8, 1670; Mary, born September I, 1672; Eliza- 
beth, born April 27, 1675 ; Hannah, died January 6. 
1675. The children of James and Abigail Blood 
were : James, Jr., born August 12, 1687 ; John, liorn 
March 16, 1689, of whom later ; Martha, born Oc- 
tober 20, 1692. 

(III) John Blood, sixth child of James Blood 
(2), was born in Groton, Massachusetts, March 16, 
1689, and died August 2:^. 1758, in his seventieth 
year. He settled also in Groton. He married there, 
July 13, 1712, Joanna Nutting, of one of the old 
families. Their children, all born at Groton, were : 
John, born February 18. 1713-4; Elizabeth, born 
March 19, 1715-6; David, born September 28, 1718; 
Lydia, born September 28, 1720 ; William, born 
December 9, 1722; Moses, born November 25. 1724; 
Hannah, born July 7. 1727 ; Oliver, born July 9, 
1729; Caleb, born November 23. 1734. of whom later. 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



(IV) Caleb Blood, youngest child, of John 
Blood is), was born November 23, I7,i4, at Groton, 
Massachusetts, and died there December 9. 1804, 
aged seventy years. His grave is marked by a stone 
in the old graveyard. He was a soldier in the 
revolution, in Captain Longley's company, Colonel 
Asa Whitcomb's regiment in 1775, and also hclpt-d 
with funds contributed to carry on the war. 

He married, November i, 1753, Hannah Holden, 
•daughter of John and Sarah (Davis) Holden. He 
married (second), March 3, 1774, Elizabeth Farns- 
worth, who died September i, 1773. She was 
a daughter of Isaac and Anna (Green) Farns- 
worth. The children of Caleb and Hannah Blood 
were: Caleb, Jr., born at Groton, October 24, 1755, 
served all through the revolution and it is difficult 
to distinguish his record from that of his fatlier of 
the same name ; Hannah, bom September 23. 1757 ; 
John, born September 6, 1759; David (twin), born 
July 8, 1762; Samuel (twin), born July 8, 17(12. 
The children of Caleb and Elizabeth Blood were : 
Timothy, born March 8, 1775, died January 13, 
1777; Thomas, born August 31, 1776, of whom later; 
Timothy, born September 8, 1778; Elizabeth, born 
August 25, 1780; Levi, born September 14, 1782, 
■died September 29, 1782; Sally, born August 31, 
1783; Luther, born October i, 1785; Nancy, born 
May, 1787. 

(V) Thomas Blood, son of Caleb Blood (4), 
was born August 31, 1776, at Groton, Massachusetts, 
and died there October 13, 1835, aged fifty-nine 
years. The following inscription is copied from his 
gravestone : 

"Canst thon by faith survey with joy 
The change before it comes ? 

And say 'let death this house destroy. 
I have a Heavenly home.' '" 

Thomas Blood was brought up in Ciroton and 
•educated there in the common schools. He was 
well-read, a student of public questions and an in- 
fluential citizen of his native place. He was cap- 
tain of the militia company. He was a prosperous 
farmer of this city. 

He married Sarah Fitch. Their children were: 
Roxy, Millie, Betsy, Alfred, Marj', Nancy. Thomas 
F. Gilman. 

(VI) Thomas F. Blood, son of Thomas Blood 
(5), was born in Groton, Massachusetts. January 
10, 1814, and died at Lancaster. January 23, 1S84, 
aged seventy years, according to his gravestone. He 
succeeded to the homestead of his father at Gro- 
ton and resided on it until 1845, when he removed 
to Lancaster, where he built a substantial house on 
the farm now owned by his son. William H. Blood. 
In politics he was a Whig and he took a lively in- 
terest in public affairs. He was an active mem- 
ber of the Congregational church. 

He married. January 30. 1840, Caroline E. Parker, 
daughter of Charles Parker, of Groton. Their 
children were : Charles Edwin, born at Groton, 
April 2, 1842, served in civil war for two years in 
Company H, Thirty-fourth Massachusetts Regiment ; 
William Henry, born September 21, 1843. of whom 
later ; Angelo P., born December 26, 1845 ; Caro- 
line E., born October 25, 1847 ; Ellen F., born Nov- 
€mber 27, 1849; Lucius M., born February 24. 
1856. 

( VII ) William Henry Blood, son of Thomas 
F. Blood (6), was born in Groton, Massachusetts, 
September 21, 1843. He removed to Lancaster with 
his parents when he was but two years old and 
has lived there ever since. His education was ac 
quired in the public and high schools of Lancaster, 



and he followed in the footsteps of his ancestors, 
working on the homestead of his father at Lan- 
caster. When he was twenty-three he purchased his 
present farm of twenty-seven acres and later added 
many acres to his farm. He is one of the most suc- 
cessful general farmers in his locality. For a num- 
ber of years he was connected with the Lancaster 
Creamery, which produced a large quantity of ex- 
cellent butter. He has an extensive dairy depart- 
ment on his farm. He has acquired a competence 
from his farm and is counted among the most sub- 
stantial citizens of the town. In politics he is a 
Republican and has frequently been chosen to posi- 
tions of trust and responsibility. He was tax col- 
lector in 1868-69-70, was road commissioner four 
years, superintendent of streets fifteen years, was 
on the board of water commissioners for seven 
years, was on the board of selectmen from 1879 
until 1898. He is on tlie parish and church com- 
mittees of the Lancaster Congregational Church, and 
he and his family are active in church work. 

Mr. Blood married May 31, 1866, Mary E. Priest, 
daughter of Levi Priest, of Harvard, Massachu- 
setts. She was born February, 18^5. Her mother 
was Eliza (Hartwell) Priest, of Groton. The chil- 
dren of William H. and Mary E. Blood are: Alice 
M., born May 18, 1867, married Sereno Goodnow. 
who is an assistant on the Thayer estate, and 
they have three children : Ellen, Edith, Grace Good- 
now ; George H., born July 26, 1869, is engaged in 
the oil business ; married Florence McCloud. and 
they have three children : Mabel, Ada, George Blood ; 
Arthur W.. born April 7, i87;2, married Sadie Israel ; 
resides in Lancaster; their children are: Walter R., 
and Harold William Blood; Frankie, died in in- 
fancy; Walter, died j'oung; Nellie E., born Sep- 
tember 22, 1884; Horace, died young; Edgar Nelson, 
horn October i, 1900. 

MANNING FAMILY. William Manning (i). 
the founder of his family in America, came to the 
colony of Massachusetts Bay at an early date. He 
came (from best evidence) from Essex county, Eng- 
land. The first nine or ten weeks — -he said himself — 
lie lived at Roxbury. Massachusetts, after landing 
here. He then removed to Cambridge, where docu- 
ments were first signed by him. the date not later 
than about 1634, possibly several years before. He 
was on the list of landholders in February, 1635. 
.'\n old church record says: "Payd our brother 
Manninge for a bellrope." This was dated 1648, 
when he was engaged in "A business laudable and 
commendable." He had doubtless been a merchant 
in England. In 1638 he bought "foure acres of 
Swamp ffield of planteing grounde ; Charles Towne 
East." His son William was a journeyman in 
Middlesex county, 1652. William Manning ( i ) was 
a freeman (church member and voter) 1640. His 
wife Susannah died 1650, and later he removed to 
Boston and there united with the church in 1664. 
Susannah was his second wife : of the first nothing 
is known. His third wife was Elizabeth, who out- 
lived him. He died in 1665 or 1666. He was prob- 
ably born in 1592. It is not quite clear, but from 
the best present obtainable evidence it seems that 
his children were : William, born about 1614. in 
England, and Hannah. 

(II) William Manning, son of the first to lo- 
cate on American soil, born about 1614. in England, 
came in or before i6.?4 to the Massachusetts Bay 
Colony, and lived in Cambridge the remainder of 
his days. He purchased lands and engaged in busi- 
ness as a merchant. He also owned a warehouse, 
boathouse, on a canal to which boats had free 
access, and constructed with his own hands a wharf 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



liv hi^ boathouse. He was elected highway surveyor 
Trii^i- also a "ganger" of casks and constable, 
,(,5'-'s3 In 1652, 1666, 1670 he was selectman; also 
for'the years 1672-75-81-83-a total of .fiff^e" -Ve^". 
He was a member of the grand jury m 1686, ibSb. 
■\s a selectman he was on a committee to inspect 
into the families "that there be no bye drinking or 
aiiv misdemeanor whereby sin is committed, and 
persons from their houses unseasonably." His wife 
was Dorothy, and their children were: Hannah, 
Samuel Sarah, John, Mary, all born and baptized 
in the church. In 1668 he was sent to England to 
procure another minister, and m 1671 Rev. Urian 
Oakcs was received and ordained through their 
visit abroad. Oakes remained pastor uiitil his 
death, and was also president of Harvard College. 
In 1670 Mr. Manning was appointed "to catechise 
the youth" of his town. The most important act 
of his life was in connection with Harvard College, 
he having been selected, with Deacon John Cooper, 
to replace the old college building with a new one, 
and to receive and disburse funds for that purpose 
This was in 1672, and his work extended until 
1684 This college was then nearer the people's 
hearts than any institution since. It was established 
by the general court (legislature") sixteen years after 
the landing of the "Mayflower." It was the pride 
and hope of the people who cast their fortunes in 
the New World. In 16.39 it received the name of 
Harvard College. William Manning (2) had much 
to do with the starting of this great educational 
school. The bodies of William and Dorothy Man- 
ning were buried in tlie cemetery of Harvard Square, 
and the headstones, still well preserved, show that 
he died March 14, i6qo, and his wife July 26, 
T6q2. He died full of vears and honors— a merchant, 
selectman, and held many other offices, aside from 
being a rebuilder of Harvard College. Their chil- 
dren were: i. Hannah, born 1642. 2. Samuel, born 
1644. 3 Sarah, born 1645. 4- Abigail, born 1647. 
S. John, born 1649. 6. Mary, born 1651. 7- Timothy, 
born t6s,i. 

(Ill) Samuel Manning, son of William (2) and 
Dorothv. born 16J4, was reared in his native town 
and educated in the midst of the good school sur- 
roundings of Cambridge. His handsome penmanship 
and easy style of composition showed hmi much 
superior' to his associates. When eighteen years of 
age he and other associates were summoned before 
the court and reproved for firing off their guns at 
night to cause an alarm. They belonged to a 
militia company, and the real object of the alarin 
was to give the impression that Indians had attacked 
the town, but even the court was not disposed to 
look too sternlv upon the boyinsh prank. He mar- 
ried at about 'that date (1666) and removed to 
Billerica, twenty miles distant. He was 111 the 
true sense a pioneer. When he settled only forty- 
six years had elapsed since the "Mayflower" landed 
on the "stern and rock-bound coast." The Indians 
were still strong on all sides— friendly one day and 
hostile the next. King Philip's war was in 1673, 
and twice his new home was assailed by savages. 
While they lived beyond the Concord river they 
were greatly exposed to danger, conflagration and 
death. In 1696 his new house became a "garrison.' 
He was made a corporal in 1682, sergeant in 1684, 
and ensign in 1699. He followed farm life and 
endured great hardship to subdue his lands. In 
1668 he was survevor of highways, sealer of weights 
and measures, T'675-1700; constable, 1677: trial 
juryman, 1679; assessor, 1694, 1698. 1702; tithing 
man, 1679-82-97, 1704-9; town clerk seven years: 
selectman eighteen years; and representative, 1695- 
97. The town records are full of commissions to 



him. At various times between 1677 and 1700 he 
was connected with repairing "the great bridge 
over the Concord river. He followed surveying a 
quarter of a century. In 1692 he was paid fourteen 
shillings for writing fourteen pages in the "town 
book." In 1693 he superintended the erection of a 
meeting house. In 1670 he was made a freeman of 
the colony. He was a large real estate holder. His 
will was made February 21, 1710. The chi dren by 
his two wives are as follows: By Elizabeth: 
Samuel, born 1695. and John. By Abiel : Imi- 
othy born 1673; Hannah, William, Mary, Sarah, 
Dorothy, Isaac, Ephraim, Elizabeth, Timothy, 
Eliphalet, Abiel. , / s . 

(IV) William Manning, son of Samuel (3), born 
June 27, 1677, at Billerica, where he always resided 
He inherited the old homestead. He was one of 
nineteen men out of one hundred and fifty who were 
digniticd by the title of "Mr." and one of ten who 
occupied the best or "fore seat below," as it was 
termed in church pews. He was prominent '" the 
militia, being an ensign in 1723. He married Eliza- 
beth French, born 1679, died 1736, when he married 
ISIary Shed. Ensign Manning died 1764. His chil- 
dren were: Elizabeth, horn 1701 ; Esther, born 
1703; Mary, 1705; William. 1707; Jacob. 1710; 
Sarah, 1711; Rachel, 1714; Martha. 1718; Hannah, 

(V) Jacob Manning, son of William Manning 
(4), born March 27, 1710, at Billerica, Massachu- 
setts, always resided in his native place. He received 
a portion of his father's farm by deed, or gift. His 
rate to the church in i755 \\-as 7 shillings, 11 pence. 
He was a journevman in the second session of court 
and surveyor in 1741-48-54: also a constable He died 
I762 He married Martha Beard, and had the fol- 
lowing named children: i. Jacob, born 1739- -• 
Mary, born 1741. 3- Isaac, born 1743- 4- Jesse, born 
1745- 5- Thomas, born 1747- 6. David, born 1749- 
7. Martha, born 1750. 8. David, born 1753- 9- 
Esther, born 1756. , ^ , . n , 

CVI) Jesse Manning, son of Jacob (51. born at 
Billerica, Massachusetts, August 18, 1845, was a sol- 
dier of the Revolution, and marched on the Lexing- 
ton Alarm, April 19, I775. in Col. Green's regi- 
ment He was a farmer. .A.fter his father died he 
bought a portion of the old homestead. Deceniber 
> 1766 he was married to Anne Carleton ; she died 
in I77Q. and he married Elizabeth Abbott of .^nd- 
over. Massachusetts. For his third companion he 
married (1802) Abigail Baldwin, who died m 1825. 
Jesse Manning died in the autumn of 1825. His chil- 
dren were: i. Mercy, born 1768. 2. David, borit 
1751. 3. Elizabeth, born 1773- 4- Jesse, born 1776. 
5. 'Julia, born 1778. /^^ . 

(VII) Jesse Manning, son of Jesse (6), born 
at Billerica. Massachusetts. July 12. 1776. He re- 
sided first in his native place and then removed to- 
Sutton, New Hampshire, and later to Paxton, 
Massachusetts, where his latter days were spent_ In 
New Hampshire he was engaged in the lumber busi- 
ness and had a mill in connection therewith. At 
Paxton he was a carpenter. He married Mary Kil- 
bri'dge at Tewksbury in 1796. He died at Paxtoir 
Julv 28 1852, having married tor his second 
wife Marv Durah (or Durren). His children 
bv his first wife were; i. Jesse, born I797- ^■ 
Nancy, born 1800. The children by Mary Durab 
were: i. Elizabeth, born 1810. 2. David, born 1812. 
3 Mary Jane, born 1814. 4- Elmira, born 1816. o- 
Samuel Stillman. born 1818, at Lexington. 

(VIII) David Manning, son of Jesse (7). born 
at Sutton, New Hampshire, April 14. 1812: lived at 
Paxton, Leicester and Worcester, Massachusetts; 
he died at the last named place April 15. 1890. He 




DAVID MAXNINc; 



WORCESTER COUx\TY 



75 



married Luc}- B. Grosvenor, who died in 1896. Tliiir 
children were: I. Bethia, married Joscpli A. Titus. 
2. George G. 3. Theodore. 4. David. 5. Charles 
W. 6. Joseph Avery. 7. Frederick. During the 
rebellion he was a member of the Freedom Club, 
a loyal organization, and was one of three of its 
business committee. 

(.IX) Joseph Avery Manning, son of David and 
Lucy E. (Grosvenor) Manning, born February 19, 
1851, at Worcester. He married Ella Amsden, and 
their children were: i. Joseph Nelson, born June 
30, 1879. 2. Frances G., born April 21, 1883. 3. Ed- 
ward Avery, born September 14, 1894. 

(IX) Charles Walter Manning, son of David 
and Lucy B. (Grosvenor) Mannnig, born August 
2, 1848; married Eva W. Parker and had: i. Wal- 
ter Webster, born May 24, 1875. -• I'Vank (iros- 
venor, born January i, 1877 ; died May 6, 1879. 3. 
Earl G., born January 9, 1881. 

(IX) George G. Manning, son of David and 
Lucy B. (Grosvenor) Manning, born October 20, 
1842; married Ellen Moore, and had one son Roger, 
born February 21, 1879. 

(IX) Theodore Manning, son of David and 
Lucy B. (Grosvenor) Manning, born in Pa.xton, 
Massachusetts, October, 1844, became a member of 
the Manning Shoe and Rubber Company, and for 
more than forty years resided at Worcester. When 
twenty years of age he came to Worcester, in 
1856. He completed his education in the public 
schools and acquired his good business training 
with E. A. Goodnow, wholesale boot and shoe 
dealer, after which he became a member of the S. 
R. Heywood & Company, as a shoe manufacturer. 
Ill 1870 he associated himself with his brotlur 
Cieorge G. and B. W. Childs. The latter withdrew 
from the concern and the two brothers continued 
until 1896, when he was transferred to Boston, be- 
ing consolidated with that of J. A. Manning, thus 
forming the Manning Shoe and Rubber Company. 
Our subject's health failed and on April 28, 1898, 
he passed from earthly scenes. He married Caro- 
line E. Woods, of Hardwick, Massachusetts, and 
left eight children: Frederick, Charles S., Grace 
W., Florence, David R., Robert H., Harold G., and 
Clarence W. Charles S. resides in Ohio, the others 
at Newton. He was a regular attendant of the 
Plymouth church from the time of its formation. 
He had a wide circle of personal friends. 

(IX) Hon. David Manning, son of David and 
Lucy B. (Grosvenor) Manning, was born August 
29, 1846. The first ten years of his life was spent 
in Leicester, to which place his parents had moved 
from Paxton, Massachusetts, when he was an in- 
fant. After 1856 Worcester was his home. He was 
proud of his ancestry, tracing family ties back to 
Samuel Adams. David, the father of our subject, 
was one of six children; all of with the exception of 
Joseph Manning, member of the shoe jobbing firm 
of Boston, known as Manning Brothers, are dead. 
The others were: George C, Theodore Walter and 
Mrs. Joseph A. Titus. 

Mr. Manning was educated in the public schools, 
graduating in 1865 from the Worcester high school, 
where he was awarded prizes for efficiency in dif- 
ferent branches. In the autumn of 1865 he entered 
Yale College, from which he graduated in high rank 
in 1869. He then entered Harvard Law School, 
but failing health compelled him to leave the con- 
finement of college life, but he entered the law office 
of Col. Joseph A. Titus, his brother-in-law, and 
H. O. Smith. In 1872 he was admitted to the prac- 
tice of his chosen profession. Soon after he ac- 
cepted a position in the law- office of Rice & Black- 
mer, where he gained wide experience in bank- 



ruptcy proceedings. In 1880 he left this firm, and 
associated himself for a time with Burton W. Potter, 
but soon opened an office of his own. He was re- 
garded by his fellow associates at the bar as among 
the most prominent in the county. Taking much in- 
terest in public affairs he was elected as a representa- 
tive from Ward No. 7 in 1887 and in 1899, the record 
time, and there became prominent through his serv- 
ice on the judiciary coinmittec. In 1900 he was 
elected to the state senate, serving tw^o years. Prior 
to having served in the legislature he was an asso- 
ciate justice of the Central district court from 1881 
to 1887, when he resigned. He was a member of 
the state central committee in 1888, 1897, 1898, and 
was frequently urged to become a candidate for 
mayor of Worcester, but declined the honor. He 
aspired to be a congressman in 1902, but was de- 
feated in nomination by Rufus B. Dodge. Mr. .Man- 
ning, who died Thursday, January 5, 1905, was a 
great lover of home life. A devoted husband and 
father, he spent all possible time at his own home 
circle, finding supreme happiness in the quiet of the 
sacred precincts of his own affairs. He was not 
a secret society man, and did not believe in some 
respects in secret organizations, but was in sympathy 
with the great principles of the benevolent features 
of such institutions, lie was an honored member of 
the Commonwealth and Tatnuck Clubs, lie was an 
active member and supporter of Unity Church, be- 
ing the chairman of the pastoral committee. The 
year 1878 marked a new era in Mr. Manning's life, 
in his marriage to Elizabeth, daughter of Alexander 
Bigelow and wife, born January 16, 1849. Mrs. 
Manning and one son, .-klexander Bigelow Manning. 
survive him. Shortly after their marriage Mr. and 
Mrs. iManning toured abroad, returning in the 
autumn of that year. One of his most intimate 
associates, Charles R. Johnson, remarked upon hear- 
ing of his sudden death from apoplexy : "I shall never 
meet a better man. He stood for honesty, integrity and 
reliability and the highest sense of honor. He was 
indeed the most high-minded man I ever met." He 
disliked to take a case that he did not believe in, 
but when his heart was in the case he was an an- 
tagonist to be legally feared. He would fight a case 
to the bitter end if he believed he was right, his 
client's cause in such instance becoming his own. 
He was well read in philosophy as well as law, and 
was made up of the most sterling qualities. He 
was laid to rest in Hope Cemetery. As an exponent 
of law, a radical temperance advocate, a conscien- 
tious citizen, a loving licmie companion and an in- 
dulgent father, no better, truer type of manhood 
ever graced the city of Worcester. 

PERLEY PIERCE COMEY, M. D. David 
Comey (l) w'as tbe emigrant ancestor of Dr. Perley 
Pierce Comey, of Worcester. He was in Woburn 
as early as 1663 and was doubtless the first of the 
name in this country. Family tradition says that 
he was born in Scotland. His son John married the 
daughter of a Scotchman, and the district in which 
he lived in Concord later was known as Scotland- 
The name is spelled Coniee by part of the descend- 
ants. In the earlier days it w-as spelled in various 
ways. Comy. Come. Comi, Comay and Coomy. 

About 1664 David Comey removed from Woburn, 
where he first settled, and made his home in Con- 
cord. Massachusetts, and there he lived the re- 
mainder of his days. He was killed while a soldier 
in King Philip's war in the Sudbury fight, described 
elsewhere in this work, April 21, 1676. There is a 
pathetic petition on file in the archives of the general 
court wherein the widow recites her woes after the 
loss of her husband. He was a young man, born 



76 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



about 1640, and when he was killed the widow had 
six small children including a baby six weeks old 
and four children of the first marriage to care for. 
The estate amounted to only eighty-seven pounds, 
fifty of which was represented by the house and 
land and the rest by clothing and furniture. She 
had to give away the children. In the petition she 
prayed that Captain Timothy Wheeler be named 
guardian for the purpose. The records fail to tell 
us how the orphans of the soldier fared later. 

David Comey married (first) Elizabeth, who 
died at Concord, iVIay 4, 1671, leaving four chil- 
dren. He married (second) Esther . His 

widow married (second), November 7, 1682, Sam- 
uel Parry. The children of David and Elizabeth 
Comey were : Elizabeth, married, March 29, 1691, 
John Kendallj born 1646, died 1732, of Woburn, 
where she died December, 1701 (See Kendall 
Sketch) ; Mary, born January 30, 1663, married. 
May 24, 1688, Joshua Kibby, of Sherburn and died 
July 9, 1712; he died 1731 ; John, of whom later; 
David, born November 14, 1666, died before 1676; 
Sarah. The children of David and Esther Comey 
were two daughters, one of whom was Esther, born 
February 14, 1676. 

(H) John Comey, third child of David Comey 
(i), was born in Concord, Massachusetts, October 
18, 1665. He was a farmer. He removed from 
Concord to Cambridge Farms, as Lexington was 
then called, in 1689. He died in Lexington, 1729, 
aged si.xty-four years. The date 1723 given in the 
Cambridge history is incorrect. 

He married, June 21, 1688, Martha Munroe, who 
was born November 2, l66j, the eldest daughter of 
William Munroe, a Scotch soldier sent over a pris- 
oner of war by Cromwell. (See Sketch of Munroe 
Fannly). Their first four children were baptized 
Feljruary 26, 1699. Their children were : John, born 
at Concord, April 8, 1687, died young probably; 
Hannah, died unmarried May 26, 1720; Martha, 
died July 9, 1713: David, of whom later; Eliza- 
beth, born January 29, 1701, at Lexington ; Abigail, 
baptized October 26, 1707, married, January 4, 1728, 
Jonas Pierce, and died at Westminster, Massa- 
chusetts. 

(IH) David Comey, fourth child of John Comey 
(2), was born in Lexington, Massachusetts, January 
II, 1696. If family tradition is correct he died in 
1800 at the age of one hundred and four years. In 
1729 he was called a yeoman. In 1736 he was an 
inn-holder. 

He married (first) Ruhama Brown, daughter of 
Joseph and Ruhamah Brown. She was born in 
Watertown, July 15, 1701, died June 3, 1730. He 

married (second) Sarah . There were five 

or six children by the first marriage, who died 
young. Only two of the children of David and 
Ruhamah ( Brown) Comey survived, viz. : John, 
haptized September 28, 1725 ; Joseph, baptized 
August 4, 1728. The children of David and Sarah 
Comey were: Benjamin, born November 15, 1733; 
Sarah, September II, 1735; Mary, April 11, 1738; 
Ezekiel, April 27, 1740; Ruhama, April 15, ,1742; 
David, April 21, 1744 ; Jonathan, April 4, 1746. 

(IV) Jonathan Comey, youngest child of David 
Comey (3), was born in Lexington, Massachusetts, 
April 4, 1746. When he was a young boy he went 
to Foxboro, where some of his elder brothers set- 
tled, and while still a young man removed to Hollis- 
ton, Massachusetts, where he lived with Samuel 
M'essinger. After he married he went to live in the 
west part of Hopkinton on the west side of White- 
hall Pond. At the Lexington Alarm April 19, 
1775, he turned out with the minute men. He served 
in the revolution in Captain John Holmes' company, 



Colonel Samuel Bullard"s regiment. His name was 
spelled Jno. Commey on the rolls. 

He married Elizabeth Wells about 1768. Their 
children were: Parmelia, married NathanieL Cham- 
berlain, of HoUiston, and settled in Wardsboro, Ver- 
mont ; Royal, of whom later ; Betsey, married Joshua 
Mellen, and resided in Westboro, Massachusetts ; 
their only son was Judge Edward Mellen, of Wor- 
cester; they had four daughters; Polly (Mary), 
married Jonathan Fairbanks, and lived in Holden ; 
Nellipee, married John Wheelock, of Vermont ; she 
died at the birth of her son John, who was brougiit 

up by Adams; Hannali, married .\bner 

Prentiss, of Hopkinton. 

(V) Royal Comey, second child of Jonathan 
Comey (4), was born in Hopkinton, Massachusetts, 
January 29, 1772. He died in Hopkinton, October, 
1853, aged eighty years. He was a well-to-do 
farmer. He always lived in his native town of 
Hopkinton. His place was on the east side of 
Whitehall pond, and he also owned a large tract 
on the western side and also an island in the pond, 
now known as Comey's island. 

He married Polly Andrews, of Millford. who 
died August 29, 1873, aged eighty-eight years, eight 
months, eight days. The children of Royal and 
Polly (Andrews) Comey were: Hiram, born July 
18, 1S06, married, 1832, Emily Gibbs; Elbert, August, 
1806, married twice and had seven children ; El- 
bridge Gerry, of whom later; Dexter, February '21, 
1814, died in Westboro, November 8, 1892 ; Martha 
Ann, August 19, 1817, married William B. Wales, of 
Hopkinton, who died April 13, 1845, leaving one 
child, Mary Ann ; Mary, July 12, 1823, died July, 
1844. 

(VI) Elbridge Gerry Comey, third child of 
Royal Comey (s), and father of Dr. Perley P. 
Comey (VII). was born in Hopkinton, Massachu- 
setts, November 11, 181 1. He married Abigail J. 
Pierce. He was a farmer. He settled first in Hol- 
liston, but in i860 returned to his native town, Hop- 
kinton, Massachusetts, to live. He was a man of 
sterling character and exemplary life. He died in 

Hopkinton, , 1868. They had children : Amanda 

."Kun, born December 20, 1832, died November 10, 
1856 ; educated at Mt. Holyoke Female Seminary ; 
Aratus, born October 27, 1837 ; Henry Newton, born 
March 4, 1840; Manlius, born March 18, 1843 : 
Mary Abby, born November 28, 1845. married. July 
15, 1868, George S. Gibson, of Hopkinton, Massa- 
chusetts, has five children, resides in Clinton, Massa- 
chusetts; and Perley P., of whom later. 

(VII) Dr. Perley Pierce Comey, youngest son 
of Elbridge Gerry Comey (6), was born in HoUis- 
ton, Massachusetts, January 14, 1852. He removed 
to Hopkinton with the family when eight years old. 
Fie spent his boyhood and youth helping his father 
on the farm when he was not attending the district 
schools of HoUiston and Hopkinton. In 1868, after 
his father died, he was sent to the Oread high 
school in Worcester, a classical school connected 
with the Oread Institute at that time. He after- 
ward learned the business of a druggist and phar- 
macist in Worcester. He began to study nudicine 
in the office of Dr. A. P. Richardson, of Boston. 
He graduated from the Harvard Medical School in 
1878. In the following August he began to practice 
his profession in Clinton, Massachusetts. Almost 
from the start he received liberal patronage and soon 
had a very extensive practice, not only in Clinton 
but in all the adjoining towns. Ever ready to sym- 
pathize and advise the afthcted and suffering, he be- 
came popular wherever he was known. He was not 
only a successful physician and skillful surgeon, but 
his tact and excellent judgment were quickly rec- 



t*^^ 






-y/ 



lyis Z^u"^ Fubhshm^ Co 



wo RCESTER COUNTY 



// 



ogiiized by his patients. He removed to the larger 
field of Worcester about 1897, though still retain- 
ing much of his county practice. lie resides at 
bj Lincoln street, and his office is at 61 Lincoln 
street. Dr. Conicy stands high in the estimation of 
his fellow practitioners in Worcester, and in hos- 
pital and private practice has been singularly for- 
tunate in recent years, lie is a member of the 
Massachusetts Medical Society. He is a prominent 
Free Mason and Odd Fellow. 

He married, in ICS73, Marion L. Jones, daughter 
of John O. Jones, of Boston, and granddaughter of 
the late Colonel James Estabrook, of Worcester, 
with whom she lived. They have three children, 
viz.: I. Effie M., born in Clinton, a graduate ot 
Smith College, married D. E. iNIanson, ot Brookline, 
Massachusetts, manager of the Westinghouse Elec- 
tric Company of Boston ; they have two children : 
Marian and John T. ; Gertrude J., born in Clin- 
ton, a graduate of Smith College, resides at home; 
Clifton J., born in Clinton, a graduate of Worcestu' 
Academy, class of 1905, now (1906J a student 111 
Boston. 

OLIVER WILLIS RUGG. John Rugg was the 
emigrant ancestor of Oliver Willis Rugg and Arthur 
1'. Rugg, of Worcester, and probably of all the 
families of that surname in this vicinity. He came 
to this country about 1650 and settled at Water- 
ii'wn, but soon reinoved and was one of the first 
-cttlers of Lancaster, Massachusetts. Rugg is an 
ancient family in Norfolk county, England, and 
Lord Braybrooke says that two men of this branch 
of the family were aldermen of Norwich. One re- 
port states that John Rugg was born in Sowerby, 
llalifa.x parish, England, March ir, 1632. John 
Rugg was in Lancaster in 1652. He married licst, 
in i6;4, Martha Prescott, and (second). Hannah 
Prescott, both daughters of Jonathan and Mary 
( Platts) Prescott. He was very active in town 
affairs. He was admitted a freeman in 1669. His 
wife Martha died May 4, 1660, after having had 
two children, both of whom died young. John 
Rugg died at Lancaster in 1696. His widow was 
killed by the Indians at Lancaster, September 22, 

ibgy. His children were : i. ■ died January 

18. 1655-6. 2. John, born January 17. 1655-6, died 
Januarv 29, 1655-6. 3. John, born June 4. ' 1662, 
died 1712: had: i. John. ii. Samuel, settled at 
Hadley. iii. Nathaniel, iv. David., v. Jonathan, 
vi. Benjamin. vii. Mary. viii. Abigail.'^ 4. Mary, 
born July II, 1664. 5. Thomas, born September 15, 
1666. resided at Lexington, Massachu-^etts ; married 

Elizabeth , and had : i. Thomas, born 

December 6, 1691. ii. William, born November 19, 
1693. iii. Elizabeth, born January 20. 1695. iv. 
Hannah, born April 26. 1697. v. Abigail, born 
March 13, 1699. vi. Sarah, born February 12, 1702. 
vii. Mary, born May 30. 1703. viii. Ruth, born Sep- 
tember, 1706. ix. Tabitha, born September 10, 1708. 
X. Milicent. born November 11, 1710. xi. Martha, 
born November 10. 1713. 6. Joseph, born Decem- 
ber 15, 1668. (Joseph, his wife and three children 
and his mother Hannah were murdered by the In- 
dians at their home in Lancaster. September 22, 
1697. The others killed at that time were: Rev. 
Mr. Whiting. Daniel Hudson, his wife and two 
daughters: Ephraim Roper, wife and daughter ; John 
Skait and wife; Jonathan Fairbank. Widow 
Wheeler, Mary Glazier, and a son of each of Eph- 
raim Roper, John Skait and Joseph Rugg. Most 
of these families were in South Lancaster. Peace 
had already been declared between Great Britain 
and France when this attack was made.) 7. Hannah, 
born January 2, 1671, married John Bell, 1690. 8. 



Rebecca, born May 16. 1673, married Nathaniel 
Hudson. 9. Daniel, born November 15. 1678 10 
Jonathan, born February 10, 1681, settled in Marl- 
iiorough. Massachusetts, married Sarah, daughter of 
John Newton; removed to Framingham, Massa- 
chusetts; married (second) Hannah Singletary 

married (third) Eliz.abeth , who was living 

when he died, December 25, 1753. 

(H) Daniel Rugg, son of John Rugg (i), lived 
m that part of Lancaster that is now Sterling. He 
was born September 15, 1678, at Concord, while the 
family was away from Lancaster. He died at Sterl- 
mg, June 23. 1758. He was constable in 1718, and 
always prominent in church affairs at South Lan- 
caster or Sterling. He lived near the Sawyers, 
Fairbanks, Samuel Prescott, John Harris and Rev. 
Andrew (iardner. They served together in the same 
garrison by order of the general court at Mr. Gard- 
ner's house, on the west side of the Nashua river. 
Daniel Rugg saw much service during the Indian 
troubles. He married Elizabeth, daughter of Reu- 
ben Priest, of Sterling, March 10, 1730. He died 
June 23, 1758. His wife died December 3, 1754. 
He joined the church March 3, 1716-17; she joined 
April I, 1716-17. Both had been members of the 
Eancasier church. Daniel Rugg signed the cove- 
nant in 1708 at Lancaster. Children of Daniel and 
Elizabeth Rugg: i. Captain Daniel. 2. Reuben, 
horn at Sterling, married Lydia Ross. 3. Amos, 
born December 17. 17-16. baptized January"20, 1717. 
4. Nathan, born April 13, 1718. 5. Isaac, baptized 
.\pnl 3. 1720. 6. Sarah, baptized July 21, 1728. 
7. Mary (full communion). May 6, 1733. 

(II!) -Amos Rugg, son of Daniel Rugg (2), 
was born at Sterling, December 17, 1716 ; married De- 
cemlier 29, 1741, Mary Burpee, and settled in Sterl- 
ing. He was a farmer. Children of Amos and 
Mary (Burpee) Rugg; T. Amos, born January 6, 
1744-45. died September 11, 1746. 2. Amos, (2<l), 
l)orn March 1747, married Sarah Willard 1769, in- 
tentions recorded February 8, 1769. 3. Mary, born 
May 7. 1750. 4. Stephen, born October 30, 1751, 
died October 19, 1756. 5. Solomon, born March 17, 
1754. died November 5. 1756. 6. Phebe, born June 
.S- ^75^- 7- Olive, born April 6, 1760. 8. Pamelia, 
born April 12, 1762. 9. Hannah, born June 22, 1764. 
10. Luther, born April 12. 1770. 

(IV) I.ulher Rugg. son of Amos Rugg (3), 
was born at Sterling, then the western part of Lan- 
caster. .April 12. 1770. and died in Sterling October 
20, 1S63. He was prominent in town affairs, an 
active and useful citizen. He was elected a member 
of the committee on laying out roads in 1817; as 
assessor six years, 1818-27: served on the school 
committee five years. 1818-25 ; on board of over- 
seers of poor 1820 and 1821 ; on board of officers 
to preserve order in public worship, in 1820, 1824. 
1826 and 1827 : elected field driver 1825 and 1832. 
■ind member of committee on gift of the Jacob 
Conant farm to the town in 1839. He married 
luiif 22. 1800. Ruth Jewett. daughter of Amos 
Jewett, who was born in Lancaster, March. 1747. 
died at Lancaster, April 15, 1781, married, October, 
1768. .Sarah Willard. Amos Jewett was a soldier 
in the Continental army during the revolutionary 
war in the campaign about Boston. Ruth was born 
January 16. 1776. and died September 20. 1864. 
Their children: i. Harriet, born March 30, i8or. 
died August 23, 1892 ; married Spencer Wilder. 2. 
Mason, born September 16. 1802, died September 7, 
1804, 3. Luther Warren, born .August 24. 1804, 
died December T4. 1859. 4. .Amos Willard. born 
February 2,'i. 1806. died June 2. 1866. 5. Ruth Eliza. 
liorn February 13. 1808. died April 19. 1836. married 
Charles Powers, 6. John Abbot, born June 19, 



78 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



1810, died June 25, 1814. 7. Adolplia. born December 
15, 1812. died September 24, 1861. married William 
CrowcU, 1S50. 8. Augustus Kendall, born February 
17, 1815, died August 7, 1S43. 9. Prentice Mason, 
born July 22. 18I7, died February 25, 1885. 

(.V) Prentice Mason Rugg. son of Lutber Rugg 
(4), born at Sterling, July 22, 1817, died in Boston, 
February 25, 1885. He carried on a farm at Sterl- 
ing, and taught school in the winter for many years 
in Lancaster and Sterling. For twenty-one winters 
in succession he taught school, and later four years 
more. He was frequently honored by his fellow 
citizens. He served as assessor nineteen years, from 
185s to 1881, as member of school committee, nine 
years from 1847 to i860 as moderator of town meet- 
ings ; eight years from 1869 to 1879 as selectinan ; 
as juryman eight terms from 1868 to 1882; as high- 
way surveyor four years from 1843 to 1869; as trus- 
tee of the Conant fund three years from 1868 to 
1870. and other various committees. He married, 
June 15, 1847, Cynthia Ross. She was born in 
Bakersfield. Vennont, December 17, 1825, daughter 
of Willis and Mary (Taylor) Ross. Both of her 
parents were born in Sterling and removed to 
Bakersfield. The children of Prentice Mason and 
Cynthia (Ross) Rugg were: I. John Mason, born 
June 6. 1848, died in Sterling, August 28, 1866; was 
educated in common schools of Sterling and was 
fitted for college in the Lancaster Academy under 
W. A. Kilburn, principal. He taught the South 
Lancaster grammar school during the winter term 
of 1865 and 1866. 2. Oliver Willis, born March 
24, 1850. 3. Carrie Hannah, born February 7, 1852, 
married Herbert R. Sylvester, who was born in 
Newton, Massachusetts, and is principal of the Claf- 
lin School of Newton. Carrie Hannah was edu- 
cated in the public schools and at the State Normal 
School at Salem, class of 1873. She taught school 
at Lancaster and Sterling, Wellesley and Newton. 
They reside at Newtonville. 4. Arthur Prentice, 
born August 20, 1862, married Florence Belcher, 
of Worcester ; has had four children. 5. Mary 
Taylor, born September 4, 1864, died September I, 
1866. 

(VI) Oliver Willis Rugg, son of Prentice 
Mason Rugg (5), was born at Sterling, March 24, 
1850. His early days were spent on the farm in that 
town. He attended the district schools of Sterling, 
and later spent two terms at the Lancaster Academy 
under W. A. Kilburn, principal. He taught the 
Chocksett district school during the winter -term 
of 1868-69, and later substituted in Sterling for his 
sister Carrie H., so that she might accept a better 
position which had been offered her after she had 
teen engaged at Sterling. He entered the Wor- 
cester Polytechnic Institute in September, 1869, 
.graduating in 1872, in the second class graduated 
from that Institute. Among his classmates were 
Parkman T. Denny, of Leicester, A. W. Woods, of 
Worcester : George H. Scott of the Morgan Spring 
Company of Worcester : Solon Davis and Jonathan 
Moore, of Holden ; Herbert S. Rice, of Barre ; S. 
C Heald, Jr., of Jamica Plains ; and M. B. Smith, 
of Lowell. During the vacation of 1871 he worked 
with William A. Smith, engineer in charge of the 
water supply for the city of Fitchburg. In Septem- 
ber, 1872, he went to work for George Raymond, 
who was engineer in charge of the preliminary sur- 
veys for the introduction of water into the town of 
Leominster, also into the city of Springfield : en- 
gineer for the Vermont & Massachusetts Railroad 
Company, and engineer for the Fitchburg Railroad 
Comnany. While in his employ Mr. Rugg made 
estimates for the Leominster water supply, surveys 
and estimates for the Springfield water supply, and 



did much of the engineering for the Vermont & 
Massachusetts Railroad Company, and some for the 
Fitchburg Railroad Company. Mr. Raymond was 
elected city engineer of Fitchburg the first year it 
was incorporated as a city, and he gave into the 
hands of Mr. Rugg the engineering for the street 
department of that city. After leaving Mr. Ray- 
mond, Mr. Rugg worked for a time on his own 
account at Clinton and other places. It was at this 
time that he substituted in the school at Sterling 
for his sister. He was elected a member of the 
school committee about this time and served for 
many terms. In 1878 he formed a partnership with 
his classmate, A. W. Woods, as civil engineers and 
surveyors, and they opened an office at 44 Front 
street, Worcester. Three years later they moved 
to the Rogers Block, at the corner of Pleasant and 
Main streets, and still later to the J. H. Walker 
building at the corner of Barton Court and Main 
street. This firm had all the work of the Wash- 
burn & Moen Manufacturing Coinpany until they 
established an office of their own. They also had 
the work of George Crompton for many years. 
The firm made a preliminary survey to Marlboro 
for H. H. Bigelow. who planned to extend the line 
he had built to the Lake. They also made an ac- 
curate survey and very artistic plan of Lake Quin- 
sigamond for Mr. Bigelow. They did the prelimi- 
nary surveying for the Grafton, Upton & Milford 
Railroad, and carried out the construction of a part 
of that road. Mr. Rugg, for the firm, made the 
plans and superintended the construction of the 
first electric railroad in Worcester, the Worcester, 
Leicester & Spencer Electric Street Railway. The 
firm were the engineers for the Worcester & Mill- 
bury Electric Street Railway Company. In 1893 
they made preliminary surveys for electric railways 
from Worcester to Southbridge, Webster, North- 
bridge, via the Blackstone Valley, and to Marlboro. 
This was done by order of the late Samuel Winslow, 
who was then president and one of the promoters 
of the Worcester, Leicester and Spencer Electric 
Railway. None of these roads, however, were built 
under these franchises. Mr. Rugg and his partner 
dissolved in 1S94, and Mr. Rugg opened his office 
in the Day building, on Main street. After that 
building was destroyed by fire in March. 1897, he 
moved to his present office, Room 824, State Mutual 
Building. He has been occupied much of the time 
with street railway work, although his office has 
had a large variety of work for individuals and 
corporations in Worcester county. He engineered 
the relocation of the Worcester, Leicester & Spencer 
Electric Street Railway to conform to the state 
highway, made preliminary surveys for an electric 
railway from Pen Yan to Branchport, in the state 
of New York, on which he was afterward the con- 
structing engineer, was constructing engineer for 
the Worcester & Clinton Street Railway Company, 
relocated and constructed a part of the Worcester 
& Webster Street Railway, was constructing en- 
gineer for the Worcester & Southbridge Street Rail- 
way Company, made preliminary surveys for an 
electric railway from Washington Junction to Cas- 
tine, in the«state of Maine, a distance of about forty 
miles ; this road, however, has never been built. He 
has also made preliminary surveys, plans and esti- 
mates for a railroad to connect at Millbury with 
the W"orcester Consolidated Street Railway, and 
run to Singletary Lake, a railroad from Fiskdale 
to Palmer, an extension of the Southbridge & Stur- 
bridge Street Railway, and one from Whitinsville 
to Providence, an extension of the Blackstone Valley 
Street Railway, but these likewise were never built. 
He has in the past few years done practically all of 



\ 




U'Ufmi rfui. 



n 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



79 



the engineering for the Worcester Consolidated 
Street Kaihvaj- Company. Plans and estimates have 
been prepared for the abolition of grade crossings 
in the towns of Webster and Winchendon under 
his supervision. Mr. Rugg is a member of Athels- 
tan Lodge, A. F. and A. M. ; of Hiram Council, of 
Worcester Chapter, of the Worcester Countj- Coni- 
niandery, Knights Templar, and he has taken all 
the degrees to and including the thirty-second in 
the Scottish Rite. He is Republican in politics and 
z member of the Board of Trade. 

He married. May 14. 1902, Maud Edith Thre^luT, 
daughter of Harrison O. and Mary Lizzie (.Hinck- 
ley I Thresher, of Hardwick. Massachusetts. Their 
children are. i. Oliver Willis, Jr., born October jS. 
190.5. 2. Alma Beatrice, born April 6, 1905, both 
born at Worcester. 

ARTHUR PRENTICE RUGG. (6). son of 
Prentice M. Rugg (5j, was born at Sterling. Massa- 
chusetts. August 20, 1862. (For ancestery see sketch 
of his brother, O. Willis Rugg.) 

Arthur P. Rugg passed his youthful days at 
home in his native town, where he attended the 
district schools, and later prepared for college at 
Lancaster high school, from which institution he 
was graduated in 1879. He entered Amherst Col- 
lege, was graduated cum laudc in 1883, and im- 
mediately began the study of law. entering the 
Boston University Law School. In 1886 he received 
liis degree of Bachelor of Laws magna cum laiide, 
was admitted to the bar the same year, and was 
selected to serve as class orator at the connnence- 
ment exercises. Worcester having been chosen as 
the central field for his work, he entered into a law 
partnership with John R. Thayer, recently repre- 
sentative in congress from the third Massachusetts 
district. The firm of Thayer & Rugg in 1886 had 
their offices in the Walker building, but the present 
spacious offices of the firm are to be found on the 
eighth floor of the State Mutual building, where 
they located shortly after the completion of the 
building. / 

Mr. Rugg's professional career has been very act- 
ive and successful. He has won many notable victories 
for his firm, having few equals as a trial lawyer 
and no superior in the preparation of cases. He 
has confined himself to no special line of practice, 
and though not generally know-n as a criminal 
lawyer has had an extended experience in the crim- 
inal courts, having in 1893 and 1894 served as as- 
sistant district attorney pro tempore, and in April. 
1895, \va<; appointed assistant district attorney by 
Herbert Parker. He was chosen city solicitor, July 
.1. 1897, to succeed William S. B. Hopkins, and has 
teen annually re-elected since that year, a fact 
which testifies to his sterling integrity and quali- 
fications for office. This is one of the most im- 
portant positions of the kind in the state, and his 
excellent service rendered in behalf of the public 
during his term of office has won for him the com- 
plete confidence of the citizens and taxpayers of 
the city. He was admitted to nractice in the supreme 
■court of the United States. November 28. 1904. for 
the purpose of arguing writs of error in the famous 
cases of the City of Worcester vs. the Worcester 
Consolidated Street Railway in relation to condi- 
tions in location for tracks. He has devoted him- 
self exclusively to the work of his profession, avoid- 
ing political office and other interests that he felt 
would conflict with the requirements of his chosen 
vocation. His services as counsel for various towns 
in the county when involved in litigation have been 
often sought. He is counsel for many corporate 
interests, and has a large clientage among all classes. 



In recent years he has been called upon to serve 
on rnany important commissions to abolish grade 
crossings and to determine apportionments in the 
Metropolitan district. Mr. Rugg had a brief service 
ill the common ccnmcil of Worcester, representing 
his ward in 1894-95. and during his second year 
was president of the board. He has been a trustee 
of the Worcester Mechanics Savings Bank since 
1807. and was a director of the First National 
Bank from 1900 to 1903, when the bank went into 
voluntary liquidation. He is a member of Athels- 
lan Lodge, Ancient, Free and Accepted Masons; 
lliram Council; Worcester Chapter; Worcester 
County Commandery. Knights Templar. He is a 
nioniber of the Worcester Club, Commonwealth 
Club, American Bar Association, Appalachian Club 
of Boston, American Forestry Association, Wor- 
cester Board of Trade, Worcester County Horti- 
cultural Society, Worcester County Agricultural 
Society, and the Worcester Society of Antiquity. He 
is president of the Amherst College Alumni Associa- 
tion (1900;, a trustee of the School of Expression, 
Bo.ston, an active number of the Church of the 
Unity C Unitarian), of Worcester, a member of the 
parish committee, and a Republican in politics. 

Mr. Rugg has met with uncommon success in 
the prosecution of bis chosen profession because 
of the elements of success within him. He is 
studious, thoughtful, quick to comprehend, has in 
store a generous fund of practical knowledge, and 
is a gentleman and a man of honor. Aside from 
his extensive yet rapidly increasing legal practice, 
he has found time to respond to invitations to de- 
liver various addresses, among which might be 
named a memorial address at Sterling, Massa- 
chusetts, on the death of the late President McKin- 
ley: and "Colonial Farm Life in Colonial New 
England," delivered before the Worcester Society 
of Antiquity. He has also delivered Memorial Day 
addresses before various Grand Army Posts, also 
on other public occasions, some of which may be 
found in print. He has also been called upon to 
act on various commissions and boards of arbitra- 
tions when questions of law were involved. 

As these pages were undergoing revision. Mr. 
Rugg was paid the high compliment of having been 
selected by Governor Guild to fill the vacancy oc- 
casioned by the resignation of Hon. John Lathrop. 
and was accordingly commissioned associate justice 
of the supreme court, and took his seat on the bench, 
in the court house at Worcester, on October i, 1906. 

Mr. Rugg married, in Worcester, Massachusetts, , 
April 10. 1889. Florence May Belcher, daughter of 
Charles and Esther (Jewett) Belcher, of Worcester. 
Their children are : Charles Belcher, born Janu- 
ary 20, 1890 ; Arthur Prentice, Jr.. born August 22. 
1893: Esther Cynthia, born September 5. 1896: Don- 
ald Sterling, born August 18, 1898, died February 
22. 1899. 

ANDREW J. BANCROFT. Lieutenant Thomas 
Bancroft fi). son of John and Jane Bancroft, was 
born in England in 1622. He was the immigrant 
ancestor of Andrew J. Bancroft, of Lancaster. 
Massachusetts. His father also came over but died 
in Lynn in i6,V- His mother. Jane Bancroft, had 
land assigned to her in Lynn where the family first 
settled in New- England. She was living in LvUn 
in 16,^8. 

Thomas Bancroft was living in Dedhani. Massa- 
chusetts, in 1647. and was admitted to townsman 
in 1648. He removed in 1652 or 1653. wdien his 
name first appears on the church records of Read- 
ing. Massachusetts.' but there is no proof that he 
ever lived within the limits of that town, but he 



8o 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



certainly lived in that vicinity the remainder of 
his days. He hired a the hundred acre farm of 
Samuel Bennett in what is now Saugus, an adja- 
cent town, and the Reading church was the nearest 
to his home, so he belonged to that parish. The 
town lines in that neighborhood seem to have been 
indefinite. He was not a proprietor of the town 
of Reading, but his son Thomas lived in Reading 
and became a very prominent citizen there. 

The home of Lieutenant Thomas Bancroft was 
just south of the Straits, a narrow roadway through 
the rocky hills leading from Reading to Saugus. 
It is still known as the Bancroft place. The sur- 
vey of the line between Lynn and Charlestown 
made about 1670 mentions the "house that was En- 
sign Bancroft's." About that time he bought seventy 
acres of land at Lynnfield, three miles from Reading 
church, which was still the nearest to his home. 
In 1678 the deed of the adjoining Holyoke farm 
recites "that it had been for some time in posses- 
sion and improvemeiit of Thomas Bancroft and a 
half acre with building thereon was reserved • and 
deeded to Bancroft." 

Lieutenant Bancroft died in Lynn, August ig, 
1691. The inventory of his estate was filed Novem- 
ber 24, 1691, by his son Ebenezer. It shows that 
he owned land at Reading and Lynn, etc. An 
agreement for a division of the property was made 
by the widow, Elizabeth, sons Thomas, John and 
Ebenezer ; Joseph Brown, husband of the daughter 
Elizabeth, and Sarah Bancroft, the youngest daugh- 
ter. The widow died May I, 1711. 

He married (first) Alice Bacon, daughter of 
Michael Bacon, of Dedham, Massachusetts. March 
^l, 1647-8. She died March 29, 1648. He married 
(second) Elizabeth Metcalf, daughter of Michale 
and Sarah Metcalf. She was admitted to the church 
December 14,- 1651, at Dedham. and November 22, 
1669, at Reading, by letter from Dedham. The 
only child of Lieutenant Thomas and Alice was : 
Thomas, born 1648, of whom later. The children 
of Thomas and Elizabeth were : Elizabeth, born 
and died 1650: John, born February 3, 1651-2, mar- 
ried Elizabeth Bacon; Elizabeth, born at Reading, 
December 7. 1653. married Joseph Brown ; Sarah, 
horn 1660. died 1661 ; Raham, born 1662, died 1683 ; 
Sarah, born 1665, inarried John Woodward ; Eben- 
ezer, born 1667. married Abigail Eaton and resided 
at Lynnfield; Mary, born 1670. 

(II) Thomas Bancroft, son of Lieutenant 
Thomas Bancroft (l), was born in Dedham. Massa- 
chusetts, in 1648 or 1649. He settled in Reading, 
Massachusetts, and became one of the most promi- 
nent citizens there. He was an officer in King 
Philip's war, selectman for several years. He re- 
sided in the western part of Reading where the 
old Bancroft homestead is to be seen at present. 
His was the fourth house built in the west parish ; 
it was near what is now called the Abraham "Temple 
place. 

He married in 1673, Sarah Poole, daughter of 
Jonathan and Judith Poole. Their children were : 
Thomas, of whom later ; Jonathan, born and died 
1675 ; Sarah, born 1676, married Abraham Bryant ; 
Mehitable. born 1678, married Parker ; Jona- 
than, born 1681. married Sarah . died in 1702; 

Raham, born 1684 ; Judith, born 1688. married 
Parker ; Samuel, born 1691, died 1692 ; 



Samuel born 1693 ; Elizabeth, born 1696, married 

(III) Captain Thomas Bancroft, son of Thomas 
Bancroft (2), was born in Reading. Massachusetts. 
1673. He also settled in Reading. He married 
Mary Webster. Their children were: Thomas, 
born in Reading about 1705; Benjamin, of whom 



later ; Jonathan, married Mary Pierpont ; Joshua, 
married Mary Lamson, resided in Reading and 
Worcester. 

(,1V) Captain Benjamin Bancroft, son of Cap- 
tain Thomas Bancroft (3), was born in Reading, 
Massachusetts, 1701 or 1702, died at Groton, July 
21, 1787. He settled first in the adjoining town of 
Charlestown and later at Groton, Massachusetts. 
He joined the church at Charlestown, November 
3, 172S. He bought his house there in 1723 of John 
Allum. He was a tanner by trade. He was cap- 
tain of militia and probably served in the colonial 
wars. He married Anna Lawrence, daughter of 
John Lawrence, of Lexington, and a descendant of 
John Lawrence, of Watertown. (See Lawrence 
pedigree with A. B. Lawrence sketch, Fitchburg, 
in this work.) The children of Captain Ben- 
jamin and Anna Bancroft were: Benjamin, Jr., 
of whom later; Edmund, born at Charles- 
tow-n, Massachusetts, November 23, 1726, set- 
tled at Pepperell, formerly part of Groton ; was 
treasurer, deputy to the general court, and captain ; 
Anna, born December 20, 1728, at Groton, died 
November, 1806; Mary, born April 4, 1731, died 
December i, 1732; Joseph, born September 5, 1733. 
died Noveiuber 24, 1737; Mary, born February 0, 
1735. died November 25, 1737; Joseph, born August 

I, 173S, died November 2, 1745; Sarah, born Novem- 
ber 2, 1740, died November 2, 1745 ; Jonathan, born 
January 27, 1743, died October 26, 1745. 

(V) Deacon Benjamin Bancroft, son of Captain 
Benjamin Bancroft (4), was born in Charlestown, 
Massachusetts. September 29, 1724, and died at 
Groton, October 27, 1804, aged eighty years. He 
f(.illowed his father's trade, a tanner, and like his 
father became captain of the militia company. In 
the revolution his son Benjamin was a soldier. He 
seems to have served also at Rutland, guarding 
British prisoners in Captain Nathaniel Harrington's 
company. Colonel Abijah Stearns's regiment, in 
1778. He was treasurer of the town and deacon 
of the church at Groton. 

He married. October iS, 1749, Alice Tarbell, of 
Groton. She died November 29, 17S1. Their chil- 
dren were: Benjamin, Jr., born August 7, 1750, 
at Charlestown or Groton ; Abel, born at Groton, 
May 2S. 1752; Thaddeus, born April 12, 1754; Wil- 
liam, born May 2, 1756, lieutenant in the revolution; 
married, 1782, Agnes Edes ; Joseph, born July 3, 
1760; Samuel, of whom later; Sarah, born July 29, 
1767; John, born January 28, 1771. 

(VI) Samuel Bancroft, son of Deacon Benja- 
min Bancroft (5), was born at Groton, Massa- 
chusetts, July 6, 1764. He settled in Groton. He 
married. May 7, 1789, Anigail Child. He was edu- 
cated in the common schools and learned the trade 
of stone mason, which he followed all his life. He 
was also a farmer. His children were : Isaac, born 
November 6, 1789; Tarbell, May 19, 1792; Edmund, 
May 23, 1794; Abigail, October 23, 1796; Stowell, 
April II, 1799; George W., August 11, 1801 ; Eliza, 
July 14, 1803. 

(VII) Stowell Bancroft, son of Samuel Ban- 
croft (6), was born in Groton. Massachusetts, April 

II. 1799. He was educated in the district schools 
and learned the trade of his father, a stone mason, 
and followed it as a business during his active life. 
In politics he was an active Whig for many years. 
He resided in Lancaster, Massachusetts, and in 
Mount Vernon, New Hampshire. He married 
(first) Mary Heywood. December 3, 1822: she died 

January 3, 182s She was born February 7, 1796, 
daughter of Joseph and Elizabeth (Perkins) Trow. 
He married (second) Martha D. Trow, July 3, 
1825; she died December 15. 1876. He died March 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



8i 



14, 1883. Of his children one was liy the first mar- 
riage and five by the second. The child of Stowell 
and Mary was : Mary EHzabeth, born December 
17, 1824. The children of Stowell and Martha Ban- 
croft were: Emily Heywood, born July 19, 1826, 
died December 29, 1875 • Andrew Jackson, born 
April 28, 1829; Sabrina Francis, born August 28, 
183 1 ; William Henry Child, born August 10, 1833; 
Charles Bainbridge, born September 4, 1838, died 
June 2, 1903. 

(VIII) Andrew J. BaTicroft, son of Stowell 
Bancroft (7), and Martha Dodge (Trow) 
Bancroft, was born in Dunstable. Massachu- 
setts, April 28, 1829. He removed to New 
Hampshire with his parents when he was a 
young boy and attended the district schools 
there. He settled in Mount Vernon, New Hamp- 
.'liire, where he engaged in the business of lumber- 
ing and farming, achieving more than ordinary 
success. In 1856 he removed to Lancaster, Massa- 
chusetts, and settled there on a farm. For the past 
few years Mr. Bancroft has led a retired life. In 
politics Mr. Bancroft is a Republican. He has 
taken a leading part in town affairs in Lancaster 
and for over thirty years has been on the board of 
assessors. He has also served the town as road 
commissioner, overseer of the poor and selectman. 
He is an active attendant of the Congregational 
church and one of its most liberal supporters. Mr. 
Bancroft inherits the executive ability and strength 
of character that have made the Bancrofts for 
many generations leaders and men of prominence. 
He has given to his fellow citizens the utmost satis- 
faction in the various positions of trust and respon- 
sibility that he has filled. 

He married, October, 1856, Mary A. Clough, 
daughter of James and Sarah (Sargent) Clough, of 
Orange, New Hampshire. Their children are : Ed- 
win E.. born September 10. 1858. married Josephine 
Given, and they have three children; William L., 
born February 20. 1S62. married Agnes White, and 
they have had two children ; George A., born July 
I, 1865. married Edith R. Worcester; Charles G., 
born December 3, 1867. married Blanche Hight. 
and they have two children ; Martha S., born 
November 2, 1871. 

WHITNEY FAMILY. John Whitney (i), the 
immigrant ancestor of Anna Henshaw Whitney, of 
Lancaster, Massachusetts, was born in England in 
1659. He settled early in Watertown, Massachusetts, 
where he was living in June, 1635. He married in 

England, Elinor . who was born in 1599 

and died at Watertown. May 11, 1659. He married 
(second) in Watertown. September 29, 1659. Judith 
Clement, who died before him. He died June 1, 
1673. (Something of his ancestry and more of his 
early history will be found under the sketch of the 
Whitney family of Worcester, Massachusetts, in 
this work.) 

The children of John and Elinor Whitney were: 
Mary, baptized in England. May 23. 1619. died 
yoiuig; John, of whom later; Richard, born in Eng- 
land. 1626, married Martha Coldam; Nathaniel, 
born in England. 1627 ; Thomas, born in England, 
1629, married Mary Kettell : Jonathan, born in Eng- 
land. 16,34. married Lydia Jones; Joshua, born in 

Watertown, July 5, 1635. married Lydia ; 

(second) Mary' : (third) Abigail Tarbell ; 

Caleb, born at Watertown. July T2. 1640, buried 
July 12. 1640; Benjamin, born at Watertown. July 
6. 1643. married Jane and (second) Mary Poor. 

(li) John Whitney, son of John Whitney (i), 
was born in England, 1620. He settled in Water- 
town. He married Ruth Reynolds, daughter of 
6 



Robert Reynolds, of Watertown, Weathcrsfield and 
Boston. John Whitney's estate was administered 
by his widow and sons, John and Benjamin. The 
inventory dated October 26, 1692, included eighteen 
parcels of land amounting to two hundred and ten 
acres. His will was dated February 27, 1685; it 
was not proved. His homestall was a three-acre 
lot on the east side of Lexington street on land 
granted first to E. How, bought by him in 1643, 'the 
lot next south of the homestead of the Phillips 
family and probably the same lot occupied by his 
grandson, Bradshavv Whitney. He was a soldier 
in King Philip's war under Captain Hugh Mason. 
He died October 12, 1692. 

The children of John and Ruth Whitney were: 
John, born September 17, 1643, married Eliza'oeth 
Hinds; Ruth, born .^pril i,:;, 1645. married, June 
20, 1664. John Shaltuck. who was in the Squakeag 
fight September 4. 1675, and was drowned soon 
afterward at Charlestown Ferry; Nathaniel, born 
February r. 1646, married Sarah Hagar; Samuel, 
born July 26. 1648. married Mary Bemis; Mary, 
Ijorn April 29. 1650; Joseph, born January i,s, 1651, 
married Martha Beach ; Sarah, born March 17, 
i6.S3, married. October 18, 1681, Daniel Harrington; 
Elizabeth, born June 9, 1656, married, December 
19. 1678, Daniel Warren; Hannah; Benjamin, born 
June 28. i66o,- married .-\bigail Hagar. 

(III) John Whitney, son of John Whitney (2), 
was born in Watertown, September 17, 1643, mar- 
ried in 1669, Elizabeth Harris, who was born No- 
vember 9, 1644, daughter of Robert Harris. She 
owned the covenant in the Roxbury church March 
.SO, 167:. He was admitted a freeman in May, 1684. 
He was a member of the Second Church of Rox- 
bury, November 2. 1712, and doubtless had be- 
longed to the First Church there. His house lot, 
containing nine acres, was situated on Pond street, 
in that part of Roxbury called Jamaica Plain. He 
was a soldier in King Philip's war in 1676, and 
owned the covenant in the church at Roxbury in 
February. 1684. He was a tailor by trade. His 
will is dated September. 1718. and was proved 
March 13, 1726-7. He died March 4, 1726. The 
children of John and Elizabeth Whitney were : Dan- 
iel, born December 3. i68r, married Susanna Curtis; 
Timothy, born April 16, 1678, married Margaret 
Bacon; Elizabeth, born September 9. 1670; Ruth, 
born at Ro.xbury. baptized .Xugust 31, 1674. mar- 
ried, April 22, 1701. Joseph Adams, .resided in 
Brookline ; Sarah, baptized August 2, 1684, died 
July 4. 1689; John, born April I, 1672. died young. 

(IV) Daniel Whitney, eldest son of John Whit- 
ney (3). was born in Roxbury, Massachusetts, 
December 3. 16S1. He lived at Roxbury. He mar- 
ried, June 21. 1704, Susanna Curtis. Their children 
were ; John, born May 23. 1705, inherited land of 
his grandfather Whitney at Woodstock, Connecti- 
cut, then in Massachusetts; Elizabeth, born Febru- 
ary 4. 1706; Susanna, born February 21, 1708; Dan- 
iel, born March 26, 171 1 ; Anna, born .'\pril 30, 1713; 
Elijah, of whom later ; Ruth, born December 5, 
1718; Eli.sha, born October 5. 1722; Esther, bom 
July II. 1726, married, March 8, 174S, John White. 

(V) Elijah Whitney, son of Daniel Whitney 
(4). was born at Roxbury. Massachusetts. January 
IS. 1715. He married Hannah — . They set- 
fled in Warwick. Massachusetts, where in 1776 he 
served on the committee of safety and correspon- 
dence. Their children, born at Roxbury, were : 
Elijah, born September 23, 1744; Elisha, born Oc- 
tober 6, 1747, of whom later; John, bom November 
29. 1/49. married May Payson ; Hannah, born June 
13. 175'S. baptized at Roxbury same year; Daniel, 
married Sarah Gay. 



82 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



(VI) Elisha Whitney, son of Elijah Whitney 
(5), was born at Roxbury, October 6, 1747. He 
married in Newton, Massachusetts, June 4, 1769, 
Abigail Dana. He was a lieutenant in the revolu- 
tion. His picture painted by Stuart is owned by 
his grandson, Benjamin D. Whitney. He resided 
at West Roxbury, Massachusetts. The children 
of Lieutenant Elisha and Abigail Whitney were: 
Experience, born February, 1776, died September 
17, 1777: Abigail, born April 10, 1778, married, 
November 17, 1799, Joseph Stavcr, of Boston; 
Elisha. born February 4, 17S0, married Sarah Heath; 
Asa. of whom later: Pedy, born July 20. 17S4, mar- 
ried in Roxbury, 1801, Colonel Joseph Dudley, who 
was born October 16. 1780; he owned and occupied 
the old Dudley homestead in Roxbury ; he was a 
fanner strict in principles, generous with his for- 
tune ; he gave a site for a townhouse in Roxbury ; 
William, born June 17, 1788, died unmarried; 
Elizabeth, born March 3, 1793. died unmarried. 

(VH) Asa Whitney, son of Elisha Whitney (6), 
was born in Boston, May 18, 1782. He married at 
Pomfret, Connecticut, December 3r, 1805, Mary 
Hammond, who was born December 7, 1787, and 
died 1845. He died March 4, 1826. He resided at 
Pomfret, Roxbury, Cambridge and Boston., 

The children of Asa and Mary Whitney were: 
I. Benjamin Duick, born November 6, 1807, mar- 
ried (first) Elizabeth Williams and (second) Char- 
lotte Genella. 2. Daniel H., born October 7, 1809, 
died October 6. 1817. 3. Sarah Hammond, born 
May 23, 1812, died June 23, 1817. 4. Mary, born 
March 5. 1815, married Professor Cornelius C. Fel- 
ton, of Harvard University, who was born in West 
Newbury. Massachusetts. November 6, 1807, and 
died in Chester, Pennsylvania, February 26, 1862. 
He graduated from Harvard in 1827, taught school 
two years at Geneseo, New York, was appointed 
Latin tutor at Harvard in 1829, became Greek tutor 
in 1830, college professor of Greek in 1832. and in 
1834 was chosen Eliot professor of Greek literature. 
He was for many years regent of the college ; in 
i860 he was elected president and continued in the 
office until his death. He was a member of the 
Massachusetts Board of Education and one of the 
regents of the Smithsonian Institute. He was one 
of the most profound and enthusiastic classical 
scholars in the country. He edited and translated 
a number of important works. He wrote "Greece. 
Ancient and Modern," — and other important books. 
5. Emily, born September 27, 1817, married Dr. 
Joseph Sargent, of Worcester. (See sketch of Dr. 
Sargent and his family in this work.) 6. Asa H., 
of whom later. 7. Sarah, born July 13, 1822, mar- 
ried Frederick W. Gale, of Worcester : both lost on 
the steamer ".'\rctic," September 27. 1854. 8. Cath- 
erine Dean, born December 17, 1824. married. May, 
1849. Dr. Henry Sargent. (See Sargent family of 
Worcester and Leicester.) 

(VIII) Asa Hanunond Whitney, son of Asa 
Whitney (7), was born in Boston, June 17, 1819. 
He married, October 3, 1842, Laura Leffingwell 
Henshaw, who was born June 23, 1820. at Warren, 
Ohio, and died April 20, 1886. He prepared for 
college in Boston schools and was graduated at 
Harvard College in 1838. After leaving college he 
made a voyage to the Mediterranean for his health 
and subsequently went to Rio Janiero as supei;- 
cargo. On his return he became the junior part- 
ner of the firm of Henshaw & Whitney, wholesale 
druggists, Boston. He resided in Cambridge ; later 
he became interested in railroad business and re- 
moved to Norfolk. Virginia, where he tuanaged the 
financial affairs of the Seaboard & Roanoke Rail- 
road Coinpany, as its treasurer. He was a man of 



great energy and earnestness of character. He re- 
sided late in life at Vicksburg, Mississippi, where 
he died October 7, 1858. 

The children of Asa Hammond and Laura Lef- 
fingwell Whitney were: i. Laura L., born June 
15, 1843, died January 24. 1870. 2. Anna Henshaw, 
of whom later. 3. Richard Sullivan, born June 19, 
1846, died August 23, 1847. 4. Catherine Dean, 
born June 17, 1849, luarried Robert George Lawton, 
of Hudson, New York, on the English frigate 
"Narcissus," off Havana. Cuba, May 31, 1871. He 
was born August 12, 1839, and died December 2, 
1904: was a resident of Havana; member of the 
banking firm of Lawton Brothers. Their children 
were : Robert Henshaw Lawton, born in Havana. 
April 3. 1872, died at Lancaster, Massachusetts, 
December 10, 1881 ; Sydney Allen Lawton, born at 
Lancaster, November 2, 1873, graduate of Harvard 
University, 1895, "0\v with the firm of Wrenn 
Brothers, brokers. New York city; married, June 
29, 1901, Harriet Sheldon Lawton, of Hudson, New 
York, and they reside at Rye, New York, and have 
two children — Sarah, born October 19, 1902, and 
Katharine, born October 14, 1904; Ethel Whitney 
Lawton, born at Lancaster. October 4, 1875, married 
Chester Parker, of South Lancaster, Massachusetts, 
at New York city, October 5, 1899 ; resides in Lan- 
caster and they have had three children — Chester 
Parker, Jr., born September 29, 1900; Felton Parker, 
born January 14, 1902. died March 21, 1902; and 
Lydia Parker, liorn November 4, 1903: Richard 
Henshaw Lawton, born in Lancaster, March 23, 
1888. resides in Rye, New York. 4. Hammond 
Moore, born at Norfolk. Virginia, June 28, 1851, 
resides in Brookline, Massachusetts: married at 
Boston, November 13, 1879, Catherine Howard 
Reed, and their children are — Catherine, born at 
Longwood, Massachusetts, September 28. 1881, mar- 
ried, September 30, 1903, Theodore W. Little, at 
Cohasset, Massachusetts ; they reside in Brookline ; 
Margaret, born at Longwood, Massachusetts, De- 
cember 28, 1886. resides at Longwood. 5. Emily 
Stark, born at Norfolk, Virginia, July 10, 1854. 
resides at Lancaster. 

(IX) Anna Henshaw Whitney, daughter of Asa 
Hammond Whitney (8), was born in Cambridge, 
Massachusetts, November 30, 1844. She attended 
school there and in Norfolk, Virginia. In 1855 
she was sent to a boarding school at Keene. New 
Hampshire with her elder sister, Laura L. Whitney. 
In 1858 they entered Lasell Seminary at Auburn- 
dale, Massachusetts, graduating in i860. During 
the next two years she was a teacher in Lasell 
Seminary and in the year following she taught for 
a year in a private school in Worcester. In Febru- 
ary, 1864, she accepted a position as teacher in the 
academy at Lancaster, which shortly became the 
Lancaster high school. With the exception of one 
year, 1880-1, -spent abroad, she continued to teach 
there until 1888. 

Miss Whitney has served several three-year 
terms on the school committee of Lancaster, and 
is at present secretary of the hoard. She is also 
secretary of the board of trustees of the Public 
Library. 

Since giving up her work as teacher in the public 
schools she has taught drawing and painting to 
private nupils and in the public schools at times. 
Miss Whitney has an attractive home at Lancaster 
and pursues agriculture at her farm. "Few Acres," 
as one of her avocations. For many years she 
kept kennels of St. Bernards and pug dogs for 
pleasure and profit, and has officiated as judge of 
these and various other breeds at the leading bench 
shows in the United States and Canada, beginning 



I 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



83 



soon after her return from Europe and continuing 
to the present time. 

EZRA BURTON. The Burton family from 
which Ezra Burton, of Lancaster, Massachusetts, is 
descended, settled in Essex county. The progenitor 
was probably Boniface Burton, of Salem, who died 
June 13, 1669, at the age of one hundred and thir- 
teen years. He was one of the first settlers, being 
made a freeman Way 6, 1635. He removed to Read- 
ing, Massachusetts, in 1644. His wife was Frances. 
The Burtons settled in New Hampshire where Mah- 
lon Burton,- grandfather of Ezra Burton, was born. 
He is remembered as a man of fine physique and 
a pubUc speaker of some distinction. He lived at 
Wilton, New Hampshire, where many of the de- 
scendants of the old Burton family are to be found 
today. In this section of southern New Hampshire 
the family has lived for five or more generations. 
Some of them went to Vermont after the revolu- 
tion when a new state was carved out of the wil- 
derness by the sons of Massachusetts and New 
Hampshire. Among the children of Mahlon Burton 
was a son named for him. Mahlon Burton. Jr. 

Nahum Burton spent his youth on his father's 
farm. He attended school at Wilton and became a 
farmer. He too went to Vermont and settled at 
Weston, where he lived and died. He was a Whig 
and like most of the pioneers extremely patriotic. 
He married (first) Charlotte Pettingill. After her 
death he married her sister, Lucinda Pettingill. 
Their father was in the revolutionary war at the 
battle of Bunker Hill, and died in Weston. New 
Hampshire. May 16, 1859. She was born in New 
Hampshire. She was a woman of exceptional beauty 
of character. Among her children was a son, Ezra, 
who was born at Weston, ^larch 6, 1827. 

Ezra Burton lived the typical life of a Vermont 
farmer's son in the early part of the nineteenth cen- 
tury. He remembers the introduction of the steam 
railroads and the gradual extinction of the stage 
coach and other former methods of transportation. 
He saw the industrial birth of the new era in 
America. He attended such schools as were within 
his reach at his Vermont home. There were eight 
children and each in turn had to do his share in 
helping run the farm. The pioneers who went to 
Vermont saw their children and grandchildren drift 
away. In this family Ezra was the fourth son to 
leave the old homestead and start life in Boston. 
The brothers were in the trucking business and at 
first he worked for them. At len.gth he went into 
the business of brush making with one of his broth- 
ers, and he followed this business until he retired. 
For thirty years he was salesman of the firm and 
spent much of his time travelling in the United 
States. He began when there were few railroads, 
when the stage covered more ground than the 
steam cars. He was successful in building up a 
large business, and the firm established a reputation 
second to none for their product. He luoved to 
Lancaster. Massachusetts, in 1868. and since then 
occupied the residence in which he now resides. He 
still retains an interest in the brush factory, although 
he retired from active business in 1895. He is a 
Republican in politics. He attends the Unitarian 
church at Lancaster. 

He married, April 7, 1863, Sarah Elizabeth 
Brace, daughter of Thomas Brace, of Salem. Massa- 
chusetts. Thomas Brace was a sea captain of a ves- 
sel in trade with China. Their children were : 
Linda, died young ; Edward O. ; Maude K.. married 
David Hinckley; Ruth O. 

SUMNER FAMILY. From the best obtainable 
evidence it is believed that Roger Suinner, of Bi- 



cester, Oxford county, England, died December 
1608, and buried in St. Edbury churchyard, was the 
progenitor of tlie Sumner family in America, at 
least the New England and especially the Worce'ster 
county branches. He married Joan Franklin, No- 
vember 2, 1601, and I)y this union one .son was born, 
William (i), who l)ecame the American ancestor! 
Wdham was baptized at Bicester church, Oxford 
county, England, January 2, 1602, and in 1625 mar- 
ried Mary West, and by her had two .sons, born in 
England : Roger, baptized August, 1632, and George, 
baptized March. 1633. The family then emigrated 
to New England, settling at Dorchester, Massachu- 
setts, about 1635, and from this family, it is be- 
lieved, have sprung all the New England Sumners, 
including Governor Increase, Gen. W. H. Sum- 
ner, and our great statesman, Hon. Charles Sumtier, 
of congressional fame. 

(II) William Suinner, son of William (i) and 
Mary, was probably born in Massachusetts. He 
married Elizabeth Clement, daughter of Augustine 
Clement, of Dorchester. He was a mariner. 

(II) Roger Sumner, born in England, son of 
William (l), married the daughter of Thomas 
Joslin, an early settler at Hingham. Roger was 
admitted to the church at Dorchester, 1656, but 
moved to Lancaster and there remained until that 
town was destroyed by the Indians, when he moved 
to Milton, Massachusetts, where he was deacon of 
the first church. His children were : Abigail, Sam- 
uel and Ebenezer. Another son, William, was the 
father of Seth Sumner, and he the father of Job 
Sumner, who had a son Job, born at Milton, Janu- 
ary 20, 1776, and changed his name to Charles 
Pinckney. The last named was high sheriff of Suf- 
folk county. Massachusetts, and married Relief 
Jacobs, by whom he had children, including Hon. 
Charles Sumner, born at Boston, January 6. 1811. 
who became the great and eloquent American anti- 
slavery statesman, and who was brutally assaulted 
in his seat in congress by Brooks, a pro-slavery 
member. 

(II) George Sumner, son of William (i), was 
born in England, February 14, 1634; made a free- 
man, 1637; married Mary Baker. He lived on 
Brush hill, JNIilton, and was deacon of the church 
there. His children were. Mary, George, Samuel, 
William, Ebenezer, Edward, Joseph, Benjamin. • 

(III) George Sumner, son of George (2) and 
yia.ry (Baker) Sumner, married Ann Tucker, of 
Ro.xbury. Their children were : Samuel, born No- 
vember 13, 1695, died February 8, 1782; George; 
.Ann; Mary; William; Susanna; Elizabeth; Josiah; 
.Abigail. 

(TV) Samuel Sumner, son of George (3), and 
Aim (Tucker) Suinner married Elizabeth Griffin, 
daughter of Joseph Griflin, of Roxbury. They set- 
tled at Pomfret. Elizabeth was born February 2, 
1700. and died November 13. 1772. She w-as esteemed 
a woman of exemplary piety. Their children were: 
.Ann ; Samuel ; Elizabeth ; George ; Joseph, born 
January 19, 1740, died December 9, 1824; Sarah. 

(V) Joseph Sumner, son of Samuel (4), and 
Elizabeth (Griffin) .Sumner, was born July 19. 1740. 
at Pomfret, Connecticut. He became a member of 
Yale College, and from that institution received high 
honors. He early devoted his life to the ministry, 
and in June, 1762, when tw-enty-three years of age, 
conmienced preaching. During all the trials and 
conflicts of his life he was noted for cheerfulness, 
and other social graces. Not easily provoked, he 
knew what was due to his character and he secured 
respect from all. Soon after he commenced preach- 
ing, says .Aaron Bancroft, U. D. (father of the his- 
torian. George Bancroft) in a tribute-sermon on Mr. 
Sumner : "In the contest between the parent coun- 



84 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



try and tlic AiiK-i'ioan provinces, he proved himself 
an efficient patriot, and during the Revolutionary 
struggle he suffered the inconveniences and priva- 
tions to which men of his profession were exposed 
from the state of public affairs, and all these trials 
he bore with patience and equanimity. His consti- 
tution was vigorous; through all his life he was 
blessed with good health. During the period of 
sixty-two years he was never absent from the stated 
communion of his church, and till bodily infirmity 
rendered him unable to officiate, the public exer- 
cises of the Sabbath in this place were suspended 
only seven times, on account of his indisposition, or 
his journeyings. His method of preaching was 
evangelistic ; he dwelt not on controversy, but. well 
instructed in the essential truths of revelation, kept 
back nothing profitable to his people. .\n advocate 
for Christian liberty, and supporting the Protestant 
principles of the sufficiency of Scripture as the rule 
of faith and practice, he endeavored to secure the 
harmony of the church by inspiring Christian breth- 
ren with unity of spirit, and binding them together 
in the bond of peace." As an illustration of his 
broad, liberal views, it is related that at a meeting 
of the Worcester Association of Ministers, as was 
usual. Dr. Bancroft applied for admission to mem- 
bership. Opposition was made by some of the 
members, and the subject was put over to the next 
meeting, and at that time a majority appeared 
against Dr. Bancroft's admission. On this result. 
Dr. Sumner of Shrewsbury, and Mr. Avery of 
Holden. arose and declared that they would not 
belong to a body which passed so illiberal a vote 
as that rejecting Dr. Bancroft, and that the Asso- 
ciation might meet when and where they would, 
but they would no longer be considered members 
of it. In consequence of this withdrawal the Asso- 
ciation was broken up. Dr. Sumner, of whom this 
memoir is written, married Lucy Williams, of Pom- 
fret, Connecticut, June 8. 1763. Their children were: 
Sarah, Samuel. Joseph, Joanna, Lucy, Elizabeth 
Dorothy, Erastus. 

(V) Increase Sumner, governer of Massachu- 
setts, son of Increase (4), was born in Norfolk 
county, Massachusetts November 27, 1746. The first 
rudiments of his education were taught him by 
Judge William Cushing, of the supreme judicial 
court, who was preceptor of the public grammar 
school in Roxbury in 1752. His father believed that 
the life of an honest, hard-working farmer was the 
best for his son, but afterward many importuned 
him to educate his son and namesake to fill higher 
places of public trust. All obstacles having been 
surmounted, he entered college in 1763 and grad- 
uated 1767. He spent the next two years in teach- 
ing at Ro.xbury. He studied law under barrister 
Samuel Quincy, and was admitted to the bar in 
1770, opening his office at Ro.xbury, in the house in 
which his mother continued to reside until her death. 
In 1776, a period of great difficulty, Mr. Sumner 
was chosen a member of the general court, serving 
until 1780. and was then elected senator from Suf- 
folk county. Massachusetts. 

It was September 30, 1779, when he formed a 
connection of much importance in every well- 
rounded man's career, by his marriage with Eliza- 
beth Hyslop. of Boston, a lady of rare intelligence, 
and remarkable for her amiable disposition. During 
the same year he was chosen a member of the con- 
vention for forming a state constitution. In June. 
1782. he was chosen a member of congress by the 
Massachusetts legislature, in place of Timothy Dan- 
ielson. who resigned ; but Sumner never took his seat 
in that body. August of the same year he was made 
associate justice of the supreme judicial court. In 



1797 he was elected governor, and was re-elected, 
and his able, firm and patriotic administration won 
for him a lasting place in the great heart of the 
commonwealth. In 1799 he was made governor by 
an almost unanimous vote. Out of three hundred 
and ninety-three towns in the state, including the 
"District of Maine," one hundred and eighty were 
unanimous for Sumner. But at the commencement 
of the political year he was bedridden, and June 7, 
1799. in his fifty-third year, his career ended. "No 
death,' says one biographical writer of that day, 
"except Washington's (which took place six months 
later) was ever more deeply deplored in Massachu- 
setts." Personally, it should here be added of Gov- 
ernor Sumner, that he was a devoted son. a loving 
and attentive husband, a kind and affectionate 
father and friend. The purity of his morals was 
never once questioned. He was a practical farmer 
and enjoyed the cultivation of the soil. He was a 
lover and owner of fine horses. In horticulture, he 
found great delight, and with his own hands grafted 
his whole orchard. In early life he made a public 
profession of Christianity, becoming a member of 
the Congregational Society and church. The only 
child of Governor Increase Sumner and his wife 
Elizabeth Hyslop was William Hyslop, born July 
4, 1780. 

(VI J William Hyslop, only son of Governor 
Increase Sumner (5), was born, "on the night of 
July 4, 1780." He graduated from Harvard College. 
1799: was aide-de-camp to Governors Strong and 
Brooks, to the former 1810-16, and to the latter 
1816-48, when he was appointed adjutant-general by 
Governor Brooks. He held that position under 
Brooks, Eustis, Lincoln and Davis, till 1834, when 
he resigned. For eleven years from 1808 he was 
one of the representatives of Boston. September 10. 
1814, he was appointed by Governor Strong executive 
agent to repair to "the District of Maine (then in- 
vaded by the enemy) and promptly provide every 
practicable means for defense of that part of the 
state." In Dtcember. 1814, he was appointed by the 
Board of War to borrow money of the banks and pay 
off the troops which had been called out in JNIaine. 
In 1816 he was agent with Hon. James Lloyd to 
present the Massachusetts militia claim to the United 
States governmtnt for its services. In November. 
1826, he was appointed by the secretary of war, a 
member of the board of army and militia officers of 
which Major General Scott was president, to re- 
port a plan for the organization of the militia and 
a system of cavalry tactics. He first married Mary 
-Ann Perry, October 4, 1826. She was the widow 
of Raymond H. Perry, brother of Commodore O. H. 
Perry. Mr. Sumner died July 14, 1834. 

(VI) Samuel Sumner, son of Joseph (5), and 
Lucy (Williams) Sumner, was born at Shrewsbury, 
September 24, 1765. He was graduated at Dart- 
mouth College, 1776, and appointed English pre- 
ceptor of the Leicester Academy, July, 1788. After 
leaving Leicester he studied theology with his 
father, and was ordained over the church and society 
at Southboro, June, 1791. In 1797 he was dismissed 
by letter to St. Albans. Vermont. He next moved 
to Bakcrsfield, Vermont, and became pastor. The 
peculiar circumstances under which he was ordained 
are thus given : "The region of the country about 
Bakcrsfield was, in the beginning of the last cen- 
tury, an almost unbroken wilderness. Indeed, it is 
said Mr. Sumner's first approach to its wild do- 
main was by a path designated by blazed trees. As 
the place was so difficult to cross. Dr. Sumner ar- 
ranged that the ceremonies of installation should be 
held in his own church in Shrewsbury, where they 
were performed after the approved orthodox man- 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



ner, the only peculiarity being the absence of the 
minister installed." He afterward removed to Troy, 
Vermont, where he died at the home of his son, in 
1837, aged seventy-two years. He is said to have 
often expressed himself, that in selecting the pulpit 
for his sphere of duty, he mistook his calling. 

(VI) Sarah Sumner, eldest daughter of Joseph 
(S), and Lucy (Williams) Sumner, married William 
Jennison, of Worcester, in 1788. 

(VI) Joanna Sumner, second daughter of Jo- 
seph (5) and Lucy Sumner, married, September 0, 
1806, Edward Sumner, of Roxbury. He was ;i 
cousin of Governor Increase Sumner. 

(VI) Lucy Sumner, third daughter of Joseph 
(5) and Lucy Sumner, born at Shrewsbury, Decem- 
ber 2, I7;'l, married Joseph Wheeler, of Worcester, 
January 13, 1793. In 1803 they moved to Uixlield, 
Maine, then a part of Massachusetts, and known as 
"the District of Maine.'' Dixtield was then known 
as "Township No. i, on Androscoggon River, Dis- 
trict of Maine," and letters were so addressed to Mr. 
Wheeler. 

(VI) Erastus Sumner, youngest child of Joseph 
(S) and Lucy (Williams) Sumner, born February 
10, 1783, married Lavinia Boyd, of Marlboro, July 
12, 1805. Their children were: L. Caroline, born 
January 7, 1807. 2. Lucy, born August 14, 1809. 
.5. Lydia Ann. born November 8, 1814. 5. Jane 
Augusta, born November 18, 1817. 6. George, born 
March 22, 1819; died September 19, 1821. 7. Cath- 
erine Whipple, born July 8, 1822. 8. George, born 
July 25, 1824 ; died 1893. 

(VII) George Sumner, son of Erastus (6) and 
Lavinia (Boyd) Sumner, was born July 25, 1824, 
and died 1893. He was the grandson of Rev. Dr. 
Joseph Sumner. His first entrance into mercantile 
life was at the age of fifteen years, in the store of 
Bigelow & Goodnow, in the "Old Tavern House," 
in Shrewsbury. After two years of training there he 
came to Worcester as a clerk for Henry H. Cham- 
berlain, founder of the house of Barnard. Sumner 
& Putnam Co. His ability rapidly advanced him until 
he was made a partner in the growing business and 
continued at its head throughout his life, and his son 
Edward P. is still an active partner in the concern. 
Before his marriage he made his home with Allen 
Rice, and was thrown into the company of men who 
have left footprints on the business and social ways 
of Worcester, including the "Sixteen Associatesi" a 
society of social and literary character. He was an 
active member of the Worcester City Guards, as well 
as of the old State Guards in time of the civil war. 
In the financial circles of the city his judgment was 
often appealed to. He became a director in the Wor- 
cester Safe Deposit and Trust Company, and vice- 
president of the Five Cents Savings Bank. He was 
a regular attendant of the Church of Unity. He had 
no taste for political preferment, but had deep con-_ 
cern for the business welfare of the city. He was 
a liberal contributor to the Library and ^luseums of 
the Worcester Society of .\ntiquity. In 1888 he 
published a work entitled "Memorials of the Rev. 
Joseph Sumner, D. D., Minister of Shrewsbury. 
1762- 1824." The man who could say "George Sum- 
ner is my friend" had a friend indeed. He was a 
lover of the beautiful in both art and nature, but 
no painter himself. 

One of the rules of the society of "Associates," 
all being single men at the time, was "He who mar- 
ries first sliall provide a supper for the Cluli." Mr. 
Sumner married, in 1854. Sarah E. Richardson, 
daughter of Charles and Mary Richardson, of Man- 
chester, New Hampshire, and he carried out the 
obligation taken under the above named chib rule. 
in a royal manner. To Mr. and Mrs. George Sum- 



ner were born: i. George R.. born May 30, 1861 ; 
married Louisa Ford, of Portland, Maine; had one 
child, George Sumner. 2. Mary Locke, born Feb- 
ruary 5, 1863; married William D. Sewall. of Bath, 
Maine ; had four children — Arthur, Margaret, 
Dorothy and Sumner. 3. Edward Prentiss, born Jan- 
nary 18, 1866; married Pertha Perry, of Worcester; 
had two children, Catherine and Frances. 4. Caro- 
line Allen, born April 12, 1867; married .Albert G. 
Liscomb, of Worcester. 

REV. GEORGE MURILLO BARTOL. John 
Bartol (i), who lived and died in Crewkerne, Som- 
ersetshire, England, was the father of the immigrant 
ancestor of the Bartol family of America, to which 
Rev. George Murillo Bartol, of Lancaster, belongs. 
He was a glover by trade. He married at Crew- 
kerne, March 17, 1598, Agnes Williams. Among 
their children was John Bartol, of whom later. John 
Bartol, Sr., died at Crewkerne and was buried there 
I'Vbruary 20, 1639-40. 

(II) John Bartol, son of John Bartol (i). was 
born at Crewkerne, and baptized there April 26, 

i6or. He married Parnell . His father died 

probably soon after he left England and he inherited 
the estate in England, which Thomas Letchford, a 
Boston attorney, conveyed to Henry Hazzard. of 
Bristol, England, mariner, consisting of house and 
garden at Crewkerne, July 25, 1641. He was plaintiff 
in a civil suit in 1640 and again in 1644. He lived at 
Salem a short time before settling in Marblehead. 
He was selectman of the latter town in 1649-56-57- 
58-64. He was called a planter in the records, but 
was probably also a mariner. He was found drowned 
and the inquest was held October i, 1664. His estate 
was administered in the Essex county court. Novem- 
ber 2g. 1664. Many of his descendants have lived 
in Marblehead. The children of John and Parnell 
Bartol were: William, born 1629 (aged thirty-two in 
1662, another record) ; John, Jr.. born 1631, aged 
forty-two in 1673. Mary, born at Marblehead, Feb- 
ruary I, 1642. Probably others died young. 

(III) William Bartol. son of John Bartol (2). 
was born in England in 1629. He died in 1690, leav- 
ing five sons and three daughters. 

(IV) Robert Bartol. son of William Bartol (3). 
was born in Marblehead. Massachusetts, about 
1660. married, March 16, 1681, Sarah Beckett. He 
died in 1708. Thev had four children. 

(V) William Bartol. son of Robert Bartol (4^. 
was born in Marblehead in 1691. He married. May 
4, I7r8, Mary Felt. (One of this name was born at 
Casco Bay, October 12, 1687.) They had four 
children. 

(VI) George Bartol, youngest son of William 
Bartol (5), was born in 1721. died at Freepon. 
Maine, in 1788. He settled there and his children 
were born there and his grandchildren to the num- 
ber of thirtv-one. He died there and was buried 
with his wife and children in the old burying ground 
on the hill that overlooks the town and Casco Bay. 
He died January 21. 1788. Mrs. Hannah Bartol died 
April 4. 1784. aged sixty-live years. He married 
(second) Hannah Allen, at Falmouth (now Maine). 
.•\pril 17, 1746. Their children were: William, born 
1747. died 1843; married Elizabeth Grant, who was 
born in 1749 and died 1833; George, of whom 
later: John, baptized July 21. 1734. married Mary 
Carter; Samuel, born 1753. died 1786; married Mary 
Soule. The children of the first marriage were: 
Marv, baptized Mav 25. 1746. married — Wins- 
low ; Deborah, bai)tized May 29. 1743, died young; 
Deborah, baptized June 10, 1750. 

(VII) John Bartol. son of George . Bartol (61. 
was bom m North Varmouth, Ma.ne, juiy, 1734- 



86 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



He bought a place of his father containing fifty acres 
at Havaseeket. He married Mary Carter. Their 
children were: John, born 1779, died 1805; Daniel, 
born 1781, married Mary Lowe; Solomon, born 
1782 ; Desire, born 1784, died 1806 ; Jacob, born 
1786, died 1804; Dorcas, born 1788; Ephraim, born 

1791 ; Reuben, born 1793, married Chase, 

and had Reuben and Joseph ; Ammi, born 1795 ; 
Miriam, born 1797, died 1809; Alfred, born 1801, 

married Coffin and had Ansyl, Melinda, 

George, John and Martha ; George, born 1803. 

(VH) William Bartol, another son of George 
Bartol (6), was born 1747, and died 1843. He mar- 
ried Elizabeth Grant, who was born in 1749 and died 
'H 1833. Their children were: David, of whom 

later; Hannah; Elizabeth, married Trott; 

Susan, married ■ Trott; Sarah; Esther, mar- 
ried Douglass ; Samuel, married Sarah 

Weston, and had Samuel and Sarah Trott ; Lucretia, 

married Denison ; Jane, married 

Stetson. 

(VH) George Bartol, son of George Bartol (6) 
and brother of the two preceding, was born about 
1750 and died 1796. He married, January 12, 1775, 
Jane Soule, daughter of Barnabas Soule, of Free- 
port. She was born 1756 and died January 24, 1833. 
Her second husband was Captain James Bacon. Her 
ancester, George Soule, came over on the "May- 
flower" on the first voyage. He married about 1623 
Mary Beckett, who came to Plymouth in 1621. They 
settled at Duxbury and had eight children. Their 
son, John Soule, born 1632, died 1707, married 
Hester Dewsbury, born 1638. died 1738, and they 
had nine children. Their fifth son, Moses Soule, 
died in 1751, leaving nine children. The third son 
of Moses was Barnabas Soule, born 1705, died 1780; 
married Jane Bradbury. She was born 1718, and 
Jane who married George Bartol (VH) was one of 
her nine children. 

The children of George and Jane (Soule) Bartol 
were : Solomon, born 1775. died September 23, 
1781 ; Barnabas, born 1777, of whom later; George, 
of whom later, ancestor of Rev. George Bartol ; 

Jane, born 1781, married Fields; Phebe, 

born 1784, died 1876; married (first) Veazie ; 

(second) Soule; Sarah, born 1787, mar- 
ried Latchfield; Patience, born 1789, died 



1871 ; married 



Lufkin ; Samuel, born 1791, 



died 1817; married Mary Chandler; Elizabeth, born 
1793. married Staples; Polly, born 1796-8. 

(Vni) David Bartol, son of William Bartol 
(7), was born 1781 and died 1849. His children 

were: Sarah, married Trott; Benjamin, 

born 1810, married Blanchard ; George, 

born 1812, married Betty Mitchell ; William, born 

1814, died 1842; Jane, born 1816, married 

Merrill; Elizabeth, born 1821, died 1840; Mary, 
born 1824. 

(Vni) George Bartol, son of George Bartol 
(7), was born August 8, 1779, and died April 6, 
1855. He is the father of Rev. George M. Bartol 
and also the late Rev, Dr. Cyrus A. Bartol. Like 
his father, he was a merchant. He kept the leading 
general store at Freeport, Maine, for many years. 

He married Ann Given, March 2";, 1809. Her 
father was a soldier in the revolution. The children 
of George and Ann Bartol were : Samuel Veazie, 
born December 29, 1809, died February, 1810; 
Horace Veazie, born April 23, 1811, died January 
6, 1881 ; Cyrus .\. (Rev. Dr.), born April 30, 1813, 
married, February 7, 1838, Elizabeth Howard, died 
December 16, 1900, leaving one child, Elizabeth 
Howard, born January 14, 1842 ; Samuel Lewis, born 
July 23, 1817, died September, 1818; George Mu- 



rillo, of whom later; Mary, born December 12, 
1822, died June 21, 1902. 

(IX) Rev. George Murillo Bartol, son of George 
Bartol (8), was born in Freeport, Maine, September 
18, 1820. He attended the public schools of Port- 
land, where the family lived during his youth. He 
prepared for college at Phillips Academy, Exeter, 
New Hampshire. He was graduated in regular 
course from Brown University, Providence, in 1842. 
He studied for the ministry in the Harvard Divinity 
School at Cambridge, from which he was grad- 
uated in 1845. He began immediately to preach. 
He occupied the pulpit of the First LInitarian Church 
of Chicago for several months. He preached for 
some time in various other towns. 

His first accepted call was to Lancaster to the 
pastorate that for nigh sixty years he filled with 
ability and success. Under date of June 19, 1847, 
he wrote in reply to the call of the Society at Lan- 
caster : "I have given to the proposal of the Uni- 
tarian Society in Lancaster, by you, their committee, 
my most serious consideration. I beg that you will 
not deem me wanting in a proper sensibility to this 
mark of confidence and esteem on the part of those 
you represent. I return my warmest thanks for the 
invitation and for the flattering terms with which 
it was accompanied. I am happy to accept it and 
hereby very respectfully do. so. With fervent 
prayers that the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and 
the love of God, and the fellowship of His Holy 
Spirit may be with you all, I remain, my brethren, in 
the truth and affection of the Gospel, ever your 
friend and servant." 

The committee in charge consisted of John ^L 
Washburn, Ezra Sawyer and Luke Bigelow. Twenty 
churches were represented at the ordination, August 
4, 1847. The council met in Lancaster House and 
organized with Rev. Joseph Allen, of Northboro, 
moderator and Rev. T. P. Allen, of Sterling, scribe. 
When the certificates as to Mr. Bartol's education 
and Christian standing were read. Rev. Edward 
Everett Hale, then pastor of the Church of the Unity 
at Worcester, made the formal motion "that we are 
satisfied with the above testimonials and that we are 
ready to proceed with the ordination." Among the 
clergymen who took part that day Dr. Hale and 
Mr. Bartol alone survive. The sermon was preached 
by Rev. Cyrus A. Bartol, brother of the candidate. 
The Scriptures were' read by Dr. Hale. The others 
who took part in the service were : Rev. Joseph 
.•\llen. Rev. C. T. Thayer, of Beverly; Rev. Alonzo 
Hill, of Worcester; Rev. Mr. Frothingham, of 
Salem. 

Mr. Bartol came to what his friend Rev. Mr. 
Marvin called a "wealthy and respectable" congre- 
gation and the passing years have surely enhanced 
both those qualities. The history of the First Church 
of Christ of Lancaster dates to 1653 when the min- 
istry of Rev. Joseph Rowlandson began. His pas- 
torate was terminated by the destruction of the 
town by the Indians in King Philip's war, 1675. 
Rev. John Whiting, who was minister from 1690 
to 1697, met his death at the hands of hostile In- 
dians, and his successor, who was pastor from 1701 
to 1704, met a similar fate. Rev. John Prentice be- 
gan to preach in 1705 and died in 1748, the year 
he was succeeded by Rev. Timothy Harrington, 
whose ministry continued until 1795. Rev. Nathaniel 
Thayer was his colleague about two years and his 
successor as minister. His remarkable record as 
minister, lasting until the summer of 1840, is told 
in a sketch of his life elsewhere in this work. The 
next pastor and predecessor of Mr. Bartol was 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



87 



Rev. Ednnind H. Sears, who was installed December 
J3, 1S40, but was obliged to resign on account of 
ill health, and his work in the parish ended April 
I, 1847. 

The present church edifice was erected in 1816. 
The architect was Charles Bulfinch, who is known 
the world over as the designer of the iVlassachusctts 
State House and of the Capitol at Washington. Rev. 
A. P. Marvin, who was for some years the orthodox 
minister at Lancaster, wrote of Mr. Bartol many years 
ago : "The present pastor, living in times of change, 
has seen, with rare exceptions, every pulpit, of every 
denomination, in the region round, occupied by suc- 
cessive ministers, whose power for usefulness has 
been, in many cases, weakened by the fickleness of 
the people. The record is honorable to the church, 
and to the parish and the town with which it has 
been connected, during nearly seven generations of 
men. The church was in connection with the town 
as a parish from 1653 till the Second Parish was 
formed, when the church and the First Precinct 
were united. When Sterling became a town, Lan- 
caster resumed its parochial functions, which con- 
tinued till near the close of the ministry of Dr. 
Thayer." 

At the close of twenty-tive years, August 4, 
1872, the anniversary of his pastorate, a reception 
was given Mr. Bartol and his wife in the town 
hall and was largely attended not only by his own 
parishioners but by all his townspeople and many 
from neighboring towns and the distance. Among 
the speakers were Rev. A. P. IMarvin, the pastor of 
the Evangelical Church; Rev. E. H. Sears, the 
predecessor of Mr. Bartol ; the venerable Rev. B. 
Whittemore and Mr. Bartol himself. An even more 
elaborate celebration of his fortieth anniversary was 
held August 4, 1887. When Mr. Bartol completed 
his fiftieth year he was given such an ovation and 
greeting by the people of his parish, town and of 
the whole denomination as few men ever live to 
receive. As Dr. Hale said, and Dr. Hale was one of 
the central figures of the celebration because he 
himself was one of the ministers in charge of Mr. 
Bartol's ordination fifty years before, "there were 
more hydrangeas in the church today than tliere 
were in the whole state of Massachusetts fifty years 
ago." Mr. and Mrs. Bartol were given a most de- 
lightful and hearty reception in the Thayer Memorial 
Chapel after the more formal services in the church. 
Dr. Edward A. Horton was one of the speakers. 
Among the gifts lavished upon, the good minister 
that day were a silver loving cup from past and 
present members of the Worcester Ministerial Asso- 
ciation, of which he was a veteran member, and a 
magnificent silver service, suitably engraved, from 
his parish. A poem for the occasion was written 
by Mrs. Julia A. Carney, of Galesburg, Illinois. On 
this occasion the Springfield Republican said : "While 
extremely liberal in his religious views. Dr. Bartol's 
singularly cordial and sincere nature has won the 
loving regard of the ministers of all other denomina- 
tions. The old Unitarian Church designed by 
Charles Bulfinch is one of the landmarks of Wor- 
cester county. People of all denominations filled it 
in Dr. Bartol's honor." 

Of Mr. Bartol's service to the public Mr. Henry 
S. Nourse, the historian, said : "His power for good 
has not been limited by parish confines, nor re- 
stricted to the stated religious teachings of his order. 
The clergy in Lancaster had ever been held the 
proper supervisors of the schools, and upon his com- 
ing Mr. Bartol was at once placed in the school 
board and was annually re-chosen, until, having 
given faithful service, usually as chairman of the 



board, during twenty-one years, he felt constrained 
to ask relief from this onerous duty. 

"From the establishment of the public library, he 
has always stood at the head of the town's commit- 
tee, entrusted with its management, and in its incep- 
tion and increase, his refined taste, rare knowledge 
of books and sound literary judgment have been 
invaluable. With talent and scholarship that in- 
vited him to a much wider field of service, he has 
clung lovingly to his quiet country parish, making 
it the centre of his efforts and aspirations. He is 
an enthusiastic lover of nature in all her moods, a 
discrnninating admirer of beauty in art, earnest m 
his soul convictions, although averse to sectarian con- 
troversy — and so tender of heart as to seem char- 
itable to all human weakness, save that he is intol- 
erant of intolerance." 

It was Mr. Bartol who expressed the unanimous 
sentiments of the people of Lancaster by the follow- 
ing resolution adopted at a legal town meeting May 
20, 1865: "Whereas, on the fifteenth day of April, 
1865, Abraham Lincoln, the venerated and beloved 
president of the United States, was by an assassin, 
suddenly assaulted and slain, the blow by which he 
fell being aimed not only at his life, but through 
him at the life of the nation. 

"Resolved, that in recording our tribute to the 
memory of the late president with profound sorrow 
for his loss, we do all beyond all parly pre-posses- 
sions, own and bless in him an unselfishness in dis- 
position and singleness of purpose, a gentleness, 
humanity and benevolence under great provocation, 
with an honesty of intention, an ardent patriotism, a 
fidelity to duty, and a growing mastery of the cir- 
cumstances of his position, which enabled him with 
the blessing of God, to fulfill and bring to a success- 
ful completion, a work almost unprecedented for dif- 
ficulty ; that in his removal at the moment in which 
his labors w'ere being crowned with the triumph of 
national authority and the evident approach of the 
blessings oi peace, we see the completion of a career 
which the nation will ever look back to with thank- 
fulness, and hold in tender and affectionate remem- 
brance." 

One of the most interesting homes in a town 
where all the homes are interesting and some re- 
markable for artistic and beautiful features, is the 
low, quaint, rambling structure in which Mr. Bartol 
lives. It stands back modestly from the highway, 
shielded by trees and shrubbery, with ample 
grounds where the flowers seem to delight in adding 
to the decorations of a fascinating place. Inside the 
house there are treasures of art and literature, birds 
and flowers. 

Mr. Bartol is a Republican in politics. He 
belongs to few organizations outside the church. 
He has been since graduation a member of the 
scholars' fraternity, the Phi Beta Kappa. He re- 
ceived the degree of D. D. from his alma mater 
(Brown University) in 1892. 

He married, June, 1856, Elizabeth Washburn, the 
daughter of John M. Washburn, of Lancaster. Their 
children are: George, born May 16, 1857, married, 
January 12, 1898. Nellie Holt, and they have two 
children: Eleanor, born October 31, 1901, Elizabeth. 
born November 7, 1902; Anna, born May 5, 1859, 
died at Manchester, Massachusetts, August, 1880; 
Elizabeth Washburn, born April 10, 1861, married, 
July 29, 1884, Harold Parker, and they have three 
children— Bartol Parker, born June 7. 1885, Eliza- 
beth Parker, born September, 1886, Cornelia Conway 
Parker, born May 21, 1894. (Sec sketch of Parker 
family of Lancaster.) Dr. John Washburn, bom 
January 10, 1864, graduate of Harvard College, 



88 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



1887, married, October 2, 1900, Charlotte Hemcnway 
Cabot, and they have three children : Janet, born 
July 13, 1902, Dorothy, born December 15, 190J, 
Ann, born December 21, 190.=;; Mary Washburn, 
born August 2, 1867, resides at home with her par- 
ents ; Dr. Edward Francis Washburn, born in Man- 
chester, September 5, 1874, graduate of Harvard, 
1896. 

CHARLES AUGUSTUS CHASE. William 
Chase (i), from whom Charles Augustus Chase, of 
Worcester, is directly descended, came from Eng- 
land with Winthrop in 1630. The surname Chase 
is undoubtedly derived from the French Chasser 
(to hunt). The ancestral seat in England was at 
Chesham in Rockinghamshire, through which runs 
a rapidly Hewing brook or river, the Chess. 

Thomas Chase and Aquila Chase, who settled 
at Hampton, New Hampshire, in 1639, were broth- 
ers, and were perhaps cousins of William Chase, the 
first comer. The record of Rev. John Eliot, the 
Indian Apostle, of "such as adjoyned themselves to 
this church," the First Church of Roxbury, has this 
entry : "William Chase, he came with the first com- 
pany, bringing with him his wife Mary and his son 
William." The maiden name of his wife is not 
known. The son William was about seven years 
old at the time of migration. The father applied 
for admission as a freeman, October 19, 1630. He 
was a town officer at Roxbury. He served against 
the Narragansetts in 1645. He removed to Yar- 
mouth, Massachusetts, in 1638, and died there. His 
will, dated May 4, 1659, states that he was aged. 
It was proved May 13, 1659, hence his death occurred 
. in May of that year. He bequeathed to his wife 
Mary and two sons, Benjamin and William (see N. 
E. Hist. Reg. V. 388). His daughter Mary was 
buried at Barnstable, Massachusetts, October 28, 
1652. The early records of the town of Yarmouth 
were destroyed by fire, so that it is impossible to 
give the dates of birth and death of all the children. 

(II) William Chase, son of William Chase (l), 
was born in England about 1623, if he was seven 
at the time of the migration. He removed with his 
father's family to Yarmouth in 1638. He died there 
in 1685. It is impossible to give the name of his 
wife or the dates of birth of his children ; it is 
known, however, that he had eight children, of 
whom William was the eldest. 

(III) William Chase, eldest son of WilHam Chase 
(2), was born in Duxbury, Massachusetts. He mar- 
ried for his first wife Hannah Sherman, of the stock 
to which Roger Sherman and General W. T. Sher- 
man belonged. His second wife was Priscilla Perry. 

■ By the first marriage he had five children, of whom 
the third was Isaac. 

(IV) Isaac Chase, third child of William Chase 
(3), married (first), February 10, 1704. Elizabeth 
Blethen. of Salem, by whom he had five children ; 
married (second) Mary Fowler, by whom he had 
seven. 

(V) Isaac Chase, third son of Isaac Chase (4). 
married, November 13. 1729, Amy Anthonys mar- 

, ried (second) Elizabeth , who survived 

him. , Isaac and Amy Chase had eight children, of 
whom the eldest was Anthony Chase. 

(VI) Anthony Chase, son of Isaac Chase (5), was 
born at Swanzey, Massachustts, February 21, 1832; 
.married (first) Katherine, daughter of Timothy and 

.Bridget Sewell. and lived at Mendon, Massachusetts. 

..He. died May 3, 1817, leaving a widow, Mary Chase. 

.j.^nthony and Katherine Chase had eight children, 

j,of whom the .seventh was Israel. 

',i,/.ji( VII) -Israel Chase, .sou of Anthony Chase, (6), 
' Veas born September 13, "1760; married. February i, 



1787, (Caroline) Matilda Butterworth, daughter of 
Noah and Dorcas Butterworth, of Smithficld, 
Rhode Island. They lived in Mendon, Pa.xton and 
Worcester and had si.x children, of whom Anthony 
was the third. 

(VIII) Anthony Chase, third son of Israel 
Chase (7), was born at Paxton, Massachusetts, June 
16, 1791 ; married (first), June 2, 1819, Lydia Earle, 
daughter of Pliny and Patience Earle, of Leicester. 
(See Ralph Earle and his descendants, p. 215.) 
Married (second), April 19, 1854, Hannah Greene, 
daughter of Daniel and Phebe Greene, of East 
Greenwich, Rhode Island. In early youth Mr. Chase 
lost his father, and in 1816 entered into mercantile 
business in Worcester with John Milton Earle, his 
future brother-in-law, and became one of the owners 
of the Massachusetts Spy, continuing as such from 
1823 to 1835. In 1829 he was agent for the Wor- 
cester & Providence Boating Company, formed to 
operate the newly opened Blackstone canal, and was 
soon afterward appointed collector of the canal reve- 
nue. In March, 1831, he was elected county treas- 
urer and held the office for thirty-four years. In 
1832 Mr. Chase was chosen secretary of the Wor- 
cester Mutual Fire Insurance Company, and in 1852 
was its president, an office which he held until his 
death, August 4, 1879. He was one of the founders 
and the first secretary of the Worcester Lyceum in 
1829, and shaped the Worcester County Mechanics' 
Association in its infancy, drawing up its constitu- 
tion and by-laws with his own hand in 1841 ; was one 
of the corporators of the Central Bank of Wor- 
cester on 1828 ; was for many years treasurer of the 
Worcester Agricultural Society ; and for a long 
period director in the Citizens' Bank of Worcester; 
was trustee and vice-president of the Worcester 
County Institution for Savings. 

Mr. Chase took great interest in the public 
schools, often serving on the school committee, and 
was an alderman in the early days of the city, but 
frequently declined public offices on account of the 
confining nature of his regular vocation. He gave 
his three sons an education at Harvard College. He 
was a member of the Society of Friends, holding the 
office of elder in that body. Most of the children 
. of his ancestor, William Chase (II), joined the So- 
ciety of Friends, and their descendants in great 
measure have been members of that religious body. 
Some of the family in Rhode Island and southeast- 
ern Massachusetts began about a century ago to 
write the name (^hacc, but 'Chase is the accepted 
spelling. He died August 4, 1879, aged eighty- 
eight years. 

Lydia Earle was descended frorn Ralph Earle. of 
whom a sketch is given elsewhere in this work. The 
children of Anthony and, Lydia (Earle) Chase, all 
born in Worcester, were : Pliny Earle, born August 
18, 1820; Lucv, December i, 1822; Thomas, June 
16, 1827; Eliza Earle, October 8, 1829; Charles 
Augustus, see forward; Sarah E., May 29, 1836. 
The children of Anthony and Hannah (Greene) 
Chase were.: Emily G., married Joseph RussrI i\lar- 
ble (see sketch of George Russell Marble of Web- 
ster) ; Frederick Anthony died young. 

CIX) Charles Augustus Chase, fifth child of 
Anthony Chase (8), was born in Worcester, Massa- 
chusetts, September 9, 1833, in a house on Salisbury 
street, where the armory now stands. His educa- 
tion began with the infant school, in a small build- 
ing that stood at the northerly end of Summer 
street, He graduated from the Thomas street gram- 
mar school in 1845 into. the. "Classical and EnglisTi 
Higli School" where he remained five years, takiiig 
■iA: post-graduate cpurse.jn rnathematics. .While ^jn 
the' high school he printed a juvenile paper, "The 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



Humble Bee." In 1851 he entered Ha.vard College 
and was graduated from that institution in 1856, 
receiving the degree of A. M. in 1858. He joined 
the staff of the Boston Daily Advertiser in 1855, 
and filled the position of reporting the various de- 
partments and of office editor for seven years. In 
1862 he made a five months' tour of Europe and 
upon his return again took up his residence in 
Worcester, and in the autumn of 1864 was elected 
treasurer of Worcester county, succieding his father, 
■who had held the office for a third of a century. 
He was re-elected and served altogether eleven 
years as treasurer. In 1875 was elected on an inde- 
pendent ticket as register of deeds, serving in 1876 
— centennial year — was soon afterward elected sec- 
retary of the board of trade, and in 1879 was treas- 
tirer and manager of the Worcester Telephone Com- 
pany. 

Mr. Chase has for more than twenty-five 
■been one of the pricir'.-.! officprs of the largei 

s bank in Mh~ if Boston, Iwv- 

been elected ireasurer of the 

•■e.r Coum ii ot .savings, and suc- 

Hon. St- 'lury in 1904 ^.s its pr-jsi- 

■ i^i I. This savji-; ,,.■■ :^ was incnrporated Febru- 
ary 8, 1828. Snnuiel Jennison. the cashier of ilic 
Worcester B-'ii'. -.va- the first (r .Tsnnr .mi,' rniil 
recently the of the \' 

also been pi the Woi ■ 

tution for Savings. The interests v 
were mutual. The second treasure . 
ion was Charles A» Hamilton, whtiu 
ceeded. At the time Mr. Chase be. 
'!t of the bank, the deposits amounted ■■ .1 uia 
1000,000. In 1905 the bank bought t!ic lot at 
corner of Main and Foster streets, and began 
build its own home, a hands'ime and artistic 
ucture. It should be stated a'< > thai t'l-.sc two 
iitutions, the Worct'sfer Ban' 
•imty Institution for Saving 

liking institutions of Worcc ic county. Mr. 
lase was a director of the Citi/cns National Bank 
•m l88o to r88g: has been a director of the Wor- 
;ter .National Bank since .January, 1888; of the 
Vorcester) Merchants and Farrnc--. Fire Insur- 
•e Company since 188,3, and was \ ice-president of 
; Worcester \rf Society. Mr. Chase was secre- 
rv of «he Worct'Ster Lyceum Association from 
•i.? to r866, vice-oresident 1862-8, on the lecture 
nmittee from 1866 to 1880, and was a director 
the Free Public Library of .Worr--tfv from 1866 
1874. He has been for sc ■ treasurer 

the Memorial Hospital and 4 secretary 

the American Antiquarian >' i.-,y. and is a 
■mher of the New England Historic Genealogical 
oiety; the Colonial Society of Massachusett- ■ •' 
inker Hill Monument .Association and the 
Ler Society of Antiquity. He is .I'-o vi 
•It of the Home for Aged Men : ; 
irth End Street Railway Cotnp , 
fit of the Worcester Harvard Chi'n 
Mr. Chase has written many pape'-s and panr 
. rflaring to the history of Wor 
Oiase wrote under contract v 
'": mpany. of Br>s:on, a ! 
■ ir history of Worcc^t. r 
valuable matter, the result 
; preserved. For the ' Hi=tflrv '; 
.published by J. W Lewis &• C 
vChase contributed a chaotc-r on 
',He also prepared an h-^'r'r-cri 
' cester Bank, which 
iJtOj celebrate the ceni 

,11904- 
,j ■ He tna^ried .in April, iS-'i,?;. Mary There^ ( 



of Boston, and fhcy liad two children ; -\i 
married Thomas Hovey Gage, jr., of ', - 
and Maud Eliza, who lives with her father. 

HENRY ^LEM PRATT. 1 he subject -,: 
following sketch is of one of Worcester's up-t^- 
business factors. Ili^ r,n.,n.';.-.i .nr,-,-,, ],•,-; I, 
markable and th- 
general business 
another man, \> 
the success he 1k- 

Mr. Pratt, the . 
(Hobbs) Pratt, was 
Charlton, Mas.s.i:' 
genealogy it is 
lain Joseph Pra 
Captain Pratt' 
Indian of Maine, 

I hrough the ^; 
to the descc. 
genealogy through hia mOLhci-, S,»li> Ji- 
mother was an Adams, to the famous AC 
from which President John Adams an^ 
John Quincy Adams were descended, pi 
them (he ancestry has been traced ba^-x nc 

Emperor Charlemag^ie. This noble strain has never 
■■. ' '!-■ :ivl >:\\h: Hobbs Embodied the noblest 
od, and was a supporter and 
their children as long as she 
lecently died at the age of eighty- 
'M. 

was quite young, his par- 
where he remained and 
-)i his neighborhood until he 
\ ' age. working a part of the 

n ,,,,v. at bottoming boots and shoes. 

! ' him coming to Worcester and at 

['■ n a sli^^c store for his board, but 

t; remain at the bot- 
.vo years clerking in 
a Jr\ . ii. lo.s.s, became salesman in 

the Ci A P Ware. The years roll 

by and w ' :""■ In 

1866 then- 1- Style 

of Ware & 1 -.-■'., V. ill' ■■ • most 

complete clothing stores 1. In 

1857 they commenced to iig for 

llie retail trade and it has come to be among* the 
mo.»t extensive in the state. William W. Johnson 
became a partner after Mr. ^' irement in 

iS'o :.I-:fi Edward T. Wardv Fanii.ary t 



TK ! Mc u: Ml - II '. \ .11 e v\ • -. M 

ss until January t, 1869, when it 
\\arc. Pratt & Co., and remained 
I. i8S5, when it was changed to a 



..1 
111 the 
oresi- 



k was 
He 



lie Itas vTcctcd a cliarni- 
aninne the most romantic 



the .ruatcrnal ^ide of 





1 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



89 



Humble Bee." In 1851 he entered Harvard College 
and was graduated from that institution in 1856, 
receiving the degree of A. M. in 1858. He joined 
the staff of the Boston Daily Advertiser in 1855, 
and filled the position of reporting the various de- 
partments and of ofhce editor for seven years. In 

1862 he made a five months' tour of Europe and 
upon his return again took up his residence in 
Worcester, and in the autumn of 1864 was elected 
treasurer of Worcester county, succeeding his father, 
who had held the office for a third of a century. 
He was re-elected and served altogether eleven 

jears as treasurer. In 1875 was elected on an inde- 
pendent ticket as register of deeds, serving in 1876 
- — centennial year — was soon afterward elected sec- 
retary of the board of trade, and in 1879 was treas- 
iirer and manager of the Worcester Telephone Com- 
pany. 

Mr. Chase has for more than twenty-five years 
been one of the pricipal officers of the largest sav- 
ings bank in Massachusetts outside of Boston, hav- 
ing been elected November 10, 1879, treasurer of the 
Worcester County Institution of Saving^;, and suc- 
ceeding Hon. Stephen Salisbury in 1904 as its presi- 
flent. This savings bank was incorporated Febru- 
ary 8, 1828. Samuel Jennison. the cashier of the 
Worcester Bank, was the first treasurer, and until 
recently the president of the Worcester Bank, has 
also been president- of the Worcester County Insti- 
tution for Savings. The interests of the two banks 
were mutual. The second treasurer of the Insti- 
tution was Charles A. Hamilton, whom Mr. Chase 
succeeded. At the time Mr. Chase became presi- 
dent of the bank, the deposits amounted to about 
$20,000,000. In 1905 the bank bought the lot at 
the corner of Main and Foster streets, and began 
to build its own home, a handsome and artistic 
structure. It should be stated also that these two 
institutions, the Worcester Bank and the Worcester 
County Institution for Savings were the pioneer 
"banking institutions of Worcester county. Mr. 
Chase was a director of the Citizens National Bank 
from iSSo to 1889; has been a director of the Wor- 
cester National Bank since January, 1888; of the 
(Worcester) Merchants and Farmers Fire Insur- 
ance Company since 1883. and was vice-president of 
the Worcester Art Society. Mr. Chase was secre- 
tary of the Worcester Lyceum Association from 

1863 to 1866. vice-president 1862-S, on the lecture 
; committee from 1866 to 18S0, and was a director 
•of the Free Public Library of Worcester from 1866 

to 1874. He has been for several years treasurer 
of the Memorial Hospital and recording secretary 
of the American Antiquarian Society, and is a 

. rrieniber of the New England Historic Genealogical 
Society; the Colonial Society of Massachusetts: the 
Bunker Hill Monument Association and the Wor- 
cester Societv of Antiquity. He is also vice-presi- 
■dent of the Home for Aged Men : president of the 
North End Street Railway Company, and presi- 
dent of the Worcester Harvard Club. 

Mr. Chase has written many papers and pamphlets 

. relating to the history of Worcester Tn 1870 Mr. 
Chase wrote under contract with C. F. Jewett & 
Company, of Boston, a history of Worcester for 
their history of Worcester county, in which much 
valuable matter, the result of orisrinal research was 

i preserved. For the "Historv nf Worcester County," 

'.published by J. W. Lewis & Company, in T889. Mr. 
Chase contributed a chapter on the newspaper press. 
,He also prepared an historical sketch of the Wor- 
cester Bank, which was published in book form 

ivto; celebrate the centennial of that institution in 

.',»904. ; , 

■ ,, He married in April. 1863, Mary Theresa Clark, 



of Boston, and they had two children : Mary Alice, 
married Thomas Hovey Gage, Jr., of Worcester; 
and Maud Eliza, who lives with her father. 

HENRY SALEM PRATT. The subject of the 
following sketch is of one of Worcester's up-to-date 
business factors. His financial success has bien re- 
markable and the element entering into his life and 
general business career are indeed possessed by many 
another man, but rarely applied and managed to 
the success he has wrought out by them. 

Mr. Pratt, the eldest son of Salem and Sally 
(Hobbs) Pratt, was born November 18, 1836, at 
Charlton, Massachusetts. By referring to his family 
genealogy it is learned that his grandfather. Cap- 
tain Joseph Pratt, was an officer in the war of 1S12. 
Captain Pratt's grandfather was a full blooded 
Indian of Maine, traces of whose noble blood run 
down through the generations, giving courage and 
honor to the descendants. Mr. Pratt traces his 
genealogy through his mother, Sally Hobbs, whose 
mother was an Adams, to the famous Adams family, 
from which President John Adams and President 
John Quincy Adams were descended, and through 
them the ancestry has been traced back to the 
Emperor Charlemagne. This noble strain has never 
died out, and Sally Hobbs {■mbodied the noblest 
qualities of womanhood, and was a supporter and 
guiding influence to their children as long as she 
lived. She has recently died at the age of eighty- 
seven. July 8, 1904. 

When Henry S. Pratt was quite young, his par- 
ents removed to Charlton, where he remained and 
attended the schools of his neighborhood until he 
was si-xleen years of age. working a part of the 
time with his father at bottoming boots and shoes. 
In 1853 we find him coming to Worcester and at 
first he worked in a shoe store for his board, but 
such a character could not long remain at the bot- 
tom of life's ladder. After two years clerking in 
a dry goods store, he, in 1855. became salesman in 
the clothing store of A. P. Ware. The years roll 
by and we find him a partner in the concern. In 
1S66 there was a branch house formed, under style 
of Ware & Pratt, which today have one of the most 
complete clothing stores in the commonwealth. In 
1857 they commenced to manufacture clothing for 
the retail trade and it has come to be among the 
most extensive in the state. William W. Johnson 
became a partner after Mr. Ware's retirement in 
1870. also Edward T. Wardwell. and January i, 
1.S88. a stock company was organized with Mr. John- 
son as president. Mr. Pratt as treasurer and Charles 
E. Black as clerk. The firm of Ware & Pratt 
«.< inducted Ini-ine^s uiuil January T. 1869. when it 
was changed to Ware. Pratt & Co., and remained 
so until January i, 1888. when it was changed to a 
stock company. 

Aside from his interests in this good business 
firm, he became interested in numerous financial 
institution^. In 1887 he became a director in the 
Citizens' National Bank and in i8qi its vice-presi- 
dent. Upon the decease of Hon .Samuel Winslow. 
. the president, in the autumn of 1894, Mr. Pratt was 
cbo.son to fill the vacancy, and he served to the 
satisfaction of the stockholders until the bank was 
merged with the Worcester Trust Company. He 
is also connected with the Mechanics Savings Bank 
nf Worcester, and is one of its trustees. He bought 
the Hillcroft farm, where he has erected a charrn- 
ing residence. The view is among the most romantic 
of any within the varied and extensive as well as 
historic environments of Worcester city. He also 
Jniilt the "Chadwick . Block.", on Main street, the 
same deriving the name (i;om, .the rijaternal s.ide of 



90 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



Mr. Pratt's wife's people. It should here be added 
that this block stands on the exact spot where ]\Ir. 
Pratt commenced his career by working for his 
board until some better opening presented itself to 
him. 

Like every other good American citizen, Mr. 
Pratt appreciates the right of suffrage, and believ- 
ing the Republican party comes the nearest to main- 
taining a good form of government he casts his 
vote with it. While he is a strong party man, yet 
he prefers others to hold the public offices, while 
he labors in other fields and remains a law-abiding 
citizen of the best type. In religious belief he is 
a Unitarian and attends the First Church. 

His friends are legion. He has belonged to 
various societies, including the Hancock and Com- 
monwealth Clubs, where he was a popular and high- 
ly esteemed member. He is the active manager of 
the Ware-Pratt Company. Not unlike other well 
rounded characters, Mr. Pratt established for him- 
self a home influence by marrying Melora Fletcher, 
December 24, 1857, and to her he acknowledges 
much of the happiness of his life. The career of 
such a man should be a model for the rising young 
men of Worcester, who may be sons of parents 
unable to start them in business. Mr. Pratt com- 
menced unaided, and by virtue of industry and 
economy steadily made his way to the front rank 
in the business circle of Worcester men. He is 
kind, genial, temperate and progressive, all essen- 
tial elements in a ysuccessful life. 

WILLIAM H. HOBBS. Josiah Hobbs (i), the 
pioneer ancestor of William H. Hobbs and Horace 
Hobbs of Worcester, is also the progenitor of prac- 
tically all the families in New England of this sur- 
name. He was born in England, in 1649, and came 
to America in the ".\rabella," Richard Sprague, 
master, leaving Gravesend, May 27, 1671, arriving 
in Boston in July. For the next eighteen years 
he was a resident of Boston. In 1690 he removed to 
Lexington. Massachusetts, then the west precinct 
of Cambridge, and there he lived during the re- 
mainder of his life, except for two years spent in 
Woburn. in the western part, now Burlington, 
Massachusetts. In 1691 he was a subscriber to the 
building fund of the first meeting house in Lexing- 
ton. In 1692-.1 he was among the contributors to 
the support of Rev. Mr. Esterbrook, the first minister 
there. He and his wife, Tabitha, were baptized in 
.August, 1699. In September of the same year their 
children : Josiah, Tabitha and Mary Hobbs were 
baptized ; in October, 1700, Matthew and Susan 
Hobbs were baptized; January 8, 1710, Ebenezer was 
baptized, and April 13. :7I2, Tabitha. Of his seven 
children none had families, according to the records, 
except Josiah. Josiah Hobbs (father) died May 
30. 1 741, aged ninety-two years. He married in 
1683. 

(II) Josiah Hobbs, son of Josiah Hobbs (l), 
vi-as born in Boston in 1684, and moved to Lexing- 
ton with his parents in 1690. He resided there 
until 1705, when he was twenty-one ; he then re- 
turned to Boston and settled there. In 1708 he 
married Esther Davenport, of Dorchester, and re- 
sided on a farm at the north end of Boston. Ac- 
cording to his own statements he used to drive 
cows to pasture from the North End to Muddy 
river, now Brookline. and to Roxbury, now a part 
of Boston. He told his grandchildren that he had 
hoed corn .on Cornhill. Boston. He and his wife 
joined Rev. Cotton Mather's church (the New 
North) and their children were christened there. 
He purchased a farm at Weston, of a man named 
Cheney, and removed there. He joined the Weston 



church and was a very devot man, of strict Puritan 
views. He died February 27, 1779, aged ninety- 
four. His wife died November 29, 1778, aged 
eighty-eight years. Children of Josiah Hobbs and 
his wife, Esther Davenport Hobbs: i. Ebenezer, born 
in Boston, 1709, married Eunice Garfield, of Lan- 
caster, 1734, died of injuries received October 19, 
1762. 2. Josiah (twin), born at Governor's Island, 
in Boston Harbor, 1721, married Mary Hunting- 
ton, of Weston ; she died 1804 ; was a soldier in the 
revolution and deacon of the church ; he died 1802, 
aged eighty-one years. 3. John (twin), born on 
Governor's Island, 1721, married Beulah Warren, 
of Weston ; was a deacon and soldier in the revo- 
lution ; was present at the taking of Burgoyne; he 
and his twin brother bought farms in Brookfield, 
then called Podunk ; he died from a cold taken 
while he was in the service in 1777, leaving a large 
family of children, from some of whom are de- 
scended many of the Hobbs families of Worcester, 
and other towns of the county. 4. Esther, born in 

Boston, October 22, 1722, married Gibbs^ 

settled in Framingham. Massachusetts. 5. Sarah^ 
born May 10, 1724, married Stone, of Wes- 
ton, settled in Vermont and had son, Joseph. 6. 

Dorcas, born 1726, married Parks, settled 

in Lincoln, Massachusetts. 7. Hannah, born Janu- 
ary 25, 1729, married Jeremiah Wetmore, of Wei:- 
ton, settled in Middleton, Connecticut, ancestors of 
the well known Wetmore family of Boston. 8. 
Nathan, born in Weston in 1731, married Elizabeth- 
Fiske. and had ten children. 

(III) Ebenezer Hobbs, son of Josiah Hobbs (2), 
was born in Boston, 1709, married Eunice Garfield, 
of Lincoln, 1734. He died of injuries received 
October 19, 1762. His widow died (October 4, 1776, 
aged sixty-eight years. Cliildren were : Isaac, born 
i~.^5' married Mary Sanderson, of Waltham, 1757, 
had several children who died in infancy : he died 
September 30, 1813: Ebenezer, born 1736, died 
October 28. 1756, unmarried ; Elisha, born 1843, 
married Lois Hastings, of Waltham, 1764: Susan- 
nah, died young: Hepsibath, died young: Mathew, 
born 1745, married Lydia Wesson, of Lincoln, in 
1760; she died in 1782, aged thirty-five years; he 
married (second) Lucy Holmes, of Boston, who 
died 1812 ; he was a soldier in the revolution ; was 
at Lexington April 19, 1775, and followed the re- 
treating British as far as West Cambridge, where 
he was relieved and returned to Concord ; served 
under Captain Jonathan Fiske; was captain of his 
company in 1780; Elizabeth, born 1748, married 
Phineas Gregory, who settled in Princeton in 1767; 
Samuel, born 1751, married Lucy Monroe, of Lex- 
ington, who died in 1812, aged sixty years: he was 
one of the party who threw the tea overboard in 
Boston Harbor: settled in Sturbridge. died May 
J823 : Esther, 1753, married Captain Bowker, of 
Sudbury, removed to western New York. 

(IV) Elisha Hobbs, son of Ebenezer Hobbs (3), 
was born in 1743. He married Lois Hastings, of 
Waltham, in 1764. He settled in Princeton before 
the revolutionary war and spent the remainder of 
his days there. He was deacon of the church. His 
wife died September 22. 1807. aged sixty-four years. 
He died December 16, 1816, aged seventy-four years. 
Children were: Lois, born May 10, 1765, married, 
1783. John Mirick, of Princeton, where she died 
1843; Elisha, January 29, 1768; Micah, November 
22, 1770. died October 29, 1775: Jonas, .'\ugust 31, 
1772, went to Vermont early ; Susanna, May 20, 
1774 : Micah, September 29. 1776, died at Hope, 
Maine. February 2, 1842. aged sixty-six years, had 
two sons. Josiah and Henry: John, July 21, 1779, 
married Betsey Bailey, of Sterling; William, Au- 



^^■oR^F.STER county 



91 



gust 30, 1781, married Nancy Gill, of Princoton, had 
three sons : William, born 1S09, resided in Wor- 
cester, and Elisha lived on the homestead in Prince- 
ton : Moses, October 24, 1783. married Mercy Gill, 
of Princeton, was killed in Hubbardston at the rais- 
ing of a barn, 1823. 

(V) John Hobbs. son of Elisha Hobbs of 
Princeton (4), was born in Princeton, Massachu- 
setts, July 21, 1779. He married BetseyBailey, of 
Sterling. Their children were: Betsey, born March 
10, 1800; John, June 17, 1801, resided in Yonkers, 
New York; Micah, February 22, 1804, married a 
daughter of Moses Hobbs and resided in Prince- 
ton; George, May 16, 1806, resided in Worcester; 
Henry, November 4, 1808, died 1840: Susan. June 
2, 181 1 ; Isaac, June 13, 1813, removed to Hope, 
Maine; Samuel, January 29. 1816, at Princeton; 
Bailey October 8, 1818, resided in Y'onkers, New 
York. 

(VI) George Hobbs. major-general, son of John 
Hobbs (5), was born in Princeton. Massachusetts, 
May 16, 1806. He died in Worcester, November 3, 
1872. He married Calista Beaman, 1829. He set- 
tled in Sterling, where he kept a hotel in the days 
when the country tavern was at the height of its 
prosperity. He also managed an extensive stage 
business there. General Hobbs removed to Worces- 
ter in 183S and kept the Eagle Hotel, at the corner 
of Main and Thomas streets. He is still remem- 
bered by the older citizens of Worcester as a manu- 
facturer of brick. He had kilns on Lincoln street, 
and continued to manufacture bricks until his health 
failed, a few years before his death. He invested 
in real estate and built many brick buildings in 
various parts of the city. He left a valuable estate. 
He was one of the few Worcester men who attained 
the rank of major-general; he became commander 
of the City Guards in 1840, and he rose through 
the various ranks in the state militia to that posi- 
tion. He resigned in 1856. but always retained an 
interest in the military affairs of the state. He 
had two sons, prominent officers in Worcester regi- 
ments in the civil war. He was highly respected 
as a citizen as well as a soldier. For several years 
he was chief of the Worcester fire department. He 
served the city of Worcester in 1861-63-64 as alder- 
man. He was an assessor for several years. Dur- 
ing the last years of his life'he was in feeble health, 
for a year was confined to the house. 

The Worcester Gazette said of him at the time 
of his death : "He was deeply interested in the 
military branch of the public service, and the spirit 
and efficiency of the militia in his time were largely 
due to his influence and example. * * * In all 
positions of pubjic trust he was faithful and 
energetic." 

Children of George and Calista (Beaman) 
Hobbs : Ann. born 1830, at Sterling, married George 
S. Howe; she resides at present in The Aurora, 
Worcester; Horace. September 2. 1831. at Sterling: 
Martha, at Sterling, 1834 ; Catherine or Kate Rust, 
born 1836: George Webster, March 22. 1839, at 
Worcester; William Harrison, April 28. 1841, at 
Worcester. 

(VII) Horace Hobbs, son of Oneral George 
Hobbs (6), was born in Sterling, Massachusetts, 
September 2, 1831. He attended the Worcester 
public schools. He learned the profession of civil 
engineering and surveying and followed it for about 
seven years. He was a strong anti-slavery man, 
and when Eli Thayer organized the movement for 
Free Kansas Mr. Hobbs was one of the first to enlist 
as a pioneer. When he reached Kansas he found 
the feeling at fever heat. In fact he participated in 
the first practical and effective resistance against 



slavery. He was in a cavalry company in the town 
of Lawrence at the time of the Border Ruffian In- 
vasion from Missouri, and he remained in Kansas 
until hostilities ceased. He was there thirteen 
months. He worked at brick making, with his 
father, for about five years in all. When the civil 
war broke out he enlisted early. In 1863 he was 
conmiissioned captain of Company H, Fifty-first 
Regiment. 

Captain Hobbs lived for a time in Auburn, a 
town adjoining Worcester. He was town treasurer 
there for five years. He was deacon of the Con- 
gregational church for a number of years, treasurer, 
and also superintendent of the Sunday school. All 
his life he has been known as an earnest and con- 
sistent supporter of the temperance movement in 
its various forms. In politics he has always been 
a Republican, and has been satisfied with the straight 
ticket. He has never voted for a Democrat. Since 
1876 he has been examiner of titles at the Wor- 
cester county registry of deeds. His careful, pains- 
taking work there is known to members of the bar 
all over the state. He and his brother have made 
a specialty of searching titles, and have won a high 
reputation for excellent work. He is a member of 
George H. Ward Post, No. 10, G. A. R., and of 
the Loyal Legion. He is also a member of the Con- 
gregational Club and the board of trade. 

He married (first) Mary P. Parker. He married 
(second) Maria K. Knowles, daughter of Elisha 
and Eunice (Huntington) Knowles. of .\uburn. The 
children of Horace and Mary P. (Parker) Hobbs: 
Horace B., died at the age of eighteen rnonths ; 
Cora Louise, a clerk in the office of the register of 
deeds ; William H., attended the Worcester high 
school, a graduate of Worcester Polytechnic Insti- 
tute, then took a course at Harvard University, at 
Johns Hopkins, and at Heidelberg University, Ger- 
many (where he studied again in 1905) : for some 
years professor of geology in Wisconsin State Uni- 
versity at Madison. Wisconsin: he married Sarah 
Kimball, has one child. Winnifred B., born T900. 
Children of Horace and Maria K. (Knowles) Hobbs: 
Howard K.. was in the Second regiment at the battle 
of Santiago, is sergeant of the Worcester Light In- 
fantrv and treasurer of the company : also treasurer 
of Willie Grout Camp, Sons of Veterans ; treasurer 
of the Sunday school : graduate of Worcester high 
school : associated wMth his father and uncle as 
examiner of titles at the court house. Alice M., 
graduate of Wheaton Seminary. 

(VII) George Webster Hobbs. son of General 
George Hobbs (6), was born in Worcester. March 
22, 1839. He was educated in the public schools of 
his native citv and at Norwich University, Vermont. 
He studied law \v\th. Colonel E. B. Stoddard. He 
was admitted to the bar and commenced to practice 
in \?6o, at Uxbridge. He was a lieutenant in the 
Worcester Light Infantry. For many years he was 
one of the most prominent and influential citizens 
of Uxbridge. He was interested in historical sub- 
jects and wrote extensively. He married Chloe E. 
Taft. daughter of David Taft, of Uxbridge. 

(VII) William Harrison Hobbs, youngest son 
of General George Hobbs (6), was born in Wor- 
cester, Massachusetts, April 28, 1841. in the hotel at 
the comer of Main and Thomas streets, which at 
that time was kept by bis father. He first attended 
school in the old school house on Main street: then 
in the Thomas street school in the various grades. 
He also attended the Worcester Academy, the 
Highland Military Academy and the Worcester 
high school. In 1855 he joined the Worcester Light 
Infantry, and was with his company in the famous 
march through Baltimore at the beginning of the 



92 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



civil war, April 19, 1861. This company was part 
of the Sixth Massachusetts Regiment. He was one of 
those detailed by Captain Harrison W. Pratt to 
notify the members of the company to be at the 
armory for active service. He still has the written 
order, viz. : 

"Private W. H. Hobbs : You are hereby ordered 
to warn, and give immediate verbal notice, to the 
non-commissioned officers and privates of the com- 
pany under my command, and whose names are 
specified in roll annexed, to appear at their armory 
at four o'clock in the forenoon of Wednesday, the 
seventeenth day of April, current, uniformed and 
equipped as the law directs for military duty and 
active service. 

Harrison W. Pratt, 

"Commanding Company B, Third Battalion In- 
fantry." 

He was mustered out of service, with the rank 
of corporal, at the expiration of his enlistment. 
After his return from the service Mr. Hobbs went 
into the business of brick-making with his father, and 
continued until the death of his father in 1872. In 
the following year he went to Haverhill and started 
in the brick business, but on account of the financial 
troubles and hard times of that period, he sold out 
in 1874. He returned to Worcester and entered 
the real estate and conveyancing business. He had 
an office in the building on the present site of the 
Chadwick until 1883, when he went into the registry 
of deeds, working with his brother Horace in ex- 
amining titles. He has continued in this business 
ever since. At present he is the head of the Hobbs 
Title Company, and his associates are Samuel H. 
Longley and Howard K. Hobbs, his nephew. Mr. 
Hobbs is well known, especially among the law- 
yers of the county, and is highly esteemed. He is 
regarded as one of tlie leading experts in real estate 
matters in Worcester county. He is a Republican 
in politics, but not an active one. He belongs to 
George H. Ward Post, No. 10, G. A. R., and has 
been a member of the auditing committee for the 
past three years ; a member of the Independent Order 
of Odd Fellows, Quinsigamond Lodge, No. 48, and 
trustee of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows' 
Mutual Benefit Association for several years, also a 
member of the Veteran Independent Order of Odd 
Fellows' Association, having been an Odd Fellow 
for twenty-five years. Mr. Hobbs married, 
November 26, 1865, Martha Lydia Holt, daughter 
of Lucius K. and Rebecca (Miles) Holt. They 
have two children, both living: Charles H., resides 
at New Orleans, educated at Worcester Academy ; 
Katharine, lives with her parents, 146 Main street, 
W^orcester. 

(I) Nicholas Holt, the pioneer ancester of Mrs. 
William H. Hobbs, was born in England, in 1602. 
He came from Romsey, England, in the ship 
"James," William Cooper, master, sailing April 6, 
and landing in Boston June 3, 1635. He was one of 
the first settlers at Newbury and Andover, Massa- 
chusetts. At Newbury he was husbandman, pro- 
prietor and town officer. He made a long journey 
with others to take the freeman's oath May 17, 
1637, and vote against Sir Harry Vane. He was a 
tanner as well as a farmer. He removed to And- 
over in 1644. He sold his Newbury land Novem- 
ber 14, 1652. He is called a plate-turner (wood- 
worker) in some records. He married (first) Eliza- 
beth . She died at Andover, November 9, 1656. 

He married (second), June 20, 1658, Hannah 
<Bradstreet) Rolfe, widow of Daniel Rolfe and 
daughter of Humpljrey Bradstreet. She died June 



20, 1665. He married (third) Mrs. Martha Preston, 
widow of Roger Preston, May 2I, 1666. She died 
March 21, 1703, aged eighty years. He died Jan- 
uary 30, 1685, aged eighty-three years. Children of 
Nicholas and Elizabeth Holt: Hannah, born in 
England, married Robert Gray ; Elizabeth, born at 
Newbury, March 30, 1636; Mary, born at Newl)ury, 
October 6, 1638; Samuel, October 6, 164 1 ; Henry, 
born 1644, of whom later; Nicholas, 1647; James, 
1651 ; Pnscilla, June 20, 1653. Children of Nicho- 
las and Hannah Holt were : Rebecca, born Nov- 
ember 14, 1662; John, January 14, 1663-4. 

(II) Henry Holt, fifth child of Nicholas Holt 
(i), was born in Newbury, Massachusetts, 1644. 
He married, February 24, 1669, Sarah Ballard, 
daughter of William Ballard. She died at Andover. 
November 25, 1733. He died January 17, 1719, 
aged seventy-five years. They joined the church 
June 3, 1716. He was prominent in town affairs. ' 
In 1686 he owned a mill on Ladle brook. Children 
were : Elizabeth, born in Andover, Massachusetts, 
December 29, 1670; Oliver, January 14, 167 1 ; Henry, 
January 24, 1673 ; James, see forward ; George, 
March 17, 1677; Sarah, August 17, 1678; Josiah, 
December 13, 1679; Dinah, May 23, 1681 ; Paul, 
February 7, 1684; William, February 3, 1687; 
Zerviah, March 24, 1689; Keturah, December 15. 
1690; Humphrey, September 22, 1693; Benjamin, 
July 8, 1696. 

(III) James Holt, fourth child of Henry Holt 
(2), born in Andover, Massachusetts, September 3. 
1675, married, May 24, 1705, Susannah Preston. She 
died February 20, 1741-2. He died November 25, 
1751. aged seventy-six. Their children: Abigail, 
born in Andover, Massachusetts, March 20, 1705. 
died 1716; James, 1707; Zerviah, 1712; Barzillai. 
see forward; Abigail, died February 20, 1756. 

(IV) Barzillai Holt, fourth child of James 
Holt (3), born in Andover, Massachusetts, Octo- 
ber 25, 1715, married (first) August 27, 1738, Eliza- 
beth Goss ; married (second), February 22, 1759, 
Lois AUena, and settled in Marlboro, Massachu- 
setts, in the part later set off as Shrewsbury. He 
was one of the first settlers in West Boylston, 
about 1720. He died at Boylston in 1774, aged 
fifty-eight years. Children of Barzillai and Eliza- 
beth (Goss) Holt: Abel, see forward; Barzillai, 
May 12, 1745; James, June 6, 1746; Elizabeth, 
August 29, 1753; Silas, born in Marlboro; Levi, 
May 6, 1760; Abiel, May 11, 1763; Jothani, Jan- 
uary 10, 1765. 

(V) Abel Holt, eldest child of Barzillai Holt 
(4), born in Marlboro, ?\Iassachusetts, June 14, 
1740, married, October 21, 1765, or February 27, 

1766, Eunice Keyes, daughter of Henry Keyes, of 
Shrewsbury, born April 19, 174^, died October 21, 
1840, aged ninety-five years and six months. He 
died February 18, 181S, aged seventy-five years. He 
was a soldier in the revolution. Children were : 
Lois, born in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, May 11, 

1767, married William Drury, of Holdcn ; .Amasa, 
born in Boylston, April 24, 1772, married, 1798, 
Nabby Nourse, of Berlin ; Asa, born in Boylston, 
June 26, 1776; Abel, June 26, 1776, married Hannah 
Wright; Jonas, October 22, 1779; Eunice, October 
21, 1782; Henry Keyes, July 2, 1788, married, No- 
vember 16, 1813, Lydia Fairbanks, see forward ; 
Tyler, September 21, 1791, married, October i, 1812, 
Arethusa Fairbanks; she died August 16, 1837, He 
died November 8, 1866, at West Boylston. 

(VI) Henry Keyes Holt, seventh child of Abel 
Holt (5). born in Boylston, Massachusetts, July 
2, 1788, married, November 16, 1813, Lydia Fair- 
banks, a descendant of Jonathan Fairbanks, of Ded- 
ham, in the following line: Lydia (VI), Seth (,Y)> 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



93 



onathan (IV), Jabez (III), Jonas (II), Jon- 
than (I). He died September 8, 1828, from in- 
uries received in a fall. His widow married (sec- 
)nd), September 25, 18+4, Natlianicl Davenport. 
Children of Henry Keyes and Lydia (Fairbanks) 
iolt : Henry Fairbanks, born in South Berwick, 
daine, November 26, 1816, married, December 22, 
841, Martha Levina Wood, daughter of Alcrritl 
Vood ; Lucius Keyes, see forward. 

(VII) Lucius Keyes Holt, youngest child of 
ienry Keyes Holt (6), born in Sterling, JVIassachu- 
etts, married, October 10, 1843, Rebecca Frost, of 
ilarlboro, Massachusetts. They resided in Lan- 
aster, Massachusetts. Children were : Martha 
.ydia, born in Shirley, Massachusetts, November 
14, 1845, see forward ; Henry Keyes, born in Lan- 
;aster, March 5, 1850, died August 4, 1857, drowned 
.t Holyoke, Massachusetts ; Frank E., born in 
lolyoke, December 17, 1856, married Nellie Hast- 
ngs ; resides at Bayonne, New Jersey ; superintend- 
;nt of the Singer Sewing Machine Company fact- 
iry at Elizabeth, New Jersey; they have one child, 
Dlive, born 1893; Lucius M., born in Lancaster, 
ulv 13, 1859, deceased. 

(VIII) Martha Lydia Holt, eldest child of Lu- 
:ius Keyes Holt (7), born at Shirley, Massachu- 
etts, November 24, 1845. I" early life she lived 
vith her parents and went to school in Clinton, 
^lassachusetts. During the civil war the family 
ived at Easthampton. She attended Williston 
Seminary and Worcester Academy. She is a mem- 
ler of the Fairbanks Association and as indicated 
ibove is descended in the same line as Vice-Presi- 
lent Fairbanks, who is her cousin. , She married 
A'illiam Harrison Hobbs. (See sketch above.) 

ARTHUR LANE SAFFORD. Thomas Saf- 
ord (l), the immigrant ancestor of Arthur Lane 
^afford, of Lancaster, Massachusetts, was born in 
ingland and settled in New England at Ipswich 
jefore 1641. He was on the list of proprietors of 
he town April 6, 1641, and was admitted a freeman 
December 19, 1648. He bought a farm at Ipswich, 
hirty-two acres, .of Henry Kingsbury, February 8, 
[648. He was a subscriber to Denison's allowance 
n 1640 and had a share and a half in Plum Island. 
He died in F~cbruary, 1666-7. His will was dated 
February 20, 1666-7, a"d proved Alarch 26, 1667. 
He gave his farm to his son Joseph on condition 
if his care of the father and mother and paying 
certain amounts to daughters Elizabeth, Mary and 
Abigail. 

He married Elizabeth , who died March 4, 

[67, at Ipswich. Their children were: Joseph, 
3orn 1631 or 1632, (he deposed March 29, 1692, 
that he was about fifty-nine or sixty years old.) 
ivas admitted a freeman 1682 ; married, March 6, 
[660, Mary Baker ; Jolni, of whom later ; Elizabeth, 
Mary, Abigail. (One of the daughters married 
Kilum.) 

(II) John Safford, son of Thomas Safford (i), 
was born about 1633, probably in England. He set- 
tled in Ipswich, Massachusetts. He had a share of 
Plum Island. He gave land to his son Thomas for 
the maintenance of his wife and daughter by deed 
dated September 5, 1698. The children of John 
md Sarah Safford were: John, Jr., of whom later; 
Sarah, born July 14. 1664. died July 21, 1712; Mar- 
garet. February 28, 1665-6; Rebecca, August 30, 
1667; Mercy or Mary, born February 26, 1669-70; 
Elizabeth, February 2y. 1670- 1 : Thomas, October 
16, 1672, married, October 7. 1698, Eleanor Shats- 
well or Setchwell, widow of Richard Setchwell and 
daughter of Daniel Cheney; married (second) at 
Rowley, June 29, 1725, Sarah Scott; their son Jo- 



seph was a pioneer at llardwick, where many of his 
descendants live; Joseph, March 12, 1674-5. 

(III) John Safford, Jr., son of John Saflford 
(2), was born about 1660. He took the oath of 
allegiance in 1683 at Ipswich. He was administra- 
tor of the estate of his father-in-law, Thomas New- 
man, March 5, 1691. He married, September 15, 
1685, ilanuah Newman, daughter of Thomas New- 
man. He married (second), June 28, 1702, Abigail 
Martin. He resided at Ipswich. The children of 
John, Jr, and Hannah Safford were : John. Jr., 
born February 28, 1687-8; Hannah, September 24, 
1691; Sarah, December 25, 1694; Mary, March 5, 
1697; Elizabeth, January 24, 1700. The children of 
John, Jr. and Abigail Safford were: Mary, April 
-4. 1703; Joseph, January 18, 1705; Gideon, March 
24, I7(xj, of whom later. 

(IV) Gideon Safford, son of John Safford, Jr., 
(3), was born in Ipswich, Massachusetts, March 24, 
1709. He lived 111 Ipswich. He married there, 
January 13, 1731-2, Elizabeth Hill. Their children 
were: Mary, born September i, 1732; Thomas, 
October 15, 1735, of whom later; Elizabeth, Sep- 
tember 17, 1737; Thankful, October 15, 1739; Amy, 
January 25, 1742; Lucy, April 3, 1744; Samuel, Jan- 
uary 2, 1748; Pagy, May 10 1750; Anne, July 12, 
17s- ; Gideon, Jr., November 4, 1754. 

(V) Thomas Safford, son of Gideon Safford 
(4), was born in Ipswich, Massachusetts, October 
IS. .^735- He was a soldier in the French and 
Indian war and was in Captain Jonathan Brown's 
company at Lake George in 1758. During the 
revolution he was living at or near Watertown, and 
he enlisted July 2,- 1778, with others to serve as 
guards over the powder magazine for six months. 
He continued to serve on this duty until August 
2, 1779. He was called "corporal" m some of the 
records. He married at Watertown, July 31, 1764, 
Sarah Kettell, of Medford, his residence bcini^ given 
as Dedham. His wife joined the Dedhani church, 
March 23, 1766. The only record of birth of chil- 
dren born to Thomas and Sarah is found in Ded- 
ham records : Thomas, baptized at Dedham, 
August 24, 1766, by Rev. Mr. Townscnd. 

(VI) Thomas Safford, Jr., son of Thomas 
Safford (5), of Dedham and Watertown, was bap- 
tized at Dedham, August 24, 1766. He lived at 
Dedham, Watertown and Concord. He learned the 
trade of baker. He removed from Concord to 
Lancaster in 1795. He bought of Joseph Willington 
Page of Lancaster for one thousand and ninety 
pounds his estate in Lancaster, including land on 
the Berlin road, land known as the Rugg Intervale, 
formerly of Isaac Rugg's estate, and land on the 
Harvard road by deed dated April 22, 1795. This 
deed gives his residence as Concord, but he must 
have removed immediately afterward, as his son 
Thomas was baptized at Lancaster, September 6, 

I79S- 

He married (first) Elizabeth Stetson, who died 
at Lancaster, March 11, 1818, aged forty-nine years. 
He married (second), 1819, Anna Brighani. Eliza- 
beth Stetson was the daughter of Ebenezcr Stetson, 
who married in Watertown, July I, 1765, Lucy Rug- 
gles. Ebenezer Stetson died in 1809 and the chil- 
dren of Thomas and Elizabeth (Stetson) Safford 
were named among his heirs, Thomas Safford be- 
ing appointed guardian of the minor cliildrcn, Sep- 
tember 26, 1809. The second wife was of Marl- 
boro, Massachusetts. The children of Thomas and 
Elizabeth Safford, all except George, born or bap- 
tized in Lancaster, were: George, of whom later; 
Thomas, baptized September 6, 1795 ; Catherine, bap- 
tized April 23, 1797, died July 4, 1798; Joseph Collis, 
baptized December 6, I7<;fe; Francis Augustus, bap- 



94 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



tizf d August 3, 1800, died August 3. 1801 ; Caro- 
line, born May 30, 1802, died August 31, 1803'; 
Catherine, born Ueccmber g, 1S04, died February 
14, 1807; Henry, born March i, 1S07; Susan Pahner, 
born February 19, i8og; Adchne, born January 13, 
181 1 ; Elizabeth, (.guardian appointed at her father's 
death). 

(.VI 1) George Safford, eldest son of Thomas 
Safford (6), was born about 1794, probably in Con- 
cord, Massachusetts. He was brought up in Lan- 
caster and attended school there. He was a farmer. 
He married Mary (.I'olly) Stevenson, July 8, 1816, 
daughter of Martin Stevenson, of Lancaster. She 
died February 19, 1831, aged thirty-si.N: years. He 
was guardian of their children who were heirs of 
their grandfather Stevenson, who owned forty acres 
on George Hill. The children of George and Polly 
Safford were: Charles, born September 14. 1817, 
of whom later ; George Fo^dick, born March 19, 
1819, had children: George and Helen Shortly; 
Roby Ruel, born December 12, 1821 ; Augustus, born 
January 9, 1825 ; Flenry, of Fitchburg ; Mary E. 
George Safford married again and had Fred, whose 
children are George Saiford and Lizzie Snyder of 
Troy, New York. George Safford married a third 
■wife. 

(VllI) Charles Safford, son of George Safford 
(7), was born in Lancaster, September 14, 1817. 
He resided in Lancaster, where he carried on the 
business of cabinet making, painting, etc. He was 
for many years the town undertaker. He died in 
1879, aged si.\ty-nine years. He married. May 16, 
1843, Julia A. D. Carter, than aged twenty-four 
years. Their children were : A daughter, died 
young; Charles Ethan, born October 17, 1845, mar- 
ried twice ; one son, Clarence, was killed in the 
destruction of the Maine at Havana; Sarah Julia, 
February 16, 1847, died June 22, 1847; Ellen Frances, 
June I, 1848, married Frank Havard, of Bolton ; 
they have two sons and two daughters ; Frank, a 
painter by trade, died unmarried at Lancaster ; Henry, 
a painter by trade, married Carrie Divoll ; has had 
five children, two of whom are living; Arthur 
Lane, of whom later ; William P., is in the emr- 
ploy of his brother in the general store at Lan- 
caster; married Lillian Wilder, daughter of Wil- 
liam G. Wilder, of Chnton ; thev have one daughter 
Mabel. 

(IX) Arthur Lane Safford, son of Charles 
Safford (8), was born at Lancaster, Massachu- 
setts, August 15, 1856. Fie attended the public and 
high schools of his native town. At the age of 
si.xteen he began to work in the general store at 
Lancaster. The store changed hands several times, 
but he remained in the employ of the various pro- 
prietors until December, 1879, when in partner- 
ship with BLUjaniiu Kingsbury Gallup he became 
proprietor of the store himself. The firm name was 
Gallup & Saft'ord and they had an excellent busi- 
ness. In 1891 Mr. Safford bought out his partner 
jmd since then has conducted the business alone. 
He has a high grade general store, groceries, dry 
goods, hardware, agricultural implements and the 
usual stock of the large country store. He also 
deals in grain, flour, etc. His former partner is 
now manager for the Swift concern of a branch at 
Trenton, New Jersey. 

In politics Mr. Safford is a Republican. He was 
for seven' years town trea.surer and ta.x collector, 
but declined to serve after his partner withdrew 
from the business. He is at present trustee of the 
town's charity funds, held under various bequests, 
for the benefit of the poor of the town. He is a 
Free Mason, member of Trinity Lodge of Clin- 



ton, He is a member of the Lancaster Lodge of 
Odd Fellows. 

He married Marian Adams Fuller, daughter of 
Edward M. Fuller, brother of Eben S. F'uller, of 
Clinton. (.See sketch of Fuller family in this work.) 
Their children were: Edith Marie, born June, 1891; 
Edward, May 6, 1895. 

ELI JONES WHITTEMORE. The genealogy 
of the W hittemore family to which Eli Jones Whitte- 
more, of Worcester, belongs, has been traced back 
in England to the twelfth century. Mr. Whitte- 
niore has the result of the researches of D. J. 
Whittemore, chief engineer of the Chicago, Mil- 
waukee & St. Paul Railroad, which were carried on 
for a number of years in England at considerable 
expense and infinite pains to secure accuracy. A 
vast amount of information that he collected should 
be edited. A brief abstract only can be used here. 
It will serve to correct some of the errors in the 
Whittemore and Whitmore genealogies. The name 
is commonly spelled Whitmore in England, while 
some descendants of the original stock spell their 
name Wetmore. 

(I) TJie Whitmores of Staft'ordshirc, England, 
were originally termed de Boterel. The name of 
the father of William de Boterel (1100-1135) and 
his brother, Peter de Botrel, is unknown. William 
had a son William (1158-I163). 

(II) Peter de Botrel, of Staffordshire, had a 
son Radulph or Ralph. 

(HI) Ralph de Botrel (1152-1171) married twice. 
His son William by the first wife married Avisa de 
Whitmore (1179). William (IV) (1174) Iwd a son 
Reginald (V) (1204-16), who had a son Robert 
(VI) (1238), who had a son Robert (VII) (1260). 
This is not the American line. That descends from 
the second wife, by her son Ralph de Botrel and 
not by Rad Fitz Wetmore (1220-40), an illegitimate 
son. Rad had a son Will le Burgvyllon (1242-54). 

(IV) Ralph de Botrel had a son, Sir John. 

(V) Sir John de Whitmore married Agnes 
( 1252-76) and had at least three sons : John, Lord 
of Whitmore, founder of what the genealogists call 
the Caunton line : William, married Alice Fenners, 
had son Philip (VII), founded what is called the 
Claverly branch: Ralph (VI). 

(VI) John Whitmore, son of Sir John Whit- 
more, married Margerie (1270-1301). 

(VII) Richard of Whitmore married Susannah 
Draycote, daughter of Sir Philip Draycote, of 
Painesley, knight, and had : Jane, married John 
Blunt ; Mary, married John Gifford : Beatrix, mar- 
ried John Chetwind; Christina, married Richard 
Fleetwood ; Philip. 

(\TII) Philip Whitmore, married Thomasine, 
daughter of Richard Oliver (?), and had a son, 
Richard Whitmore. 

(IX) Richard Whitmore. son of Philip Whit- 
more (8), married (first) a daughter of Sir Ralph 
Bagot; married (second) daughter of Richard 
Devereu-x : married (third) a daughter of Simon 
Harcourt. probably of Ellenhall, Staffordshire, and 
by his third wife had son Nicholas. 

(X) Nicholas Whitmore. son of Richard Whit- 
more (9). married .-Knnie Aston, daughter of Thomas 
.'Kston. of Tixall. Staft'ordshire, and had: Mary, 
married William Lusone ; Anthony. 

("XI) Anthony Whitmore. son of Nicholas Whit- 
more (10), married Christina Vaux, daughter and 
heir of Nicholas \^au-x, and had : Joan. William. 

(XII) William Whitmore. son of .Anthony Whit- 
more (11), had a son John. 

(XIII) John Whitmore. of Caunton, second son 






// 



-6^3^^u^, 



^^-iJL^ 



I 



WORCESTER COUXTY 



95 



of William Whitmore (12), in the reign of Henry 
VI, married Alice BIyton, daughter and heir of 
Robert BIyton, of Caunton, county Notts; married 
(second) Catherine Compton, daughter and heir 
■of Robert Compton, of Hawton (Visitation of York 
1563), and had: William; Robert, who was the 
lieir. 

(XIV) Robert Whitmore, son of John Whit- 
more (13), of Caunton, married Catherine Claye, 
daughter of George Claye. of Finningly, county 
Notts (Visitation of Yorkshire), and had son Will- 
iam, the heir, who married a daughter of John Rid- 
ley. William of Rotterham died in 156S. Robert 
Whitmore. married (second) Alice Atwoode. of 
Harlington, Bedfordshire. He died at Caunton in 
1540. By this marriage the children were: Richard, 
died without issue, 1559; John, living in 1545; 
Charles, died 1568; Thomas, living in 1559, probably 
died about 1603; Edmund, living in 1559; Rowland, 
living in 1591 ; James. Randall, and three daugh- 
ters. Thomas Whitmore, Sr.. of Hitchin, w-as the 
son of Edmund or Rowland, son.^ of Robert. Hitchin 
is the parish where the emigrant Thomas Whitmore 
was born, and he was the son of another Thomas 
Whitmore. as will be seen later. 

(XV) Charles Whitmore. son of Robert Whit- 
more (14). died in 1568. He lived at Tuxforth, 
county Notts. His children were : William, died 
1582 in county Notts ; John, supposed to have lived 
in .Staffordshire and died 1571 : Robert, died 1608; 
Richard, died 1578; James, died 1614; Thomas, 
the elder, died 1649; Roger, of Hitchin; Christo- 
pher, of county Beds, died 1640; four daughters, 
and a posthumous child supposed to be George. 
Three of the sons spelled the name Whittamore, 
three spelled it Watmore and one Whitmore, the 
spelling that has prevailed in England. 

(XVI) Thomas Whitmore, son of Charles Whit- 
more (15). lived at Hitchin. county of Hertford. 

England. He married Mary . His two sons 

emigrated to New England : Thomas to Maiden. 
Massachusetts, and John to Stamford. Connecticut. 
Thomas, of Maiden, is the ancestor of most of the 
American Whittemores. John Whitmore, of Stam- 
ford, had a daughter Elizabeth and son John 
Whittemore. who v,-as of age in 1649, lived at Stam- 
ford and Middletown. Connecticut. 

(XVI) Roger Whitmore. son of Charles Whit- 
more (15), and brother of Thomas Whitmore. of 
Hitchin, was the father of Nicholas Whitmore : 
Nicholas was the father of two sons also who 
emigrated to New England : Francis Whitmore to 
Boston and Thomas Whitmore to Middletown. 
Connecticut. From these are descended the Amer- 
ican Whitmores. Their father was a first cousin 
of the Maiden emigrant. Thomas Whittemore. 

(XVII) Thomas Whittemore, son of Thomas 
Whittemore (16). was born at Hitchin, Hertford- 
shire, England. He came to New England prior 
to 1640. for at that time he was in Charlestown. 
Massachusetts, on the Mystic side, which later was 
the town of Maiden, and signed a petition with 
neighbors for better privileges in 1640. He bought 
land there of Mr. John Cotton in 1645. This lot 
adjoined his home lot and is now in the city of 
Everett. Massachusetts. It remained in the Whitte- 
more family until May i. 1845. over two hundred 
years after he bought it. The site of the first dwell- 
ing house is known. 

He married (second) Sarah Deardes, April 14, 
1623, in England. She was buried November 17, 
T628. He married (third) Hannah , who ac- 
cording to her deposition in 1662. was born in 1612. 
She married (second) Benjamin Butterfield. June 
3. 1663. at Chelmsford, Massachusetts. Thomas 



Whittemore died at Maiden, May 25, 1661. His will 
was proved June 25, 1O61. Children of Thomas 
Whittemore w^ere : Sarah, baptized April 14, 1616; 
Mary, baptized May 12, 1624; Thomas, baptized 
October 6, 1626, lived in England; Daniel, baptized 
July 3r, 1633, married Mary Mcllins, daughter of 
Richard Mcllins, of Charlestown, March 7, 1662; 
John, baptized April 27, buried 29, 1635; Nathaniel, 
baptized May i, 163C, married Mary Knower, left 
no male descendants; John, baptized February II, 
1638-9, at Hitchin, England, as were also all the 
preceding; settled in Cambridge, Massachusetts, had 
fifteen children and has many descendants; Eliza- 
beth; Benjamin, married Elizabeth Bucknam, who 
died July 18, 1726; he died July 16, 1726; Thomas 
(one of the few- cases where there are two sons 
of exactly the same name living at the same time. 
The elder Thomas Whittemore was in England and 
never came over) married Elizabeth Peirce, of 
Woburn, November 9, 1666, and had son Thomas, 
born August 14. 1667; Samuel, married Hannah 

, removed to Dover. New Hampshire, thence 

to Somerville, Massachusetts, and died September 
15, 1726; both he and his wife buried at Cambridge, 
Massachusetts ; Peletiah ; Abraham, served in the 
army in King Philip's war in 1676, died January 
14. i6go-r. 

(XVIII) Daniel Whittemore. son of Tliomas 
Whittemore (17). was born in Hitchin, Hertford- 
shire, England, and baptized there July 31. 1633. 
He married Mary Mellins. daughter of Richard 
Mellins. of Charlestown, March 7, 1662. Richard 
removed from Charlestown to Weymouth, where 
he was admitted a freeman September 7. 1639. He 
inherited the homestead from his lather and' settled 
on it. He bequeathed the homestead to his sons 
Daniel and John, the latter being the father of 
John Whittemore. of Leicester. The will was non- 
cupative and was tiot proved till nearly two years 
after his death. His widow Mary was the' ad- 
ministrator. Children of Daniel Whittemore were: 
Daniel, born April 27, 1663, resided in Charlestown 
and Maiden, died September 21, 1756. aged ninety- 
four ; left the homestead to his son Daniel ; John, 
February 12. 1664-5. died 17.^0: Thomas, March 5, 
1667; Mary. February 15. 1668-9; Nathaniel, Feb- 
ruary 7. 1670; Peletiah. 1680; James. 

(XIX) John Whittemore. son of Daniel Whitte- 
more (18), married Ruth Bassett. She and her 
sister, Lydia Bassett. who married his brother Daniel 
Whittemore. were daughters of Joseph Bassett, son 
of the emigrant. William Bassett, who came over 
in the "Fortune" in 1621. lived at Duxbury, Massa- 
chusetts, in 1637. was deputy to the general court 
in 1640-41-42-43-44: Bassett joined Governor Brad- 
ford and others in the purcha.=e of Dartmouth. 
Massachusetts, and removed to Bridgewater. where 
he died in 1667. John Whittemore died in 1730. 
His wife Ruth was appointed administratrix April 
3. I7,w. His whole estate was appraised at five 
hundred and three pounds. Children of John and 
Ruth Whittemore were : John, born September 12, 
1694. settled in Leicester: Jeremiah (q. v.): Benja- 
min, married Sarah Kendall. 1723: Patience, mar- 
ried Timothy Lamson ; David, born April 6. T706, 
married Alice Kendall, of Bedford. Massachusetts, 
March ir. 17,^0-31. resided at Boston; Deborah, 
born March i. 1707-8: Peletiah. born October 30. 
1710. resided at Dunstable. 

(XX) Jeremiah Whittemore. son of John 
Whittemore (19). was born in Maiden. Massachu- 
setts. 169;. He married in Boston. March 1$. 1722, 
Patience Reed, .seventh daughter of Israel and Mary 
(Kendall) Reed, of Woburn. Massachusetts. She 
was born December 3, 1609. She was received in 



96 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



the Weston Church from the church in Chelsea, 
February 26, 1726-7, and died in Weston, October 
24, 1745, aged forty-seven years, ten months, twenty- 
one days. They were then living in Weston. He 
married (second). May lo, 1746, Abigail Wooley, 
of Concord. He died in Concord, Massachusetts, 
March 31, 1783, aged eighty-eight years. His chil- 
dren were by the first wife. 

Children of Jeremiah and Patience (Kendall) 
Reed were: Jeremiah, born in Concord, August 16, 
1723, of whom later ; Isaac, born in Weston, Massa- 
chusetts, November 15, 1726, married. May 9, 1751, 
Ruth Bullard, who died October 10, 1764; he mar- 
ried (second) (published July 6), 1765, Elizabeth 
Graves, of Sudbury, Massachusetts; he had seven 
children; Patience, born January 20, 1729-30, mar- 
ried, May 28, 1754, John Flagg; Israel, born July 
10, 1732, married. May i, 1755, Abigail Brown, had 
seven children; Asa, born August 7, 1736, died 
April 12, 1746. 

(XXI) Jeremiah Whittemore, son of Jeremiah 
Whitfemore (20), was born in Concord, Massachu- 
setts, August 16, 1723, and died at Spencer, Massa- 
chusetts, May 14, 1803, aged seventy-eight years. 
He went from Weston to settle in Spencer in 1760. 
Some of his children were born before he moved, 
some afterward. He married Mary Carter. Their 
children were: Amos, died 1751; Asa. bom Novem- 
ber ID. 1749, married Lucy Muzzey, March 2, 1765, 
removed from Spencer to the south part of Leicester, 
Massachusetts, died 1821, she died 1822; (Otis 
Whittemore now or lately living in Leicester is a 
grandson, as is also Eber Whittemore. Their father 
was Amos. Mrs. H. D. Edwards, daughter of Asa's 
son Charles, is now or was lately living in Leices- 
ter, Massachusetts); Reuben, born April 29, 1754; 
Mary, born in Weston, married Nathan Wright, 
October 26, 1779: Tamar. born June 18, 1756, mar- 
ried Robert Watson ; Sybil, born' January 17, I7S8, 
married Reuben Underwood, February i, 1779; 
Aaron, born in Spencer. March I, 1762, married 

Sally ; Esther, born in Spencer, December 28, 

1764. died unmarried: Jeremiah, born in Spencer, 
February 21, 1766, married. February 21, 1792, Polly 
Washburn, of Paxton : Sarah, born in Spencer, 
March 16, 1768, married Ebenezer Kingsbury. 

(XXII) Reuben Whittemore, son of Jeremiah 
Whittemore (21). born April 29, 1754. at Weston, 
Massachusetts, died at Spencer, April 19. 1832. He 
married Abigail Watson, March 2, 1794. He set- 
tled at Spencer, Massachusetts. Their children 
were: Betsey, born at Spencer, June l.S. 1780. mar- 
ried James Browning: Amos, born at Spencer. Sep- 
tember 7, 1782, resided in Hartford. Connecticut, 
married Sally (Barnard) Hotchkiss, July 18, 1813; 
he died July 3, 1854: .she died August 13, 1853; 
had six children ; Thankful, born February 6, 1785, 
died August 22, 18,38 : Daniel, born at Spencer. 
April 28. 1787, married Fanny Prouty, daughter of 
Joshua Prouty, March 4. 1815: he died October 
5. 1S72. aged eighty-five: she died November 21, 
1843. aged fifty-four ; Roswell. born October 3, 
1789: Rhuben, born in Spencer. February 5, 1795, 
married Salome Clark. November 30, 1819, born 
September 5, 1795. died January 22, 1869; he died 
January 17, 1861. had eight children : Oliver, born 
February 11, 1797. of whom later; Caroline, born 
December 14, 1798. married Samuel M. Hobbs; 
William, born July 7, 1801, died April 4, 1841, 
unmarried : Abigail, born in Spencer. November 20, 
1803. married Augustus Rider, of Spencer, had one 
son. Alfred. 

(XXIII) Oliver Whittemore, son of Reuben 
Whittemore (22), was born in Spencer, Massachu- 
setts, February ir, 1797, died March 29, 1830. He 



married Lydia Jones, June 26, 1823. He was a 
tarmer. His children were: Eli Jones, born April 
30, 1824 ; Harriet Susannah, born March 8, 1826, 
married, April 19, 1853, Phineas Jones, of Spencer, 
Massachusetts, removed later to Newark, New Jer- 
sey, where he was in partnership in the wheel- 
wright business with Eli J. Whittemore ; she died 
Aiarch 6, 1866; had one son, Frederick Augustus, 
born August 21, 1868; Oliver Augustus, born March 

2, 1828, married in Denver, Colorado, ■ , no 

children. 

(XXIV) Eli Jones Whittemore, son of Oliver 
Whittemore (23), was born April 30, 1824, in Spen- 
cer, Massachusetts. He was educated in the dis- 
trict schools of his native town and at Leicester 
Academy, at Leicester, Massachusetts. His father 
died when he was only six years old. He worked 
on a farm until he was sixteen, when he entered the 
wheelwright shop of S. G. Reed at Spencer. He 
became a partner of Mr. Reed some years after- 
ward and succeeded him in the business there. Mr. 
Whittemore manufactured carriages and wagons and 
developed a substantial business in which he ac- 
quired a competence. In 1866 he removed to- 
Newark, New Jersey, where he entered partner- 

■ ship with Phineas Jones, who married his sister, 
Harriet L. Whittemore. The firm name was Phineas 
Jones & Company and they did a general wheel- 
wright business and manufactured carriages and 
wagons. The firm still does a prosperous business 
there. Mr. Whittemore sold his interests to Mr. 
Jones, his partner, in 1874 and retired. The present 
owner of the business is Henry P. Jones, son of 
Phineas, the original partner with Mr. Whittemore. 

Mr. Whittemore returned to Worcester county 
when he retired from business and settled in Wor- 
cester. In 1877 he moved to the handsome house 
on Main street, which he now occupies. While 
in Spencer he served four years as postmaster under 
President Lincoln, as assessor for two years and 
selectman for three years. He is one of the ap- 
praisers of the Mechanics' Savings Bank of Wor- 
cester. In politics he is a Republican. He was 
formerly a member of the Worcester County Me- 
chanics' Association and the Agricultural Society. 

He married (first), April 13, 1858, Maria I. 
Pope, at Spencer, Massachusetts. She died in 1862 
at Spencer. He married' (second) Elizabeth M. 
Hamblett, of Manchester, New Hampshire, at that 
city. May 3, 1866. She died February ig, 1901. 
He had two children by the second marriage, 
namely: Eric Hamblett, born July 30, 1867: Emma 
Lizzie, February 23, 1869, resides with her father 
in Worcester. 

(XXV) Eric Hamblett Whittemore. son of Eli 
Jones Whittemore (24), was born in Newark. New 
Jersey, July ,30. 1867. He married Jennie Black, 
of Medford, Massachusetts. He was educated in 
the Worcester schools, graduating from the Wor- 
cester high school. He is engaged in the manu- 
facture of paper boxes in Fitchburg, a business 
which he started and built up himself. His chil- 
dren are: Elizabeth Hamblett, born October 7, 1897; 
Ruth Bailey, July 2, 1905. 

DR. KENDALL EMERSON.^ The Emerson 
Family, which has been prominent in New England 
since the first settlement, originated in England 
and numbers among its members many distinguished 
and able men. The first to use the name Emerson 
in England was Johannes Emeryson, of Brancepcth 
parish, Durham county, England, who was born 
before 1,300. From him the various branches of the 
English family are descended, though the line can- 
not be traced perfectly. The coat of arms was borne 



WORCESTER COUXTY 



97 



by the American branches of the family as well as 
tjie English. 

(I) Thomas Emmerson, the first EngHsh an- 
cestor to whom the pedigree of Dr. Emerson, of 
Worcester, can be traced definitely, was born sofne 
time before 1540 in England. He was a resident 
of Great Dunmow, county Essex, where his three 
children are registered. He was probably son of 
Ralf of Foxton. who received arms in 1535. His 
children were : Robert, baptized at Great Dunmow, 
October 25, 1561; Joan, baptized 1563; John, bap- 
tized 1565. 

(II) Robert Emerson, son of the preceding 
Thomas Emerson (ij, was born in Great Dunmow 
and baptized there October 25, 1561. He may be 
identical with Robert Emerson, of Bishop's Stort- 
ford, who married there November 24. 1578, Susan 
Crabb, who was buried there November 20. 1626, 
aged seventy years. Robert was buried at Bishop's 
Stortford, January 6. 1620. His children were: 
Alice, baptized at Bishop's Stortford, November 22, 
1579; Margaret, baptized February 21, 1581-2; 
Thomas, see forward ; Anne ; Robert, baptized April 
12, 1596; John. 

(III) Thomas Emerson, son of the preceding 
Robert Emerson (2), was baptized at Bishop's Stort- 
ford, July 26, 1584. In the church warden's book 
of St. Michael's he is recorded as a collector for 
the poor in 1636. He married Elizabeth Brewster, 
July I, 1611, at Bishop's Stortford, and the 
genealogist of the English Emersons suggests that 
she was the daughter of the postmaster of Scrooby 
and the elder of the colony at Plymouth. The chil- 
dren of Thomas Emqrson, as recorded in the bap- 
tismal registry of St. Michael's church at Bishop's 
Stortford, Herts, were: Robert, baptized May 24, 
1612: Benjamin, baptized October 2, 1614; Ralfe. 
baptized (October 19, 1615, killed by falling tree 
June, 1626: James, baptized February 16, 1617; Jo- 
seph, baptized June 25, 1620, settled in Mendon, 
Massachusetts; Elizabeth, baptized June 14. 1623; 
John, baptized February 26, 1625, settled in (jlouces- 
ter, Massachusetts ; Thomas, see forward ; Nathaniel, 
baptized July 18, 1630, settled Ipswich, Massachu- 
setts ; Susan, baptized March 17, 1632, may have 
died on the voyage. 

(IV) Thomas Emerson, son of the preceding 
Thomas Emerson (3), was the emigrant ancestor 
of Dr. Emerson. He died in Ipswich, Massachu- 
setts, May I, 1666. His wife Elizabeth was named 
executrix of his will 1653. She survived him. They 
settled in Ipswich. They came according to family 
tradition in the ship "Elizabeth .\nn" in 1635. He 
had a grant of land there in 16,38. The children of 
Thomas Emerson were : Elizabeth, married John 
Fuller; Thomas, died 1653, before his father; Jo- 
seph, see forward : John, 1625, died December 2, 
1700; James, resided in England; Nathaniel. 1629; 
Sarah, died August 12, 1640. 

(V) Joseph Emerson, third child of Thomas 
Emerson (4). the emigrant, was born in England,, 
about 1620-1, and died at Concord, Massaclmsetts. 
January 3. 1680. Through his son Joseph he was 
the ancestor of that most illustrious American, 
Ralph Waldo Emerson. Ralph Waldo (9) I Wil- 
liam (8) : Joseph (7) ; Edward (6) ; Joseph (s) ; 
He married, 1646, Elizabeth Woodmansey, daugh- 
ter of Robert and Margaret Woodmansey, school- 
master of Boston. They resided at Ipswich, Massa- 
chusetts, York. Maine and Milton. Massachusetts. 
Joseph Emerson was a Puritan minister, said to have 
been educated in England. He may have studied 
at Harvard. He was at Ipswich as early as i6,-?8. 
He was admitted frpeman there December 19. 1648. 
He preached at York. Maine, the same year. In 

7 



1653^ he was a resident of Wells and took the free- 
man's oath there July 4, 1653. He signed a petition 
to Cromwell while of Wells, asking the Protector 
to confirm the jurisdiction of Massachusetts over 
the inhabitants of Wells. About 1664 he left Wells, 
where he seemed to have a turbulent lot of parish- 
ioners and where the church, after he left, had to 
disband. About 1664 he became minister at Milton, 
Massachusetts. December i, i66g, he settled in 
Mendon, Massachusetts, where he remained until 
the town was destroyed by the Indians, when he 
retired to Concord, where he died. He married 
(second), December 7, 1665, Elizabeth Bulkeley, 
daughter of Rev. Edward Bulkeley, of Concord, 
Mas.-achusetts, granddaughter of Rev. Peter Bulke- 
ley, first minister of Concord. She was born in 
1638 and died September 4. 1693, having married 
Captain John Brown, of Reading, Massachusetts. 
The cliildren of Rev. Josepli Emerson were; (by 
the first wife) Joseph, Mary; (by second wife the 
following:) Lucian, born October 2, 1667, married. 
May 15, 1683, Thomas Damon, of Reading (see 
Damon family) ; Edward, .April 26, 1670, married 
Rebecca Waldo ; Peter, see forward ; Ebenezer ; 
Daniel, married. May 19, 1709, Jane Armitage. 

(VI) Peter Emerson, son of Rev. Joseph Emer- 
son (5), was born in Mendon, Massachusetts, 1673 
and died 1749. He married, November 11, 1696, 
Anna Brown, who was born in Reading. 1678, daugh- 
ter of Captain John and .Anna (Fiske) Brown, of 
Reading. Captain John Brown had married Peter's 
mother. They resided in the first parish of Read- 
ing, now- South Reading, on the farm inherited 
from Captain Brown. Peter Emerson was a 
farmer. The children of Peter and Anna (Brown) 
Emerson were : Anna, born July 6, 1697, died Au- 
gust II, 1697: Elizabeth. February 20, 1699; Anna,. 
March 9, 1701, resided in HoIIis, New Hampshire; 
Brown. April 16, 1704; Lucy, 1706; Sarah, Novem- 
ber 8. 1708: Jane, March 11, 171 1, resided at Hollis ; 
Mary, December 20, 1713, resided at Salisbury, 
Massachusetts: Rev. Daniel, May 20, 1716 (see 
forward), resided in Hollis; Catherine, December 
2. 1718. 

(VII) Rev. Daniel Emerson, ninth child of Peter 
Emerson (6). was born at Reading, Massachusetts, 
May 20, 1716, died at Hollis, New Hampshire, Sep- 
tember 30, 1801. He married, November 7, 1744, 
Hannah Emerson, daughter of Rev. Joseph and Mary 
(Moody) Emerson, of Maiden, Massachusetts. She 
was born at Maiden, December 3, 1722, died at 
Hollis. February 28. 1812. They resided at Hollis.. 
Mr. Emerson was graduated at Harvard College, 
1739, and immediately prepared himself for the work: 
of the ministry. In 1741 he was called to be the- 
first minister of Hollis. New Hampshire, then thc: 
west precinct of Dunstable, Massachusetts. He con- 
tinued minister until November 27, 1793, when Rev. 
Eli Smith, who married his granddaughter, was 
elected as his colleague. In 1755. during the old 
French war. he was chaplain to the famous rangers 
of which Robert Rogers and John Stark were the 
officers. He was considered the ranking officer 
because of his family arms, bearing three lions. 
He kept a journal during his service and it has 
been preserved. He was chaplain again in 1758 
in Colonel Hart's regiment. One of his letters to 
his wife, dated at Crown Point in 1755, w-as brought 
to Hollis by his dog, which he had trained for the 
purpose. He taught school and fitted his students 
for college. He gave the land on which the meet- 
ing house was built. He was one of the ablest advo- 
cates of the "New Light" doctrine, and for many 
years was the leading and most influential minister 
in his section of the country. Professor Churchill 



98 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



said of liiiii : "He was a kind of Congregational 
Bishop in his region," His dwelling house, built 
and occupied while he was minister in Hollis, is in 
good repair and habitable. The children of Rev. 
Daniel and Hannah (Emerson) Emerson were: 
Hannah, born September 30, 1745; Daniel, Decem- 
ber 15, 1746 (see forward) ; Mary, September 19, 
1748; Peter, November g, 1749; Lucy, October 29, 
1751: Mary, Novcmljer 14. 1753: Elizabeth, May 5, 
1755: Ebenezcr. August 14. 1757: Joseph, Septem- 
ber 28, 1759 (H. C. 1779); Ralph, March 4, 1761 ; 
Rebecca, July 5, 1762; Samuel, September 6, 1764; 
William, December 11, 1765. 

(VHI) Daniel Emerson, second child of Rev. 
Daniel Emerson (7), was born at Hollis, New 
Hampshire, December 15, 1746. died there October 
4, 1820. He married; November 17. 1768, Ama 
Fletcher, daughter of Joseph and Elizabeth (Under- 
wood) Fletcher. She was born April 7, 1746, died 
November 22, 1797. They resided at Hollis. He 
was a leading citizen, the wealthiest taxpayer and 
deacon of the church. He was one of the eighteen 
proprietors of New Ipswich, New Hampshire, 
preached there occasionally and had his tax re- 
funded for that reason. He was one of the thirty- 
two proprietors of the New Ipswich Academy in 
1787, and was a trustee from the time of its in- 
corporation in 1789 until his death. In the revolu- 
tionary war Captain Emerson was active. As a min- 
ute man he marched at the head of his company 
for Ticonderoga in 1776, reaching the Connecticut 
river. He started a second time and reached 
Cavendish, Vermont. He was captain of the first 
company in Colonel Nichol's regiment and of the 
fifth company in Colonel Mooney's regiment. He 
served in the Rhode Island campaign in 1778-9. 
He was a member of the governor's council in 1787, 
and representative to the legislature nineteen 
terms, 1780-1812. He was coroner and high sheriff 
of Hillsboro county. New Hampshire, town clerk 
of Hollis, 1780-81, selectman twelve years, and town 
treasurer 1774-79 and 179S and 1799. Mrs. Emer- 
son inherited besides the Fletcher blood that of 
Adams and Underwood, founders of Chelmsford, 
Massachusetts. Her father settled in Dunstable 
when it was a wilderness, and lived there fifty 
years a prominent and respected citizen. Family 
.gatherings were held twice yearly until their chil- 
dren and grandchildren numbered above sixty in 
the Fletcher homestead at Dunstable. The chil- 
dren of Daniel and Ama (Fletcher) Emerson were: 
Ama, born August 20, 1769, died August 4. i860, 
married Rev. Eli Smith : Daniel, see forward ; 
Hannah. December 7. T773; Josepli, October 13, 
1777: Ralph, August 18, T787; Samuel. November 
9, 1791 ; William, November 9, 1791 (twin of pre- 
ceding). Daniel Emerson married (second) Han- 
nah Mosier, widow, who survived him and died 
August 20, 183 1. 

(IX) Daniel Emerson, second child of Daniel 
Emerson (8), was born at Hollis, New Hampshire, 
July 15, 1771, died at Dartmouth, Massachusetts, 
November [6, 1808 He married, December 3, 
1797, Esther Frnthingham, a daughter of Major 
Benjamin Frothingham. She was born in Charles- 
town, Massachusetts, 1770, died in Hollis, New 
Hampshire, March 14, 1849. They resided at 
Charlestown, in Maryland, in Virginia, in New 
Hampshire and at Dartmouth. Jilr. .Emerson was 
graduated at Harvard, 1794. He was a student 
at law with Samuel Dexter. He was a merchant 
in Charlestown, in Maryland, in Virginia and Hollis, 
New Hampshire. He sold out to his partner. 
Bixby, who did not pay the firm's debts as agreed, 
and he ruined himself in paying them. He was 



ordained in 1806 and settled as minister at South 
Dartmouth, Massachusetts, where be remained un- 
til his death. His widow returned to Hollis and 
for many years kept the village store, driving to 
Boston at regular intervals in her own chaise to 
make purchases. She thus supported and educated 
her large family. The children of Daniel and 
Esther ( Frothingham ) Emerson were : Daniel, born 
August 8, 1798: Elizabeth, July 29, 1800. died Octo- 
ber 4, 1870, married, August 26, 1823, William S. 
Bradbury, resided at Westminster, Massachusetts ; 
Edward.' October I, 1802, died April 21, 185 1, mar- 
ried, November 13, 1844, Hannah Pierce ; resided 
at Hollis and at Allegan, Michigan ; Charles, April 
9, 1805, died July 6, 1805; Benjamin Frothingham, 
see forward ; Joseph, September 4, 1808, died July 
21, 1885, married (first) Sarah H. Davis, (second) 
October 16, 1858, Martha A. Howard, resided at 
Andover. 

(X) Benjamin Frothingham Emerson, fifth 
child of Daniel Emerson (9), was born at Hollis, 
New Hampshire, July 3, 1806, died at Nashua, 
New Hampshire, September 6, 1884. Mr. Emerson 
entered Dartmouth College in 1826 and studied 
two years ; he was graduated from Union College 
in 1830. He attended the law school at Cambridge 
the next year, then taught school in the west. He 
practiced law in Nashua from 1836 to 1873, and 
was intrusted with the settlement of many of the 
largest estates of that region. He married, Novem- 
ber 29, 1842, Elizabeth Kendall, daughter of Nathan 
and Elizabeth (Thompson) Kendall. She was 
born at Bedford, New Hampshire, October 7. 1812. 
died at Nashua, September 26, 1870. They resided 
a Nashua. He married (second), October 9, 1872, 
Caroline Carlton (Frye) Rankin, widow of James 
Henry Rankin, and daughter of Samuel and Mary 

(Hoyt) Frye, of Danville, Vermont, where she 
was born February 8, 1817. She died March i, 
1886. The children of Benjamin Frothingham and 
Elizabeth (Kendall) Emerson were: Benjamin 
Kendall, see forward ; Charles Edward, born Octo- 
ber II, 1846, graduate of the Chandler Scientific 
School at Hanover, New Hampshire, 1870. a civil 
engineer of Nashua, New Hamp.shire. 

(XI) Professor Benjamin Kendall Emerson, 
eldest child of Benjamin Frothingham Emerson 
(to), was born at Nashua, New Hampshire, Deccm- 
lier 20, 1843. He married, April 2, 1873, Mary An- 
nette Hopkins, a daughter of Erastus and Charlotte 
Freylinghuysen (Allen) Hopkins. She was born at 
Northampton, Massachusetts. April 2, 1848, died at 
Amherst. Massachusetts, July 31, 1897. They resided 
at Amherst. Mr. Emerson was graduated valedictor- 
ian of the class of 1863 of Amherst College. He 
studied at Gottingen and took his Ph. D. there in 
1869. He was assistant in the German geological 
survey in 1869 and made geological studies in Swit- 
zerland, Saxony, Bohemia and Norway. He became 
professor of geology and zoology at Amherst College 
in 1870. He is the author of the genealogy. The 
Emerson Family, an excellent work. He is a mem- 
ber of the German Geological Society, the Ap- 
palachian Club, the American Philosophical So- 
ciety, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 
the Society of Naturalists of Eastern United States, 
the National Geographic Society. He was vice- 
president in 1896 of the American Association for 
the Advancement of Science, vice-president in 1897 
of the Geological Congress at St. Petersburg, first 
vice-president in i8g8 of the Geological Society of 
America, assistant geologist of the United States 
Geological Survey since 1887 and is now geologist 
(1905). He is the author of monograph xxvii. 
United States Geological Survey, entitled: Geology 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



99 



of Old Hampshire county or Franklin, 1 lanipsliirc 
and Hampden counties, in Massachusetts, lie wrote 
bulletin No. 126, United States Geological Survey, 
•entitled: A Mineral Lexicon of Franklin, Hamp- 
shire and Hampden counties, in Massachusetts, lie 
wrote the United States Geological Survey bulletin, 
entitled: The Geology of Southwestern Berkshire, 
and also the United States geological survey fojios, 
which contain geological maps and descriptions of 
Eastern Berkshire, Franklin, Hampshire, Hampden 
and Worcester counties in Massachusetts. He has 
written many articles for the scientific journals. 

Mrs. Emerson's father was the Hon. and Rev. 
Erastus Hopkins, of an ancestry noted in the New- 
England ministry. Her great-great-grandmother 
was Esther Edwards, sister of Rev. Jonathan Ed- 
wards. Her grandfather on her mother's side was 
Rev. William Allen, D. D., president of the 
ephemeral Dartmouth University and later of 
Bowdoin College. She was also descended from 
Eleazar Wheelock, founder of Dartmouth College, 
from Rev. Thomas Allen, of Pittsfield, the re- 
nowned "fighting parson" of the American revolu- 
tion, and also in the eighth generation from Wil- 
liam Bradford, the second governor of Plymouth 
colony. Of her the Springfield Republican, August 
6, 1897, said : 

"The college circle at Amherst feels itself sadly 
stricken by the recent unlooked for death of Mrs. 
Annette Hopkins Emerson, wife of Professor B. K. 
Emerson. Her life seemed so abounding in health 
and joyousness that her friends cannot realize that 
it is ended. It was Mrs. Emerson's rare and happy 
fortune to radiate sunlight in the world through 
her bright and fervent personality. None who came 
within the range of its influence failed to feel its 
cheering effect. Nor was its characteristic merely 
negative loveliness. There was a fire, a sparkle, 
an intellectual stimulus in Mrs. Emerson's pres- 
ence and conversation that were fairly exhilirating. 
So clever and charming and genuine a woman did 
not fail to receive' recognition as a leader in the 
social life of Northampton, which became her home 
after marriage. Though her attention was largely 
■occupied in her later years by the absorliing do- 
mestic interests which belong to the rearing of a 
large family, she kept well in touch with the pro- 
gress of the intellectual world. She had a decided 
literary interest and could herself write brightly 
and forcefully when occasion offered. She had 
hoped to go with her husband to the congress of 
geologists at St. Petersburg this summer, and had 
planned to describe her experiences and impres- 
sions in letters to the Republican and other jour- 
nals ; but she was obliged to forego this great 
pleasure. It is hard to submit to the termination 
of a life so strong, so rich, so healthful ; but solace 
and inspiration come with the thought of its ac- 
complishment, its wholesome and helpful influence." 
The children of Professor Benjamin Kendall and 
Mary .Annette (Hopkins) Emerson were: Char- 
lotte Freylinghuysen, born January t,. 1874. graduate 
of Smith College; (Benjamin) Kendall, see for- 
ward ; Edward Hopkins, born September 18, 1877, 
graduate of Amherst, 1899 : Annette Hopkins, born 
September .^, 1879; Malleville Wheelock. born 
August 28. 1887; Caroline Dwight, born March 14, 
1891. 

(XII) Dr. Benjamin Kendall Emerson or 
Kendal! Emerson, as he is known, having dropped 
his first name, son of Professor Benjamin Kendall 
Emerson (11). was born in Northampton. Massa- 
chusetts. June 27, 1875. He attended the public 
schools of Amherst in early life. He entered Am- 
herst College in 1893 and graduated in 1897. He 



IS a memlKT of the Phi Beta Kappa of Amherst 
He was graduated from Harvard Medical School 
m igoi, and after .some hospital practice settled in 
Worcester and began the practice of his profession, 
in vvhich he has made goo<l progress and has ac- 
<iuired an excellent jiractice. He married, October 
I. 190,?, Josephine Devereux Sewall, born in Water- 
town, New York, October 14, 1875. She is a grad- 
uate of Smith College, 1897. They have one child, 
Sewall, born at Worcester, October 13, 1904. They 
reside at 72 West street, Worcester. Dr. Emerson's 
office is on Pearl street. 

HENRY H. STOWl'. John Stowe or Stow (i). 
was the progenuor in New England of Henry H. 
Stowe. of Lancaster, Massachusetts. He came with 
his wife Elizabeth and six children in one of Win- 
throp's companies and settled in Roxbury, Massachu- 
setts. He arrived .May 7. 16.34. The children were 
Thomas. Elizabeth. John, Nathaniel, Samuel and 
Thankful. He was admitted a freeman September 
,?, 16,34. He was a proprietor of the colony and a 
delegate to the general court in 1639, He was 
elected in 16,38 a member of the .-Xncient and Honor- 
able Artillery Company. 

He married Elizabeth Biggs, daughter of Mrs. 
Rachel Biggs, who came to Dorchester in 1635 

with her daughter, Foster. The Foster and 

Stowe children received valuable legacies from their 
uncles, John and Smalhope Biggs, of Cranbrook and 
Maidstone. Kent county, England. His wife, Eliza- 
beth, a very godly woman, was buried August 24, 
1636. All his children were probably born in Eng- 
land. They were : Thomas, resided at Concord, 
Massachusetts, and Middletown, Connecticut. Eliza- 
beth, married Henry Archer. John. Samuel, born 
about 1620, graduated from Harvard College in 
1645, the second class to graduate, the year 1644 
having no graduates. (The Harvard quinquennial 
catalogue states that he had the A. M. degree. There 
had been but thirteen graduates before he had his 
degree. Thtre were seven graduates in 1645.) He 
was a clergyman at Middletown, Connecticut. He 
died in 1704. Nathaniel, resided at Ipswich, was 
born according to a deposition he took there in 
1622. Thankful, married John Pierpoint. of Ro.x- 
bury, Massachusetts. 

(II) Thomas Stowe, son of John Stowe (l), 
was born in En,gland. probably Lincoln or Middle- 
sex county, w-here the families of Stowe were numer- 
ous about 1610. He was in Concord, Massachusetts, 
before 1640, and had a family of at least three 
children, Samuel, Thomas and Nathaniel. He and 
his brother Nathaniel owned six hundred acres of 
land between Fairhaven Pond an<l the Sudbury Line. 
Thomas Stowe sold his rights in 1660 to Thomas 
Gobble and David Dam, he having moved to Con- 
necticut. He probably left Concord about 1650 and 
moved to Middletown. then part of Hartford. Con- 
necticut. The town of Stow, Massachusetts, was 
near Marlboro and Sudbury where this land of 
tlie Stowe brothers was located, but the Stowe 
family seems to have had no part in establishing 
the town. It was incorporated in May, 1683, but 
the history shows no Stowe active as a pioneer. In 
fact the whole family seems to have been in Con- 
necticut about this time, and the Stowes do not 
appear as of the town of Stow until much later. 
Still the town was probably named in some way 
for a member of the family or by a friend of 
the Stowes. 

The children o\ Thomas Stowe were: Samuel 
who becaTue I he progenitor of the Marlboro and 
Slow families after his return to Massachusetts; 



lOO 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



Nathaniel; Thomas, born 1O50, settled in Middle- 
town, Connccticnt. 

(III) Samuel Stowe, son o{ Thomas Stowe (2). 
was born in Concord, Massachusetts, before his 
father went to Middletown, Connecticut, probably 
about 1648. He was a soldier in King Philip's war. 
Immediately afterward he became interested in the 
new settlement, at Marlboro. His name is on a 
petition for the plantation in 1677 and he was prob- 
ably there some months before, perhaps directly 
after peace was established and the settlers in towns 
like Sudbury and Marlboro were able to work 
their plantations once more. In 1684 he bought 
of Waban and James Atchuit, two Indians of Natick, 
Massachusetts, for six pounds in money and six 
pounds in corn — twenty acres of land in Marl- 
boro. He was also one of the proprietors of the 
Ockoocangansett plantation purchased by the In- 
dians. He was prominent as a proprietor and citizen 
of the new town. 

His children were: Samuel, born May 2, 1680, 
married, December 19, 1704, Sarah Snow; Thomas, 
born December 27, 1682, married, January 20, 1713, 
Hannah Johnson; Mary, born July 18, 1685,- married, 
June 13, 1706, Jonathan Morse ; Thankful, born 
October 8. 1687, married, March 29, 1710, Samuel 
Stevens; Rachel, born February 21. 1690, married, 
December 14, 1715, Luke Rice; John, born March 
30, 1696, married, April 25, 1722, Elizabeth Brig- 
ham. All three sons left large families of children 
and have numerous descendants in Marlboro and 
central Massachusetts. 

(IV) Thomas Stowe, son of Samuel Stowe (3), 
was born probably at Marlboro (where it was 
recorded). December 27, 1782. He married, Jan- 
uary 20. 1 713, Hannah Johnson, daughter of Will- 
iam and Hannah Johnson. She died June 15, 1789. 
He died .August 28, 1765. His will proved October 
8, 1765. mentions his sons Benjamin, Thomas, Sam- 
uel, Stephen and David and Experience Newton, 
deceased ; also son Josiah who is required to pro- 
vide for the support of his mother, Hannah. 

Their children were: Comfort, born July 16, 1716. 
died 1716: Thomas, born September 8. 1717, died 
1717; Benjamin, l)orn August 25, 1718: David, born 
October 14, 1719, died young; Thomas, born October 
IS, 1720, married. June 3, 1752, Elizabeth Newton ; 
Charles, born December 31, 1721, died young; Sam- 
uel, born December 26, 1723, luarried, April 28, 
1748, Rebecca Howe: Stephen, born December 15, 
1724, married. May 23, 1753. Abigail Smith ; Josiah, 
born December 8, 1725. died young ; Hannah, born 
December g, 1726, died young; Experience, born 

February 24, 1728, married Newton; David. 

born April 29. 1729: Josiah. born July 5, 1730, luar- 
ried, 1760. Ruth Howe; Hannah, born September 
8, 1731 ; Sabella. born September 4. 1732, died 1752 ; 
Silas, born October 20. 1734. All the sixteen chil- 
dren seem to have been by one wife, an unusual fam- 
ily even for those prolific days. She was evidently 
over ninety, the mother, when she died. 

(V) Stephen Stowe. son of Thoinas Stowe (4), 
was born at Marlboro, Massachusetts, December 15, 
1724. He married. May 23. 1753, Abigail Smith. 
Two of their children were born at Marlboro. They 
removed to Stow. Massachusetts, probably about 
1758, where for several generations their descendants 
lived. He was a soldier in the revolutionary war. 

Their children were : Lydia, born in Marlboro, 
March 24, 1754; Silas, born in Marlboro, April 26, 
17^6; Ichabod. born about 1758 (and others prob- 
ably) on the old homestead in Stow. Massachusetts. 

(VF) Ichabod Stowe. son of Stephen Stowe (5), 
was born in Stow. Massachusetts, 1759. He married 
Ruth Whitney. November 29. 1781. He was a soldier 



in the revolutionary war. He settled in Stow and 
conducted the old farm. He had a son Moses and 
other children, namely : Ichabod, Abraham, Levi, 
l-uke. 

(VII) Moses Stowe, son of Ichabod Stowe (6), 
was born on the old Stowe homestead at Stow, 
Massachusetts, in 1803. He died in Lancaster, 
Massachusetts, in 1883. He attended the schools in 
Stow. He went to work first on the old farm, but 
later decided to learn the wheelwright's trade. He 
followed this business all his active life. He set- 
tled in Lancaster where he spent his last years. In 
politics he was originally an "old line Whig" and 
was deeply interested in his party, for which he 
worked earnestly and faithfully. He married Eliza 
W. Jones, January I, 1829. They had two children: 
Franklin, born October 16, 1829, died September 1 
2,^, ]8-i7: and Henry H., born March 29, 1841. I 

(VIII) Henry H. Stowe, son of Moses Stowe ' 
(7), was born in Lancaster, Massachusetts, March 
29, 1841. He was educated there in the public 
schools and then for a time worked at the wheel- 
wright's trade with his father. He succeeded to 
his father's business and conducted it successfully. 
He was able to retire a few years ago and enjoy 
life quietly and comfortably at his pleasant home in 
Lancaster, Massachusetts. Mr. Stowe has always 
taken an interest in political affairs and at times 
has been an active worker in the Republican party. 
He has been overseer of the poor of Lancaster 
for several years. He belongs to the local branch 

of the Red Men and is active in the order. He is an 
active member of the Lancaster Unitarian church. 
As a conservative but successful man in his own 
business, as a man of high personal character, of 
simple manly virtues he has the respect and con- 
fidence of his neighbors. He married in 1863, Lydia 
A. Robbins, of Ashby, Massachusetts. Their chil- 
dren are: Mabel G., born at Lancaster, Massachu- 
setts, December, 1873, resides at home ; Cora R., 
bnrn at Lancaster, August 29, 1877, stenographer 
for Boston Mutual Life Insurance Company, 141 
Milk street, Boston, Massachusetts. 

JOHN HENRY COES, a retired business man 
cif Worcester, Massachusetts, formerly serving in 
the capacitj' of treasurer of the Coes Wrench Com- 
panj', one of the leading industrial enterprises of 
that city, was born in Springfield, Massachusetts, 
September 2,=;. 1840. a son of Aury Gates and Nancy 
(Maynard) Coes, grandson of Daniel and Roxana 
or Ro.xalana (Gates) Coes. and great-grandson of 
John Coes, who settled in Worcester. Massachusetts, 
prior to the revolutionary war. So far as is known 
all the Coes in this country are descended from 
this John Coes and his wife Rebecca. John Coes 
died in Worcester, June 24, 1827, aged seventy- 
nine years. 

Daniel Coes (grandfather) was born on his 
father's farm in Massachusetts, in that part of Wor- 
cester formerly known as New Worcester, Decem- , 
her 19, 1776, was reared thereon, and died January I 
26. iS.-^S. He married. October 26, 1808. Roxana 
(Ro.xalanv or Roxalana) Gates, and their children 
were: Sally, born February 22, 1810, died February 
16. 1832; Loring. born April 22, 1812 : Albert, born 
September 20, 1813, died February 13, 1837; Aury 
Gates, born January 22, 1816. The Gates family is 
mentioned at length hereinafter. 

Aury Gates Coes (father) was born in Wor- 
cester, Massachusetts, January 22, 1816. and died 
December 2. 1875. Amon.g the firms for which he 
worked during his early life was that of Kimball & 
Fuller, makers of woolen machinery, and in 1836 
.\ury Gates and his brother Loring purchased the 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



lOI 



business, forming the copartnership of L. & A. G. 
Coes. Aury Gates Goes also took an active part 
in politics, wielding a potent inlluence in behalf of 
the principles of the Republican party. During 
the years 1870-71 he served in the house of repre- 
sentatives, and was a member of several important 
committees. He was an active and leading member 
of the Union Gongregational Church in Worcester, 
Massachusetts. He married Nancy Maynard, born 
1815, died December I, 1842, who bore him one 
child, John Henry, mentioned at length hereinafter. 
He married (second) May 2g, 1845, Anna S. Cutting, 
who bore liim two cliildren : Anna Rebecca, born 
March 25, 1847 : and Frederick Lewis, born Janu- 
ary 9. 1849. He married (third) Mrs. Lucy Gib- 
son, nee Wyman, a widow, born in Fitchburg, who 
bore him two daughters : Estella, born September 25, 
1858. died in Dresden, January 3, 1883, unmarried; 
and Mary, born March 24, 1861 ; she is a graduate 
of RadclilTe College, class of 1887, and received 
the degree of Master of Arts from the same institu- 
tion in 1897. She was assistant to the secretary of 
the college from 1888 to 1894, and from the latter 
year to the present time (T905) has served in the 
capacity of secretary. Mr. Coes married (fourth) 
Abigail Winch, no issue. 

John Henry Coes, whose name appears at the 
head of this sketch, received his elementary educa- 
tion in the public schools of Worcester, to which 
city his parents removed from Springfield during 
his early lifetime. The knowledge thus acquired 
was supi)lemented by attendance at Leicester Acad- 
emy and W'iibraham Academy. He began the prac- 
tical duties of life by entering the office of the 
firm of L. & A. G. Coes, manufacturers of wrenches, 
his father and uncle comprising the company, and 
there mastered every detail of the business. When 
the partnership between Loring and Aury Gates Coes 
was dissolved in 1869. the latter formed the firm 
of A. G. Coes & Company, admitting his son John 
Henry to partnership, and continued the manu- 
facture of wrenches in Worcester. This connec- 
tion continued until the death of the senior mem- 
ber of the firm, December 2, 1875, after which the 
business was carried on under the same firm name 
by John H. Coes and his brother. Frederick L, 
Coes. In 1888 the firm of A. G. Coes & Co. and 
that of Loring Coes & Co. were incorporated under 
the laws of Massachusetts with a capitalization of 
$100,000. as the Coes Wrench Company, and its of- 
ficers were : Loring Coes, president ; John H. Coes, 
treasurer ; Frederick L. Coes, clerk. In iq02 the 
two brother? — John H. and Frederick L. — sold their 
stock and interest in the company to their uncle, 
Loring Goes, and retired from the business. 

John H. Coes is a director of the Worcester 
Trust Company and member of its executive com- 
mittee, also vice-president and a member of the 
finance committee of the Mechanics Savings Bank, 
of Worcester, and the duties of these two respon- 
sible positions occupy the greater portion of Mr. 
Coes' business hours. He holds membership in the 
Commonwealth Club. Worcester Club, Ta.tnuck 
Country Club. Massachusetts Agricultural Club of 
Boston, and the Sons of the Revolution, being 
eligible to membership in the latter named through 
Simon Gates, the fifth in line of descent on the 
maternal side. Mr. Coes was at one time quite 
active in Masonic circles. He: is a member of 
Montacute Lodge, Worcester Royal .'\rch Chapter, 
Hiram Council, and Worcester County Commandery, 
Knights Templar. Mr. Coes married, February 5, 
1874. .A.mie Brownell Hadwen. born m Worcester 
Massachusetts. November 4, 1846. daughter of 
Obadiah B. Hadwen (see sketch). They have one 



child. Mary Maynard Coes. born March 14, 1876. 
The family reside at No. 1058 Main street, Wor- 
cester. 

GATES FAMILY. Stephen Gates was an emi- 
grant ancestor of John H. Coes, of Worcester. For 
biographical sketch and children of Stephen Gates, 
sec ehsewhere in this work. This line is traced 
through his son Simon. 

(II) Simon Gates, son of Stephen Gates (i), 
was born in 1645, died April 21. 1693, at Brockton, 

Massachusetts. He married Margaret , of 

Cambridge, Massachusetts. They resided in Cam- 
Ijridge, Lancaster and Brookline, Massachusetts. He 
inherited his father's estate at Cambridge. The chil- 
dren of Simon and Margaret Gates were: i. Abigail, 
born August 14, 1671, died 1771, aged one hundred 
years, at Brighton, Massachusetts: married (first) 
Nathaniel Sparhawk, Jr., who died November 8, 
1734: married (second), 1735, Josiah Mayo, of Ro.x- 
bury, Massachusetts. 2. Simon, born September i, 
1C7!. died January 2, 1675-76. 3. Simon, born Jan- 
uary 5, 1675-76, died March 10, 1735, aged sixty 
years: married. May 29, 1710, Sarah Wood, daugh- 
ter of John and Lydia Wood, of Marlboro, Massa- 
chusetts ; they settled in Marlboro, where she died 
in 1751. 4. George, born April 6. 1678, died May 
23, 1679. 5. Amos, born 1681, died 1754: married. 
May 19, 1703. Hannah Oldham, daughter of Sanmel 
and Hannah (Dana) Oldham, whose birth occurred 
October 10. T68r. 6. Jonathan, born June 22, 1683, 
died February 7. 1755-56. at Worcester. Massachu- 
setts ; married Persis Shepard, daughter of John 
and Persis (Pierce) Shepard. of Charlestown. 
Massachusetts, and granddaughter of Thomas and 
Hannah (Ensign) Shepard. of Maiden. Massachu- 
setts. She was born 1691. died July 12, 1776. 7. 
Samuel, born August 11. 1685. said to have settled 
somewhere in Connecticut, but no descendants 
known. 8. Margaret, born August 13. 1689, married 
James How or John How. 

(Ill) Simon Gates, son of Simon Gates (2), 
was born January 5. 1675-76. died March 10, 1735, 
aged sixty vcars: married. May 20. 1710, Sarah 
Wood, daughter of John and Lydia Wood, of Marl- 
boro, Massachusetts. They settled in Marlboro, 
where she died in 1751. The children of Simon 
and -Sarah (Wood) Gates were: I. Simon, bom 
December 11, 1710, died .April 11, 1777. aged sixty- 
six years: married. 1749. Sarah How. who died 
September ,30. 1800, aged seventy-five years. 2. 
Sarah, born October 15. 1712. died at Hubbardston, 
Massachusetts: married. February 3. 17.36. Ephraim 
Church, of Rutland. Massachusetts. 3. Susannah, 
liorn Deccnilier 19. 1714. died at Hubbardston: mar- 
ried Captain John Phelps, of Rutland, Massachu- 
setts. 4. Stephen, born August 20, 1718. died October 
>■ 177.1. a.ged fifty-five years, at Rutland : married, 
February 4, 1742-43, Damaris How. born .August 
12, 1725. at Marlboro, Massachusetts, died Decem- 
Vier 3. 1809. aged ci.ghty-three years, at Rutland. 
Massachusetts, whence they removed in 1749. 5. 
Solomon, born May 14, 1721. died March 2. 
1761, aged forty years, at Worcester: married, 
November 10, 1748, Mary Clark, and resided at 
Worcester. 6. Samuel, born February 28. 1722. mar- 
ried Caroline How : he was a soldier in the revolu- 
tion. 7. Silas, born February 3, 1727. died August 
25. 1703, aged sixtv-six years, at Marlboro: mar- 
ried. May 9, 1754, Elizabeth Bragg, who died March 
20. 1806. aged seventy-four years. 8. John, born 
January 27. 1729. 

(IV) Simon Gates, son of Simon Gates (3), 
was I>orn December 11. 1710. died .\pril 11. 1777: 
married, 1749, Sarah How, who died September 30, 



I02 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



1800, aged seventy-five years. They resided in 
Worcester, Massachusetts. The children of Simon 
and Sarah (How) Gates were: i. Rebecca, born 
in Worcester, 1752, died October 13, 1834; married, 
May 5. 1778, David Richards, who died January 29, 
1829. aged seventy-eight years. 2. Simon, Jr., born 
at Worcester, 1752. died February 2, 1849; married 
Sarah Edgerton. daughter of S. N. Edgerton ; she 
died August 19, 1843, ^S<^^ eighty-five years. 3. 
Asa, born in Worcester, January 29, 1757, died No- 
vember 21, 1835; married, February 15, 1786, Fanny 
Field. 4. Sarah, born in Worcester, April 2, 1761, 
died November 21, 1819; married. May 15, 1783, 
John Sargent, who died February 7, 1829. 5. John, 
born 1764, died May 20, 1786. 6. Mary, born 1768, 
died December 24, 1809; married William Moore. 

7. Kathcrine, born April 22, 1772, married Phineas 
Jones ; he died March 22, 1814. aged sixty-six years. 

8, Levi, born May 21, 1776, died October 6, 1837, 
buried at Ashland, Ohio: married, 1791, Chloe Sum- 
ner, daughter of Josiah Sumner, born 1769, died 
October 4, 1828. They resided at Charlton, Massa- 
chusetts, and thence went to Shoreham, Vermont. 

(V) Simon Gates, son of Simon Gates (4), was 
born January 6, 1756, in Worcester, Massachusetts. 
He died February 2, 1849, aged ninety-three years, 
at Worcester. He married Sarah, daughter of S. 
N, Edgerton, and her death occurred August 19, 
1843, aged eighty-five years. He responded to the 
Lexington call to arms in 1775, entered Captain 
Hubbard's company before Boston, and served in 
the battle of Bunker Hill. He also served in Cap- 
tain Stone's company in the battle of Bennington, 
campaign of 1777, also in Captain Cushing's com- 
pany in the fall of 1777- He was a revolutionary war 
pensioner. Mr. Gates was a very domestic man, 
and was never away from home hut two or three 
nights in his life except while in the service. He 
died in the same room in the same house in which 
he was born. The children of Simon and Sarah 
(Edgerton) Gates were: i. Olive, born August 

28, 1784, married Hayward, of Mercer. Maine. 

2. Roxalany, born May 10. 1786: see forward. 3. 
John, born June 10, 1789, married Letitia Burr. 4. 
Levi, born May 7, 1790, died at Claquato, Lewis 
county, Washington : married Hannah Paine, of 
Worcester, February 20, 1820. 5. Mary, born Octo- 
ber 10 or II, 1792, married Erastus Tucker, Octo- 
ber 5, 1819, 6. Sarah, born September 9, 1794. 7. 
David R., born March 31, 1799, died at Worcester; 
married (first) Eliza Fessenden, February 11, 1824; 
married (second) Sarah N. Britton, born Novem- 
ber 24. 1809, at Spencer, Massachusetts, died Febru- 
ary 8, 1893. 8. Horatio, born September 4, 1801, 
died 1852 : married Fidelia A. Hall. 1825 : married 
(second) Hannah Head, born 1799, died 1893. 

(VI) Roxalany or Roxalana Gates, daughter of 
Simon Gates (5), was born May 10, 1786, at Wor- 
cester, Massachusetts. She married, October 26, 
1808, Daniel Coes, aforementioned in this narrative 
as the grandfather of John H. Coes, and their chil- 
dren were: I. Sally, born February 22, 1810. 2. 
Loring, born April 22, 1812 ; see Coes Family. 3. 
Albert, born September 29, 1813. 4. Aury Gates, 
born January 22. 1826, aforementioned as the father 
of John H. Coes. 

PAUL BEAGARY MORGAN. Miles Morgan 
(i). the emigrant ancestor of Charles H. Morgan, 
of Worcester, and his son, Paul Beagary Morgan, 
was born probably in 1615 in LlandorfT, Glamorgan 
county. Wales, and removed ttt Bristol, England, 
a few years before he emigrated to America. He 
came to Boston in April. 1636, with two brothers. 
The eldest, James, settled in New London, Connecti- 



cut : John went to Virginia and Miles joined the 
colonists and became one of the fotinders of Spring- 
field, Massachusetts. These colonists were organized 
at Roxbury, Massachusetts, now part of Boston. 
John Morgan Is the ancestor of General David Mor- 
gan, of "ranger" fame in the revolution, and of 
famous members of this family in the southern 
states. James Morgan, of Connecticut, also has 
many prominent men among his descendants. 

Miles Morgan drew land for his home lot on 
the south side of Ferry Lane. At present the site of 
the original Morgan dwelling house is occupied by 
the repair shop of the Connecticut River Railroad. 
Having prepared his first home. Miles Morgan mar- 
ried, about 1643, Prudence Gilbert. The following 
quaint story of his courtship and marriage is taken 
from the Morgan Genealogy: "On his passage from 
England he formed an acquaintance with a young 
woman who belonged to a family which on their 
arrival settled in Beverly, Massachusetts. To her 
he determined to prefer his suit. This he did by 
letter in which he proposed to her to become his 
wife and the sharer of his dubious fortunes in the 
wilderness. To this frank proposition she with 
equal frankness (for coquetry it seems was not then 
the fashion) wrote him an explicit answer and 
avowed her willingness to comply with his wishes. 
Her suitor it appears was resolved to prosecute the 
affair like a man of business. On receiving an 
answer .so favorable to bis inclinations, he imme- 
diately engaged two of his friends and an Indian 
to attend him in his matrimonial expedition and de- 
parted 'with all convenient speed' taking with them 
an old horse for the purpose of conveying the house- 
hold stufif of the intended bride to her future habi- 
tation and their muskets with which they might put 
to flight the 'armies of the aliens' who might per- 
chance molest them in their pilgrimage to and from 
the land of the people of the east. Prosperity at- 
tended the journey and the hymeneal torch was 
kindled on his arrival. The matrimonial contract 
having been satisfied in due form the old pack 
horse received his destined burden, the bridegroom 
and his companions shouldered their muskets and 
thus escorted the bride to Springfield, who walked 
with them on foot the whole distance from Beverly 
to that place, viz.. 1.30 miles." 

In 1675. during King Philip's war, the Morgan 
House was attacked by the Indians, but so bravely 
was it defended by Miles Morgan and his sons that 
the Indians retired after an unsuccessful siege. 
Peletiah Morgan, one of these sons, was killed in 
this war in the following year at what is now 
Chicopee, Massachusetts. 

Among other prominent descendants of Miles 
and Prudence Morgan are J. Pierpont Morgan and 
his late father, Junius S. Morgan, the bankers. The 
line of descent is Miles (I), Nathaniel (II), Joseph 
(III), Captain Joseph (IV), Joseph (V), Junius 
Soencer (VI)', J. Pierpont (VII) Morgan. The 
Worcester familv traces its descent from David, 
son of Miles (II). 

The genealogy of the Morgan family has recently 
been traced by George T. Clark, Antiquary, from 
remote Welsh ancestors. He gives sixteen genera- 
tions of Morgan ancestors of Miles Morgan, of 
Springfield. It is so seldom that English and Amer- 
ican genealogies can be so successfully united that 
American Morgans may well take some satisfaction 
in their Welsh ancestry. 

(I) Cadivor-Fawr, married Elen, daughter and 
heir tn Llwch Llawen and had: 

(II) Bleddri, third son. witnessed a Berkerolles 
grant of Bassalleg to Glastonbury and was probably 
a land owner in those parts. He bore "Argent, 3 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



103 



bulls' heads cabossed sable." The ordinary coat 
of the Morgans has long been "Or, a griffin segreant 
sable," but some branches have used Cadivor and 
other's Bleddri. Morgans o£ Pencoyd bore "Argent, 
a lion rampant gardant sable between two cantons; 
the dexter, "Or, a griffin segreant sable;' the sinister, 
■Bleddri; " The Llantarnam Morgans bore the grif- 
fin on a field argent. The descendants of Ivor 
Howel used Bleddri. but inserted a chevron between 
the Bulls' heads. The Lewises of St. Pierre used 
the Cadivor lion, and the Griffin for a crest. Bleddri 
is said to have married Clydvven, daughter of Grif- 
fith ap Cydrich ap Gwaethfoed-fawr, and had 

(III) Ivor, w-ho married Nest, daughter ofCara- 
doc ap Modoc ap Idnerth ap Cadwgan ap Elystan 
Gloddrydd, and had 

(IV) Llewelyn, who married Lleici, daughter of 
Griffith ap Beli, and had 

(V) Ivor, who married Tanglwst, daughter of 
Homel Sais ap Arghvydd Rhys. They had 

(VI) Llewelyn Lleia, married Susan, daughter 
of Howel ap Howel Sais, a first cousin. They had 

(VH) Ivor, father of 

(VIII) Llewelyn ap Ivor of Tredegar, Lord of 
St Clear, married Angharad. daughter of Sir Mor- 
gan ap Meredith, from the Welsh lords of Caerleon, 
ap Griffith ap Meredith ap Rhys, who bore •■.Argent, 
a linn rampant sable." Sir Morgan died 1332, when 
Angharad was aged thirty-two years. They had: i. 
Morgan. 2. Ivor Hael, whence iSIorgan of Gwern-y- 
Cleppa. 3. Philip, whence Lewis of St. Pierre. 

(IX) Morgan, of Tredegar and St. Clear, mar- 
ried Maud, daughter of Khun ap Grono ap Llwarch, 
Lord of Cibwr. He died before 1384. Issue: 
Llewelyn: Philip, whence Morgan of Langstone; 
John father of Gwenllian, married David Goch ap 
David: Christian, married Jevan ap Jenkin Kemeys ; 
Ann. married David Gwilim David, of Rhiwperra : 
Margaret, married Traherne ap Meyric of Merthyr : 
A daughter married Thomas ap Gwillim of 
Carnllwyd; Elenor, married Grono ap Howel 
Bennet. , ^ , , c 

(X) Llewelyn ap Morgan of Tredegar and St. 
Clear, living 1387, married Jenet. daughter and heir 
of David-vychan ap David of Rhydodyn, 1384-87- 
Issue : Jevan ; Christy, married Madoc ap" Jevan of 

Gelligaer : . married Roger ap Adam of St. 

j^lellon's: , married Madoc of Bassalleg; 

married Thomas Llewelyn; Ann, married 

John ap Jenkin : . married , of Raglan ; 

. married Builth. 

(XI) Jevan Morgan, 1415-48. married Denise 
or Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas ap Llewelyn- 
vychan of Llan gattog-on-L'sk. Issue: John. David. 
1442-48 : Jenkin. I4i4- 

(XII) Sir John Morgan. Knight of the Sepul- 
chre 1448. Stewart of GwentUoog. married Jenet, 
daughter and co-heir of John ap David Mathew 
of Llandaff. Issue: Morgan; Thomas, whence 
Morgan of Machen and Tredegar; John, whence 
a branch ; Lewis, 1491 : ■ William Morgan, coroner, 
l.SOi father of John of Newport, died 1541. father 
of William. I!;4i-I559; Philip. 1491 : Elizabeth, mar- 
ried John Fiennes. Lord Clinton and Say; Jane 
married William David Powel ; Mary, m'Yried 
Thomas Llewelvn-vychan of Rhiwperra; Isabella, 
married James Kemeys of Began, died 159I; 

(XIII) Thomas Morgan, second son of Sir John 
Morgan, was of Machen; enquire of the body to 
Henry VII: living 1538; married Elizabeth, daugh- 
ter of Roger Vaughan. of Porthaml. Issue: Row- 
land Reynold, whence Morgan of Llanvedw : John, 

whence Morgan of Bassalleg; Edmond. whence 
Morgan of Penllwyn-Sarth ; Margaret, married 

(first) John Kemeys. (second) Wdliam Edmunds; 



Barbara, married Sir Henry Seymour ; Maud, mar- 
ried John ap Rosser; Jane, married (first) William 
(nintcr, (second) Richard ap Jenkins, (third) Will- 
iam Vaughan. of Magor ; Constance, married Will- 
iam Jones, of Treowen; Mary, married (first) Ed- 
ward Williams, (second) Richard Herbert; Eliza- 
beth, married Edward James. 

(XIV) Rowland Morgan, of Machen, 1517-/7, 
married Blanch, daughter of John Thomas, of 
Llanarth. Settlement, November li, 1517; sheriff, 
1557. Issue: Thomas; Henry, whence Morgan of 
St. Mellon's; Catherine, married (first) Thomas 
Mathew, (second) Miles Morgan, (third) Henry 
Jones; Ann, married Philip Morgan, of Gwern-y- 
Cleppa ; Mary, married Thomas Lewis, of 
Rhiwperra ; Elizabeth, married Edward Kemeys, of 
Ccfn Mably. 

(XV) Thomas Morgan, of Machen and Trede- 
gar and of the Middle Temple, 1.567-77; sheriff, 
1581 ; M. P. for county in 1589; will. 1603: mar- 
ried Elizabeth Bodenhani, daughter Roger Boden- 
ham. Issue: Sir William: Edward, 1586, married 
Elizabeth Thomas, daughter of Ricliard Thomas, 
of Berthollcy; Sir John, died before 1610. married 
Florence Morgan, daughter and eventual heir of 
William Morgan of the Friars. They had William 
Morgan of the Friars, 1663, mayor of Newport, 
1667, father of Lewis Morgan, died about 1690, 
father of Lewis died 1729, who .sold to the Friars. 
He was father of Blanch and Catherine. David 
Morgan, whence a branch ; Blanch, married Edward 
Lewis, of Van; settlement 1.5S5: Catherine, married 
William Herbert, of Coldbrook ; Elizabeth, married 
William Jones, of Abergavenny; Jane, married 
Rowland Morgan, of Bassalleg; Elizabeth, married 
William Blethvn, of Dynham ; Ann ; Margaret, mar- 
ried Henrv Williams, of Mathern. 

(XVI)' Sir William Morgan, of Tredegar. 
knighted 1633; M. P. for the county 1623-25: will 
made 1650, "proved 1653, shcriflp 1612: aged ninety- 
three at death ; he received Charles I. at Tredegar 
Julv 16 and 17, 164,5; married (first) Elizabeth 
Winter, daughter of Sir William Winter, of Lidncy, 
(second) Bridget Morgan, daughter of Anthony 
Morgan, of Heyford. county Northampton, widow 
of .\nthony Morgan, of Llanvihangel Crucorney. 
Issue by first wife: Thomas: Edward, of Kilfengan. 
will dated .April 4, 1660. proved February. 1661 ; 
married Elizabeth James, daughter and heir of 
Charles James, of Llandewi Rhydderch, had Eliza- 
beth, daughter and heir, married Henry Chambre 
of Court Morgan. William, whence Morgan of 
Rhvmnv. Rowland of Risca. will dated December 
ig. 1660. proved February. 1661 ; married Honora 

and had Colonel William Morgan;; buried 

at Bassalleg. October 27. 1679. John of the Temple 
in 1652; coel. Mary, married George Lewis, of St. 
Pierre. Blanch, married John Carne. of Ewenny. 
Frances, married Charles Williams, of Llangibby. 
Mary, single, will 1687. Elizabeth married William 
Morgan, ofDderw^; .she died 16.^8. he died 1649. 
Bv Sir William's second wife: Sir .Anthony of 
Kilfengan, s. p. His widow was alive in 1673. 
Mary married Peter Farmer, of Ix)ndon. who died 
1691. ' Thev had Margaret, daughter and heir, mar- 
ried John 'More, who sold Kilfcn,gan in 1707. 

(XVII) Elizabeth Morgan, daughter of Sir Wil- 
liam of Tredegar (16), married William Morgan, 
merchant of Diveru; went to Bristol. England, in 
1616 Elizabeth died 1638. William died 1648; both 
buried in Bristol (See Great O^P')-;}" |™>^, i}"<l 
Book of Wills of Bristol). Issue: ^^ILES MOR- 
GAN born 1616 named perhaps after Miles Mor- 
gan, captain British army, who perished with Sir 
Humphrey Gilbert, half brother of Sir Walter 



I04 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



Raleigh, who sailed 1576 under a patent "to oc- 
cupy any heathen lands not actually possessed of 
any Christian prince or people." The only other 
Miles 1 find (than Capt. Miles supra) is Miles 
Morgan or Morgan Miles, son of William Miles 
of Cabalva. 

(XVIII) Miles Morgan was next to Col. Pyn- 
chon the most important and useful of the Spring- 
field Colony. He was made second in command, 
though he was the youngest of the company. He 
was the only pioneer in fact who was less than 
twenty-one years of age when admitted. He was 
a brave and intrepid Indian fighter in the frequent 
conflicts on the frontier. He was a wise counsellor 
and a sturdy tiller of the soil. In civil life Col. 
Pynchon was the grocer and Morgan was the 
butcher. A handsome monument was erected at 
Springfield in 1879 in testimony of the services of 
Miles Morgan in settling the town, governing the 
colony, fighting the Indians in 1675 when Spring- 
field was sacked and burned and many of the little 
colony killed. . 

Miles Morgan married Prudence Gilbert T636. 
Issue: I. Mary, born December 14. 1644. 2. Jona- 
than, born September 16, 1646. 3. David, born July 
23. 1648. 4. Peletiah, born May 17. 1650; killed 
by the Indians 167s; died unmarried. 5. Isaac, 
born March 12, 1652. 6. Lydia, born February 8, 
1654. 7. Hannah, born February 11, 1656. 8. Mercy, 
born May iS, 1658. Prudence Gilbert Morgan died 
November 14, 1660. Miles married February 15, 
1669 (2) Elizabeth Bliss. By her he had issue: 
I. Nathaniel, born June 14, 1671. Miles' Morgan 
died May 28. 1699, aged eighty-four years. 

(XIX) David Morgan, son of Miles Morgan 
(18), was born at Springfield, Massachusetts, July 
23, 1648. He married Mary Clark of Springfield, 
January 16, 1672. They lived at Springfield. He 
died May 30. 1731. Issue: i. Peletiah, born March, 
1676. 2. David, born February 18, 1679. 3. John, 
born October 7, 1682. 4. Jonathan, born September 
13, 1685. 5. Mary, born December 24, 1686. 6. 
Benjamin, born May 2, 1695; married Mary Graves, 
June 4, 1718. Issue: i. Benjamin, born November 
26, 1719. 2. Stephen, born May 4, 1722. 3. Aaron, 
born November 7, 1724. 4. Mary, born August 4, 
1727. 

(XX) Deacon David Morgan, son of David 
Morgan (19), was born in Springfield, Massachu- 
setts, February 18. 1679. He married Deborah Col- 
ton, daughter of Ephraim Colton, 1703. He died 
September it, 1760. See Colton family annexed. 
David Morgan and his son Joseph were among the 
original proprietors of Brimficld, Massachusetts, 
drawing respectively grants number 46 and 25 in 
the distribution of land to the first settlers in 1732 
and the family went to Brimfield about that time. 
Descendants of David are still living in the town. 
He was town clerk in 1731. 

The standing of Deacon Morgan's family is 
shown by the report of the seating committee Sep- 
tember 12, 1757, when the widow of Mr. Morgan 
is given a post of honor in the first pew with such 
well known men as John Sherman, Esq.. Captain 
Leonard Hoar. Mr. Nathan Collins and their wives. 
The dau.ffhters of Deacon David Morgan married 
into the Hoar and Sherman families. His children 
were: I. David. 2. Joseph, born August 19, 1705. 
3. Mary, born 1706, married Leonard Hoar. Jr., 
May 6. 1736. 4. Elizabeth, married Phineas Sher- 
nuin, December 12, 1738. 5. Jonathan, born 1740. 
fi. Deborah, married Nathaniel Collins. 1763. 7. 
Mcrcv. born 1744, died 1745. 8. Isaac, born 1747. 

(XXT) Sergeant Joseph Morgan, son of Deacon 
David Morgan (20), was born at Springfield. Au- 



gust 19, 1705, and died January 28, 1798. He was 
a sergeant, in the troops sent from New England, 
at the second seige of Louisburg in 175S, and al- 
though seventy years of age he responded to the 
call April 19, 1775, and went to Lexington, under 
Capt. Sherman and Col. Pynchon. He married 
Margaret Cooley, December 25, 1729. She died 
July 17, 1754. He married (second) Rachel Dada, 
August II, 1759. She died March 27, 1810. He was 
a cabinet maker by trade and his son Joseph con- 
tinued the business after his death. 

Their children were: I. Margaret, born April 
20, 1730, married John Mighell, February 2, 1749. 
2. Joseph, Jr., born April 17, 1733. 3. Mary, born 
February 28, 1735, died 1736. 4. Mary, born June _ 
IS. 1737, married Capt. Ebenezer Hitchcock, May ■, 
7, 1761. 5. Benjamin, born July 24, 1739. 6. Mir- ": 
iam, born May 7, 1742. 8. David, born January 25, 
1745. 8. Keziah, born January 26, 1747, married 
Benjamin Cady, December 31, 1767. 9. Aaron, born 
March 16, 1749. 10. Elijah, born May 31, 1758. 
II. Enoch, born August 3, 1763. 

(XXII) Sergeant Aaron Morgan, son of Sergt. 
Joseph (21), and Margaret Morgan, was born at 
Brimfield, Massachusetts, March 16, 1749, and died 
there August 30, 1825. He responded to the Lex- 
ington Alarm April 19, 1775, in Capt. Thompson's 
company, Col. Danielson's regiment. He was in 
Gates Army in the north 1777 in Capt. Capen's 
company, Col. Woodbridge's regiment. He had 
other service also to his credit. He was a promi- 
nent man in Brimfield town affairs. He was moder- 
ator in 1807, 1810, 1811, 1812, 1813, 1814, 1815; he 
was town clerk from 1784 to 1797 ; selectman in 
1798, 1799, 1800, iSoi. 1802, 1803, 1804; assessor 
1775, 1776, 1780, 1781, 1783, 1785, to 1793, 1795, 1796, 
1798 to 1804 inclusive. He married Abigail Sher- 
man, November 26, 1772. She died October 23, 
1828, See Sherman family annexed. Their chil- 
dren were: l. Lucy, born January 20, 1774, mar- 
ried James Moore, December 19, 1793. 2. Justin, 
born March 8, 1/77. 3- Aaron, Jr., born December 
6, 1779. 4. Calvin, born May 27, 1782. 5. Thomas 
born April 7, 1788, married Orra Morgan, October 
27, 1816. .6. Sally, born June 30, 1790, married 
Harris Sherman, April 28, 1814. 

(XXIII) Calvin Morgan, son of Sergt. Aaron 
Morgan, was born at Brimfield, Massachusetts, May 

27, 1782, and died June 13, 1832. He married Polly 
Forbush of Grafton, Massachusetts, March 10, 1803, 
she died January 12, 1868. 

Their children were : I. Hiram, born August i, 
1803. died June 29, 1866. 2, Dexter, born June 2, 
1805, died March 17, 1818. 3. Margaret F., born 
September 23, 1806, married G. W. Dinsmore, Sep- 
tember 23, 1829. 4. Calvin. Jr., born April 4, 
1808. married Susannah P. Lane, died October 31, 
1835. 5. Mary Ann. born December 28. 1809, mar- 
ried Joseph B. Parker, October 15, 1833. 6. Abi- 
gail T., born June 13, 181 1, married Heman S. Jack- 
son, May 29. 1859. 7. Enoch Melvin, born June 2, 
1813. died December 9, 1813. 8. Sarah B., born 
March 26, 1815. married Luther Bigelow, June II, 
1835. died September 17, 1840. 9. Malvina F., born 
April T2, 1817, married Andrew J. Copp, July 2, 
1839. died June 27. 1841. 10. Francis Dexter, born 
April 24, t8iq, married Elizabeth Phelps, November 
25. 1841, died 1846. II. Harriet N., born September 

28, 182T. 12. Cordelia, horn October 20, 1825, died 
February 14, 1842. 

fXXIV) Hiram Morgan, son of Calvin Mor- 
gan (23), was born at Brimfield, Massachusetts, 
August r, 1S03. died June 29, 1866. He married 
Clarissa Lucina Rich, daughter of Dr. Noah Rich. 
Hiram was a mechanic 'skillful in wood turning. 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



105 



Children were as follows : I. Charles Hill, born 
January 8, 1831. 2. Francis Henry, born September 
23, 183,3. 3- Hiram Dexter, born July 27, 1836, 
died in infancy. 4. Cyrus Rich, bo'n July 4. 1838, 
married Adelaide Fisher, 5. Harriet Eaton, born 
March 27, i84i, died in infancy. 

(XXV) Charles Hill Morgan, son of Hiram 
Morgan (24), was born at Rochester, New York, 
January 8, 1831. His parents moved to Clinton, 
Massachusetts, when he was an infant. He at- 
tended the Clinton schools and Lancaster Academy. 
At the age of fifteen he began to learn the machin- 
ist's trade in his uncle's shop. He developed a love 
for mechanical drawing and acquired a thorough 
knowledge of mechanics as well as much technical 
skill. In 1852 when he was twenty-one years of 
a.ge he had acquired sufficient knowledge of chem- 
istry to take charge of the dye house of the Clinton 
Mills. Mr. Morgan was for a time draughtsman 
for the Lawrence Machine Company and for Eras- 
tus B. Bigelow. He went to Philadelphia in i860 
and for a short time was associated in business there 
with his brother. Returning to Worcester in 1864 
he accepted the position of general superintendent 
of the wire mills of Washburn & Moen, where he 
remained for twenty-three years, during eleven of 
which he was a director of the corporation. While 
with the Washburn & Moen Co. he designed the 
first hydraulic elevator introduced in New England. 
He made seven trips to Europe to visit the steel 
and wire mills of England. Belgium, Germany, 
France and Sweden. He studied the new patents, 
read the trade journals and kept his mill well to 
the front in the development of new methods and 
machines. An advance step in the wire business 
was an improvement of the continuous rolling mill 
designed and constructed in Manche'^ter, England, 
in accordance with the designs of George Bedson. 
This continuous rolling was a great improvement 
in methods, but production was limited by the im- 
perfections of the ordinary hand reel. Mr. Mor- 
gan's first improvement was a reel operated by 
steam power; the second was the invention and 
construction of a continuous train of rolls having 
only horizontal axles. Experience has shown that 
this mill consisting of a series of horizontal rolls 
with intermediate twistings or turning guides be- 
tween the rolls, giving the metal one quarter of a 
turn in its passage from one pair of rolls to the 
next, was far superior to a mill with alternate hori- 
zontal and vertical rolls. Nine years after the build- 
ing of the Bedson mill another mill from new de- 
signs^ furnished by Mr. Morgan was built on the 
Belgian and continuous plan and was known as 
the Combination mill. In t886 Mr. Mor,gan patented 
automatic reels with vertically moving platform. 

Mr. Morsan became consulting engineer for the 
American Wire Company of Cleveland in 1887 and 
introduced new and valuable inventions. In 1889 
he completed and put in operation at Dollar Bay, 
Michigan, a large copper mill for the Tamarack 
mine, one of the mines producing the famous lake 
copper. 

Mr. Morgan began the manufacture of rolling 
mill machinery, etc., in 1888 and three years later 
incorporated the business under the name of The 
Morgan Con^tructinn Co. The capital stock of 
the company i^ $100,000. Mr. Morgan is president 
and his son, Paul B. Morgan, treasurer. The exe- 
cutive office and the mill is at 11 to 21 Lincoln 
street. Worcester. Branch offices are located in 
New York city and Brussels. Belgium. The com- 
pany manufactures rolling mill machinery for steel 
liillcts, merchant shapes, rods, cotton ties and barrel 
lioops ; also wire drawing and hydraulic machinery. 



A specialty of the company is the equipment of en- 
tire plants from boilers to special devices made to 
order complete. Business has developed steadily 
and a large export trade has been built up. The 
company has valuable patents for machinery used 
in modern mills. 

Chas. H. Morgan is also the president and owner 
to a large extent of the Morgan Spring Company 
which was incorporated in 1881. It is capitalized 
at $700,000. The business developed to its present 
proportions by steady but rapid growth. Mr. Mor- 
gan began the manufacture of springs at the Mor- 
gan mills on Lincoln street. In 1896 the extensive 
plant at Barber's Crossing was constructed and has 
been enlarged to allow for the increase in business. 
This location is ideal for the purposes of the com- 
pany. The works are at the junction of the Fitch- 
burg and Nashua Railroads, making shipping facili- 
ties admirable. In 1905 the Morgan Spring Com- 
pany purchased an extensive plant at Struthers. 
Ohio, where rod rolling and wire making machinery 
has been installed. The company manufactures 
wire rods, the best grade of oil-tempered steel 
wire, also spiral and flat springs of all kinds, many 
spetial designs being made for agricultural and 
other machinery. There are departments for wire 
drawing, tempering and spring making. 

Mr. Morgan's connection with the Washburn 
Shops of the Worcester Polytechnic Institute gives 
him a high place among the benefactors of that 
institution. In March, 1886, Ichabod Washburn 
made his gift to establish the machine shop and 
working mechanical department of the Worcester 
Polytechnic Institute. The idea of Mr. Washburn 
was unique. Mr. Morgan more than any other man 
deserves credit for the successful development of 
the plan made by the founder. The shop is at the 
same time a laboratory and trade school for the 
Institute and a business concern self-supporting. 
Mr. Washburn recommended Mr. Morgan as a suit- 
able trustee knowing his great mechanical skill 
and large experience. Mr. Washburn died before 
the shop was completed. Mr. Morgan was elected 
a trustee of the Institute, March 27, 1886, and at 
the request of the dying founder of the institution 
Mr. Morgan took charge of the construction and 
equipment of the shops. Mr. Morgan at the re- 
quest of Mr. Washburn selected the first superin- 
tendent. Milton P. Higgins. a graduate of the 
Chandler Scientific School at Hanover. New Hamp- 
."^hire. From the first. Mr. Morgan co-operated with 
Mr. Higgins to sgt a high standard of efficiency. 
The success of the experiment in technical educa- 
tion has made the Worcester Polytechnic Institute 
famous and its shops are the model for the whole 
country. Mr. Washburn's idea as worked out by 
Mr. Morgan. Mr. Higgins and their associates has 
been a new triumph in American industrial educa- 
tion and nrogress. 

Mr. Morgan hns been an active member of the 
Plymouth Congregational Church and was one of the 
its founders and deacons : he has been director of 
the Y. M. C A. and member of the Congregational 
Club of Worcester. He was a director of the First 
National Bank. 

He married in 1852. Harriet C. Plympton, of 
Shrewsbury. In 1862 his wife died. He married 
second. .August 4. 1863. Rebecca A. Beagary, of 
Philadelphia. Pennsylvania. 

His children were: I. C Henry Morgan, born 
February r. t8,S4, married Jessie Bradbury, resides 

in Worcester. 2. Hiram Plympton, born 

— , 1862. died in infancv. 3. Harriet L.. horn June 
0. 1864, married Dr. Winthrop D. Mitchell, of East 
Orange, New Jersey. (They have one child. Beat- 



io6 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



rice MitdicII. born June 6, 1891.) 4. Charlotte, born 
July 10. 1866, married Frederick M. McFadden of 
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 5. Paul Beagary, born 
May 7, 1869, married June 15, 1893, Lessie Louise 
Maynard. 6. Ralph Landers, born September 5, 
1872. married Alice Sawyer. 

(XXVI) Franxis Henry Morgan, son of Hiram 
(24), was born September 23, 1833, and died June 
19, 1899. He married Ellen A. Wright who died, 
and he married second Caroline Augusta Smith, 
October l, 1868. He resided in Worcester, being 
from the time of the founding of Morgan Spring 
Company to the date of his death, the treasurer 
and general manager of that company. His chil- 
dren are : Harry VVallis, born September 26, 1869, 
died August 13, 1870. 2. Mary Colchester, born 
June 28, 1874. 3. Charles Francis, born June 23, 
1877. 4. Rav, born August 6, 1883, died November 
28, 1888. 

(XXVn) Paul Beagary Morgan, son of Charles 
Hill Morgan (25), and Rebecca A. (Beagary) Mor- 
gan, was born in Worcester, May 7, 1869. He at- 
tended the Worcester schools leaving the high 
school after three years to enter Worcester .Acad- 
emy. He graduated from the Academy in 1887 and 
from Worcester Polytechnic Institute in 1890. He 
completed his education abroad with a year in 
Sweden studying the iron industry, taking a special 
course in metallurgy and chemistry in the Royal 
School of Mines at Stockholm. He had practical 
experience in the celebrated Munkfors Works of 
Uddeholm Company. LTpon his return he went 
into business with his father and has had in recent 
years a large share in the management and respon- 
sibility for the business established by his father. 
He is treasurer of the' Morgan Spring Company 
and of the Morgan Construction Company, and presi- 
dent of the Heald Machine Company. 

He has won a reputation among business men 
for his integrity, prudence and common sense. He 
was in 1904 elected a director of the Worcester 
National Bank. He is a trustee of the People's 
Savings Bank and of Memorial Hospital. He has 
accepted the honor and trying duties of the presi- 
dency of the Worcester County Musical Associa- 
tion. This organization gives the annual Musical 
Festival for which the name of Worcester is cele- 
brated in the nuisica! world. 

Mr. Morgan is a member of the Plymouth Con- 
gregational Church, of the Worcester Y. M. C. A., 
and of the Congregational Club. He is an ex-presi- 
dent of the Alumni Association of the Worcester 
Polytechnic Institute, vice-president of the Alumni 
of Worcester Academy. He is interested in public 
affairs, a Republican, an honorary member of George 
H. W.-ird Post, G. A. R.. and a member of the Sons 
of the American Revolution. He is a member of 
the Worcester Club, the Quinsigamond Boat Club, 
the Tatnuck Country Club, the Worcester .Automo- 
bile Club, the Youngstown (Ohio) Club and the 
Engineers Club (New York). 

He married Lessie Louise Maynard. daughter 
of William and Mary (Adams) Maynard, June 15, 
1893, at Worce.ster, Massachusetts. His wife is a 
descendant of the Maynard family of Marlboro, 
for which the town of Maynard. Massachusetts, is 
named. Their children are: i. Philip Maynard, 
born April 13, 1896. 2. Charles Hill, 2d. born Sep- 
tember Tg. 1902. 3. Paul Beagary, Jr., born June 
II. 1904. 4. Vincent, born February 2, 1906. 

(I) John Maynard. the emigrant ancestor of 
Mrs. Paul B. Morgan of Worcester, was one of 
the petitioners for the grant of Marlborough. Massa- 
chusetts. He was in Sudbury in 1638 and was one 
of the forty-seven who shared in the division of 



.Sudbury meadows in 1639. He was selectman of 
Sudbury. He removed to Marlborough soon after 
the grant in 1657. He married Mary Gates. He 
died December 22, 1711. His children were: i. 
Elizabeth, born May 26, 1649, died young; 2. Han- 
nah, born September 30, 1653 ; 3. Mary, born August 
3, 1656; 4. John, born January 7, 1661, married 
Lydia Ward ; 5. Elizabeth, born April 2, 1664 ; 6. 

Simon, born June 15, 1666, married Hannah 

7. David, born December 21, 1669, married Hannah 

; 8. Zachariah, born October 2y, 1672 ; 9. 

Sarah, born May 15, 1680, married June 9, 1705, 
Joseph Johnson ; 10. Lydia, born August 29, 1682, 
married April 7, 1703, Thomas Haggate ; 11. Joseph, 
born August 27, 16S5, married Elizabeth Prue and 
had Benjamin, born May 7, 1721. 

(II) Simon Maynard, son of John Maynard 
(l), was born in Marlborough, June 15, 1666, mar- 
ried Hannah . He died January 19, 1748. 

She died April 5, 1748. Their children were : I. 
Hannah, born June 9, 1694, marrie<l .\pril 21, 1714, 
Joseph Crosby ; 2. Simon, bprn March 4, i6g6, mar- 
ried November 18, 1718, Sarah Church; 3. Eliza- 
beth, born September 26. 1698, married 1723, Robert 
Horn; 4. Tabitha, born February 2, 1701. died April 
7. 1724; 5. Elisha, born March 20, 1703; 6. Eunice, 
born November 17, 1705. married Nathaniel Falk- 
ner; 7. Ephraim, born October 17, 1707, married 

Sarah and Mary Balcom ; 8. Benjamin, 

born December i, 1709, died 171 1. 

(III) Ephraim Maynard, son of Simon May- 
nard (2). was born at Marlborough, Massachusetts, 

October 17, 1707. He married first Sarah 

who died May 24, 1742: second January 3. 1743, 
Mary Balcom. Their children were: I. Tabitha, 
born July 21, 1738. died May 24. 1742; 2. Ephraim. 
born March 7, 1740, died May 10, 1742; Sarah, born 
November 6. 1743; 4. Ephraim, born August 29, 
1745, married September 14. 1773, Eunice Jewell; 

5. Simon, born June 5, 1748, married Silence Priest ; 

6. Joseph, born December 31, 1750, married Novem- 
ber 14, 1777, Lovina Barnes; 7. Benjamin, born 
March 10, 1753: 8. Eunice, born February 7, 1757. 

(IV) Simon Maynard, son of Ephraim May- 
nard (3), was born at Marlborough, Massachusetts, 
June 5, 1748. He married Silence Priest. He died 
November 15, 1818. Their children were: i. Isaac, 
born December 3, 1779, married 1803, Lydia Howe ; 
2. Hannah, born December 28, 1782, married Janu- 
ary 31, 1S02, Peace Peters : 3. John Priest, born 
June 2, 1791, married 1812, Betsey Weeks, daughter 
of John Weeks. 

(V) Isaac Maynard, son of Simon Maynard 
(4), was born at Marlborough, Massachusetts, De- 
cember 7, 1779, married in 1803, Lydia Howe, daugh- 
ter of Artemas Howe. She married second. Isaac's 
children were: i. Amory, born February 28, 1804, 
married Mary Priest, daughter Benjamin Priest; 
2. Lydia. born November 16, 1805, married Joel 
Wilkins. 

(VI) Amory Maynard, son of Isaac Maynard 
(S), was born at Marlborough, Massachusetts, Feb- 
ruary 28, 1804. He married Mary Priest, daughter 
of Benjamin Priest of Marlboro. Among their chil- 
dren was William. 

(VII) William Maynard, son of Amory (6), 
Maynard. was born May 6. 1833. at Marlboro. He 
married Mary Adams. Their children were: i. 
Lessie Louise, born June 23, 1868. 

(VIII) Lessie Louise Maynard. daughter of 
William Maynard (7), was born June 23, 1868. 
She married Paul Beagary Morgan (27). See 
Morgan sketch. 

(XXVIII) Ralph Landers Morgan, son of 
Charles H. Morgan (2~,'), was born at Worcester, 



Il 




/fe^z^.^^g^U^^ 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



107 



Massachusetts. September 5, 1872. He married, 
October 12, 1897, Alice Sawyer, daughter of Wil- 
liam H. Sawyer, the lumber merchant of Worcester. 
He was educated at Worcester Academy and W. 
P. I. After leaving school he was associated with 
the firm of Flint, Eddy & Co., of New York. He 
was president of the Morgan Motor Company, the 
business of which has been discontinued. He was 
for a year manager of the automobile department 
of the American Bicycle Co., at Toledo, Ohio. At 
present he is a consulting engineer, and is interested 
in a number of local and foreign enterprises. He 
is a member of Plymouth Church, Worcester, Quin- 
sigamond Boat Club and Engineers Club of New 
York. 

(XXIX) Charles Francis Morgan, son of Fran- 
cis Henry Morgan (26), was born June 23, 1877. 
He married Edith Jeanette Norcross (daughter of 
Orlando W. Norcross), October 5, 1904. He is 
active in the inanagement of Morgan Spring Com- 
pany, holding the office of assistant treasurer and 
clerk of llie corporation. He is a member of the 
Winter Club. 

THE COLTON FAMILY from which Paul B. 
Morgan is descended, originally came from Sutton 
Coldfield, Warwick county. England. George Col- 
ton, the emigrant, settled at Springfield. Massachu- 
setts, before 1644. Removed from Hartford. He 
did important service in King Philip's war. He was 
representative to the General Court in 1669, 1671 
and 1677. By his wife Deborah Gardner, of Hart- 
ford, Connecticut, he had Isaac Colton, born Novem- 
ber 21, 1646, died September 3. 1670. 

(II) Isaac Colton, son of George (l), was born 
November 21. 1646, married Mary Cooper, daughter 
of Thomas Cooper, June 30. 1670. She was born 
November 15. 1651. She married second Edward 
Stebbins, October 18, 1701 ; she died August 29, 
1742. 

(III) Deborah Colton, daughter of Isaac Col- 
ton (2). married Deacon David !\Iorgan, of 
Springfield. 

COOLEY FAMILY. <l) Benjamin Cooley of 
Springfield, a proprietor in 1645, was born in Eng- 
land about 1615, married Sarah . He died 

August 17, 1684. She died August 23, 1684. 

(II) Daniel Cooley, son of Benjainin Cooley 
(i), was born at Springfield, May 2, 1651. died 
February g, 1727, married Elizabeth Wolcott, daugh- 
ter of Simon Wolcott, December 8, 1680. Sec Wol- 
cott sketch. 

(III) Benjainin Cooley. son of Daniel Cooley 
(2). was born October 28. 1681, married January 
31, 1701. Margaret Bliss, daughter of Samuel Bliss. 
Jr.. and wife. Sarah Benjamin.. They removed to 
Brrmfield, Massachusetts. 

(IV) Margaret Cooley. daughter of Benjamin 
Coolev (3), was born January 30. 1710. married 
Joseph Morgan. 

THE SHERMAN FAMILY. (I) Edmund 
Sherman, the emigrant, came from Dedham, Essex 
county. England, and settled at Watertown. Massa- 
chusetts, about 1632. He married Judith Angin. 
1611. 

(II) Rev. John Sherman, son of Edmund Sher- 
man (i), was baptized January 14, 1614, married 
Abigail . 

(III) James Sherman, son of Rev. John Sher- 
man (2). was born 1645. died March 3. 1718, mar- 
ried May 13. 1680. Mary Walker. 

(IV) Capt. and Dr. John Sherman, son of 
James Shernjan (3). was born about 1683, died 
March g. 1772. married Abigail Stone, who was 
born February 13. 1680. 

(V) Thomas Sherman, son of Capt. John Sher- 



man (IV), was born September 6, 1722, died No- 
vember 22, 1803, married Anna Blodgett, Septem- 
ber 12, J 75 1. She died December 10, 180S. He was 
in the revolution. 

(VI) .'\bigail Sherman, daughter of Thomas 
Sherman (V), was born January n, 1752, married 
Aaron Morgan, November 26, 1772. See Morgan 
sketch. 

BLODGETT FAMILY. (I) Thomas Blod- 
gett. came from England in 1635. and settled at 
Cambridge, Massachusetts, married Susanna . 

(II) Samuel Blodgett, son of Thomas Blodgett 
(l), was born 1633, died July 3, 1687, married about 
December 13, 1655, Ruth Ingleden. 

(III) Thomas Blodgett, son of Samuel Blod- 
gett (2), was born 1660, removed to Lexington, 
Massachusetts, about 1699. married Rebecca Tidd, 
November 11, 1684. 

(IV) Joseph Blodgett, son of Thomas Blodgett 
(3), was born September 17, l6g6. married Sarah 
Stone, who was born at Lexington, November 7, 
1700. She died May 6. 17.S5; married second Sarah 
Ingersoll, June 29, 1738. 

(V) -Anna Blodgett, daughter of Joseph Blod- 
gett (4), was born April 10, 1824, married Thomas 
Sherman. See Sherman sketch. 

THE TIDD FAMILY. (I) John Tidd em- 
barked May 12. 1637. at Yarmouth, England, aged 
nineteen years, married Margaret, who. died 1651. 
He died .^pril 24. t6s-. 

(II) John Tidd. Jr.. son of John Tidd (l), 
was born in England, married .'Kpril 14, 1650, Re- 
bekah Wood. 

(III) Rebekah Tidd. daughter of John Tidd (2), 
was born , married Thomas Blodgett, No- 
vember II. 1685. 

THE STONE FAMILY. (I) Gregory Stone 
was born in England. 1590, married there 1618, 
Mary Ganda. 

(II) Deacon John Stone, son of Gregory Stone 
(l), was born August 31, 1644, died 1719, married 
Mary Ward, who was born about 1647. She died 
June 10. 170.3. 

(III) Abigail Stone, daughter of Deacon John 
Stone (2). was born February 13. 1680, married 
Dr. John Sherman of Springfield, Massachusetts. 

WARD F.A.MILY. (I) William Ward of Sud- 
bury, was representative to General Court in 1644 
and several other years. He was chairman of the 
selectmen. He served in Kitig. Philip's war. He 
died at Marlborough, /Xugust 10. 1687; married 
Elizabeth . 

(II) Mary, daughter of William Ward (l), 
married Daniel Stone. See Stone sketch. 

WOLCOTT FAMILY'. (I) Henry Wolcott 
was born in 1577, died 165.1;. He was the son of 
John Wolcott. of Tolland. Somersetshire. England, 
married January 19. 1606. Elizabeth, daughter of 
Thomas Saunders, of Tolland. 

(II) Simon Wolcott. son of Henry Wolcott (i). 
was born September 11. 1624. married second 
Martha Pitkin, sister of William (parents of Roger 
the governor). She married second Daniel Clark, 
died October 13, 1719. 

(III) Elizabeth Wolcott, daughter of Simon (2) 
and Martha, married December 8, 1680, Danie! 
Cooley. Sec Cooley sketch. 

HON WALTER H. BLODGET, the present 
mayor of Worcester, comes from a New York 
family. The grandfather. Jesse Blodgct. was the 
first male settler in what is now known as Den- 
mark. New York. He was born in 1764 and died 
in 1848. He was a man of great energy and known 
as one of tlie leading factors of that town for many 



io8 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



years Bv occupation he was a farmer. He mar- 
ried and the hidv of his choice was the first woman 
to settle in Denmark. New York. They were the 
parents of several children, includmg among the 
numher Harri.=on, the father of Walter H. Blodget. 
Harrison Blodget was the first male child born m 
Denmark. He was born in iSoi and died in ibpg. 
He was educated in the common schools of his 
dav and worked in spare hours, assisting his father, 
as'be^t he could. He finally chose law for a pro- 
fession and soon became one of the foremost at- 
torneys of the state. He was active in local and 
state politics, being a staunch Democrat. He be- 
came a member of the general assembly and was in- 
strumental in the passage of several important bills. 
He was later appointed as associate judge of Lewis 
county New York, filling the position with credit. 
He married Diantha Dewey, of Leyden. New York, 
born October, 1806, and died in 1890. By this 
union the following children were born : Phil^ander, 
Irene L.. Charles D., Francis A., Florence C, and 

Walter H. , , , , 

Walter H Blodget was born at the old home- 
place erected by his grandfather, in Denmark, New 
York. November 2. 1850. He was educated in the 
common schools and in the Ives Seminary and then 
attended a business college in New York state, where 
he fitted himself for the activities of a business 
career. On finishing his education, he entered a 
small store in his hoine town, where he clerked for 
a time and later became agent for a warehouse on 
the Black river canal. After following this for 
a time he decided to go into business for himself 
and opened up a small store at LowviUe, New York, 
in which he dealt in butter, cheese and produce 
generallv. Success attended him from the start. 
He remained there until i88r, when he camie to 
Worcester and engaged in the produce business. 
He associated with him A. C. Boshart and chose as 
a location the Warren block: at present (1906) is 
located at 65 to 77 Park street, under the name of 
Blodget & Boshart. Later on Mr. Boshart retired 
from the firm, selling to Mr. Blodget. It was in 
t8o8 that the firm of W. H. Blodget & Co. was 
formed and incorporated, with Mr. Blodgett as 
president and his son, Walter H., Jr.. as vice-presi- 
dent. The firm also opened a large place of busi- 
ness at Boston. Their annual sales are immense. 
In 1904 they were more than one million dollars. 
Soon after arriving in Worcester. Mr. Blodget 
became identified with many business associations 
here and in Boston. He became a member of the 
local board of trade, of which he was president two 
years. 1902-03. He served on the railroad committee 
of this body, of which he became chairman, and 
in all their offices proved himself equal to the 
emergencies which came up for speedy action and 
final solution. He is a member of the Fruit and 
Produce E.xchange of Boston. He is one of the 
regular speakers of the Farmers' Institute and is 
registered as such in Washington, and vice-presi- 
dent of the Massachusetts state board of trade. 
He also is vice-president of the advisory board of 
the Philadelphia Museum. Politically he differs 
from his forefathers and has ever been a progres- 
sive Republican, and he fully believes in the great 
principles of that political party. He was elected 
to the office of mayor of Worcester in 1903, and 
re-elected in 1904, proving a highly satisfactory 
official, ever guarding the interests of all the people. 
While absorbed in actual business affairs and of- 
ficial duties, he forgets not to care for the higher 
and more sacred trusts of life. He is active in 
church work and was one of the organizers of the 
Adams Square Church and has served at the super- 



intend'-nt of the Sabbath school from the first. He 
is a person of rare judgment. As a speaker he 
has no little notorietv. As a toast-master at ban- 
quets and public gatherings, he has a remarkable 
t'lct His benevolent spirit is manifested toward the 
unfortunate poor and suffering within his com- 

'""in^becember, 1873. Mr. Blodget was united in 
marriage to Miss Lotta J. Boshard, daughter of 
Garrett Boshard, of New \ ork. She died in 1882. 
Bv this union one son was born— Walter fl., Jr., 
born in New York in 1882. He was educated in 
the schools of the Empire state and Worcester, 
Massachusetts, and is now vice-president of his 
father's company. In 1883 Mr. Blodget, Sr mar- 
ried Miss Mary F. Spaulding, daughter of M W. 
and Verrila (Arsbury) Spaulding. Mr. Spaulding 
was a merchant and county clerk of Canton. New 
York Mr. and Mrs. Spaulding had nine children. 
Mr. and Mrs. Blodget are the parents of four chil- 
dren as follows: Bertha, born Apnl 20, 1889; 
Chester, born May 27, 1892; Anna D., born July 
'4 1894; Jesse M., born October 16, 1900. Mr. 
Hlod<^et still retains the old homestead at Denmark, 
New^York, which is used as the summer home tor 
his family. He also has considerable property in- 
terests in' Worcester county. 

DICKINSON FAMILY. Eleven centuries ago 
a soldier of fortune made his appearance at the 
court of Halfdan Huilbein, King of Norway. His 
name was Ivar. He had been a shepherd and had 
been captured bv the Northmen and carried to sea. 
He drifted into a life of adventure^ He became a 
favorite at the Norwegian Court. The King made 
him general of his army and in 725 gave him his 
daughter Eurithea in marriage He was called 
Prince of Uplands. When the King died the son 
of Ivar became heir to the throne and during his 
minority Ivar was regent. This son. Eystem, 
rei<rned imtil 755- He was succeeded by his son, J 
Hamld Harfager. Rollo, a Prince of this line 
overran Normandy in 910. His sixth and yo"ngest 
son, Walter, received the castle and town of Caen 
as an inheritance. His great-grandson. \^' alter de 
Caen, accompanied William, the Norman to Eng- 
land at the time of the Conquest^ To this nob e- 
man the line of Dickinsons descended from the first 
American pioneer, Nathaniel, may be traced. 
Nathaniel is the fifteenth in line, as follows : 

(T) Walter de Caenm. later Walter de Kenson, 
taking the name from his manor in Yorkshire. 

(II) Tohnnc Dvkonson. freeholder of Km.gston 
unon Hull. Yorkshire, married. 1260. Margaret Lam- 
bert, died T316. • r 1, ij .Kn,-s 

(III) William Dykenson. freeholder as above. 

'"^ (IV) Hugh Dykensonne. freeholder as above, 

'^ (V)^ .^nthovne Dickensonne. freeholder as above 
married. 1376.' Catheryne De La Pole: he died 

''^(VI) Richard Dickerson. freeholder as above, 
married. 1 300. Margaret Cooper, died 1441. 

(VII) Thomas Dickinson, freeholder as above 
married. T470. Margaret Lambert: alderman first 
ward Hull ii43-4: mayor l444-.=i; died 1475. 

(VIII) Hugh Dickinson, freeholder as above, 
married TJ=;r. Agnes Swillington : removed I47S 
to Kenson Manor. Yorkshire: died IW- „ „^^^ 

(IX) William Dickinson, freeholder of Kenson 
Manor, married. 1475- Isabel Langton : died 1546. 

(X) John Dickinson, settled in Leeds York- 
shire', married _ in 1499. Elizabeth Danby : alderman 
1525-54: died in 1554. 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



109 



(XI) William Dickinson, settled Brindley Hall. 
Staffordshire, married in 1520, Rachel Kinge ; died 
1580. 

(XII) Richard Dickinson, of Bradley Hall, mar- 
ried. 1540, Elizabeth Bagnall ; died 1605. 

(XIH) Thomas Dickinson, clerk in the Ports- 
month navy yard, 1567 to 1587, removed to Cam- 
bridge 1587; married. 1567, Judith Carey; died 1590. 

( XIV) William Dickinson, settled in Ely, Cam- 
bridge, married, 1594, Sarah Stacey, of Ely; died 
1628. 

(XV) Nathaniel Dickinson, son of William 
Dickinson (14), was born in Ely, Cambridge, in 
1600. He married, January, 1630. at East Bergolat, 
Suffolk, Anna Gull, widow of William Gull. They 
came to Wethersfield, Connecticut, in 1636 or 1637. 
He was one of the leaders in the colony. He was 
town clerk in 1645. representative to the general 
court in 1646 and 1647. He removed to Hadley, 
Ma^sachusetts. in 1659, and was admitted a free- 
man there in 1661. He was chosen deacon of the 
church and first recorder of the town. He was 
selectman, assessor and town magistrate. He was 
a member of the Hampshire Troop and on llie first 
board of trustees of Hopkins Academy. He re- 
sided a few years at Hatfield. He died at Hadley, 
June 16. 1676. He married (first) in England; 

(second) Anne . when he went to Hadley. 

The children of Nathaniel and Hannah (Gull) 
Dickinson were : John, born 1630. killed in King 
Philip's war; Joseph, 1632. killed by Indians, 1675; 
Thomas. 1634 ; Anna or Hannah, 1636, married John 
Clary and Enos Kingsley. of Northampton ; Samuel, 
see forward: Obadiah. April 15, 1641 ; Nathaniel, 
.August, 1643: N^ehemiah, about 1644; Hezekiah, 
February, 1645-6; .Azariah, October 4. 1648, killed in 
swamp fight, August 25. 1675. 

(XVI) Samuel Dickinson, fifth child of Nathan- 
iel Dickinson (15), was born in Hatfield, Massa- 
chusetts. July. 1638. He was admitted a freeman 
in 1690, and served in the war in 1675-6. He died 
November 30. 1711, aged seventy-three. He mar- 
ried. January 4. i(568. Martha Bridgeman. daughter 
of James Bridgeman, of Springfield and Northamp- 
ton. Massachusetts. She was born November 2, 
1649. and died July 16, 171 1, aged sixty-one years. 
Their children were: Samuel, born August 17, 
1669: , DeceiTiber 12, 1671 : Nathaniel, Feb- 
ruary 10, 1672 : Sarah. November S, 1675 ; Azariah. 
February 2, 1681 ; Ebenezer. see forward ; .Ann, 
December 17. 1683: Joseph, August 3. 1686: Han- 
nah. .April 4. 1680. 

(XVTI) Ebenezer Dickinson, si.xth child of 
Samuel Dickinson (16). was born in Hatfield. Feb- 
ruary 2. 1681. He settled there. He married. June 
27. 1706. Hannah Frary. He died March 16, 1730. . 
Their children were : Editha. born August 23, 1707 : 
Elizabeth. .August 2. 1700: Nathan, see forward: 
Hannah. February 17. 1715: Reuben. Augu.st 2, 
1 71 7: Samuel (twin). October 14, 1718: Mary 
(twin). October 14, 1718. died unmarried. 1754; 
Ebenezer. January 5. 1724. 

(XVIli) Nathan Dickinson, third cliild of 
Ebenezer Dickinson (17). was born in Hatfield. 
May 3. 1712. He removed from Hatfield to Am- 
herst. Massachusetts, an adjoining town, in 1742. 
and died there .August 7. 1796. aged eighty-four. 
He married (first) Thankful Warner: (second) 
Jnanner Leonard, of Springfield; (third) Judith 
Hosmer. His children were: Nathan, see for- 
ward: Ebenezer. January 3. 1741; Irene. July 13, 
1743. died March 28. 1834. aged ninety: Enos, 
March 28. 1746: Azariah. March 6. 1752: Elihu, 
October 14. 1753: Shelah. September 20, 1755. 
soldier in revolution, died .April 30, 1777 ; Thankful, 



March 15, 1758; Lois, baptized August 5, 1759- 
.Vsa, baptized May 10, 1761 ; Levi; Joanna, baptized 
■April 6, 1766. The following children were by the 
seccmd wife: Stephen, baptized July 6, 1770; Judith 
married Daniel Heath. 

<XIX) Nathan Dickinson, eldest child of Nathan 
Dickinson (18), was born in Hatfield, Massachu- 
setts October 19. 1835. He was a soldier in the 
revolution. He served in Lieutenant Noah Dickin- 
son s company in 1775 a'l'l in Captain Reuben Dick- 
inson's company in 1777-78. He resided in Am- 
herst'. -Massachusetts, wdicre he died at the age of 
ninety, August 3, 1825. He married (first), Janu- 
ary 15, 1761. Esther Fowler, who died March 15, 
1803, aged sixty-three. He married (second), March 
19. 1804. Jerusha Klodgett. widow, who died October 
17. 1818. Cliildren of Nathan and Esther (Fowler) 
Dickinson, all born in Amherst, were: Timothy, 
born 1761; Perez, March 26, 1763; Ezekicl, May 25! 
1765: Esther. .May 3. 1767; Esther, December 14, 
1768: Irene, December 30, 1770; Samuel Fowler, see 
forward: .Anna. .April 15, 1780. 

(XX) Samuel Fowler Dickinson, seventh son of 
Nathan Dickinson (19), w-as born in .Amherst, 
Massachusetts, October 9, 1775. He received his 
early education in that town . He fitted him- 
self for college and entered Dartmouth, from 
which he was graduated in 1795. Upon com- 
pleting his college course he returned to his 
father's home in Amherst and entered the law 
office of Judge Simeon Strong, where he studied 
until he was admitted to the bar. He became 
one of the ablest lawyers in western Massachusetts. 
He was a natural leader of men and quite naturally 
became prominent in politics. He served his district 
in the general court in the house and senate for 
twelve years. He was town clerk of .Amherst for 
many years. His public career was brilliant and he 
became well known throughout the state. He was 
an influential Whig leader. Perhaps his greatest 
public service was the part he took as founder of 
.Amherst Academy and .Amherst College. For the 
college he sacrificed his property, his time and his 
professional opportunities, and he was held in the 
highest regard by the friends and alumni of that 
institution and his memory is cherished there for 
his generous and distinguished service to the col- 
lege. He was for many years the college treasurer. 
He was prominent in the church as well as the state. 
At the age of twenty-one he was elected deacon of 
the Congregational church, to which he belonged, 
and he was a church oflicer all his active life. In 
1833 he removed from his old home in .Am- 
herst to Cumberland, Ohio, where he maintained his 
prominence as a citizen. He practiced law- there, but 
became interested in Lane Seminary and acted as 
its steward. Later he filled the office of steward for 
the Western Reserve University. He exercised his 
benevolence here repeatedly in helping deserving boys 
through college. His memory is cherished at West- 
ern Reserve L^niversity with the same afltcctionate 
regard and honor as at .Amherst. He helped both 
institutions in the trying days of their early life. 
He died at Hudson, Ohio. .April 23, 1S38. 

He married. March 21. 1802. Lucretia Gunn, born 
October 3, 1775, of Montague. Massachusetts. Their 
children were: 1. Edward, born January i. 1803, 
.graduate of Yale College, 1823 ; married. May 6, 
1828. Emily Norcross, daughter of Joel Norcross, 
of Monson. Massachusetts ; he was representative 
and senator in the general court of Massachusetts, 
member of the governor's council, congressman ; he 
died in Boston. 2. William, see forward. 3. Lu- 
cretia. born December 16. 1806, married Rev. .Asa 
Bullard. of Cambridge, Massachusetts, where she 



no 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



died. 4. Mary, bom February lo. 1809, died in New 
York city March .31, 1852: married Mark H. New- 
man, of New York. 5. Samuel Fowler, Jr., born 
August 16, 181 1, died in Richmond, Virginia; his 
home was at Macon, Georgia ; he married in the 
south. 6. Catherine, born February 17, 1814, died in 
New York city ; married Artematus Sweetser, son 
of Joseph Sweetser, of New York. 7. Timothy, born 
March 11, 1816, died in Grififin, Georgia: married 
January 10, 1838, Hannah Dickinson, daughter of 
Ezekiel Dickinson. 8. Frederick, born August 13, 
181S (or August 31, 1819, Hadley Hi.story), gradu- 
.Jte of Amherst College, 1837; died in Billerica, 
Massachusetts ; married, February 17, 1846, Mary 
Richardson, of Billerica, leaving three sons. 9. 
Elizabeth, born .May 29, 1823, died in Worcester; 
married Augustus N. Currier, and had three chil- 
dren. 

(XXI) William Dickinson, second child of Sam- 
uel Fowler Dickinson (20), was born in Amherst, 
Massachusetts, September 7, 1804. He attended the 
Amherst district schools and Amherst Academy until 
fifteen years of age. His education was shaped to 
fit him for a business career. He went to work iirst 
as a clerk in a dry goods store in Boston, where he 
remained several years and learned the essentials of 
business. He came to Worcester and worked in 
the grocery store of Mr. Butman in the old Brinley 
block on the corner of Main and Elm streets. After 
some time in this business he started in business 
for himself in the manufacture of paper at Hard- 
wick, Massachusetts. After a few years he sold out 
his mill and returned to Worcester, in 1836, and was 
elected cashier of the Central National Bank, then 
the Central Bank, and since 1903 part of the Worces- 
ter Trust Company. He filled the position of cashier 
with signal ability, and after fourteen years in that 
office resigned to become the treasurer of the State 
Mutual Life Assurance Company. He was well 
fitted for the great trust and responsibility of this 
position. It proved congenial to him and he re- 
mained in it for nearly forty years. He held a promi- 
nent position in the financial life of Worcester for 
many years. He was treasurer also of the Merchants' 
and Fanners' Insurance Company for about forty 
years. He was a director in the Quinsigamond 
Bank, later the Quinsigamond National Bank, 
merged in 1905 with the Worcester Trust Company. 
He was also director in the Providence & Worcester 
Railroad, now leased by the New York, New Ha- 
ven & Hartford Railroad Company. 

In 1863 Mr. Dickinson began the manufacture of 
paper making machinery, with others, and was inter- 
ested in this business for eight years. He subse- 
quently manufactured felt, a business in which his 
son. Samuel F. Dickinson, was interested with him. 
The factory was in a large block which he built on 
Foster street. 

Mr. Dickinson was a man of unusual business 
ability. He took advantage of his opportunities and 
made a large fortune for his day. He invested 
largely in real estate. He was the owner of the 
Dickinson Block and many other valuable parcels 
of real estate in the city and county. Fie was always 
interested in public affairs, especially in municipal 
matters. He was originally a member of the Whig 
party, but like a large majority of that party turned 
to the Republican party when the Whig party was 
dissolved. He was never a strong partisan, however. 
He served the city for several years in the common 
council and in the board of aldermen. He was nomi- 
nated for mayor against Charles B. Pratt, the Demo- 
cratic nominee, but failed of election. He was a 
member of the school board for three years. He 
was the donor of the bell on the Walnut street high 



school and also of the fountains in front of the 
school buildings. He was a director of the Free 
Public Library and member of the Worcester So- 
ciety of Antiquity. Although not a college graduate 
he was always, like his father, a liberal supporter 
of colleges and institutions of learning and pro- 
foundly interested in the public schools and educa- 
tional matters. He was appointed by Governor 
Benjamin I\ Butler, of whom Mr. Dickinson was a 
warm admirer, on the board of trustees of the State 
Lunatic Hospital at Worcester. He was an altend- 
ant at LInion Congregational Church. 

Mr. Dickinson married (first) October 31, 1831, 
at Andover, Massachusetts, Eliza Hawley, of And- 
over, Mas.sachusetts. He married (second) October 
26, 1852, Mary Louisa Whittier, of Andover, daugh- 
ter of Noah and Hannah (Hawley) Whittier, of 
-Andover. Mr. Whittier was a department superin- 
tendent of railroad bridges and road bed. He was 
captain of the Andover militia company. The only 
child of William and Eliza (Hawley) Dickinson 
was William Hawley, born in Hardwick, October 
22, 1832, deceased; married Ellen Bike, of New 
York city. Children of William and Mary Lnui.va 
(Whittier) Dickinson were: Helen Whittier, born 
in Worcester, March 5, 1855, married Thomas L. 
Shields, of Sewickley, Pennsylvania: they have two 
children : William Dickinson, a student in Cornell 
University, and Mary Whittier ; Samuel Fowler, 
born in Worcester, March 14, 1857, married Nellie 
Goodnow, of Worcester ; George Stuart, born in 
Worcester, October 22, 1863, married Mabel Mar- 
shall, daughter of Frank Marshall, of Worcester; he 
is a graduate of Yale University. 

GILBERT JONES RUGG, for many years 
prominently identified with the manufacturing inter- 
ests of the city of Worcester, and who has served 
the community usefully in various responsible posi- 
tions of a public nature, is a descendant of one of 
the first settlers of Lancaster, Massachusetts. The 
immigrant ancestor and founder of his family in 
America was John Rugg, who came from Somerby, 
England, landing March II, 1632. His wife was the 
ill-fated Hannah Prescott, who was cruelly killed 
by the Indians, September 11, 1696. She was a 
daughter of John Prescott, the first settler at Lan- 
caster, Massachusetts. To John and Hannah ( Pres- 
cott ) Rugg were born eleven children, all of whom 
settled in Lancaster and became the ancestors of 
various branches of the Prescott family, now widely 
dispersed throughout the United States. John Rugg 
died in Lancaster, November 24, 1655. Descended 
from him was Abel Rugg, who died February 14, 
1843, aged ninety-two years, and whose wi-fe, Cath- 
erine Frost, died November 2, 1843, the same year 
with her husband, at the age of eighty-six years. 
They were the parents of Abel Warner Rugg, born 
March 17, 1797. He married Hannah Jones, and 
they were the parents of eight children. 

Gilbert Jones Rugg, son of Abel Warner and 
Hannjb (Jones) Rugg, was born in Lancaster, 
Massachusetts, iNIarch 27, 1836. He was reared upon 
the parental farm, and was early habituated to in- 
dustry, frugality and perseverance — traits which 
were the strongest characteristics of the sturdy 
people of that day. He received a practical educa- 
tion in the neighborhood schools, common and pri- 
vate, his school studies concluding with his seven- 
teenth year, when he went to Worcester to pro- 
cure employment and learn a trade, purposes which 
he pursued with all the ardor of youth and the wise 
judgment of mature years, not only laboring indus- 
triously to master his chosen calling, but at the same 
time improving his mind through carefully chosen 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



III 



looks and intercourse witli persons of broad 
knowledge and wide experience. At the early age of 
seventeen he became an apprentice in the niacliine 
shops of Willard Williams & Co., with wliom he 
remained after the expiration of his term of service, 
eight years in all, and only leaving his employers to 
accept the foremanship of the Ball & Williams man- 
ufactory of planers and other wood-working ma- 
chinery, a position for which he was eminently 
qualified. With well established reputation for skill 
as a mechanic and business qualifications of a high 
order, in i86a. he entered into partnership with Luke 
B. Witherby and Seneca Merrill Richardson for the 
manufacture of wood-working machinery, and cre- 
.ated an establishment which for a third of a cen- 
tury has been one of the conspicuous industrial insti- 
tutions of the city of Worcester. For thirty years 
the business was conducted under the firm name of 
Witherby, Rugg & Richardson. After the death of 
his partners Mr. Rugg procured (in 1901) the in- 
corporation of the business under the title of the 
Witherby, Rugg & Richardson Company, thus per- 
petuating the names of those with whom he had 
been most pleasantly associated during a long and 
peculiarly useful period. Mr. Rugg became president 
of the corporation, and continued to act in that 
capacity until March i, 1903, when he made a sale 
of his stock to the Hobbs Manufacturing Company. 

While giving close attention to the affairs of the 
■company before referred to — w'atching with pains- 
taking care the practical operations of the works as 
well as the office affairs, and keeping constantly in 
touch with the manufacturing world with constantly 
developing business as a result — ^Ir. Rugg at the 
same time gave careful and intelligent interests to 
many concerns of a public nature, and contributive 
to the advantage of the community at large. .'Vs 
vice-president of the Worcester Five Cents Savings 
Bank and a member of its investing committee he 
rendered service of a peculiarly useful nature. In 
1871 he was elected a member of the Worcester 
board of aldermen, for a term of two years; 
was made a member of the common council of 
1875-76; and again was elected to the board of 
aldermen in 1885. In the latter period he rendered 
exceptionally meritorious service on the city high- 
way committee, and in all his official conduct ac- 
quitted himself most usefully and with conscientious 
devotion to the trusts committed to him. At the 
election in November, 1904, he was elected a repre- 
sentative to the general court, and in that body 
served efficiently upon the street railway committee. 
Aside from official relations he has always borne 
a full share in ail movements contributing to the 
interests of the city, whether in material, moral or 
educational lines. He is affiliated With various 
Masonic bodies — Morning Star Lodge, A. F. and 
A. M.; Eureka Qiapter, R. A. M. ; Hiram Council. 
R. and S. M. ; and Worcester Commanderv. K. T. 

Mr. Rugg married Miss Susan M. Earle, who 
•died in 1896. He married (second) Celia A. Will- 
iams, widow of Beman A. Lovell. of Worcester. 
His children were by his first marriage; i. Florence 
E. Rugg, born April 24, 1865. married Robert A. 
Mason, of Worcester. 2. Clara Emily Rugg, born 
August 10, 1871, died in 1896; married Charles A. 
Rogers, and they had one child, Hazel R. 3. 
Alice Gertrude Rugg, born November 24. 1873, mar- 
ried Irvin W. Howard, of a prominent Worcester 
family. ]\Ir. Rugg resides at 809 Main street. Wor- 
cester, where has been his home since 1871, when 
he first occupied it. 

ELISHA DEWEY BUFFIXGTOX. Thomas 
Buffington (i), said to be from Scotland, came to 



America soon after 1650 probably, and settled at 
Salem, where he married Sarah Southwick, Decem- 
ber 30, 1671. As he married the daughter of a 
Quaker and the granddaughter of one, it is likely 
that he led a very quiet life at Salem on his farm. 
He was not in public life or in military companies, 
and seems to have escaped persecution and publicity 
as well. His wife, Sarah Southwick, was daugh- 
ter of John and Sarah Southwick. Her mother 
was the widow of Samuel Tidd. The father of John 
Southwick was Lawrence Southwick, of Salem. 
Lawrence Southwick was a glassman, proprietor of 
Salem. He was admitted a freeman September 6. 
1639. His wife Cassandra was received in the 
church at Salem 1639, an(' Elizabeth Southwick 
September I, 1650. They were Quakers, His will, 
dated August 10, 1659, at the house of Nathaniel 
Sylvester, at Shelter Island, proved in Essex court, 
November 29, 1660, mentions sons Daniel Southwick 
and John Burnell ; daughters. Provided Southwick 
and Mary, wife of Henry Traske ; Deborah and 
Josiah Southwick; Ann Potter ; Henry Traske's chil- 
dren — Mary, Sarah and Hannah ; Samuel (born 
February 19, 1S58), and Sarah, children of John 
Southwick, son deceased probably before 1659. 

Besides Thomas Buffington there was a John 
Buffington in Salem about the same time that 
Thomas first appears in the records. There seems 
to be no record of any descendants, nor of his re- 
lationship to Thomas. The name is more commonly 
spelled by the descendants of Thomas Buffington 
without the "g," but Mr. Buffington of Worcester 
preferred this spelling. The name was found some- 
times in the records spelled Bovington. The Com- 
moners' Record recently published showed Thomas 
Buffington, Sr., a landowner 1702 and as late as 
1723. when, if living he must have been seventy-five 
and perhaps older. Savage gives three children, but 
it is probable that the third is a child of his son's. 
(See Abigail, born July 25, 1695, under Thomas 
Buffington (2). Thomas and Benjamin arc un- 
questionably his sons. Joseph Buffington, whose 
son Joseph married at Swansea in 1734, was prob- 
ably another son. Children of Thomas and Sarah 
(Southwick) Buftlngton: i. Thomas, born in Salem 
March i, 1672; married Hannah Ross there, and had 
a family in Salem, is probably the ancestor of the 
Salem branch of the family, many of whom were 
interested in the shipping business in Salem. His 
children were: Abigail, born in Salem July 25. 
1695 (Savage makes her daughter of Thomas. Sr.): 
Hannah, born in Salem May 11, 1701, married 
Eleazer Pope, who died August 2. 1734, leaving son 
Stephen and others: James (?). perhaps father of 
Captain Zadock Buffington, prominent in Salem 
many years, incorporator of Acqueduct, 1798; Mary 
(?), baptized an adult in Salem, March 31, 1728. 
2. Benjamin, see forward. 3. Joseph (?), had son 
Joseph who married at Swansea, .\bigail. son of 
Samuel and Martha Shearman, December 11, 1734. 
James Buffington, who with his wife Elizabeth 
joined the Congregational church at Saltm. was 
probably the Jame.s" son of Thomas Buffington (2) 
mentioned above. Ilis children: Betty, Mary. Han- 
nah and James, all baptized when their parents 
were bv Rev. Benjamin Prescott, at the church 
now of' South Danvers, July 27, 1740. They prob- 
ablv had been Quakers until then. 

(11) Benjamin Buffington. son of Thomas Buf- 
fington (i), born July 24. 1675, at Salem: married 

Hannah -. they were Quakers, and the 

records indicate that he removed soon after mar- 
riage about 1700 to Swansea, where the Quakers and 
Tiaptists persecuted elsewhere lived peaceably side 
by side. The family tradition states that some fifty 



112 



WORCESTER COL-\ TV 



families from Salem went to Swansea and liought 
titles to their lands from the Indians, as was their 
custom, in addition to getting the grant from the 
government. Benjamin Butfington had a deed, 
which is now in possession of the family, and shows 

he bought three hundred acres of land of 

Marcy, who was the only one of the settlers not a 
Quaker. The homestead has been in the possession 
(if the Huffinglon family about two hundred years. 
"The Buffingtons have all been Quakers down to 
E. D. Buffington of Worcester," writes a member 
of the family, "and he was a thorough Quaker in 
principle, although a few years before his death he 
joined the Unitarian church, to which his wife 
belonged." The family records indicate that Ben- 
jamin Buffington, the settler at Swansea, had seven 
children. From the records of Salem, Savage's Dic- 
tionary, and the more recently published Vital 
Records of Rhode Island, in which the records of 
the Friends' church at Swansea are given, partial 
records of six have been discovered. The records 
of William Buffington, the son from whom Elisha 
D. Buffington is descended, are preserved in his old 
homestead at Swansea, and have been copied for use 
here. Children of Benjamin and Hannah: i. Ben- 
jamin, born Salem. May 9, 1699, probably died 
young (Savage mentions two others not named, 
presumably born in Salem. 2. Benjamin, born April 
9, 1701, died June 9, 1760, at Swansea, Massachu- 
setts, married Isabel, daughter of Joseph and Sarah 
Chase (given in another Rhode Island record as 
daughter of Eben and Mary Chase) ; she was born 
July 6, 1705, at Swansea, and died June 6, 1791 ; 
both buried in the Friends' yard at Swansea; their 
children: Benjamin, Moses, Stephen, Elizabeth, 
Hannah. 3. William, see forward. 4. Esther, born 
in Swansea probably, married Stephen Chase (or 
Chace), son of Joseph and Sarah, November II, 
1728. 5. Hannah, married Silas Chase, December 
20, 1733. 6. Jonathan, married Sarah, daughter of 
James and Martha Luther, April 12, 1735. 

(III) William Buffington, son of Benjamin Buf- 
fington (2), born probably in Swansea, Massachu- 
setts, possibly Salem, fifth day of week, October 9, 
1703; married Susanna, daughter of Samuel and 
Sarah Chase, all of Swansea, July 25, 1726. Susanna 
was born fifth day of week, April 7, 1704. They had 
nine children born at Swansea : i. William, born 
December 20, 1726, third day of week ; married 
Phebe, daughter of James and ^lartha Luther, Feb- 
ruary 5. 1746-7. 2. Elizabeth, born February 9, 1729, 
first day of week, married Ezekiel Chase. 3. 
Susanna, born June 9, 1731, fourth day of week, 
married William Luther, June 16, 1748. 4. Sarah, 
born May I, 1735, fifth day. 5. Phebe, born May 
29, 1739, first day. 6. Samuel, see forward. 7. 
Hannah, born March 5, 1741, seventh day. 8. 
Martha, born September 22, 1744, first day of 
week. 9. Benjamin, born September 7, 1747, second 

day of week; married Hannah ; had son 

William, married Mary Lawton, March 11, 1770. 

(IV) Samuel Buffington, son of William Buf- 
fington (3), born Swansea, Massachusetts, July 26, 

1740; married ■ ■ — , born March 13. 

1739, died February 2, 1809. They settled on the 
homestead at Swansea. Their children: i. Elisha, 
see forward. 2. Samuel, born about November, 
1770; died February 16, 1816, aged forty-five years, 
four months. 3. Susanna, born October 23, 1773, 
died July 30, 1827, aged fifty-three years, nine months 
and seven days. 4. Elizabeth, born 1775, died April 
7, 1807. 

(V) Elisha Buffington, son of Samuel Buffing- 
ton (4), born Swansea, June 8, 1767, died April 17, 
1858, aged ninety years, ten months and eleven days ; 



married Sara Chase, born July 19, 1762, daughter of 
John Chase, who died March 2y, 1786, aged sixty- 
five years, three months, and whose wife died May 
19, 1805, aged seventy-eight years, three months. Sara 
died December 13, 1841, aged seventy-nuie years, 
five months. Peace Chase, her sister, died Novem- 
ber 27, 1788, aged thirty-nine years, six months. 
Jonathan Chase, her brother, died July 25, 1824, 
about seventy-eight years old. Martha, her sister, 
died March 15, 1826, aged seventy-two years, twelve 
days. Children of Elisha and Sara (Chase) Buf- 
fington: I. Susanna, born March 13, 1794, died 
April 8, 1818. 2. Martha, born October 27, 1795, 
married Peleg Gardner ; she died April 19, 1842. 
3. John, born April 16, 1798, died June 28, 1816, in 
Havana, Cuba. 4. Frances, born December 10, 1800. 
5. Phebe, born January 7, 1803. 6. Samuel, see for- 
ward. 

(VI) Samuel Buffington, son of Elisha Buf- 
fington (s), was born in Swansea, Massachusetts, on 
the old homestead there October 3, 1806. He was a 
man of influence and a Quaker. He carried on the 
farm. He married Eliza Ann Mason, born June 7, 
1810, died 1881. He died October 26, 1871. Their 
children were: John H., born August 13, 1829; 
Sarah E., born February 3, 1834, died July 30, 1835; 
Elisha Dewey, born in Swansea, November 4, 1836; 
Samuel L., born October 7, 1839, lives on the old 
homestead, married Augusta Wood, and their chil- 
dren arc : Mabel, Raymond W., Julia S. Durand, 
Elisha L., Elizabeth, Paul, Carl, all living on the old 
homestead ; Frank Benton, born January g, 1842, 
died April 14, 1855. 

(VII) Elisha Dewey Buffington, son of Samuel 
(6), was born in Swansea, Massachusetts, Novem- 
ber 4, 1836. He was brought up on the old Buf- 
fington homestead which has been in the family 
from the time of King Philip, of whom it was bought. 

Elisha Bulfington when a boy attended school at 
Warren, Rhode Island, in the winter, and worked 
on his father's farm in the summer. At the age of 
eighteen, in 1854, he went to California, by way of 
the Isthmus. He stayed in California, but a short 
time, and then returned by way of Lake Nicaragua. 
For a short time he taught school in Lansing, Michi- 
gan. Afterward he walked from Michigan to 
Pike's Peak and back. Although the party had a 
wagon and perhaps some horses, there were always 
too many sick to admit of the well ones riding. He 
returned to I\Iassachusetts and entered a druggist's 
shop in Fall River, where he learned the business, 
which he found congenial, and in which he was to 
achieve success. He started for himself in Wor- 
cester in 1862, buying the drug store of William H. 
Goulding, where Buffington's store is at present. 
Very soon after he started, he added the manu- 
facture of homoeopathic remedies, and later the 
wholesale department, which soon became the most 
important part of the business. When the Day build- 
ing was burned the store was located in the Flagg 
building, the next block, but was refnoved to the 
new Day building as soon as it was completed. Soon 
afterward the business was incorporated as the Buf- 
fington Pharmacy Company, by whom it has been 
carried on since his death. The original officers of 
the company were Mr. Buffington and some of his 
clerks in the store. 

Mr. Buffington was always an enthusiastic sports- 
man and traveler. In 1893 he was appointed a mem- 
ber of the Massachusetts State Fish and Game Com- 
mission, and was very active in propagating and 
preserving fish and game, not only in Worcester 
county but throughout the state. He was a member 
of the Oquosic Angling Club, composed of enthu- 
siastic and regular anglers in the Rangeley Lakes. 



^1 



WORCESTER COUXTV 



II 



e was practically the fonniler of the hatchery of 
e Fish Commission at W'llkinsville, and had an 
rnest desire to have Lake Quinsigamond properly 
Dcked with fish. He was serving his third term 
I the Fish and Game Commission at the time 

his death. He had a taste for travel and means 

gratify it, made many trips abroad, and bronght 
ime many artistic and interesting souvenirs of his 
avels. Flis house is I'llled with treasures that he 
Uected when abroad. He was a liberal contributor 
the Wtircester Art Museum Corporation, of 
hich he was a member: and was a member of the 
jciety of Antiquity, the Home JIarket Club of 
jston, the Tatnuck Country Club, the Worcester 
ub, and the Commonwealth Club. He was a 
rector of the Worcester Safe Deposit and Trust 
onipany. He attended the First Unitarian Church. 
1 politics he was a stanch Republican. Mis grand- 
ther on his mother's side was Squire Mason, who 
as a member of Governor Lincoln's staff when it 
ntained but three members. Mr. Buffinglon died 
ovember 19, 1900, after a short illness at his home, 
I Chestnut street. He married, November 4, 1867, 
larlotte Katon Walker, daughter of Benjamin and 
:iarlotte (Eaton) Walker. Her father was born in 
reenfield, Massachusetts, but lived most of his life 

Worcester. Her mother belonged to the Eaton 
mily, one of the best of the old Worcester fam- 
es ; her grandfather was Nathaniel Eaton. Mr. 
uffington had no children. 

There could be no better and more appreciative 
ibute to the character of Mr. Buffington than that 
nt to the editor of the Worcester Spy by Colonel 
. B. Stoddard, one of his dearest friends, who 
IS himself passed away since then. It was pub- 
;hed November 20, 1900, as follows : 

■'He belonged distinctly to that class of men, 
ho, without early advantages of education, have 
f their own native intelligence and energy made 
leir way to recognized positions of prominence and 
fluence in the community. Mr. Buffington began 

the bottom of the ladder, so far as worldly ad- 
intages are concerned, but was not destined to stay 
lere. He was gifted with rare common sense and 
jick insight, and easily took in the essential con- 
itions of any situation. Success was no accident 
ith him. He saw the path to it, and followed it 
ith the necessary self-denial and persistence to 
:coraplish his object. Whether in the accumula- 
on of property or the keeping of it by judicious 
ivestment, his judgment was always of the sound- 
it. But though he thus acquired a large compe- 
:nce, he was by no means a mere money getter. 
!e knew not only how to get it, but how to spend 
. He always looked upon money as a means, not 
> an end. He had a large range of interests, and 
as constantly engaged in making investigations into 
lany subjects. His knowledge of nature, of plants 
id animals especially, was wide and accurate. Per- 
ips no man in this community had a better com- 
land of everything relating to game, not only 
le haunts and habits, but the game laws and usages 
id the best method of propagation and protection. 
!e had also a genuine interest in art, not merely 
I American and European art and artists, but 
irious forms of art in the East, where he traveled 
ctensively and observed intelligently. His large 
jllection contains not only pictures of unusual 
lerit and high value, but also tapestries, ceramics 
id other objects of rare excellence. His taste in 
lis direction was fully shared and greatly assisted 
f his accomplished wife. Even in his recreations, 
i whist and chess, he was not content with any 
iperficial practice of the game, but always wanted 
) go to the bottom of it and find its underlying 
8 



mathematical principles. Above all, Mr. Buffington 
was a steadfast friend and genial companion, and 
it is his cheerful, loyal and affectionate disposition 
that will be longest remembered by those who knew 

him best." 

THEODORE P. BROWN. James Brown (i) 
was the emigrant ancestor of Theodore P. Brown, 
of Worcester, Massachusetts, the manufacturer of 
the Simplex Piano Player. He was born in Scot- 
land about 1720-30. There is a tradition in the 
family that he was wealthy, having with him a chest 
of gold. Owing to a storm or shipwreck the gold 
vyas lost. Besides the gold it is said he had twenty 
fine linen shirts that were also lost on the journey 
over. He was a tailor by trade. He married Han- 
nah Dlanchard, of Dunstable, Massachusetts, and 
their descendants have been numerous in the vicinity. 
Dunstable is now Nashua, New Hampshire. The 
Blanchards were among the pioneers there. Thomas 
Blanchard, her emigrant ancestor, came to America 
from the vicinity of .Xndover, England, in the ship 
"Jonathan," in 16,39. He settled first at Braintree. 
His son George was with him. He bought of Rev. 
John Wilson, February 12, 1650-1, house and land in 
the south part of Maiden, Massachusetts. (Pope 
says he came from Pentoii, Hants, England.) He 
married first in England. His wife died there. He 
married (second) Agents (Bent) Barnes, widow, a 
sister of John Bent. She died on the passage over. 

He married (third) Mary . He died May 

21, 1654. His will is dated May 16, and was proved 
June 20, 1654. He made bequests to his wife Mary ; 
to children George, Thomas, Samuel, Nathaniel ; to 
grandson Joseph, and to the church at Maiden. He 
provided that Benjamin Thompson should be fitted 
for the University (Harvard) if his parents con- 
sent. Benjamin was son of Deacon John Blanchard. 
Benjamin does not appear in the list of Harvard 
graduates, however. His estate was administered 
by his widow, appointed June 3, 1656. 

(H) Deacon John Blanchard, son of Thomas 
Blanchard, the emigrant, was one of the pioneers 
at Dunstable. Massachusetts, now Nashua, New 
Ilamnshire. He was admitted a freeman in 1649. 
He was one of the founders of the Dunstable Church 
in 1685. Children were: Joseph; Thomas; Hannah, 
born January 6. 1659; Benjamin; James; Sarah; 
Mary ; Nathaniel. 

(III) Thomas Blanchard, son of Deacon John 
Blanchard, and grandson of Thomas Blanchard, the 
emigrant, was born about 1670 and must have been 
a young child when his father went to Dunstable. 

He married Tabitha . She died November 

29, 1696. He married (second) Ruth Adams, of 
Chelmsford. ^Massachusetts, October 4, 1698. He 
died March 9. 1727. In the possession of Mrs. 
Charles E. Wheelock, 8 Cottage street, Worcester, 
is a deed from Thomas to his son Thomas, dated 
1721, of land in Dunstable. Children of Thomas 
and Tabitha Blanchard were : Abigail, born May 5. 
1694; John. May 20, l6g6. Children of Thomas and 
Ruth (Adams) Blanchard were: Thomas (sec for- 
ward) ; William, born 1701 ; Ruth, April i, 1703. 

(IV) Thomas Blanchard, son of Thomas Blanch- 
ard, and grandson of Deacon John Blanchard, of 
Dunstable, was born August 12, 1699. He served 
in the Indian wars and was taken prisoner in Sep- 
tember, 1724. He was a prominent man in Dunstable, 
and held various town offices. Mrs. Wheelock has 
the original tax warrant for the year 1738, for the 
old town of Dunstable, issued to Thomas Blanchard 
as collector of taxes. It shows the results of his 
work. It contains a full list of the taxpayers of 
the town. Joseph Blanchard, son of Captain Jo- 



114 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



seph Blanchard, wlm was iinck- of Tlinmas P.lanch- 
ard, heads ihc list. 

llaniiali Blanchard, l)orn about 1740, daughter of 
Tliomas, married James Brown, the emigrant. He 
died in 1778. A copy of liis will, dated October 10. 
1778, i,s owned by Mrs. Wheelock. It is a certified 
copy made soon after the will was proved in the 
Nashua court. It should be noted that James Brown, 
of Dunstable, was a lieutenant in the battle of 
Bunker Hill, according to the history of Dunstable, 
and no other James Brown of the right age and de- 
scription is to be found. 

The children of James and Hannah (Blanchard) 
Brown were ; John ; James, settled in Waterford, 
Ohio, (Mrs. Wheelock has a letter written by him 
in which he mentions the death of his first wife in 
I7g8 and his second marriage); Phebc; Hannah; 
Isaac; Daniel: Samuel; Aaron, (see forward). The 
will indicates that all but Samuel and Aaron were 
of age, as it specifies that the others receive their 
bequests, and the two youngest receive theirs when 
they become of age. 

(H) Aaron Brown, son of James Brown (i), 
was born in Dunstable or Nashua, New Hampshire, 
November 17, 1773. He was a soldier in the war 
of 1812. He married, September 5, 1797, Hannah 
Proctor, daughter of Reuben Proctor, of Merrimac. 
New Hampshire. She was born July 13, 1778. He 
lived in Nashua and died April 24, 1844. in Canton, 
Maine, where he removed about 1815. He was a 
charter member of the Livermore Falls, Maine, 
Lodge of Free Masons and was a prominent man in 
the order. The children of Aaron and Hannah 
(Proctor) Brown were: James (see forward); 
Nancy, born at Dunstable, December 28, 1799. mar- 
ried Rev. Bartlett; Larned Small, born in 

Dunstable, March 18, 1801; John, (see forward); 
Reuben Proctor, born in Wilton, Maine, January 28, 
180S ; Jefferson, born in Wilton, Maine, September 
22, 1806; Arthur, born in Wilton, Maine, October 15, 
1807 ; Rebecca Proctor, born in Wilton, February 5, 
1810: Abigail Bigelow, born at Jay, Maine, March 
29, 1812; Susannah Carpenter, born in Jay, Maine. 
July 16, 1815; Hiram, born February 9, 1817, at Jay. 
now Canton, Maine ; Orin, born October 20, 1818. 
at Jay, now Canton, died in Texas ; Belinda Bartlett, 
born in Canton, Maine, July i, 1821. 

(Ill) James Brown, son of Aaron Brown (2), 
born in Dunstable, Massachusetts, or Nashua. New 
Hampshire, August 5, 1798; died April 8, 1881, at 
Grafton, Maine. Married (first) Mary Thompson. 
July 4, 1824. She died April 19, 1833; married 
(second) Ruth Stewart, October 28. 1838; she died 
February 4, 1901. The children of James and Mary 
(Thompson) Brown were: James Monroe, (see 
forward) ; Arthur, born September 24. 1827. died 
October 15, 1857; Ira Bisbee, born April 5, 1829, 
died March 12. 1831 : Ira Bisbee. born June 10. 1831, 
died July 19, 1831 : -William Thompson, born January 
16, 1833, married Esther H. Swan, June 10, 1859; he 
died April 28, 1861. The children of James and 
Ruth (Swan) Brown were: Mary, (see forward) : 
George Miller, born August 16, 1844. married Ella 
M. Briggs, March, 1864; Euthalius Irving, born 
November 14. 1848. married Freda W. Small. 

(Ill) John Brown, son of Aaron Brown (2). 
born in Wilton. Maine, December 29. 1802 ; he mar- 
ried Huldah Gardner. When he was a young boy 
the family removed to Livertiiore, Maine. He was a 
house carpenter and farmer. His children were : 
John Quincy, married Lucia Littlefield, resides at 
Portland ; Joanna Allen, married Seth L. Davis, a 
farmer at Errol, New Hampshire; Hannibal Gard- 
ner, married Mary Parlin, resides at West Parish. 
Maine; Aaron, (see forward); Bartlett Jackson, 



married ; resides in Hyde Park, Massachusetts ; has 
been in the same house for thirty-five years ; Maria 
Eunice, dressmaker, Tremont street, Boston ; Orin 
Hutchinson, born 1838; married; was a soldier in 
the civil war, prisoner in Libby for months, and 
came home and died at his brother Hannibal's, at 
Patten, Maine ; was in a cavalry regiment. 

(IV) Aaron Brown, son of John Brown (3). 
born in Livermore, Maine, July 29, 1832; died m 
Lawrence, Massachusetts, 1903. He married Ella 
M. Ratcliffe, born March 26, 1829. He was a cab- 
inet maker by trade. He became an architect and 
followed his profession in Boston and various towns 
in i\Iaine ancl New Hampshire. He was a man of 
great mechanical skill and his son Theodore evi- 
dently inherits some of his inventive genius from his 
father. The children of Aaron and Ellen M. (Rat- 
cliffe) Brown were : Arabella, died in infancy ; 
Wendell Phillips; Theodore Parker, born at Maiden, 
Massachusetts, October 2, i860. 

(IV) James jNlonroe Brown, son of James 
Brown (3), born November 15, 1825; died Septem- 
ber II, 1895; married Eunice E. Frost, November 
15, 1849. They were the parents of Mrs. Charles 
E. Wheelock, of Worcester, Massachusetts. 

(IV) Mary T. Brown, daughter of Jamis 
Brown (3), born August 22, 1839; married George 
H. Otis, October 10, 1863. Their children are : 
Frances Lillian, married Fred Decker, of Burling- 
ton, New Hampshire; Arthur Monroe; Jennie M, 
married Harvey C. Philbrook, of Bethel, Maine ; 
Will Howe. 

(V) Theodore Parker Brown, son of Aaron 
Brown (4), was born in Maiden, Massachusetts. 
October 2, i860. When he was two years old the 
family moved to Sterling, Massachusetts. When he 
was five years old the family moved again to Lis- 
bon, New Hampshire, where he attended the public 
schools. He came to Worcester with his parents at 
the age of thirteen. He began work in the shoe 
factory of Hon. Joseph H. Walker, and remained 
with him for nine years. He is known by the gen- 
eral public, and all over the world among dealers in 
musical instruments, as the inventor and manufac- 
turer of the Simplex Piano Player. He began to 
manufacture this instrument at 9 May street, Wor- 
cester, when piano players were a novelty, and 
looked upon by the people generally as toys. He 
developed and perfected the instrument until it 
ranks first among the piano players in the opinion 
of competent judges. It has won prizes at the Ex- 
positions. It has been a verv popular instrument. 
The general recognition of the value of piano play- 
ers, and the very promising future for the busuiess, 
has made the Simplex Player an article of which the 
citizens of Worcester take a peculiar pride on ac- 
count of its production here. The success of Mr. 
Brown in the business world has been very gratify- 
ing to his friends. He is especially popular in the 
Masonic bodies to which he belongs. He is a mem- 
ber of Montauck Lodge ; of Lawrence Chapter ; of 
Hiram Council and the Worcester County Com- 
mandery. Knights Templar ; the Consistory, thirty- 
second degree ; the Commonwealth Club, of which 
he is president, and to the Tatnuck Country Club. 
He is a Republican in politics and was a ineinber 
of the city council, Worcester, in 1892, and president 
of that body in 1893. 

He married. January 13, 1881, Alice J. Daniels, 
born April 26, 1863, daughter of Horace and Ann 
M. (Innian) Daniels, of Pa.xton, Massachusetts. She 
was educated in the public schools of Paxton and 
at the Friends' school. Providence, Rhode Island. 
The children of Theodore Parker and Alice J. 
(Daniels) Brown were: Barbara, born May 5. 1884, 




C7hj.j}-t/^^~^--04 S^^tt^ 



WORCESTER COUXTY 



1 1 ■ 



graduate of Worcester high school and is taking a 
four years' course at the Museum of Fine Arts in 
Boston ; Marjorie, died young ; IJorothy, died 
young. 

ELDRED FAMILY. The late Frederick Augustus 
Eldred, of Worcester, traced his descent from Je- 
hosaphat Eldred, who came from England in i",i[. 
He bought of Isaac Green land at Nortli Falmouth, 
it being the fourteenth and fifteenth lots of the allot- 
ment, and is spoken of in history as a yeoman. His 
son, Lemuel Eldred, born November 5, 1751, in Fal- 
mouth, died July 24, 1842, in the ninety-first year 
of his age. 

William Eldred, son of Lemuel Eldred, was born 
Sepember 25, 1780, in Falmouth (Quisset), and re- 
ceived his education in the schools of that town. 
He was a farmer, and it was from his farm that the 
first shipment of Cape Cod cranberries was ob- 
tained. He was also a salt manufacturer, having on 
his land salt works where he evaporated sea-water. 
During the war of 1812 he served in the militia as 
a member of Colonel Dimraick's regiment, and par- 
ticipated in the defense of Falmouth. The British 
sailed into the harbor, and under cover of night 
tried to land in their smaller boats, but were re- 
pulsed by Captain Eldred's company, who were con- 
cealed behind the sand hills along the beach. The 
British finally sailed to North Faliuouth, where 
they burned much shipping. Captain Eldred and 
others of the townspeople were joint owners of 
some of these vessels', and appealed to congress for 
reimbursement under the I-Vench spoliation act. but 
Captain Eldred, losing his claim papers, abandoned 
the case and never received his share of the in- 
demnity. In politics he was first a Whig and later 
a Republican. He was a member of the Congrega- 
tional church, in which he held various offices, and 
to the work of which he was sincerely and earnestly 
devoted. Mr. Eldred was twice married. His first 
wife was Miss Fessenden, and their children were: 
I. Cornelius, born in Falmouth, as were all the 
others. 2. Edwin, married Elizabeth Knowlton, of 
Williamstown, Massachusetts, and had several chil- 
dren, among them Lucian, recently died in Wor- 
cester. 3. Lorenzo, married. 1845, Mercy F. Grew, 
of Falinouth. 4. William Henry, lost at sea. 5. 
Frederick Augustus (see forward) ; 6. Patience, mar- 
ried William Eldred, of another branch of the family, 
and had children : Edwin, married Hannah Lovell, 
of Worcester: William Henry, married Harriet Mc- 
Farland, of Worcester, and has two children : Ar- 
thur Warren, a dentist in Worcester, and preceptor 
at the Harvard Dental College of Boston : Marion 
Frederica, wife of Charles Alincklcr. of Worcester, 
and mother of two children — Ralph Eldred and 
Glen Canon. 7. Elizabeth, married Robert Tobey, 
of Sandwich. Massachusetts. 8. Susan, wife of 
Stephen Davis, of Falmouth : their children : De- 
borah. Patience. Salome, Alom Hyde. John Williain, 
and Robert Franklin. 9. Hannah, wife of. Benjamin 
Franklin Hatch. The mother of these children died, 
and Mr. Eldred married, when seventy years of 
age. Miss Worthington. of Boston. By this mar- 
riage there were no children. When about sixty 
years old Mr. Eldred's mind became unsettled and 
did not recover its tone for ten years, after which 
his reason was undisturbed for the remainder of 
his life, his death occurring November 26, 1859, on 
the homestead where he had been Jjorn and had 
always lived. 

Frederick Augustus Eldred. son of William 
Eldred, was born in Falmouth (Quisset), and was 
educated in the common schools of his native town. 
When about eighteen years old he went to New 



Bedford, where he served an apprenticeship of three 
years to a carriage-maker. Later he entered into 
partnership with Lyman Drury, of Worcester, in 
the manufacture of refrigerators, and after carry- 
ing on the business for several years sold his in- 
terest to Mr. Drury. Not long after he purchased 
the hat store of Mr. Barker, on Main street, and 
conducted the business for a number of years. In 
1861 or '62 he associated with himself N. S. Lis- 
comb, under the firm name of Eldred & Liscomb. 
The connection remained imbroken until the close 
of Mr. Eldred's life, after which Mr. Liscomb con- 
tinued the business until a few years ago, when he 
also died. Mr. Eldred was a good citizen, but al- 
ways avoided public life. He was a Republican in 
politics, and an earnest member of the Congrega- 
tional church, twice serving as superintendent of the 
Sunday school. 

Mr. Eldred married, October 2, 1848, Mary A., 
daughter of Albert Gallitan and Mary Cunningham 
(Stott) Liscomb, of Fair Haven, Massachusetts, 
and sister of N. S. Liscomb, mentioned above. Mr. 
Liscomb, the father, was a ropemaker of Fair Ha- 
ven, and during the gold era went to California, 
taking with him his small slock of machinery. He 
there worked very successfully at his trade for three 
years, at the end of which time he returned to Fair 
Haven, Mr. and Mrs. Eldred had no children. The 
death of Mr. Eldred, which occurred in 1872, de- 
prived the community of a good man and a worthy 
citizen. 

_ HON. THEODORE C. BATES. The ancestors 
of Clement Bates, who was the first to come to 
the United States of America, are traceable for five 
(5) generations before the Pilgrims came to New 
England. 

Thomas Bates, of Lydd, parish of All Hallows, 
county of Kent, England, who died in 1485, had a 
son, John Bates, who died at Lydd, England, in 
1522, leaving a son, Andrew Bates, who died at 
Lydd. England, in 1533, leaving a son, James Bates, 
who died at Lydd, England, in 1614, whose three 
sons Clement. Edward and James embarked at Lon- 
don, Ejigland. for New England, .April 6. 1635, in 
the ship "Elizabeth," William Stagg, master. 

Edward Bates settled at Weymouth, Massachu- 
setts, James at Dorchester, Massachusetts, and 
Clement in Cohasset, Massachusetts. Clement 
Bates brought with him in 1635 — he then being forty 
years of age — his wife Aima, also aged forty, and 
his five children, as follows : James, aged fourteen ; 
Clement, aged twelve ; Rachel, aged eight ; Joseph, 
aged five; Benjamin, aged two; and two servants; 
and there was born to them in Massachusetts a son 
Samuel. March 24. 1639. On September 18. 1635, 
Clement Bates received a grant of five acres of land 
on Town street — now called South street, Cohasset, 
which land has been in the possession of the 
original grantee and his descendants for two and a 
half centuries. 

Joseph Bates, born in England, 1630, married 
in Hingham. Massachusetts, January 9, 1657. Esther 
Hilliard: was selectman in 1671 and later. He died 
April 30. 1706. She died June 3, 1709. They had 
nine children, all born in Hingham, Massachusetts: 
Joseph, September 28, 1660; Esther, August 29, 
1603; Caleb. March 30, 1666; Hannah, October 31. 
1668; Joshua, August 14, 167 1 ; Bathsheba, January 
26. 1674; Clement. September 22, 1676; Ellenor, 
August 25. 1679: Abigail, October 16, 1780. 

(Ill) Joseph Bates, son of Joseph (2), born 
September 28. 1660, married Mary, daughter of 
Samuel and Martha Lincoln. He died November 3, 
1714. She died March. 1752, aged ninety years. 



ii6 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



They had six children: Mary, Joseph, Jonathan, 
Rachel, Susanna and Hester. 

(IV) Joseph Bates, son of Joseph (3), horn in 
Hinghani, Massachusetts, March 6, 16S7, married 
Dehorah, daughter o£ Samuel and Hannah (Gill) 
Clap. He died in 1750. He was a deacon in the 
church. They had five children, all born in Hing- 
hani, Massachusetts: Joseph, May 6, 1714; Deborah, 
April 2, 1716; Samuel, March 25, 1718; Jonathan, 
March 27, 1720; Mary, April 10, 1723. 

(V) Samuel Bates, son of Joseph (4), born 
March 25, 1718, in 1737 married Mercy Beal. He 
died, aged seventy-one, in 1789. They had twelve 
children, all born in Hingham: Mordecai, June 29, 
1738; Hannah, March 11, 1740; Joseph, June 11, 
1742; Samuel, November 15, 17441 Mercy, February 
IS, 1747; Adna, November 14, 1749; Mary, 1752; 
Mary, February 15, 1755; Susanna, March 11, 1756; 
Jonathan, May 5, 1757; Mary, April 30, 1760; 
Thomas, January 12, 1763. 

(VI) Samuel Bates, son of Samuel (5), born 
November 15, 1744, married ^Martha, daughter of 
Jonathan and Priscilla (Lincoln) Beal, who died in 
1905. He died November 3, 1801, was drowned off 
Cohassett Rocks. They had nine children, all born 
at Cohassett, Massachusetts: Deborah, December 9. 
1765; Eliza, January 20, 1767; Obadiah, August 20, 
1769; Bela, May 10, 1772; Laban, April 3. '1774: 
Sarah, January 26, 1777: Newcomb, April 17, 1779; 
Samuel, January I, 1783; Sybil, February i, 1786. 

(VII) Obadiah Bates, son of Samuel (6), born 
August 20, 1769, was a private in Captain Peter 
Lothrop's company of (Cohassett) Massachusetts 
militia in the war of 1812: he married Hannah Beal, 
of Cohassett. He died October 20, 1831, aged sixty- 
two years. She died November II, 1841, aged 
seventy years. They had six children, all born ai 
Cohassett: Elijah, April 25, 1796: Martha, December 
25, 1797; Hannah Loring, August 10, 1799; Mary, 
May 5, 1802; Ann Beal, December 12, 1803; Joseph, 
April 12, 1805. 

Theodore C. Bates, youngest son of Elijah and 
Sarah Fletcher Bates, is third in descent from 
Obadiah Bates, who was a private in Captain Peter 
Lothrop's company, (Cohassett) Massachusetts 
militia, in the war of x8i2. 

He is third in descent from Ensign Ebenezer 
Beal, Jr., who was ensign of Captain Thomas 
Jones' fourth company of Hingham militia in 
Colonel Josiah Quincy's regiment, January 21, 1762. 

He is fourth from Captain Ebenezer Beal, Sr.. 
of Hingham, Massachusetts, who was captain of the 
Hingham company in Colonel Benjamin's company 
in the Third Suffolk regiment, which marched to the 
relief of Fort William, August 15, 1757. 

He is fifth from Lazarus Beal, of Hingham, 
Massachusetts, who was a representative to the 
Masaschusetts Bay Colony or general court in 1719 
and 1720. 

He is sixth in descent from Lieutenant Jeremiah 
Beal, of Hingham, Massachusetts, who was an en- 
sign of the Hingham Foot Company. May 11, 1681, 
and a lieutenant, March 30, 1683, and a representa- 
tive to the Massachusetts Bay Colony or general 
court in 1691. 1692 and 1701. 

He is seventh in descent from Lieutenant John 
Beal, of Hingham, Massachusetts, who was a dep- 
uty in the Massachusetts Bay Colony or general 
court from 1649 to 1659. 

He is sixth from Captain Thomas Andrews, who 
was captain of the Hingham company in 1690. 

He is seventh in descent from Joseph Andrews, 
who was a deputy in the Massachusetts Bay Colony 
or general court from 1636 to 1638. 

He is sixth from Samuel Clapp, son of Thomas 



Clapp, of Hingham, Massachusetts, who was a 
deputy from Scituate to Plymouth from 1680 to 
16S6, from 1690 to 1691, from 1692 to 1696, from 
1699 to 1703, 1705 to 1709 and 1714 and 1715, making 
twenty years. 

He is seventh from Thomas Clapp, who was a 
deputy to Plymouth court in 1649. 

He is eighth in descent from Edmund Hobart, 
of Hingham, Massachusetts, who was a deputy in 
the Massachusetts Bay Colony or general court in 
1639, 1640 and 1642. 

He is sixth in descent from Lieutenant James 
Lewis, of Barnstable, Massachusetts, who was lieu- 
tenant of the militia company in Barnstable 
(1678). 

He is fifth in descent from Lieutenant Benjamin 
Loring, of Hull, who was ensign of the militia in 
Hull from 1713 to 1715. He was a deacon in the 
church. He held many town offices — town treasurer 
1709, town clerk, 1717. 

He is third in descent from Major Daniel 
Fletcher, of Concord, Massachusetts, who was born 
in Concord, Massachusetts, October 18, 1718.' 

He is second in descent from Captain Jonathan 
Fletcher, who was born in Acton, Massachusetts, 
January 21, 1757. 

He is fourth in descent from Lieutenant Jonathan 
Hartwell, of Littleton, Massachusetts (1692-177S). 

He is fifth in descent from John Hartwell, of 
Concord, Massachusetts, who was a soldier in Cap- 
tain Thomas Wheeler's company at the Indian am- 
buscade and siege of Brookfield, August, 1675, ''i 
King Philip's war. 

He is sixth in descent from William Hartwell, 
of Concord, Massachusetts, who was a corporal of 
Concord company and quartermaster of Captain 
Thomas Wheeler's company, October 15, 1673. 

He is fifth in descent from Cornet Samuel 
Fletcher, of Concord, Massachusetts, who was bugler 
in Concord company, and in Captain Thomas 
Wheeler's company in 1675, and was with Captain 
Thomas Wheeler's company at the Indian attack in 
Brookfield, Massachusetts. 

He is fifth in descent from Ensign Thomas 
Wheeler, Jr., of Concord, Massachusetts, son of 
Captain Thomas Wheeler, and ensign of the Con- 
cord company, which was commanded by his father. 
Captain Thomas Wheeler, in King Philip's war at 
Brookfield, Massachusetts, in 1675. At the time of 
this battle or Indian ambuscade and siege, Captain 
Thomas Wheeler was severely wounded and his 
horse killed, whereupon Ensign Wheeler, his son, 
placed his father on his own horse, and took his 
father out of danger, and in doing so was twice 
severely wounded in the attempt to rescue his father 
from the perilous position and pursuit by the In- 
dians, during the retreat of the ambuscade, in which 
so many of Captain Thomas Wheeler's men were 
killed and wounded ; he kept close beside his father 
until he caught a horse, whose rider had been killed 
by the Indians ; he then, with Captain Thomas 
Wheeler, and the few soldiers who were escaping 
and being closely pursued by the Indians, was by the 
aid of two friendly Indians, brought back by a cir- 
cuitous route, unknown to the soldiers, to the forti- 
fied house at Brookfield, arriving there just before 
the several hundred savages came and laid siege 
to the fortified house so fiercely and destroyed and 
burnt the houses of the town. 

He is sixth in descent from Captain Thomas 
Wheeler, of Concord, Massachusetts, who was in 
command of the Colonial soldiers and the inhabi- 
tants when attacked by the Indians at Brookfield. 
when the town was destroyed and so many of its 
inhabitants killed in 1675. The narrative of Captain 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



117 



Tliomas Wheeler regarding the attack on Brook- 
field by the Indians in August, 1675, 's one of the 
most interesting of official records of the state 
archives of the hardships endured by the early set- 
tlers of Massachusetts and in King Philip's war. 
He is sixth in descent from Lieutenant Simon 
Davis, of Concord, Massachusetts, who served under 
Captain Thomas Wheeler at~ the Brookfield ambus- 
cade and siege August. 1675. in King Philip's war, 
and who, after Captain Wheeler's wounds became so 
serious, was one of those who was by Captain 
Wheeler placed in command of the soldiers at 
Brookfield in the fortified house. 

There were five ancestors of Theodore C. Bates 
with Captain Thomas Wheeler at the ambuscade by 
the Indians and the siege of the fortified house, or 
fort, at Brookfield, Massachusetts, August 5, 1675, 
namely : 

Captain Thomas Wheeler, Ensign Thomas 
Wheeler, Jr., Lieutenant Simon Davis, Cornet Sam- 
uel Fletcher, John Hartwell. 

(VIII) Elijah Bates, son of Obadiah Bates (7), 
born April 25, 1796, married Sarah Fletcher, young- 
est daughter of Jonathan and Lucretia Emerson 
Fletcher. Sarah Fletcher was born in Boston, Mas- 
sachusetts, May 3, 1799, and died in Worcester, Mas- 
sachusetts, September 28, 1890. Jonathan Fletcher, 
her father, was born in Acton, Massachusetts, Janu- 
ary 21, 1758, and died in Boston, Januarj' 16, 1807. 
Lucretia Emerson, wife of Captain Jonathan 
Fletcher, was born in Acton, Massachusetts, August 
4, 1764. She married Jonathan Fletcher, May 20, 
1782. Lucretia Emerson Fletcher died in Thomaston, 
Maine, July 7, 1800. They had four children : 
Francis, Susan, Lucretia, and Sarah. 

Elijah Bates was born in Cohasset, Massachusetts, 
April 25, 1796, died in North Brookfield, Massa- 
chusetts, September 6, 1863. He was a furniture 
manufacturer in Boston, Massachusetts, where he 
gave seven years to learn his trade. He moved with 
his wife and only child to North Brookfield, Mas- 
sachusetts, in 1820. Then Brookfield was the largest 
town between Boston and Springfield, on the Con- 
necticut river. He was the first of his name in the 
town. For many years, in addition to manufacturing 
furniture, he did an extensive business manufac- 
turing large wooden boxes for shipping boots and 
shoes, for several large boot and shoe manufacturers 
in North Brookfield and the adjoining towns. He 
was a successful business man and although he was 
unfortunate in meeting several heavy losses by fire, 
having no insurance on his property destroyed, no 
man ever lost a dollar by dealing with him. He held 
many different town offices, having been selectman 
and assessor for many years. He took a deep in- 
terest in the old "Liberty Party" and the Anti-Slav- 
ery agitation ; and when the war of the rebellion 
came, he encouraged his sons to ofTcr their services 
for the Union cause, and one of them, Thomas, 
was the first person to enlist from North Brookfield. 
THE FLETCHER FAMILY. "The Fletchers 
are supposed to be of Norman descent, and to have 
come over with William the Conquerer, as there 
was a family of their name in the Southern part 
of Normandy," so says Bentham in his "Baronetage 
of England." The family name of Fletcher has 
always been an honorable one in England, and there 
are three Fletchers holding Baronetcies, and many 
others have high offices in the army and navy, and 
also in civil life. 

The first of that name known to have come to 
this country was Robert Fletcher, who was born in 
Oxford. England, in 1592, as shown by the records 
of his death found in the town records of Concord, 



-Massachusetts. He settled in Concord. Massachu- 
setts, in 1630, being thirty-eight years of age when 
he came to America. He brought with him his 
wife and two sons, named Luke and William, and 
a daughter named Carey, also a brother William, 
who afterward settled in Middletown, Connecticut 
Robert Fletcher was a wealthy and influential man. 
He died in Concord, Massachusetts, April 3, 1677, 
aged eighty-five years. He had five children : Luke, 
William, Carey, Samuel and Francis. 

Francis Fletcher, the fifth child of Robert 
I'lctcher, was born in Concord, Massachusetts, in 
1636, and married, August i, 1656, Elizabeth, daugh- 
ter of George and Catharine Wheeler. He re- 
mained with his father in Concord, and became, 
like his two older brothers who settled in the 
adjoining towns, a great land owner. He was re- 
ported "in full communion with ye Church" in 
Concord in 1677, and was admitted a freeman the 
same year. His wife Elizabeth died June 14, 1704. 
They had eight children, viz : Samuel, Joseph, Eliza- 
beth, John, Sarah, Hezekiah, Hannah and Benja- 
min. 

Samuel Fletcher, oldest son of Francis Fletcher, 
was born August 6, 1657, and married Elizabeth 
Wheeler, April 15, 1682. He was a selectman of 
Concord many year.s, and town clerk from 1705 
to 1713. He died October 23, 1744, and his wife 
lived but three days after his death. They had 
eleven children, all born in Concord. Massachusetts, 
viz: Samuel (who died young), Joseph, Elizabeth, 
Sarah, John. Hannah, Ruth. Rebecca, Samuel, Ben- 
jamin and Timothy. 

Joseph Fletcher, second son of Samuel Fletcher, 
was born in Concord, Massachu.-etts. March 26, 
1686. He married for his first wife, Elizabeth 
Carter, December 20, 1704, and married, as his 
second wife, Hepzibah Jones, July 11. 171 1. He 
was made a deacon of the church in Acton, Massa- 
chusetts, in 1738, and was a member of the com- 
mittee to apportion the land to be set oflf from Con- 
cord as "Concord Village" in 1723. afterwards 
called Acton in 17.36. He died September n, 1746. 
He lived on the site where his grandfather, Robert 
Fletcher, first settled. By his first wife he had 
three children : Lucy, Abigail and Lydia. By his 
second wife he had five children : Lucy, Elizabeth, 
Daniel. Charles. Elijah and Ruth. 

Daniel Fletcher, fifth child and first son of Dea- 
con Joseph Fletcher, was born in Concord, Massa- 
chusetts, October 18, 1718. He was a lieutenant in 
Captain David Melvin's company from March to 
September. 1747, and was stationed at Northficld. 
He was captain of a company in 1755 in His Ma- 
jesty's service, coming from Acton. Massachusetts, 
and served from September 10 to December 30, 

1755. fifteen weeks and six days, as signed by 
Daniel Fletcher. Boston. Massachusetts, March n, 

1756. (See Vol. 94, p. 70, on Muster Roll of the 
(iompany in State Archives at Boston, Mass.) 

In Vol. 95. p. 320, "The Alarm List." whereof 
Samuel Davies was captain. Daniel Fletcher's name 
appears also as captain. This list included those 
who were held in reserve, such as clergymen, dea- 
cons Jn the church, etc.. 1757. Again, in the Massa- 
chusetts Archives, Vol. 136. p. 504, is an account 
for billctting soldiers on their return from Lake 
George in 1758. On March 133. 1758, Daniel 
Fletcher enlisted in Colonel Ebenezer Nichols' regi- 
ment in the Canada Expedition, in which expedi- 
tion he was wounded and taken prisoner. He en- 
listed at that time from March 13 to November 
28. 1758. as appears in Vol. 96, pp. 416 and 418, 
upon a Muster Roll of a Company of Foot in His 
Majestj-'s service in the French war, under the 



ii8 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



command of Captain Daniel Fletcher, in a regi- 
ment raised by the Province of Massachusetts Bay 
for the reduction of Canada, under Colonel Eben- 
ezer Nichols. In Vol. 98, pp. 157 and 158, upon 
the Mu.ster Roll of a Company in His Majesty's 
service, under the command of Captain Daniel 
Fletcher, it appears that he rendered service in the 
capacity of captain from November 2, 1759, to Au- 
gust I, 1760. In Vol. 98, p. 452, upon a Muster Roll 
of Oiticers and Men in Captain Daniel Fletcher's 
company, in Colonel Fryc's regiment, in the service 
of the Province of Nova Scotia, he served as cap- 
tain from January I, 1760, to the time of their dis- 
charge, August I, of the same year. In 1768, Cap- 
tain Daniel Fletcher was a member of the Honour- 
able House of Representatives of His Majesty's 
Province of the Massachusetts Bay in New England, 
begun and held at Boston, county of Suffolk, on 
Wednesday, the 2Sth day of May, Anno Domini, 
176S. (See the Journal of Massachusetts Bay, May, 
1768, to April, 1770, No. 16, p. 4, Captain Daniel 
Fletcher acting member.) In 1772 Captain Daniel 
Fletcher was appointed on a committee of public 
affairs. On June 26, 1776, under Field Oiificers of 
the Regiment raising for Quebec. New York and 
Ticonderoga, John Cummings, Esq. was elected 
brigadier-general of the forces destined to Canada. 
(See Vol. 26, p. 277.) On June s, of the same year, 
James Brickett, Esq., was elected in the room of 
John Ctminiings, who declined to be colonel of the 
rcaiment to be raised in Middlesex county. Jonathan 
Reed, colonel, Benjamin Brown, lieutenant-colonel, 
Daniel Fletcher, major. (See Brooks' Militia Of- 
ficers, 6-months Men, Continental Balances, Vol. 28, 
p. 28, red mark, and p. 72.) (See also Vol. 26, p. 
277, Roll and Abstract of the File, and Staff Officers 
'as proposed in the Spring of 1776, Col. Reed's Regi- 
ment, in the Northern Army in the Service of the 
United States of America ; Jonathan Reed to be 
Colonel, from Littleton, Mass.; Benjamin Brown 
to be Lieutenant-Colonel, from Reading, Mass. ; 
Daniel Fletcher to be Major, from Littleton, Mass. ; 
William Emerson to be Chaplain, from Concord, 
Mass.; John Porter to be Adjutant, from Littleton, 
Mass. : Edmund Monroe to be Quartermaster, from 
Lexington. Mass. ; David Taylor to be Sergeant, 
from Charlestown, Mass. ; Ezekiel Brown to be Ser- 
geant's Mate, from Concord, Mass.) At the same 
time, his son, Jonathan Fletcher, was in the revolu- 
tionary war as a private in Captain Samuel Reed's 
company of Minute !Men, in Colonel William Pres- 
cott's regiment, as is demonstrated by the fact 
that the name of Jonathan Fletcher is on file of the 
Revolutionary Rolls of Massachusetts among the 
names "For the Muster Roll of Captain Samuel 
Reed's Company of Minute Men, in Colonel Wil- 
liam Prescott's Regiment, who, on and after the 
19th day of April last (1775), did inarch in con- 
sequence of the Alarm on that day ;" dated at "Lit- 
tleton. February 19, 1776." (See Vol. 56 Coat Rolls.) 
He served as a Minute Man at the Lexington Alarm 
six days, from April 19 to 24, 1775. 

Major Daniel Fletcher was elected by the Massa- 
chusetts assembly, June 26. 1776, or after the revo- 
lutionary war had commenced, as a major in the 
Third liattalion. destined to Canada. (See Vol. 26, 
p. 277. Revolutionary Rolls at State House.) 

Major Daniel Fletcher died in Acton, Massa- 
chusetts, Dccemlier 15, 1776, in the fifty-ninth year 
of his age, and was buried in Woodlawn Cemetery 
at Acton, about one mile east from the center of 
the town. 

Major Daniel Fletcher, first son of Deacon 
Joseph Fletcher, was born in Concord, Massachu- 
sets, October 18, 1718. He married Sarah Hart- 



well, of West ford, Massachusetts, the intention of 
marriage having been entered November 12, 1741. 
They had nine children, all born in Acton, Massa- 
chusetts: Daniel, Charles (who died young), Peter, 
Sarah, Ruth, Joseph. Charles, Jonathan and Betsey. 

Jonathan Fletcher, eighth child and sixth son of 
Major Daniel and Sarah Hartwell Fletcher, was 
born in Acton. Massachusetts, January 21, 175". 
Major Daniel Fletcher, father of Captain Jonathan 
Fletcher, was connected with the Revolutionary war 
very early in the struggle, of which fact there is 
abundant evidence. Jonathan Fletcher enlisted April 
-4- 1/75. in Captain Abijah Wyman's company. 
Colonel William Prescott's regiment, as from Lit- 
tleton, although his father. Major Daniel Fletcher, 
was a citizen of Acton. (See Vol. 16, p. 76, Massa- 
chusetts Revolutionary Rolls.) He was in the battle 
of Bunker Hill, in which battle Colonel Prescott's 
regiment suffered such severe loss of life. He 
served eight months or more in the revolutionary 
army at the siege of Boston under General Wash- 
ington. (See Vol. 56, Coat Rolls, p. 66, October 3, 
1775, a'so Vol. 16, p. 76.) Vol. 57 contains Jona- 
ihan Fletcher's autograph. Under figure seven of 
indexes of that volume, in Captain Abijah Wyman's 
company, is the receipt of Jonathan Fletcher for 
supplies, dated November 14, 1775. On January 
15. "^jy^i' 'lis name appears on the roll of Captain 
David Wheeler's company, in Colonel Nixon's regi- 
ment, as a fifer from Acton, Massachusetts. (See 
Vol, 24, p. 7,;. Massachusetts Revolutionary Rolls.) 
In 1777 he was a private in Captain George Minot's 
company, CLilonel Samuel Bullard's regiment. (See 
Vol. 21. p. 79, Massachusetts Revolutionary Rolls.) 
Jonathan Fletcher is recorded as a lieutenant. Feb- 
ruary 27. 1778, and was on the pay roll of Captain 
Jacob Haskin's company. Colonel John Jacob's regi- 
ment. (See Vol. 2, p. 83, Massachusetts Revolu- 
tionary Rolls.) How much before that time he was 
conimi.=sioned as a lieutenant, we are unable to find 
liy the records. From the pay rolls, it is thought 
it must have been nearly or quite a year. He served 
five months and twenty days from February 27, 
1778. as a lieutenant in this company. (See Vol. 
2, p. 83, Massachusetts Revolutionary Rolls.) (Vol. 
46. p. 162, shows Lieutenant Jonathan Fletcher's ac- 
counts from December i, 1778 to January I, 1779.) 
He was in continuous service as a lieutenant, until 
we find that he had been commissioned as captain 
in the Ninth Company of the Seventh Regiment, on 
July 27. 1780. (See Vol. 28, p. 66, Massachusetts 
Revolutionary Rolls.) 

On November i, 1781, the town of Fitchburg 
was required to pay certain soldiers who had not 
been paid for service, among them was Captain 
Jonathan Fletcher, who received from the selectmen 
of Fitchburg, one hundred and five pounds and mile- 
age for seventy-five miles to each of his men. by 
order of the general court. The soldiers constitut- 
ing his company came from the towns of Lexing- 
ton, Acton, Westminster and Fitchburg. (See Vol. 
,1,^. P- 535. Massachusetts Revolutionary Rolls.) He 
remained as Captain until the close of the war. so 
(hat from the time he was commissioned as lieu- 
tenant, made him in continuous service as lieuten- 
ant or captain nearly or quite six years, and as pri- 
vate or officer from the very commencement of the 
revolutionary war, April 19, 1775 (being then but 
eighteen years of age), in the battle of Lexington 
to its final termination in 1783. Captain Jonathan 
Fletcher had a very elegant sword presented to him 
liv the soldiers of his company at the close of the 
war, which sword was destroyed at the time the 
Rates family residence at North Brookfield was 
burned in 1844. There was also destroyed at that 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



119 



time a large family Bible, prepared by Captain Jona- 
than Fletclier, and containing a perfect and full 
record of the Fletcher family, extending back 
through many generations and branches. 

Captain Jonathan Fletcher was a warm personal 
friend of Paul Revere and also of General Henry 
Knox. After the close of the war General Knox 
became a very large owner of real estate in St. 
George's, Maine, and went there to live in 1795, 
afterwards removing to Thomaston, Maine, where 
he died on October 25, 1806. Captain Jonathan 
Fletcher accompanied General Knox to Maine and 
remained there, near or with him, for several years, 
until the death of his wife, Lncretia Emerson 
Fletcher, who died in Thomaston, July 7, 1800. 
Captain Jonathan Fletcher went to Boston, Massa- 
chusetts, and died there January 16, 1807, and was 
buried in Copp's Hill burial grounds, near the Old 
North Church, with Masonic honors. He was a 
member of Saint Andrew's Lodge, .Ancient Free 
and Accepted Masons, of Boston, Massacliusetts. 

Thus it is clearly shown that both Major Daniel 
Fletcher and his son, Captain Jonathan Fletcher, 
were very patriotic soldiers in the colonial and revo- 
lutionary wars, especially is this true of Jonathan, 
who at the early age of sixteen years entered the ser- 
ifice as a private in the minute men of 1775, and 
ivho merited and received several promotions, and 
remained in the revolutionary army until the close 
3f the war, during si.x years of which he served as 
1 commissioned officer, the first three being as a 
ieutenant, the last three as a captain. 

Captain Jonathan Fletcher, son of Major Dani;I 
md Sarah Hartwell Fletcher, was born in Acton, 
Vlassachusetts, January 21, 1757. He was married 
jn May 20, 17S2, in Acton, to Lucretia Emerson. 
5he was born in Acton, August 4, 1764, and died in 
Thomaston, Maine, July 7, 1800. Captain Jonathan 
71etcher died in Boston, Massachusetts, January 16, 
807. 

Sarah Fletcher, fourth and youngest daughter 
)f Captain Jonathan and Lucretia Emerson Fletcher, 
vas born in Boston, JNIassachusetts, jNIay 3, 1799. She 
vas married on August 2, 1818, in Boston, Massa- 
chusetts, to Elijah Bates, born in Cohasset, Massa- 
■husetts, .April 25, 1796. They were married by 
he Rev. John Murray, of Boston. Elijah Bates 
lied in North Brookfield, Massachusetts, September 
i, 1S63. Sarah Fletcher died in Worcester, Massa- 
:husetts, September 28, 1890. 

BERRY FAMILY. Joseph Berry (_i), ancestor 
)f Russell Woodward Berry, late of Worcester, 
Vlassachusetts, was born before 1700. While the 
ecord of his birth has not been found, it is believed 
hat he came from a Boston family. Ambrose Berry 
ind 'wife Hannah were living in Boston from 1686 
ind probably earlier, and in 1697 and probably later, 
rhey had a son Joseph, born July 11, 1693; died July 
•.4. 1693. and there are reasons for believing that 
oseph Berry (i), may be a son born after they 
eft Boston, Ambrose Berry was at Saco, Maine, 
n 1636, perhaps the father of Ambrose Berry, of 
Boston, and died May 3, 1661. 

Other members of the Berry family, of Boston, 
vere Thomas and Grace Berry, who had a son John, 
lorn March 3, 1664, and a daughter Grace born 
une I, 1669. Thaddeus and Hannah Berry had : 
. Elizabeth, born December 2, 1665 ; married Joseph 
rownsend. 2. Samuel, June 20, 1667. 3. Han- 
lah, August 12, 1668. 4. Thomas, September 
o, 1670. Thomas and Margaret Berry, of 
5oston, had ^largaret, June 26, 1692, and Thomas, 
darch 19, 1694. Oliver and Gartright Berry, of 



Boston, had Sarah, born January 28, 1678; Abigail, 
May 10, 1688; Oliver, February 26, 1693; John, Feb- 
ruary 4, 1696. To some of these families it seems 
certain that Joseph Berry belonged, and it is believed 
that all of them were related closely. 

Joseph Berry settkd in Framingham, Massa- 
chusetts, and married there Thankful Shears, Jan- 
vjary 27, 1719-20. She was the daughter of John 
Shears, of FVaniingham. 

John Shears (3), son of Samuel Shears (2), was 
born in Wrcntham,. Massachusetts, 1666, and went 
to F'ramingham, Massachusetts, to settle. His farm 
was on Doeskin Hill where he was living in i6<;3. 
He was a town officer in 1724. Lie married, April 
9, 1688, Alice Alitchleson, of Cambridge, Massa- 
chusetts. Their children were: i. Thomas, born 
January 9, 1708. 2. Thankful, married January 17, 
1719-20, Joseph Berry, before mentioned. 

Samuel Shears (2), son of Jeremiah Shears (i), 
was born in 1627, in England, and probably came to 
Dedham, Massachusetts, with his father. He mar- 
ried Mary and settled in Wrcntham, which 

was origmally part of Dedham, Massachusetts. He 
died in 1691, aged sixty-four years. His wife died 
April 26, 1704. Their children were: 1. Mary, born 
1664. 2. John, 1666; before mentioned. 3. Mchitable, 
February I, 1668. 4. Solomon, February 20, 1669; 
died at the age of nineteen years. 5. Grace, Febru- 
ary 29, 1672. 6. Judith, July 17, 1675. 

Jeremiah Shears (i), was an emigrant and pio- 
neer of Dedham, Massachusetts. He was probably 
from Yorkshire in England. He marritd (probably 
for his second wife) Susanna Green, widow of Nich- 
olas Green. He died in 1664. It is presumed that he 
was the father of the preceding, though little is 
known of him. 

Joseph Berry married (second) Hepzibah Ben- 
jamin. He owned the farm later owned by Ezekicl 
Howe, whose father bought it of Berry. His widow 
administered his estate in 1757. Children of Joseph 
and Thankful (Shears) Berry were: i. Alice, born 
1721 ; baptised June 18, 1721, at F'ramingham. 2. 
Abijah, baptised July 14, 1723; died young. 3. 
Shears, (see forward). 4. Thomas, March 16, 
1726-7; was in Sudbury 1760. 5. Benjamin, April 
M, i733', settled in Framingham; fought in the 
Concord fight, April 19, 1775; died at Oakham, 
Massachusetts, March i, 1800. 6. Thankful, Octo- 
ber 14, 1735 ; married General John Nixon, Febru- 
ary 7, I7S4, one of the most prominent olificers of 
Central Massachusetts in the revolution ; his fam- 
ily came from New York and the South. 7. Mary, 
Alay 29, 1737; married Amos Parmenter. 8. Abijah, 
December 5, 1738; died, unmarried, at Marlboro 
about 1810. 9. Lydia, April 5, 1739; married Joel 
.Mewton, June 3, 1862, in Southboro. (One of the 
two latter dates of birth is obviously erroneous, but 
is according to record. — Ed.) 

(II) Shears Berry, third child of Joseph Berry 
(i), the preceding, born in Framingliam, Massa- 
chusetts, December 25. 1725; married June 15, 1750, 
Esther Woodward, of llolden. He settled in the 
West Wing of Rutland about the time of his mar- 
riage, and his children were born there. In 1766 
he bought a farm of Samuel Gordon at Oakham, 
and removed to that town. He and his son Joseph 
were associated in the ownership of considerable 
land in the vicinity. He was a soldier in the revo- 
lution. He was in Captain Barnabas Shears' com- 
pany in 1776, and in the Continental army, in Colo- 
nel Converse's regiment, in 1777. He enlisted for 
three years in 1777 in Captain Wheeler's company, 
Colonel Nixon's regiment. He was also a private in 
Captain .Abel Holden's company, same regiment, and 



I20 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



was at Peekskill in 1779, in Captain Timothy Paige's 
company, Colonel John Rand's regiment, anel in 1780 
was at West Point with his company. 

After the revolution it seems that Shears and 
Joseph Berry left Oakham and settled in Salem, 
New York, as stated in a deed dated March 24, 1788, 
and recorded in 1797, in which land in Oakham is 
deeded to them by John Powers, of Oakham. They 
also bought land in common from George Caswell, 
February 4, 1789, when they were both living in 
Oakham. About 1797 the family moved to Ver- 
mont, where Shears probably died. Some of them 
located at Guildhall, Vermont. Children of Shears 
or Sheers (as the records have it) Berry were: I. 
Eunice, born in Rutland, June 22, 1751. 2. Joseph, 
born in Rutland, December 29, 1752. 3. Ephraim, 
born in Rutland, November 25, 1754. 4. Esther, 
born in Rutland, December 5, 1757 ; married Elias 
Marsh, August i, 1776. 5. Lydia, born at Rutland, 
September g, 1760; married at Oakham (intentions 
August 23) 1789. 6. John, born at Oakham, April 
4, 1772. 7. Woodward (see forward). 8. Benjamin, 
baptised August 17, 1777, at Rutland. 

(III) Captain Woodward Berry, seventh child 
of Shears Berry (2), born in Oakham, September 
2, 1774; baptised October i, 1775. He married 
Nancy. The family removed to Vermont and 
resided at Guildhall, where most of the children were 
born. He was captain in the militia and served, it 
is said, in the war of 1812. 

Joseph Berry, brother of Captain Woodward 
Berry, was also a very prominent man, a lawyer, in 
1799 one of the seven founders of the Guildhall 
Church; chief judge of the court in 1822; in the 
governor's council in 1819-20-21-22-23-24; state's 
attorney in 1811-12-15-16-17-18-21-23-24; representa- 
tive to the state legislature of Vermont in 1816 ; re- 
moved to Newbury, Vermont, thence to Iowa, where 
he died; his wife was Sarah. Perhaps Woodward 
Berry went West also. The date of his death and 
place are not known. His wife returned with the 
family to her old home in Oakham, Massachusetts, 
about 1830. She lived to an advanced age and died 
in the eighties, in Worcester, at the home of her 
son Russell Woodward Berry, Chatham street. 

Children of Captain Woodward and Nancy Berry 
were : l. Joseph Austin, born in Oakham, July 7, 
1807; died young (probably the Joseph who died 
January 7, 1839, at Oakham, though his age is given 
wrongly as twenty-two instead of thirty-two). 2. 
Sarah, born in Vermont, 181 1 ; died December 28, 
1839, at Oakham. 3. Sophrpnia, born in Vermont 
about 1812; died October 19, 1842; married Captain 
Russell Ripley, December 13, 1832, at Oakham. 
Captain Ripley was the son of Lieutenant Zenas and 
Sarah Ripley, and was born at Oakham, February 
22, 1804. 4. Russell Woodward, (see forward). 5. 
Deacon Zebina E., (see forward). 6. Isaac; settled 
in Vermont ; married Emily Copeland and had two 
children : Hortense, who married James W. Rand, 
of Weymouth, Massachusetts, and had children ; 
Nancy, who married David G. Tapley. of Worcester, 
and they have two children : Walter, married, liv- 
ing in Washington, District of Columbia, and Ella. 

married Robinson, and resides with her 

parents at no Austin street. 

(IV) Russell Woodward Barry (Berry), son 
of Captain Woodward Berry, born in Guildhall, 
Vermont, died in Worcester in i8gi. He went 
to school in Vermont. When a young boy he re- 
turned with his mother to Oakham, Massachusetts, 
but soon afterward came to Worcester to learn his 
trade. He had little schooling, but having a taste 
for books, managed to acquire a good education. 
He learned the carpenter's trade and followed it all 



his life in Worcester, lie built his own house at 
42 Chatham street, where his widow now resides. 
During his active life he worked for the leading con- 
tractors and helped construct many of the important 
buildings that rank among the landmarks of Wor- 
cester. 

Mr. Berry was a good citizen, modest, quiet and 
domestic in his tastes, belonging to no secret orders. 
He was for many years a member of the Worcester 
County Mechanics Association. In poltics he was a 
Republican, but never cared for public office. Pie 
attended tbe Congregational church. He married 
October 5, 1843, Harriet Gage, daughter of Eben and 
Sally (Stone) Gage, of Leicester, Massachusetts. 
Eben Gage was a farmer. He lived for a time also 
at Orford, New Hampshire. He was colonel of a 
regiment of New Hampshire militia. No children 
were born to Russell Woodward Berry. 

(IV) Deacon Zebina E. Berry, son of Captain 
Woodward Berry (3), was born in Guildhall, Ver- 
mont. He was educated there and worked on 
the farm of his father there until 1831, when he re- 
turned with the family to Massachusetts, and went 
to work in Worcester. He was then twenty-live 
years of age. He was employed first by Carter & 
Tobey, builders, and helped to build the first part 
of the old Lunatic Asylum on Summer street, and 
worked on other large structures built at that time. 
He retained the spelling, Berry, while his brother 
Russell preferred Barry. At the time of his death 
he was one of the oldest and best known carpenters 
and builders in Worcester. He died in 1889, at the 
home of his daughter Mrs. Alonzo W. Cole, 12 May- 
wood street. He was very active in church work. 
Soon after coming to Worcester he joined the First 
Baptist Church, and was one of forty baptized No- 
vember, 1831, in Fox's Pond near Green street, and 
in 1836 he was elected deacon. He served until 
1848. In his later years he was a member of the 
South Baptist Church because of his residence in 
that section of the city. 

He married (first) November 3, 1836, Lucretia 
H. Culver, daughter of Joshua and Susan (Teed) 
Culver, of Somers, New York; married (second) 
a sister of his first wife, Susan Augusta Culver, 
September 4, 1849. Children of Deacon Zebina E. 
and Lucretia H. (Culver) Berry were: i. Susan 
Augusta, September 16, 1838 ; deceased. 2. Sarah 
Louisa, July 22, 1840; deceased. 3. Ella Lucretia, 
(see forward). 4. Susan Culver, January 9, 1846; 
married Charles Amidon, of Worcester. 

(V) Ella Lucretia Berry, third child of Deacon 
Zebina E. Berry (4), born in Worcester, Massa- 
chusetts, March 6, 1843 ; married August 6, 1867, 
Alonzo W. Cole, a native of Orleans, Massachusetts. 
They reside on Maywood street, Worcester. They 
have one child, Arthur Williams Cole, born Feb- 
ruary 17, 1875 ; married January 22, 1903, Emma 
Louise Taylor, daughter of Robert C. Taylor, 
formerly of Webster. Massachusetts. (See sketch 
of Alonzo W. Cole and the Cole Family in this 
work.) 

THE KNOWLES FAiNIILY, as represented in 
Worcester county, is from Eastham, (the Nauset 
of the aborigines). Barnstable county, that portion 
of Massachusetts known as Cape Cod, where for 
more than a hundred and fifty years the ancestors 
of L. J. and F. B. Knowles lived, and were known 
as exemplary, wise and industrious farmers. 

Richard Knowles who had lived in Plymouth and 
there married Ruth Bower, August 15, 1639, was at , 
Eastham as early as 1653, according to Freeman, ' 
the trustworthy historian of Cape Cod. (Vol. II, „ 
P- 393. noted.) At least three of his children were J 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



121 



born in the former town : Mercy, married EplirMim 
Doane, February 5, 1668; John; Samuel, born Sep- 
tember 17, 1651. It would appear that Mchilable, 
born in 1655, and Barbara, bora September 28, 1656, 
were born in Eastham. Samuel married, Decem- 
ber, 1679, Mercy Freeman, and Barbara, June 13, 
1677, married Thomas Mayo. The complete 
genealogy of the Knowles family would reveal mar- 
riages with all the names early represented in East- 
ham, so that it was nearly or remotely related with 
all the dwellers in that township. 

John Knowles, son of Richard, married, Decem- 
ber 28, 1670, Apphia, daughter of Edward Bangs, 
one of the first comers and a very important man in 
the community. Apphia and her twin sister Mercy, 
born October 15, 1651, were married on the same 
day, the latter to Stephen Herrick. John Knowles 
was one of nineteen men Eastham furnished for the 
King Philip war, and was one of the slain, as ap- 
pears in the action of the colony government in pro- 
viding for his widow. Freeman (vol. I, p. 280) says, 
"and provision was especially made for Apphia, 
widow of John Knowles, of Eastham. lately slain in 
the service." From a note at the foot of p. 366, 
vol. II, the conclusion is drawn that he was killed 
near Taunton, June 3d, 1675 ('■ <^- 3^ day, 4th 
month, O. S.). John and Apphia Knowles had 
three children : Edward, November 7, 1671 ; John, 
July 10, 1673 ; Deborah, March 2, 1675. When the 
father died no one of his children was old enough to 
appreciate their deprivation. Edward, older son, 
married (first) .Ann Ridley, and (second) the widow 
Sarah Mayo, and was the father of six children. 
He was known in town annals as Deacon Knowles, 
and died November 16, 1740. The widow of John 
Knowles later married Joseph Atwood, and the ap- 
pearance of a Bangs Atwood in a later generation 
of the Atwoods would indicate that she bore chil- 
dren by her second husband. The son John, of the 
third generation in the Knowles family, married 

Mary , of whom no record is found. In an 

old burial burial ground of Eastham, near the 
shores of the town cove, the bodies of the brothers 
are buried. Quite likely many more of the family 
lie there also, but if so their memorials long ago 
disappeared. Side by side are two ancient slates, 
each having the winged skull, that of the wife with 
the traditional crossed bones, and inscriptions as 
follows : "Here Lyes Buried the Body of Mrs. Mary 
Knowles, wife of Colnl John Knowles. Died 
Nov. ye 7th. 1745, in the 73d Vear of Her age;" 
"Here lies buried the body of Colnl John Knowles 
who departed this life Nov. 3d, 1757, in the 85th 
Year of His Age." When he bore the title of 
captain, John Knowles was a member of general 
court. Very likely his military appellations eame 
from service in the militia. Colonel John and Mary 
Knowles had: Joshua, born 1696; John, 1698; Seth. 
1700; Paul, 1702; James, 1704; Jesse, 1707; Mary, 
1709. 

Joshua, eldest child of Colonel John and Mary 
Knowles, apparently followed the vocaton of his 
father, farming, with possibly an occasional venture 
at fishing. The metes and boundaries of the town 
assignments of land to the successive generations 
of the family indicate nearness to the center of the 
town of Eastham, and the burial of their dead in 
the cemeteries near that part bears out the sup- 
position. Joshua Knowles was married to Sarah 
Paine, March 13, 1717-18, by Nathaniel Freeman, 
Esq. She was born April 14, 1699, daughter of John 
and Bennet Paine, another of the oldest families 
in the township, one that later gave a signer of the 
Declaration of Independence to the country. The 
wife died July 12, 1772, and the husband. ^Iay 27, 



1786. Their children were: Jesse, born April 13, 
1723; Rebecca, May 23, 1726; Sarah, March 10, 
1727-28; Joshua, April 27, 1730; Josiah, May 24, 
173s; Simeon, August 11, 1737; Susanah, March 9, 
1740. 

Simeon, youngest son of Joshua and Sarah 
Knowles, appears as follows in the Eastham records : 
"August 12, 1758, then entered the intentions of 
Simeon Knowles and Eunis Mayo boath ol Elastham 
to proseed in marriage. Recorded Thomas Knowles, 
town elk." The foregoing is nearest the date of 
marriage thus far found. The wife was a repre- 
sentative of another long placed Eastham family, 
the prime ancestor, John Mayo, having been the 
first minister in the town. From Simeon comes 
whatever claims his descendants have on revolution- 
ary memories from the name of Knowles. The state 
rolls have under his name the following entry : 
"Simeon Knowles, Private. Captain Israel Higgins 
Co., Major Zenas Winslow's Regiment, Sept. 9 to 
Sept. 13, 1778, 4 days, on an alarm at Falmouth." 
Roll endorsed, "on alarm att Bedford." It is pos- 
sible that Simeon died in Eastham, before the mov- 
ing of the family to Hardwick; certainly Paige, his- 
torian of the latter town, makes no mention of his 
death. His wife died in Hardwick, April 5, 1819, 
aged seventy-nine years. The eldest and possibly 
all the children were born in Eastham ; Simeon, 
August 17, 1766; Elisha, about 1769, died August 
14, 1859; Phebe, died, unmarried, April 7, 
1824, and others. The family had remained in 
Eastham or in adjoining towns for considerably 
more than one hundred years, but now comes the 
migratory 'spirit. It is said that the disposition of 
people from the Cape to seek better homes in 
northern Worcester county arose from the locating 
there of the Rev. Timothy Ruggles, father of his 
more famous son, who was a loyalist in the revo- 
lution. Having lived and preached in towns near 
Barnstable county, he drew upon some of his ac- 
quaintances for recruits to the settlements in the 
northwest. 

Simeon, eldest child of Simeon and Ennis (Mayo) 
Knowles, married PrisciUa Doane, their marriage 
intentions having been published November 10, 1787, 
in Eastham. The Doanes were also among the long 
established dwellers in the town. . Their children 
were : Bangs, born in Eastham, March 9, 1789, died 
September 17, 1806 ; Simeon, born Eastham, June 
22, 1791 ; Leonard, Edward, Harriet and perhaps 
others. From the above facts it would -seem rea- 
sonable that the second Simeon was the real migrant, 
and that his mother and brethren accompanied him. 
He died August 22, 1823, while his widow .--ur- 
vived until February 5, 1839, dying at the age of 
seventy-five years. 

Simeon, second child of Simeon and PrisciUa 
(Doane) Knowles, was the first of the family in 
nearly two centuries to marry outside the Old 
Colony. He married, March 14, 1814, Lucetta New- 
ton, of Hardwick, daughter of Silas and Naomi 
(Washburn) Newton. The Newton lineage of 
Lucetta, born January 2, 1792, began in Sudbury in 
the person of Richard, whose son, IMoses of .Nlarl- 
hnro. transmitted the name to Josiah, ami he to 
Timothy, a farmer, who lived on the road from 
Hardwick to Barre. All of these men were promi- 
nent in their day and generation. Timothy, born 
February 28, 1728, married Sarah ]\Ierrick, was a 
soldier in the French and Indian war, and died July 
10, 1811. His son, Silas, born February 11. 1766, 
was a Hardwick farmer and the father of Simeon's 
wife, Lucetta. The latter died in Warren, August 
2^, 1868. aged seventv-six years. Simeon Knowles 
died in Warren, .April 9. i860. The children of 



122 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



Simeon and Lucctta (Newton) Knowles were; 
Laura Loraine, born October lo, 1816, married 
Rufus Washburn, Jr., of Johnstown, New York, 
February 21, 1837; Lucius James, born July 2, 1819; 
Harriet Evaline, July 24, 1821, married Lorin Brown, 
Fitchburg, October i, 1844; Francis Bangs, Novem- 
ber 29, 1823. The family resided about three miles 
northerly from the common in Hardwick. 

F'raucis' B., youngest child of Simeon and Lu- 
cetta (Newton) Knowles, was twice married, (lirst), 
December 23, 1845, to Ann Eliza Poole, of Glovers- 
ville. New York. The children by this marriage 
were : Eliza Evaline, born January 5, 1848, in 
Gloversville, married September 2, 1873, C. Henry 
Hutchins, of Worcester, long identified with the 
Knowles Loom Works and now president of the cor- 
poration. Their children are : Arthur Knowles 
and Helen Mabel. Mrs. Hutchins died February 13, 
i8y8, and Frank Poole, born February I, 1853, in 
Gloversville, married, October 2, 1879, Alice J., 
daughter of George C. and Eleanor J. (Doane) Bige- 
low, of Worcester; their children are: George 
Francis, Marion and Lillian. The mother died 
February 24, 1865, soon after the removal to War- 
ren. Mr. Knowles's second marriage, April 23, 
1867, was to Hester A., daughter of John Reynolds 
and Fanny (Wightmah) Greene, of Worcester. 
Their children are: Mabel, married June 15. 1893, 
Dr. Homer Gage, of Worcester. They have one , 
child, Flomer Gage, Jr. Frances, married April 23, 
1900, George Eddy Warren, of Boston, a bu.'^iness 
man. Lucius James, married, April 6, 1904, Laura, 
daughter of John R. McGinley, of Pittsburg, Penn- 
sylvania. Their son, Lucius James, Jr., was born 
in London, England. Both sons of Francis B. 
Knowles are directly connected with the great busi- 
ness established by father and uncle. The names 
of "Frank" and "Lucius" are still heard in the 
works and, from the names in the latest generations, 
the famous appellations bid fair to obtain for years 
to come. 

]Mrs. Knowles comes of an old Rhode Island fam- 
ily, descended from John Greene, surgeon, of Gill- 
ingham, England, who came to America in 1635 
and settled in Warwick, Rhode Island, where 
through successive generations the family resided. 
The line from the first John Greene included Peter, 
Peter, Elisha, Elisha, Stephen. William, who mar- 
ried Abigail Reynolds, thus becoming the father of 
John Reynolds Greene, the father of Mrs. Knowles. 
He was for many years a Worcester merchant, and 
a warden of All Saints' Church. Fie was born in 
Warwick, Rhode Island, December 22, 181 1, and died 
April I, 1873. Well educated, he was highly suc- 
cessful in business, and deeply interested in church 
w(irk. His children were : Byron W., Hester A., 
Stephen E., Mary, Fannie and Abbie. 

So blended were the lives of the brothers L. J. 
and F. B. Knowles, it were much easier to write of 
them together than separately. Their characteristics 
supplemented each other perfectly, and never did 
■ men better exmplify the scriptural words, "Behold 
how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to 
dwell together in unity." There were only two sons 
in the family of Simeon Knowles, and they ap- 
peared to have little affiliation for the life so long 
pursued by their ancestors, for we see them, in due 
order, leaving the hills of Hardwick determined to 
win their way by other means than those employed 
by the fathers. To the younger brother had been 
'given the rather unusual name, for those days, of 
Francis with another, still more uncommon, but re- 
calling an uncle, Eastham born, who had died in his 
early manhood. As a Christian name, Bangs sug- 
gester a long line of ancestral facts and no doubt 



the father, Simeon, in thus naming his boy had m 
mind a tribute to the "Cape Cod Folks," whose 
memory to him was especially dear. However, as 
the years went by and the boy advanced to man- 
hood his double name was seldom used in its en- 
tirety. Indeed among his immediate friends he was 
more often known as "Frank," while for signature 
purposes the" initials, F. B., were found to be all 
he had time to write. 

After securing whatever of educational aid ilic 
common schools of Hardwick could afford, with 
some higher attainments at Leicester Academy, he 
early essayed the role of schoolmaster himself, in 
this capacity serving in Dana, and possibly in other 
nearby towns. While still four years away from 
his majority he was permitted to leave the farm and 
to undertake the task of shifting for himself. His 
older sister Laura had married in Johnstown, New 
Y'ork, and it is possible that this fact accounts for 
her brother's presence, when nineteen years old, as 
a teacher in the neighboring village of Gloversville. 
He had not assumed the profession as a lifelong- 
occupation, but rather a makeshift till some better 
way appeared. The place where he thus found him- 
self was noted then, as it is now, for its manufacture 
of kid and buckskin gloves and mittens, leading in 
this particular all other places in the country. What 
more natural than that this enterprising, resource- 
ful New England boy should speedily see a chance 
for himself to better his condition, by forsaking th; 
schoolroom for the mart of trade. At any rate 
ere long he became a salesman for one of the great 
glove making companies of the town and, going upon 
the road, he speedily familiarized himself willi a 
large part of the eastern portion of the country. 
April I, 1845, he entered upon the making of gloves 
himself, continuing in this occupation till he em- 
barked in the clothing business, and this was his 
vocation when in 1883 came the call from his brother 
to come back to Massachusetts. 

He, therefore, came to Warren, Worcester coun- 
ty, to bear a hand in the development of the inven- 
tions which were taking shape in the fertile brain 
of Lucius J., and from that time onward his interests 
were largely in this part of the Commonwealth. 
Though L. J. Knowles was conducting a great busi- 
ness in his making of steam pumps in his Warren 
factory, he was not satisfied, but desired rather to 
enter upon the manufacture of looms, upon whose 
improvement his mind had been dwelling. Accord- 
ingly the advent of the younger brother followed 
and with expected pleasing results. We are told 
that the first loom was constructed in the pump 
works of Warren, but the advantages of Worcester 
soon became so obvious that in 1866 the loom works 
were transferred to this city and first established 
in Allen court, the name of F. B. Knowles appearing 
in a Worcester directory for the first time in 1867. 
The older brother contmued his residence in War- 
ren. 

Though constantly growing, the business remained 
in Allen court until 1879, when it took a move to 
the southward and expanded into the so-called 
Junction shops. Progress, however, knows no 
boundaries and the capacity of this location was 
soon overtaxed. In 1890, having been erected near 
the Boston & Albany Railroad on the corner of 
Grand and Tainter streets, the most extensive plant 
of its kind" in the country, the business was re- 
moved for the third time into quarters seemingly 
ample for years of development, yet in 1892, before 
the blight of the Wilson Bill had struck the nation, 
enlarged area was again in urgent demand. During 
all these years of growth and prosperity, the younger 
of the Knowles Brothers was constantly at his post. 




(f>r^^^'u>^^^ 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



123 



an invaluable factor in all the many features of the 
vast enterprise. Of the older brother, it is said that 
he never sold a machine, gave little heed to the 
purely business details of the enterprise, but busied 
himself with the endless possibilities in the mechan- 
ism of loom making. On the contrary, F. R. had no 
mechanical tastes nor talent, could not drive a nail, 
but the pushing of the manufactured articles into 
public sight and favor was his delight. The financial 
side of the work he could and did handle marvel- 
ously well, till at his death he could truthfully say, 
had he cared to do so, that the Knowles Loom 
Works were the most extensive in the country, if 
not in the world. 

The limitations of human strength and energy 
speedily appear in the strenuous life which the 
ardent Americans lead and, long before the Knowles 
Brothers had reached the age at which their fathers 
were • still doing long and arduous days' work on 
their respective farms, these princes of mechanical 
hidustry found it necessary to abate .somewhat the 
intensity of their labors, but they did not begin 
early enough. Both of them were wont to seek rest 
and recuperation during the winter months in vari- 
ous ways. Florida, long the fabled possessor of the 
fountain of youth, had been a resort for Francis 
B., and he was w'ith his brother when, in the spring 
of 1S84, the latter passed away at the Riggs House, 
in Washington, a victim of that specially character- 
istic ailment of Americans, another name for over- 
work, "Heart Failure," a fate that a few years later 
was to fall to the lot of F. B. himself, whose physi- 
cal breaking down began with his arduous labors at 
the Centennial Exposition in 1876 through his de- 
termination to make the Knowles loom succeed. 
The loom became a wonderful success, but at what 
a cost. 

Recognizing the advisablencss of a yearly respite. 
Mr. Knowles had several years before interested him- 
self in Florida investments and had become the 
owner of extensive areas there. In Winter Park, 
he was the principal owner of the Seminole Flotel, 
and was the president of the development company, 
and here a large part of the year, at any rate during 
the cold weather, but he was wont to remain. Tt was 
at the end of his annual stay that, in the spring of 
1800, with his family he started homeward. For six 
weeks, by slow stages, they were working north- 
ward, that he might the better adapt himself to the 
climate. The month of May found them in Wash- 
ington and, while friends were expecting their early 
return, there came to his older son the startling dis- 
patch that the father had suddenly died of angina 
pectoris. The news thus sent came from Post- 
master General John Wanamaker. a personal friend 
of many years standing. There followed the sad 
completion of the homeward journey, the services at 
Piedmont Church, of which he had' been so long a 
pillar, and the final resting place in beautiful Rural 
cemetery. 

The smile which ever lighted the face of Francis 
B. Knowles was an excellent index of his nature, 
and perhaps this very look had much to do with 
the success that attended him. "The world shall 
be better for my having passed through it" is said 
to have been a sentiment close to whose truth he 
he tried to live. Flow well he succeeded a grateful 
community has repeatedly borne testimony. From 
friends, acquaintances, and employees there came 
one common statement, that he merited all the suc- 
cess that he achieved, that he was a faithful friend, 
the kindest of employers and in every way the best 
of citizens. 

In these hurrying days, it is a sad fact that the 
most admirably equipped men cannot afford the 



time for political preferment. The degree to which 
machinery and enterprises are speeded, demands 
every bit of strength that a man possesses and 
ever the call is for more. Though a lifelong Re- 
publican in his political affiliations and a liberal 
supporter of campaign expenses, Mr. Knowles never 
saw the day in his Worcester life that he could give 
to serving his fellow citizens in any official capac- 
ity. Flad he been able to accept there can be no 
doubt as to the positions in which he would have 
shone through the suffrages of those who knew so 
well his sterling worth. Whatever diversion he 
took from business was found in religious lines. 
For years he conducted Sunday school institutes 
through Worcester county, and in the labors of the 
Young Men's Christian Association he was inde- 
fatigable. 

With so long a lineage, including so many 
names of sterling worth, there need be no surprise 
that Mr. Knowles was a devoted member of the 
Congregational church. His advent to Worcester 
was in the days when that- denomination was be- 
ginning its career of expansion. He was here early 
enough to give hearty aid and comfort to the propo- 
sition to establish Plymouth Church, but that was 
located somewhat distant from the part of the city 
in which his interests chiefly lay, hence he was 
ready to help forward the new Piedmont venture 
and here was his church home for the remainder 
of his days. He was an early Sunday school sup- 
erintendent here and one of the most beloved 
deacons from the beginning. Still he was not at 
all confined in his giving, and when Pilgrim Church 
was taking shape, along with his sister-in-law. .Mrs. 
Helen C. Knowles, he .gave the site for the edifice 
and was in addition a liberal giver to the enterprise 
all the way along. He was a generous donor to- 
wards every good cause, and Knowles Hall, an 
edifice in the plant of Rollins College at Winter Park, 
Florida, attests his interests in the educational de- 
velopment of the new south. To the same insti- 
tution he gave a further sum of money for the 
endowment of scholarships. No good cause ever 
appealed to him in vain. He was the third largest 
giver toward tlic edifice of the Young Men's Chris- 
tian Association and had long been a life member. 
The last check drawn by him was for $5,000 in be- 
half of the Young Women's Christian .\ssociation 
of Worcester. 

His home life was an ideal one. There he sur- 
rounded himself with all that wealth and culture 
could provide, and the same was a favorite resort 
■for those who delighted in art and literature. Mrs. 
Knowles. having traveled extensively at home and 
abroad, is an excellent judge of art and, with ample 
means at her command, has made a collection of 
paintings larger than that afforded by some public 
galleries. The only regret that one can have in 
eontemplaling so admirable a career is that to the 
successful manufacturer, the faithful friend, good 
citizen and Christian gentleman there had not been 
granted greater length of days for the enjoyment of 
the fruitage of wise planting and judicious culture. 

For more than twenty-five years the name of 
Lucius J. Knowles, of Worcester, was a synonym 
for the business enterprise and integrity. His name 
with that of his brother, though only the initials 
were usually employed, became known as far as the 
necessity of looms extended, and that means the 
limits of the civilized world. From a long line of 
industrious Cape Cod farmers, he and the other 
children of Simeon Knowles were the first to en- 
joy the luxury of double names, but the easily pro- 
nounced combination, Lucius James, was quite too 
long tor his busy life and it was generally abbrevi- 



124 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



ated, especially when written, to the first letters only. 
The student of genealogy may find interest in tlie 
fact that his Christian appellations do not appear in 
the long line of ancestral names. Evidently Simeon, 
the third, intended to begin a new series. Hardwick, 
as an agricultural town, though a great improvement 
on Eastham, so long the home of the Knowles 
family, did not present attractions sufficient to hold 
the older son of Simeon and Lucetta. Evidently, 
like so many New Hampshire people, he thought 
his native town a good one to emigrate from. It 
is easy to fancy his boyhood on the country farm, 
getting what he could out of the district school, 
meanwhile dreaming dreams of the great outside 
world in which he early determined to play a con- 
spicuous part. 

One of his early schoolmasters was his maternal 
uncle, John C. Newton, for many years a resident 
of Worcester, and thereafter he was privileged to 
add several terms at Leicester Academy, then one 
of the best secondary schools in the Commonwealth. 
In a word, though by no means liberally educated, 
he was well equipped for the work on which he 
was about to enter. Before he was twenty-one years 
old, we find him in Shrewsbury, a clerk in the 
store of W. W. Pratt. In 1838, when only nineteen 
years of age, he formed a partnership w-ith his 
Uncle Newton, his former teacher, and together 
they conducted a general store in the same village. 
On the retirement of his uncle in 1841, he took in 
as partner, his first employer, W. W. Pratt, and 
so continued till 1844. During these days, the young 
merchant has married and, in a small way, pros- 
pered, but he is very far froin the goal whicli in 
vision attracts him. In these days the public be- 
gins to hear of the accomplishments of Daguerre, 
the Frenchman, in his experiments with light on 
sensitized silver, and L. J. Knowles is the very first 
man in Worcester to undertake a realization of this 
wonderful discovery. His studio was on Main street, 
near the old location of the Quinsigamond Bank, 
or just north of Central street. It is possible to 
find in the city today several specimens of his early 
work. Indeed, the very first exposure made for pay 
is still a cherished possession of the subject. But 
photography did not satisfy and he next engaged 
in spooling cotton thread in New Worcester. In 
1847 he is making cotton warp in the town of 
Spencer and two years later in Warren. There he 
busied himself with both cotton and woolen mills 
and engaged in the luanufacture of the steam pump 
which he had invented. This was eminently suc- 
cessful and its development would have satisfied any 
ordinary man. but he had not yet reached the voca- 
tion which he deemed specially his own. All suc- 
cessful men have pet schemes or plans, some of 
which, if they are persistent, they realize. During 
all these years Mr. Knowles, who was a mechanic 
by nature, had fancied improvement in looms for 
the making of fabrics. His first invention in this 
line was in 1856. By the aid of one wood workman 
and two machinists, the first loom was set up in 
the pump works. An inspection of the inventions 
made by this Hardwick farmer's son, with a realiza- 
tion of the consideration each one involved, leads 
us to wonder where he found any leisure for di- 
version. We are told that when in Shrewsbury 
he made itnprovements in organs and other reed 
instruments, and that here he began his studies in 
the "safety steam boiler feed regulator." As early as 
1840, he was working on appliances for the applica- 
tion of electricity as a motor, anticipating in this re- 
spect the invention of later years, for he made several 
engines to be thus propelled. Apparently there was 
very little time when he was not devising some 



way of improving an old machine or of making an 
entirely now one. In fine, more than one hundred 
inventions issued by him stand to his credit in the 
Washington patent office. 

Of the calling of his younger brotlier in 1S63, 
mention has been made in the sketch of the latter's 
life, and of the development of the loom manufact- 
ure, the second greatest industry in Worcester, the 
story is briefly told in that chapter. Were it de- 
sirable to extend the story in any way it would be 
only to note the character of the workmen that the 
loom works demand. Skilled mechanics are ever 
the boast of New England and few enterprises ever 
drew together a greater number of men, every one 
of whom was able to successfully conduct great 
enterprises of his own. An inspection of the intel- 
ligent faces seen in the great shops on Grand and 
Tainter streets can not but impress the beholder 
with the nobility of labor. The overallcd, dusty 
workmen are members of the city government, 
leaders in the political parties of the state, deacons 
and Sunday school superintendents in their re- 
spective churches and, in nearly all cases, among 
the most respected men in the community. 

While a resident of Warren, Mr. Knowles en- 
joyed the distinction of representing the district to 
which his town belonged in the general court in 
1862, and again in 1865, thus havnig the privilege 
of assisting in upholding the hands of John A. 
Andrew in the trying days of the civil war. In 
1869, his senatorial district sent him as its choice 
to Boston as one of the forty senators for that 
term. That he was painstaking, faithful public ser- 
vant need not be affirmed. He was one of the 
most public-spirited citizens in Warren and his de- 
parture was considered a great loss to the township, 
but the demands of his investment in Worcester 
were too strong to be resisted. However, he left 
in the town so long his abode and so loyal to him, 
substantial tokens of his reward, for in his will he 
devised the sum of $5,000 as a fund for the support 
and maintenance of the free public library of that 
town, also the sum of one thousand dollars for the 
perpetual care of his lot in the cemetery, where 
rest the remains of his parents and those of his 
brother's wife. 

As a resident of Worcester, the directory for 
1871 has his name for the first time and thence for 
thirteen years he was an embodiment of zeal and 
energy for every good cause and work in the city's 
development. Not alone was he devoted to the 
improvement and advancement of the industry with 
which his name was linked, but also the best in- 
terests of the city were his. In 1873 he held a seat 
in the common council and gladly would his feIlo« 
citizens have kept him there longer had his time 
and other duites permitted. The dominanfe of 
business robs the public of the very best services 
which might otherwise be employed. He was a 
director in the Central National Bank and in the 
State Mutual Life Insurance Companj-, was presi- 
dent of the People's Savings Bank and of the 
Board of Trade and was a prominent figure in the 
management of other financial interprises of a public 
or semi-public character. It was a pleasant recog- 
nition of his life-long labors, intellectually as well 
as physically, that Williams College in 1869 gave 
him the honorary degree of A. M. Many a wearer 
of such honors, secured in regular course, never 
merited them half so much as this self-tauglit me- 
chanic and manufacturer of Worcester. The col- 
lege was honored in his acceptance of _ the proffered 
recognition. 

When a young man in Shrewsbury, Mr. Knowles 
married, May 13, 1841, Eliza Ann Adams, of that 



k: 



J 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



12: 



town, and for more than twenty years she was his 
faithful companion as he strove for success. She 
died at the age of iifty-six years, February 17, 1873. 
Some time afterwards he was married to .Mrs. 
Helen C. Hayward, of Boston, daughter of Alex- 
ander and Cornelia (Goodnowj Strong. Possessea 
of similar tastes, theirs w-as a singularly happy life 
during the remainder of his earthly work. 'I'he col- 
lection of paintings which they made and with which 
they adorned their beautiful Main street residence 
was one of the largest and best in Central Massa- 
chusetts. Mrs. Knowles, who did not long survive 
her husband, dying November 5. 1S84, when tifty- 
one years old, signalized her devotion by leaving 
th esum of $25,000 for the furtherance of art study 
in Worcester. The income of this suin, at present in 
the care of the St. Wulstan's Society, is the prime 
source for the maintenance of the Art Museum, one 
of Worccsters most cherished institutions. 

While usually enjoying a high degree of health, 
Mr. Knowles was conscious of serious impairment 
of the same through his excessive labors in the 
care of his wife during a visit made by them to 
Europe some two years before his deafh. Realiz- 
ing somewhat the limitations of energy and strength, 
he had begun to abate the incessant strain to which 
he had so long subjected himself. It was with this 
thought in mind that with his wife he had visited 
Fortress Monroe in the winter of 1S84, and coming 
northward had met in Washington his brother and 
wife. Here at the Riggs House he was taken vio- 
lently ill with the same ailment which carried off 
Charles Sumner and so many other hard workers, 
viz. : angina pectoris, and alter a brief period of 
agony died February 25. His body was brought 
home for interment and with that of his brother 
sleeps in Rural cemetery. 

From the day that he found himself possessed 
of anything to give, Lucius J. Knowles was a gen- 
erous giver. To his church, to public measures, 
to everything that seemed good and needy he was 
charitable, the Lord, loving a cheerful giver, must 
have had an unusual liking for the Knowles Broth- 
ers. He was long a mainstay in Union Church and 
for many a year one of its cherished deacons. 
While a Congregationalist in his first allegiance, 
few churches ever went to him for aid without get- 
ting it. Though he has passed on to another world 
several thousands of his estate went towards the 
building of the beautiful edifice of the Young Men's 
Christian Association, of which he was a life mem- 
ber. While his home was in the southern part of 
the city, on Main street, and he liad a just and proper 
liking for his vicinage, he w'as not cribbed nor con- 
fined by narrow boundaries. In everything his 
progress was on the very broadest Hnes possible. 
Worcester's most prosperous days have been seen 
under the developing care and assistance of such 
men as the brothers' Knowles, men whose interests 
and affections were here not spread over a section 
so extended that little thickness was possible. Con- 
stant, determined, honest, progressive, would that 
Worcester had more of their kind and character. 

ALONZO WILLIAMS COLE. In the Cole 
family to which Alonzo Williams Cole, of Wor- 
cester, belongs, the tradition of three emigrant 
brothers is confirmed by sufficient proof. John, Job 
and Daniel Cole came to New England in the em- 
ploy of William Collier, a London merchant, in 1633. 
John Cole died in Plymouth, in 1637, and in his will 
mentioned Master Collier's men in describing his 
brothers to whom he made bequests. 

(I) Daniel Cole, the youngest of the trio, first 
appears on the records April 6, 1640, when he owned 



lifty acres of upland granted then. He was re- 
ported as able to bear arms at Yarmouth in 1643, 
and was made a freeman June, 1645, at Yarmouth. 
He was one of the jury that tried Alice Bishop 
for infanticide in 1648. He was a tailor by trade. 
He sold land at Marshfield June 8, 1C49. He re- 
moved to Eastham in 1652. He was a deputy to the 
general court in 1654-57-61-67-89. He was constable 
m 1664 and selectman in 1668-70-71-72-81. 

He died December 21, 1694, aged eighty years. 
His wife Ruth died December 15, 1694, aged sixty- 
six years. Administration was granted to his son 
Israel, on Daniel Cole's estate, January 15, 1695, 
and later an agreement was signed by all the heirs, 
as given in the following list of his children: 1. 
John, see forward. 2. Timothy, born September 4, 
1646. 3. Hepsebah, April 16, 1649; married Daniel 
Doane. 4. Ruth, April 15, 1651; married John 
\oung. 5. Israel, January 8, 1653. 6. James, 
November 3, 1655. 7. Mary, March 10, 1658; mar- 
ried Joshua Hopkins. 8. William, September 15, 
1663. 9. Daniel. 10. Esther or Hester; married 
Medad Atwood. 

(.II) John Cole, cldest'child of Daniel Cole (i), 
was born in Yarmouth, July 16, 1644. He moved 
to Eastham with his parents and lived there during 
most of his active life. He married Ruth Snow, 
daughter of Nicholas Snow, December 12, 1666. 
He was at Groton in 1672, but returned to East- 
ham w'hen the settlers had to abandon their homes 
in 1675-76, m King Philip's war. He was living in 
Eastham again in 1695. His wife died June 27, 
1717. He died June 6, 1725. Their children, most 
of W'hom were born in Eastham were: 1. Ruth, 
born March 11, 1668; married William Twining. 
William (2), William (i). 2. John (see forward). 
3. Hepsibah, June 20, 1672. 4. Hannah, ^March 27, 
1675; died June II, 1677. 5. Joseph, June 11, 1677. 
6. Mary, October 27, 1679. 7. Sarah, June 10, 1682. 

(HI) John Cole, second child of John Cole (2), 
born in Eastham, Massachusetts, March 6, 1670; 

married Mary , who died February 17, 1731-2. 

He died December 13, 1746. Their children were : 

I. Jonathan, born October 4, 1694. -■ John, Octo- 
ber 14, 1696. 3. Mary, August 25, 1698. 4. James, 

October 23. 1700. 5. , January 21, 1703. ■ 6. 

Joshua, March 20, 1705. 7. Moses, July 22, 1707. 
8. Phebe, October 29, 1709. 9. Thankful, October 
20, 1712; died young. 10. Joseph, (see forward). 

II. Thankful, October 19, 1716. 

(IV) Joseph Cole, tenth child of John Cole 
(3), was born in Eastham, Massachusetts, October 
13, 1714. He died in the south parish of Eastham 
in 1800. The records of his children are not at 
hand and that of Jesse, presumed to be his son, is not 
recorded. 

(V) Jesse Cole, believed to be the son of Jo- 
seph Cole (4), born in Eastham, Massachusetts, 
February 4, 1755 ; married January, 1772, Bethia 
Young, of Eastham, of one of the pioneer families 
there. She was born September 21, 1752. Jesse 
Cole was a soldier in the revolution, in Captain 
Solomon Higgins' company of Eastham, enlisted 
July 12, 1775, and served six months, four days in 
defence of the seacoast. He died in the south 
parish of Eastham in 1803. 

The record of his children is not complete. 
Among them were: i. Jesse, Jr., who died in 1800. 
J. Itlisha, (see forward). 

(VI) Elisha Cole, the grandfather oj Alonzo 
Williams Cole, of Worcester. Massachusetts, born 
in Orleans. Massachusetts, June 4. 1784; died there 
.\pril 6, 1865. He was educated in the common 
schools of Orleans, and at an early age studied 
navigation and followed the sea. For many years 



126 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



he was a soa captain, Init finally abandoned this 
occupation and houghl large tracts of land in and 
near Orleans, where he conducted a farm and salt 
works. He raised sheep and tattle and was one 
of the leading men of his day in the town. He 
continued to run his farm up to the time of his 
death. He was a selectman in i8j8 and repre- 
sentative to the general court 1833. He was a 
Universalist iii religion and a Republican, in his 
later years, in politics. He was greatly interested 
in public questions and his one great desire in his 
last years was that he might live until Richmond 
was taken. His wish was gratified. 

He married January 5, 1804, Keziah Doane, 
daughter of Azariah and Polly Doane, and de- 
scendant of the emigrant, John Doane (i), through 
Daniel Doane (2) ; Joseph Doane (3) ; Joshua 
Doane (4). father of Azariah Doane (5). She died 
at Orleans. September 20, 1869. Children were: i. 
Jesse, born September 30, 1804 ; died March 16, 
1806. 2. Bethiah, December 4, 1806; died October 
10, 1808. 3. Meriel, December 25, 1808. 4. Alonzo 
(see forward). 5. Dorinda, January 19, 1814. 6. 
Keziah Doane. July i, 1817. 7. Elisha, June 12, 
1820. 8. Mary Doane, July 16, 1822. 9. Sally, April 
8, 1825. 10. Mark, November 12, 1826; died July 
21, 1849. II. Benjamin, February 10, 1830. 

(VH) Alonzo Cole, fourth child of Elisha Cole 
(6), was born at Orleans, Massachusetts. March 4, 
1812. He received a common school education in 
the schools of his native town. He shipped before 
the mast when very young and followed the sea 
for many years. He was captain of various ves- 
sels. He 'was part owner of his last vessel, a 
barque, the Clara C. Bell. His wife wished to ac- 
company him on one of his voyages, and against 
the wishes of her parents and friends she went 
with him on a voyage south, taking with her their 
only child. Alonzo Williams. While in port at 
Charleston, South Carolina, she was stricken with 
yellow fever and died. He determined to bury the 
body of his wife in Orleans. He succeeded in evad- 
ing the quarantine officers until he reached Boston, 
where some of the crew informed the authorities 
and he was fined for evading the quarantine laws. 
But he succeeded finally in getting the body buried 
in the old graveyard in Orleans after much diffi- 
culty. It cost him fully a thousand dollars to carry 
out his purpose. 

Mr. Cole w'as a Universalist in religion and a 
Republican in politics. He was a Free Mason. 
He married August 20, 1839, Melissa Smith, daugh- 
ter of William and Abigail (Doane) Smith, of Or- 
leans. William Smith was also a sea captain. Their 
only child was Alonzo Williams Cole (see forward). 

(VHI) Alonzo Williams Cole, only child of 
Alonzo Cole (7), was born in Orleans, Massachu- 
setts, March 13, 1844. He attended the common 
schools at Orleans until seventeen when he went 
to East Somerville, Massachusetts, and lived with 
his aunt wdiile attending the Somerville high school. 
He returned to Orleans, but after a short time re- 
moved to Worcester where he lived with another 
aunt. Mrs. A. E. Peck, for about three years, and 
worked in the art store of his uncle, at first. Then 
he decided to learn the trade of machinist and en- 
tered the Loom works of George Cronipton for that 
purpose. After a year and a half he went to work 
for L. W. Pond as a machinist. He was working 
there during the war. He left the shop to enlist 
July 12, 1864, in Company E, Forty-second Massa- 
chusetts Infantry. The company was on guard duty 
in the city of Washington and vicinity. They were 
stationed at Great Falls, Maryland. He was mus- 
tered out November 11, 1864. 



Upon hi> return home, he went to work again 
for L. W. Pond and became a journeyman machinist 
in about a year and a half. He accepted a position 
at Piedmont, West Virginia, as mechanic for the 
Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, but after a year there 
his health obliged him to give up the work. He 
became foreman for Richardson & Merriam, and 
later for Mclver Bros., who succeeded the former 
firm. He remained in a responsible relation to this 
firm for twenty-five years. He worked for Marcus 
Mason & Co.. makers of plantation machinery, and 
the Stowe Shoe Machinery Company for three 
years. He has been for several years tool-maker 
for the A. Burlingame Company, manufacturers of . 
engines. He ranks well among the expert mechanics 
and skilled machinists of a city that has few rivals 
in this respect. Mr. Cole is a man of retiring dis- 
position, greatly attached to his home and busi- 
ness interests. He is highly respected in the church 
and community that knows him. He is an active 
member and one of the trustees of the Trobridge 
Memorial Methodist Church. In politics he is a 
Republican. 

He married Ellen Lucretia Berry, August 6, 
1867, at Worcester, Massachusetts. She was the 
daughter of Zebina and Lucretia H. (Culver) 
Berry, of Worcester. They have one child : Arthur 
Williams Cole, born in Worcester, February 17, 1875, 
married January 23, 1903, Emma Loui.>-e Taylor, 
daughter of Robert C. Taylor, formerly of Webster, 
Massachusetts. He was educated in the Worcester 
schools ; graduate of the high school, also the Wor- 
cester Polytechnic Institute; is at present professor 
in the State University of Maine, near Bangor. 

CYRENUS ALDRICH. George Aldrich (I) 
was the emigrant ancestor of Cyrenus Aldrich, of 
Worcester, Massachusetts. He came in 1631 from 
Derbyshire. England, to America, and settled first 
in Dorchester in New England. In 1640 he was 
in Braintree, and in 1663 he w'as among the first 
seven to arrive in the town of Mendon. He mar- 
ried in England. September 3, 1629, Katherine Seald. 
She was born in 1610 according to a deposition made 
in 1670. He died March i, 1683. His will was 
dated at Mendon, November 2, 1682, and was proved 
April 26, 1683. The children of George and Kath- 
erine Aldrich were : Abel, Joseph, Mary, Miriam, 
E.xperience. John, Sarah, married a Mr. Bartlett; 
Peter, Mercy, married a Mr. Randall ; Jacob, see 
forward ; Martha, married a Mr. Dunbar. 

(II) Jacob Aldrich, son of George Aldrich (i), 
was born Feljruary 28. 1652. He married, Novem- 
ber 3, 1675, Huldah Thayer. He died February 22, 
1695. Their children were: Jacob, Abel, Seth, Hul- 
dah, Rachel, Sarah, David, see forward ; Peter, 
John. Moses, Mercy, and Rachel. 

(III) David Aldrich, seventh child of Jacob 
Aldrich (2), was born in Mendon. Massachusetts, 
May 3, 1685. He married (first) Hannah Capron, 
who died February 20. 1732. He married (second) 

Mehitable . The children of David and 

Hannah (Capron) Aldrich were: David. Edward, 
Elizabeth. -Jonathan, Peter, Jonathan. Margaret, 
Abner, Levi, see forward;' and Ichabod. David 
Aldrich died March 15. 1771. 

(IV) Levi Aldrich, ninth child of David Aldrich 
(3), was born in Mendon. Massachusetts, December 
IQ, T729. He married, February 7, 1745, Abigail 
Hunt. He died December 22. 1795. Their chil- 
dren were: Rufus, Nathan. Levi, Nathaniel, Amasa, 
see forward : Chloe, Phineas, Abigail, Luther, Cal- 
vin, and David. , 

(V) .'Vmasa .Aldrich. fifth child of Levi .Aldrich 
(4). was born in Mendon, Massachusetts, June 13, 



\\'ORCESTER COUXTY 



127 



1760. He married, November I, 1780, Urana Paine. 
She was born September 17, 1763, and died February 
II, 1843. He died December 2, 1813. His widow mar- 
ried (second; Gen. Philemon VVhitcomb, of Swan- 
zey, New Hampshire. Amasa Aldrich went from 
Mendon to Swanzey after the revolution. The chil- 
dren of Amasa and Urana (Paine) Aldrich were: 
Marmaduke, born August 13, 1781 ; Mary, May 27, 
1783; Urana, March 3, 1785; Phineas, May 20, 1787; 
Amasa, March 18, 1789; Paine, see forward; Rufus, 
January 20, 1793, died 1798; Otis, July 6, 1795. died 
1798; David, September 6, 1797; Anna, August 31, 
1799; Paul Fisher, December 26, 1801 ; Jacob, March 
3. 1804, died 1804; John Langdon, March 27, 1805; 
Jethro, May 14, 1807, died 1807; William, Octo- 
ber 20, 1808. 

(VI) Paine Aldrich, sixth child of Amasa 
Aldrich (5), was born in Swanzey, New Hampshire, 
January 4, 1791. He married (first), February 18, 
1813, Sarah (Sally) Hammond, daughter of Joseph 
Hammond. She was born June 17, 1793. Paine 
Aldrich was brought up in his native town and 
attended the schools there. After his marriage he 
removed to Richmond, New Hampshire, wliere he 
bought the Cook Mills at North Richmond and 
repaired and built them over. While there he 
invented the turntable for railroads, and in 1830 
he came to Worcester to manufacture turntables. 
During the early period of railroad building in the 
United States and in fact from the thirties until the 
time of his death Mr. Aldrich had a large demand 
for his contrivance for turning around locomotives, 
cheaply and quickly. He built his shop first where 
the Aldrich House stands near Aldrich Place. He 
associated with him in the business his son Cyrenus 
Aldrich. He invested largely in Worcester real 
estate. He bought pasture land in the vicinity of 
Pleasant street and on both sides of High street 
between Pleasant and Chatham streets. He built 
brick houses on the street opposite his works. For 
a time he lived in a house on the site of the 
present Hotel Newton. Later he built a fine house 
on the present site of Hotel Adams. He owned 
large tracts of land on Chatham, Clinton and Irving 
streets, and in that section of the city which be- 
came very valuable as the period of rapid growth 
which made the town a city came in the forties, and 
they became in time some of the most valuable resi- 
dential property in the city. He died August, 1871, 
and the business ceased to exist soon afterward. 
Another patent iron turntable took the place of the 
Aldrich design, but at that tiine there was practically 
no railroad in the country that did not have the 
Aldrich turntable in use. They were built in Wor- 
cester and shipped in sections to all parts of the 
country and exported to foreign lands. Mr. Aldrich 
acquired large wealth for his day and invested it 
wisely. 

Mr. Aldrich Was modest and retiring in dispo- 
sition, notwithstanding his material successes and 
his position in the business world, and was highly 
esteemed and respected in the community. During 
his last years he was in feeble health and was con- 
fined to his bed for a year before he died. He 
attended the First Universalist Church and later the 
Salem Square Congregational Church while Rev. 
Mr. Richardson was pastor. In politics he was a 
Whig, later a Republican, but never active in party 
affairs and never sought office. He was a member 
of no secret societies. He was a member of the 
Worcester County Mechanics Association. He mar- 
ried (second) Sophia Capron, widow, who survived 
him. The children of Paine and Sarah (Hammond) 
Aldrich were : Harriet, see forward ; Cyrenus, see 
forward. 



(VII) Harriet Aldrich, daughter of Paine 
Aldrich (6), was born in Swanzey, New Hampshire 
She married Erastus Metcalf, of Rindge, New 
Hampshire, and they afterwards lived in Filzwilliam, 
New Hampshire, where she died June 2. 1865. The' 
children of Erastus and Harriet (Aldrich) Met- 
calf were: i. Elizabeth, born November 13, 1835, 
married lieiioni Fullam, son of Judge Fullam, of 
Ludlow, Vermont. 2. Sarah Jane, born February 9. 
1838, married James F. Kettell, of Worcester, and had 
four children: Jennie Maria, born October 2, i'863, 
married George F. Hutchins, of Worcester, and had 
one child, Richard, born April 28, 1881 ; Henry James 
Kettell, born April 19, 1869, married Mary Good- 
win, of Worcester, and had two children: James, 
born August 23, 1898, and Katherine Kettell, born 
July 25, 1905. John Frederick Kettell, born No- 
vember 29, 1865, deceased; Frank Kettell, born 
January 26, 1873, married Maud Barnes; no chil- 
dren. 3. Melissa Metcalf, born February 8, 1840, 
married George W. Davis, of Hudson, Massachu- 
setts, and had two children: George Fred Davis, 
unmarried; Fannie Melissa Davis, married Ralph 
Joslyn, of Hudson. Massachusetts, and has three 
children: Ralph Davis Joslyn; Mary Joslyn, and 
James Metcalf Joslyn. 4. Hammond Cyrenus Met- 
calf, born January 9, 1842, unmarried. 5. Helen 
Sophia Metcalf. born February 21, 1S46. married 
Henry F. Smith, of Woburn, Massachusetts, and 
had three children: Henry. Caroline and Ralph. 

(VH) Cyrenus Aldrich, only son of Paine 
Aldrich (6), was born in Swanzey. New Hamp- 
shire, September 24, 1815. He attended the schools 
of that town. He was raised orr the old farm in 
the same town with "Joshua Whitcomb," and worked 
with his father on the homestead, in the mill and 
in the turntable business. The firm of Paine Aldrich 
& Son was formed when Cyrenus was still a young 
man. The junior member of the firm superintended 
the construction of the turntables and set them up 
for the railroads. They were made in Worcester 
and shipped in sections. As his father's health be- 
gan to fail in the sixties he gradually assumed 
charge of the entire business. At the close of the 
civil war his father retired from business on ac- 
count of his health and he also discontinued the 
business. The last three turntables were made and 
set up in New Brunswick, for European and North 
American Railroad. 

Mr. Aldrich retired from active business and gave 
his time to his investments, and property. He at- 
tended the old Pleasant Street Baptist Church which 
stood where the present Lothrop's Opera House 
stands. He was a quiet and unassuming, amiable 
and democratic in his disposition. He devoted all 
his time to his business and his home. He was a 
Republican after the party was organized. He 
was a member of the Worcester County Mechanics' 
Association and of the old Worcester Light In- 
fantry, and later of the Veteran Association. He 
married, February 25, 184s. Sarah Patch, daughter 
of William W. and Sarah (Willard) Patch, of 
Worcester. William Patch was a prosperous farmer. 
He was the son of Joseph and Hannah (Flagg) 
Patch, of Worcester, and was born January i, 1794. 
(See sketch of Hartshorn Family for his anccstrv.) 
Both Willard and Patch families date from the 
early .settlement of New England. 

The children of Cyrenus and Sarah (Patch) 
Aldrich were: I. Eldora Metclla. born September 16. 
1846; is living at the homestead, 22 High street. 
Worcester, unmarried ; 2. William Paine, born De- 
cember 18. T848. married Charlotte Gibb. of New 
York city. October 16. 1876. and had four chil- 
dren : Grace Eldora .'\ldricli. born November 9. 



128 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



1877, married William Sumner Radway, of Ricli- 
Inond, Virginia, and they have two children, All)ert 
Beverly Radway, born July 12, 19OJ, and Charles 
Aldrich Radway, born December 4, 1903. William 
Paine Aldrich, Jr., born July 26, 1879, unmarried ; 
Sarah Alice Aldrich, born September 26, 1881, died 
April, 1883; Edith JMarion Aldrich, born July 24, 
1885, unmarried. William Paine is the proprietor 
of a large cloth printing business, plant located at 
Passaic, New Jersey', and an office in New York 
city; also a bleaching and dyeing plant at Dela- 
wanna, New Jersey. 3. Frank Edgar, born May 
20, 1854; was associated with his brother in the 
cloth printing business in New York city ; died 
December 2, 1903; married Louise M. Love, of 
Providence, Rhode Island, and had one child, Roger 
Cyrenus Aldrich, born February 13, 1879, who mar- 
ried May Locke, of Brooklyn, but now living at 
Reading, Pennsylvania. They have two children : 
Roger Williams, born October 12, 1902, and Harold 
Locke, born November 12, 1905. Cyrenus Aldrich 
died January 12, 1889. 

GEORGE FARNUM HEWETT. William 
Hewett (I), great-grandfather of George F. Hewett, 
of Worcester, is believed to be a descendant of 
Thomas Hewett, who was a proprietor of Hing- 
ham, Massachusetts, 1647, settled in Uxbridge among 
the pioneers of that town, bought land in Sutton, 
February 25, 1779, and other parcels later, and 
resided in Sutton the latter part of his life. He 
bought land in Ward (now Auburn) in 1803 of 
Eliphalet and Tamar Holman, and his sons Daniel 
and William Hewett lived there several years. He 

married Patience . Their children were: I. 

William, Jr., see forward. 2. Daniel. 3. Phinehas. 
4. Alanson. 5. Henry. 6. A daughter, married a 
Cummings, and had Sabrina and Abel Cummings. 

7. Hammond Jewett. 8. Patience, married 

Blackman. 9. Rhoda, married Hammond. 10. Eli, 
residuary legatee. 

(H) William Hewett, son of William Hewett 
(l). born in Sutton, now Northbridge, Massachu- 
setts, August I, 1778. died at Grafton, Vermont, 
1850; married, in Uxbridge, January 14, 1802, 
Lurany Leonard Paine, born in Uxbridge, January 
I, 1777, died at Northbridge, February 29, 1806. 
He married (second) Nabby (or Abigail), daugh- 
ter of Francis and Sally Holman, of Millbury, be- 
fore December 15, 1808. He had one son, Elbridge, 
by the first marriage ; see forward. His other chil- 
dren were : Lurania, born in Sutton, March 13, 
1809, recorded in Auburn ; Sally, born in North- 
bridge (recorded in Auburn), June 11. 1811; Fran- 
cis Holman. born in Auburn, May 29. 1814. 

(HI) Elbridge Hewett, son of William Hewett, 
Jr. (2), born in Sutton, now- Northbridge. Massa- 
chusetts, August II. 1804, died in Worcester, March 
I7> 1877; married in Grafton, February 20, 1827, 
Nancy Wadsworth. He resided in Grafton, where 
he owned a farm. About the time of his marriage 
he removed to Worcester and opened a store at the 
corner of Central and Summer streets. He kept 
a general store including West India goods, and 
later added a lumber yard on Central street, near 
the Blackstone canal, which was then in full opera- 
tion. He dealt extensively in lumber and wood 
in the adjoining towns. He owned the last canal 
boat which ran on the Blackstone canal. His son, 
George F. Hewett. has an interesting oil painting 
showing the location of the store and vicinity sev- 
enty-five years ago, before the railroads had begun 
to alter the map of Worcester. The great industries 
of_ Worcester started in the very neighborhood of 
this store, and many of them have outgrown the 



locality. The brick factories and mills in this neigh- 
borhood are among the oldest landmarks of the 
city. Mr. Hewett had the contract with merchants 
to water the streets of Worcester when conditions 
warranted it. He had a farm at Northville, m 
Worcester. About i860 he removed his store from 
Central street to the corner of Glue and Hanover 
streets, where later his son erected a brick block. 
Children of Elbridge and Nancy (Wadsworth) 
Hewett: i. Andrew Fuller, died unmarried. 2. 
Mary L., married John Wheeler, resided in Graf- 
ton, where she now lives, a widow ; he was a shoe 
manufacturer. 3. Caroline, died in Grafton, un- 
married. 4. George Farnum, see forward. 

(IV) George Farnum Hewett, son of Elbridge 
Hewett (3), was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, 
July 5, 1836. He was educated in Worcester in the 
public schools, the high school and Worcester Acad- 
emy, where he studied several terms. He worked 
for a time in his father's store, but in 1854 decided 
to follow the advice of Horace Greeley ; went west 
and found employment on the Cleveland & Toledo 
Railroad, now the Michigan Southern, begmning as 
a brakeman, and was promoted to various posi- 
tions during the six j'ears he remained with the 
company. About 1857, when serving as station 
agent at a new railroad junction first called Clay 
Junction, he had the privilege of naming the town 
that sprang up there. He culled it Millbury, and it 
has since grown into a thriving town of considerable 
importance. It is about eight miles from Toledo, 
Ohio. Mr. Hewett built a saw mill there. In the 
fall of 1859 Mr. Hewett left the railroad business 
and returned to Worcester. He was associated with 
his father for a time, but in i860 started in business 
for himself, laying the foundation for the extensive 
interests of which he has since been the head. 
He began with a shop on Front street, in the rear 
of a store in the Front Street Theatre building. 
Three years later he took the store now occupied 
by Hall & Lyon, druggists, and extended his busi- 
ness to the wholesale and retail liquor trade. He 
removed a few years later to a large store on the 
corner of Foster and Waldo streets, near the pres- 
ent location. In 1S99 the business was removed to 
the present location at 41, 43 and 45 Waldo street, 
to a building especially erected for l\Ir. Hewett by 
the heirs of Dwight Foster. It has a frontage of 
one hundred feet on Waldo street and a depth of 
one hundred and twenty-five feet extending through 
to Commercial street, having a height of four stories 
in front and five at the rear. The building and 
plant was constructed from plans designed specially 
to handle the business to the best advantage. The 
product of the George F. Hewett Company bottling 
works is the largest of any in New England, and 
the plant and equipment is the largest and best. 
The George F. Hewett Company deals in ales, lager 
and porter, bottled at the shop, also in the leading 
brands of bourbon and rye whiskies, imported wines 
and cordials, and Continental gin. The business of 
bottling gives employment to a hundred men. Al- 
ready the spacious quarters are overtaxed, and an 
addition is being built. The business was incor- 
porated in 1891 as the George F. Hewett Company, 
with a capital of $50,000, George F. Hewett presi- 
dent and treasurer. 

Mr. Hewett has not allowed business to engross 
his time completely. He is one of the best known 
Free Masons of Worcester, having taken all the 
degrees in the Scottish Rite, and having held the 
chairs in all the degrees. He is a member of 
Quinsigamond Lodge, Hiram Council. St. Andrews 
Chapter, the Boston Commandery, Knights Temp- 
lar, and was at the head of the Worcester Lodge of 



1 




'^cny<^ r^y /ft>U-t:jr 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



129 



Perfection for five years. He holds the rank of 
captain in the Ancient and Honorable Artillery 
Company of Boston, and having been over twenty- 
five years a member is on the veteran list. He 
was one of the charter members of the Worcester ■ 
Continentals. He is a member of the Worcester 
Jilks. the Royal Arcanum and the Red Men. In 
politics he has always been a Deinocrat, except 
from 1896 to 1900 w-hen he voted against Bryanism 
and free silver. He was in the board of aldermen 
one year and the common council for eight years. 
He represented Ward 3 in the council and Ward 
7 in the board of aldermen, served on the finance 
committee, and was deeply interested in the City 
Hospital, of which he was a trustee. Mr. Hewett 
married, 1858, at Painesville, Ohio; Maria L. Knox, 
whose mother married (second) Elbridgc Hewett, 
at Stafford Springs, Connecticut. They have had 
one child: Mabel E., born September, i860, married 
Charles F. Bigelow, of Worcester, lately deceased, 
and had one daughter, Helen Bigelow, now living 
in Worcester with her mother at her home, 69 
Cedar street. Mr. Hew-ett resides at the Standish 
Hotel, 767 Main street Worcester. 

WADSWORTH FAMILY. Christopher Wads- 
worth (I), one of the early settlers of Cambridge, 
Massachusetts, was an emigrant ancestor of George 
Farnuiu Hewett, of Worcester, through his mother's 
line. Christopher Wadsworth is believed to have 
been the son of Thomas Wadsworth, from the 
records in a Bible he brought with him and which 
is now owned by the Cowles family in Hartford, 
Connecticut. He was born in England, and is be- 
lieved to have come in the same ship with William 
Wadsworth. who may have been his brother. Will- 
iam came in the ship "Lion," which sailed Sunday, 
September 16, 1632, with one hundred and twenty- 
three passengers, of which fifty were children. After 
a twelve weeks voyage the ship touched at Cape 
Ann, and five days later landed in Boston. William 
settled in Cambridge, and in 1636 removed to Hart- 
ford. Christopher lived and died at Duxbiiry. He 
was a prominent citizen m a tow-n where such 
prominent men as Miles Standish, Elder Brewster 
and John Alden lived. He married Grace Cole. 
He was the first constable, then an office of more 
importance relatively than the sheriff is now : was 
deputy to general court, selectman and highway 
surveyor at various times. The first record men- 
tioning his name at Du.xbury is under date of 1633. 
In 1638 he drew land in Holly Swamp, and the site 
of his house is west of Captain's Hill, ne-ar the 
new road to Kingston ; his lands ran clear to the 
bay. on what w-as formerly known as Morton's 
Hole. The homestead remained in the family until 
1855 when it w-as sold. The will of Christopher, 
dated July 31, 1677. was filed September, 1678. Of 
his four children. Joseph and John lived and died 
in Duxbury; Captain Samuel removed to Milton, and 
was killed by the Indians in the fight at Sudbury, 

1676. The children were: i. Mary, married ■ 

Andrews. 2. John, born 16,38, died 1700. married 
Abigail .\ndrews, 1667; she died 1723; he lived on 
the old homestead of Christopher; was deacon of 
the church at Du.xbury many years : had eleven 
children. 3. Joseph, horn 1636, died 1689. married 
Abigail Wait. 1655; second wife was Mary:- six 
children. ■ 4. Samuel, probably the eldest son. 

(II) Captain Samuel Wadsworth. son of Christo- 
pher Wadsworth (i). probably born 1630. lived at 
Bridgewater. then Du.xbury plantation, where he was 
a taxpayer in 1655 to 1665. About 1655 he married 
Abigail Lundall, of Duxbury. He occupied the land 
at Bridgewater owned by his father, and h;id a 
9 



sixty-fourth mtercst in the township. His son 
i imothy succeeded his grandfather as owner in 1686. 
Captain Samuel and his brother Joseph Wads- 
worth owned land at Bridgewater longer than any 
others of the early .settlers after they moved aw^ay 
from the town. Captain Samuel bought a beautiful 
tract of land in Dorchester in what is now Milton, 
about 1660. The farm was bctwx-en the Blue Hills, 
Milton, and Boston. Some of this property is now 
or was recently owned by descendants, having been 
in the family ever since the first settlement. Cap- 
tam Samuel was a man of means and influence, 
actrve in church and state. His descendants of the 
name of Wadsworth are more numerous than those 
of any of his brothers. He had six sons. He was 
a soldier in King Philip's war, in command of the 
Milton company.^ In .April, 1676, he was ordered to 
Marlboro with fifty men to strengthen the garrison 
in that town. On the way thither his command 
passed through Sudbury, where the Indians were 
in hiding. .After Captain Wadsworth reached Marl- 
boro he learned that the Indians had attacked the 
settlement at Sudbury and burned the houses on 
east side of the Sudbury river. The Watertown 
soldiers under Captain Hugh Mason checked the 
enemy, but Wadsworth hurried to his relief without 
waiting for his men to rest, though ihey had 
marched all day and all night before. Captain 
Brocklebank went with the company and some of 
the Marlboro garrison. Captain Wadsworth and his 
men were ambushed by about five hundred Indians, 
with the usual war-whoops and savage attack. After 
a desperate struggle" for five hours Wadsworth had 
lost five men : the Indians had lost more than a 
hundred. But as night approached the Indians set 
fire to the dry grass, the smoke blinding the 
colonists, and they were obliged to abandon their 
sheltered position and were literally cut to pieces. 
Captain Wadsworth. covered with wounds, it is 
said, was one of the last to fall. Thirty men, in- 
cluding Captain Brocklebank, Captain Wadsworth 
and two other officers were slain, and were buried 
hi one grave. The twenty who escaped found refuge 
in a mill that had been fortified, and were rescued 
by Captain Prentice and Captain Crowell. Five or 
six were taken prisoners and tortured to death by 
fire. "The date of this figlit was April, 1676. some 
authorities giving the i8th. others the 21st. (Taptain 
Wadsworth is described as "that resolute, stout- 
hearted soldier, one worthy to live in our history 
under the name of a good" man.". The first monu- 
ment to hiin and his comrades in arms buried on 
the battle field at Sudbury was erected by his son. 
President Wadsworth. of Harvard College. On No- 
vember 27. 1S52. a monument built by the joint 
action of the commonwealth of Massachusetts and 
the town of Sudbury was dedicated. .At that time 
the twenty-nine bodies were all found, the marks of 
the wounds showing in some cases after a lapse of 
nearly two hundred years. Children of Captain 
-Samuel Wadsworth: i. Christopher, born 1661, died 
1687 (his grave is marked by the oldest stone in 
the graveyard at Milton). 2. Ebenezer, see forward. 
3. Timothy, born 1662. 4. Joseph, born 1667. 5. 
Benjamin, born 1670. 6. Abigail, born 1672. mar- 
ried .A. Boardman. 7. John, born 1674. died 1734. 

(Ill) Ebenezer Wadsworth. son of Captain Sam- 
uel Wadsworth (2). was among the early settlers 
of Milton. Massachusetts, where he was born. 1660. 
died 1 717. He married Mary , and their chil- 
dren w-ere : I. Mary, born 1684. married Simp- 
son. 2. Samuel, horn 1685 ; was lieutenant in Mil- 
ton company; died 1754; married .Ann Withington. 
3. Recompense, see forward. 4. George, born 1698, 



130 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



in Milton, died 1778; married Hannah Pitcher; was 
farmer and miller at Stonghton, Massachusetts; 
ensign in Captain Goffe's company in French war; 
had seven children. 

(IV) Recompense Wadsworth, son of Ebenezer 
Wadsworth (3), born at Milton, 1688, died 17^9! 
married Sarah Morey ; their children: I. Sarah, 
born 171S, died 1728. 2. Mary, born 1718, married 
Jeremiah Tucker. 3. David, see forward. 4. Jona- 
than, born 1722, at Roxbury, removed from Milton 
about 1755, died 1798 (gored to death by a bull) ; 
married. 1742, Rebecca Davenport, of Milton, born 
in Roxbury, 1723; ten children. 

(V) David Wadsworth, son of Recompense 
Wadsworth (4). born in Milton, 1720, died Decem- 
ber s, 1749, in (jrafton, Massachusetts, where he re- 
moved and settled ; married Hannah Paul ; their 
children: i. David, see forward. 2. Ebenezer, born 

.\ngust 20, 174s, in Milton, married Lucy and 

Patience Swift. 3. Samuel, born September 28, 
I747,at Grafton, died 1842; married Margery Hutch- 
inson; seven children. 4. Sarah, married Joseph 
Merriam, 

(VI) David Wadsworth, son of David Wads- 
worth (5), born at Grafton. 1741, died 1821 : married 
Elizabeth Whipple, born 1744, died October 31, 1827; 
their children: i. Susannah, born at Grafton, Sep- 
temljer 13, 1765, married Peter Farnum. 2. David, 
born July S, 1767; scythe manufacturer at Barre, 
Massachusetts ; "married Virtue Willard. 3. Jona- 
than, see forward. 4. John, born July 18, 1771, 
settled at Barre; died 1833: married Lois Warren; 
twelve children. 5. Jacob, bom August 24, 1773, 
died April 11, 1774. 6. Samuel, born June 18. 1775, 
died 1812 ; married Elizabeth Barnes. 7. Ebenezer, 
born June 24, 1777, died August 5, 1777. 8. Moses, 
born October 30, 1778; married Elizabeth Tisdale, 
and removed to Walpole, Massachusetts. 9. Paul, 
born February 9, 1781, died December 16, 1783. 10. 
Joseph, born March 29, 1784: scythe manufacturer 
at Auburn. New York; married Anna Barnes, died 

1854. 

(VII) Jonathan Wadsworth, son of David 
Wadsworth (6), born at Grafton, in the section now 
called Farnnmsville, May 23, 1769, died 1850. He 
married, in Grafton, 1790. Tabitha, born in Grafton, 
May 8. 1772, died in 1853, daughter of Captain Jo- 
seph Warren. (See Warren Family.) Children 
of Jonathan and Tabitha (Warren) Wadsworth: I. 
Mary, born November ig, 1790, married Jameg Mar- 
tin; died June 15, 1833. '2. Sally, born August 24, 
1794, married Paul Farnum : died April 9, 1829, 
Boston. 3. Nancy, see forward. 4. David, born 
1800, died young. 5. David, born October 20, 1803, 
South Boston ; married, December 8, 1825, Caroline 
Metcalf; nine children. 6. Eliza Ann, born June 9, 
1806. married Zephaniah Frost. 7. Lucina, born 
May 5, 1808. married Adolphus Fowler, 1829. 8. 
Susan, born June 3, 1810, married Calvin Taft. 1834; 
died October 23. 1837. 9. Jonathan, born October 
30. i8t6, died June 3, 1833. 

(VIII) Nancy Wadsworth, daughter of Jonathan 
Wadsworth (7), born March 11, 1798, died Decem- 
ber 29, i8s9; married Elbridge Hewett. 

WARREN FAMILY. John Warren (I), was 
■an emigrant ancestor of George Farnum Hewett. of 
Worcester, through his mother's mother's line. John 
Warren came to America in 1630 at the age of forty- 
five. He was born in England, therefore, in 1585. 
He settled in Watertown, Massachusetts, where he 
was made freeman May 18, 1631. In 1635 he and 
Abraham Browne were appointed to lay out high- 
ways and see that they were repaired. His home- 
stall of twelve acres, drawn 1642, was boiinded by 



the homestalls of William Hammond. John Biscoe 
and Isaac Sterne, and he had seven other lots, 
amounting in all to one hundred and seventy-six 
acres. He sympathized with the Quakers, and was 
"at odds with the Puritan church. In October, 1651, 
he and Thomas Arnold were fined for an offense 
against the laws concerning baptism. He was warned 
March 14, 1658-9, for not attending church, and later 
fined for neglecting to go to church fourteen Sab- 
baths, at the rate of twenty shillings each. May 
27. 1661, his house was searched for Quakers. His 
neighbor Hammond was also suspected of harbor- 
nig the persecuted Quakers. His wife Margaret died 
November 6. 1662. He died December 13, 1667, 
aged eighty-two. His will, dated November 30, 
1667, was proved December 17, 1667. His children, 
all born in England, were: i. John, see forward. 
2. Mary, born in England ; married, October 30, 
1642, John Bigelow. 3. Daniel, born 1628, took the 
oath of fidelity, 1652. 4. Elizabeth, married about 
1654, James Knapp. 

(II) Captain John Warren, son of John Warren 
(i), was born in England. 1622. He took a prom- 
inent part in town affairs at Watertown ; was select- 
man in 1676 during the war. His will is dated Janu- 
ary 12, 1702-3, and proved February 22 same year. 
He married, July 11, 1667. Michal. widow of Richard 
Bloys and daughter of Robert Jennison. She died 
July 14, 1713. Their children: i. Margaret, born 
May 6, 1668, died unmarried, 1703. 2. Sarah, born 
January 25, 1670-1. 3. Elizabeth, born July 8. 1673; 
married October 18. 1705, Daniel Harrington. 4. 
Mary, born May 25, 1675; married December 30, 
1698. Joseph Peirce. 5. John, born May 21, 1678. 
6. Grace, born May 12. 1679-80; died unmarried, 
January, 1703. 7. Sainuel, born January 23, 1683; 
married Lydia Cutting; he died November 13, 1759; 
she died July 15. 1766. 

(III) John Warren, son of Captain John War- 
ren (2), settled in Weston. He married first, Abigail 
Hastings, died July 19, 1710; second. May 14, 171 1, 
Lydia Fiske. His estate was administered by his 
wife Lydia, appointed July 29, 1726. She married 
(second) in Watertown. June 17, 1730. Benjamin 
Harrington. Children of John and Abigail (Hast- 
ings) Warren were: i. John, born April 3, 1701 ; a 
blacksmith at Marlboro. 2. Sarah, born ' September 
20. 1702; married, October 29, 1725, Samuel Har- 
rington. 3. Samuel, see forward. 4. Thomas, born 
March 11. 1705-6: married, 1727, Lydia Mixer. 5. 
David, born June 22. 1708; married, June 22, 1733, 
Martha Coolidge "Jr." 6. Lydia. born 1712. 7. Ben- 
jamin, born April 4, 1715. 8. David, born January 
5, 1716-7. 9. Abigail, born October 28. 1719. 10. 
Lucy, born October 26, 1721. 11. William, born 
October 21, 1723, died 1739. 12. John, baptized 
1725. 

(IV I Captain Samuel Warren, son of John War- 
ren (3). born March 18. 1703-4, died January 26, 
1775. Captain Samuel Warren came to Grafton, 
from Weston in 1730. He was oni of the original 
members of the church there. His daughter Sarah 
was the first white child born in the town of Graf- 
ton. His house was a log cabin at first nearly 
opposite Chapin's Lane. He was captain of a com- 
pany that marched to the relief of Fort William 
Henry, March 25, 1757. He married, at Weston, 
Massachusetts, August 26. 172S. Tabitha, born 1702. 
died April 21, 1765, daughter of Joseph and Sarah 
(Waite) Stone. Their children: I. Samuel, born 
April 20. 17,10: married. May 29. 1754. Eunice Cor- 
bet, of Mcndon. 2. Sarah, born December 24, 1731 ; 
married Phineas Leland. 3. Rebecca, born April- 16, 
1733. 4. .Abigail, born April 29, 1735. 5. John, born 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



'31 



\ugust 8, 1736; died September 8, 1755. 6. Tabitha, 
)orn August 6. 1738, died September 7, 1754. 7. 
t\illiam, born May 2g, 1740, removed to Conway. 
i. David, born Marcb 24, 1742; married Prudence 
iVhipple. 9. Joseph, see forwarcl. 10, Martha, born 
VI ay 31, 1747. 

(V) Captain Joseph Warren, son of Captain 
Samuel (4), born April 22, 1745, died July 19, 
1808; married, March 28, 1765, Lois Lyon, born 
[746, died February 7. 1816. In February, 1763, he 
,vas a private in Captain Ebenezer Cox's regiment 
n His Majesty's service. He was sergeant in Cap- 
ain Luke Drury's company. He responded to the 
Lexington call. In April, 1776, he was made 
lecond lieutenant in Captain Nathaniel Sher- 
nan's company. Colonel John Goulding's regiment. 
He marched August I, 1777, with his company to 
:he relief of Bennington. Children of Captain' Jo- 
seph Warren: I. Samuel, born December 7, 1765, 

Harried Stow, and (second) Widow Crovv- 

nshield ; removed to Wethersfield. Connecticut. 2. 
Fohn. born November 28, 1767; married Polly 
Chapin and Susannah Grout. 3. Sally, born No- 
.-ember 30, 1769: married Gardner Brown, of Sut- 
;on. November, 1 791. 4. Tabitha, see forward. 5. 
Lois, born June 14, 1779; married, November 12, 
1797, John Wadsworth. 6. Phila, born February 
21, 1783; married, March 12, iSor, Nathaniel 
Whipple. 7. Delphia, born November 3, 1786, died 
[869. unmarried. 

(VI) Tabitha Warren, daughter of Captain Jo- 
;e.Dh Warren (5), married Jonathan Wadsworth. 
She was the mother of Mrs. Elbridge Hewett, 
iiother of George F. Hewett. (See Wadsworth 
Family and George F. Hewett.) 

PAINE FAMILY. Stephen Paine (i), from 
vhom so many of the families of the name in Amer- 
ca traces their descents, was an emigrant ancester of 
jeorge Farnum Hewett, of Worcester through his 
'ather's mother. INIrs. William Hewett. The sub- 
;tance of the following account of the family is 
aken from a sketch written some years ago by 
Slathaniel Paine, vice-president of the Worcester 
Frust Company, who also wrote the history of the 
Paine family in Worcester. 

Stephen Paine was descended from a family of 
jreat Ellin^liam, a parish in the Hundred of 
jhropham, near Hingham, Norfolk county, Eng- 
and. He was a miller by trade. He came to New 
Sngland with a large party from Hingham and vi- 
cinity in 1638, in the ship "Diligent," John Martin, 
naster, with a family consisting of his wife, three 
iOns and four servants. There are records subse- 
juently of only two sons, however. One died early 
)r returned to England. Paine settled at Hingham, 
n Plymouth Colony, where lie had land grants, 
ie was admitted a freeinan in 1639, and elected a 
leputy to general court 1641. In 1641-2 he and 
bur others obtained leave of general court to .set- 
le Seekonk, and he removed to that place, which was 
ifterward called -Rehoboth, in 1643-4. There he 
)ecanie prominent, holding many offices of honor and 
rust ; was made a townsman, an office of some im- 
wrtance. 1644; in 1645 he was again sent to the gen- 
;ral court and continued to represent Seekonk, until 
660. also held various town offices until 1671. He 
Jecame a founder of the town of Attleboro. i\lassa- 
chusetts in 1661, he and his sons Stephen and 
Slathaniel being among those who bought .-\ttle- 
)oro, of. the Indians. They also owned the tract 
ivhic^ includes the present town of Swansea, Massa- 
chusetts, and Barrington. Rhode Island. 

Stephen Paine died in .-Xugust. 1679, outliving 
)Oth his sons. His first wife died January 20, 



1660. He married (second) Alice, widow of Wil- 
liam Parker of Plymouth and Taunton, Massachu- 
setts. She died December 5, 1682. His children 
Nathaniel and Stephen both born in England. 

(II) Stephen Paine, son of Stephen Paine (l), 
born 1629, in Norfolk county, England, was nine 
year.s old when he came to New England with his 
folks. He settled with them at Hingham, and re- 
moved with them to Rehoboth in 1643-4. He be- 
came a prominent citizen there, taking the oath of 
fidelity in 1657. He was a tanner by trade. He 
was active in town afifairs and held a number of 
offices. He may have resided a few years at Swan- 
sea, where he and his father owned land. He 
was active in King Philip's war under Major Wil- 
liam Bradford, as a soldier and also as a contrilni- 
tor to the war fund. He died at Rehoboth, Jan- 
uary 1677-8. His wife Anne married (second) 
Thomas Metcalf, of Rehoboth. Children of Stephen 
and Ann Paine: i. Stephen, born September 29, 
1651 ; married Elizabeth, daughter of Rev. Ebenezer 
Williams, of Taunton; married (second) Mary 
Brintnall, August 12, 1707; was deputy to general 
court 1694 and 1703. 2. Rebecca, born October 20, 
1656; married, December 24, 1673, Peter Hunt, Jr.; 
married (second) Samuel Peck, November 21, 1677. 
3. John, born April 3, 1658, resided at Swansea, 
1683; surveyor of highways there 1686; married 
Elizabeth Belcher and had large family. 4. Mary, 
born May II, 1660. married October 29, 1678-9. 
'Eaioch Hunt, of Rehoboth. 5. Samuel, born, at 
Relioboth, ^lay 12, 1662, married Anne Peck, of 
Rehoboth, December 16, 1685; married (second) 
Mrs. .Abigail Fussell of Woonsocket ; removed 1708 
from Rehoboth to Woonsocket, Rhode Island. 6. 
Elizabeth, born August 27, 1664, married February 
ID, 1685, Jacob Pepper. 7. Sarah, born October 12, 
1666; died April 17, 171 1; married, November 23, 
1688, Daniel Alden. 8. Nathaniel, born Sep- 
tember 20. 1667; married May i, 1694, Dorothy 
Chaffee. 

(HI) Samuel Paine, son of Stephen Paine (2). 
born at Rehoboth, August 12, 1662 ; married, Decem- 
ber 16. 1685, Anne Peck, born December 22, 1667, 
at Rehoboth, daughter of Deacon Samuel and Sarah 
(Hunt) Peck. Sarah Hunt was daughter of Peter 
Hunt, Sr., and granddaughter of Enoch Hunt, the 
emigrant. Joseph Peck, grandfather of ."Vnne, came 
over in the "Diligent" with Stephen Paine from old 
Hingham. Norfolk county, England, with his family 
and servants. Anne (Peck) Paine died February 
26, 1703, soon after the birth of Daniel, her last 
child. Samuel married second (intentions January 

18. 1708-9), Abigail, daughter of Bartholomew, 

widow of Joseph Frizzell. She was admitted in full 
communion in the church May 5, 1728, died January 
i.l, I75-, aged seventy-nine. Samuel died May 11, 
1735- The graves of Samuel and his wives are 
marked by stones in the old graveyard at East 
Providence, Rhode Island. Children of Samuel : 
I. Samuel, born September 13, 1686, removed to 
Pomfret, Connecticut, 1705-6: married Ruth, 
daughter of Abraham and Sarah Perrin ; she was 
born March 30, 1688, probably -at Rehoboth; both 
admitted to church at Pomfret. September, 1719; 
was on petition for town charter: held office; wife 
died June 5. 1725: he died February 15, 1725. 2. 
.•\nne, born September 15. 1688; married, March 13, 
1717, Peter Hunt, his second wife. 3. Scth, born 
.August 20. 1690; married Mary Morris, removed 
to Connecticut. 4. Judith, born February 18, 1695, 
married January 5. 1719, Tchabod Peck, of Reho- 
both, brother of Ensign Daniel Peck; nine chil- 
dren. 5. Noah, born May 28, 1696; married Jan- 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



132 

uarv 11 171^ Mfhitable Storrs, born March 30, 
.709. 6.' Daniel, born February 22, 1702-3, 7- 
Rebecca, born 1710; married, Jnly 4, '7-U, Deliver- 
ance Cleveland, of Canterbury, Connecticut, where 
she died 1784. 8. Ebenezer, see f°"y"d- 

(iV) Ebenezer Paine, son of Samuel ir-aine 
(■X) was born 171 1. His mother was a grand- 
daugh er of John Grosvernor, of Roxbury, who 
dted September 27, 1691. (The only gravestone 
in the Roxbury, Massachusetts graveyard bearing 
a coat-of-anns is that of John Grosvenor.) He was 
a tanner and town constable; had property m 
Pomfret, where his children went m 1700 with his 
widow. She died 1738, aged eighty-seven. Eben- 
Tzer Paine settled in Woodstock, Connecticut. He 
owned the covenant in 1740; served on several im- 
pXnt church committees for the town ; admit ed 
freeman 1749; served as constable. He died March 
29 T789, aged seventy-eight years; his wife died 
May 23. 1758. Their children; I. Mary, born .at 
West Woodstock, Connecticut (where all the chil- 
dren were born), September 23, 1737, married May 
2 1769, Moses Pernn, of Woodstock (the records 
tell us that she died of the bite of a skunk). 2. 
Ebenezer Jr., born December 16. 1739; married 
r766 Esther, born May 2, I743, daughter of Samuel 
Child and Keziah Hutchins ot Kill.ngly. Con ecti- 
cu mason; removed from Woodstock to Hartland 
Vermont, where he died April 9, '795 ;. wfe d,ed 
March 6, 1839, aged ninety-six. 3- Lelce^ter, see 
forward 4. Asa, born September, 1744; married a 
daughter of Sainuel and Keziah Child; settled 1,1 
Pomfret, Vermont : four sons. 5- Stephen, .born 
Sentember 17, 1749; married, May 19. 1795, Martha, 
daughter of Dr. Parker Morse, of Woodstock, Con- 
necticut ; held many offices of honor and trust; in 
1788 was member Connecticut state convention to 
ratify federal consitntion and voted no; represen ed 
Woodstock in legislature and was generally cal ed 
Deputy Paine; died June, 1820; his w. e died 
January 5, 1825. 6. Hannah, born December 23, 

'^^tv) Leicester Paine, son of Ebenezer Paine 
(4) born at West Woodstock, Connecticut, May 
II 1742; removed to Uxbridge, Massaclnisetts 
about 1780; married Elizabeth, daughter of David 
Draper, who built the house generally known a-, 
the Draper House, at Uxbridge He died July /, 
1821 aged seventy-nine; she died November 6, 
iBw a4d eighty. Children of Leicester Paine : i. Lu- 
rana Leonard, see forward. 2. Mary Grosvenor, 
born November 19, l/Si, Woodstock died un- 
married, 1832. 3. David Draper, born July 26 1788, 
married October 23, 1822, Jemima French, of Ux- 
bridge, born 1800, died April 23, i8s9; jomer b> 
trade, also school teacher ; prominent man. select- 
man assessor, deacon Baptist church; died Novem- 
ber 18. 1854; eight children. _, , , f 
(VI) Lurana Leonard Paine, daughter of 
Leicester Paine (5), born Woodstock, Connectictit, 
January i, 1777; married January U, 1802, at Ux- 
bridge, ]Massachusetts, William Hewett Jn He was 
born Xuo-ust l, 1770, at Gloucester, Rhode Island. 
Hi" fathe°r was William Hewett, of Sutton, Massa- 
chusetts. Lurana died at Sutton February 29, 
iC Her children, all born at Northbndge, Massa- 
ch?isetts: formerlv Sutton: i. Elias P. Hewett born 
1802. died 1803. 2. Elbridge Hewett. born August 
i,-i804. married. February 20, 'S^^' Nancy Wads- 
worth of Grafton, INIassachusetts, who died 1869, 
he died March 17, 1777 at Worcester, Massachu- 
setts Children : \. Andrew Fuller Hewett boni 
\u-ust 29, 1829. 2. Mary Lurana. born July 16 
183! married John Wheeler, of Grafton, who died 



1881 3 Caroline Hewett, born January 16, 1833; 
teacher in public schools of Worcester, Massachu- 
setts, manv years. 4- George Farnum, born July :,, 
1836, marr'ied Maria L. Knox. 

THWER FAMILY. The original American 
ancestor of one branch of the Thayer family in 
New England was Thomas Thayer, who settled 
in Braintree, Massachusetts, coming from ihorn- 
burv, England. He married Margery Wheeler, 
who died December 11, 1672. He died April, i6/2 
Thomas (x) was a shoemaker, as shown by his will 
made September 13, 1665. The children of Thomas 
and Margery were : Thomas, Jr., Ferdmando and 

Shadrach. ^ .,,, 

(II) Ferdinando Thayer, son of ihuinas 
Thayer (i), married Huldah Hay ward, of Brain- 
tree and settled at Mcndon about 1668 vvhere he 
reared his large family, and died there^ March 28 
I7n. and his wife Huldah. 1690. He had been at 
Mendon before the King Philip war and his name ap- 
pears in the minutes of the first town meeting, June, 
1667, as selectman. Among the lands set off and sur- 
veved for him was one tract in January, l674, and 
then after the Indians burned the town, it seems he 
went back again and re-located and took lands in- 
cluding a fortv acre house-lot, May 26 16&6 They 
had tvvelve children, about half of them born m 
Braintree and the latter ones at Mendon. Their 
names were-Sarah, Huldah, Jonathan, David died 
16V4, Naomi, Thomas, Samuel. Isaac. Josiali. 
Ebenezer, Benjamin and David. , -^ j- 1., 

(III) Benjamin Thayer, son of Ferdinando 
Thayer (2), born in Mendon, December 2a 1712. 
married (first) Sarah Haywood; (second) Hannah 
Haywood. Youngest child was Aaron, born No- 
vember II, 1715- f Ti • ■ Tl,.,,.^,- 

(IV) Aaron Thaytr, son of Benjamin Iha\er 
(3) married Jemima Cook, in 1738, and they had 
thirleen children, including one named Benjamin^ 

(V) Benjamin Thayer, born April 16, 1/44, son 
of Aaron Thayer (4), married Sarah Bosworth 
of BeUiiisham, July 9. 1767. and they had seven 
children, including one named Caleb. 

(VI) Caleb Thayer, son of Benjamin Ihayer 
(5) born January 31. I770. married Elizabeth 
Thayer. April 7, I79i. and they had five children in- 
cluding Caleb. x ^ , u Ti,o„o,- 

(VII) Caleb Thayer, son of Caleb Thayer 
(6), born January 5. '803. marned Hannah Gas- 
kill Mav 20, 1827, and they had : Adin, born Decem- 
ber' 5, i'828; Elias Ellis, born April 21, 1832. died 
i8ao; Elizabeth, born June 11. 1836. 

(VIII) Judge Adin Thayer, son of Caleb 
Thayer (7), was born December 5. 1828. His was 
but a limited educational opportunity. tie at 
tended the common district schools and later the 
Worcester Academv. Thinking he might follow 
teaching for a profession, he -took a thorough course 
of training at the Westheld Normal school. He 
had not long tested his fitness and liking for stead> 
school roont life, when he decided that the bes 
channel for his success would be that o^.^e legal 
profession, so he began the study of law with Henrv 
Chapin, whom he finally succeeded on the bench. 
It was in 1854 that Mr. Thayer commenced his 
legal practice at Worcester. His judgment being 
of the soundest type, marked by the plain, practural, 
common sense, he soon rose to a man of "W'-e than 
ordinary importance in Massachusetts. While he 
was an eminent lawyer, his most bri liant work was 
in the arena of politics, and within this field he was 
pre-eminent. Early allied with the Free Soil party, 
he was eager and earnest in opposition to the en- 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



133 



croacliments of tlie slave power, and despised the 
proceedings under the Fugitive Slave Law, as it 
affected hia own native state. His relatives were in- 
timate with Hon. Charles Sumner and John An- 
drew. He was unselfish and consistent in his de- 
votion to the principles which he believed should 
actuate and predominate in his state and nation. 
While he might have appreciated high office, he never 
sulked or faltered because another was chosen to 
hold such honorable places. He became an invalu- 
able adviser among the early day leaders within the 
Republican party. In the truest, best sense he was 
a strong partisan. Believing as he did in justice 
to all inen, he threw himself into the canvass spir- 
ited like a brave warrior, determined that the cause 
should not fail by reason of any neglect upon his 
part. He was a great political organizer and the 
catnpaigns he directed were complete in every de- 
tail. He seldom appeared as a speaker, but when 
he did his arguments were logical and convincing. 
He held but few offices. Under President Lincoln 
he was internal revenue collector and re-appointed 
by General Grant. Two years he served as state 
senator. In 1878, as chairman of the state com- 
jiiittee of the Republican party, he rendered great 
service. The bench w^as vacated by the death of 
Judge Chapin in 1878, and Mr. Thayer was ap- 
pointed to succeed him in probate court, and faith- 
fully discharged his duty for ten years. In his 
•death in 1888 Massachusetts lost a stanch defender. 
(IX) Charles Martin Thayer, only child of 
Judge Adin and Caroline W. (Kendrick) Thayer, 
was born in Worcester, December 4, 1866. He was 
educated in the public schools and Harvard Uni- 
versity, graduating from the latter institution in 
1S89. He then entered Harvard Law School, grad- 
uating therefrom in 1892, studied law in the office 
of Hopkins & Bacon, was admitted to the bar in 
Suffolk county in 1891, and took up his practice 
in the city of Worcester. He is a member of the 
Worcester County Bar Association. He is a director 
of the Worcester Trust Company at the present 
lime (1905), the Peoples Savings Bank, Crompton 
& Knowles Loom Works, and the Merchants and 
Farmers Insurance Company. He is the trustee of 
several large estates. He was chairman of the 
.school committee for a period of three years. He 
is the Worcester county attorney for the Boston & 
Maine Railroad. He is a Republican in politics. 
(VIII) Frederick Thayer, son of Caleb and 
Flannah (Gaskill) Thayer (7), and the brother of 
the eminent judge and jurist of Massachusetts, 
Hon. Adin Thayer, was born in Blackstone, Massa- 
chusetts. He coiupleted his school studies at the 
academies at Wilbraham and Greenwich. He then 
engaged in teaching for a season and then 
embarked in trade, a member of the Wor- 
cester firm of Thayer & Taft. He soon be- 
came manager of the Worcester Company of 
Capitalists, who purchased the mill and power 
privilege at Blackstone, formerly owned by 
A. T. Stewart, of New York. Mr. Thayer 
became one of the largest dealers in shoddy and 
satinet in New England. While at Blackstone he 
represented his district in the general court, two 
terms — 1879-80. For his first wife he married 
Adelia L. Greene, related to General Nathaniel 
Greene, of revolutionary fame. His second wife 
"was a sister of his former companion — Carrie D. 
Creene. 

(III) Isaac Thayer, son of Ferdinando and Hul- 
dah Thayer (2), married (first) Mercy Ward, (.sec- 
ond) Mary — , and had eleven children born to him. 

(IV) Joseph Thayer, son of Isaac Thayer (,3). 
married (first) Sarah Balcomc, and (second) 



Rachel Richardson. To Joseph were born twelve 
children, including John, the filth child. 

(V) John Thayer, son of Joseph Thayer (4), 
married Dasa Richardson, in 1776, and they were 
the parents of six children, including one named 
John, Jr. 

(VI) John Thayer, Jr., son of John Thayer (5). 
born in 1787, married Ruth Mowry, in 1810, and had 
tliree children— Mowry Richardson, Charles Dexter 
and Aurilla. 

(VII) Mowry Richardson Thayer, eldest son 
of John Thayer (6), was born April 27, 181 1. Like 
most farmer boys at tliat time he received only 
an ordinary common school education. He devoted 
his life to farming and cutting and marketing wood 
;ind timber. He was also widely known as a 
trader, mostly in cattle and horses, and was an 
excellent judge of both. He held many town offices, 
and was by nature highly endowed with practical 
conmion sense. Had he received a college education 
he would probably have taken high rank among the 
prominent men of the state. His natural attain- 
ments were of a high order, and his opinions and 
judgment were mucli sought by his fellow towns- 
people. May I, i8.!S, he married Harriet Morse, 
and to them were born three children : Chester 
M., Lucy A., and John Randolph. The last named 
is referred to in a following narrative. 

(V'lII) Hon. John Randolph Thayer, ex-con- 
gressman, was born in Douglas, Massachusetts, 
March 9, 1845, son of Mowry Richardson and Har- 
riet (Morse) Thayer (7), and grandson of John 
and Ruth (Mowry) Thayer. Of this line of the 
Thayer family for three generations down to him- 
self, he was the first to choose a professional life. 

He was left an orphan at the age of fifteen, to 
which time his school days were passed in his native 
town. At the age of si.xteen he became a student 
at Nichols Academy in Dudley, where he fitted for 
college. In 1865 he entered Yale College, at New 
Haven, Connecticut, and graduated four years later 
with far above average standing in his class. While 
at college he took much interest in athletics, and 
rowed in his class crew. He belonged to various 
college societies, and was quite a favorite among the 
students. 

Immediately after his graduation Mr. Thayer 
came to Worcester and at once began the study 
of law with the law Judge Henry Chapin, and in 
1871 was admitted to the bar. During his early 
practice he was associated first with Judge Hartley 
Williams, later with W. A. Williams and afterward 
formed a partnership with Charles S. Chapin, the 
firm being styled Thayer & Chapin. In 1S85 he 
formed a partnership with .Arthur P. Rugg. which 
co-partnership has continued under the name of 
Thayer & Rugg to the present time. From the be- 
ginning of his professional life Mr. Thayer has 
enjoyed a lucrative practice, and has tried many im- 
portant cases, including six capital cases. Some 
lawyers succeed best before juries hut fail when 
addressing their argument to the judge alone: but 
not so with him of wdiom we write, for before the 
highest courts, wdiere strictly legal questions are 
involved, he has achieved signal success. A logical 
reasoner and well read in law. he commands the 
attention and respect of the justices of the highest 
courts. Of late years his special practice has been 
in civil cases. 

Not unlike other fellow attorneys, he early took 
a deep iiUerest in political affairs. He has been in 
great demand as a campaign speaker for the 
last thirty years and more, and, gifted hi,- nature 
as an interesting and impressive orator, ever 
holds the clo.-:est attention of his audiences. 



'.U 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



As an indication of the admiration in which 
he is held for his manliness of character, 
it need only be remarked that whenever he has been 
a candidate for public position, his majorities have 
been mucli larger than his party vote would have 
promised. If one trait be stronger than another in 
his well-balanced make-up, it is his earnest belief 
ni the civil equality of all men, and their everyday 
rights, whether as laborer or capitalist. His friend- 
ship when once made becomes part of his life, and 
unfailing as it is strong. His is a true friend- 
ship, a genuine fraternal regard not often found 
among the politicians of modern times. 

For four years Mr. Thayer served as a member 
of the common council in the city of Worcester, 
and the same number of years on the board of alder- 
men. For two terms (1880-81) he was a repre- 
sentative in the general court, serving on the 
judiciary committee, one of the most important in 
that body. His work was effective among the leaders 
of the house in both sessions. The people set a 
high value upon his services, and in 1890 and 1891 
he was elected to the state senate, although the sena- 
torial district was naturally Republican by more 
than two thousand plurality. He ranked among 
the most active and influential leaders of the senate 
during both terms of his service. Another evidence 
of his strong hold upon the regard of his fellow 
townsmen is afforded in the fact that notwithstand- 
ing his city is strongly of another political belief 
than that which he advocates, when he was nom- 
inated for mayor of Worcester he received the larg- 
est vote ever given up to that time to a Demo- 
cratic candidate for that position. When he was put 
forward as the candidate of his party for a seat in 
congress, in 1892, against Hon. J. H. Walker, he 
wanted only seven hundred and eighty-four votes 
of being elected, while at the same election the 
Democratic candidate for president ran three thou- 
sand behind the Republican nominee in that con- 
gressional district. His party friends felt such en- 
couragement that they believed his, election to con- 
gress could be accomplished, and in l8g8 he became 
a candidate against Mr. Walker, who had held his 
seat for ten years, and this time Mr. Thayer was 
elected by a plurality of one hundred and sixty-seven 
votes, while the Democratic candidate for governor 
ran more than eight thousand votes behind the Re- 
publican candidate in the district. 

His conduct while representing his district in 
congress was not only above reproach, but he ac- 
quitted himself so capably and with such integrity 
as to win the admiration of both political parties. 
Elected as he was from a Republican district, he 
never shirked the labors and responsibilities of look- 
ing after the best interests of the district at large 
and of the entire people, and made many personal 
friends even among his political opponents. His 
courtesy was extended in behalf of every constit- 
uent, regardless of his political affiliations. In brief, 
the important district which he had the honor to 
represent in congress enjoyed the services of a clean, 
honorable, progressive, painstaking and capable ad- 
vocate during the six years he occupied his seat, 
he being re-elected twice, the last time with a ma- 
jority of nearly eight hundred, which was five 
times the majority he received at his first election. 
He voluntarily retired at the expiration of his third 
term, though strongly urged by leadin.e representa- 
tives of both political parties to accept another nom- 
ination. He was succeeded by Hon. Rockwood Hoar, 
son of the late lamented Senator George F. Hoar. 
Mr. Thayer is recognized a^ one of the most force- 
ful Democratic leaders in Massachusetts, and while 



he takes much pride in tracing his Democracy 
through three generations, he is one of the most 
independent thinkers and actors in public life at the 
present time. 

Mr. Thayer possesses a strong and magnetic ■ 
personality, and with it great w'ill power, but con- 
trolled by a most kindly tempered disposition, en- 
abling him to make and retain the constant friend- 
ship of a wide circle of his fellow-men. While his 
brain is ever active, and his mental powers find 
constant exercise, he is wise in that he takes occa- 
sion to turn from his multiplied duties and care 
for his physical manhood by interesting himself in 
various sports and amusements. For twelve years 
he was president of the Worcester Sportsmen's Club, 
which comprises in its membership about one hun- 
dred and eighty sportsmen who give their atten- 
tion principally to fox hunting. It cannot be af- 
firmed that he is a society man, for aside from his 
college fraternities he has never connected himself 
with any of the many civic, military or secret or- 
ganizations of his day. 

Mr. Thayer is happy in the possession of a most 
interesting family. He married, January 30, 1872, 
Charlotte D. Holmes, daughter of Pitt and Diana 
(Perrin) Holmes. Their six children are: Henry 
Holmes, born November 25, 1873; John Mowry, 
January 4, 1875; Charlotte Diana, May 8, 1879; 
Marguerite Elizabeth. February 2, 1881 ; Mary Per- 
rin, February 7, 1885; Edward Carrington, Octo- 
ber 2, 1893. 

CIII) Benjamin Thayer, son of Ferdinando (2), 
by wife Hannah Haywood, had among other chil- 
dren, 

(IV) Aaron Thayer, who married Jemima Cook, 
in 1738. Their son 

(V) Benjamin Thayer, born April 16, 1744, mar- 
ried first Sarah Bosworth, in 1767, and second Ruth 
Alden. in 1793. 

(VI) Cushman Thayer, son of Benjamin Thayer 
(5), married Miranda Pond in 1818. by whom sev- 
eral children were born. 

(VII) Hon. Eli Thayer, son of Cushman Thayer 
(6), born in Mendon. Massachusetts, June 11, 1819. 
He is si.xth in descent from John Alden, who came 
in the "Mayflower." through Ruth, daughter of Rev. 
Noah Alden, of Bellingham, who married his grand- 
father. Benjamin Thayer. 

Eli obtained his "early education in the old 
fashioned common schools of Mendon and at 
Bellingham high school. Later he attended the 
academy at Amherst and the Manual Labor school, 
now the Worcester .-Academy. In 1835-6 he taught 
a school in Douglas, and the next four years clerked 
in his father's store in Millville. In 1840 he en- 
tered the Manual Labor school to fit for Brown 
L'niversity. and entered as a student there in the 
autumn of that year. In 1842 he taught school at 
Hopkinton, Rhode Island. In September. 1844. he 
took charge of the boys' high school at Providence, 
receiving $600 for the balance of that year. It had 
been an unruly school, but he became complete 
master of every pirpil. He graduated from Brown 
University in T845, second in his class. He im- 
mediatelv came to Worcester to accept a position 
in the Acadetny and soon became its principal. The 
same year he bought land on what was styled Goat 
Hill, at $150 per acre, and began the erection of 
the building called the Oread, which was com- 
pleted in 1852. Here he established the famous 
school for young women, which he conducted with 
much success, until he entered upon his well-known 
work as congressman. He served in the legislature 
in 1853-54, when he introduced a bill to incorporate 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



135 



the Bank of Mutual Redemption. It was in 1854 
that Mr. Thayer accomplished the great and his- 
toric act of his life, in originating the plan which 
saved Kansas and other territories to freedom and 
settled the destiny of the nation; for had the 
southern leaders then secured this territory for 
slavery, it would have held it long years and no 
rebellion would have followed and the slave would 
not have been free, at least for many decades. It 
\yas at a meeting to protest against the repeal of 
the Missouri Compromise, held in the old city hall 
at Worcester, March 11, 1S54, that Mr. Thayer an- 
nounced his celebrated "Plan of Freedom." He at 
once secured an act to incorporate the Massachu- 
setts Emigrant Aid Company, and prior to the re- 
peal of the Missouri Compromise, he hired a hall 
in Boston and began speaking day and night, to 
further his course of sending emigration to Kansas, 
but it was difficult to arouse enthusia.'sm and make 
up the first Kansas Colony. He traveled much, ad- 
dressed many thousands of people, but soon after 
the departure of the first colony in 1854, there was 
no trouble, and the south soon awoke to the fact 
that it had a power to contend with. The border 
war in Kansas began and the powers at Washington 
abandoned the fight at the close of 1856. 

In the fall of 1856 Mr. Thayer was elected to a 
seat in congress from the Worcester district, and 
at once took a leading place in national matters. 
He was ever a great advocate of colonization of the 
colored men, whom he divided to be set off in Cen- 
tral America, or other localities, thus freeing our 
own republic of the curse entailed upon us by the 
slave trade. His speeches on "Suicide of Slavery" 
and on the admission of Oregon, brought great 
fame to him. In i860, after a most e.xciting can- 
vass, he failed of re-election by a narrow majority. 

The south end of Worcester owes much to him 
for the matter of developing its domain, for manu- 
facturing purposes. It was nearly fifty years ago 
that he was instrumental in the erection of the 
large shops called the Adriatic mills. He laid out 
streets and improved several tracts in that neigh- 
borhood. He was the author of "The Kansas 
Crusade," a graphic, valuable historic work. He 
also wrote much for newspapers and magazines, 
concerning the great times which tired men's 
souls. 

(V) Benjamin Thayer and wife Sarah Bos- 
worth. Their seventh child 

(\T) Benjamin Thayer, married Rachel Wales, 
1802 : settled in Mendon, Massachusetts. Their 
eighth child 

(VII) Davis Thayer, born October 13, 1817, 
in Mendon, married. April 15, 1845, Sarah, daugh- 
ter of Jonathan and Sarah Grout. Mrs. Thayer 
was born February 13, 1820. They had one son and 
two daughters. Mr. Thayer died in Worcester, 
April i.^, 1895. 

(VIII) Charles Davis Thayer, son of Davis 
Thayer and grandson of Benjamin Thayer, was 
born in Worcester, July 7, 1850. his father being 
buried on his fiftieth wedding anniversary day. For 
many years he was the private gardener for Colonel 
Isaac Davis, mayor of Worcester. For a quarter of 
a centurv he conducted a market garden. In i86g he 
sold out and settled on Pleasant street, continuing 
his agricultural pursuits for pleasure. April i^, 
1845, he married Sarah A. Grout. Three children 
were born of this union, one of whom, Idella Grout, 
died May 2, 1870, aged about seven years. The 
others were : Charles D. and Anna E. 

Charles Davis Thayer was educated at Wor- 
cester, graduating from Highland University Mili- 



tary Academy, July 9, 1869, where for two years 
he had been an officer in the corps. He drilled and 
was an honorary member of the Worcester Liglit 
Infantry. He clerked for his uncle, Jonathan 
Grout, bookseller, a short time, and when nine- 
teen years old engaged in his present business, 
agriculture, horticulture and florist. He began 
without capital, indeed had to borrow a thousand 
dollars, paying more than seven per cent interest. 
He at once began his greenhouse work. F^or a short 
time he employed his father, a man of experience, 
to assist him. Today his greenhouse is among the 
most extensive of any in the great commonwealth. 
From time to time he had added to his real estate, 
including a part of the Greendale estate ; also the 
"Liberty F'arm" of seventy acres, known as the 
Abby Kelly Foster property. The latter he con- 
verted into a dairy farm, selling milk to city cus- 
tomers. His possessions are now wide and valua- 
ble. He is a member of the Worcester County Agri- 
cultural Society and Horticultural Society; the Wor- 
cester Grange, of which he has been chaplain. He 
has also been conuiiander of Cavalry, Conimandery 
H. and I. Order, Knights of Malta ; and first lieu- 
tenant of Company A of the Worcester Continentals. 
Politically he uniformly supports the principles of 
the Republican party. 

Mr. Thayer married, December g, 1874, Nellie 
W'yman, who was born in Newburyport, Massa- 
chusetts, but reared in Worcester. Her father was 
a thriving flour merchant in Worcester. He was a 
noted Abolitionist in his yoimger days and later 
a strong Republican. He died June, 1895, aged 
seventy-eight years. Mr. and Mrs. Thayer are the 
parents of seven children, of whom two died young. 
Willie, second-born, died when he was seven years 
old, and Leon in infancy. The others were ; Al- 
fred D., Joseph F., Mary W., Charles D., Jr. and 
Sarah G. 

(V) Benjamin Thayer and second wife, Ruth 
Alden, had four children, one of them, 

(\T) Alden Thayer, born December 27, 1796, 
brother of Cushman, married Silance McNama, 
.-Vpril 6, 1821. Their son, 

(VTI) Alden Thayer, born February 3, 1826, 
married Martha C. Knowdes. in 1850. 

Alden Thayer, Jr., son of Alden Thayer, Sr., 
was born February 3, 1826, at Mendon, Massa- 
chusetts, where he spent his boyhood days, com- 
pletmg his education at Worcester Baptist School, 
taking the civil engineering course. On leaving 
school he found employment as surveyor's assistant 
in making surveys for the Boston & Worcester Rail- 
way. He gave this up and clerked in his father's 
store in Worcester ; he having recently removed 
from his farm at Mendon and engaged in business, 
in 1850 he bought a business of his own, which 
increased, and he sought better and more spacious 
quarters from time to time, and finally became a 
leader among Worcester merchants. When his son 
became of age he was admitted as a partner. The 
entire business was sold in 1884, when Alden 
Thayer retired to a beautiful home at Tatnuck and 
there spent the remainder of his days. He was 
ever known as a man of correct habits and con- 
scientious and one who made few mistakes. Being 
a foremost Baptist, he aided in building up the 
Dewey Street Church. He died in 1889. Martha C. 
Knowles became his wife in 1850. Their children 
w-ere: Ida. Walter L., George A.. Charles Austin, 
Sarah Maud, Lsadore Grace, and Lucius. 

George Alden Thayer, son of Alden and Martha 
C. (Knowles) Thayer, was born in Worcester. 
March 11, 1856. His father was a merchant at old 



136 



WORCESTER COUNTY 






Boylston, but later came to Worcester and en- 
gaged in trade. He died in l88g at Tatnuck, pos- 
sessed of the esteem of all who knew him. George 
Alden passed his youth in Worcester, attending the 
public schools. He then spent seven years as book- 
keeper for a pork-packing house, and three years 
more at Swift & Company's branch at Ithaca, New 
York, as resident manager. We next find him as- 
sociated with his father at Worcester, who then con- 
ducted the largest grocery in the city. This busi- 
ness was sold in 1884, when George Alden en- 
gaged in the meat and provision business, con- 
ducting the same until 1890. when his real estate 
interests demanded his whole time and he sold out. 
In 1884 he married Eliza A. Rice, by whom were 
born : Ida May, Ralph T.. Helen and Carl A. 
Mr. Thayer died February 13, 1893. Of a genial, 
warm-hearted nature, he easily made friends, and 
had the happy trait of keeping them his admirers. 
When very young he united with the Baptist church 
and was ever a devout Christian. Like his father 
he was a great Bible student. 

RODNEY HAYWARD DAVIS. Dolor Davis 
(1), the emigrant ancestor of Rodney Hay ward 
Davis, of Worcester, was one of the prominent 
pioneers in both colonies. His posterity is very 
numerous and among them have been some very dis- 
tinguished men, namely : Hon. John Davis, governor 
and United States senator, and Hon. John D. Long, 
governor, congressman, and secretary of the navy. 
He married, in County Kent, England, March 29, 
1624, Margery Willard, daughter of Richard Willard, 
of Horsemonden, County Kent, yeoman. She was 
baptized at Horsemonden, November 7, 1602, and 
died before 1667. Dolor Davis, accompanied by his 
wife, three children, and Simon Willard, his wife's 
brother, came from England to New England and 
settled prior to August 4, 1634, in Cambridge, Massa- 
chusetts. Simon Willard was one of the founders 
of Concord; he was captain of foot in 1646. major 
in 1654, and at his death in 1673 "the colony lost 
one of its most distinguished members." Dolor 
Davis was a carpenter and master builder. He re- 
received first grant of land in Cambridge, June 4. 
1635, and others later. He removed to Duxbury, 
August 5, 1638-39, was admitted a freeman, and was 
granted land there in 1640. He was a resident of 
Barnstable in 1643, and was admitted a freeman 
there, June 2, 1646. He was honored in Barnstable 
with various public offices, including those of high- 
way surveyor and constable. He and his wife were 
dismissed from the Duxbury to the Barnstable 
church, August 27, 1648. In 1656 he left Plymouth 
colony and returned to Massachusetts Bay, and pur- 
chased in Concord one hundred and fifty acres with 
a house thereon. In 1666, however, he returned to 
Barnstable and died there, in June, 1673. His will 
was made September 13, 1672, and proved July 2, 
1673. It mentions sons Simon and Samuel as al- 
ready having their portions ; eldest son John ; son- 
in-law Lewis and Mary his wife ; and daughter Ruth 
Hall. 

Children of Dolor and Margery (Willard) Davis 
were : John, born in England about 1626. to whom 
was bequeathed the Concord homestead ; Mary, born 
in England aliout 1631 ; Elizabeth; Lieutenant Simon, 
see forward ; Samuel, settled in Concord and 
Bedford, Ruth, born in Barnstable. March 24. 

1645- 

(II) Lieutenant Simon Davis, son of Dolor and 
Margery (Willard) Davis, was born in America, 
and died in Concord. June 14. 1713. aged seventy- 
seven years. His will was proved July 3, 1713. His 



liomestead was near his father's house on a farm 
given him by his father. He was one of Captain 
Thomas Wheeler's troopers in the expedition of 
1675 to the Nipmuck country, and he took command 
when the captain was wounded. He received his 
commission as lieutenant. July 2, 1689. He was 
admitted a freeman, March 21, 1699. He was deputy 
to the general court in 1689-90-92-1705. He married, 
December 12, 1660, Mary Blood, daughter of James 
and Eleanor Blood, born at Concord, July 12, 1640. 
Their children were: Dr. Simon, see forward; Mary, 
born October 3, 1663, married Deliverance Wheeler, 
of Stow; Sarah, March 11 or 15, 1666, married 
Thomas Wheeler; James, January 19, 1668; Eleanor, 
October 22. 1672; Ebenezer, June i. 1676; Hannah. 
April I, 1679. married Samuel Blood. 

(III) Dr. Simon Davis, eldest son of Lieutenant 
Simon and Mary (Blood) Davis, was born in Con- 
cord. Massachusetts, October 12, 1661. He settled 
in Concord and was one of the distinguished phy- 
sicians of his day. The children of Dr. Simon Davis 
were; Dr. John, see forward; Simon, born Sep- 
tember 7, 1692, married, June l, 1719, Hannah 
Bacon; Henry, February 23, 1694; Elizabeth, March 
28, 1695. died November 15. 1706; Mary, Novem- 
ber 8. 1701 ; Samuel. March 6. 1703, see forward; 
Eleanor. March 4. 1705-06 ; Peter, September 25, 
1707, probably removed to Rutland. 

(IV) Dr. John Davis, eldest son of Dr. Simon 
Davis, lived in Concord and Acton. He was born 
in Concord, Massachusetts, November 19, 1689, and 
died November 16, 1762. He married. December 
17. 1713 ; Abigail Dudley, and their children were; 
John, born July 15, 1714, died young; Ezekiel. see 
forward; Micah. February 15, 1720; Isaac. Oct\)ber 
24. 1723; Abigail, March 22, 1726-27; Samuel, April 
23. 1730. resided at Acton; John, June i, 1735. of 
Acton. Dr. John Davis was the grandfather of 
Captain Isaac Davis, who was killed in the Con- 
cord fight. In order to show the relationsliip with 
the Worcester family the line will be continued. 

(V) Ezekial Davis, or as the old records almost 
invariably give the name down to the last century 
(1800) Davies. son of Dr. John and Abigail (Dud- 
ley) Davis, was born in Concord, Massachusetts, 
June 8, 1717. He settled in Acton. He married his 
third cousin. Mary Gibson, daughter of Abraham 
Gibson (4), granddaughter of Deacon Timothy Gib- 
son (3). great-granddaughter of John Gibson, Jr. 
(2). and great-great-granddaughter of John Gibson 
(i). The children of Ezekial and Mary (Gibson) 
Davis were ; Isaac, see forward ; Mary, born Novem- 
ber 21. 1746; Sarah, married Stephen Hosmer, 
brother of Abner Hosmer, who was killed in the 
Concord fight; Ruth. February 19. 1751; Sergeant 
Ezekial. born in Acton, June 8. 1753, was in his 
brother's company in the fight at Concord ; Josiah. 
Tune 14, 1755. was a revolutionarv soldier in Captain 

Israel Heald's company. Colonel Eleazer Brooks' regi- 
ment ; Rebecca, September IX, 1757; Lois. April 7, 
1760; Abraham, February 10. 1764; Olive. October 
29, 1765. 

(VI) Captain Isaac Davis, eldest son of Ezekial 
and Mary (Gibson) Davis, was born at Acton. 
Mas'=achusetts. February 23, 1744-45. and was killed 
at the fight at North Bridge (Concord). .'Xpril 19. 
1775, at the head of his company, the first officer 
Ivilled in the revolution. He joined the church, 
February 10. 1765. His old homestead is or was 
lately owned by Charles Wheeler. It is located about 
eighty rods southwest of the present site of Deacon 
W. W. Davis's house. Two fine old elms that were 
planted by Captain Davis still mark the location, 
on the opposite side of the road from where the 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



137 



house stood, in which the Acton company gathered 
to go to Lexington, and in which the funeral of the 
three victims was held. Captain Davis, the man who 
headed the first column against the King's troops 
in the revolutionary war, was early on the ground 
with thirty-eight Acton minute men, and in the 
hesitancy of older officers to attack the British regu- 
lars drew his sw'ord and said : "I am not afraid ; 
I haven't a man that's afraid to go." He led two 
companies from Concord, two from Bedford, and 
one from Lincoln besides his own. They advanced 
to the bridge to the tune of "The White Cockade.'J 
He was the first to fall. The other two victims ot 
the fight were friends, neighbors and relatives. Abner 
Hosmer, son of Deacon Jonathan Hosmer, was 
twenty-two years old, and engaged to be married. 
Sarah Davis married his brother, Stephen Hosmer. 
James Hayward. son of Deacon Samuel Hayvvard, 
was killed after the battle, near Fiske Hill, on the 
road from Concord to Lexington. He lived eight 
hours after he was shot. .\ monument was erected 
by the town and state jointly in 185 1 to the memory 
of Captain Davis and his two soldiers, Hosmer and 
Hayward, and their remains were placed under the 
memorial. Captain Davis married, October 24, 1764, 
Hannah Brown, born in 1746. 

(HI) Lieutenant Simon Davis, son of Samuel 
Davis (2), grandson of Dolor Davis (i), was the 
progenitor of many of the Rutland and Holden 
Davis families. 

(IV) Samuel Davis, sixth cliild of Dr. Simon 
Davis (3). was born in Concord, Massachusetts. 
March 6, 1703, died in Acton, July 4, 1800. He re- 
moved to Acton when a young man and was already 
there when the town was incorporated in 17.35. His 
homestead was on the Stow and Carlisle road, in 

1735. He married Sarah . who died in .^cton, 

April 13, 1801. and their children were: Elijah, 
see forward : David, settled in Acton ; Rev. Nathan. 
see forward ; a son, lived in Boston : Sarah, born Oc- 
tober, 1741 in Acton; probably others. Rev. Nathan 
Davis, third child was born in Cambridge. Massachu- 
setts, November 30. 1737. He graduated from Harvard 
College, 1759, and became minister at Dracut. No- 
vember 20, 1765. He was dismissed at his own re- 
<iuest in 1785 and removed to Boston. He was 
chaplain at Ft. Independence, also review officer. 
He died March 4. 1803, aged sixty-five years. In 
the Harvard catalogue his name is spelled Davies. 
He received the degree of Master of Arts. 

fV) Elijah Davis, son of Samuel (4) and Sarah 
Davis, was born in Acton, Massachusetts, May 21, 
1753. died May 7, 18.32, aged seventy-nine years. 
He was a private in Captain Israel Heald's com- 
pany. Colonel Eleazer Brooks' regiment, and was 
on guard duty at Cambridge in 1776. Later in the 
year he was in Captain John Minot's company. 
Colonel Dike's regiment, at Dorchester. He mar- 
ried Elizabeth Hayward. a relative of James Hay- 
ward. who gave his life in the fight at Concord, 
and they settled in Acton, in which town all their 
children were born. The names of their children 
were as follows : Betsey, lived in Townsend : Sam- 
tiel, died young: Mary, died young: Sarah, died 
young: Elijah, died in Worcester. March 24. 1S44. 
aged forty-seven years; Sarah, married Benjamin 
Peabodv. of Dracut ; Samuel, see forward : Nathan, 
■ lived in Townsend. Massachusetts. 

(VI) Samuel Davis, seventh child of Elijah (5) 
and Elizabeth (Hayward) Davis, was born in .■\cton. 
Massachusetts, December iS. 1806, died in Worcester, 
Massachusetts. November r, 1892. He learned the 
carpenter trade in Acton, .\fter serving his ap- 
prenticeship he worked in Lowell, Massachusetts, 



and Saco. Maine. He came to Worcester, Massa- 
chusetts, 1828, and entered the employ of Wash- 
burn & Goddard, making woolen machinery on School 
street. He afterwards bought out Washburn & 
Goddard, and conducted the business himself for a 
number of years. Afterwards he sold this busi- 
ness to Henry Goulding, and then entered the firm 
of Nourse, Mason & Company, agricultural manu- 
facturers, at Court Mills, which is now the Ames 
Plow Company. He held a number of public offices 
In 1847 he was town surveyor ; was one of the last 
three selectmen before Worcester was-made a city; 
was a member of the house of representatives in 
1848. and an alderman of the city under Mayor 
Richardson. He was interested in the early develop- 
ment of real estate in Worcester, being instrumental 
in making State street. Harvard .■■treet. Exchange 
street. Oak avenue and other streets in the thickly 
settled parts of Worcester. 

He declared his intentions of marriage, December 
3, 1829, and married, December ,30, 1829, in Mill- 
bury. Massachusett.s. Selina E. Stockwell. born in 
Sutton. Massachusetts. February 24. 1809, died in 
Worcester, Massachusetts, January 22, 1889, daugh- 
ter of John and Elizabeth (Walker) Stockwell, of 
Sutton. Their children were: Rodney Hayward, 
born April 2, 1831. died October 2, 1852; he was 
drowned at sea between San Francisco and China ; 
he was an officer in the clipper ship "Shooting Star;" 
Frances Emily, born February 2$. 1833. died Au- 
gust 26. 1833 ; Samuel Everard, see forward ; Selina 
Elizabeth, born November 23, 1841, died October 13, 
1884. 

(VII) Samuel Everard Davis, third child of Sam- 
uel (6) and Selina E. (Stockwell) Davis, was born 
in Worcester. Massachusetts. Novemljer 20. 1838, 
died in Worcester. July 14. 1893. As a boy he at- 
tended the Sumner and Thomas street schools in 
Worcester. After leaving these schools he went to 
Berlin Academy, and from there to Norwich Uni- 
versity, Vermont. He spent two years in France, 
and upon his return to Worcester, Massachusetts, 
entered the employ of Nourse. Mason & Company, 
agricultural manufacturers, at Court Mills. He later 
went to Boston with the Frank Holbrook Company, 
dealers in agricultural implements, where he re- 
mained until he moved back to Worcester in 1878. 
With Dorrance S. Goddard and Charles S. Hall he 
bought forty acres of land on Belmont street, near 
Eastern avenue, which they developed for build- 
ing purposes. He was interested in this work at 
the time of his death. 

He married, at Dorchester, Massachusetts (Bos- 
ton), June 16. 1864. Hannah Caroline Robinson, born 
in Dorchester. January 29. 1836, a graduate of the 
Dorchester high school. 1855. 

Hannah Caroline (Robinson) Davis traces her 
ancestry to James Robinson (l), wdio came from 
England about 1660 and settled in Dorchester, Massa- 
chusetts. He married Mary Alcock. From them the 
line is traced to John Robinson (2), who married 
Ruth Burt. John Robinson, Jr. (3), who married 
Susannah Williams. James Robinson (4) a soldier 
in the revolution in Captain Ebenezer Withington's 
companv of Dorchester, married Sarah Breck. 
Stephen Robinson (5), who married Hannah With- 
ington. Stephen Augustus Robinson (6), who mar- 
ried Mary Capen. of Canton, Massachusetts, and 
they were the parents of Hannah Caroline, afore- 
mentioned as the wife of Samuel E. Davis. Children 
of Samuel Everard .and Hannah Caroline (Robin- 
son) Davis, all born in Dorchester, Massachusetts, 
are as follows: Rodnev Hayward. born September 
15, 1867, chief draughtsman for the Webb Granite 



138 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



and Construction Company ; Caroline Eliza, born 
August 23, 1S6S, was a music teacher by profession ; 
married. June 27, 1904, John M. Kendall, and re- 
sides at No. Ill, Beacon street (see Kendall fam- 
ily sketch in this work) ; George Robinson, born 
.\iarch 20, 1870, married, November 19, 1S95, Helen 
Aileen Kennedy ; he is a clerk at Logan, Swift & 
Brigham's branch of the United States Envelope 
Company, Grove street, Worcester; Cornelia Vinson, 
born July 26, 1872, graduate of the Worcester high 
school, Worcester State Normal school, a teacher in 
the Ash street public school ; she resides with her 
mother; Charles Stephen, born January 10, 1876, 
died August 8, 1877. Mrs. Davis, the mother of 
these children, who survives her husband, resides 
at No. II Orne street, Worcester. 

FRANKLIN BAKER WHITE. Thomas White 
(l), the emigrant ancestor of Franklin Baker 
White, of Worcester, was in Weymouth, Mas- 
sachusetts, and a proprietor there as early as 
1643. He probably came from England in 1635. 
He was admitted a freeman, of Weymouth, 
March 3, 1636. He represented the town in 
the general court in 1636-37-57-70. He was 
borii in 1599 according to an affidavit he made in 
1659. He died August, 1679. His will was dated 
July 5, and proved August 28, 1679. He bequeathed 
to sons, Joseph, Samuel, Thomas, Ebenezer and 
daughter, Hannah ; grandchildren Lydia, ]\Iary and 
Ebenezer White and Hannah Baxter ; pastor Sam- 
uel Torrey and Elder Edward Bate. Children of 
Thomas White w-ere : i. Joseph, (see forward). 2. 
Samuel ; married Mary Dyer. 3. Thomas. 4. Han- 
nah ; married June 24, 1660, John Baxter. 5. 
Ebenezer. 

(II) Joseph White, eldest child of Thomas 
White (i), was born about 1635, perhaps in Eng- 
land. He married Lydia Rogers. She died March 
8, 1727, at Mendon, Massachusetts. He is the 
founder of an important branch of the White family 
in Worcester county. He was an early settler in 
Mendon, with others of his friends and relatives, 
and was a leading man there. He had ten children, 
some of whom' were born in JMendon, others in 
towns where the family took refuge during the In- 
dian war. The children of Joseph and Lydia 
(Rogers) White were: i. Joseph, born December 
16, 1662 ; removed to Mendon with the family when 
a year old. 2. Samuel, February 14, 1667. 3. Eben- 
ezer. 4, Experience ; married Ephraim Miller. 5. 
Hannah; married Samuel Warfield, July 22, 1701. 
6. Thomas, (see forward). 7. Ann; married Trask. 

8. Joseph. 9. Lydia ; married Cook. 10. 

Mary, married • Hill. 

(III) Thomas White, sixth child of Joseph 
White (2), was born in Mendon probably about 

1665. He married Mehitable , who died 

September 27, 1704. Captain Thomas White, who 
was a very prominent man in Mendon, in church, 
town and militia, died March 23, 1706, in the prime 
of life. Their children, all born in Mendon, were : 
I. Mehitable, born January 20, 1688-9; married Ben- 
jamin Darling. 2. Thomas, (see forward). 3. 
Thankful, August 3, 1693. 4. Joseph, August 28, 
1695 ; married Abigail Skinner, of Oxford, April 
15, 1718. 5. John, March 12, 1698. 6. Samuel, Sep- 
tember 21, 1700. 7. Ebenezer, February 4, 1703-4; 
died August 27, 1726. 

(IV) Thomas White, son of Thomas (3), born 
in Mendon, Massachusetts, April 15, 1691 ; married 

Deborah . There were descendants of the 

Plymouth family of White in the same region, and 
there may have been some relationship to account 



for the fact that the eldest son of Thomas White 
was named Peregrine. Children, all born in !Men- 
don, Massachusetts, were: i. Peregrine, September 
II, 171 1. 2. Seth, September 22, 1712. 3. Lydia, 
January 16, 1715-6. 4. Hopestill, July 15, 1717. 5. 
Samuel, May 17, 1719. 6. Deborah, February lb, 
1722. 7. Josiah, (see forward). 

(V) Josiah White, youngest child of Thomas 
White (4), born in Mendon, Massachusetts, April 
29, 1723; married (first) January 2, 1746, Hannah 
Gardner; he married (second), November 28, 1751, 
Lucy Whipple. He settled in Sutton, where he was 
called Josiah, Jr., to distinguish him from a rela- 
tive of the same name some ten years older. All 
his children were born in Sutton, but it is thought 
that late in life he removed to Dudley where his 
son lived. 

Children of Josiah and Hannah (Gardner) 
White were: i. Hannah, born July 20, 1747. 2. 
Beatrice, March 6, 1749. Children of Josiah and 
Lucy (Whipple) White were: 3. Ebenezer, (see 
forward). 4. Abel, April 23, 1754. 5. Jeptha, De- 
cember 26, 1755. 6. Josiah, March 9, 1758. 7. Elias, 
December 13, 1759. 8. Noah, November 6, 1761. 
9. Lucy, April 16, 1764. 10. Job, March 6, 1766. 

(VI) Ebenezer White, third child of Josiah 
White (s), was born in Sutton, September 25, 
1752. He was the great-grandfather of Franklin B- 
White. He was brought up on the farm in Sutton 
and went to school there. When he attained his 
majority he went to Dudley, where he married in 
I773> and where his children were born, e.xcept per- 
haps the two youngest. He left Dudley in 1788, 
and soon afterward bought a farm and settled in 
Charlton, Massachusetts. He was a man of con- 
siderable means, as the administration of his estate 
in 1827 discloses, he was very active in town af- 
fairs in Dudley. He was fence-viewer in 1776-87. 
He was tithingman in 1777-82. He was highway- 
surveyor in 1781-84. He was on the school com- 
mittee in 1787-88. He was also active in Charlton. 
(There was another Ebenezer White in Charlton 
who must not be confused with this one in search- 
ing records. He was called Junior, and his wife was 
Christian). Ebenezer White (6) married, December 
16, 1773, Lydia Davis, daughter of Ebenezer and 
Lydia (Dana) Davis. She was born in O.xford, 
May 5, 1754. Children of Ebenezer and Lydia 
(Davis) White were: i. Lydia, born September 7, 
1774 ; married October 30, 1792, Abraham Mcln- 
tire. of Charlton, and moved to New York state. 
2. Sylvanus, (see forward). 3. Zilpha, April 9, 
1779; married Aaron Dresser (intentions recorded 
February 29), 1804. 4. Dorcas, January 28, 1781 : 
married Willrad Albee (intentions recorded April 
6), 1801. 5. Betty, November 15, 1783; died No- 
vember 5, 181 1 ; unmarried. 6. Tammy, May 16, 
1785; married Ebenezer Baker (intentions recorded 
March 7), 1806. 7. Althusa, born about 1790; mar- 
ried Lemuel Waldron, of Dudley, (intentions re- 
corded December 3), 1815. 8. Polly; married Asa 
Davis, of Charlton, September 7, 1817. 9. Eben- 
ezer, Jr., born 1794; married, March 24, 1822, Sylvia 
Partridge, daughter of Benjamin and !Milcah Part- 
ridge, of Charlton. Their children were: i. Horace 
D.. born 1822. 2. Moses P., April 11, 1826. 3. 
Betsey Ann, January 17, 1828. 4. Mary Ann, No- 
vember 28, 1832 ; died January 6, 1838. 5. Amelia, 
December 22. 1836: died January 6. 1837. 6. Sylvia 
Jane. March ig, 1838; died December 28. 1854. 7. 
Harriet Eliza, October 22, 1S40; married Albert 
Marcy. 

(VII) Sylvanus White, second child of Eben- 
ezer White (6), grandfather of Franklin B. White, 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



139 



born in Charlton, Massachusetts, October g, 1776; 
died there Aiay 8, 1854. He was brought up there 
and learned the trade of cooper, which he followed 
for many years. He lived with his father until 
about twenty-five, when he began farming on his 
own account as well as carrying on the cooper's 
trade during the seasons. He was a man of sturdy 
character and strong principles. He was deemed a 
man of sound judgment, well-read and of sterling 
honesty. He was one of the most prosperous and 
substantial men of the tow'n. 

He married Lucy Baker, born March 5, 1781 ; 
died January 13, 1859. She was the daughter of 
Joseph Capen Baker, of Charlton. The marriage 
intentions were recorded March 2, iSot. Children 
of Sylvanus and Lucy (Baker) White were: i. 
Ziba, born August 13, 1802 ; married Eloise Davis, 
of Dudley. 2. Hosea, (see forward). 3. Sylvia, 
November 7, 1807 ; died January 7, 1833 ; married 
Almon Piatt. 4. Harvey, May 18, 1810. 5. Harriet, 
November 18, 1812; married April 12, 1835, Francis 
W. Winn, of Sutton, Massachusetts. 6. Julia Ann, 
April 26, 1816; died December 26, 1849, unmarried. 
7. Clarissa Jane, July 21, 1819; died June 22, 1862; 
married Elijah Hanson. 8. Chandler, December 25, 
1822. 9. Mary Lucy, April 18, 1826; died August 

31, 1857, married Gulliver. 

(Vni) Hosea White, second child of Sylvanus 
White (7), was born in Charlton, Massachusetts, 
May 30, 1804. He received his early education in 
that town, working at the saine time with his father 
on the homestead. When about twenty-two years 
of age, he started to learn the trade of wool dyer, 
but owing to a disabled arm he had to change his 
occupation. He became a spinner and worked at that 
trade for about eight years in the mill at Globe 
Village in Southbridge, JNIassachusetts. He worked 
also at Merino Village in Webster for a time. He 
was overseer of a spinning room in an Uxbridge 
mill. He finally returned to the home of his youth 
aud bought a farm. He sold it to good advantage 
and later bought another, remaining a farmer the 
rest of his days. He died j\Iay 23, 1888. 

He was a member of the Universalist church 
and an active worker. _ He was a strong" advocate 
of temperance. He was a leader in the Sons of 
Temperance organization which was very active 
fifty years ago. He took part in various temperance 
movements. Li his early days he was a Whig, later 
a Republican in politics. He married Lucina Ham- 
mond, who was born in West Wardsboro, Vermont, 
September 24, 181 1. She died September, 1849, in 
Southbridge. He married (second) Elmira Stone, 
daughter of John Stone, a farmer, of Charlton. 
Children of Hosea and Lucina (Hammond) White 
were: I. Franklin Baker, (see forward). 2. Al- 
fred, deceased. Children of Hosea and Elmira 
(Stone) White were: 3. Henry Wilson. 4. Cynthia. 
(IX) Franklin Baker White, eldest son of Hosea 
White (8), was born in Dudley, Massachusetts, No- 
vember 3, 1837. He received his earliest education in 
the district schools of his native town, soon remov- 
ing with his parents to Southbridge. where he again 
attended school, afterward attending Wilbraham 
.•\cademy at Wilbraham, Massachusetts. When he 
finished school he began work at shoemaking and 
farming, like a large percentage of the men of me- 
chanical ability in eastern Massachusetts at that 
time. He came to Worcester in 1863, and worked 
for the Bay State Shoe and Leather Company on 
High street five years. In 1868 he entered the em- 
ploy of D. & C. P. Stevens, dealers in doors, sash 
and blinds, as bookkeeper. (See sketch of Stevens 
Family for history of this business.) In January, 
1872, Mr. White was admitted as an equal partner 



in the lirm, and was manager and bookkeeper until 
1S88, when Daniel Stevens, the senior partner, died. 
He then bought out the other interests in the busi- 
ness, and has continued as sole proprietor since 
then. The business continues, however, under the 
old fif-m name of D. & C. P. Stevens. Under Mr. 
White's ownership the business has continued to 
grow and develop. This house has a large business 
throughout Nxnv England. The location at 24 
Southbridge street has been the same for many 
years, dating from the building of the block. 

Mr. White has been prominent in church and 
public affairs. He is a member of the Church of 
the Unity (Unitarian) and has been on the parish 
committee for many years. He is interested in music 
and has served on the music committee of this 
church several years. In politics he is a Republican. 
He was a representative to the general court from 
Ward Six in 1890-91. He was on the Worcester 
school board in 1875-76-77-78. He is president of the 
board of directors of the Worcester Protective Union 
Grocery Company, one of the most successful co- 
operative companies in the state, maintaining the 
best grocery store in the city for a long period of 
years. He is a member of the Worcester County 
Mechanics' Association, and has served as trustee 
for three years. He is a Free Mason, a member of 
Montacute Lodge, since May 25, 1868. 

He married Emma Cornelia Stevens, June 15. 
1870. She is the daughter of Daniel and Hannah 
Jane (Adams) Stevens, of Worcester. Her father 
was senior partner of the firm of D. & C. P. Stevens, 
now owned by Mr. White. (See Stevens Family 
sketch.) Their children are: Florence Emma, born 
December 6, 1872; Josephine L.. born May 14, 1877. 

HAMMOND FAMILY. Thomas Hammond 
(l), immigrant ancestor of Franklin B. White, was 
one of the early settlers of Newton. Massachusetts. 
He was the son of William and Mary Hammond, 
of Melford, England, and grandson of John and 
Agnes Hammond, of Lavenham, England. He was 
baptized at Melford, county of Suffolk, England,, 
with his twin brother, John Hammond, September 
2, 1603. He was first cousin of William Hammond, 
who settled in Watertown, Massachusetts, in 1636. 

Thomas Hammond married in Lavenham, Eng- 
land, November 12, 1623, Elizabeth Cason, who was 
born in Great Whelhetham, a few miles north of 
Lavenham, before 1604, the daughter of Robert and 
Prudence (Hammond) Cason. She was a grand- 
daughter of Robert and Elizabeth Hammond, of 
Great Whelhetham. Thomas Hammond was one 
of the first settlers of Hingham. Massachusetts. He 
had land granted to him there in 1636, and was ad- 
mitted a freeman March 9, 1836-7. He served on 
the grand jury in 1637. His two younger children 
were baptized in Hingham ; the elder children were 
born in England. With several other Hingham 
pioneers Hammond removed to a locality near the 
boundary line of what are now Newton and Brook- 
line, Massachusetts. Five of them settled in the 
vicinity. Hammond's homestead in Newton was 
near the pond, afterwards known as Hammond's 
Pond. Hammond became one of the wealthiest men 
of his day. He died in 1675, leaving an unsigned 
will, which was admitted to probate. His estate 
according to the inventory amounted to nearly 
eleven hundred and forty pounds. 

An interesting relic of Elizabeth (Cason) Ham- 
mond is a silver coin, in the possession of George 
W. Hammond, of Yarmouthville. Maine, in 1992, 
which she herself was allowed to coin when visit- 
ing the Mint in England, when a young girl. (See 
Jackson's history of Newton, page 299). 



I40 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



Cliildrcn of Thomas and Elizabeth (Cason) 
llamiiiond were: i. Thomas, (see forward), j. 
Elizabeth, born about 1633-4. 3- Sarah, baptized 

^^ September 13, 1640. 4. Nathaniel, baptized IMarch 

^ 12, 1643. 

^ (II) Thomas Hammond, eldest child of Tliomas 

Hammond (l), born in England about 1630, died in 
Newton, Massachusetts, October 20, 1678, of small- 
pox. He married, December 17, 1662, Elizabeth 
Stedman, (probal)ly a sister of Nathaniel Stedman 
who married his sister, Sarah Hammond.) 3he 
died in Newton in 1715. Thomas Hammond culti- 
vated the farm he inherited from his father in 
Newton. His estate was administered by his widow ; 
it amounted to four hundred and si.xty-eight pounds. 
Their children were: i. Elizabtth, born Nov. 3, 
1664. 2. Thomas, born December 16, 1666. 3. Isaac 
(twin) and 4. Sarah (twin), born December 20, 
1668. 5. Nathaniel, February 3, 1671 ; probably 
died young. 6. John, April 30, 1674. 7- E^eazer, 
(see forward). 

(III) Eleazer Hammond, son of Thomas Ham- 
mond (2), born in Newton, Massachusetts, Novem- 
ber 13. 1677; died there in 1760; married April 29, 
1703, Hannah Harrington, who was born August 9. 
1682; died in 1775, the daughter of John and Han- 
nah (Winter) Harrington, of Watertown, Massa- 
chusetts. He was selectman of Newton in 1741. 
His will was dated May l. 1760, and mentions his 
children and others. His widow's will was dated 
April 4, 1764. Their children were: i. Hannah, 
born 1704; married Bartholomew Green. 2. Eleazer, 
October i, 1705 ; died young. 3. Elizabeth, January 
12, 1707. 4. Eleazer, May 26, 1711; settled in Con- 
necticut. 5. Abigail, January 31. 1712-3. 6. Patience, 
September 8, 1717: married Eleazer Chamberlain. 
7. Ephraim, (see forward.) 8. Susanna, 1722. 9. 
Lydia, February 5, 1726; married John Hammond. 

(IV) Ephraiin Hammond, seventh child of 
Eleazer Hammond (3). born in Newton, Massachu- 
setts. March 15, 1719-20 ; married, 1741, Martha Steel. 
Their children were: I. Hannah, born August 8, 1742. 
2. Martha, December 9, 1743. 3. Ephraim, December 
31. 1745. 4. Thankful, 1747. 5. Samuel, February 
2, 1748. 6. Hannah, September 20, 1749. 7. Ed- 
ward, September 20, 1752. 8. Catherine. 9. Henry, 
July 27, 1757. 10. Patience, married, 1778, Nathaniel 
Parker. 11. Elizabeth. 12. Jemima. 

(V) Samuel Hammond, fifth child of Ephraim 
Hammond, (4), born in Newton, Massachusetts, 
February 2, 1748; died at Wardsboro. Vermont, 
January 4, 1742; married (first), 1770, Mary Rogers, 
daughter of John Rogers. She was born January 
28, 1752. He was one of the party of patriots who 
threw the tea overboard in Boston Harbor. He was 
a private in Captain Hopestill Hall's company. 
Colonel Lemuel Robinson's regiment, January 31, 
1776. He was then living in Roxbury, according to 
the roll. He was also in Captain Amariah Fuller's 
company. Colonel William ^Iclntosb's regiment, in 
1778, stationed at Roxbury. After the revolution he 
removed to Wardsboro, Vermont, where he was one 
of the first settlers. The family erected mills at 
what is now West Wardsboro, then called Ham- 
mond's Mills. 

Children of Samuel and ^lary (Rogers) Ham- 
mond were: i. Samuel, born May 25, 1772. 2. 
Mary. 3. Peter, April 9, 1776. 4. Joel, July 13, 
^77^- 5- Jemima, 1780. 6. Artemas. April 3, 1782. 
7. Nathaniel, August 14, 1784. Peter Hammond 
(7), son of Samuel, lived to be one hundred and 
two years of age. When his parents went to Wards- 
boro, Vermont, in 1791. he was seventeen years 
old. He was left with his grandparents in Newton 
for a time, and his mother returned for him on 



horseback, a distance of one hundred and twenty- 
five miles, and the boy walked back with her. In 
later years he owned the Hammond Mills and was 
by far the most prominent and infiuential man in 
the town; was justice of the peace and postmaster 
for nearly twenty-five years. He cast his first vote 
for John Adams, and lived to be a Republican dur- 
ing and after the civil war. He removed to Geneseo, 
Illinois, with his son in 1856, and for several years 
prior to his death had made his home with his 
daughter, Mrs. Martha H. Taylor. He died the 
very day he was one hundred and two years old, 
and was taken to Wardsboro to be buried. Stewart 
Lodge of Free Masons in Geneseo presented him 
with a gold-headed cane when he was one hundred 
years old. He was made a Mason in 1799. He had 
seven children. 

(VI) Joel Hammond, son of Samuel Hammond 
(5), was born in Newton, Massachusetts, July 13, 
1778. (See page 70S, Vol. 2, of Hammond Genealogy, 
for facts given before. For the following records, 
which are not in the genealogy, we are indebted to 
the town clerk of Wardsboro, (1906) D. C. Dex- 
ter). Joel married (first), Hannah Moon (Moore?) 
and had seven children; he married (second), Sena 
Higgins and had one daughter, Elniira. He is said 
to have removed late in life to Oneonta, New York. 
His children were: i. Beri ; married Benjamin 
Converse and had one daughter and two sons, Asa 
and Henry Converse; the daughter married Syl- 
vester Johnson and lived in West Dover, Vermont, 
where their children are now living (1906); Asa 
Converse is dead; Henry resides in Maiden. 2. 
Lucina, born September 24, 1811. 3. Lovina ; prob- 
ably died young. 4. William. June 20, 1816; died 
in Boston, September 23, 1897; married Mary Isabel 
Mason, who died February 24, 1889, daughter of 
Ephraim Balker and Mary T. (Spearr) Mason. 
Their children were : William Henry, born May 29, 
1850 : married Ella Maria Curtis: Grace, February 
12, 1853; Albert Ballard. December 31, 1855; Mary 
Alice. 5. Joel. 6. Artemas. resided in Boston in 
1868: his daughter Josephine married a Guild (?). 
7. George ; married Louisa Higgins and settled in 
Wardsboro. Their children were : Lovina, who 
married Rodney Watson, and live West; Flora, 
married Leroy Webster and lives in West Jamaica. 
Vermont ; Zella. died unmarried ; Herbert, a school 

teacher in the West. 8. Elmira, married 

Shepardson, and resides in Warwick, Massachu- 
setts. (The genealogy gives also: 9. Elmore, a son, 
born June 6, (probably 1810 instead of 1811) died 
at Candor, Tioga county. New York, married, 1834, 
Caroline Cooke, who was born March 20, 1816, 
daughter of Samuel and Diadama (Green) Cook, 
of Tioga county, New York. He was a farmer at 
Oneonta, where his father died, and at Candor. His 
children were: i. Rebecca, born October 12, 1838. 
2. Mary, November, 1840. 3. Eliza, November, 1842. 

4. Seth G., March 18, 1845. 5. Lois D.. April 2, 
1847; died July 7, 1899. 6. A. DeWitt, Novemberj 

5, 1850. 7. Frances L., March 12, 1852; died .'\ugust,^ 
1895. 8. Emma, July 5. 1857. 9. Edmund, September? 
23, i860. 10. Polly (sic) born at Wardsboro: niarriedl 
Joseph Guile of Orwell, Vermont, and died at Mount I 
Holly, Vermont. Their children were : George ; 
Andrew, shoemaker at Sandy Hill, New York;, 

DeWitt G.: Asenath, married Richmond, off 

Orwell. Vermont ; Orange S. 

(VII) Lucina Hammond, daughter of Joel' 
Hannnond (6), born in West Wardsboro, Vermont, 
September 24, 181 1; married Hosea White, father 
of Franklin B. White, of Worcester. (See sketch of 
this White family.) 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



141 



DR. JOHX MERRICK BE.MIS. JosL-ph Bcmis 
(l) was the immigrant ancestor of Dr. John Mer- 
rick Beniis, of Worcester, Mas.sachusctts. Not all 
of the Bemis families of America can be traced to 
him, but most of them have been. He was born 
in England in 1619, and came to Watertown, .Massa- 
chusetts, as early as 1640, wlien he was about twenty- 
one. He died in Watertown, August 7, 1684. There 
is some evidence to show that lie married in England 
before emigrating here, and that his wife Sarah 
came over with him. Their lirst child, however, was 
born at Watertown, Alassachusells, in 1642, and 
they may have been married in Watertown or, as 
the birth is on the Boston records, in Boston, Massa- 
chusetts. It is known that Joseph Bemis was the 
son of John Bemis, w'bo was born in Dedhani, Es- 
sex county, England, as early as 1550. The will of 
John Bemis was proved June 28, ifxi4. His chil- 
dren were: Isaac, Luke, Mary, James, Susan, Jo- 
seph, and -Vbraham. Joseph and his sister Mary 
came together to Watertown. Perhaps others of the 
family also came. Mary married William Hagar 
March 20, 1644-45; died December, 1695. Her hus- 
band died January 10, 1683-4. They had ten chil- 
dren and have a host of descendants. 

Joseph Bemis was a quiet, hard-working man, a 
blacksmith and farmer. He served the town of 
Watertown as "haward," collector of ta.xes, member 
of the school committee, constable and selectman. 
He was on the board of selectmen in 1648-73-75. 
There was an amusing case before the magistrate 
where he was lined for having "one disorderly 
hog." Truly New England has always taxed her 
ingenuity to invent crime ! On another occasion 
he was fined three pounds for cutting trees on the 
common land without the formal permission of the 
constituted authorities. Most of the tine was re- 
mitted. As his biographer says, otherwise than this 
he was apparently a good and law-abiding citizen. 
He was fairly well-to-do, leaving an estate valued 
at over two hundred pounds. His will was made 
the day of his death, August 7, 1684, and proved 
October 7, 1684. The widow administered the estate. 
She died 1712. and the estate was divided among the 
heirs November 18. 1712, except those parts al- 
ready given to the eldest son Joseph, and daughter 
Martha. The children of Joseph Bemis were: i. 
Sarah, born January 15, 1642-3; married at Water- 
town. October 2. 1694. John Bigelow, born in Eng- 
land, 16x7; died in Watertown July 14, 1703; black- 
smith; freeman in 1652; selectman in 1665-70-71; 
married, before, Mary Warren (this was the first 
marriage recorded in Watertown, Massachusetts), 
who died October 19, 1691, Sarah being, it is said, 
his third wife. 2. Mary, born September 10, 1644; 
died before 1730; married February 16, 1683-4, Sam- 
uel Whitney, son of John, Jr., and Ruth (Reynolds) 
Whitney, of Watertown, born in Watertown, July 
23, 1648; died there 1730. John Whitney was born 
in England 1624, and died in Watertown October 12, 
1692. Samuel Whitney was a soldier from Groton 
or Watertown in King Philip's war. He had a 
large family of children and has many descendants. 
3. Joseph, Jr., (twin) born October 28. 1647. 4. 
Ephraim (twin), born October 28, 1647, died a few 
days later ; buried November 4, 1647. 5. Martha, 
born March 24, 1649; died unmarried; was admitted 
to the church February 25, 1697-8. 6. Joseph, Jr., 
2d., born December 12. 1651 ; died at VVestminster. 
Massachusetts, .August 7. 1684. 7. Rebecca, born 
.-'ipril 17, 1654; married (first) at Watertown. .April 
II. 1684, John White, born at Watertown. February 
25, 1648-9; died there (killed by a bull) May 30, 
1684 ; the son qf .Anthony White, who was born in 
England 1607; died at Watertown. March 28, 16S6, 



and wdio emliarkcd from Ipswich, England, for 
New England, April, 1634, with his w'lfe. Grace 
(Mall) White; married (second) at Watertown, 
April I, 1686, Thomas Harrington, born at Water- 
town. April 20, 1665; died there March 29. 1712; 
the son of George and Susannah Harrington, of 
Watertown, leaving by this second marriage a large 
family of children. 8. Ephraim, 2d., born August 
-'5, 1656; was living 1738, at Windham, Connecticut. 
9. John, (see forward). 

(11) John Bemis, son of Joseph Bemis (l), born 
at Watertown. Massachusetts, August, 1659; died 
there October 24, 1732; married (fir.st) at Water- 
town, 1680, Mary Harrington, daughter of George 
and Susannah Harrington, born January 12, 1663-4; 
died at Watertown September 8, 1716; married (sec- 
imd) January i, 1716-7, Mrs. Sarah (Holland) Phil- 
lips, widow of Jonathan Phillips and daughter of 
Nathaniel Holland. Her mother was Sarah 
(Miisicr) Holland, second wife of Nathaniel. Sarah 
(Holland) Bemis was born at Watertown, Novem- 
ber 30, 1662; died there prior to 1726; married 
(third) at Watertown, May 30, 1726, Mrs. Judith 
(Jennison) Barnard, born at Watertow-n. August 
13, 1667; died there. She was the daughter of En- 
sign Samuel and Judith (Macomber) Jennison. and 
widow of James Barnard, who was born at Water- 
town, January 14, 1666-7; died there January 23, 
1726. Ensign Jennison was born at Watertown 
1645; died there October, 1701. His wife, Judith 
Macomber, died at Watertown, March i, 1722-3. 

John Bemis sold, April 26, 1701, for fifty-six 
pounds, a half of the quarter of Alcock's farm of 
nine hundred acres in Alarlboro. With his son-in- 
law, Daniel Child, he bought, April 6, 1702, of 
Nathaniel Saltonstall (F'ellow of Harvard College) 
one hundred and sixty acres of land in VVatertown, 
Lot No. 30, origanally granted to Sir Richard Salton- 
stall. Here the home of John Bemis was established 
and the property remained in the Bemis family for 
some generations. 

John Bemis was a farmer. He was corporal in 
the militia company. Fie served the town of Water- 
town as tithing-man, as a member of the school 
board, as highway surveyor, as selectman, and on 
important special committees. He was one of the 
leading citizens of his time. Children were : Beriah, 
born June 23, 1681 ; died at Watertown about 1768; 
married (first) at Watertown, p-ebruary 10, 1701-2, 
Daniel Child, baptized June 5, 1687. After the sec- 
ond marriage of his mother, he died in Watertown, 
January 29, 1723-4; son of John Child, (born 1636; 
died October 15, 1676) and Mary (Warren) Child, 
(born November 29, 1651; died Alay 12, 1734) ; mar- 
ried (second) August 12, 1736. Josepli Pierce, born 
at Watertown, October 2, 1669; died at Weston, 
March 13, 1753, son of Joseph and Martha Pierce, 
of Watertown; married (third) John Whiting, born 
at Watertown, June 15, 1694; died at Westford, 
Massachusetts, 1776, son of Benjamin Whiting, 
(born at Watertown. June 28. 1660; died there 
1736), and .Abigail (Hagar) Whiting, daughter of 
William and Mary (Bemis) Hagar; Beriah had 
many children and has many descendants; she .is 
buried in the old graveyard at Watertown. 2. 
Susanna, born December 24. 1082 ; died November 
'5' 1703: married at Watertown. November 2, 1702, 
John Hastings; (died prior to 1747), son of John 
Hastings, (born Alarch i. 1653-4; died March 28. 
1718), and Abigail (Hammond) Hastings, (born 
June 21, 1659; died .April 7. 1718) ; had no children. 
3. Joseph, born November 17. 1684; died 1738. 4. 
John, born October 6. 1686. 5. Mary, born Septem- 
ber 24. 1688; married at Watertown. October 26. 
170S, Isaac Stearns, born December 31. 1674; died 



142 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



17.^7: snii of Samuel Stearns of Watertown. (born 
April 24. 163S; died August 3. 1683). and Hannah 
(.Manning) Stearns, (born June 21, 1642; died Feb- 
ruary 26. 1723-4) : had large family of children and 
has many descendants. 6. Samuel, born 1690, died 
at Spencer, Massachusetts, August, 1776, founder of 
the well known Spencer branch of the Bemis family. 
7. Lydia, born 1692; married April 10, 1716, Jon- 
athan Fiske, baptized at Watertown, December 8, 
1680. son of John Fiske, (born at Watertown, No- 
vember 20, 1655: died at Watertown 1709-18), and 
Abigail (Parks) Fiske, (born at Watertown, March 
3, 1758-9) ; left a large family of children and other 
descendants. 8. Hannah, born October 9, 1694; 
died October, 1700. 9. Isaac, born 1696. lO. Jona- 
than, born April 30, 1699; probably died young. 11. 
Jonathan, 2d., born November 17, 1701. 12. Abra- 
ham, born November 26, 1703. 13. Susanna, 2d., 
(twin) born December 3, 1705; died November 25, 
1785; married July 2, 1731, John Viles (Vilas), of 
Waltham, jNIassachusetts ; who died at Waltham, 
February 4, 1774; had many children. 14. Hannah, 
(twin) born December 3, 1705; married (first) 
.•\pril II. 1724, John Flagg. born September 21, 
1700; killed accidentally March 14, 1733-4, son of 
John Flagg, (born November 6. 1677; died prior to 
1755)1 and Anna Flagg, (died prior to 1712) : mar- 
ried (second) July 23, 1734, (Taptain John Brown, 
born April 19, 1705; died at Weston, Massachu- 
setts, 1804. son of Captain Abraham Brown (born 
August 26, 1671 ; died November 27, 1729), and 
Mary (Hyde) Brown, (born June 21, 1673; died 
November 29. 1723). Hannah Bemis was his sec- 
ond wife. Captain Brown was selectman of Water- 
town, 1744-45-46-47-48-52, representative to the gen- 
eral court in 1748. He was an innholder, and a 
man of uncommon energy and enterprise. He re- 
moved to Weston in 1761. lived at Newton 1770 to 
1778 and returned to Weston 1779. They had a 
large family of children. 

(in) John Bemis, son of John Bemis (2). born 
October 6, i586. at Watertown, Massachusetts; mar- 
red (first) May 8, 1710. Hannah Warren, born Jan- 
uary 25, 1690-91 ; died prior to 1713. daughter of 
Daniel Warren, (born October 6, 1653), and Eliza- 
beth (Whitney) Warren (born June 9, 1756), mar- 
ried (second) April 2, 1713, Anna Livermore. born 
i6go, dau.ghter of Samuel Livermore, (born about 
1640; died 1690), and Anna (Bridge) Livermore. 
(born 1646; died August 28, 1727). After John 
Bemis died his widow married (second) December 

5, 1769. Josiah Smith. John Bemis was a constable 
in Watertown 1730: selectman in 1735. His children 
were: I. John, born February 11, 1711. 2. Anna, 
born April 29, 1714; died at Waltham, Massachu- 
setts, a widow, January 9. 1793 ; married ( first ) 
February 26, 17^4, Samuel Fiske. born January 4, 
1709: died March 29. 1761 ; son of William Fiske. 
(born February 23, 1663-4; died 1742), and Hannah 
(Smith) Fiske. (born December 27. 1672; died 
December 7, 1728); married (second) April 26, 
1763, Hopestill Bent, of East Sudbury, Massachu- 
setts, and had a large family of children by each 
husband. 3. Josiah. born February 29, 1715-6. 4. 
Abraham, born December 27, 171 7. 5. Grace, born 
November 5. 1719; married and had many children 

6. Lydia, born April 5, 1721 ; married Jonas Dix. 
born May 21, 1721 ; died August 30. 1783. He was 
captain in the militia; civil magistrate for the trial 
of small causes ; selectman for twenty-one years ; 
assessor eighteen years ; representative to the general 
court from 1764 to 17S3, inclusive. He was the son 
of John Dix and Martha (Lawrence) Dix. They 
had many children and have many descendants. 7. 
Abijah, born March 16, 1722; died at Paxton June 



19, 1790. 8. Elisha, born March 20, 1725. 9. Eliza- 
beth, born March 23. 1727-8. 10. Nathaniel, born 
May 6. 1730. ii. Susanna, born April 3, 1732; mar- 
ried November 15, 1753, Elisha Garfield, son of 
Lieutenant Thomas Garfield, of Weston, and Mercy 
(Bigelow) Garfield, and had many children. 12. 
Phinehas. born March 24, 1734. 

(IV) Abijah Bemis, son of John Bemis (3), 
born at Watertown, Massachusetts, March 16, 1722- 
23; died at Paxton, Massachusetts, June 19, 1790: 
was the founder of what is generally known as 
the Paxton branch of the Bemis family. He went 
from Weston, Massachusetts, to Paxton about 1751 : 
married January 29, 1751, Dinah Hagar, of Wal- 
tham, born in 1728, baptized ]\lay 5, 1728; dieil 
January 19, 1792, at Paxton, daughter of William 
Hagar, of Waltham, and Mary (Flagg) Hagar, jjorn 
December 7, 1690. Dinah Hagar was a direct de- 
scendant of Mary Bemis, sister of Joseph Bemis, the 
immigrant. She was descended through her mother 
from John Livermore, the ancestor of all of that 
name in this country. All his cliildren were prob- 
ably born at Paxton. The children were: I. Abijah, 
born 1753, died December 6. 1829. 2. Daniel. 3. 
Dinah; married July 15, 1788, David Cutting, of 
Brookfield. 4. Bculah, married November 11, 1784, 
John Pike, born November 10, 1762, son of John 
and Mehitable Pike, of Sturbridge, Massachusetts. 
John and Beulah Pike moved to Marshfield, Ver- 
mont, in 1806. They had seven children. 5. Lydia, 
married January 25, 1788, Francis Pike. 6. John 
(see forward). 7. Ruth, married at Spencer, April 
7, 1785. John Pike, of Paxton. 8. Alpheus. 

(V) John Bemis, son of Abijah Bemis (4), 
born at Paxton, Massachusetts, 1767; died at Brook- 
field, Massachusetts, August 8. 1852; married (first) 
July I, 1793, Grizel Livermore; married (second) 
July 5, 1796. Mary Flagg: married (third) Jemima 
Adams, born at Brookfield, 1779, died there March 
27. 1861, daughter of Eleazer Adams. He had one 
child by his first wife, three by the second, and the 
rest by the third w'ife. His children were: i. 
Celicia, born September 4, 1794; died at Brookfield. 
January 23, 1876 ; married, at Warren, Michael Walsh. 
2. Samuel Flagg (see forward). 3. Catherine, born 
1797; died at Warren. Massachusetts, March 3, 
1878; married, at Sturbridge, April 2, 1822, Charles 
Goodell. 4. Mary, died young. 5. Mary, died at 
Sturbridge, July 19, 185 1 ; married Thomas Kellogg. 
6. John, born September 24, 1803, died at Brook- 
field, April 7, 1871 ; married at Brookfield. Mary 
Newton. 7. David Adams, born March 16. 1805 : 
died at Warren, ;\Iassachu?etts, April 30, 1886. 8. 
Charles, born at Spencer, Massachusetts, March 9, 
1807: died at Warren, December 18, 1891 ; married at 
Warren. Lucinda Reed. o. Eleazer Adams born 
at Spencer, September 30, 18 10; died at Brookfield. 
June, 1886 ; married at Brookfield, Sarah Harwood. 
10. Addison, born at Spencer, Massachusetts, March 
17, 1812, died March 7, 1895. 11. Eliza A., born 
r>t Paxton 1817; died at Sherburne. Vermont. 
March 7, 1895 : married (first) at Brookfield. Jan- 
uary I, 1837. Hiram Gleason ; married (second) at 
Brookfield, April, 1851, Lyman H. Hodgman. 12. 
Sophronia. born 1818: married at Brookfield. Austin 
Woodward ; died at Brimfield, Massachusetts, May 
,30, 1901. 13. Waldo, (twin) born at Brookfield, 
October 13, 1820; died there November 24, 1856. 14. 
William, (twin) born October 13. 1820: married 
(first) at Stafford, Connecticut, September 9, 1848, 
Frances A. Daniels ; died at Oxford. Massachusetts, 
March. 1905. 15. Austin F., born at Sherburne, Ver- 
mont, November, 1863. 

(VI) Samuel Flagg Bemis. son of John Bemis 
(5). born March i. 1795; died at Brookfield, Massa- 




.^: 



^^^' 



'^ ^^ 



:^ 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



143 



:husetts, November 10, 1869; married Betsey Barrett, 
?ii Charlton, Massachusetts, born November 28, 
1796; died at Brookfield, April 15, 1842, daughter of 
Philip and Elizabeth (Barrett) Bigelow, of Cliarl- 
ton. Their children were i. Merrick, see for- 
uard. 2. Freeland, born December g, 1821 ; died 
January. 1880: married at Enfield, Massachusetts, 
Mary A. Underwood. 3. Fitz Henry, born No- 
i-ember 9, 1823. 4. Ann Elizabeth, born November 
15. 1826; married at Brookfield, Massachusetts, 
May 30, 185 1, Eli Truxton, born at Sturbridge, 
March 27, 1821 ; died there January 3. 1897, son of 
Benjamin Brooks (born at Warren, Massachusetts, 
February 7, 1769; died at Sturbridge 1852), and 
Esther (Fink) Brooks (born at Wellington. Con- 
necticut, 1780: died at Sturbridge 1863) ; had several 
rhildren. 5. Samuel Flagg, Jr., born November 15, 
[828. at Sturbridge : married Hannah Blodgett. 6. 
Maria Louisa, born October 3, 1831 ; died 1863: mar- 
ried at Sturbridge. Henry C. Storrs. 7. Francis 
Emily, born June 21. 1832, at Sturbridge. Massachu- 
ietts : married March 13, 1855, Marvin Clark, born 
It Southbridge, Massachusetts. February 3, 1816, son 
if Marvin Clark, of Woodstock, and Nancy (Car- 
aenter) Clark, of Ashford, Connecticut: had five 
:hildren. 8. Daniel Webster, born in Charlton, 
Massachusetts, April 21, 1835: married (second) 
Maria T, Woods. 

(Vn) Dr. Merrick Bemis, son of Samuel 
rlagg Bemis (6), born at Sturbridge, Massachu- 
.etts, May 4, 1820 ; died October 3, 1904. He was 
)ne of the most eminent physicians that ever re- 
sided in Worcester. He practiced his profession 
or fifty-six years. Almost to the day of his death 
le retained his faculties and health. It was often 
,aid of him during the last score of years that he 
)racticed. that he was one of the most active aged 
nen of Worcester, carrying on a business that 
vould tax the energies of a man of fifty. Through 
lis entire period of practice Dr. Bemis confined 
lis study and attention to his specialty, nervous and 
nenta! diseases, and he was for many years recog- 
lized as one of the leading alienists of the country, 
rhe wide range of knowledge and experience in 
:ases of insanity, coming under his observation and 
are during his long connection with large insti- 
utions for the insane, gave him an advantage over 
nost of the specialists in this line of study. He 
vas called often as an expert in consultation, and 
ly the courts. His record of twenty-five years of 
ontinuous service in the State Insane Asylum, at 
Worcester, was in itself a remarkable record, and 
vidence of his ability and powers of endurance. 

His parents moved from Sturbridge to Charlton 
vhen he was quite young. He was brought up on a 
arm. getting what educational advantages the district 
chools of his day afliorded. He sought a higher edu- 
ation and worked his way through Dudley .Acad- 
my. He walked each way every week from his 
lonie to the academy, a distance of twelve miles, 
le taught school in winter to pay his way in the 
cademy. He went to Amherst Academy for two 
ears with the expectation of going to .Kmhcrst 
-oUege. A long and severe illness caused him to 
bandon his plans for a college education, and for 
everal years he taught school in Brookfield, Massa- 
husetts. He began to study medicine when he was 
wenty-two years old, and entered the office of 
)r. Winslow Lewis as a student, but continued 
pay his way by teaching school in the winters. 
Je attended medical lectures at Pittsfield, Massa- 
husetts. Medical College, where he received 
he first half of his medical education. He then 
hanged to Castleton Medical College, of Ver- 
nont. where, in 1848. he received his degree of 



M. D. He came to Worcester November 14, 
1848, to take the place, temporarily, of one of tlie 
physicians in the lunatic asylum, and .soon after- 
ward received an appointment as assistant phy- 
sician to Dr. George Chandler, the superintendent. 
When, eight years later, in 1855, Superintendent 
Chandler resigned, the attention of the trustees 
was at once turned to Dr. Bemis as the most cap- 
able man for the position, and he was elected to the 
office. Being given a leave of absence for the pur- 
pose of travel and study in Europe, he made an 
extended tour, lasting eight months. He returned 
to Worcester in the summer of 1857, and took 
charge. He began immediately to put into opera- 
tion the reforms and new methods he had learned. 
For seventeen years he filled the position of super- 
intendent to the satisfaction of the state authori- 
ties, and developed the institution until it stood 
among the foremost American hospitals for the in- 
sane. Radical changes in the methods of treating 
insanity were made during his administration. One 
of the innovations due to Dr. Bemis was the em- 
ployment of competent female physicians in luna- 
tic asylums. It is diflicult to understand now how 
these institutions got along without women physi- 
cians. The custom has now become general. One 
of his last and most important duties in the state 
institution was the establishment of the hospital at 
Bloomingdale, the land for which was bought dur- 
ijig the last years of his superintendency of the 
Summer street institution. He submitted plans for 
the buildings and again visited Europe in 1868, to 
inspect hospitals for the insane and study the treat- 
ment of lunatics. The Massachusetts institution 
was kept in the front rank of progress. The ex- 
ample set by this Commonwealth has been ex- 
ceedingly useful and beneficent, because it has 
been followed in other states, and by private insti- 
tutions generally in this country. 

Dr. Bemis resigned his position in 1872 to estab- 
lish a private hospital for the care and treatment 
of patients afflicted with the various forms of mental 
and nervous diseases. He located the hospital on 
Salisbury street, Worcester. The main building is 
the mansion built in 1857, by Rev. Nathaniel Bent, 
for a young ladies seminary. This property, which 
includes ten acres of land, is very favorably located 
for its purpose. The hospital is known as Herlicrt 
Hall. The large, handsome mansion is cheerful, 
airy and well furnished. There arc spacious veran- 
ilas surrounding the buildings. The view from the 
hall is one of the most picturesque in a country 
abounding in fine scenery. There are attractive 
walks under the stately old shade trees in the spa- 
cious grounds, and altogether it is an ideal place 
for an invalid and convalescent. It has been suc- 
cessfully conducted ever since its foundation, first 
by Dr. Merrick Bemis. then by him and his son Dr. 
John M. Bemis, and since the founder's death by 
his son alone. No mention of Dr. Bemis's profes- 
sional career would be complete witliout referring 
to his prominence as a specialist in psychiatry. 
He was frequently consulted both by medical breth- 
ren and by the courts in difficult cases of insanity 
or alleged insanity. He wrote many niono,graphs 

■ upon hospital work among the insane and on the 
.general subject of insanity. He was a man of 

large heart and generous impulses. He gave freely 

to charities. Few have equalled him in proportion 
to his means in the number of gifts judiciously 

distributed among a variety of worthy objects. His 
patriotic service during the civil war deserves 
special mention. When in t86i the president's proc- 
lamation, calling for a force of 75.006 men to take 

the field immediately, was made Dr. Bemis earn- 



144 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



estly desired to enter tlie service. lie was unable 
to pass the physical examination, however, but 
he gave freely of his means to support the Union 
cause. He organized and equipped a company 
and sent it to the front. He took an active in- 
terest in their welfare while they were in the field, 
and contributed freely to the support of the fami- 
lies of the boys in that company while the war 
continued. It was due largely to his efforts that the 
public subscription to purchase the organ for Me- 
chanics' Hal! was successful. In 1864 the organ, 
which cost $9,000, was dedicated, and it has proved 
to be one of the finest instruments of its kind. It 
has been one of the factors in making the ?ilusical 
Festivals there so successful, from a musical point 
of view. 

Dr. Bemis collected one of the most valuable 
and interesting private libraries in the state. Much 
of the library is, of course, devoted to medical 
works, and some of the volumes are very old and 
rare. He found some time to devote to public af- 
fairs and was a member of the Worcester board of 
aldermen in 1861-62-63,, serving at the same time 
on the school board. This was a particularly im- 
portant period during the early and darker years 
of the civil war. He was a director of the Me- 
chanics' National Bank ; a member of the Worcester 
Horticultural Society, the Worcester Society of 
.Vntiquity, the Natural History Society, of which 
he was president till his death, the Massachusetts, 
and Worcester District Medical Societies, the 
American Medical Association, the New England 
Psychological Society and the American Medico- 
psychological Association. He was connected with 
various Masonic bodies. He was a member of the 
Church of the Unity, and a life member of the 
American Unitarian Association. He was for about 
fifteen years one of the state trustees of the Bald- 
winville Hosptal Cottages for Children, in the man- 
agement and development of which he had taken 
a leading part, and was president of the corporation 
at the time of his death. He was the first American 
physician to take a stand for the division of hos- 
pital buildings for the insane into separate cot- 
tages or pavilions. He married January i, 1856, 
Caroline A. Gilmore, whose father was for thirty 
years a successful practitioner at Brookfield, Massa- 
chusetts. In his office, in fact. Dr. Bemis received 
his first lessons in medicine, and was started on 
his professional career while a school teacher at 
Brookfield. They had one child : John Merrick, 
(see forward). 

CVIII) Dr. John Merrick Bemis, son of Dr. 
Merrick Bemis (7), born at Worcester, Massachu- 
setts, February 14, i860. The life work of Dr. 
Bemis has been so completely merged and identified 
with that of his father for the past twenty years, 
at Herbert Hall, that what has been said as to the 
attainments of the father as a physician and special- 
ist applies equally well to the son. He was edu- 
cated from the start as a specialist, and had im- 
usual opportunities for practice and hospital study. 
He attended the Worcester schools. Before gradu- 
ating he left the high school to prepare for col- 
lege at Phillips Andover Academy, but was obliged, 
by poor health at that time, to leave the academy, 
and he studied at home for three years under pri- 
vate tutors. He attended medical lectures at the 
Harvard Medical College in Boston and at the 
Burlington University (Vermont) Medical Depart- 
ment, where he received his diploma in 1893. He 
had been an active assistant to his father at Her- 
bert Hal! for some years ; before and after grad- 
uation he returned to the hospital where he has 
been actively engaged in the management and treat- 



ment of patients ever since. He has continued his 
studies with the intention of keeping up the times. 
He has studied at Harvard and Clark universities 
from time to tiirte and written papers for various 
learned societies. His specialty, of course, has been 
mental diseases. Herbert Hall, of which he is now, 
since his father's death, owner and manager, is the 
only private hospital in the state devoted to insane 
patients exclusively, except the McLean Hospital, 
which is in a class by itself. Herbert Hall is char- 
tered by the state and under the state supervision. 
It ranks high among the institutions of its kind. 

Dr. Bemis has devoted his time almost exclusively 
to the hospital. He is trustee of the Baldwinville 
Hospital Cottages for Children. He is on the edu- 
cation committee of the Highland Military Academy, 
of Worcester; a member of the Massachusetts Med- 
ical Society, the Worcester Medical Society, the 
American Psychological Society and the New Eng- 
land Psychological Society. In religion he is an 
Episcopalian. He married June 25, 1887, Fannie 
Bishop Brown, of Andover, Massachusetts, daugh- 
ter of John Brown, for many years druggist at 
Andover, Massachusetts. He was born at New- 
buryport in 1809 ; died at Andover in 1886. Her 
mother was Emily Fiske. daughter of Eben Fiske, 
born at Roxbury, Massachusetts, June 24, 1819, re- 
sided many years at New Orleans, Louisiana. 
She is living (1905), remarkably active and well 
for her years. She is related to the Willards, cele- 
brated as clockmakers in the colonial days. Chil- 
dren of Dr. Bemis are: i. Annie Merrick, born 
October i, 1888. 2. Caroline Gilmore, born ^lay 
25, 1891. 

Daniel Webster Bemis, son of Samuel Flagg 
Bemis, and brother of Dr. Merrick Bemis, late of 
Worcester, was born in Charlton, Massachusetts, 
April 21, 1835. He obtained his early education 
in the public schools of Brookfield, Massachusetts. 
After leaving school he entered the employ of the 
Hospital for the Insane on Summer street, Wor- 
cester, of wdiicb Dr. IMerrick Bemis was the super- 
intendent. He was appointed steward and filled 
this position for twenty years. For seven years he 
was also treasurer of the hospital. In the early 
seventies he bought a farm in Shrewsbury, and hav- 
ing resigned his position at the hospital devoted 
his attention to farming since then. With a natural 
aptitude for agriculture and horticulture, Mr. Bemis 
has lived quietly and enjoyably upon his farm in 
the picturesque old town of Slirewsbury. He has 
an excellent farm well stocked and well conducted. 

Mr. Bemis represented Worcester in the gen- 
eral court in his younger days and assisted in the 
passage of the bill to locate the Hospital for the 
Insane at Bloomingdale in Worcester. The site 
has proved an ideal place for an institution of 
this kind, which has grown very rapidly and for 
which there is ample opportunit-- for growth. Mr. 
Bemis was prominent in Masonic circles when a citi- 
zen of Worceser. He has taken the Blue Lodge, the 
Riiyal Arch chapter, the council and the com- 
mandcry degrees in the York Rite degrees. He 
was elected to take tlie Scottish Rite degrees also 
in Worcester. He has been high priest of the 
chapter and held all the elective offices in that body. 
Since living in Shrewsbury. Mr. Bemis has served 
the town for twenty years on the school commit- 
tee. He is deeply interested in educational mat- 
ters, has taken an active part in town affairs, and 
served three years on the board of assessors and has 
been a selectman. He is an active iliember of the 
Congregational church and Sunday school, and has 
for a number of years been a deacon. He is a Re- 
publican in politics. No citizen in Shrewsbury is 



I 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



145 



uore highly esteemed than Air. Bciuis. In every 
falk of life he has taken his part modestly and 
apably. As a friend, neighbor and citizen he is 
lopular. In private life and public office alike his 
iitegnty and common sense have been appreciated. 
Mr. Bemis married (first) Jennie Learned, of 
Jnderhill, Vermont. She lived only about a year. 
it married (second) Maria T. Wood, daughter of 
foel Fay Wood, of Grafton. Their children are: 
. Agnes T., graduate of the Worcester Ingh 
chool, and State Normal school, teacher in the Cas- 
ine Normal school and elsewhere, and for some time 
uperinlendent of the domestic department at Mt. 
^olyoke College. 2. Leigh Jannette, a graduate of Mt. 
iolyoke College, 1894, married Rev. Frank B. Doane, 
in Amherst graduate of Amherst College and of the 
^ew Haven Divinity School, now pastor of the Con- 
[rcgational church at Cheney, Washington. 3. Mabel 
J., a graduate of the high school, married Ned 
Veslcy I'arkcr, foreman for John L. Parker & Co., 
erule manufacturers, 70 School street, Worcester ; 
hey reside with Mr. Bemis in Shrewsbury. 

PARKER FAMILY. Thomas Parker (i), was 
he immigrant ancestor of Edmund L. Parker and 
>Jed Wesley Parker, of Worcester. He belonged 
an old English family of which something has 
leen written for this work. He was about thirty 
■ears of age when he embarked from London, 
ingland, March 11, 1635, on the ship "Susan and 
illcn." He settled at Lynn where he was a pro- 
irictor in 1638. He was admitted a freeman there 
»Iay 17, 1637. He may have about 1635, married 
lis wife Amy there. He removed to Reading be- 
wcen 1638 and 1640, and was founder and deacon 
if the church there. He died in Reading, August, 
2, 1683. His wife Amy died in Reading, January 

5, 1690. His will was dated August 3, 1683, and 
iroved December 18, of that year. He bequeathed 
o wife Amy ; to sons John, Thomas, Nathaniel and 
iananiah ; daughters Mary and Martha ; grand- 
hildren Samuel and Sarah Parker; to John, "a 
;reat Bible that Boniface Burton gave me." Children 
vere : i. Thomas, born in Lynn, 1636; died July 

7, 1699; married Deborah . 2. Lt. Hana- 

liah, born about 1638; died at Reading, March 10, 
724; married (first) Elizabeth Browne of Read- 
ng. September 30, 1663; married (second) Mary 
Bursham) Bright, December 12, 1700. 3. Sergeant 
ohn, born in Reading, 1640; died 1698. 4. Josepii, 
lOrn 1642; died 1644. 5. Joseph, born 1645; died 
646. 6. Mary, born December 12, 1647; died 1705; 
narried- Samuel Dodge. 7. Martha, born March 14. 
649. 8. Nathaniel (see forward). 9. Sarah, born 
September 30, 1653: died October 26, 1656. 10. Jona- 
han, born Alay 18, 1656 ; died at Reading, June 10, 
680. II. Sarali, born May 23, 1658. 12. Deborah, 
given by Pope). 

(II) Nathaniel Parker, eighth child of Thomas 
i'arkcr (i). born at Reading, Massachusetts, May 

6, 1651 ; died there 1737; married Bethiah Polly, 
if Roxbury, Massachusetts, September 24. 1677, 
laughter of John and Bethiah (Gowdrey) Polly, 
laptized 1659. He was ensign of the Reading Coni- 
lany. Children were: I. Bethiah, born 1678; died 
■oung. 2. Nathaniel, born 1679; married Elizalicth. 
702. 3. Stephen, born 1684; died young. 4. Bethiah, 
)orn 1685 ; died 171S ; married Ebenezer Emerson 
707. 5. Susannah, born if)87; married Joseph Un- 
lerwood. 1707. 6. Ebenezer, born 1689; married 
Viercy Damon 1714. 7. Stephen, born 1692: mar- 
led Elizabeth Batchelder, 1713. 8. Caleb, born 
1694. 9. Timothy, born 1696. lO. Obadiah. born 1698. 
I. Abigail, born 1699. 12. Amy. born 1701 ; died 
'Oung. 13. Amy, born 1702; married Stephen 

10 



Richardson, of Billerica, 1728. 14. Phineas (see 
forward). 

(HI) Phineas Parker, youngest and fourteenth 
child of Nathaniel Parker (2), born at Reading, 
MassachuseHs, September 27, 1704; died at Pep- 

perell. August 28, 1787; married Martha , who 

died at Pepperell, January 31, 1793, aged eighty- 
three years. '1 heir children were: i. Edmund, (see 
forward). 2. Martha, born February 5, 1735; mar- 
ried Captain Jonas Richardson, July 27, 1756. 3. 
i.li/alielli, born June hX, 1737; niarried Naglc. 

4. Phineas (Captain), born July 9, 1739. 5. Lydia, 
born February 17, 1742; died at Pepperell, August 
31, 1822; married Reuben Shattuck, of Pepperell, 
Movember 25, 1773. 6. Abijah, born 1745; died at 
Pepperell, December 4, 181 1; married January 21, 
1772, Sarah Lawrence. 7. John, January 8, 1748. 8. 
Mary. May 4, 1751 ; died November 12. 1752, at 
Reading; all the foregoing were born at Reading, 
Massachusetts. 

(IV) Edmund Parker, eldest child of Phineas 
Parker (3), born in Reading, Massachusetts, Feb- 
ruary 7, 1731 ; died in Pepperell, Massachusetts, 
August 13, 1813; married (first) Lydia Varnum, 
m Pepperell, July 22, 1755. She died August 4, 
1756: married (second) in Pepperell, April 13, 1757, 
Elizabeth Sheple, widow of James Green, Jr., of 
Groton, daughter of John and Elizabeth (Boydcn) 
Sheple, Jr., of Groton, born there May 22, 1730; 
died at Pepperell, November 21, 1812, aged eighty- 
two years. 

There w'as one child born to Edmund and Lydia 
(Varnum) Parker: i. Lydia, born in Pepperell, 
July 30, 1756, and probably died at Pepperell, Feb- 
ruary 10, 1774. Children of Edmund and Elizabeth 
(Sheple) (Cireen) Parker were: 2. Edmund, bora 
in Townsend, May 23, 1761 ; died at Norridgewock,. 
Alaine, November 18, 1838 ; married Mary Shepley, 
of Pepperell, March 11, 17S3. 3. Asa, born at Pep- 
perell, December 29, 1763 ; married Sibbel White, of 
Pepperell, December 6, 1792. 4. Jonas, (see for- 
ward). 5. James, born in Pepperell, April 19, 1769; 
died at Brookline, New Hampshire, January 14, 
1826; married Sally Boynton, of Pepperell. Octo- 
ber II, 1792. 6. John, born in Pepperell, October 
,v 1774: married Sally Tarbell. of Pepperell, Octo- 
ber 3, 1797. 6. Elizabeth, born at Pepperell, Jan- 
uary 26. 177S: married David Shed, Jr., of Pep- 
perell, December 27, 1797. 

Elizabeth Sheple or Shepley was the daughter of 
John Shepley. Jr., (born .-Kpril i, 1703; married 
February 16, 1725-6, Elizabeth Boyden) and grand- 
daughter of John .Shepley (born probably at Wen- 
ham, died September 4, 1736; resided at Groton) 
and wife Lydia ; probably great-granddaughter of 
John or Nathaniel Shepley, sons of the emigrant. 
John Shepley, Shipley or Shapleigh, was born in 
England about 1587, and settled before or in 1636 
in Salem ; removed to Wenham, Massachusetts. 

Elizabeth Boyden, before mentioned, was born 
March 10. 1707, the daughter of Jonathan and Eliza- 
beth Boyden, and descendant of Thomas Boyden, 
the immigrant, who settled in Watcrtown. 

(V) Jonas Parker, fourth child of Edmund 
Parker (4), born in Pepperell. July 16, 1766; died 
at Pepperell, December 7, 1849; married (first) 
Ruth Farmer, in Pepperell, December 18, 1788, 
daughter of Nathaniel and Hannah (Fessenden) 
Farmer, of Lexington, Massachusetts, born in Lex- 
ington, August 15, 1765 ; died at Pepperell. Feb- 
ruary S, 1828; married (second) Mrs. Mehitable 

5. Frost, widow of Lemuel Parker, of Pepperell, 
January 18. 1829. 

Nathaniel Farmer, father of Ruth, born Jan- 
uary 29, 1725; died September 3, 1778; son of John 



I4(J 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



FarnuT (boni Stptcml)or i8, 1703), and Haniiali 
Woods, of Groton. John l-'armer, Jr., was the son 
of John Farmer (born August 19, 1671 ; died Sep- 
tember 9, 1736), of Bilkrica and his wife, Abigail 
Shed (born 1679; died at Tewksbury, Massachu- 
setts, March 20, 1754, aged seventy-tive), daughter 
of Daniel Shed. John l^armer was the son of Ed- 
ward Farmer, the emigrant, who came to New Eng- 
land between 1660 and 1670, born in England 1640; 
died May 27, 1727, and his wife, Mary, born 1642-3; 
died at Billerica, March, 1719, about seventy-eight 
years of age. 

Hannah Fessenden, mother of Ruth Farmer, born 
in Lexington, Massachusetts, August 9, 1736; died 
December 20, 1782; married May 28, 1755; daughter 
of Thomas Fessenden, Jr., (born December 9, 1709; 
died July 22, 1768), of Lexington and his wife, 
Hannah Prentice, married June 19, 1735, of Cam- 
bridge, Massachusetts. 

Thomas Fessenden was the son of Thomas Fes- 
senden (born August 12, 1684; died March 6, 1738;, 
of Lexington, and his hrst of three wives, Abigail 
Poulter, daughter of Jonathan and Elizabeth Poul- 
ler (she was born September 5, 1692; died April 
25, 1719; married 1708). Thomas Fessenden was 
the son of Nicholas Fessenden (the emigrant, born 
in England 1650; died February 24, 1719), of Cam- 
bridge, and Margaret Cheney, born 1755 ; died De- 
cember 10, 1 7 17. 

Nathaniel Farmer, father of Ruth (Farmer) 
Parker, was a member of Captain Parker's company 
and was in the battle on Lexington common 
April 19, 1775. He received a severe wound that 
morning; the bullet struck his right arm and frac- 
tured the bone, so that he was disabled for a long 
time. The general court granted him fifteen pounds, 
fifteen shillings for loss of labor and expense of 
surgical attendance. 

The children of Nathaniel and Hannah (Fes- 
senden) Farmer were: i. John, born July 18, 
1757; married Lucy Read, March 27, 1783. 2. 
Hannah, January 28, 1760; married Jacob Kilburn, 
of Lancaster. 3. Isaac, October 8, 1762, died young. 
4. Ruth, before mentioned. 5. Abigail, Novem- 
ber I, 1768. 6. Sally, December 19, 1771 ; married 
Samuel Pierce, of Groton. 7. Rebeckah, December 
19. '^Tl'^- 8. Thomas Shattuck, September 10, 1775; 
9. Isaac, December 31, 1779. 

(VI) John Parker, fourth child of Jonas Parker 
fS), was born at Pepperell, Massachusetts, Decem- 
ber 18, 1795. He spent his younger days at Pep- 
perell and Lancaster, but during most of his act- 
ive years he was engaged in the shipping business 
at Cohasset, in partnership with Laban Souther 
under the firm name of Souther & Parker. He 
was an officer in the Lancaster company in the 
war of 1812 and was on duty in Boston. He 
was a member of the Cohasset Unitarian church. 
He was for many years a neighbor and personal 
friend of Daniel Webster. He died March 26, 
1868, at Cohasset. He married November 15, 1822, 
Mary Oakes Lawrence, then only fifteen years of 
age, born May I, 1807, at Cohasset, daughter of 
Deacon Thaddeus and Joa Lawrence. They lived at 
Pepperell for a time after they were married, and the 
first four children were born there, the others at 
Cohasset. 

Children were: i. Caroline Willard, born Octo- 
ber 2, 1823. 2. Mary Elizabeth. March 3. 1826 : 
died young. 3. Harriet Maria, March 13, 1828. 4. 
John Loring, see forward. 5. Louisa Frances. August 
22, 18.^2. 6. James Flcnry, December 3, 1834. 7. 
Mary Elizabeth, October 21, 1837. 8. George Odion. 
February 9, 1840. 9. Sophronia Lawrence, February 
18, 1842. 10. Charles Oakes, October 18, 1844. ii. 



lulmund Lawrence (see forward). 12. Frank Lewis, 
July II, 1849. Of these two, John L. and Edmund 
L. lived in Worcester. 

(VII) John Loring Parker, fourth child of 
John Parker (6), born at Pepperell, Massachusetts. 
August II, 1830; removed when very young to 
Cohasset, where he attended the common schools, 
and was graduated from the high school in 1848. 
He went to Pepperell after leaving school and served 
an apprenticeship in the machine shop of Blake & 
Co., manufacturers of paper machinery. Later he 
married Marrinda C. Blake, the daughter of the 
senior partner of the firm, Henry Blake. He 
worked as journeyman and foreman and finally 
became supermtendent of the factory. During the 
civil war he secured a contract for the manufacture 
of swords, and as partner of the firm of Roby & 
Company carried on this business in a shop at West 
Chelmsford. His partners were Christopher Roby 
and Charles Blake. At the close of the war he ac- 
cepted a position as superintendent of the shoe 
factory of Gevernor Baldwin, at Detroit, Michigan. 
He returned to Worcester to take the position of 
superintendent of the loom works of L. J. Knowles 
& Lirother, and set up the first Knowles loom made in 
Worcester in 1866. He went into business for 
himself a few years later, manufacturing ferules, 
etc., at 209 Union street. He bought the business 
of White & Emerson, manufactures of iron and 
steel pressed goods, and carried on the business un- 
til his death. At first the business was located on 
Foster street. In 1879 it was moved to the pres- 
ent location on School street in order to get larger 
quarters. At first George S. Barton was a silent 
partner in the firm of John L. Parker & Co. In 
1876 the interests of Mr. Barton were purchased by 
Edmund L. Parker, brother of the senior partner 
and the business was continued under the same 
name. 

The firm was prosperous and after the death 
of the senior partner the business continued under 
the original name. In recent years some fifty hands 
were employed, and goods made for the foreign as 
well as the home trade. All the products of this 
shop were patented and made for the consumers. 
The company makes parts for manufacturers of 
agricultural machinery, cotton machinery, cutlery, 
shoe last manufacturers and a large variety of con- 
cerns using pressed metal. For a time Mr. Parker 
was interested in the manufacture of cutlery at 
Natick, Massachusetts, in partnership with Jnel 
Allen and his brother James H. Parker. 

He was a Free Mason ; was a member of the Coral 
Street Methodist Church and was superintendent 
of the Sunday school. He died December 20, 1887. 
Children were: i. Herbert Lawrence, (see for- 
ward). 2. Nellie Gertrude, married Elmer W. 
Lewis, of Boston ; he is with Kidder, Peabody & 
Co., bankers: they have two children, Arthur G. and 
Thelma. 3. Harry Strickland; married Edith Gross; 
he is a graduate of the Peekskill, New York, Mili- 
tary Academy, and one of the confidential men of 
F. S. Bowser & Co., of Boston and Indianapolis. 
4. Ned Wesley, (see forward). 

(VIII) Herbert Lawrence Parker, son of John 
Lorine Parker (7), born in Worcester, was edu- ■ 
cated in the public schools of Worcester and at the 'I 
Worcester Polytechnic Institute. After graduation ' 
he went to Mexico as the general agent of the 
Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad Coinpany. 
He lived at Juarez. Mexico, for a year, and in the 
city of Mexico for two years and a half, he then 
went to San Francisco. In 1896 he bought a con- 
trolling interest, and has since been the president 
and manager of the Emerson Electric Manufactur- 





C^''e(((CCi 




ac/!jr 



I 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



147 



ing Company of St. Louis. The business of. this 
concern has been very prosperous under his owner- 
ship. 

He married Emily King. Their children are : 
King; Herbert; Katherine; Elizabeth. 

(.Vni) New Wesley ParUer, son of John Loring 
Parker (7), was born in Worcester May 22, 1870. 
When he, was two years old his parents removed 
xo Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, where he began his 
education in the common schools. He grailuated 
from the high school at the age of eighteen and 
entered the business which his father established 
in Worcester. In i888, shortly after his father's 
death, he removed with the rest of the family to 
Cohasset, and while living there he took a course 
in the business college of Bryant & Stratton in 
Boston. In 1889 he returned to Worcester and en- 
tered the manufactory of John L. Parker S: 
Co., in which his father had been the senior part 
ner and which his uncle, Edmund L. Parker, the 
junior partner. He learned the business thoroughly, 
and for nearly twenty years was superintendent 
of the manufacturing end of it. Since 1905, when 
the business was incorporated as the John L. Parker 
Company, under the laws of Massachusetts, he has 
been a director. The other officers of the company 
are : President, Frank R. Jones ; secretary, John 
M. Kendall ; director, Sanford C. Kendall. Mr. 
Parker lives in Shrewsbury where he has a hand- 
some residence. He is a Methodist in religion, al- 
though he attends tlw Shrewsbury Congregational 
church. In politics he is a Republican. He is 
active in town affairs and is chief of the local fire 
department. He was formerly a member of the 
Shrewsbury Grange, Patrons of Husbantry, and was 
a charter member of the Hancock Club of Worcester. 
He married June 4. 1892, Mabelle G. Bemis, daugh- 
ter of Daniel W. Bemis, a sketch of whom will be 
found elsewhere in this work. (See the Bemis 
Family under sketch of Dr. J. M. Bemis.) Her 
mother was Maria (Wood) Bemis. Children are: 
Winifred Agnes, born December 30, 1895 ; Lawrence 
Bemis. born August 19, 1901. 

(VII) Edmund Lawrence Parker, son of John 
Parker (6), born at Cohasset. Massachusetts, Feb- 
ruary 8, 1847 : died August 17, 1906. He received . 
liis education at the Coha.=set schools, and at Wil- 
braham Academy. Was a graduate of high school in 
1865. After leaving school he became a clerk in 
the Second National Bank, of Boston. In 1870 he 
became a member of the firm of Caverly, Parker & 
Young, of Lynn. Massachusetts. In 1876 he came 
to Worcester and became a partner with his brother 
in the firm of John L. Parker & Co., in the manu- 
facture of pressed metal goods. After the death of 
his brother he carried on the business under the 
same name until 1905. when the business was in- 
corporated and he retired. The business was very 
prosperous, and Mr, Parker was. one of the best 
known mnnufacturers of the city. He built a hand- 
some residence at 15 Massachusetts avenue in 1905. 
and there enjoyed a well earned rest from active 
business. He enjoyed travel and had been abroad 
many times. He was a Republican and prominent 
in city affairs. He served four years in the com- 
mon council from 1887 to 1890, inclusive, and was 
ati alderman in 1891-92. He was a diligent and 
effective worker for the welfare of the city, and was 
counted among the best men that have served in the 
city ctnmcil in recent years. His common-sense and 
good judgment won the respect and confidence of 
liis associates. He was always an active and con- 
sistent advocate of temperance refonn. As a candi- 
date it has been noted that he received the highest 
number of votes on the ticket, and he would have 



been kept in the city council longer had he not 
declined to be re-elected. His name was frequentlv 
u/ged as i<cpublican candidate lor mayor. He was 
m cvtry sense a self-made man. He was one of the 
o;gauii:ers ot the Hancock club of Worcester- was 
.1 mcinlier of the Worcester board of trade and a 
director in the Eastern Bridge Construction Com- 
pany, ot W orce-ter ; the Equity Corporation Bank, 
ot Worcester; the Fidelity Mercantile Agency Com- 
l)any. 01 Worcester; the West Side Land Company, 
nl Uorcesier; the Worcester Real Estate Company 
01 Worcester; the Toadvine Lumber Company, of 
Elizabeth City, North Carolina. He was a well 
known 1-rec Mason; a member of Athelstan Lodge, 
luircka Chapter and the Worcester County Coin- 
mandety. Knights Templar. He was a member of 
Si. Johns Episcopal Church and for fifteen years was 
warden. 

He married October 6, 1869, Eva Sarah Jones 
daughter of William and Rachel Jones, of Lynn' 
.\lassachusetts. Their only child is Dr. Ernest l' 
Parker, born February 13, 1878; graduated from 
1 liillips Academy at Andovcr, Massachusetts, in 
1898, and from the Harvard Medical school in 1903. 
alier which he took a post graduate course at the 
medical school. He then received a two-year ap- 
p< mtment in the Boston city hospital, from which 
he graduated and served five months on its executive 
l.Hiard. He was elected on the sfaff of the Wor- 
cister city hospital in 1905, at the time he began 
to practice his profession in Worcester. His office 
IS at II Elm street. He married, October 8, 1906, 
Sally Leeds Bufford, of Dorchester, I^Iassachusclts! 

CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS STONE. Dea- 
con Simon Stone (i), the immierant ancester of 
Hon. Christopher Columbus Stone, of Clinton, 
Massachusetts, with his younger brother, Gregory 
Stone, of whom a sketch appears elsewhere in this 
work, were early settlers at Watertown, Massa- 
chusetts, and are progenitors of most of the old 
i\ew England families of this surname. Simon 
Stone, husbandman, aged fifty years, with his wile 
Joan, aged thirty-eight years, and children, Frances, 
aged sixteen; Ann, aged eleven; Simon, aged four; , 
Marie, aged three and John, aged five weeks, sailed 
111 the ship "Increase," April 15, 1635, from Ipswich, 
Robert Lea, master. He was admitted a freeman 
May 25, 1636. He was selectman for seven years 
between 1637 and 1656, and w^as deacon of the 
church. 

He died at Watertown, September 22, 1665. His 
will was proved October 3, 1665, bv his brother, 
Gregory Stone, and Stephen Day. He bequeathed 
to sons Simon and John; daughters Frances and 
]\I;:ry; Johanna and Nathaniel Green, children of 
Frances and her husband Thomas Greene; kinsmen 
John and Daniel Warner (Warren?) and Thomas 
Wells. His wife died and he married (second), ■ 
1654. Sarah Lumpkin, widow of Richard Lumpkin, 
of Ipswich. Massachusetts, who came from Boxtead, 
Essex county. England. Her will was dated March 
2=;. 1663, and proved October 6. following. Deacon 
Stone was eighty years old at the time of his 
death and fifty years old when he emigrated. Hence 
bis birth year was 1585. Children of Simon and 
Joan (or Jane) Stone were: Frances, born in Eng- 
land. 1619. married Thomas Green and had chil- 
dren, Joanna and Nathaniel ; Ann, born in England, 
Tf)24; Simon. Jr., born in England, 1631, see forward; 
Marie, born in England, 1632. died unmarried June 
25. 1691 : John, born in England, baptized August 
i.^. i6.?5. at Watertown : Elizabeth, born April 5 
1639. 

(ID Simon Stone. Jr., son of Deacon Simon 



148 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



Stone (i), was born in England in 1631 and came 
to America with liis parents and their family in 
1635. He settled in VVatcrtown, where he was a dis- 
tinguished citizen. He was often elected town clerk, 
indicating that he was a man of some education, 
and selectman, indicating that he was a man of 
some force of character and of property. He was 
. deputy to the general court in 1678-79-80-81-82-83- 
84-86-89-90, and during those years was one of the 
foremost men of the town. He died February 27, 
1707-08, aged seventy-seven years. 

He married Mary Whipple, who died June 2, 
1720, aged eighty-six years. Their children: Simon, 
Jr. born August 18, 1656, see forward; John, July 23, 
1658; Matthew. February 6, 1659-60, of Lancaster, 
1693 of Sudbury and in 1697 was deacon of the Sud- 
bury church; married Mary ; Nathaniel, Feb- 
ruary 22, 1661-62, died February 24, same year; 
Ebetiezer, February 27, 1662, admitted freeman 
March 26, 1690; Mary, January 6, 1664-65; 
Nathaniel, 1667, graduate of Harvard, 1690, died 
175=1. aged eighty-eight years, minister at Harwich; 
F.lizabc'th. October 9. 1670, admitted to full com- 
numion in church February 13, 1697-98, married, 
November 6, 1706, John Haddock, of Boston; David. 
October 19. 1672,' admitted to church December 12, 
1697. married. December 12, 1710, Mary Rice ; he 
flied October 7. 1750. aged seventy-eight years, blind 
for fifty-six years ; infant, born and died August. 
1674; Susannah, November 6, 1675, married. June. 
1697, Edward Goddard ; Jonathan, December 26, 
1677. died January 7. 1754. 

(HI) Deacon Simon Stone, son of Simon Stone 
(2), was born at VVatertown. Massachusetts, Au- 
gust 18 or 19, 1656. He died December 19, T741, 
at Groton. He and his brother John settled in Gro- 
ton, Massachusetts, John had a son John, Jr.. born 
September 23. 1699. and son James, born January 
23, 1701, and probably Joseph, all three of whom set- 
tled in Groton and had families there. 

Dr. Green says of Simon Stone : "This has been 
a common name for nearly two centuries and the 
families bearing it have lived in the south part of 
the town. Deacon Simon Stone was an original 
proprietor, owning an eighteen-acre right. He was 
the eldest of the children of Deacon Simon and 
Mary (Whipple) Stone, of Watertown. Perhaps 
he was the person referred to by Mather's (Mag- 
nalia (VII 74). who was severely wounded by the 
Indians July 4, i6go, at Exeter." The story of the 
wounds as told in the Magnalia seem incredible. 
He was wounded by bullets in nine places and left 
for dead. When the Indians came to strip his body 
they struck him with a hatchet twice to cut off his 
head, but the British soldiers were heard coming 
and he was left unscalped. When his fellow-soldiers 
found him he was not dead, so they placed him in 
a canoe and took him to a safe place, where he 
finally recovered fully. Simon was often chosen 
town officer and on important committees of the 
church, and served as deacon for many years. He 
was often selectman. The epitaph on Deacon Stone's 
gravestone is : "Here lies the body of Deacon Simon 
Stone who departed this life December 19. A. D. 
1741. aged eighty-five years, three months and eleven 

days. Died 1741." He married Sarah and all 

their children were born at Groton. except the first 
two. Simon and John. Their children : John, born 
l6go; Simon, Jr.. about 1692; Susanna, October 23, 
1694; Isaac. May 4, 1697, see forward; Benjamin, 
.\u,gust 12, 1706; Hannah, died September 27, 1723; 
Lydia. died September 30, 1723. 

(IV) Simon Stone. Jr., son of Simon Stone 
(3). was born in Watertown, probably in 1692. and 
removed when an infant with his parents to Groton, 



Massachusetts, where he lived all the remainder of 
his days, although his section of the town was set 
off as Harvard, and he was a prominent citizen 
(if the new town. He was the leader in the move- 
ment to have Harvard set of, and the general 
court recognized him as the first citizen of the town 
by ordering him to summon the first town meeting, 
June 30, 1732. He was at that meeting elected 
moderator and a member of the first board of 
selectman. He served the new town in many of- 
fices and on many committees. He was on the com- 
mittee to build the meeting house in 1729 and to 
invite the minister to settle — Rev. John Seccomb. 
He was one of the first deacons of the church with 
Joseph Fairbanks, Jonathan Whitney and Joseph 
Haskell. He died in 1746, leaving an estate valued 
at 508 pounds. The history of Harvard calls him 
"the foremost citizen." In the long list of his chat- 
tels, the history notes some showing the character 
of household goods at that time, viz.: Silver cup, 
an oval table — unwonted luxuries in those days — 
also a loom and tackling, a lanthorn, a looking glass, 
wheels and cards, fiax-combs, sheep shears, warming 
pan, skillets, a fire slice, tranmiels, keelers, a razor, 
two swarms of bees, a pigeon net and a cyder mill. 
He married Sarah . All their children are re- 
corded at Groton until 1732 and the two youngest 
are recorded at Harvard, probably all born on the 
old homestead, located in what is now Harvard, 
formerly Groton. Children : Simon, Jr., born Sep- 
tember 10. 1714, settled at Harvard, married Eunice 
; Ephraim, January 2, 1715-16; Oliver, Janu- 
ary 20, 1719-20; Sarah. January 27, 1721-22; Isaac, 
February 17. 1723-24. see forward; Hannah. April 
18, 1726; Elias, April 2. 1728; Amos, September 9, 
1729; Solomon, September 3. 1732; Micah, April 10, 
I7.35- 

(V) Isaac Stone, son of Simon Stone (4). was 
horn at Groton, Massachusetts, February 17, 1723-24. 
The farm on which he lived was set off in the 
territory of the new town of Harvard, where he 
was brought up. He was assigned a seat in the 
Harvard church in 1750. He was a soldier in the 
French and Indian war, corporal in Captain Israel 
Taylor's cfimpany. Colonel Oliver Wilder's regi- 
ment in 1757. and in Judah Clark's company in- 
^7S5- He or his son Isaac served in the revolution- 
in Captain Joseph Whitconib's compan\- of Lan- 
caster, Captain James Reed's company in Colonel 
Timothy Ruggles's regiment. He resided at Boyls- 
ton for many years, but died at Lancaster. Sep- 
tember 14. 1816. aged ninety-three years. He mar- 
ried (first) Keziah Pierce. April 16, 1744, at Har- 
vard. He married (second). May 3, 1765, at Boyls- 
ton. Massachusetts, by Rev. Mr. Morse. Rachel 
Fiske. of Shrewsbury. She died at Boylston. July 
12. 1824. aged ninety years. After the death of his 
first wife he removed to Shrewsbury. Children of 
Isaac and Keziah Stone were : Ephraim. born at 
Harvard. January 22. 1745-46 ; Isaac. January 26, 
1746-47; resided at Boylston, married Abigail 
Moore : Sarah Moore, 1808. and Abigail Green, 
1824; Dinah. August 3. 1749; Daniel, July 10, 1754; 
Jacob. July 25. 1756, died young; infant born ancf 
died December 16. 1758; Keziah. April 6. 1760; 
Sarah; March 30. 1762; .'\bigail, February 19. 1765. 
Children of Isaac and Rachel Stone, all born at 
Shrewsbury, were: Esther. May 30. 1766; Eliza- 
lieth. October 21. 1767; Jacob. August 25, 1770, see 

forward : .Annis. Alarch 4. 1772, married 

Robinsoti. 

(Vf) Tacob Stone, son of Isaac Stone (5)', was 
born in Shrewsbury. Massachusetts, August 25, 1770. 
He settled in the north district of Shrewsbury, 
Boylston. and at Lancaster, where the births of his- 



WOKCRSTER COUXTV 



149 



children arc recorded, tlnniiili all may not have 
been born there. About i-yO Jacob Stone purchased 
of Ephraini Bennett tliree hundred acres of land 
along the old country road from Lancaster to Wor- 
cester. He was a carpenter by trade and for many 
years was the leading builder in that section. He 
employed a large force of carjienters at times. He 
did the carpenter work of the brick church in Lan- 
caster in 1816. Both he and his sons were very 
skillful in framing and raiding houses. He built 
a large two-story liouse for himself before his first 
marriage and he lived in it more than forty years, 
but late in life he met with rever.-;es and had to 
give up the place to creditors. He then moved to 
the Fitch place in Sterling, where he died July 8, 
1847. 

He married (first), September 23. 1793, Martha 
Barnes. She died March 23, 1795. He married 
(second) Anna Barnes, of Boylston. May 11, jygi), 
and she died at Lancaster, April 12, 18 — . Jacob 
married (third I. April 14. 1819, L>abelle Bennett, 
daughter of .Asa Bennett, of Lancaster. The chil- 
dreji of Jacob and Martha Stone w-ere : Twins, died 
in infancy. The children of Jacob and Anna Stone 
were: Joseph, born February 19, 1797; James, Au- 
gust 29, 1799. see forward; Martha, June 29, 1801 ; 
Jacob, March 6, 1803, died October 9, 1830; Anna, 
February 9, 1805, died September 30, 1842 ; Achsah, 
April 18, t8o6. died October 21, 1843; Abel, April 
6, 1808, died June 11, 1856; Betsy, March ir, 1810, 
died Septenilicr 30, 1813: Captain Oliver, January 
16, l8l2, father of Louis L. Stone ; Betzy. March 3, 
1814, died December 23, 1S53 ; Tamar, born Decem- 
ber 30, 1815. died ^lay 19, 1836; Maria, born March 
23, 1818, died September II, 1845. The children 
of Jacob and Isabelle Stone were : one child which 
died in infancy. 

(VH) James Stone, son of Jacob Stone (6), 
was born in Lancaster. August 29, 1799. He lived 
all his life at Lancaster. He was a carpenter and 
farmer. He held the office of prudential agent, whose 
duty it was to hire the district school teachers, in 
1839. He married. February 15. 1827. Eliza Burditt. 
Their children : Christopher Columbus, born No- 
vember 27. 1829, see forward : Ellen Eliza, Febru- 
ary 15, 1827. Eliza Burditt. Their children : 
see forward. Ellen Eliza, February 19, 1836: Har- 
riet Elizabeth (twin) January 23, 1839; Caroline 
Louisa (twin), January 23, 1839: infants died Octo- 
ber ir, 1842, and in 1846. 

(Vni) Christopher Columbus Stone, .son of 
James Stone (7). was born in Lancaster in that 
part of the town set off as Clinton, November 27, 
1829. He attended the district schools of Clinton- 
ville and took a course at the Lancaster Academy. 
He learned the carpenter trade, which his father and 
grandfather had followed successfully, and for twenty 
years was a carpenter and builder in Clinton. Then 
he decided to study law. He had all his life b:en 
a student and had obtained a liberal education 
from private reading and study. He studied law 
in the office of Hon. C. G. Stevens, a lawyer of 
high repute and attaimnents, who practiced in Wor- 
cester and Clinton. Lie did not apply for admis- 
sion to the bar. as he received the appointment of 
trial justice at Clinton in 1871 and remained in this 
position until the formation of the second district 
court of eastern Worcester when he was anpointed 
associate justice, but on retirement of the pre- 
siding judge. Mr. Stevens, became his successor 
and has ever since filled this position with rare 
judgment and ability. 

In his younger days Mr. Stone was active in 
the militia and when the civil war broke out he 
was major of the Ninth Rtgiment. to which the 



Light Guard of Clinton belonged. He was one of 
the directors of a drill club organized August 11, 
1861, that did good work for the cause. 'I h rough - 
out the war he was active in support of the gov- 
ernment and in recruiting soldiers. Judge Stone 
became active in the temperance movement in its 
early days. In 1850, when the order of the Sons 
of Temperance was flourishing, he was among the 
worthy patriarchs. He is a member of Chnton 
Lodge of Odd F"elIows, the order of Red Men and 
the Free Masons. He has attained the Knight 
Templar degree in Masonry. He is president of 
the First National Bank of Clinton, member of the 
board of investment of Clinton Savings Bank, and 
a leader in financial circles. He is vice-president of 
the Hospital Association and vice-president of the 
Clinton Historical Society. Judge Stone has con- 
ducted for a long time the iron foundry in Clinton 
in which his sons and son-in-law arc now inter- 
ested. In politics Judge Stone has been 
for many years one of the leading Republicans of 
that section. 

He married (first), September 30, 1854, Elizabeth 
A. Whitcomb, of Stow^ Massachusetts. She died 
April 2, 1870. He married (second), December 25, 
1880, Anna Hunt, who died June 17, 1887. He mar- 
ried (third), February 13, 1890, Mary L. Ilolman. 
Children of Christopher C. and Elizabeth A. Stone 
were: Elsie, born July 16, 1855, died October 2, 
1871 ; Henrietta L., born June 6, 1857; Anna C, born 
January 31, 1859; James A., born February 2, i8<ji. 
died February 5, 1861 ; Jerome E., born February 
22, 1862; George C, born March 31, 1864; Walter 
A., born December 28, 1867. 

(IX) George Stone, son of Hon. Christopher C. 
Stone (8), was born in Clinton, Massachusetts, 
March 31, 1864. He was educated in the public 
and high schools of his native town, graduating in 
1880. He learned the trade of machinist in the shop 
of the J. B. Parker Company. After he became ri 
journeyman he went to work in his father's foun- 
dry in Clinton, became a member and officer of the 
company, and at present has exclusive charge of the 
machine shop connected with the foundry. In poli- 
tics Mr. Stone is a Republican. He is a member 
of the Clinton Council, Royal Arcanum, the order 
of Red Men and Odd Fellows. He attends the 
Unitarian church. Mr. Stone ranks high among 
the younger manufacturers of the town. He mar- 
ried, September, 1900, 1 lenrietta Johnstone, of Clin- 
ton, daughter of Charles Johnstone. Their chil- 
dren are : Walter C, born in Clinton, 1892 ; Charles 
Clifford, born in Clinton, 1898. 

(IX) Walter A. Stone, son of Hon. Christo- 
pher C. Stone (8), was born in Clinton, Massa- 
cliusetts, December 28, 1867. He was educated in 
the Clinton schools and graduated from the High 
school in 1884. He became associated with his 
father in the foundry and machine shop. Lattr he 
worked in the Locomotive Works at Providence. 
Rhode Island, and became superintendent. He was 
superintendent of large foundries at New Bedford 
and Springfield, Massachusetts. In iSg6 he returned 
to Clinton and took charge of the foundry which 
his father owned there, in association with his 
brother and Gerton A. Beam, his brother-in-law. 
who took charge of the machine shop. The firm 
have built up a large and growing business. Mr. 
Stone is a skillful mechanic as well as a capable busi- 
ness man. In politics he is an active Republican 
especially during campaigns. He is a member of the 
Order of Odd Fellows and of the Order of Red Men. 
He attends the Episcopal church. He married. 
July 31, 1902, Helena Oakley daughter of Samuel 
and Elizabeth (Boyd) Oakley, natives of England. 



i^o 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



Thej' have one cliild, Margery A., born at Clinton, 
Massachusetts. 

ARTHUR C. HAWKINS, Colonel Nathaniel 
Hawknis (l), the immigrant ancestor of Arthur C. 
Hawkins, of Lancaster, was born in England and 
came to this country during the French and Indian 
war with the British army, in which he was an of- 
ficer. He came with the troops in 1761 and took 
part in tlie first battle of Quebec, b'or his valor and 
mtripidity on the field of action he was awarded a 
medal suitably inscribed. 

He settled first in America at South Kingston, 
Rhode Island, but during the American revolution 
settled in Charlcstown, Massachusetts, in April, 
1779. He was living in Charlestown in 1789 with 
children : Nathaniel, Christopher, Sarah and Sam- 
uel. Mitty Flagg was also a member of his family. 
In 1783 he bought a lot of land in Charlestown of 
Thomas Robbins. He bought and sold land at 
Charlestown often afterward. He died at Charles- 
town, October 3, 1817, aged sixty-nine years. That 
would make his birth year 1748, and he must have 
been very young to have served in the army at 
Quebec. Possibly there is an error in the record of 
his age, at death. His estate was administered by 
P. Tufts, Jr., appointed November 13, 1817. 

He married Sarah Kent, who died April 17, 1785, 
aged thirty-two years. Her gravestone is to be seen 
at Charlestown. He married (second), February 
12, 1788, Rebecca Kent, who died February 23, 
1827, aged eighty years, according to her grave- 
stone. The children of Colonel Nathaniel and Sarah 
Hawkins, born probably in South Kingston, Rhode 
Island, or vicinity were: I. Nathaniel, Jr., settled 
in Richmond, Virginia, where he was living at the 
time of his father's death; he deeded land in which 
he had rights at Charlestown. 2. Christopher, mar- 
ried Eunice , and had children — Christopher, 

Catherine, Hannah, Eunice, Sarah K., Rebecca K. 
Christopher, Nathaniel and Sarah joined in selling 
land formerly of their father, Nathaniel Hawkins. 
3. Guy Carlton, of whom later. 4. Samuel, settled 
in Henrico, Virginia, where he was living at the 
time of his father's death, signed deed with Guy 
Carlton in 1819. 5. Elizabeth, married Robert 
Long, Jr. 6. Sarah K., married Henry Adams. 

(II) Guy Carlton Hawkins, son of Colonel 
Nathaniel Hawkins (i), was born probably in South 
Kingston, Rhode Island, about 1785. He joined with 
his brother, Samuel Hawkins, in a deed to Sarah 
R. Hawkins, of Charlestown, Massachusetts, the 
house on Cambridge avenue with ten acres of land, 
1819. He was a farmer and settled in Charlestown. 
He married Eliza Miller, of that town. Among their 
children was Nathaniel C, of whom later. 

(III) Nathaniel C. Hawkins, son of Guy Carl- 
ton Hawkins (2), was born in Charlestown, Massa- 
chusetts, now Boston, September 9, 1827. He was 
educated there in the common schools. He engaged 
in business in Boston for many years, and when he 
retired removed to Lancaster, Massachusetts, where 
he bought a farm and has since lived. In politics 
Mr. Hawkins is a Democrat. He was selectman 
of the town of Somerville, where he lived in his 
younger days. 

He married, 1849, Amelia Magoun, daughter of 
John C. Magoun, She died in 1887. Their children 
were: Ida A.; Eleanor C, died young; Edward C. ; 
Arthur C, of whom later; Annie E., Guy C, died 
young; Everett M. ; Alice M., died young; Frank 
W., who is a banker at Seattle, Washington. 
■ (IV) Arthur Calvin Hawkins, son of Nathaniel 
C Hawkins (3), was born at Somerville, Massa- 
chusetts, where his parents were then living, No- 



vember 28, 1855. He was only four years old when 
the family removed to Lancaster. He attended the 
public schools, and when a young man engaged in 
the poultry business, which he has followed for 
thirty years. He is the proprietor "of one of the 
largest and most prosperous poultry farms in the 
state of Massachusetts. He is especially prominent 
among the poultry men of the country. He is a 
member of the National Poultry Association, of the 
New England Plymouth Rock Association, of the 
American Buff Plymouth Rock Association, of the 
New England White Wyandotte Association, and is 
a director of the American Poultry Association. At 
the "Riverview" stock farm in Lancaster, Mr. Haw- 
kins breeds for the market many fancy trotting and 
carriage horses. 

Mr. Hawkins is a Unitarian in religion and a 
member of the parish committee of the Lancaster 
Unitarian church. In politics he is a Republican. 
He is a member of the board of water commission- 
ers of the town of Lancaster. He commands the 
respect and confidence of his fellow citizens. He is 
earnest, industrious and successful in his business. 
He married, 1881, Minnie M. Brockway, daugh- 
ter of Henry and Mary (Martin) Brockway, of 
Lawrence, Massachusetts. Their, children are; 
Mary Louise, Helen M., Evelyn A., Nathaniel 
Carlton. 

CAPTAIN EDWARD WILLIAM WHEELER. 
Obadiah Wheeler (i), pioneer settler of Concord, 
Massachusetts, was the emigrant ancestor of Captain 
Edward William Wheeler, of Worcester, Massachu- 
setts. Obadiah Wheeler was born in England, 1608. 
He came to New England and settled in Concord 
as early as 1638. He was made a freeman June 2, 
1641. He owned land in the centre of the town 
and lived for a time near the eastern end of the 
liurying ground. He also had land in Meadow 
Brook. His wife Susannah died in 1649. He died 
m Concord, October 29, 1671. Of their nine chil- 
dren the first was born in England and the remainder 
in Concord ; the youngest was killed by the Indians 
in Sudbury, Massachusetts. His will is dated Octo- 
ber 6. 1671, bequeathing to his si.x children: Joshua, 
Obadiah, Samuel, John, Josiah and Susannah. Ad- 
ministration was granted December 19, 1671, to 
his kinsman, Thomas Wheeler, and John, son of 
the deceased. 

The children of Obadiah Wheeler were : Joshua, 

born in England, married Elizabeth ■ ; John, born 

January 20. 1640, died young ; Ruth, April 23, 1642 ; 
a son, November 25, 1643, died November 29, 
1643; Samuel, February 22, 1644-5, married Mary 
Perry; John, 1647; Susannah, March 16, 1649, mar- 
ried Shipley: Obadiah, 1651-2; Josiah, died 

April 21, 1676, killed by the Indians at Sudbury. 

(II) Obadiah Wheeler, son of Obadiah Wheeler 
(l) and second wife, was born in 165 1-2 in Concord, 
Massachusetts. He was a farmer and lived in Con- 
cord, where all his children were born. He mar- 
ried Elizabeth White, the daughter of Resolved 
White. Her father was son of William and Susanna 
(Fuller) White, who came over in the "Mayflower." 
Their son, Peregrine White, was the first child 
of the Pilgrims born in New England. Peregrine 
was born in the ship "Mayflower" while at anchor 
in Cape Cod Harbor, November 20, 1620. William 
White was the son of Bishop John White and 
brought with him on the "Mayflower" the cele- 
brated Breeches Bible. He died during the first 
winter at Plymouth, February 21. T621-2. and his 
widow married Governor Edward Winslow. May 12, 
1621. So the two boys. Resolved, who was five years 
old when his father died, and Peregrine, who was ' 




A^O-fit^. (L^cLuiCu\,cU LaJ. L^SvyjuJCt^i/ 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



151 



an infant, were raised in ihe family of Governor 
Winslow. 

Resolved White, born at Leyden, Holland, 1615, 
died between 1690 and 1694. He settled at Scituate 
but later removed to Salem, and married his sec- 
ond wife there August 5, 1674. She was Abigail Lord, 
widow of William Lord. Ilis first wife was Judith 
Vassal!, born 1619-20, died April 13. 1670, daugh- 
ter of William Vassall, one of the assistants of the 
Massachusetts Bay Colony, settled at Scituate and 
Marshfield, finally removing to the Barbadoes. His 
wife was Ann King, born in England, 1593, and 
she had six children. The children of Resolved 
White were: William, born April 10. 1642, at Marsh- 
field; John, March II, 1644. at Scituate; Samuel, 
March 13. 1646; Resolved, born at Scituate; Anna, 
June 2, 1649, at Scituate; Elizabeth, June 4, 1652; 
Josiah. born at Scituate, baptized October 14, 1654; 
Susannah, born at Scituate, baptized November g, 
1656. 

Obadiah Wheeler settled on his father's farm 
ill the southwesterly part of Concord until 1715, 
when he disposed of his lands and no trace has yet 
been found of his whereabouts after that. His fam- 
ily consisted of eight sons and one daughter, all 
of whom were married and settled in adjoining 
towns, most of them in what was then Lancaster. 
Numerous descendants are still found in Bolton and 
Berlin. Two of them, however, Obadiah and Jo- 
seph, received from their father his farm lands 
in equal shares and probably retained possession of 
them for a time. Samuel Wheeler, his son, married 
Joanna Walcott. and settled in Carlisle; Uriah 
Wheeler went to Sudbury and married Abigail Rice. 
His descendants have been numerous. 

The children of Obadiah and Eliabeth (White) 
Wheeler were: Obadiah. born September 21, 1673, 
married Hannah Fletcher, daughter of Moses 
Fletcher ; Josiah. October 22. 1675. died at Lan- 
caster, December 8, 1738, married Martha , 

born 1679, died May 21, 1748; married (sec- 
ond) Captain Peter joslin, of Lancaster; Uriah, 
.\pril 13. 1678, died December 9, 1750 ; married, 
December 29, 1704, Abigail Rice, of Sudbury, where 
they settled; she died June 10, 1754; Samuel 
Wheeler. January 23. 1680-81, married Joanna Wal- 
cott. settled in Carlisle; Jonathan, July 28. 1683, 
died about 1747; married Mary , settled in Lan- 
caster and left many descendants ; Elizabeth, Feb- 
ruary 7, 1685-6; Joseph, March 7, 1690-91; Benja- 
min, .September 29. 1693, died 1759, at New Marl- 
boro ; married Hannah , born 1698. had five 

children; Joshua, April 9. i6g6, died April II, 1778; 

married about 1720 Annah • , who died October 

26. 1761. had four children. 

(HI) Joseph Wheeler, son of Obadiah Wheeler 
(2), was born at Concord, Massachusetts, March 
7. 1690-91, died February 29. 1780, in Lancaster, 
Massachusetts. He married, March 2, 1726-7 (first) 
.Abigail Rutterfield, daughter of Jonathan and Ruth 
(Wright) Butlerfield, of Menotomv (.Arlington). 
She was born Mav n, 1702, died October 2, 1764. 
Jonathan Butterfield was son of Benjamin Butter- 
field, who w'as in Woburn as early as 16,38. He 
was also in Charlestown, where he was admitted 
a freeman May 10. 1643. He removed from Wo- 
burn to Chelmsford. He died March 2, 1688. His 
will dated Alay 8. 1677, proved at Boston. June 7, 
168S. mentions wife and children. He married Han- 
nah Whittemore for his second wife. The wife of 
Jonathan Biuterficld (H) was Ruth Wright, who 
is descended from Deacon John Wright, one of the 
first settlers of Woburn, Massachusetts, and she 
died I7S4- 



Joseph Wheeler settled on the old homestead in 
Concord until he followed several of his brothers to 
Lancaster, and in 1742 purchased a farm of sixty 
acres on Chestnut Ilill about two miles south of 
the present town of Lancaster. He sold this farm 
in 1753 and next year bought another at a place 
now known as Pratt's Crossing in Lancaster. .\ 
mill pond and grist mill were included in the pur- 
chase and the mill dam and the farm house are 
still standing or were recently. He bought other 
parcels of land. His last residence was on George 
Hill in Lancaster, where he died in 1780. His wife 
Abigail died in 1764. Two years later he married 
Sarah Allen, daughter of Ebenezer Allen, of Lan- 
caster. He was eighty-eight when he made his will 
and ninety when he died. His son Joseph was his 
executor. 

The children of Joseph and Abigail Wheeler 
were: Phebe. born January it, 1727-8, married. 
March 3, 1746, Jotham Wilder, of Lancaster, born 
in 17TO, had six children: Wilder was a descendant 
of Thomas Wilder, of Shiplake, Berkshire. Eng- 
land; Reuben, December 3, 1729. died July 29, 1763. 
of small pox while in the military service of George 
HI in Ireland, was unmarried ; Rachel, September 
15- 17.'''. 'lied May 15. 1790. in I^Tucaster. unmar- 
ried ; Joseph, March 13, 1735 : .Abigail. March 13. 
T737. died October 25. 1817: married (first), July 
23, 1758, Louis Conf|ueret, mariner, had one child 
Mary; married (second) Joseph Rogers, of Lan- 
caster. 

(IV) Joseph Wheeler, son of Joseph Wheeler 
(3), was born March 13, 1735. died February 10, 
1793, in Worcester. He married (first). January 8, 
7761, Mary Greenleaf, daughter of Dr. r)aniel and 
Silence (Nichols) (Mar«h) Greenleaf, of Bolton. 
Dr. Daniel Greenleaf was born in Cambridge, No- 
vember 2, 1702. and died 1795- He was a descendant 
of Edmund Greenleaf. born in the parish of Brix- 
ham. Devon,shire. near Torbay. England, about 1600. 
came to America in 1635 with his family and settled 
in Newbury. Massachusetts. He was a dyer by 
trade, was admitted a freeman March 13. 1638-9, 
kept a tavern 1639, magistrate-commissioner to end 
small causes in 1642, captain of the militia company. 
His will was made December 22. 1668. and proved 
.\pril t2, 1671. Silence Nichols was born in Hing- 
ham, July 4, 1702, died in Bolton, May 13. 1761, 
She was the daughter of Israel and Mary (Sumner) 
Nichols and widow of David Marsh. Mary Sumner 
was a descendant in the third generation from 
William Sumner; Senator Charles Sumner was 
descended in the same line, the seventh generation. 

Joseph Wheeler was under the care of his grand- 
mother after he was three years of age. He went to 
school at the age of fifteen to prepare for college 
and entered Harvard at the age of eighteen. He 
graduatd in the class of 1757 and .studied divinity 
with Rev. Mr. Woodward, of Weston. He taught 
school in the town of Weston. In 1759 he was ap- 
probated to preach and "ordained to the pastoral 
care of the Church of Christ in Harvard]' Decem- 
ber 12. 1739. Two years later he married Mary 
Greenleaf. ""Her father Dr. Daniel and her grand- 
father Dr. Daniel were both physicians. "The latter 
became a minister of the Gosnel. Dr. Daniel Green- 
leaf, Jr., was at first at Hingham. where he married 
and afterward removed to Bolton. Massachusetts, 
in which town he prnrticed, living to the aee of 
ninety-three years. His second wife was Dolly, 
widow of Josiah Richardson. His children num- 
bered ten. of whom Mary was the ninth. She was 
eighteen and a half years old when she married and 
had ten children when she died at the age of forty- 



15^ 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



one. Dr. Grecnlcaf's graiidfalhcr was Captain 
Stephen, distinguished in the Indian wars, deputy 
to general court, a prominent citizen. 

Rev. Joseph Wheeler erected a house in Harvard 
soon after his settlement there. This house is well 
preserved and is now (or was recently) occupied by 
William H. Savage. He left the ministry July 28, 
1768, but continued to reside in Harvard and was 
prominent in all the affairs of the town. He was an 
ardent patriot and was elected to various positions 
of trust and honor. He was a member of the local 
committee of safety and correspondence and attended 
the convention of committees at Worcester, August 
9, 1774. He was a member of the provincial con- 
gress held at Salem, October 7, 1774, and at Water- 
town, July 19, 1775. In these assemblies he served 
at the head of important committees. He represented 
Harvard in the session of the general court held 
at Watertown, July 19, 1775. At the Lexington 
alarm he marched as a private in Captain Joseph 
Fairbanks' company. Colonel Asa Whitcomb's regi- 
ment. He spent several weeks at Washington's 
headquarters and tradition says that he was chap- 
lain to Washington. Another tradition is that he 
assisted in laying out the fortifications at Bunker 
Hill. There is no proof of this except a cane and 
cannon ball treasured in the family as mementoes. 
The cannon ball was fired at a group of men on the 
slope of the hill from a British man of war in the 
harbor. It cut a sucker from the appletree under 
which the group was standing and it lodged in the 
earth near by. Mr. Wheeler secured both ball and 
stick from which he made a cane. 

Mr. Wheeler was appointed register of probate 
for Worcester county in 1775, but continued to re- 
side at Harvard until 1781, when he purchased an 
acres and a half of land on Main street, Worcester, 
nearly opposite the present site of the court house, 
and erected there a house which report says that 
he brought from Harvard. Not long afterward he 
built the house long known as the Wheeler mansion. 
This estate remained in the family a hundred years. 
He held various offices in .Worcester and continued 
in the office of register until his death in 1793. 
His wife died in 1783 and the following year he 
married Mrs. Margaret Jennison, widow of Cap- 
tain Israel Jennison, of Worcester. She was the 
thirteenth child of Antoine and Mary Sigourne, 
French Huguenots, and her maiden name was Mar- 
guerita Olivier. She was born at Annapolis, Nova 
Scotia, and was married in 1746 to Joseph Coolidge. 
a distinguished tiierchant of Boston, by whom she 
had seven children, one of whom, Margaret, became 
the wife of Jacob Sweetser, of Lancaster. Mr. 
Coolidge died in 1771, and she married in 1775 
Captain Israel Jennison. She survived her third 
husband, died at the age of ninety and was buried 
in the tomb of her son, Joseph Coolidge, in King's 
Chapel burying ground, Boston. 

The estate of Rev. Joseph Wheeler in Worcester, 
on which he resided, contiguous to those of Joseph 
Lynde and Judge Edward Bangs, extended east- 
ward several hundred feet equally with the others. 
These grounds were well cultivated and stocked 
with choice fruits and flowering shrubs. This 
unique garden is described by a relative as follows : 
■"In the rear of these mansions were extensive gard- 
ens of equal size; across the lower part flowed a 
purling stream and rare fruits and choice flowers, 
fountains and the more common embellishments 
were the result of the industry, taste and skill of 
the younger branches of the families. Near the 
centre of each garden was an arbor covered with 
vines and furnished with seats and also a closet, a 
deposit for such books and luxuries as might by 



chance find their way there. Or, as another descrip- 
tion has it "liberally stocked with all the edibles and 
delicacies that a company of merry young people 
would enjoy on a moonlight evening. They entertained 
each other with music and similar enjoyments that 
made the occasions life-long memories of vanished 
joys." 

The children of Rev. Joseph and Mary (Green- 
leaf) Wljeeler were: l. Elizabeth, born December 
31, 1761, died July 18, 1782, unmarried. 2. Mary, 
born April 7, 1863, died at Kingston, Jamaica, of 
yellow fever. May 4, 1799; married, March 24, 
1790, Ezra Waldo Weld, son of Rev. Ezra and Anna 
(Weld) Weld, of Braintree. 3. Theophilus, born 
December 22, 1764, died at Worcester, August 14, 
1840; married Elizabeth Lynde, daughter of Joseph 
and Mary (Lemmon) Lynde, of Worcester, who 
came to Worcester from Charlestovvn after it was 
destroyed by the Britisn. Theophilus Wheeler was 
register of probate at; Worcester forty-three years, 
town clerk five years, treasurer two years, overseer 
of schools, overseer of house of correction, director 
of the Worcester Bank eighteen years, served as 
soldier against the Sahy insurgents. 4. Joseph, born 
August 27, 1766, died at Dixfield, Maine, January 
21, 1852; married. January 13. 1793, Lucy Sumner, 
daughter of Rev. Joseph and Lucy (Williams) 
Sumner, of Shrewsbury. Rev. Joseph Sutnner was 
a descendant of George Sumner, born in England, 
February 14, 1634, later settled at Milton, Massachu- 
setts. 5. Daniel Greenleaf, born March 14, 1768, 
died December 10, 1847 ; married, September 23, 
1799, Elizabeth Dupee Sweetser, daughter of Jacob 
and Margaret (Coolidge) Sweetser, of Lancaster; 
she died December 15, 1800. He married (second), 
November 14, 1802, Elizabeth Grosvenor, daughter 
of Rev. Ebenezer and Elizabeth Grosvenor; she 
died August 18, 1803. He married (third), 1805, 
Nancy Clapp, daughter of William and Priscilla 
(Otis) Clapp, of Scituate. 6. John, born ]\Iay 17, 
1770, died at Dover, New Hampshire, April 3, 1840; 
married (first), March 12, 1793. Rebecca Harris, 
daughter of Captain William and Rebecca (Mason) 
Harris, and sister of Rev. Thaddeus Mason Harris, 
of Dorchester; she was of Maiden, born April 17, 
1770, died January 28, 1804. John was an apothecary, 
postmaster twenty-six years, representative to the 
general court, associate justice court of common 
pleas, founder of the Cocheco Manufacturing Co., 
first president of the Strafford Bank. 7. Moses, 
born April 4, 1772, died at Boston, March 27, 1838; 
married (first), November 8, 1807, Elizabeth Porter, 
daughter of John and Elizabeth (Lamb) Porter, of 
Maiden. 8. Clarissa, born February i, 1774, died at 
Medford, May 26. 1844, unmarried. 9. Abigail, born 
February 29, 1776, died at Andover, Massa- 
chusetts, February 21, 1846; married, Octo- 
ber, 1799, Rev. Leonard Woods, son of 
Samuel and Abigail Whitney (Underwood) 
Woods. He was born at Princeton, June 19, 1774. 
died at Andover, August 24, 1854. He married 
(second) Lucia J., widow of Dr. Ansel G. Ives, of 
New York (H. C. 1796) ; professor in Andover 
Theological Seminary thirty-eight years. 10. Levi, 
born (October 22. 1779, died at Worcester, March 
8. 1781. II. Sophia, born at Worcester, January 20, 
1782. died at Danvers. October 8, 1831 ; married. 
May 17, 1807, Rev. Samuel Walker, of Danvers, 
born at Haverhill, January 27, 1779, died at Danvers, 
July 7, 1S26 (D. C. 1802), pastor of Danvers Church 
from 1805 till his death. 

(V) Joseph Wheeler, son of Joseph Wheeler 
(4), was born in Harvard, Massachusetts, August 
27. 1766, died at Dixfield. Maine, January 21, 1852. 
He married, January 13. 1793. Lucy Sumner, daugh- 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



'53 



ter of Rev. Joseph and Lucy (Williams) Sumner, 
of Shrewsbury. She was born December 24, 1771, 
died April 10, 1863. 

Rev. Joseph Sumner was a descendant of William 
Sumner, of Dorchester, Massachusetts, who was 
born at Bicester, Oxfordshire, England, and bap- 
tized January 27, 1604-5, son of Roger and Joan 
(Franklin) Sumner. He married Mary West, Octo- 
ber 22, 1625, was admitted freeman May 17, 1637, 
was deputy to the general court, town officer, commis- 
sioner to try small causes. His son George, through 
whom descent is traced, was born in England, Feb- 
ruary 14, 1634, settled at Milton, Massachusetts. 
Rev. Joseph was the son of Samuel and Elizabeth 
(Griffin) Sumner. 

The children of Joseph and Lucy (Sumner) 
Wheeler were. Lucy Williams, born at Worcester, 
September 14, 1793, died 1881, at Rumford, Maine; 
married David Kimball, had twelve children ; 
Dorothy Sumner, born in Worcester, September 5, 
1795, died in Worcester, 1865; married (first) Ben- 
jamin Doyen, (second) Elisha Hayden ; Sarah Dan- 
ielson, born at Princeton, June 19. 1798, died in 
Dixfield, Maine, April 12, 1843, unmarried; Eunice 
Russell, born at Princeton, February 17, 1801, died 
in Dixfield, Maine, 1886 ; married Daniel Sumner 
Libby, born January 17, 1837 ; Joseph Sumner, born 
at Dixfield, Maine, May 9, 1803, died 1870; married 
Phebe Cole Gleason, had nine children ; Erastus 
Williams, born at Dixfield, Maine, June 17, 1805, 
died in Worcester, January 17, 1893 ; married, Octo- 
ber 5, 1842, Sarah Pollard, daughter of Stephen and 
Betsey (Hastings) Pollard, of Berlin; Elizabeth 
Sumner, born at Dixfield, Maine, February 22, iSog, 
died at Worcester, July 12, 1879; married, January 
29, 1850, Edwin Conant, of Worcester, son of Jacob 
Conant. of Sterling. His first wife was Maria E. 
Estabrook, daughter of Joseph Estabrook, of Royal- 
ton, married 1832. 

(VI) Erastus Williams Wheeler, son of Joseph 
Wheeler (5), was born at Dixfield, Maine, June 
17, 180S, died in Worcester, January 17, 1893 ; mar- 
ried, October 5, 1842. Sarah Pollard, daughter of 
Stephen and Betsey (Hastings) Pollard, of Berlin. 
Their children were : Joseph Pollard, born July 28, 
1843; Henry Theophilus, June 25, 1845, died in Flor- 
ence, Alabama, October 16, 1864, in a Rebel prison ; 
Edwin Wallace, November 13, 1848, married, April, 
1872, Clara A. Black, daughter of Edward B. and 
Matilda A. (Freeman) Black, of Salem, Nova 
Scotia; William Jennison, September 13. 1851, 
married, February 14, 1877, Ida Stratton, daughter 
of Samuel and Isabelle (Brimhall) Stratton, has one 
child, Lotta Belle, born January I, 1883. 

(VII) Edwin Wallace Wheeler, son of Erastus 
William Wheeler (6), was born in Worcester, Massa- 
chusetts, November 13. 1S48. He is a farmer in Wor- 
cester, a member of the Worcester Grange, Patrons 
Husbandry. He inherited his father's farm on Forest 
street. He married, April 4, 1872, Clara A. Black, 
daughter of Edward B. and Matilda A. (Freeman) 
Black, of Salem, Nova Scotia. Their children are: 
Edward William, born Tilay i, 1873; Henry Clif- 
ford, April 19, 1875: Sarah Matilda. May g, 1877, 
died January 22, 1892 ; .-Mice Abbic, June 10, 
1888; Wallace Sumner, April 30, 1893. 

(VIII) Edward William Wheeler, son of Ed- 
win Wallace Wheeler (7), was born May i, 1873. 
He was educated in the Worcester public schools 
and at Highland Military Academy at Worcester. 
His father expected him to assist on the farm but 
he thoroughly disliked farming and left home. He 
went to work for Fuller S: Delano, architects, in 
Worcester, and found the business to his tastes. 
He studied architecture and remained with Fuller 



& Delano for five years. He was with the Webb 
Granite and Construction Company for six months. 
He went into business with Albert E. Scoville in 
the contracting and building business. The firm 
name is Scoville & Wheeler. They have offices in 
the Knowles building, 518 Main street. They have 
had a large variety of contracts and have been suc- 
cessful. It is one of the most promising firm of 
builders in Worcester. 

Some of the work of the firm is as follows : The 
Howe Memorial Library in Shrewsbury ; the 
women's and men's wards and the adminis- 
tration building in the State Colony for the 
Insane at Gardner, Massachusetts ; two mod- 
ern school houses at Garidner; the postoffice 
building at Gardner, owned by the Hty- 
wood estate; buildings and additions to the plant 
of Heywood Bros. & Wakefield Co. at Gardner, 
Massachusetts ; residence of John S. Gould, Germain 
street, Worcester; residences in Worcester for Fred 

A. Mann, Lenox street, for Samuel D. Spurr, Dean 
street, Mrs. W. J. Wheeler, nee Stratton. Forest 
street, for her daughter, Mrs. Lotta Tracey ; resi- 
dences of L. E. Carlton, president of the Heywood 
Bros. & Wakefield Co., at Gardner, costing twenty 
thousand dollars ; residence for E. L. Thompson, the 
chair manufacturer of Baldwinville ; and a number 
of handsome residences and stables in Westboro 
and Gardner. 

Captain Wheeler is best known perhaps for his 
excellent record in the militia. But for his energy 
and persistent work to maintain the standard of 
efficiency at a critical time, this organization in whicli 
the citizens of Worcester take great pride and which 
has maintained a long and honorable record, would 
have been disbanded. He enlisted January 21, 1891, 
and has been in the militia ever since. He was made 
a corporal September 9, 1892, and was promoted to 
sergeant January 18, 1894, having charge of one of 
the galling guns then in the possession of Battery 

B, to which he belonged. When the guns were 
transferred to another branch of the service he be- 
came a guidon corporal. He was. again appointed 
sergeant June i, 1895, and first sergeant June 4, 
1902. His promotion to second lieutenant came 
March 18, 1903. Just a year later. May 19, 1904, he 
received his commission as captain of the battery in 
which he had been for thirteen years of continuous 
service. The title of his command in full is Battery 
H, iMrst Battalion, Light Artillery, Massachusetts 
Volunteer Militia. The celebration of the thirty- 
fifth anniversary of the battery was observed Octo- 
ber 18, 1904. There was a parade, a banquet in the 
drill shed an<l a drill at the Fair Grounds. The 
speeches of Congressman Thayer, Mayor Blodgett, 
Representative Mark N. Skerrett, General Robert 
H. Chamberlain, Captain E. G. Barrett. Rev. Dr. 
Willard Scott, President W. H. Brody and General 
F. W. Wellington showed the esteem in which the 
organization is held and the credit due the com- 
manding officer while lieutenant in ma:intaining the 
efficiency of the battery. The inspection of the bat- 
tery April 12, 1905, was a source of satisfaction to 
the officers and men, who were complimented on 
their work. 

Captain Wheeler is a prominent Free Mason, 
being a member of Athelstan Lodge, Eureka Royal 
.\rch Chapter and the Worcester County Command- 
cry. Knights Templar. He is equally active in the 
Independent Order of Odd Fellows, being a member 
of Quinsigamond Lodge, and Mt. Vernon Encamp- 
ment, also of the Patriarchs Militant, Grand Canton, 
of Worcester. He is assistant adjutant general with 
the rank of major on the staff of Brigade Com- 
mander Daniel Harrington. He is a member of the 



154 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



Commonwealth Club, the Tatassit Canoe Club, Wor- 
cester County Mechanics' Association, Worcester 
County Agricultural Society, Worcester Grange, 
Patrons of Husbandry. 

BLACK FAlMlLY. William Black (i) was the 
emigrant ancestor of the mother of Edward W. 
Wheeler, of Worcester. William Black was born 
in Paisley, Scotland, in 1727. His father was a 
public officer and possessed an independent fortune. 
His leisure was largely employed in the chase and 
he kept a good pack of hounds, and until William, 
his son, was of age, he made hunting his chief 
amusement. His first occupation was in the posi- 
tion of traveling salesman for a large manufacturing 
tstablishment. In one of his business trips he met 
an English lady in Huddersfield, England, whom he 
subsequently married. Her name was Elizabeth 
Stocks. He engaged in the business of linen and 
woolen drapery. 

By the chance misspelling of the name Stokes 
for Stocks in the will of her brother, Thomas Stocks, 
a fortune of twenty thousand pounds intended for 
her went to a maiden lady named Elizabeth Stokes, 
a relative of Mrs. Black. Mrs. Black received only 
fifteen hundred pounds from the estate. Mrs. 
Black was a woman of fashion in her day, and 
when she came to Nova Scotia with her husband 
she brought her scarlet riding habit and ths cap 
she used to wear in the hunts ; also dresses of em- 
broidered white satin and other rich garments for 
which she found little use in the life of a pionter. 
William Black was attracted by the movement to 
settle Nova Scotia after the expulsion of the French 
from Arcadia. There were rich agricultural dis- 
tricts untenanted since 1755. In 1758 Governor Law- 
rence, of Nova Scotia, had given invitations to the 
inhabitants of New England to settle these lands. 
Liberal terms were given and freedom of conscience 
and worship was guaranteed by a proclamation. 
Various religious sects were persecuted by the Puri- 
tans in Massachusetts and there were vexatious re- 
strictions in religious worship in New York, Vir- 
ginia and other <;olonies. A small Baptist church 
emigrated en masse from Massachusetts to Sack- 
ville, then Nova Scotia, now New Brunswick, in 
1763. 

Michael Franklin, then lieutenant governor of 
Nova Scotia, engaged several families to emigrate 
from Yorkshire, England, to Nova Scotia, in 1772 
and others in 1773 and 1774. Mr. Black went to 
Halifax in 1774 to see the country. He concluded 
to try the new country and purchased an estate at 
Amherst, a part of which is occupied or was recently 
occupied by his descendants. He returned to his 
home in England in the fall and in the following 
April chartered a vessel in which he brought his 
wife, four sons arid a daughter. A nurse girl who 
came with the family later married a son of one of 
the settlers. Mrs. Black was injured while embark- 
ing at Hull and this accident probably hastened her 
death a year later. WHien Mr. Black made his home 
in America Halifa.x had been settled about twenty- 
five years and had a population of three thousand. 
There were twelve thousand souls in the whole 
province at that time. Most, of these settlers were 
Methodists and William Black, his wife, four sons 
and daughter joined that church in 1779. One son, 
William Black, became a Methodist preacher, an- 
other, John Black, a local preacher in the Methodist 
church. Thomas S. Black, another son, joined the 
Baptist church later.. Mr. Black was justice of the 
peace for Cumberland and in 1779 was appointed 
judge of the common pleas. He was one of three 
trustees of the court house grounds for the county. 

Many of the New England settlers in Nova 



Scotia were in sympathy with the revolution in 
the other colonies in 1775, and in 1776, by the in- 
fluence of disaffected persons in the county and 
vicinity, the garrison at Fort Cumberland was be- 
sieged by a force from Machias. They disarmed 
those who were loyal to the British government and 
forbade them to stir off their farms under penalty 
of imprisonment or death. The British forces 
finally appeared in such large numbers that Nova 
Scotia revolutionists were subdued. 

The names of the children of William and Eliza- 
beth (Stocks) Black who came from England with 
their parents were : John, William, Richard. Thomas 
Stocks and Sarah. He married soon after his wife's 
death Elizabeth Abber, by whom he had seven chil- 
dren. After his. second marriage he purchased a 
large estate in Dorchester, New Brunswick, where 
he .spent the latter part of his life with his sou 
Joseph. He died in 1820 at the advanced age of 
ninety-three years. His wife died some years before.. 
At the age of eighty-eight he was strong and active 
and rode thirty miles on horseback to pay a visit 
to his sons in Amherst. Some of his descendants 
are or recently were living on the old place at 
Dorchester. 

The children of William Black (I) were: I.John, 
married Barbara Donkin, and settled at River 
Philip; was a Methodist local preacher, justice of 
the peace, had six sons and five daughters. 2. Will- 
iam, born in Huddersfield, England, in 1760, and 
removed with his father's family to Cumberland in 
1775. became a Methodist preacher and converted 
many to that faith in his itinerant preaching; he was 
called Bishop Black and the Father of Methodism 
in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, as he was the 
pioneer itinerant of Methodism in the three lower 
provinces, where Methodism has been very' strong 
in later years. He preached for seven years and 
a half before he was ordained. In 1789 among the 
first to be ordained in .America he was ordained at 
a conference in Philadelphia, and was soon after- 
ward appointed to succeed Dr. Coke as superin- 
tendent of the Methodist organization in Nova: 
Scotia. New Brunswick and Newfoundland. Rev. 
William Black married Mary Gay, daughter of 
Martin Gay, of Westmoreland, and had five children. 
His wife died in 1827, aged seventy-three. He mar- 
ried (second), in 1828, Mrs. Calkins, widow of 
Elisha Calkins, of Liverpool, Nova Scotia. He died 
1834. aged seventy-four years. 3. Richard, born in 
England. 1762. was thirteen when he arrived with 
the family at Amherst, Cumberland. 4. Thomas 
Stocks, born in England, came to America with his 
father, married Mary Freeze, whose father also 
came from England ; settled at Amherst on a farm 
of five hundred and forty acres which has since 
been owned by him and his descendants and greatly 
improved. In 1806 he left the Methodist church to 
join the Baptist and was later elected deacon, an 
office he held until his death in 1850, aged eighty- 
four years ; his wife died 1842, aged sixty-six years : 
had seven sons and five daughters. 5. Sarah, born 
in England, married John Chapman, who also came 
from England with his father, settled at Dorchester 
on what is now very valuable farm land, was justice 
of the peace at Dorchester; had six children. 6. 
Elizabeth, married Joshua Freeman, who settled on 
a farm in the centre of Amherst; about 1816 he sold 
the farm and removed to Hamilton, now Ontario, 
taking his large family with him ; they had twelve 
cJiildren. 7. Mary, born in Nova Scotia, married 
John Weldon. whose father was one of the first 
emigrants from England to Dorchester, removing 
thence from Hillsboro, New Brunswick ; was a 
farmer had five children. 8. Nancy, born in Nova 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



'OD 



Scotia, married Cyprian Killam, of Nova Scolia, 
A-hose parents came from England, settled in Dor- 
:hester on a farm ; had seven sons and four daugh- 
;ers. 9. Jane, married John Fawcett, of SacUvillc, 
Mew Brimswick, where they settled and engaged in 
farming ; had five children. 10. James, married 
Elizabeth Etter, of Halifax, settled on a portion of 
:he farm of his father at Dorchester ; had nine 
:hildren. 11. Joseph A., inherited a portion 
)f his father's farm just above the bend in 
he Memramcook river and overlooking the 
■iver to its mouth ; married Margaret Ryan, 
lad eight children. 12. George Mason, set- 
led on part of his father's estate at Dorchester, 
vhere he followed his trade of cabinet and carriage 
Tiaker; married (first) Emily Freeman, daughter 
)f Samuel Freeman, of Amherst; married (second) 
sarah Smith, daughter of Gideon SmUh, of Mem- 
■amcook; had five children by the first wife and 
ourtecn by the second. 

(11) Richard Black, son of William Black (i), 
vas born in England in 1762 and was thirteen years 
)f age when he arrived with his father at Am- 
lerst, Cumberland. He first settled at River Philip, 
vhere he bought five hundred acres of land from 
ioger Robinson and remained for several years, 
noving later to Amherst to settle on the farm that 
lis father bought on his first visit to Cumberland 
n 1774. Here he lived the remainder of his life, 
rlis youngest son inherited the homestead and his 
grandsons also owned it. The family still owns 
he farm or did recently. About 1804 Richard 
Slack, his brother, and Thomas S. and Samuel 
Tolsted bought a large tract of land at Amherst. 
Richard was an earnest Methodist and late in lite, 
vhen his hearing failed, sat in the pulpit with the 
jreacher in order to hear. He married Sally Chap- 
nan, who also came from Yorkshire in England, 
rhey had eleven children besides two who died 
roung and all were particularly strong and well 
juilt. The smallest of the seven boys was when 
jrown six feet tall and weighed one hundred and 
;ighty-five pounds. Richard Black died in 1834, 
iged seventy-two years. His first wife died in 
1820, aged fifty-three years. He married (second) 
iilizabeth Smith, of Parrsboro, and she died in 
:86i, aged eighty-four years. 

The children of Richard Black were : I. Will- 
am, married Mary Bent, daughter of John Bent, 
if Amherst; settled on a farm in what is now 
:alled Salem, then called Sugarwood Hill, had six 
.-hildren ; he died 1829, aged forty-six years. 2. 
rhomas, settled on a new farm in Salem and by 
jcrscvering industry turned the woodland into fruit- 
ful fields and left a valuable property to his sons, 
lied in 1838. aged fifty-three years ; married Phcbe 
Purdy, of Westchester, then called Cobequid Moun- 
ains ; his widow married (second) Daniel Mac- 
Mutt. Thomas had twelve children. 3. Maria, niar- 
"ied Thomas Gray, who came from England and 
:aught school in the provinces for several years ; 
lad five children. 4. Richard, Jr., married Arathusa 
Jxley, daughter of George Oxley, of Wallace, set- 
led near River Philip on a farm that his brother 
loscph left when he went to Prince Edward Island, 
md he improved it until it became a valuable prop- 
:rty ; he died 1873, aged seventy-five years ; she 
lied 1871, aged seventy-three years; had nine chil- 
Iren. 5. Joseph, the third son, married Sarah Can- 
ield, of Wallace, lived several years near River 
Philip and moved thence to Prince Edward Island 
.vliere for many years he was high sheriff of Prince 
:omity ; had nine children. 6. Sarah, the second 
laughter, married Joshua Heustis. of Wallace, 
where they settled; he was justice of the peace and 



for several years was custos of the county and post- 
master at Wallace ; had six children. 7. Ashcr, the 
fifth son, owned and resided on part of his father's 
farm, a portion of which his grandfather bought 
before removing his family to this country; was 
justice of the peace, a very ingenious and useful 
citizen. Married Eleanor Archibald, of Truro, 
daughter of James Archibald, Esq., and had eight 
children; he died in 1863, aged sixty-three; his 
wife died in 1876, aged seventy-three years. 8. John 
Chapman, sixth son, married Tabitha Pugsley, of 
Maccan, settled in Amherst and cleared a farm 
where he lived until 1861, when his wife died aged 
fifty-six and his son-in-law took the farm ; he liad 
three children. 9. Ann, married Charles Carter, of 
Onslow, who settled at Amherst and was a car- 
penter; he, had three children; he died 1831, aged 
thirty-four years; his widow married (second) 
James Mageney, and she had six children by the 
second marriage ; she died in 1880, aged seventy- 
live years. 10. George, youngest son, married Jane 
Coates, of Amherst, who owned and lived upon part 
of the old homestead — a portion of which his grand- 
father owned and occupied first after he came to 
America; had nine children. 11. Mary G., married 
Elisha Gourley, a native of Colchester county, but 
lived for some years at Amherst, where after his 
marriage he built a house lately occupied by Peter 
Etter and lived in it several years ; he removed 
later to his native county, and settled at Truro ; 
they had six children and many descendants. 

(HI) William Black, son of Richard Black (2), 
was born in Amherst, 1783, died 1829. He married 
Mary Bent, daughter of John Bent, of Amherst.They 
settled upon a farm in what is now called Salem, then 
called Sugarwood Hill from the rock maples with 
which it was originally covered. They had one 
daughter and five sons. Their children were : i. 
Maria, married William Sharp, son of Matthew 
Sharp, of Maccan, settled in Amherst and have 
three daughters ; he died 1848, aged thirty-seven 
years. Their children are : Mary Jane Sharp, mar- 
ried Robert C. Sharp, of Amherst, where they lived 
and had four children ;' Selina Sharp, married 
Joseph Cove, and resided in Amherst until 1881, 
when they removed to Boston; had eight children; 
Emma Sharp, youngest daughter, married William 
Cove, a piiysician who lived and practiced at Spring 
Hill, had several children, only two of whom grew 
up. 2. Edward of whom later. 3. Luther, married 
Jane Gibson, of Shinimicas, Cumberland, where they 
purchased a farm and lived ; had seven children. 
4. Ezra, married Mary Ann Carter, daughter of 
James Carter! of Amlierst, owned and occupied 
half of his father's homestead in Salem; had five 
children. 5. Daniel, married Jane Embree. of 
Salem ; lived at Leicester, Cumberland, and had five 
children, four of whom died young of diphtheria. 
6. Rufus, the youngest son, when a young man went 
to Canaan. Queens county. New Brunswick, where 
he married Jane Price; thev Ijad seven children. 

(IV) Edward Black, son of William Black (3), 
was born in Salem, Nova Scotia, married 
Matilda Freeman, daughter of William Freeman, of 
Amherst. They owneil and lived on half 
of his father's homestead at Salem. They had five 
sons and six daughters. Their children were : Sarah, 
married Hazen Goodwin, lived at Point de Bute, 
New Brunswick, and had one child who died young; 
Clifford, died in 1869, aged twenty-four years; 
Bessie, married Joseph Black, of Amher.st: they 
have three daughters, Clara Maud, Jane and Sarah ; 
another died young; they live on a portion of the 
first farm of William Black, bought in 1774; Clara 
A., of whom later; Alice, married Arthur Walker, 



1^6 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



resides at Cambridge, Vermont; J. A\ard. Margarcl, 
Fred, Walter, Amelia, Cyrus. 

(V) Clara A. Black, daughter of Edward Black 
(4), was born at Salem, Nova Scotia, October 12, 
1850; married Edwin W. Wheeler, of Worcester, 
April 4, 187J. (See Wlueler family sketch under 
Captain Edward W. Wheeler.) 

THE FREEMAN FAxMlLV. William Freeman 
(i), who came from England about 17O5 and settled 
in Nova Scotia, was an emigrant ancestor of Cap- 
tain E. W. Wheeler, of Worcester. His posterity 
is very numerous throughout the Dominion and 
particularly at the head of the Bay of I'undy. He 
was probably in Nova Scotia before the main body 
of English or those families allied with the Blacks 
from ■ Yorkshire. He married Jerusha Yeomans 
about the time of their arrival in America. They 
had five sons and nine daughters, of whom one son 
died in infancy, and the others were : Sarah, Will- 
iam and Jerusha (twins), Samuel, Joshua, Eliza- 
beth, Dorothy, Martha, Philip, Hannah, Ann, Char- 
lotte, Rebecca. The daughter Sarah married 

Weatherhead, and had nineteen children. 

(H) William P'reeman, son of William Free- 
man, married Desire Newcomb, of Horton. They 
had one son and seven daughters. Mrs. Freeman 
died in iSli. He married (second) Sarah Dimock, 
sister of Rev. Joseph Dimock, and had three sons 
and three daughters. The two youngest sons, Jo- 
seph and G. William Freeman, inherited the farm 
and lived there. George William Freeman was an 
inventor. Their children were: Rufus, a merchant, 
died when a young man, built part of the Lamy 
Hotel ; Pamelia, Olivia. Mary, Charlotte, Eunice, 
Margaret, Desire, Jane, Daniel, Joseph, Matilda, 
George William, Elizabeth. 

(HI) Matilda rreeman, daughter of William 
Freeman (2), married Edward Black (3), and they 
were the parents of Mrs. Edwin W. Wheeler, of 
Worcester, mother of Captain Edward W. Wheeler. 

CHAPMAN FAMILY. William Chapman, an 
early settler in Nova Scotia, was an ancestor of 
Captain E. W. Wheeler, of Worcester, Massachu- 
setts. He came from England and settled at Point 
de Bute. His children were : William, married a 
daughter of Charles Dixon and settled at Ft. Law- 
rence ; Thomas, settled at Ft. Lawrence ; John, mar- 
ried Sarah Black ; Henry, married Seaman, 

of Wallace ; Mary, married George Taylor, of Alem- 
ramcook, now Rockland ; Sally, married Richard 
Black, ancestor of Captain Wheeler through his 
mother's family; Nancy, married (first) Thomas 
Robinson, (second) James Roberts; Jane, married 
John Smith, who came from England When a young 
man and lived at Ft. Lawrence, had nine athletic 
sons, and one daughter who married Israel Embree. 

THOMAS HARLOW REED. William Reed 
(i), of Woburn, was the emigrant ancestor of 
Thomas Harlow Reed, of Worcester, Massachu- 
setts. He was born in England in 1587. He came 
to New England at the age of forty-eight in the 
ship "Defence" in July, 1635, bringing with him his 
wife Mabel, aged thirty, and three children: George, 
aged six, Ralph, aged live, and Justus, aged eighteen 
months. He settled first in Boston where he was 
admitted a freeman September 2, 1635. He lived 
also at Dorchester and Scituate, Massachusetts. He 
was a constable in the latter town in 1644. While 
living there his wife rode on horseback to Dor- 
chester with an infant in her arms to have the child 
baptized in the church to which Reed belonged. In 
1648 they were living in Muddy River (Brookline), 
Massachusets. He finally settled in Woburn, Massa- 
chusetts, in 1648, on land bought of Nicholas Davis 



July 7, 1648. It is said that the cellar hole where 
his house was located in Woburn can be discerned 
in what has been called in late years the Baldwin 
pasture on the road to Kendall's inills. 

He married Mabel Kendall in England. They 
returned to England after their children were grown 
up and he died there at Newcastle on Tyne, m 
1056, aged sixty-nine years. His will was probated 
in London, England, (Dctober 31, 1656, and letters of 
administration were granted bv the Protector, Oliver 
Cromwell, himself, to the widow. She returned to 
New England and married (second) November 21, 
1660, Harry Summers, Sr., of Woburn. She died 
at the home of her son, George Reed, June 5, 1690. 
at the age of eighty-five. 

The children of William Reed were : George, 
see forward ; Ralph, Justus, Michael, Israel, Abigail, 
married Francis Wyman ; Bethia, married, 1657; 
Sarah, married Samuel Walker. Jr.. 1662; Rebecca, 
married Ensign Joseph Winn, 1664. 

(II) George Reed, son of William Reed (1), 
was born in England in 1629. He was a child of six 
years when he was brought to New England by his 
parents. He settled after his marriage in Woburn, 
Massachsetts, where the committee, November 9. 
1653, laid out for him a si.x-acre home lot in place 
of one previously granted to him. He was admitted 
a freeman there in 1684. He married, October 4, 
1652, Elizabeth Jennisnn, daughter of Robert Jenni- 
son, of Watertown. She died February 26, 1664-5. 
He married (second), November 9, 1665, Hannah 
Rockwell, of Charlestown, Massachusetts. He died 
February 21. 1705-6, aged sixty-seven years. 

The children of George and Elizabeth (Jennison) 
Reed were born in Woburn, viz. : Elizabeth, born 
July 29, 1653; twin sons, born and died November 
14, 1654; Samuel, born April 29, 1656; Abigail, June 
27, 1658; George, September 14. 1660; William, see 
forward ; Sarah, February 12, 1664-5. The children 
of George and Hannah (Rockwell) Reed were: 
Hannah, February 18, 1669-70; John, March 18, 
1672; Mary, June 15, 1674; Timothy, October 20, 
1678; Thomas, July 15, 1682. 

(HI) William Reed, seventh child of George 
Reed (2), was born in Woburn, Massachusetts, 
September 22, 1662. He married Abigail Kendall, 
May 24, 1686, by whom was introduced a singular 
characteristic of the Kendall family of Woburn, an 
inherited tendency to an extra number of fingers 
and toes. William Reed was a prominent man in 
the town and colony. He was captain of the Lex- 
ington militia company, and is the progenitor of 
the Lexington Reed family. Captain Reed was a 
justice of the peace and magistrate there for many 
years. He was a selectman and represented the 
town repeatedly in the general court. He was one 
of the original members of the Lexington church. 
The historian of Lexington goes out of his way to 
remark of the descendants of Captain Reed that 
"no family of early settlers has sustained its stand- 
ing through all the periods of town history better 
than the Reed family." His homestead was in the 
northwest part of the town, near Bedford street. 
He acquired a large estate and was able to leave a 
valuable farm to each of his sons. Some of this 
land is still held in the family. At one time his 
home was in the most populous part of the village. 

He died May 12, 1718, aged fifty-six. His wife 
died October 12, 1734. Their children, all born in 
Lexington, Massachusetts, were : Abigail, born May 
29, 1687; William, see forward; Mary, April 8. 
1695; Benjamin, October 22, 1699; Joshua, June 20, 
1702; Hepsibah, December 10, 1705. 

(IV) William Reed, second child of William 
Reed (3), was born July 18, 1693, at Lexington. 



WORCESTER COU.XTY 



157 



Massachusetts. He married, about 1719, Sarah 
Pouher, daughter of John Poulter. Like his father 
he became an active and efficient citizen of Lexing- 
ton. He was justice of the peace and magistrate 
for many years and became widely known as Squire 
Reed. He was prominent in the church as well as 
the town. He was selectman eleven years and a rep- 
resentative to the general court for the extraordinary 
period of seventeen years. He was popular as well 
as iniluential. He was captain of tne militia com- 
pany of the town and during the i'"rench war was m 
the service with part of his company, in 1755. His 
homestead was the house lately occupied by 
Christopher Keed on Bedford street, Lexington. He 
died there February li, 1778, aged eighty-live years. 
His wife died November 25, 1769. Their children, 
all born in Lexington, were: William, born Jan- 
uary I, 1720; Samuel, see forward; Sarah, June j, 
1725; Alary, March 10, 172S; Oliver, Aiarch 25, 
1730; John, j\lay 28, 1731; Hammon, April 28, 
1734; Jiliot, April 28, 1737; Hannah, October 21, 
1740; Nathan, November 9, 1743. 

(Vj Samuel - Reed, second child of William 
Reed (.4), was born in Lexington, Massachusetts, 
May 4, 1722. He settled in Burlington, Massachu- 
setts, and became a prominent man there and was 
for many years deacon of the church. He married 
Eunice Stone, of Lexington. She was born July 2, 
1724, and died April 25, 1809. He died April 28, 
i8oy. The children of Samuel and Eunice (Stone) 
Keed were born in Burlington, Massachuse-tts, viz. : 
Samuel, born August 6, 1744, died February 23, 
1798; Micah, see forward; Aiosts, born Alay 31, 
1749, married, April 23, 1770, Sarah Whiltemore, 
of Lexington, where he settled and became promi- 
nent; Frances, May 3, 1751 ; Eunice, November 17, 
I753> died February 19, 1754; Abigail, born August 
13, 1757. died April 16, 1795; Lucy, October 12, 
1759, died November 21, 1601 ; Sarah, December 
31, 1762; Mary, August 11, 1767. 

(.VI) Micah Reed, second child of Samuel 
Reed (5), was born in Burlington, Massachusetts, 
September 28, 1746. About 1780 he removed to 
Hardwick, Massachusetts, and later to New Brain- 
tree. He married Elizabeth Paige, daughter of John 
Paige, of Bedford, Massachusetts. She was born 
August 2, 1748, and died March 21, 1838, aged ninety 
years. He died March i, 1804, at New Bramtree, 
Massachusetts. He was in the third Woburn com- 
pany in the revolution under Captain Timothy Winn 
m 1775, and Captain Eleazer Brooks in 1777- His 
death was caused by a fall from a scaffolding on 
which he was working. The children of Micah and 
Elizabeth (.PaigeJ Reed, born in Hardwick and 
New Braintree, were : Micah, see forw'ard ; Eliza- 
beth, born January 2, 1777, died October 17, 1778; 
Elizabeth, F'ebruary 25, 1779; Samuel, June 11, 
1783 ; died at Burlington, Vermont, May 5, 1846 ; 
Eunice, January 13, 1787, married James Barr, of 
New Braintree, and (second) Perley Granger. 

(VH) Colonel Micah Reed, eldest son of Micah 
Reed (6), was born October 17, 1773, in Burlington, 
probably. He came to Hardwick when a young boy 
with his parents. He spent most of his active life, 
however, in the neighboring town of New Brain- 
tree, where he died August 3, 1825. His home- 
stead was in that part of New Braintree known as 
Ditch Meadow, and he kept a tavern as well as a 
farm. He was prominent in the military affairs of 
the state for a long period, and was colonel of a 
Worcester county regiment. He was a man of large 
intluence and high standing. 

He married Deborah Thurston, daughter of Sam- 
uel Thurston, of Hardwick. She was born Septem- 
ber J3. 1778, and died June 30, 1828. He died 



August 3, 1823, Their children, all born in New 
Braintree, were: 1. Arminiley, born September 22, 
1798, never married. 2. Rebecca Paige, July 6, 1801, 
died January 5, 1848. 3. Abel Wheeler, January 5, 
1805, died 1874; married Elizabeth Scovil, of East 
Haddam, Connecticut, and had a daughter Nellie, 
deceased. 4. Micah Thurston, see torward. 5. 
Samuel Gardner, May 21, 1809, died 1884; married 
thrice; (first) Fannie Louise 'iilton, of West Boyls- 
ton, and had: Sarah Elizabeth, died young; Charles 
Gardner, born April J2, 1835, died December 21, 
1899; married (tirst) Lucclla P. Ware, of Wor- 
cester, and had two children: Charles Arthur, who 
died young, and F'rank Theodore; married (second) 
Elizabeth P. Fielding, of Worcester, and had one 
child, Karl Bcagary Reed, unmarried ; married 
(third) Hannah W. Whitcomb; Henry Wheeler, 
born March 11, 1843, married Annie Lindsay, of 
Greensboro, North Carolina, and have four chil- 
dren: Fannie Louise, who married Herbert D. Bart- 
lett, of Worcester, and has one child, Herbert Davis 
Bartlett, Jr., living in Seattle, Washington; Samuel 
Gardner, Robert Lindsay, Elizabeth Begeary, of 
Seattle ; Mary F' ranees, born .May 13, 1845, married 
George Flenry Taft, of Worcester, and iias three 
children: Arthur Reed Taft, born January 28, 1877, 
died June 2, 1904; Maria Elizabeth Taft, born in 
Paris, France, May 9, 1881 ; Philip Newell Taft, 
born October 19, 1884. Abbie Jane, born .January 
31, 1850, married William Northam Taft, of Worces- 
ter, and has two children : Elizabeth Northam Taft, 
born December 15, 1882, died November 6, 1903; 
Donald Reed Taft, born November 7, 1886. The 
only child of Samuel Gardner Reed and his second 
wife, Cleora Eager Harlow, of Shrewsbury, was: 
Rev. George Harlow, of Concord, Massachusetts, 
who married Virginia W. Dean, of Taunton, Massa- 
chusetts, and has one child, Margaret Dean. The 
only child of Samuel Gardner and Eliza Bowman 
(Currier) Reed (the third wife) was: Arthur Cur- 
rier, deceased. 6. Hammond, born August 7, 1811. 
7. Sumner, born March 29, 1813, married Jane Hen- 
shaw, of Charlton, Massachusetts. 8. Rebecca, born 
December 2, 1815, married James B. Bardwtll, of 
New Braintree, Massachusetts, and has three chil- 
dren : Everett J. BardwcU, F'rederick Bardwell, de- 
ceased ; Alice R. Bardwell, deceased, g. Dwight, 
born August 25, 1817, married Susan Vaughn, of 
East Brookfield, Massachusetts, and had two chil- 
dren: Susan Ella, married Dr. C. P. Lawton, of 
Webster, Massachusetts, and has one child, lieuten- 
ant Dwight Lawton, of the United States army; 
Mary Emma, unmarried. 

(VHl) Micah Thurston Reed, fourth child of 
Colonel Micah Reed (7), was born in New Brain- 
tree, Massachusetts, May 21, 1807. He received his 
early education in the schools of his native town. 
He worked with his father on the homestead until 
he was about sixteen. Then he learned the trade 
of mason and plasterer. He removed from his 
father's home at New Braintree to North Brook- 
field about 1834 and followed his trade there. Dur- 
ing all the active years of his life until about 1875 
he was in business connected with his trade of mason. 
He was for a time interested with his son in a tin- 
shop and stove store, which the son managed. He 
retired from active business in 1875 ^nd died at his 
liome in North Brookfield, Massachusetts. January 
II, 1885. He was a devout member of the First 
Congregational Church of North Brookfield, took a 
great interest in all its affairs, and served the church 
on several important building committees. He was 
a stanch Republican, but never cared for public 
office. He served in the militia in his younger days 
and was active in his company at New Braintree 



158 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



for several years. He was in Captain John Bar- 
nard's company. 

He married, September i6, 1834, Abigail Har- 
low, of Shrewsbury, Massachusells. She was a 
daughter of Thomas and Thankful (.Bannister; 
Harlow, of Shrewsbury. He was a farmer and 
deacon of the Congregational church there. Then- 
only child was Thomas Harlow Reed, see forward. 

(,1X) Thomas Harlow Reed, only child of 
Micah Thurston Reed (8), was born in North 
Brooklield, Massachusetts, September 14, 1835. He 
attended the public schools of his native town. 
When seventeen years of age he and his father 
purchased the' stove store and tin shop of C. J. 
Boynton, of North Brookfield. Mr. Reed carried 
on the business, his father being a silent partner, 
but after ten years, in 1863, the store was burned. 
He sold what was saved from the fire and came to 
Worcester, where he bought the stove store of 
Mordacai Carey on Main street, nearly opposite Elm 
street, where he carried on his business until the 
building was torn down, vvhen he removed to No. 2 
Pleasant street, where he continued in business for 
some ten years. Since then he has worked for S. 
R. Leland & Co and for John W. Green, the 
plumber, at Lincoln square, where he is at present 
the bookkeeper. Mr. Reed is a member of Union 
Congregational Church, which he served three years 
as treasiirer. In politics he is a Republican. He is 
a member of Morning Star Lodg*;, A. F. and A. M., 
of Worcester. 

He married Mary Frances Whiting, June 11. 
1862. She was the daughter of Louis and Fannie 
(Parks) Whiting, of North Brookfield. Her father 
was a shoemaker, employed in the Bacheller shop 
in that town and later a farmer. He died August, 
1881. The children of Thomas Harlow and Mary 
Frances (Whiting) Reed are: i. Nellie Frances, 
born October 21, 1865, married, July 16, 1896, Rev. 
Henry Walker, of Boulder, Colorado, and has three 
children: Helen Frances Walker, born May 27, 
1897 ; Florence Hammersley Walker, born August 
13, 1899; Margaret Walker, born November 6, 1902. 
2. Florence Harlow Reed, born November 22, 1868. 
living in Boulder, Colorado. 3. Lewis Thurston, 
born September 5, 1870, pastor First Congregational 
Church, Canandaigua, New York, married Isabellc 
Dwight, October 25, 1899. 4. Fannie Whit- 
ing, born December 4, 1879, lives with parents ; 
graduate of the high school, teacher in the public 
schools of Amherst, Massachusetts. Mr. Reed lives 
at No. 134 Elm street, Worcester. 

GEORGE MASON FOSKETT, M. D., son of 
Samuel Waters Foskett, was born October 26, 1856. 
He attended the public schools of Charlton and 
Webster, and prepared for college at the Nichols 
Academy in Dudley, and entered Amherst College, 
from which he graduated with the degree of Bach- 
elor of Arts in 1878, and in 1881 he received from 
the same institution the degree of Master of Arts. 
After leaving college he taught school in Webster 
from 1878 to 1880, and at the same time studied 
medicine under the preceptorship of Dr. F. D. 
Brown, of that town. He graduated from the 
medical department of the University of Vermont 
in 1882, and shortly after located in North Dana, 
where he practiced his profession for eight years. 
After two years spent in post graduate studies in 
New York hospitals he came to Worcester, where 
he has since resided, having established a large and 
lucrative practice. He maintains his office and resi- 
dence at No. 491 Pleasant street. He is a member 
of the Worcester District Medical Society, the 
Massachusetts Medical Society, the American Acad- 



emy of Medicine, and the American Medical Asso- 
ciation. He is a member of Trinity Methodi.st 
Episcopal Church, and in politics is a Republican, 
he has attained high rank in the Masonic order, and 
attiliated with Athelstan Lodge, December 7, 1892. 
He received the royal arch degree in Eureka Chap- 
ter, Royal Arch Masons, April, 1894; the cryptic 
degrees in Hirara Council, Royal Scottish Masons, 
May 24, 1894; was knighted in Worcester County 
Commandery, Knights I'emplar, August 15, 1895. 
and has taken the fourteenth, si-xteenth and eiglu 
eenth degrees of Ancient and Accepted Scottish 
Rite Masonry. He is a member of Alepo Temple, 
Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, of Boston. In Odd 
Fellowship he is a member of Anchoria Lodge, No. 
142; of Mount Vernon Encampment, No. 53, and 
ot Worcester Canton, No. 3. He is also a member 
of Regulus Lodge, Knights of Pythias, and of the 
Hancock Social Club, of Worcester. 

Dr. F"oskett married (first) at North Dana, June 
S, 1085, Harriet Ella Linsey, who was there born 
August 28, 1851, daughter of Silas Foster and Maria 
(Hale) Linsey. She died November 28, 1898. Dr. 
Foskett married (second), November 28, 1903, Miss 
Carrie Gilmore, daughter of Henry E. and Sarah E. 
Gilmore, of Worcester. 

CYRUS G. WOOD. Among the men who have 
made their mark in the business life of Worcester 
county we find the name of Cyrus Grout Wood. Lie 
was born November 16, 1819, in the town of U.\- 
bndge, Massachusetts, where several generations 
of his ancestry had spent their lives, leaving be- 
hind them the indelible impress of their industry, 
frugality and uprightness. He was the son of 
Reuben and Sally Grout Wood. 

His father, who died in 1857, was an industrious 
farmer, and young Cyrus passed his early life at 
work upon the farm and in the mill, for U.xbridge 
was not only an agricultural town but a manufactur- 
ing town as well. His early education was ac- 
quired in attending the schools of his native village. 
On attaining his majority he took the little sum 
of money that by patient toil and strict economy 
he had saved, and after adding to it one hundred 
dollars borrowed money, started in the sale of 
boots, shoes and dry goods, following the style of 
the usual country store, later adding a line of furni- 
ture, being the first person in the town to embark 
in that branch of trade. His business grew under 
his management and proved quite successful. Bui 
still it did not fully satisfy his ambition, and with 
Charles C. Capron as a partner, he began the making 
of shoddy, and dealing in woolen waste, etc. After 
a trial of three years Mr. Wood retired from the 
firm, leasing a mill in the southern part of the 
town, and continued in the same line of business. 
As time went on and success attended his efforts, 
he added other mills, even as far away as the state 
of Rhode Island. In the year 1876 Mr. Wood pur- 
chased the mill at Quinapoxet, in the town of Hol- 
den. he having had an interest there for two or 
more years previous to that date, the mill being 
operated by Wood & Ward. This same year he also 
purch;isid the Lovell Woolen Company's mill in 
Holden. and for many years operated both mills, 
combining them as one plant. About two hundred 
hands were employed and over one hundred and 
twenty-five thousand yards of satinet was manu- 
factured each month at this plant. In February, 
1882, a postofifice was established at Quinapoxet, with 
Cyrus (^irout Wood as postmaster.. 

Thus from a small beginning, we have followed 
the career of the subject of this sketch onward and 
upward. That he experienced trials and met with 




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WORCESTER COUNTY 



159 



jiiany obstacles that seemed to stand across his 
.pathway, there can be no doubt, but by strict lidelity 
to busniess, genuine courage, perseverance and nat- 
ural ability, he overcame thctn all and at last found 
himself with a comfortable fortune. Although Mr. 
Wood was never prominent in politics he was chosen 
to represent his native town in the legislature in 
1854. He was an all round citizen, thoughtful, 
broadminded, public-spirited and more than an or- 
dinary reader. Naturally of a quiet disposition, not 
a leader except in business, there he was at home, 
and he put his mind and strength into it. He must 
Jiave approved machinery, and his personal atten- 
tion was given to every detail in running his plant. 
Of the welfare of his employees he was ever tliought- 
ful. From experience he knew that by fair and 
honorable treatment he would gain sympathy and 
■co-operation. In all his dealings with them he ap- 
plied the principle of doing unto others as you 
would be done by, and that was the spirit in which 
he conducted all his business, and as a neighbor 
and friend his greeting and friendship was of the 
real old fashioned New England type, genuine in 
.every particular. Labor strikes at liis mills were 
unheard of. 

in the spring of iSSo' Mr. Wood changed his 
residence from Uxbridge to Worcester, locating at 
No. 21 Harvard street, in order to shorten the dis- 
tance between the home and his factory in Holden, 
and also to gain the advantages of Worcester schools 
for the younger members of his family. We have 
■called attention to the fidelity with which Mr. Wood 
applied himself to business that no branch of it 
might suffer from neglect, yu he found much time 
to devote to his family, the associations of which 
he fully appreciated and of which he was very 
fond. He also enjoyed the society of men of broad 
and high aims. In religion he was a Unitarian, and 
with his family attended the Church of the Unity, 
where almost from their immediate arrival in Wor- 
•cester they took a prominent part in helping forward 
the work of the parish. He was a charter member 
of the Uxbridge Lodge of Odd Fellows, one of the 
•directors of the Citizens' National Bank of Worces- 
ter, and a member of the Board of Trade, also of the 
Worcester Society of Antiquity, bting very much 
interested in historical studies, especially the annals 
of his native town, and when that society passed 
their field-day at Uxbridge in 1894, no speaker 
present was more entertaining than Mr. Wood as 
he recited his early business experiences when a 
young man in that town. He always deemed it a 
special pleasure when privileged to visit the home 
of his boyhood, and once he took his Quinapo.xet 
employees to Uxbridge, where he entertamed them 
throughout the day, pointing out the scenes of his 
early life and relating to them how step by step he 
felt his way along amid trials and disappointments, 
until at last by patient honest toil he had reached 
the point of success. 

Mr. Wood was twice married ; first to Lucetta, 
■daughter of Joseph Day, of Uxbridge, who was a 
manufacturer and much respected citizen of that 
place. She died in 1854, and he married (second), 
in 1858, Mary U. P., daughter of Jonathan F. 
and Chloe (Holbrook) Southwick. The Southwicks 
were Quakers, and among the first Quakers of 
Salem, Massachusetts, and whom Whittier immortal- 
ized in his poem "Cassandra Southwick." 

Mr. Southwick was a son of Royal and Phoebe 
(Farnum) Southwick of U.xbridge. 'and in the sixth 
generation from Lawrence and Cassandra South- 
wick, who came from Lancashire, England, and 
settled in Salem. By occupation he was a tanner 
and currier, a trade which he learned of his father. 



Being a prosperous business man. he became a large 
owner of real estate, including the Ironstone factory 
property. The old mill having been consumed by 
fire, he built a new one, and sold the property to 
Messrs. Fairbanks and Messenger. He also owned 
the tnill below on the same stream, which he sold to 
J. C. Keith & Co. He was a public-spirited citi- 
zen, giving special attention to educational matters, 
in his native town, where he was recognized as one 
of the substantial and representative men of the 
place. He was much interested in temperance 
movements. He married, November 14, 1822, Chloe 
Holbrook, a most estimable person, a kind and af- 
fectionate mother to their six children, including 
Mary Urania Farnum Southwick, born May 31, 
1833. The children of Cyrus G. Wood and Mary 
U. F. Southwick were: l. John Franklin, married 
Mary Leonard, resides at Quinapo.xet. He and his 
brother are continuing the business left by their 
father. Their children are : i. Marion, born October 
17, 1897. J. Ernest Henry, a graduate of Harvard 
University ; married Adelaide Wyman, and resides 
at No. 69 West street, Worcester. Their children are: 
Cyrus W., born January 31, igoo; Austen, born May 
25, 1903; Daniel, born September 7, 1904; a daugh- 
ter, born October 27, 1905. 3. Gertrude S. 4. Sarah 
Louise. Mr. Wood died at his home in Worcester, 
March 3, 1898. 

The ancestry of this branch of the Wood family 
we trace as follows : 

(I) Thomas Wood, married Ann Hunt, of 
Ipswich, April 7, 1654, settled in Rowley, Massachu- 
setts, where he died and was buried, September 12, 
1667. She died December 29, 1714. Their children 
were : Mary, John, Thomas, Ann, Ruth, Josiah, 
Elizabeth, Samuel, Elithrop, Solomon, Ebenezer and 
James. 

(II) Solomon, born May 17, 1669, married Mary 
Haseltine, October 15, 1690. She died February 20, 
1749. He died January 13, 1752. For a time their 
home was in Bradford, Massachusetts, where many 
if not all of their children were born, after which 
they removed to that part of Mendon now Uxbridge. 
Their children were : David, Dorcas, Joshua, Mary, 
Solomon, James, Ezekiel, Obediah, Daniel and 
Betsey. (See sketch Pliny W. Wood ancestry.) 

(III) Obediah, born May 28, 1709, married 
Esther Hayward, and settled in Uxbridge. Their 
children were: i. Warfield, born and died 1733-4- 
2. .Eliza, born August 4, 1735. 3. Obediah, May 9, 
1737. 4. Sarah, August 18, 1739. 5. Esther, August 
II, 1741. 6. Solomon, May 25, 1744. 7. David. 
August II, 1748. Both the youngest sons, Solomon 
and David were soldiers in the revolutionary war. 

(IV) David, born August 11, 1748, served in the 
American army and was with Ethan Allen when he 
demanded the surrender of Ticondcroga. He mar- 
ried Molly Farnum, and lived in a house he built 
near his father's home in Uxbridge. Their children 
were: i. Phebe, born January 8, 1769. 2. Chloe. 
1770. 3. Farnum and 4. Keith (twins), born De- 
cember 22, 1772. ;. Oliver, March 19, 1775. 6. 
Howard C, born January 3, 1777. 7. Polly, Jan- 
uary 27, 1779. 8. Eunice, January 4, 1781. 9. Amos. 
December 23, 1783. lO. Sally, March 15, 1785, 
drowned. II. Nancy, February 6, 1787. 12. Sally 
born March 29, 1789, married (first) Cyrus Grout, 
who died, and she then married (second) Reuben 
Wood. 13. Dorinda. born March 6. 1791. 14- 
David, born November 6, 1792. 15. Clarissa, born 
December 27, 1797. 

KEND.-\LL FAMILY. Prominent among the 
early representatives of the Kendall family in Eng- 
land was John Kendall, sheriff of Nottingham, who 



i6o 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



was killed in the Battle of Bosworth in 1485. fight- 
ing in the army of Richard 111. Francis Kendall, 
of a much later generation, was banished to the 
Barbadoes in the year 16S7 by Bloody Judge Jef- 
freys, for participating in the Monmouth rebellion. 
He is believed to have been a near relative of 
Francis Ivcndall, the emigrant ancestor, who came 
to America before 1640. 

Francis Kendall was the pioneer ancestor of 
Sanford C. Kendall, Charles D. Kendall, Frederick 
H. Kendall and John M. Kendall, of Worcester, 
Massachusetts, and also of other Kendall families 
in Worcester county. In fact, he is believed to be 
the common ancestor of all families in America bear- 
ing this surname. In December, 1658, he deposed 
that his age was about thirty-eight years. On April 
2, 1662, he deposed that his age was about forty- 
eight years. Possibly the date of his birth was 
between the two dates indicated by these state- 
ments, say 1618. He came from England before 
1640. With thirty-one others he signed the town 
orders of Woburn, December 18, 1640. He had been 
living in Charlcstown, of which Woburn was then a 
part, and where he was a taxpayer in 1645. He had 
a brother, Thomas Kendall, living in Reading, Massa- 
chusetts, where he was a proprietor, in 1644. Thomas 
Kendall had ten daughters, and while he doubtless 
has a large posterity, none are named Kendall in 
direct line. The father of Thomas and Francis 
is believed by some writers to be John Kendall. 

Francis Kendall married, December 24, 1644, 
Mary Tidd, daughter of John Tidd. In the record 
he is called Francis Kendall, alias Milts. There 
are several explanations of this record. It was 
common with emigrants to America to take assumed 
names to avoid vexatious laws, and there is a tra- 
dition that Kendall left England against the wishes 
of his family, using the name of Miles until he w^is 
settled in this country. His brother Thomas seems 
not to have used any other name. Francis Kendall 
was admitted a freeman May 10, 1648. Sewall says 
of him: "He was a gentleman of great respecta- 
bility and influence in the place of his residence." 
He served the town at dit^erent times for eighteen 
years on the board of selectmen, and on important 
committees, such as those for distributing grants 
to the pioneers, and on building the meeting house. 
He was tithingman in 1676. He was not entirely 
in accord with the Puritan church, and was fined 
for some infraction of church rules about infant 
baptism, or attendance at communion, or attending 
meetings of the Anabaptists. He was a miller by 
trade, and owned a corn mill, which he left to his 
sons, Samuel and John. Samuel was the ancestor 
of the Worcester families. John Kendall's grand- 
son, Amos, also has descendants in Worcester 
county. This corn mill, at Woburn, has been in 
the possession of the family down to the present 
time. The mill now, or lately, on the Kendall 
place, is one built by Samuel Kendall soon after 
1700, and is some distance from the location of the 
first mill. 

He died, in 1708, at the age of eighty-eight, ac- 
cording to the record, corroborating the affidavit 
of 1658. His wife Mary died in 1705. His will 
was dated May 9, 1706. His sons, Thomas and 
John, were the executors. Children of Francis and 
Mary (Tidd) Kendall: John, born July 2, 1646; 
Thomas. January 10, 1648-9; Mary, January 20, 
1650-1, married Israel Reed, about 1669; Elizabeth, 
January 15, 1652-3, married (first) Ephraim Win- 
ship; (second) James Pierce; Hannah, January 26, 
1654-5, rnarried William Green, Jr., as his second 
wife; Rebecca, March 2, 1657, married Joshua 
Eaton, December, 1706; Samuel, March 8, 1659; 



Jacob, January 25, 1660-1 ; Abigail, April 6, 1666, 
married William Reed, May 24, 1686. 

(II) Samuel Kendall, son of Francis Kendall 
(2), born in Woburn, Massachusetts, March 8, 
1659-60; married, November 13, 1683, Rebekah, 
daughter of Isaac Mixer. She died October 25, 
1691. He married (second), March 30, 1692, Mary 
Locke, daughter of William Locke. He removed to 
Lancaster, probably in 1742, as he was taxed in 
Woburn January 28, 1741-2, but not the following 
years. Fle was constable and collector in Woburn in 
1726-27. He was a carpenter by trade. His will 
was dated December 6, 1742, and proved 1749. i^\.(^ 
died in 1745^ at the age of ninety years. Children of 
Samuel and Rebecca (Mixer) Kendall: Samuel, 

born August 13, 1684, married Prudence , 

about 1 710; Isaac, September 1686. married, Octo- 
ber 9, 1706, Hannah Walker, settled in Ashford, 
Connecticut; Joshua, March 14, 1689, married, May 
23, 1710, Susanna Harrington, settled m Water- 
town, Massachusetts, and Ashford, Connecticut; Re- 
becca, July 6, 1691, died November 25, 1691. Chil- 
dren of Samuel and Mary (Locke) Kendall were: 
Mary, February 3, 1693, died August 14, 1727, un- 
married ; Rebecca, January 26, 1694-5, died July 26, 
1791, married Samuel Russell; Abigail, March 31, 
1697, married William Nichols, of Reading, January 
14, 1720; Ebenezer, May 16, 1700, married Hannah 
Thompson about I73r; Ruth, April 23, 1703, married 
Raham Bancroft ; Tabitha, born January 22, 1706-7, 
married Nathan Richards, July 3, 1729, died Novem- 
ber 25, 1739. 

(III) Samuel Kendall, son of Samuel Kendall 
(2), born August 13, 1684, at Woburn, Massachu- 
setts. He settled in Lancaster, Massachusetts, where 
he died in 1743. His will mentions his wife Pru- 
dence and three children. Children of Samuel and 
Prudence were: Samuel, born September 4, 1711 ; 
Rebecca, August 27, 1714; Stephen, ]\Iarch 10, 1717. 

(IV) Samuel Kendall, son of Samuel Kendall 
(3), was born in Lancaster (?), Massachusetts, 
September 4, 171 1. He married Phebe Brintain, 
September 23, 1736. They settled in what is now 
Sterling, possibly on the homestead of his 
father, as Samuel and wife, Phebe, joined 
the Chocksett (Sterling) church soon after 
the father's death February 3, 1744-5. Chock- 
sett became the town of Sterling in 1781. 
The church was organized in the December pre- 
ceding (1744)- 

Samuel Kendall was in the expedition to Canada, 
in 1759, under Colonel Oliver Wilder, of Lancaster, 
as was also his brother, Stephen Kendall. Chil- 
dren of Samuel and Phebe (Brintain) Kendall, bap- 
tized in the Chocksett church by the pastor. Rev. 
Mr. Mellen : Samuel, baptized February 17, 1745; 
Rebecca, February 17, me,; Abigail, July 20, 1746; 
Caleb, May 15, 1748, probably died young; Bar- 
tholomew, February 18, 1749; Caleb, March 24, 
1750; Bartholomew, February 28, 1753; William, 
October 13, 1754; Phebe, July 3, 1757; Lucy, Feb- 
ruary 10, 1760; Lucinda, November 14, 1762. 

(V) Caleb Kendall,' son of Samuel Kendall (4), 
born in Sterling, then Chocksett, Massachusetts, a 
part of Lancaster, and baptized March 24, 1750; 
married (first), December 8, 1773, Priscilla Towns- 
end, daughter of Joshua iownsend, in Shrewsbury, 
Massachusetts. He resided in Shrewsbury several 
years, and then removed to Ashburnham, where his 
cousin Amos, son of Francis and grandson of John 
Kendall, (brother of his great-grandfather Samuel 
Kendall) was living. He went there some time be- 
fore 1787. While living at Ashburnham he married 
(second) at Lancaster, April 15. 1788, Lucy (Bald- 
win) Kendall, widow of Thomas Kendall, of Lan- 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



i6t 



;istcr. In 1792 he removed to Winchcndon, Massa- 
nisctls, but his son Samuel, bom in 1792, was bap- 
zed in Boylston, and the records show that Caleb 
.'ttled in Boylston in that year, also. Boylston was 
le north district of Shrewsbury, so he merely re- 
jrntd to his old home. Caleb Kendall was a sol- 
ier in the revolution. He was in Captain John 
Jaynard's coiupany and Colonel Job Cushing's regi- 
lent, which marched August 21, I///, to lladley, 
in the Bennington Alarm. He was also in Captam 
nglcsby's company, Colonel Cushing's regiment, ni 
ne Rhode Island campaign, lie was also in Cap- 
lin Ezra Beaman's company in Shrewsbury June 
, 1777. He was a housewright. He bought his 
ome in Shrewsbury of Joiham Klagg, and from 
ime to time other lots. The first deed is dated 
anuary 7, 1773. He died 1807. The eleven chil- 
ren signed the partition deeds September 2, 1S07. 
,ucy, widow of Caleb Kendall, died at Boylston, 
Jovember 22, 1745, aged eighty-five. Children of 
'aleb and Pri.scilla (Townsend) (sketch in Boyls- 
on centennial gives her name Savory, but the town 
ecords in several places give it Townsend) Ken- 
all : Priscilla, born January 20, 1777, at Shrewsbury, 
narried Thaniel Cutting; Calel), at Shrewsbury, 
anuary 25, 1779, (iloldtn records say January 27) 
ettled in Holden, Massachusetts, married, June 
4, 1803, Dolly Sawyer; Zippora ; Joshua, 2d., mar- 
led Patty Sawyer; died in Boylston 1813. Children 
if Caleb and Lucy (Baldwin) Kendall; Lucy, bap- 
ized June 14, 1789, probably born in Ashburnham, 
narried Joseph Sawyer ; David, born March 12, 
791, baptized at Boylston, May 29. 1791 ; Samuel, 
lorn October 11, 1792, in Winchendon and recorded 
here, baptized at Boylston ; Hannah, married 
'hineas ^loore ; Elmira or Myra, married Jotham 
-lowe ; Emily or Emilia, married Jonas Hastings 
court papers indicate that she is older than Myra) ; 
iVilliam, married Susan Hartshorn. 

(VI) David Kendall, son of Caleb Kendall ^5). 
vas born in Ashburnham, Massachusetts. His father 
•emoved to Boylston when he was about a year old, 
md he resided there inost of his life. It has been 
;aid of him that "to him manual labor seemed more 
ike a pastime than a task." He married Polly 
kVellington, April 2, i8i2. His wife was also known 
IS Molly. (See John Kendall.) Children of David 
md Molly (Wellington) Kendall; Elizabeth Temple, 
jorn March 19, 1814, married, September 8, 1844, 
Rev. A. Stowell; Sanford M. (name was originally 
loshua and was altered by general court), March 6, 
1S16; Horace, June 21, 1821, died April 27, 1827; 
Mary, July 18, 1823, died August 13, 1824; Mary, 
July 9, 1825, married Fisk B. Temple, March 8, 
1848; Horace, August 28, 1827; John. November 6, 
1829; Lyman P., February 9, 1832; Sophia Brooks, 
.\pril 27, 1834, died May 9, 1834; Olive S., May 4. 
1836, died August 11, 1839. David Kendall married 
(second) at Greenfield, Massachusetts. 

(VII) Elizabeth Temple Kendall, daughter of 
David Kendall (6), born in Boylston, Massachu- 
setts, March 19, 1814; married, September 8, 1844. 
Rev. A. Stowell, of Erving, Massachusetts. Their 
children are ; Mary E., born March 28, 1847, died 
February 9, 1893, unmarried ; was a teacher in 
Bridgewater School for the Blind to the time of 
her death ; S. Louise, born July 10, 1853, married 
Clinton J. Smith, of Keene, New Hampshire, and 
they have .two children ; Ralph and Alice. 

(VII) Horace Kendall, son of David Kendall 
(6), was born in Boylston, Massachusetts, August 
28, 1827. He married, April 4, 1854. Sarah A. 
Maynard, of Boylston. ilassachusetts. He married 
(second) Fanny Buck, of Worcester, January i, 
1874. She died August 22, 1881. He married 
n 



(third) Hattie S. Hagan, who survives him. He 
removed to Worcester with his family in 1871, and 
engaged in the furniture business. He was a well 
known auctioneer, and prominent merchant in \Vor- 
cester for thirty years. His store was m the .Mechanics 
biulding. Children of Horace and Sarah A. (May- 
nard) Kendall : Charles D., November 10, 1854, 
married Kate E. Lindsay, of Grafton, Mas.sachu- 
setts ; Sanford Clayton, born in Boylston, October 
6, 1856, married Jennie Bruce, December 24, 1877. 
The only child of Horace and Fanny (Buck) Ken- 
dall was: Frederick H., born January 20, 1875. 

(VIII) Charles David Kendall, son of Horace 
Kendall (7), was born in Boylston, .Massachusetts, 
November 10, 1854. He attended the district schools 
of Boylston. In 1871, when his father moved to 
Worcester, he went to work in the store. In 1880 
he wtrnt to Grafton to work. In 1888 he returned 
to Worcester and entered the furniture business, 
again with his father. After his father's death the 
three sons were in partnership for a time. San- 
ford C. Kendal!, in 1903, bought the interests of 
Charles D. and Frederick H. Kendall, and has since 
carried on the business under the lirm name of 
Kendall F'urniture Company. Charles D. and Fred- 
erick II. bought an interest in the Warren Leather 
Goods Company, of Worcester, in July, 1903. The 
business of this concern is the manufacture of suit 
cases and traveling bags of every description, and 
various fancy goods of leather. The company has a 
large factory at 80 Austin street, employing about 
hvo hundred hands. The company was incorporated 
in 1902 with a capital of thirty thousand dollars. 
The business was formerly that of J. J. Warren. 
The present officers of the corporation arc : Presi- 
dent, Thomas T. Hickey, of Shrewsbury; vice- 
president, Charles D. Kendall; secretary, W. II. 
Hayden ; treasurer, Frederick H. Kendall. 

Mr. Kendall is a Congregationalist. In politics 
he is a Republican. He married Kate Elizabeth 
Lindsay, of Grafton, June 26, 1884. She was born 
January 16, i860, daughter of Ira and Mary (Esta- 
brook) Lindsay. Her mother was born January 18, 
1830, at Princeton, and married, June 11, 1857, Ira 
Lindsay, at Princeton. Children of Ira and Mary 
( Estabrook) Lindsay: Ellen F., born May 6, 1858; 
Kate E., January 16, i860, married, June 26. 1884. 
Charles David Kendal! ; Joseph J., Septembtr 21^ 
1864, married, October 8, 1883. 

The children of Charles David and Kate Eliza- 
beth (Lindsay) Kendall: Horace Clayton, born in 
Grafton, Massachusetts, September 26, 1885 ; grad- 
uate of English high .school. Worcester, in 1904; is 
in Worcester Polytechnic Institute, class of 1907 ; 
Herbert Lindsay, born in Worcester, June 22, 
1889 ; Charles Donald, born in Worcester, August 
14, 1899. Mr. Kendall resides at 5 Barnard road, 
Worcester. « 

(VIII) Sanford Clayton Kendall, son of Horace 
Kendall (7), was born in Boylston, Massachusetts, 
October 6, 1856. He received a common school edu- 
cation in his native town. With his parents he re- 
moved to Worcester in 1871, and went to work 
in his fatlicr's store. He was associated with his 
father in the furniture and auctioneer business until 
his death in 1899. The store at 319 Main street is 
well know'n to Worcester people, especially to lovers 
of antiques and colonial furniture. During the last 
years of his father's life . lie was manager of the 
business. After the death of the father, the three 
sons became partners in the Kendall Furniture Com- 
pany. In 1902 Mr. Kendall became the sole owner. 
His two brothers withdrew to enter the Warren 
Leather Goods Company. Since then Mr. Kendall 
has conducted the business at tlie old stand. He has 



I 62 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



been promiuciit in city affairs, lie is a Republican. 
He was elected to the common coimcil from ward 
two in 1895, and served until be was elected an 
alderman. In the council he served on the commit- 
tees on charities, street lighting, military affairs and 
the joint special conunittee on central workshop. In 
the board of aldermen be was chairman of the 
committees on charities, and lighting streets, and 
member of the committees on lire department and 
ordinances, and of the al'dermanic committees on 
elections and returns. He married, December 24, 
1877, Jeimie Bruce. They bave one child, Clayton. 
(VIll) Frederick H. Kendall, son of Horace 
Kendall (7), was born in Worcester, January 20, 
1875. He was educated in the Worcester public 
schools and at Gushing Academy, Ashburnbam, 
where he graduated in 1894 in about a year. He 
went into the furniture business with his father, 
and later he became a partner with his two brothers, 
after their father's death, in the Kendall Furniture 
Company. He sold his interest in the business in 
February, 1902, and in the following July bought 
an interest and became the treasurer of the Warren 
Leather Goods Company, which was formed to take 
over the business of the J. J. Warren Company. 
His brother, Charles D. Kendall, also entered the 
Warren Leather Goods Company, and is the vice- 
president. Mr. Kendall is treasurer of the con- 
cern. He is an attendant of tbe Congregational 
church, a member of the Lakeside Boat Club, and 
a Republican in politics. He married, December 7, 
1900, Fanny E. Chambers, daughter of Calvin M. 
and Frances (Keyes) Chambers, of Redwing, Min- 
nesota. They have a daughter : Eleanor, born 
April 17, 1904. Mr. Kendall resides at 730 Pleasant 
street. 

(VH) John Kendall, son of David Kendall 
(6), was born in Boylston, Massachusetts, Novem- 
ber 6, 1829. He began his schooling in Boylston, 
but did not continue long, for at the age of twelve 
years he became highly incensed at what he felt 
was an unprincipled act on the part of the teacher 
toward a pupil. So he broke away from the yoke of 
school life and hired out at farming to Squire 
Aaron White, of Boylston, who was at that time, 
it is said, the richest farmer in the county. He re- 
mained with the Squire until 1847, when he be- 
came clerk in the country store at Boylston, kept 
by a Mr. Hathaway, for whom he worked a year. 
In 1848 be came to Worcester and began to learn 
the fur business, with J. H. Knight, where be re- 
mained until 1862, when Mr. Knight died. He and 
William H. McClennen formed a partnership and 
bought tbe business. The business was conducted 
under the firm name of Kendall & McClennen un- 
til 1875, when Mr. McClennen sold his interest to 
his partner, and Mr. Kendall continued alone. 
The store at that time was at 163 Main street. 
Their stock included hats, caps and men's furnish- 
ings as well as furs. In 1888 Mr. Kendall took into 
partnership David Boyden, who continueed with 
him until he died in 1895 ; he then admitted his son, 
John M. Kendall, to partnership. Tbe firm was in 
business until 1897, when he retired from active 
life. He was a prosperous and successful mer- 
chant and knew the fur business in every branch. 
His favorite sport was fishing and he was known all 
over the county among the disciples of Izaac Walton. 
He died July 14,1903. He was a member of the 
Old South Congregational Church, and a Republican 
in politics. He was a member of the Worcester 
County Mechanics' Association. He belonged to no 
secret societies. He married, August 10, 1852, 
Mary T. Knight, daughter of Erastus and Theo- 
damia (Cushman) Knight, of Chesterfield, Massa- 



chusetts. Her father was a farmer in Chesterfield. 
Children of John and Mary (Knight) Kendall 
were: Olive Cushman, born in Worcester, July 
16, 1862 (1855 in Genealogy), is living in Worcester; 
John Melvin (see forward). 

(VIII) John Melvin Kendall, son of John 
Kendall (7), born in Worcester, Massachusetts, 
March S, 1866, received his early education in the 
public schools of this native city, where he passed 
through the grammar schools and graduated from 
the Classical high school in 1883. He entered Am- 
herst College in the -fall in the class of 1887, but 
after a year he returned boine at the desire of his 
father and entered the store. He became his father's 
partner in 1895 and remained in the business until 
1897, when his father and the firm retired from bus- 
iness. He then entered the employ of the Den- 
bolm & McKay Company as e.xpert buyer of furs 
and manager of the fur department. He continued 
in this position eight years. In 1905 he withdrew 
to become the treasurer of the John L. Parker 
Company, manufacturers of sheet metal goods, hav- 
ing become a part owner of tbe business. He is 
a member of St. John's Episcopal Church, and has 
been treasurer, vestryman and superintendent of 
the Sunday school. 

He has taken an active part in Republican poli- 
tics, frequently serving his party as delegate to the 
county and state conventions. He served the city 
in the common council for four years, 1902-3-4-5. 
He has been a trustee of the City Hospital since 
1903, and is one of the overseers of the poor. 
He is a member of Regulus Lodge, Knights of 
Pythias, No. 71, of Worcester, and of the Hancock 
Club. Mr. Kendall is a musician of distinction 
and has written several successful operas. He is 
a clever writer and is regarded as an authority in 
baseball matters. In years past he has written 
much for The Spy on dramatic and sporting sub- 
jects. He is an earnest, capable business man, and 
stands high in the estimation of the entire com- 
munity in which he has lived all his life. He mar- 
ried, June 27, 1904, Caroline Eliza Davis, daughter 
of Samuel E. and Hannah E. (Robinson) Davis, 
of Boston. She was born August 23, xS6S. Her 
father was a woolen inanufacturer. (See sketch of 
Samuel E. Davis.) 

DR. JEREMIAH FISKE. The family of Fiske 
flourished for centuries in England in the county 
of Suft'olk. As early as the reign of King John in 
l2o8 we find the name of Daniel Fisc, of Laxfield, 
appended to a document issued by the king con- 
firming a grant of land in Digneveton Park, made 
by the Duke of Loraine to the men of Laxfield. May 
I. 1208. There was the seat of the family for a 
long period. The ancient coat of arms is : Checquey, 
argent and gules upon a pale, sable, three mullets, 
pierced, or. 

(I) Lord Symond Fiske, to whom the English 
and American line is traced, was the progenitor of 
Dr. Jeremiah Fiske, of Clinton, Massachusetts. It 
is believed that he was grandson of Daniel Fiske, 
the first mentioned in the records of the locality; 
he was Lord of the manor of Stadhaugh, parish of 
Laxfield. county of Suffolk, England, from 1399 to 
1422. He married (first) Susannah Smj-th and (sec- 
ond) Katberine . His will was dated December 

22, 1463. and w-as probated at Norwich,. February 
26, 1463-4. He bequeathed "his soul to God, the 
Virgin Mary and all the Saints in Heaven." He 
named each of his sons. William. Jeffrey. John and 
Edmund, and daughter, Margaret Dowsing. His 
wife Katberine, son John and Nichols Nolock were 
the executors. He died February, 1464. The chil- 




y.£^-LQ^'\-v^u!L^ Z^^ yiy^^ 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



163 



flren : William, married Joanrif Lymic ; Jeffrey, mar- 
ried Margaret ■ ; John ; Edmund, married Mar- 
gery : Margaret, married Dowsing or Dovvling. 

(II) William Fiske, son of Lord Symond Fiske 
(i), was born at Stadhaugh, county Suffolk, Eng- 
land, and died 1504. He married Joan Lynne, of 
Norfolk. Her will was dated July 15, 1504, proved 
February 28, 1505. It mentions her sons John, 
Augustine, Simon, son's wife Anne, daughters 
Margery and Margaret. Sir John Fiske and her sons 
John Fiske and son Simon were executors. The 

children: Thomas, married Anne ; William, 

married Joan ; Augustine, married Joan ; 

Simon, see forward; Robert, married Joan ; 

John, Margery, Margaret. 

(ill) Simon Fiske, son of William Fiske (2), 

was born in La.xfield. He married Elizabeth , 

who died at Halesworth, June, 155S. They resided 
at Laxfield. His will was dated July 10, 15.56, and 
proved July 13, 1538. He was buried in the chancel 
at the end of the church of All Saints, La.xfield, 
next his father and other members of his family. 
He died June. 1538. The children: Simon, see for- 
ward; William; Robert, married Alice ; Joan, 

married Iverton; Jeffrey; Gelyne, married 

Warner: .Xgnes, Thomas, Elizabeth, John. 

(IV) Simon Fiske. son of Simon Fiske (3), 
was born in Laxfield, England. His will was dated 
January 25, 1505. The children : Robert, see forward : 
John, married Thomasin Pinchard ; George, married 

Anne : Nicholas, married Joan Crispe; Jeffrey, 

Jeremy, William. Richard, married Agnes Crispe ; 
Joan. Gelyne, Agnes. 

(V) Robert Fiske, son of Simon Fiske (4), was 
born in England, 1525. He married Mrs. Sybil 
(Gould) Barber. For some time he was of the 
parish of St. James, South Elmham, England. Sybil 
was in great danger of religious persecution at the 
time her sister Isabella was confined for her religious 
opinions in Castle Norwich. The children : William, 
born 1566, see forward; Jeffrey, married Sarah 

Cooke; Thomas, married Margery ; Eleazer, died 

at Metfield ; Elizabeth, married Robert Barnard. 

(VI) W'illiam Fiske, son of Robert Fiske (5). 
was born at Laxfield, England. 1566. He married 
.Anna Anstyle. daughter of Walter Anstyle, of Tib- 
benham, Long Row, Norfolk. He married (second) 

.Alice . He lived in St. James parish, South 

Elmham. He and his father had to leave the coun- 
try on account of their Puritan ideas. His will 
was dated November 25, 1616, and proved May 17, 
1623. His children : John, born at South Elmham, 
married Anne Lanter.see ; Nathaniel, born at South 
Elmham, see forward ; Eleazer, born at South Elm- 
ham. settled in Norwich ; Eunice, unmarried ; Han- 
nah, married William Candler, and their son Rev. 
Mathias Candler, was author of the celebrated 
Candler manuscript in the British Museum ; Hester, 
married John C. Chalke, of Rednall ; Mary, married 
.Anthony Fisher, ancestor of the Fisher emigrants 
at Dedham, Massachusetts. (See sketch of Fisher 
families in this work). 

(VII) Nathaniel Fiske, son of William Fiske 
(6). was born in England. He was named in the 
wills of his father, his uncle Eleazer, and cousin 
Eleazer, of Wcybred, England. He married Mrs. 
.Alice (Hcnel) Leman. The children : Nathaniel, sec 
forward ; Sarah, married Robert Rogers. 

(VIII) Nathaniel Fiske, son of Nathaniel Fiske 
(7). was born at Wcybred, Suffolk county, England. 
He married Dorothy Symonds, of W'endham, daugh- 
ter of John Symonds. The children : John, born 
i6iq,, married Sarah Wyeth r Nathan, see forward; 
Esther, born in England ; Martha, married Martin 
I'nderwood, weaver, settled in Watertown, Massa- 
chusetts, died November 17. 1672. 



(IX) Nathan Fiske, son of Nathaniel Fiske (8). 
was born in England. 1615, and died June 21, 1676. 
He settled at Watertown, Massachusetts, as early 
as 1642, and was admitted a freeman May 10, 1643. 
He bought land there September 10, 1643. He was 
a selectman in 1673. H's homestall was on the north 
side of the road to Sudbury, granted first to R. 
Frake. His will was dated June 19, 1676, and he 
died two days later. He mentioned his five children 
as named below. Children : Nathan, born October 17, 
1642. see forward; John, born August 25, 1647; 
David, born April 29, 1650. married Elizabeth Reed; 
Nathaniel, born July 12, 1653, married Mrs, Mary 
(Warren) Child; Sarah, born 1656, married, Sep- 
tember 3, 1673, Abraham Gale, son of Richard Gale, 
ihe innnigrant, of Watertown. 

( .\ ) Lieutenant Nathan Fiske, son of Nathan 
Fiske (9), was born in Watertown, Massachusetts, 
October 17, 1642. He married Elizabeth Fry. who 
died May 15, 1696. He bought two hundred and 
twenty acres of land in W'cston, October i, 1673, of 
Thomas Underwood and wife Magdalen for ten 
pounds. He was selectman in 1684-88-gi. His widow 
Elizabeth was appointed administratrix December 
10. 1694. His estate was divided November 23, 1696. 
He died October 11, 1694. The children: Nathan, 
born February 9, 1665, died December 9, 1668; Eliza- 
beth, born January 19, 1667. married, January 16, 
1693, James Ball, weaver, born March 7, 1670, died 
I^'ebruary 22, 1729; Martha, born January 12, 1670, 
married, March 1,3, 1694, Edward Park, born April 
8, i66r, son of Thomas and grandson of Richard, 
of Cambridge ; Nathan, see forward ; Susanna, born 
.April 7, 1674. died at Shrewsbury, April 28, 1752, 
unmarried; Abigail, born February 18, 1675, mar- 
ried, .August 15. 1695, John Mi.xer, son of Isaac 
Mixer. Jr.: William, born December 5, 1677, died 
1C77 : William, born November 10, 1678, married 
Eunice Jennings ; Anna, died July 13, 1683. 

(XI) Deacon Nathan Fiske, son of Nathan Fiske 
(ro), was born at Watertown, Massachusetts, Janu- 
ary 3, 1672, married, October 14, 1696, Sarah 
Coolidge. who was born about 1678, daughter of 
Ensign John Coolidge, of Watertown. She died 
November 27, 1723, and he married (second). May 
22, 1729, Mrs. Hannah (Coolidge) Smith, who was 
born December 7. 1671, and died October 4, 1750, 
the daughter of Simon Coolidge and widow of Daniel 
Smith. Jr. Nathan Fiske was deputy to the general 
court 1727-28-29-32, selectman 1711-14-17-19- 20-22- 
23-24-26-27, treasurer 1720-22-23, town clerk 1724-28- 
,V). He was elected deacon as early as 1717. The will 
of his wife Hannah was dated September 12, and 
I)roved October 22, 1750: it mentions various rela- 
tives in the Coolid.ge family. Deacon Nathan died 
January 26, 1741. The children: Sarah, born 1697, 
died November, 1713 ; Elizabeth, died aged seven 
years; Nathan, born February 25, 1701, married 
.\nne Warren and Mary Fiske, of Sudbury; Josiah, 
born October 10. 1704, see forward: Henry, born 
January 24, 1706. married Mary Stone ; Daniel, born 
.\tigust iq. 1709, married Deliverance Brown and 
Jemima Shaw; Samuel, born February 16, 1711, 
married Lydia Bond ; Grace, born May 9, 1714, mar- 
ried. September 25. 1733, Benjamin Goddard, of 
.Shrewsbury: she died at Hopkinton. October 28, 
1803. aged ninety years; Hannah, born May 19, 1719. 
married, February 15, 1743, William Smith, Jr., of 
Weston, born May 23, 1721 ; she died September 2, 
1813. aged ninety-four years. 

(XII) Deacon Josiah Fiske, son of Deacon 
Nathan Fiske (11). was born at Watertown, Octo- 
ber TO. 1704, married Sarah Lawrence, born June 
20, T708. daughter of John and .Anne (Tarbell) 
Lawrence, of Lexington, died 1798. He was select- 
man 1749-50, assessor 1743-44-48. He was dismissed 



i64 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



to the Groton church May 13. I7S3, and settled 
in Pepperell, where the births of his children (born 
in VValtham) were recorded. He was deacon of 
the church and leading citizen in that part of Groton 
set ot¥ later as Pepperell. He was town clerk of 
(Iroton and first "town clerk of Pepperell, hold- 
ing that office twenty years. His will was dated 
September i, 1778, and proved January 23, 1779. He 
died October 27, 1778. Children: David, born Janu- 
ary 28, 1727. died October 28, 1729: Sarah, born Au- 
gust 7. 1729, died May I. 1731 : David, born Decem- 
ber 16, 1731, died February I, 1766; killed by an 
apple thrown from the church window at the ordina- 
tion service at Lunenburg; Josiah, born February 
12. 1733. see forward: Sarah, born October 7, 173O, 
married. April 14. 1756. Simon Gilson ; Amos, born 
j\Iay 10, 1739, married Mary Whitney; Daniel, born 
May 18. 1742, married Elizabeth Varnum ; Anna, 
born February 16, 1744. died February 12, 174S; 
Anna, born December 16, 1747, married, March 3, 
1768, Dr. Ephraim Lawrence, a physician of Pep- 
perell, Pennsylvania; she died Juije 12, 1774; Abel, 
born May 28. 1752, married Anna Spaulding and 
(second) Sarah Putnam. 

(Xni) Josiah Fiske. son of Josiah Fiske (12), 
was born at Waltham, February 12, 1733, married 
Sarah Colburn, of Dracut, born 1737, died 1825. 
His estate was administered by his widow Sarah, 
appointed April 11, 1767. He had a good education 
and taught school for several years. He was only 
thirty-three years old when he died "beloved by 
all." His widow married (second) Levi Blood, of 
Groton. who died April 14, 1766. His children : 
Josiah. born September 3. 175S, see forward: David, 
born 1756: Sarah, born about 1760; Phinehas, born 
January 29, 1765, died young: Submit, (posthumous) 
born 1767. 

(XIV) Josiah Fiske, son of Josiah Fiske (13), 
was born at Pepperell. September 3. 1755, married 
there. November 25. 1779. Mary Caldwell, of Cam- 
bridge, who was born April 20, 1755, died December 
25. 1834. He was a soldier in the revolution, joined 
the company of Captain Dow, of HoUis, New Hamp- 
shire. He took part in the battle of Bunker Hill 
and was afterward a fifer in the army at Saratoga. 
.■\t Bunker Hill he took a register from the pocket 
of a British officer. This article and his old fife 
are treasured as keepsakes by his descendants. In 
17R2 he moved from Pepperell to Temple. Ne\t 
Hampshire, and settled on the Searles farm. In 
17,^7 he purchased the Lieutenant Jonathan Marshall 
farm, immediately north of the other place. His son 
Jeremiah afterward occupied the place. Josiah was 
highly esteemed. He was very pious and never was 
known to omit family worship from the time of his 
marriage to that of his death. May 29. 1832. His 
widow died December 25. 1834. (Children : Josiah.' 
born Nevember 14. 1781, married Betsey Kimball; 
Sarah, born April 19. 17S4, and died August 27, 
1784; Polly, born October 12, 1785, married William 
Patterson, who died at Francestown, New Hamp- 
shire, May 13, 1832; she died at Nashua, New Hamp- 
shire. January 6, 1854; Sally, born February 25. 1788. 
married. 1809. Earl Boynton. resided at New Ipswich, 
born April 20, 1788, died August 26, 1881, and had 
ten children; Jeremiah, born August 17. 1790. see 
forward: Artemas. born September 11. 1792. married 
Lucy Jones; David, born May 12. 1795. died July 
10. 1795: David, born January 12. 1797. married Milly 
Sheldon, lived in O.xford. New York ; Seth H.. born 
S(tptcmber 20. 1800. married (first) Lydia Putnam 
in Ivl,arblehead. November i. 1827. (second) Hannah 
Miles.-sin Oxford. New York. 1833, and (third) Mrs. 
Fannv T'rillnck, December i, 1870. 



(XV) Jeremiah Fiske, son of Josiah Fiske (14), 
was born in Temple, New Hampshire, August 17, 
J7go. He married Sarah Heald. born 1798, died 
March 23, 1858. daughter of James Heald, born in 
Temple. November 28, 1777, and Sarah Walker, and 
granddaughter of Deacon Peter Heald and Rebecca 
Russell, of Townsend. He married (second) Mrs. 
Cemina Monroe, who died November, 1895. Jeremiah 
Fiske was one of the most successful farmers of 
the county. He settled on the homestead. After 
retiring from business he traveled extensively. He 
was the largest real estate owner in Temple, and 
among his holdings was what was formerly Cum- 
mings Hill, upon which large bonfires are built every 
year as they can be seen at a great distance, and a 
large tract called Fiske Hill. He died October g, 
1882. He was a Republican in politics. He was in- 
terested in the family genealogy and well posted 
in it. His children were well educated and at one 
time six of them were public school teachers. The 
children: James, born March 16. 1816. died 1878, 
unmarried. Sarah Ann, born January 20. 1817. mar- 
ried. December i, 1842, Captain Charles Walton, re- 
sided at New Ipswich ; she died in Temple. 1885. 
Lois, born March 21. 1819. died July 29. 1836. Josiah, 
born November 6, 1820, died December 11, 1904; 
married. March 5, 1848. Rebecca Flint, who died 
December 16. 1852: married (second) Mary Wood, 
May 12. 1865. Charlotte, born July g. 1822. mar- 
ried. May 14, 1846, Dr. Thomas Palmer, an expert 
dental surgeon of Fitchburg. Jeremiah, born Feb- 
ruary 10, 1824. see forward. Alvah. born November 
4. 1825. died January 31. 1854, at Indianapolis. Mar- 
tin H., born May 10, 1827. graduate of Dartmouth, 
1853; principal of seminary at Paris. Tennessee; 
elected in 1854 president Paducah College. Ken- 
tucky, married Henrietta F. Breed, born September 
27. 1827. died January 29, 1901, at Old Fiske home- 
stead. Temple. New Hampshire. Emily, born May 
8. 1829. died at Abington. Massachusetts, July 29, 
1002: married June 2. 1856. Daniel Lamson. of East 
Weymouth; killed in the battle of Fredericksburg, 
December. 1862. Rebecca Davis, born February 20, 
1831, married, March, 1865. Thomas Fessendon and 
she and her son. a Presbyterian minister, the Rev. 
Alvah Grant Fessendon, reside at Los Angeles. 
Charles F., born December 2. 1832. married Emma 
Bailey: she died at Milford. December 2. 1894; he 
is practicing his profession of dentistry at Milford. 
New Hampshire. 

( XVI ) Dr. Jeremiah Fiske, son of Jeremiah 
Fiske (15). was born at Temple. New Hampshire, 
February 10. 1824. His maternal great-grandfather 
was the first settler in Temple. New Hampshire, and 
his son. Peter Heald. the first male child born in 
the town. He attended the public schools, the Apple- 
ton Academy of New Ipswich, and the Hancock 
.Academy. He worked on his father's farm until 
he was of age. On account of an injury which un- 
fitted him for farm labor, he left home and found 
employment in Boston in a market. Afterward he 
began the study of dentistry with his brother-in-law. 
Dr. Thomas Palmer, at Fitchburg. In 1849 he went 
to Clintonville, then a part of the town of Lan- 
caster, then without a dentist, and began to prac- 
tice his profession there. As the town grew rapidly 1 
his practice grew large, and for a period of fifty 
years he was the leading dentist of the vicinity. The-, 
town of Clinton was formed and grew to the pro- J 
portions of a city in that period. His first office was 
in the Ford block, which block he owned for sev- 
eral years in company with the late Dr. G. -W. Bur- 
dett. in a front room dver what is now Sargent's 
jewelry store. .-After a few years he moved into a 



1 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



165 



larger front room in tlie same building, over what is 
now Huliljcrd's dry goods store, and this room 
is still used as a dentist's office, being occupied by Dr. 
Harris. During his practice eight of our prominent 
dentists were pupils in his offi.u:. During the civil 
war he was in partnership for a time with Dr. D. B. 
Ingalls, 

Dr. Fiskc formerly took much interest in the Con- 
gregational parish, assisting materially in the build- 
ing of two additions to the old church, also in build- 
ing the parsonage. He was on the building com- 
mittee. He was one of ten who contributed the 
fund for the clock on the old church. His family 
are all members of the Congregational church, and 
his daughter has been the leading contralto in the 
choir for the past seven years. In politics Dr. Fiske 
is a prohibitionist and was the first to cast a vote 
for the Prohibition ticket in the town of Clinton. 
Like most of his party, he voted for President 
McKinley, but has otherwise always been a stead- 
fa.st third party man. Before the civil war he was 
an anti-slavery man and not a few runaway slaves 
received assistance from him. He entertained and 
kept over night an escaped follower of Captain John 
Brown when there was a thousand dollar reward of- 
fered for his arrest. It was very interesting to hear 
this man tell of his many narrow escapes. He and 
five others, including two sons of John Brown, passed 
through Clinton on their way north and a reward of 
a thousand dollars had been offered for the capture 
of each of them. Dr. Fiske has always taken much 
interest in the Lancaster Lodge of Odd Fellows, of 
which he is a member. He is also a member of the 
Grand Lodge and Encampment and the Grand As- 
sembly of the Rebekahs. In 1850 Dr. Fiske was a 
member of a division of the Sons of Temperance, 
one of the most active temperance societies that 
ever existed in Clinton, consisting of one hundred 
and twenty members, all men, including many of the 
leading men of the town. The society was a terror 
to the illicit rum seller, and did excellent work for 
many years. Dr. Fiske had in his keeping a beauti- 
ful silk banner presented to this society by the 
ladies of Clinton which he presented to the His- 
torical Society to adorn the walls of a room in the 
new Historical building. The donor of this beauti- 
ful building was a member of this once famous 
division of the Sons of Temperance. 

Dr. Fiske has seen many changes during the 
fifty-seven years he has lived in Clinton. He is now 
one of the oldest persons in the town. The popu- 
lation has grown from twenty-five hundred to thir- 
teen thousand. Only two persons are now living 
on High street who lived there when he came to 
town. When he built his house with the eleven 
gables in 1857 there were only three dwelling houses 
in the neighborhood. In front of his house, where 
Dr. Otis's house, the town house, the L'nitarian 
Church and Central Park are now, was then a swamp. 
Most of the land east of Chestnut street and north of 
Church street was then covered with a forest. His 
liou.se is now half surrounded with public buildings. 

On grounds of Dr. Fiske stands an English wal- 
nut tree, which is probably the only one in Worcester 
county. It was first planted in Salem by the daugh- 
ters of General Miller, and was brought from Temple, 
New Hampshire, and planted where it now is by 
Dr. Fiskc. It is about fifty feet high and over a 
foot in diameter, and bears nuts every year of a 
superior quality. 

He married. February 17, 1853, Caroline Eliza- 
beth Bailey, of Greenfield. New Hampshire. She 
was born February lO. 1830, daughter of Leonard 
and Betsey (Hardy) Bailey, of Greenfield. Their 
children: Ella Athelia, born December 15, 1853, who 



for more than a score of years has conducted suc- 
cessfully a private school in Clinton ; for several 
years she has conducted her father's business as col- 
Kctor of rents and care of real estate, under a 
power of attorney; she is a member of the Runaway 
Brook Golf Club. Carrie Novella, born July 5, i860, 
an artist of more than ordinary note, has won many 
prizes for her work ; married, October 28, 1891, 
Willard Forrest Hallett ; they reside at 804 Lafayette 
street, Bridgeport, Connecticut. 

DADMUN FAMILY. Samuel Dadmun (i), 
the immigrant ancestor of William Slocomb Dad- 
mun, of Worcester, and probably of all of this 
surname in this section of the country, was said to 
be of Scotch birth and family. He was born about 
1690, and the first record found in which his name 
is mentioned is that of his marriage at Framing- 
ham, Massachusetts, May 27, 1714, to Martha Jen- 
nings, daughter of Stephen Jennings. Her father 
came to Framingham in 1690, married at Sudbury, 
January 11, 1685. Hannah Stanhope; he died Sep- 
tember 3, 1701, and Hamiah, his widow, bought, 
January 6, 1702-03, of James Brewer and Caleb 
Johnson part of the .Appleton farm lying between 
Lake Cochituate and Cochituatc brook where her 
descendants lived until after the revolution. The 
place is known as the Luther Eaton place. Martha 
(Jennings) Dadmun and her children were living 
there with her mother in 1718. Samuel probabl> 
died in 1717 or 1718. Their children w-ere : Samuel, 

see forward, and a daughter who married 

Wadsworth. The name is spelled also Dcadman and 
Dedman. 

(.II) Samuel Dadmun. son of Samuel Dadmun 
(i). was born in Framingham, Massachusetts, about 
1715. He settled in Framingha'm near Stone's 
Mills and died in 1794. In 1761 he bought of 
Hezekiah Stone fifty acres on Scjuare Meadow 
brook, afterwards called also Dadmun brook, and 
this farm has been known since then as the Dadmun 
place. He was sergeant in a company of militia 
under the command of Captain Henry Emmes in 
the French and Indian war, 1757. He married 
Lois Pratt, born June 7, 1726, died 1808, daughter 
of Daniel Pratt (IV), granddaughter of Thomas 
Pratt (HI), of Watertown and Framingham, great- 
graddaughter of Thomas Pratt (II), of Sudbury, 
son of Thomas Pratt (I), the immigrant. Children 
of Samuel and Lois Pratt were: Nathan, born 
March 7. 1742, died young; Daniel, March 27, 
1744: Nathan, see forward; Timothy, baptized 
March 25. 1750; Martha, born in Framingham, bap- 
tized March 25. 1752, died unmarried July 26, 1833; 
Elijah, baptized October 19, 1755; Samuel, mar- 
ried, October. 1757, Dorcas Stone, of Framingham, 
settled in Princeton and died 1821 in Tempkton ; 
Jonathan ; Lois, baptized May 20, 1764, married 
Isaac How, of Framingham ; Susannah, born Feb- 
ruary s. I7(>9. married Ezra Belcher. 

(Ill) Nathan Dadmun, son of Samuel Dad- 
mun (2), was born at Framingham, Massachusetts. 
June 16, 1747. He lived on the Lemuel Jones farm, 
in that part of Framingham now Ashland. He 
died Fel)ruary 16, 1827. He was a soldier in the 
revolution, a minute man of Captain Simon Edgell's 
company on the Lexington Alarm, April 19. 1775. 
His brother Elijah also marched to Concord and 
Lexington. Nathan also served later under Cap- 
tain Ed.gell, in 1776, marching to Ticonderoga. He 
was a corporal and his company was in Colonel 
Samuel Brewer's regiment. He married Hannah 
Sanger, daughter of David Sanger. She died Nov- 
ember 19, 1821. Their children were: Joseph, 
born Mav 14, 1774: Jeduthan, December 23, 1775. 



i66 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



see forward; Eleanor, March iS, 1777, married Elias 
Grout ; Sarah, January 10, 1779, married EU Eames, 
of HolHston; Hannah, January 11, 1781, married 
William Clark; Bathsheba, December 26, 1782, mar- 
ri,ed, July 14, 1807, Jacob Prescott of Westford, 
Massachusetts; Nathan, March 29, 1785, married 
Barrodell Jackson; Mary, March 31, 1787, married 
John Clark. 

(IV) Jeduthan Dadmun, son of Nathan Dad- 
mun (3), was born in that part of Framingham 
now Ashland, December 2j, 1775. Most of the 
family lived in that locality. He bought in 1804 
a house and seven acres of land north of his father's 
farm, and he also was a farmer. He died February 
14, 1825. He married, December 18, 1801, Lois 
Jones, daughter of Nathaniel Alden Jones, grand- 
daughter of Anthony Jones, who resided in Hop- 
kinton, but was of Framingham in 1796. Nathaniel 
Alden Jones married Lois Chapin in 1770 and lived 
in the Parson Swift house in Framingham. His 
father was Colonel John Jones. Anthony Jones 
married Elizabeth Alden, daughter of Nathaniel 
Alden, a lineal descendant of John Alden, who came 
over in the "Mayflower." Hence all the Dadmuns 
of Worcester, descended as noted below, are eligible 
for the Mayflower Society. Colonel John Jones re- 
moved to Framingham from Boston in 171S, was 
a cordwainer by trade, justice of the peace, town 
officer, owned slaves — James, Tom and Bacchus. 
He married. May 12, 1713, Elizabeth Simpson, 
daughter of Samuel Simpson. Lois (Jones) Dad- 
mun died April 14, 1822. ■ Children of Jeduthan 
and Lois Dadmun were : Loui.'^a, born June 18, 
1802, married Abijah Claflin; John Jones, Octo- 
ber 23, 1804; Henry J., January 10, 1807, married, 
February 22, i8j2, Esther G. Allard, settled in 
Ashland and died there -November 13, 1879; Han- 
nah J., May 8, 1809; Elizabeth S., November 25, 
1811, married Bradford Belknap; Sarah, July 5, 
1814; Jeduthan, October 13, 1816, see forward; 
Lucy A. P.. July 21, 1819; Izanna E., December 23, 
1821. 

(V) Jeduthan Dadmun, Jr., son of Jeduthan 
Dadmun (4), was born at yVshland, Massachusetts, 
October 13, 1816. He was brought up on his father's 
farm until he was ten, when he was apprenticed 
to learn the trade of shoemaker in Hopkinton. He 
had the usual common school education of that 
period. When he came of age he went to Wor- 
cester and obtained a position in a general store, 
where he worked for several years. He left Wor- 
cester to take a position in Holliston at his trade 
of shoemaker for the custom trade. After five, 
or six years he removed to Lunenburg and worked 
two years there at his trade. About 1855 he was 
appointed agent of a union grocery store at Grafton, 
and he remained in charge of this concern for the 
stockholders until 1863, when the store was de- 
stroyed by fire. He then went into business for 
himself as a grocer in Grafton, remaining for a 
year or two. He then started a grocery store in 
Springfield, JNIassachusetts, in company with Henry 
E, Putnam, under the firm name of Dadmun & 
Putnam, located on State street. From there he 
went to Boston and worked at his trade of shoe- 
maker for a number of years. His last years were 
spent in Worcester, where he made his home with 
his son, William S. Dadmun, and died September 
21, 1S84, In religion Mr. Dadmun was a Unitar- 
ian and in politics a Republican. He married, 
September 29, 1839, Lucy Davis, born at Rutland, 
Massachusetts, September 24, 181 1, daughter of 
Isaac and Betsey (Rice) Davis, of Rutland. She 
died January 14, 1878. Her father Isaac was a 
blacksmith and farmer. The children of Jeduthan 



and Lucy (Davis) Dadmun were: I. George Ly- 
man, born July, 29, 1840, at Holden, died at East 
Winthrop, Maine, April 4, 1842. 2. Frances, born 
August 21, 1842 at Worcester, died September 18, 
1843. 3. Frank Jones, born January 3, 1844, at Wor- 
cester, died September 4, 1898; married (first) 
October 9, 1867, Mary E. Dudley, of Sutton, born 
January 22, 1847, died January 13, 1878, and they 
have one child, Mary Florence, born July 31, 1868, 
who married William E. Hartwell, of Providence, 
Rhode Island. Frank Jones married (second) 
October 14, 1880, Mary E. Chase, of Sutton, born 
November 17, 1853, died June 24, 1906, and they have 
one child, Frank Abram, born born May 3, 1882. 
4. Hiram Davis, born February 5, 1846, at Wor- 
cester, died April 10, 1902; married January 14, 

1867, Emily F, Gardner, of Worcester, and they 
have one child, Harry Lincoln, who married Anna 
Flowe, of Worcester. 5. William Slocomb, born at 
Holliston, August 20, 1848, married December 31, 

1868, Lydia P. Lathrop, resides in Worcester. 

6. Lucy Ellen, born at Holliston, February 9, 1850. 

7. Georgianna Frances, born April 4, 1852, married 
February 24, 1875, Arthur J. Marble, of Worcester, 
and they have one child, Georgie Alice, who mar- 
ried (first) Anson Blenus and (second) J. William 
Patstone. 

Isaac Davis, father of Mrs. Jeduthan Dadmun, 
mentioned above, was born November 16, 1779, 
probably at Rutland, where many of his family 
lived, all descendants of Dolor Davis (see sketch 
of Davis family elsewhere in this work). He was 
of Rutland when he married. May 8, 1803, Bets:-y 
Rice, born November 25, 1781, daughter of John 
and Lydia Rice. Her father, John Rice was born 
November 7, 1745, son of Captain Edward Rice 
and descendant of the immigrant, Ednnmd Rice, 
of Sudbury, Massachusetts. (See sketch of various 
Rice families). Betsey (Rice) Davis died at Rut- 
land, December 10, 1824, aged forty-three years, 
fifteen days. Isaac Davis was a blacksmith by trade, 
a farmer and handy at various other trades. He 
bought land in Rutland with John Rice, Jr., his 
brother-in-law, November, 1808, and April, 1809. 
He bought land of Benjamin Rice in Rutland, 
June 22, 1809. He bought, November 10, 1805, of 
Silas and Lydia Merrill, in Rutland, a tract of three- 
fourths of a mile. He sold land to Taylor Esta- 
brook, November 2, 1808. He was master of Thomp- 
son Lodge of Free Masons, Rutland. He died 
March 26, 1833, aged fifty-three years, five months 
and ten days. His will dated April 19, 1832, was 
disapproved May i, 1833, and his son Lyman was 
appointed administrator May 27, 1833. Rufus Put- 
nam was the guardian of his children after the 
death of their grandmother, Lydia Rice, in 1825, 
until he resigned April 8, 1836. 

The children were : Mary, born September 25, 
1803, died at Worcester August 11, 1852; John, born 
August 27, 180S, died at West Rutland, aged sixty- 
seven years, seven months and thirteen days ; Eliza, 
born August i, 1807, died July 11, 1836; Lyman, 
born November 28, 1809, died June 29, 1834; 
Lucy, born September 24, 1811, died Jan- 
uary 14, 1878 ; married Jeduthan Dadmun, 
who died September 21, 1884, mentioned above; 
Hiram, born August 27, 1813, died December 20, 
1814; Hiram, born January 4, 1815, died November 
6, 1846; James, born September 8, 1817, died April 
Q, i860 ; Sarah, born June 8, 1818, died February 10, 
1905; Charles, born February 22, 1820, killed in civil 
war ; George, born September 12, 1823, killed in 
civil war, 

(VI) William Slocomb Dadmun, son of Jedu- 
than (5), was born at Holliston, Massachusetts, 




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WORCESTER COUNTY 



167 



August 20, 1S4S. At the age of five years he moved 
with his parents to Lunenburg, where they livtd 
for some time, removing thence to Grafton, where 
he received his education in the common schools. 
He left the high school before graduating and re- 
moved with his father to Sprmgfield, where for 
several months he worked in his father's grocery 
store. He worked a year in the dry goods- store 
of L. J. Holt, and then went to Worcester, Massa- 
chusetts, to work in the store of Simeon Clapp later 
Clapp & Haven, and later died and Mr. C. Haven 
bought the store and Mr. Dadmun remained with 
the new proprietor for si.x years. He left this con- 
cern to start in business for himself. In partnership 
with James H. Howland, he was the senior mem- 
ber of the firm of Dadmun & Howland, dealers in 
shoes, etc. At the end of two years Mr. Dadmun's 
brother Frank J. Dadmun, bought the interests of 
Mr. Howland and the name of the firm for two 
years was Dadmun Brothers. Then the firm was 
dissolved and William S. Dadmun entered the cm- 
ploy of J. O. Bemis, shoe dealer, Worcester. Twenty 
months later he started in the shoe business again, 
under his own name, at 349 Main street. After 
two years Henry E. Putnam was admitted a part- 
ner and the firm name became Dadnuui & Putnam. 
Charles H. Hey wood represented Mr. Putnam's in- 
terests in the business. When the business was 
moved to the basement of the old city hall, Mr. 
Hcywood was admitted as a partner and the firm 
name became Dadmun, Heywood & Company. When 
the city hall was torn down, after the new building 
was erected, the firm removed to its present loca- 
tion, 520 ^lain street. In the meantime the Put- 
nam interests had been acquired by the other part- 
ners and the firm name changed to Dadmun &. Hey- 
wood. The present store is very prosperous and 
gives evidence of constant growth. It is one of the 
most spacious and best appointed in the city. 

Mr. Dadmun attends the First Universalist 
church. He is a Republican in politics. He is one 
of the most prominent Free jNIasons of the city. 
He was made a Master Mason in Athelstan Lodge, 
June I, 1870, received his Royal Arch degree in 
Eureka Chapter, April 9, 1872, received the Cryptic 
degree in Hiram Council, June 12, 1873, received his 
Templar degree in Worcester County Commandery, 
September 4, 1874, and has been the recorder with- 
out interruption since 1876, a period of thirty years. 
He is a member of the Scottish Rite bodies up to 
the Eighteenth degree, and trustee of IMasonic fra- 
ternity. He is a member of Aletheia Grotto, Mystic 
Order of 'Veiled Prophets ; and the Worcester 
County Mechanics' Association, of which he was 
a trustee for three }-ears. He is a director of the 
Home Co-operative Bank. 

He married, December 31, 1S68, Lydia Lathrop, 
of Worcester. She was born April I, 1845, daugh- 
ter of Samuel and Julia Ann (Wheelock) Lathrop. 
Their children are : Alice Gertrude, born Decem- 
ber 9, 1869, died November 29, 1871 : Wilton Wells, 
born December 27, 1872, married Alice W. Gifford, 
of Worcester, and they have one child — Chester 
Gifford, born September 5. 1897; Walter Robbins, 
born August 23, 1878. 

WARREN FAMILY. Peter Warren (i), the 
immigrant ancestor of Waterman G. Warren and 
his family, of Holden, Massachusetts, was proba- 
bly born in England. No connection can be estab- 
lished between him and John Warren, of Water- 
tfiwn, who came over in 1630, and he was cer- 
tainly not son of John Warren as one writer states. 
Neither can any relationship be shown between 
Peter and Abraham Warren, who settled in Salem 



in 1635; with Arthur Warren, who settled in Wey- 
mouth before 1637; with Richard Warren, who came 
on the "Mayflower" in 1620. There were other 
early settlers of the name, and the Warren families 
were numerous at an early date, 'i'he name is an- 
cient and distinguished also in England, where all 
these early immigrants were born. In fact the family 
dates back to a Baron of the name who came over 
with William the Conqueror, and fought in the bat- 
tle of Hastings in 1066. He was high in the con- 
fidence of the king and was one of two guardians 
left in charge of England when William returned 
to Normandy for a visit. William, the Earl of 
Warren, held the fief of Warrenne and many sur- 
names were adopted from the locality, so that per- 
haps not all of the family are descended from the 
Earl. The place of birth of Peter Warren is un- 
known and his English ancestry untraced. He 
was born in 1628, and bought land in Boston, March 
8, 1659, of Thomas Atkinson. He was a seafar- 
ing man. The nature of his business prevented 
him from figuring much in public records or hold- 
ing publice office. 

He married (first) Sarah Tucker, of Dorchester, 
daughter of Robert Tucker, August i, 1660. He 

married (second) Hannah and (third) Esther 

Woodward. Children of Peter and Sarah Warren 
were : John, born September 8, 1661 ; Joseph. 
February 19, 1663, father of Jose ph who was the 
father of General Joseph Warren, of Bunker Plin 
fame; B?njamin, July 25, 1665; Elizabeth, Janu- 
ary 4, 1667; Robert, December 14, 1670; Ebenezer, 
February i, 1672-73, see forward ; Peter, born and 
died 167s ; Peter, April 20, 1676. Children of Peter 
and Hannah Warren were: Hannah, May 19, 1680; 
Mary, November 25, 1683; Robert, December 27, 
1864. 

(U) Ebenezer Warren, son of Peter Warren 
(l), was born in Boston, February 11, 1672. He 
settled in that part of Dorchester, now Milton, 
Massachusetts, a section now of Boston. He mar- 
ried, June 2, 1697, Mary Ryder, of Milton. Their 
children, all born at Milton, were : Mary, born 
June 9, 1700; Ebenezer, March 30 1702, see forward; 
Elizabeth, June i, 1704; Jonathan, March 9, 1706; 
Hannah, .\ugust 11, 1708. Their are no further 
records of children at Milton and none of the chil- 
dren settled in Milton. 

(Ill) Ebenezer Warren, Jr., son of Ebenezer 
Warren (2), was born at Milton, Massachusetts, 
formerly Dorchester, and now Boston, March 30, 
1702. He settled in Medford and removed thence 
to Leicester in 1744, when he bought the tannery 
now or lately owned by Edward Warren. He paid 
one hundred and twelve pounds, ten shillings. Be- 
sides the tannery he bought with it a house, bark- 
house, mill-house, beam-house and land. The house 
was a primitive affair and he built a good house in 
1780. The homestead descended to his son Elijah 
whose son Henry Elijah took down the old house 
in i860. Ebenezer died in Leicester in 1800. He 
married Lydia Harrington, of Brookfield. She died 
1795. Their children were: I. Lydia, born Novem- 
ber 24. 1746, died .Xugust 7, 174S. 2. Ebenezer, born 
December 27. 1748, died February 13, 1753. 3. Jona- 
than, born November 27, 1750, see forward. 4. 
Lydia, born December 6, 1752, married, March 31, 
T774, Abner Dunbar, born April 9, 1753, whose son 
Ebenezer was born March 29. 1777. and died Octo- 
ber 28. 1877, over one hundred years old. the grand- 
father of John D. Clark. Malcolm G. Clark and Mrs. 
F. A. Blake, of Rochdale. (See Clark sketch). 5. 
Ebenezer. born June 0. 1754. 6. Esther, married, 
1782. Daniel Newhall. of Brookfield; resided at Al- 
stead, New Hampshire, and had children — John, 



i68 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



Sally and others. 7. Hannah, married, 1781, Levi 
Chilson ; resided in Leicester and had children— 
Lydia, Warren, Edward, Humes, Ebenezer, Samuel, 
^asineth. 8. Elijah, born 1758. 9. Sally, married, 
1786, Thaddcus Uphani, of Watertown, and they 
had— Lewis (or Lois), Otis, Mary, Sally Upham. 

(IV) Jonathan Warren, son of Ebenezer War- 
ren (3), was born at Leicester, Massachusetts. No- 
vember 27. 1750. He married (first), January 3, 
1775. Martha Bemi& of Spencer, Massachusetts. In 
1796 his wife fell m a faint into the fireplace, con- 
taining a large bed of burning tanbark, and was 
fatally burned. He married (second) Lucy How, 
who died June 11, 1831. He resided where Horace 
Warren lately lived, and a portion of his house is 
part of the present structure. In 1797 he bought a 
half interest in the old lanyard with his brother 
Elijah. He died January 26, 1827. 

The children of Jonathan and Martha Warren 
were: Sally, born August 13, 1775. married John 
Beers; Joshua, July 25, 1777, settled in Vermont; 
Samuel, July 31, 1779, see forward : Jonathan, De- 
cember 2, 1782; Polly, Jime 16, 1785, died 1800; 
Persis, March S. 1788, married, April i, 1818, Aaron 
Sibley; died June 24, 1819, having one child, War- 
ren Sibley, born February 19. 1819, resided at Au- 
burn; Amasa, born November 16, 1790; Jesse Smith, 
March 18, 1794. Children of Jonathan and Lucy 
Warren were: Eliza, born February 16. 1799, mar- 
ried Parker; Sarah, March 11, 1801, married 

Curtis. • 

(V) Samuel Warren, son of Jonathan Warren 
(4), was born in Leicester, Massachusetts, September 
10, 1779. He was a tanner by trade. He settled in 
Auburn, Massachusetts, a town adjoining Leicester 
and Worcester, and became a prominent citizen 
there. He was a very active and zealous Baptist in 
religion. He was baptized in 1810, joined the church 
in 1814. He and his father-in-law erected the meet- 
ing house on their farm, then a church was organized 
at Auburn and a pastor settled. Samuel Warren 
was deacon of the church at the time of his death, 
September 10, 1832. He married, 1806. Sally Gould- 
ing. daughter of Captain Jonah Goulding. Their 
children, all born at Auburn, were : Waterman Gould- 
ing, born May 16, 1807. see forward; Elbridge Gerry, 
March 27, 1810; Jonah Goulding. September 11, 1812; 
Samuel. October ,31, 1816; John. November 27. 1819; 
Sarah Jane. April 10, 1825. died March 26, 1843: 
George. December 9. 1831. 

Captain Jonah Goulding was born November 
-5. 1 753- son of Colonel John Goulding. who re- 
sided in the northeast part of Grafton and was a 
tanner by trade. Late in life he was excessively 
corpulent. He was a soldier in the revolution from 
Grafton, under Captain Luke Drury and General 
Ward in 1775. He was conspicuous in "Shays Re- 
bellion" after the revolution and commanded a 
company under Shays ; led his men to Worcester 
and helped prevent Judge .\rtemas Ward from open- 
ing court. He was imprisoned after the collapse 
of the rebellion "forty days and forty nights," ac- 
cording to his own account of it. and was. of course, 
in serious danger of hanging. But the participants 
in the rebellion escaped with light punishments, the 
grievous conditions making leniency the wisest 
course. Captain Goulding was an honored and re- 
spected citizen ; returned to the militia and served 
faithfully, rising to the rank of colonel in com- 
mand of his regiment. Colonel John Goulding mar- 
ried (first), February 22. 1753. Lucy Brooks, born 
September 30. 1733. Colonel Jonah Goulding mar- 
ried (first). April. 1777. Grace Knowlton. daughter 
of Jonah Knowlton. He married (second) Widow 
Sarah Leland. 



(VI) Waterman Goulding Warren, son of Dea- 
con Samuel Warren (5), was born on the Warren 
homestead in that part of the town of Ward (now 
Auburn) known as West Auburn. May 16, 1807. 
He was the eldest of six sons. The opportunities 
for schooling in his day were very limited. He 
attended the old district school for a few weeks 
during the winter term. In summer he worked on 
his father's farm and in the tannery. He learned 
the trade of tanner. He was twenty-five years old 
when his father died in 18.32, and he inherited the 
tannery which Jonah Goulding bought of Nathaniel 
Southworth when he moved from Grafton to Au- 
burn. Mr. Warren conducted the tanning business 
with varying success until 18,39, when he removed to 
Holden and entered partnership with his brother 
Samuel in the tannery which John P. Maynard built 
about 1825, at Eagleville, then called Brick City, 
in the year 1840. The partnership was dissolved in 
the spring of 1850. when Waterman G. Warren 
bought the Edward Richardson tannery. This tan- 
nery with seventeen acres of land was sold by 
John Watson to Heman Richardson. December 23, 
1789. for one hundred and twenty pounds sterling. 
It is located a half mile from Holden Centre. The 
exact date of the building of the tanyard is un- 
known. The old tannery was enlarged and greatly 
improved, and the business successfully conducted 
liy Mr. Warren alone and later in partnership with 
his son Samuel, for a quarter of a century. 

In 1874, while continuing the business at the old 
-Stand in partnership with his eldest son Samuel. Mr. 
Warren formed a new firm with his son Berthier 
as partner, under the name of B. Warren & Co., and 
this firm commenced business in the brick tannery 
near Holden Centre built by Berthier Warren. This 
new tannery, in its character and equipment, its 
• facilities for producing the kind of leather which is 
its specialty, card leather, probably is unsurpassed 
by any in the state. In 1882 the two firnfs became 
one; Samuel Warren, Berthier Warren and H. W. 
Warren all became partners with their father under 
the firm name of W. G. Warren & Sons, and a 
prosperous business was conducted by this firm until 
the death of the senior partner and father, August 
7. 1886. at the age of seventy-nine years. During 
these years there had been a steady growth of busi- 
ness from the tanning of about fifteen hundred sides 
of leather in 1845 to twenty thousand in 1886. .After 
Mr. Warren's death the business was continued by 
his three sons under the firm name of W. G. War- 
ren's Sons. 

One who knew Mr. Warren well has written : 
"He was a devoted husband and father, kind-hearted 
and charitable. A man of good common sense, sound 
judgment and strictest integrity, and enjoyed the 
fullest confidence of all in his business and other 
relations. He had marked peculiarities and his strong 
personality impressed itself upon all with whom he 
came in contact. He was the relentless foe of the 
liquor traffic. The cause of temperance and all the 
moral reforms of his day received from him a liberal 
and hearty support. In his early life, in the palmy 
days of slavery, he was an .•\bolitionist, a follower 
of Gerritt Smith. Garrison and Phillips. He boldly 
proclaimed his sentiments in favor of liberty for the 
oppressed, when such action meant hardship, scorn 
and persecution (such was the unpopularity of the 
abolition movement even in New England). .After 
the enactment of the Fugitive Slave Law. he was 
zealous and active in all movements in behalf of the 
fugitive, and made his home on a place of refuge for 
the bondmen, a station on the Underground Rail- 
road to freedom — thus earning the honor due to 
those who have the courage of their convictions, and I 




/Z^^T^z^^^-i^ 




>&<AlLi^ Xc 



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WORCESTER COUNTY 



169 



the daring of their duty." In his later years he was 
a stanch Rcpuhlican. He and his wife were both 
attendant and active and liberal stiijporters of the 
Baptist church of Holden. 

He married, April 22. 1830. Mary Eddy, born 
February 7, 1806, daughter of Samuel and Sarah 
(Hart) Eddy, of .'\uburn. Her father was a farmer. 
They celebrated their golden wedding in 1.S80. Mrs 
Warren died September 3, 1887. The children of 
Waterman Goulding and Mary (Eddy) Warren 
were: i. Ann Eliza, born February 13, 1831, mar- 
ried Rev. Lester Williams, of Holden, who wa;! 
born at West Springfield, Massachusetts, July 24, 
1823, now deceased; she resides in Holden; their 
only child was Waterman Lester Williams, born 
August 10, 1867, graduate of .Amherst College, iSgi. 
2. Susan Ellen, born at .\uburn, Massachusetts, May 
^7. 1833, resides at Holden, unmarried. 3. Samuel, 
born at .Auburn, October 15, 18,54. si^e forward. 4, 
Berthier, born October 22, 1836, married Eunice 
Boyden, of Hylden, see forward. 5. Henry Water- 
man, born March 18, 1838, see forward. 

(VH) Samuel Warren, son of Waterman Gould- 
ing Warren (6), was born at .Auburn, NLassachusetts, 
October 15, 1834. He was five years old when 
the family removed to Holden. He attended the 
public schools of Holden, various private schools, 
Worcester .Academy and graduated in 1858 from the 
State Normal school at Westfield, Massachusetts. 
He then became associated with his father in the 
tanning business, and in 1867 was taken in partner- 
ship under the firm name of W. G. Warren & Son. 
At the end of ten years the tannery was sold to 
Michael McLoughlin, a former employee of the 
firm, who died not long after starting in business. 
The plant was bought back by the Warrens from 
McLoughlin's widow. When the business was sold 
to McLoughlin in 18S1, the two firms of which 
Waterman G. Warren was the head became one and 
all. three sons were members under the name of 
W. G. Warren & Sons, Since the death of their 
father the three sons have been in business under 
the firm name of W. G. Warren's Sons and have 
been very successful. Mr. Samuel Warren, the head 
of the firm, has done his full share to maintain the 
high standing of the firm and develop its business. 
Berthier Warren died in February. 1905, and his 
share was purchased by the surviving members of 
the firm, which continues under the same name. Of 
late much of the leather produced in the Warren 
tannery has been made for Howard Brothers of 
Worcester for the manufacture of card clothing, etc. 
The hides used in the tannery came principally from 
Ohio and the west. After his father's death Samuel 
bought out the other heirs in 1888 and became the 
owner of the homestead. 

He attends the Congregational church of Holden. 
He has been active in the Republican party organiza- 
tion, serving frequently as delegate to tlie Republi- 
can state convention and other nominating conven- 
tions. He was on the Holden school committee from 
1862 to 1865 and from 1883 to 1886. He was as- 
sessor of the town of Holden in 1868-69-87-88. He 
was a representative to the general court in 1867. 
and selectman in 1872-73. He has held many other 
positions of trust and honor. He is a member of 
the Holden Farmers' and Mechanics' Club. Mr. 
Warren assisted materially in getting the new electric 
railroad built from Worcester to Ilolden and has 
considerable stock in the company. In business and 
town affairs for many years Mr. Warren has been a 
leader; his judgment has been trusted and his busi- 
ness ability widely recognized. He stands high in 
the estimation of his townsmen. 

He married. May 13, i86g, Marion Elizabeth 



Lakin, born June 27, 1845, at Paxton, daughter of 
George Shipley and Nancy (Hubbard) L;ikin. Her 
father was a manufacturer of boots and shoes at 
Paxton and was prominent in town affairs, holding 
many town offices at various times; he died in 1875 
and his wife died in 1883. Mrs. Warren was the only 
surviving child. Mrs. Warren was elected a member 
of the Molden school committee in 1887, one of the 
first women holding this office in Massachusetts, 
and she has served with great credit to herself and 
to the distinct advantage of the public schools of 
the to\yn. The children of Samuel and Marion E. 
Warren were; Herbert Lakin, born August 24, 1870, 
graduate of Amherst College, 1895; Arthur Kirkc, 
born December 13, 1871 ; George Waterman, born 
December 3, 1882. 

(VII) Berthier Warren, son of Waterman Gould- 
ing Warren ((>), was born at .Auburn, Massachu- 
setts, October 22, 1836. He removed to Holden with 
the family in 1840 and attended the public schools 
there. Later he was a student at Wilbraham .Acad- 
emy, the Williston Seminary at Easthampton, Massa- 
chusetts, and the Claverack (New York) Academy. 
Just after the close of the civil war, in 1866, he 
and his brother Henry purchased a cotton plantation 
in Leake county, Mississippi, and he lived there for 
nine years. In 1874 he returned to Holden, went 
into the tannery business, built the brick tannery and 
commenced business with his father as a partner 
under the name of B. Warren & Co., and later took 
in his brothers, under the firm name of B. & H. W. 
Warren & Co. Later the two Warren firms were 
consolidated and the new plant, built by Berthier 
Warren was used by the new firm of W. G. Warren 
& .Sons. The chief product of the tannery has been 
card leather for card clothing. Mr. Berthier War- 
ren was an active and important factor in the busi- 
ness until his death. He was a man of unusual abil- 
ity and good judgment, successful in business and 
devoted to the interests of his firm, yet never a 
slave of his material interests. He died at his home. 
744 Main street, Worcester, February 15, 1905. 

He was liberal in his religious views. In politics 
he was a Republican. While he was in Mississippi 
he served on the board of registration one year, 
and was clerk of the chancery court three years. 
He was interested in town affairs, but never cared 
for public office. He was a charter member of the 
Worcester Driving Club, which for several years 
furnished the main racing events in Worcester. He 
was a member of the Worcester .Agricultural So- 
ciety, and was a member of the Coinmonwcalth 
Club. In Holden he organized the Young Men's 
Club, and he had a strong and wholesome influ- 
ence on the young men of that town. 

Mr. Warren married, September 4, 1871, Eunice 
Chace Boyden, born June 18, 1841, daughter of 
Comfort and Silence (Dryden) Boyden, of Holden. 
Her father was a carpenter and millwright. Chil- 
dren of Berthier and Eunice Chace (Boyden) War- 
ren were ; i. Mary Silence, born January 24, 1875. 
married, October 12, 1897, Dr. Walter Herbert Rich- 
ardson, and they have one son, Berthier Warren 
Richardson, born .August 20, 1900. 2. Henry Lester, 
born ,\pril 9, 1880, died .April 15. 1881. 

(VII) Henry Waterman Warren, son of Water- 
man {Moulding Warren (6), was born in .Auburn, 
Massachusetts, March 18, 1838. He obtained his 
education in the public schools of Holden, at the 
Worcister .Academy, the State Normal school at 
Westlield. Williston Seminary at Easthampton. 
Massachusetts, where he prepared for college, and 
at Yale, where he was graduate^ in the class of 
1865, having an oration appointment at the junior 
examination and at commencetnent. He taught 



I TO 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



school six months at Nashville, Tennessee. In 
1866, with his brother Bcrthier Warren, he went 
to Leake county, Mississippi, and engaged in busi- 
ness as a cotton planter. He remained there ten 
years and was active in public affairs during the 
trying and difficult period of reconstruction. He 
was appointed judge of probate of Leake county in 
1867 by General Adalbert Ames, acting governor 
of the state. He was elected a member of the con- 
stitutional convention of the state, although the 
whites outnumbered the negroes two to one in that 
county. He was elected to the legislature in 1870 
and 1871, and was speaker of the house of repre- 
sentatives of the state of Mississippi in 1871. He 
was the chief clerk of the legislature for four years 
afterward. He was appointed by Gevernor Powers 
levee commissioner, whose duty it was to collect 
and disburse the funds for the payment of the old 
levee debt and to dispose of the tax lands held 
by the state for that purpose. He was a delegate 
to the Republican National Convention held at Chi- 
cago in 1868, when General Grant was first nomi- 
nated, and also to the national convention at Cin- 
cinnati in 1S76, when General Rutherford B. Hayes 
was nominated. 

He returned to Holden in 1876 and has since 
then been actively interested in the tannery busi- 
ness. At present he and his elder brother Samuel 
are the only surviving partners of the well known 
firm of W. G. Warren's Sons, tanners. Mr. Warren 
has shared in the prosperity of the Warren busi- 
ness for the past thirty years and is one of the 
prominent men of the state in his line. He has been 
distinguished in public affairs as well as in business. 
Li politics he has been active in the Republican 
party, a delegate to the various congressional con- 
ventions and other nominating conventions of the 
Republican party. He has been constantly called 
to positions of trust and honor in the town and 
state. He represented his district in the general 
court in 1882 and 1885, and served on important 
committees. He was on the board of overseers of 
the poor in 1890, has been town treasurer for nine 
years, was selectman in 1878-79-80-85-1902-03-04. 
and for several years was chairman of the board, 
has been water commissioner two years, and super- 
vised the installation of the Holden water works. 
Mr. Warren is an active attendant of the Baptist 
church in Holden and has been on the prudential 
committee. He has been president of the Holden 
Village Improvement Society for many years. He 
is a member of the famous old Skull and Bones 
Society at Yale, and of the Holden Farmers' and 
Mechanics' Club. In 1905 he was elected president 
of the Worcester & Holden Street Railway Com- 
pany, of which he has been a director from the 
organization of the company. 

He married, November 8, 1877, Dora Louise 
Howe, born October 23, 1847, daughter of Deacon 
William and Mary Ann (Jefferson) Howe, of 
Holden, and granddaughter of Thomas Howe, son 
of Jotham and Dorothy Howe. Mrs. Warren's 
father engaged in the manufacture of woolen goods 
in partnership with Theron E. Hall at the village 
now known as Jeffersonville, in Holden, and later 
with M. V. B. Jefferson, as Howe & Jefferson, 
which was the name of the firm for twenty-si.x 
years. Mr. Howe was deacon of the Baptist church, 
of which he was a member over si.xty years. He 
was for eleven years selectman of the town of 
Holden, and in 1887 was representative to the gen- 
eral court. (See sketch of Howe family.) Children 
of Henry Waterman and Dora Louise Warren are : 
William Howe, born September 28, 1879, resides at 
home with his parents; Blanche Louise, born July 



II, 1881, married April 3, 1906, Rev. Alfred Edward 
Alton, of Rome, New York ; Helen Goulding, born 
November 7, 1883 ; Waterman Goulding, born No- 
vember 16, 1890. 

INGRAHAM FAMILY. Genealogists begin 
the record of the Ingraham family with Randolph, 
the son of Ingel'ram or Ing'ram, who was sheriff 
of Nottingham and Derby in the reign of Henry II 
( 1 133-1189), as were his sons, Robert and William. 

Robert Ingram, Knight, whose arms are painted 
at Temple Newsam (or Newsham), England, was 
of such eminence in the reign of Henry HI, that 
the Prior and Convent of Lenton granted to him a 
yearly rent out of their lands, in Sheynton and 
Nottingham, in recognition of his military services 
in their defense. Temple Newsam, an immense 
estate, six miles in length and four in width, sit- 
uated about four and a half miles east of Leeds, 
England, now called the "Ingram Estate," was first 
a settlement of Knights Templar in the twelfth and 
thirteenth centuries. After their dispersion, it was 
granted by Edward HI to Sir John Darcy, and 
descended to Lord Thomas Darcy, who was be- 
headed by Henry VIII. The estate was then for- 
feited to the Crown. It was afterward granted by 
the same monarch (1554) to Mathew, Earl of Len- 
nox, and here was born his son, Henry Darnley, 
who later became the husband of Mary, Queen of 
Scoto. The estate descended to their son, James I 
of England, and from him to his kinsman, Esme 
Stuart, Duke of Lenno.x, from whom it passed to 
Sir Arthur Ingram, the first of the Lords Viscount 
Irwin, one of the conditions being that the room 
in which Lord Darnley was born should remain 
unaltered. This room is still called the "King's 
Chamber." 

Sir Arthur, who is supposed to have been born 
about 1570, was celebrated for his valor as a 
cavalier. He was a near relative of Wentwotth, 
the celebrated Earl of Stafford. He was twice 
married first to Eleanor, daughter of Sir Henry 
Slingsby, of the "Red House." Second to Lady 
Katherine, daughter of Thomas. Lord Viscount 
Fairfax, of Gilling. Sir Arthur died in 1655. His 
sons were: Henry and Arthur. (The portraits of 
Sir Arthur in cavalier costume, of the First Vis- 
count Irwin in full armor, and of Henry, the second 
Viscount Irwin in half armor, all nearly full length, 
were in the collection of the Bishop of California, 
William Ingraham Kip, DD. LL. D.. who died in 

1894). 

Henry, the eldest son of Sir Arthur Ingram, 
born between 1595 and 1600, was, at the time of the 
Restoration, six years after the death of his father, 
created a Peer of Scotland by Charles II, with the 
title of Viscount Irwin, by letters patent, dated 
May 23, 1661, as a recompense to the family for 
their loyalty. He married Anne, daughter of Mon- 
tacute. Earl of Manchester, a leader in parliament. 
The male branch in England, as descended from 
Sir Henry, the second Viscount Irwin, became ex- 
tinct with Charles Ingram, ninth Viscount Irwin, 
who died in 1778. (Burke's Extinct Peerage). His 
daughter, the Marchioness of Hertford, and Lady 
William Gordon, successively inherited Temple 
Newsam. and from them it passed to their sister, 
Mrs. Hugo Maynell, whose son took the name of 
Ingram, and his descendants are the present owners 
of the family estate. 

.Arthur Ingram, of Rarrowby. second son of Sir 
.\rthur, was born between 1595 and 1600. He mar- 
ried a daughter of Sir John Mallory about 1615; 
and genealogists agree that from him is descended 
the Ingraham family in the United States. 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



I/"' 



Edward Ingraham, the first of the name to come 
to America, was born in 1617. At the age of 
eighteen years, in July, 1635, he sailed in the ship 
"Blessing," and settled in Salem, Massachusetts, 
where he was a proprietor as early as 1638. His oc- 
cupation was farming. 

Richard Ingram, as he apparently preferred to 
spell his name, came to America between 1638 and 
1642. He settled ui Rchoboth, Massachusetts, where 
ni 1645 he was a proprietor. Some years later he 
removed to Northampton, Massachusetts, where in 
1O68, late in life, he married (.probably not his first 
marriage) Joan Rockwell Baker, daughter of Wil- 
liam Kockwellf and widow of Jeffrey Baker, of 
Windsor, Connecticut. He contributed a sum at the 
time of the general subscription for the support 
of Harvard College, in 1672-3. He died in August, 
1683, and his widow died September lO, 1683, both 
at Northampton, jNlassachusetts. 

Jared Ingraham, who settled first at Boston, also 
went to Rehoboth, whtrc Richard lived, and had 
several children born in Swansea, near Rehoboth, 
between 1665 and 1671. He left descendants in that 
vicinity. 

Since genealogists agree that the Ingraham fam- 
ily in America are descended from Arthur Ingram, 
of Barrowby, the second son of Sir Arthur Ingram, 
it is quite probable that Edward Ingraham, who 
came to America in 1635, and Richard Ingram, 
who came between 16.38 and 1642, were brothers, 
and were sons of Arthur of Barrowby. Also that 
Jared Ingram, of Boston, Rchoboth and Swansea, 
and John Ingram, of Boston and Hadley, were sons 
of Richard, as indicated by the fact that they spelled 
the name Ingram, and were located at various times 
near Richard. 

(I) John Ingram, presumably a son of Richard 
Ingram, mentioned above, and the pioneer ancestor 
of Edward Payson Ingraham, was born in England 
about 1642. He came to New England when a 
young man, and settled first in Boston, Massachu- 
setts. He removed to Hadley, Massachusetts, with 
two others in 1661, and was admitted a freeman 
in 1863. He was a member of Joseph Kellogg's 
company of Hadley, under Captain William Turner, 
and w-as engaged in the- fight at Turner's Falls, 
during King Philip's war, May ig, 1676. He died 
June 22, 1722. 

He married, in 1664, Elizabeth Gardner, daughter 
of Samuel and Elizabeth Gardner, of Hadley, Massa- 
chusetts. She died November 29, 1684. Their 
children were : John, born June 29, 1665 ; Jadiah, 
.■\ugust 16, 1668; Samuel, October 8, 1670; Eben- 
ezer, February 3, 1673; Nathaniel, of whom later; 
Jonathan, 1676; Elizabeth, May I, 1679; Abigail, 
January 12, 1683. 

(II) Nathaniel Ingram, fifth son and child of 
John (l), and Elizabeth (Gardner) Ingram, w'as 
born at Hadley, Massachusetts, October 8, 1674. He 
and his son Nathaniel had a grant of land at South 
Hadley, which the Ingraham family retained and oc- 
cupied one hundred and seventy-five years. This 
land w-as sold in the spring of 1904. 

Nathaniel Ingram married, October 20, l6g6, 
Esther Smith, born March 31, 1674, daughter of 
Chileab and Hannah (Hitchcock) Smith, of Hadley 
Massachusetts. Their children were : Esther, born 
July 23, 1697; Elizabeth, April 6, 1699; .-Vbigail. 
August 24, 1700; Mercy, April 15, 1702; Ebenezer. 
November 18, 1703; Nathaniel, of whom later; Han- 
nah, April 14, 171 1 ; Jonathan, June 5, 1713; Sarah, 
October 2, 1717. 

(Ill) Nathaniel Ingram, second son and si.xth 
child of Nathaniel (2) and Esther (Smith) Ingram, 



was born at Hadley, Massachusetts, May 18, 1708. 
The original house built by him at South Hadley 
stands today as the cU to the house that his son 
Nathaniel built'in the year 1800. 

He married, November 11, 1742, Martha Kellogg, 
born May 21, 1720, daughter of Joseph and Abigail 
(Smith) Kellogg, of Hadley. The children were: 
Nathaniel, of whom later ; Sarah, born September 
18, 1745; Martha, November 23, 1747. 

(IV) Nathaniel Ingram, eldest child of Nathaniel 
(3) and Martha (Kellogg) Ingram, was born at 
South Hadley, Massachusetts, August 23, 1743. He 
was a prominent and prosperous citizen of his na- 
tive town. He was a farmer, and built the house 
mentioned above on the old Ingram place. He was 
one of the two largest growers of grain in that 
vicinity. He was a minute-man, a private in the 
company of Captain Noah Goodwin, which marched 
on the alarm at Lexington. April ig, 1775. He was 
also in Lieutenant Martin White's company, Colonel 
Ruggles Woodbridge's regiment, in the northern dc- 
jiartment, under General Gates, and marched on the 
alarm at Bennington, August 17, 1777. 

He married, December 12, 1769, Hannah Warren, 
born August 25, 1745, died July 8, 1838, daughter 
of Daniel and Martha (Coolidge) Warren, of Marl- 
boro, Massachusetts. She was a direct descendant of 
Richard Warren, the twelfth signer of the compact 
in the "Mayflower." The children of Nathaniel and 
Hannah (Warren) Ingram were : Esther, born 
April ig. 1770; Hannah. February 16, 1772, died 
March 15, 1797; Ebenezer, November 3, 1774, died 
February 19, 1844: Martha, February 2, 1777, died 
October 21, l86g; Nathaniel, of whom later; Esther 
(second), April ig, 1781 : .Abigail, July 2, 1784; 
Artemas, March 11, 1787, died 1830; .A.lpheus, Octo- 
ber 31, 1789, died June 24, 1862; Warren, October 31, 
1792, died May 2, 1839. 

(V) Nathaniel Ingram, second son and fifth cliild 
of Nathaniel (4) and Hannah (Warren) Ingram, 
was born at South Hadley, Massachusetts, March 26, 
177c). and died September 19, 1817. He was a pros- 
perous farmer and held various town offices in South 
Hadley. 

He married, March S, 1807, Ruth B. Burnett, 
born June 27, 1787, died April 14, 1838, daughter 
of Jonathan and Mehitable (Dickinson) Burnett, of 
South Hadlev. Their children were: Mary, born 
November 13, 1808, died September 15, 1885; she 
married, June 7, 1834, Lucius Horton Cowles, who 
was born December 11, 1796, and died April 3, 1869; 
Dexter, of whom later; Lewis Burnett, May 13, 
1813, died September 2, 1846; married, October 28, 
1834, Sophia U. Graves, who w-as born February 24, 
1813, and died May 19. 1850; Nathaniel, May 10, 
1815, a physician of Pelham, Massachusetts, died 
January n, 1840: Ruth, .-Xugu.st 2, 1817, died July 
7, 1889; married Emery Tilton, who w-as born 
.April 24, 1S17, and died January T, 1880. 

(VI) Dexter Ingraham, second child and eldest 
son of Nathaniel (5) and Ruth B. (Burnett) In- 
gram, was born at South Hadley, Massachusetts, 
April 2g, 1810, and died June 9, 1892. His educa- 
tioa was acquired in the cominon schools _ of that 
town. He was but seven years old when his father 
died. He learned the trade of carpentering, and 
followed this for a nuniber of years. He also taught 
singing schools in various places in the Connecticut 
valley, and was choir director of the old First Church 
at South Hadley for twenty-seven years. Most of 
his active years, however, w-ere spent in farming in 
South Hadley. In religious belief he was a Con- 
gregationalist', and in politics, first a Free Soil Ad- 
vocate and later a Republican. He was the first 



\-J2 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



Republican representative to the general court from 
South Hadley,. was a selectman, and assessor for a 
number of years. 

He married (first), April 30, 1834, Lucina Ball, 
who was born January 31, 1810, daughter of Abraham 
and Martha (Field) Ball, of Amherst, Massachu- 
setts. Abraham Ball was a farmer, born September 
14, 1783, died April 16, 1837. Martha (Field) 
Ball was born October 6. 1785, died March 3, 1857. 
Dexter Ingraham married (second), December 25, 

1869, Elizabeth M. Butts, of South Hadley. who was 
born April 30, 1818, and died April 22, 1895. The 
children of Dexter and Lucina (Ball) Ingraham 
were: Emery Dexter, of whom later; Albert Welling- 
ton, of whom later ; Nathaniel Hoyt. of whom later ; 
William Field, of whom later ; Mary Lucina, of 
whom later ; Edward Payson, born March 8, 1852, 
died September 16, 1853. 

(VII) Emery Dexter Ingraham, eldest child of 
Dexter (6) and Lucina (Ball) Ingraham, was born 
at South Hadley, Massachusetts, February 6, 1835. 
His education was received in the public schools of 
the town. He very early displayed marked musical 
ability, and commenced the study of music under 
the able tuition of his father. While still a youth 
he played in the orchestras and bands of the vicinity. 
At the age of seventeen he was instructor and di- 
rector of several military bands. As very little music 
was published in those days, the repertoire of bands 
was almost wholly manuscript. It was therefore very 
necessary that the director should have a thorough 
knowledge of instrumentation, harmony and composi- 
tion. Previous to the spring of 1859 he moved to 
Haydenville, Massachusetts, where he assumed the 
leadership of the band. He soon went to Bath, 
Maine, where he accepted a position as bookkeeper 
for a firm of ship builders, and took charge of the 
Bath band. He enlisted August 22, 1861, as the 
regimental bandmaster of the Seventh Maine Regi- 
ment. This regiment was at Baltimore for eight 
weeks, going thence to Kalaramo Heights, and from 
there to winter quarters at Lewinsville, Virginia, 
where it remained until March. 1862. At that time 
this band together with many others was disbanded. 
He was discharged in August, 1862, and came to 
Boston. He enlisted in the navy at Charlestown, 
Massachusetts, August 13, 1864, receiving his dis- 
charge August 26, 1865. He then joined the cele- 
brated P. S. Gilmore Band of Boston, in which he 
had played for a time before enlisting in the navy. 
He enlisted in the navy for the second time in April, 
1867, and served until "March 31, 1868, after which he 
was again affiliated with the Gilmore Band until 

1870, when he became leader of the National Band 
at Taunton. Massachusetts. He retained this posi- 
tion for two years. He served various engagements 
with the Gilmore Band while he ,was still in the 
navy, while at Taunton, and from 1872 to 1874, when 
he came to Worcester to take the leadership of the 
National Band, his brother Albert having retired. 
Two years later he was made leader and manager 
of the organization now known as "Battery B Band" 
of Worcester. Massachusetts. At that time Colonel 
Fred W. Wellington was in command of the battery. 
Few military bands have maintained so high a 
standard of excellence as this organization, and its 
engagements have extended throughout New Eng- 
land, the Middle States, and Canada. Mr. Ingra- 
ham attends the Piedmont Congregational Church. 
He is a Republican in politics, and a member of the 
George H. Ward Post, No. 10, Grand Army of 
the Republic. 

He married, June 26, 1856, Martha Jane Preston, 
who was born at South Hadley, Massachusetts. Sep- 
tember 14, 1835, daughter of Joel and Mabel (Smith) 



Preston, of South Hadley. Joel was born Decem- 
ber 23, 1801, and died September 19, 1883. He was 
a farmer. Mabel (Smith) Preston was born April 
r, 1806, and died October 17, 1869. The children 
of Emery Dexter and Martha Jane (Preston) Ingra- 
ham are : Louis Albert, of whom later ; Edward 
Payson, of whom later. 

(VIII) Louis Albert Ingraham. eldest child of 
Emery Dexter (7) and Martha Jane (Preston) In- 
graham, was born in South Hadley, Massachusetts, 
June 23, 1857, died September 16. 1906. When about 
six years of age he removed with his parents to 
Boston, receiving his education in the public schools 
of that city and in Taunton. He Ijcgan the study 
of the piano and cornet while still attending school, 
and became proficient as a cornetist. Coming to 
Worcester in 1874, he went to work in the tuning 
department of the Taylor & Farley Organ Com- 
pany, having previously served an apprenticeship with 
liis uncle, N. H. Ingraham. in New- Haven. Con- 
necticut. He entered into an engagement with the 
Vocalion Organ Company, about 1887, and retained 
this position up to his decease. He was connected 
with several musical organizations, and was a prom- 
inent member of the Battery B Band and orchastra, 
which he joined in 1880. 

He married (first) Mary E. Sampson, of Wor- 
cester. They had one child, Charlena Louise, born 
March 25, 1880, died April 11, 1888. He married 
(second) Alice Clapp, of Worcester. They had one 
child. Nina D., born March 10, 1883, died Septem- 
ber 7, 1897. 

(VIII) Edward Payson Ingraham, second and 
youngest child of Emery Dexter (7) and Martha 
Jane ( Preston) Ingraham, was born in Haydenville, ■ 
Massachusetts, April 27, 1859. At the age of four 
years he removed with his parents to Boston. He 
was educated in the public schools of Boston and 
Taunton. He came to Worcester in 1874 ^nd be- 
gan his business career as clerk in the Central Na- 
tional Bank. He was steadily advanced until T878, 
when he resigned his position on account of illness. 
For a time after this he continued the study of music, 
in which he had been interested since his child- 
hood, and for the next few years he made the 
playing and teaching of the piano and violoncello 
his profession. In 1883 he entered the fire insurance 
business, associating himself with Edwin G. Field, 
of Worcester, under the firm name of Field & Ingra- 
ham. In 1885 he retired from the firm, having bought 
an interest in the fire insurance agency of Loren 
C. Parks, and in 1888 he acquired Mr. Parks' in- 
terest and afterward conducted the business in his 
own name. He was elected secretary of the Wor- 
cester Board of Underwriters in 1889, which posi- 
tion he held in connection with his insurance busi- 
ness. In 1895 he sold his insurance business to 
Alexander C. Munroe, of Worcester, and thereafter 
devoted his entire attention to the interests of the 
Worcester Board of L'nderwriters until January I, 
1903, when he resigned his position to enter into 
partnership with Mr. Munroe, the firm name being 
A. C. Munroe & Ingraham. The agency is one of 
the largest and best known in Worcester county. Mr. 
Ingraham is a director of the Home Co-Operative 
Bank and the Thule Music Hall Association. Mr. 
Ingraham is a Republican, and a member of the 
Piedmont Congregational Church and parish. He 
is also a member of the following organizations: 
The Congregational Club, Commonwealth Club, and 
the Worcester County Mechanics Association. 

He married. June 23, 1884. Rose Eva Field, born 
in Sunderland. Massachusetts. August 25. 1858, 
daughter of Edwin Graves and Nancy S. (Clark) 
Field, of Worcester. Edwin Graves Field was born 



\ 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



^7^ 



in Leverett. Massachusetts, March 24. 1823, died 
August 22. 1899: Nancy S. Clark Field was born 
in Sunderland, Massachusetts, November 5, 1822, 
died May 14, 1885. The children of Edward Pay- 
son and Rose Eva (Field) Ingrahani were: Wini- 
fred Rose, bofn March 17, 1889, a student in the 
Worcester high school ; Richard Edward, born Feb- 
ruary 27, 1902, died March 22, 190,^: Roger Emory, 
born May 6, 1904. died February 25, 1905. 

(VII) Albert Wellington Ingrabam. second child 
and son of Dexter (6) and Lucina (Ball) Ingra- 
hani, was born at South Hadley, Massachusetts, No- 
vember 22, 1838. He was educated in the common 
schools of the town until the age of nineteen years, 
when he went to Hazardville. Connecticut, to take 
charge of the brass band at that place. He re- 
mained there until the spring of i860, when he went 
to Newburyport. Massachusetts, to take the leader- 
ship of the band there and to teach music. He en- 
listed in -August, 1861, as musician in the band. 
Seventh Maine Infantry, under the leadership of his 
brother, Emery D. Ingrabam. ,After the band was 
discharged from the service, in the spring of 1862, 
he returned to his old home at South Hadley. He 
went to Newbern, North Carolina, in 1863, in charge 
of the Forty-fourth Regiment Band, returning home 
with the regiment in June. He went to Worcester 
in 1867 to tune organs for the Taylor & Farley Organ 
Company, then located on Herman street, and was 
connected with this company for twenty years. He 
was also the leader of the National Brass Band from 
the time he came to Worcester until 1874, when he 
resigned and was succeeded by his brother. In 1886 he 
entered the employ of the Vocalion Organ Company. 
Summer street, under Bailey Hamilton, the Englisli 
inventor of the vocalion, and remained after the busi- 
ness was bought by Mason & Risch, in i88g. until 
1894, when he accepted a position with the Taber 
Organ Company as head tuner, which position he 
held for eight years. When the Taber business was 
sold he returned to the Vocalion Organ Company, 
where he has since been einploycd. He was formerly 
the director of the Worcester Orchestral Union, and 
a member of the Schumann Club. He attends the 
Piedmont Congregational Church and is a Repub- 
lican. He is a member of George H. Ward Post. 
No. 10, Grand Army of the Republic. 

He married (first). November 29, i860, Sarah 
Louisa Preston, born May 9, 1840, died March 19. 
1874. daughter of Gardner and Amanda (Smith) 
Preston, of South Hadley. Gardner Preston was 
born March 31. 1798, and died January 24, 1876. 
He was a farmer, and was selectman and assessor 
of the town of South Hadley. Amanda (Smith) 
Preston was born January 7, 1805. and died Sep- 
tember 24, 1878. Mr. Ingraham married (second), 
January 4, 1882, Caroline Lucinda Nutting, con- 
nected for many years with Worcester church choirs. 
She was Ixirn at Brimfield, Massachusetts, April 18. 
1850, and was the daughter of Calvin Ward and 
Mary (Poland) Nutting, of North Brookfield. Mr. 
Nutting was born July 11. 1817, died September 7, 
1896: he was a farmer and shoemaker, and as "Dea- 
con Nutting" was well known for fifty years. Mrs. 
Nutting was born April 20. 1822, and died January 
18. 1906. The only child of .Albert Wellington and 
Sarah Louise (Preston) Ingrahani is Nellie Louise, 
born December 10, 1863. She is a pianist of note. 
Was a pupil of G. Arthur Adams, B. J. Lang and 
Edward Mac Dowell. 

(VII) Nathaniel Hoyt Ingraham. third son and 
child of Dexter (6) and Lufina (Ball) Ingraham, 
was born at South Hadley, Massachusetts. June 4, 
1841. He received his education in the common 
schools of that place, finishing at the age of nine- 



teen ni the high school. He then went to New 
York city and took charge of a dormitory in the New 
York Juvenile .-Xsylum, a position which he held 
until January i, i8f)2, when he returned to South 
Hadley. In the following .August he enlisted in Com- 
pany F. F-orty-fourth Regiment, Massachusetts 
Volunteers, under Colonel Francis E. Lee, and was 
attached with his regiment to the Eighteenth Army 
Corps. He went to Newbern, North Carolina, where 
he was m the service for nine months. He was in 
engagements at Goldsboro, Whitehall, Plymouth and 
Little Washingtoii, and was mustered out June 18, 
1863. Upon his return to Boston he found em- 
ployment in the organ factory of Mason and Hamlin, 
and learned the trade of "tuner." After three and 
a hall years with this Boston firm he came to Wor- 
cester to work for the Taylor & Farley Organ Com- 
pany, where he remained for two and a half years. He 
went to New Haven in 1868 to work for the New- 
Haven Organ Company, and remained w«h that com- 
pany six years. He finally returned to Worcester and 
entered into partnership with William B. Taber to 
manufacture organs under the name of the Wor- 
cester Organ Company, later the Taber Organ Com- 
pany. The product of this firm is known all over the 
country, their chapel and parlor organs ranking 
among the best. The Taber Organ Company was 
established in 1872 as the Worcester Organ Com- 
pany. Shortly afterward Mr. Taber bought the busi- 
ness and Mr. Ingraham became his partner. The 
Taber Organ Company was organized in 1877, and 
for many years Mr. Ingraham was president and 
William N. Taber was treasurer. Mr. Ingraham re- 
sides at No. 4 Woodbine street, and since the organ 
business was sold a few years ago, has managed 
a manufacturing company on Keese street. He has 
been connected with many musical organizations, 
and was a member of the old Worcester Orchestra) 
L'nion and the Schumann Club. He is a member 
of George H. Ward Post, No. 10, Grand Army of 
the Republic. He attends a Congregational church 
and in politics is a Republican. 

He married, September 15, 1868, Martha A. Put- 
nam, born June 21, 1849. d;iughtcr of Ephraim and 
Harriet (Speare) Putnam, of Boston. Mr. Putnam 
was for many years a stage carpenter at the Boston 
Theatre. The children of Nathaniel Hoyt and Mar- 
tha A. ( Putnam ) Ingraham arc : Rena May, born 
August 2, 1869, married (George J. Legascy. of Wor- 
cester : he is station agent at Lincoln Square, and 
they have one child. Ruth Geraldine; William Field, 
of whom later; Blanche Nathalie, born October 31, 
1873, married Frank Robbins; Myrtie Dexter, born 
October 29. 1879: Nathaniel, born July 26, 1888, 
died July 29, 1888. 

(VIII) William Field Ingraham, second child 
and eldest son of Nathaniel Hoyt (7) and Martha 
.\. (Putnam) Ingrahani. was born in New Haven, 
Connecticut, November 6. 1870. He removed to Wor 
cester. Massachusetts, with his parents, in 1874. His 
education was acquii'ed in the public schools of Wor- 
cester, and after graduating from the high school 
he began his business career as clerk for a firm 
conducting a fire insurance business. Later he was 
appointed a special agent for the Phoenix .Assurance 
Company of Fngland for the state of New Jersey, and 
he resides in New Y'ork city. He married, January 
2$. 1898. Maud N. Hayfortl, of Worcester, Massa- 
chusetts. 

(VII) William Field Ingrahani. fourth son and 
child of Dexter (6) and Lucina (Ball) Ingraham. 
was horn in South Hadley, Massachusetts, August 
26, 1843. He was educated in the common and 
high schools of that town. Early in life he began 
the study of music, and soon displayed unusual 



174 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



musical talent. He became proficient in playing the 
piana, violoncello and organ and gave instruction on 
those instruments. When he was but fourteen years 
of age he was the organist of the Old First Con- 
gregationalist Church of South Hadley. This posi- 
tion he resigned when he enlisted in the spring of 
1861 in Company F, Fourty-fourth Massachusetts 
Volunteers. While still in "the service he died in 
the hospital at Newbern, North Carolina, after a 
brief illness. January 24. 1S63. He was unmarried. 
In a family of exceptional musical ability, he is 
pronounced by general consent to have been the most 
gifted of all. 

(VH) Mary Lucina Ingraham, fifth child and 
only daughter of Dexter (6) and Lucina (Ball) 
Ingraham, was born at South Hadley, Massachusetts, 
November 16, 1845. She received her education in 
the public schools of South Hadley, and at the age 
of seventeen years began the study of music. She 
was a pupil oi Madame Anna Bishop, of New York 
city, and later of Madame Rudersdorff, of Boston. 
She was the leading soprano in various churches in 
Bo.ston, Worcester, Norwich and New Haven ; has 
now retired from active work and is living in Wor- 
cester, Massachusetts. 

She married (first). May 18, 1875, George Arthur 
Adams, born November 13, 1848, died October 28, 
l88g. He was a gifted musician and a noted organ- 
ist ; was the son of Hon. Charles Adams, Junior, 
and his wife, Eliza Cummings, of North Brook- 
field, Massachusetts. She married (second), Octo- 
ber 3. 1893. Charles W. Delvey, of Worcester, born 
January 13, 184S, died April 29, 1903. The chil- 
dren of George A. and Mary Lucina (Ingraham) 
Adams were : Arthur Ingraham Adams, born No- 
vemijer 26, 1883, died June 29, 1905 ; Mabel Cum- 
mings Adams born May 9, 1886, died March 8, 
1888. 

JOHN WILSON BISHOP, of Worcester. 
Massachusetts, whose name has been identified for 
thirty years with some of the largest building opera- 
tions in the United States and Canada, was born in 
Prince Edward's Island, May 29, 1846. His father 
was William Bishop, a ship carpenter, who migrated 
from Plymouth, England, in 1819, and was for 
many years employed in the dockyards at St. John's, 
cultivating also a small farm at White Sands in the 
south of the island. He married, March 27, 18.^8, 
Sarah Hooper, daughter of William Hooper, who 
was also of English birth. They had nine children: 
Rachael, born February 12, 1839, married, June 30, 
1861, W. M. White, resides at Attleboro. Massachu- 
setts; Elizabeth, born December 8, 1840, died in in- 
fancy; Elizabeth, born July 14, 1842, died 1857; 
Anne, born June i, 1844, married Jonathan Davison, 
resides at Lonsdale. Rhode Island ; John Wilson, born 
May 29, 1846: Sarah, born May 5, 1843, unmarried, 
resides at Lonsdale, Rhode Island ; William, born 
August 17, 1850, resides at Lonsdale, Rhode Island ; 
Maria, born July 20. 1852, married Daniel Andrews, 
resides at East Providence, Rhode Island ; Nathaniel 
Smart, born November 29, 1854, married Annie 
Tucker, of Sinithfield, Rhode Island, resides at 
Providence. 

In 1857 the family removed to Lonsdale, a mill 
village in Rhode Island, where, following the custom 
of the times, John was put to work in the cotton 
mills. Here he worked until his fourteenth year 
when he left the mill to learn the carpenter's trade. 
He was first with Ezra Bliss, of Pawtucket, with 
whom he spent two years. Later he went to Provi- 
dence and worked a year for John and Charles Hull, 
contractors of that city. During this time his op- 
portunities for schooling were very slight : altogether 



he had not more than a year's regular instruction. 
But with the same tireless energy and perseverance 
which in later years characterized all his great opera- 
tions he applied himself evenings and during every 
spare moment to laying the foundations for that 
remarkable fund of practical knowledge and in- 
formation which was to win for him a place among 
the most successful organizers and projectors of his 
generation. 

Mastering his trade Mr. Bishop began to look 
about him for a more promising field and in 1867 
decided to make Worcester his home. There his 
first emoloyer was H. W. Eddy, whose shop was on 
Norwich street. Later he worked for George and 
Amos Bigelow, for William Sibley and for Thomas 
G. Learned and George S. Clough, both while they 
were partners and for each afterwards. In the fall 
of 1874 Mr. Bishop went into business for himself. 
His shop was on Central street, and here he took 
his first contract, which was to build brick stables 
for Harrington Brothers on Central street. Next 
he built a residence for Thomas Eaton on Boynton 
street and one for C. S. Goddard and W. B. Fay 
on Irving street. The business was successful from 
the start, and in 1879 he entered into partnership 
with George H. Cutting under the firtn name of 
Cutting & Bishop. For fourteen years this firm stood 
among the foremost in Massachusetts in the extent 
of its operations. In May, 1893, the partnership 
was dissolved and Mr. Bishop continued in busi- 
ness alone under the name of J. W. Bishop & Co. 
In 1899 the business had assumed proportions which 
induced Mr. Bishop to incorporate it the better to 
handle the wide territory over which he was now 
operating, and under the corporate name of the J. 
W. Bishop Co. the business has since been conducted 
with oflSces in Worcester, Providence, Boston and 
New York. 

The rapid growth of great business enterprises 
in America during the past fifty years has become 
so common as to be accepted as a matter of course. 
But it is a mistake to overlook the fundamental 
truths which govern success, and the career of John 
W. Bishop contains a valuable lesson as illustrating 
that individual effort and individual worth must, 
after all, remain its true basis. A business such as 
he is the head of today can never owe its upbuild- 
ing to anything but the personal factor. What it is 
he made it. He worked hard and he worked late, 
and he never ceased to learn and apply. He learned 
from his triumphs and he learned from his defeats, 
and his lessons became a part of his capital for the 
future. In like manner he capitalized his rare judg- 
ment of men, his foresight, his faculty of quick and 
unerring decision; all his own ability and the abilities 
of those he gathered around him he made a working 
force of and directed it steadily at the objective 
point. Thus, in one word, the secret of his business 
is effectiveness, and the secret of its effectiveness . 
is its organization, and here his powers are at their' 
highest. Whenever he undertakes a great building; 
project he first organizes it in every department andl 
detail until the whole becomes an engine with its; 
potentiality centered under his hand. He reduces; 
every detail to a science and then studies it in its> 
relation to every other detail, and thus masteringr 
them all comes to know and understand the whole.- 
as a man knows and understands the five fingers off 
his hand and how to use them. 

Although he has devoted thirty years to busi- 
ness and has reached the age of sixty success hasj 
not abated Mr. Bishop's efTorts nor has its rewardsi 
spoiled his energy. He gives to his business today* 
the same constant care and attention as in the earlyv 
years when he was struggling for recognition. Theni 



* 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



17 



/o 



the succe>s of his first uiuk-rtaking, thougli amount- 
ing to Init a few thousand dollars, meant the good 
or bad beginnings of his reputation, and it is only 
too natural that the young contractor should have 
exerted himself to the utmost; but today with a 
business running annually into the millions he is as 
jealous of the maintenance of that reputation as 
he was thirty years ago of its building up, and 
to that end the successful man of sixty feels him- 
self as much bound by his business and his obliga- 
tions to his clients as he was as a struggling be- 
ginner. A recognized expert in matters of con- 
struction Mr. Bishop's opinion and judgment are 
naturally widely sought, and many of the best known 
architects and engineers in the country are glad to 
supplement their technical knowledge with his wide 
and practical experience, and in the exercise of this 
high responsibility, as in all his dealings, Mr. Bishop's 
opinions have never been known to be influenced by 
private motives. 

While Mr. Bishop's opportunities to become in- 
terested in various enterprises have naturally been 
numerous during the many years of his active busi- 
ness life, it has been his rule to confine his activ- 
ities almost wholly to his own business or to indus- 
tries closely connected thereto. He has organized 
at different times a number of subsidiary companies 
to engage in the manufacture of products used in his 
own business, and these have been without excep- 
tion highly successful. He is treasurer of The 
Clason Architectural Metal Works, president of 
the Rhode Island Brownstone Works and of the 
Rhode Island ^Machine Co., Providence enterprises, 
and is also interested in a number of Worcester's 
leading industries, though not actively. He is well 
known among Masons and Odd Fellow'S, belonging 
to Athelstan Lodge, A. F. and A. JNI., and to Eureka 
Chapter, R. A. M. He is a member of Worcester 
Lodge, I. O. O. F., and of Wachusett Encampment. 
He is a member of the Worcester County Mechanics' 
Association and also of the Worcester Board of 
Trade. He and his family attend the Pilgrim 
Congregational Church. 

Mr. Bishop married, January 4, 1870, Sarah A. 
Foster, daughter of Thomas R. and Sarah Jane 
(Fales) Foster, of Holden, Massachusetts. Their 
children are: Mina, born January 24, 1871, died 
in infancy; William Thomas, January 25, 1872; 
Frederick Herbert, November 19, 1874. died in in- 
fancy ; Florence Jane, August 24, 1875 ; Marion 
Edith, August 16, 1877, married, Alarch 4, 1897, 
Thomas H. Coe, of Worcester, they have three chil- 
dren, Dorothy, John Bishop and Thomas Hamilton ; 
John Warren, January 14, 1880; Sarah Adelaide, 
July 6, 1881 ; Alice Maria, July 7, 1884, died in in- 
fancy ; Nathaniel Smart, January 31, 1886, died 
April 13, 1904. j\lr. Bishop and his family reside 
at 1212 Main street. William T. and John W., Jr., 
are associated with their father in business, Wil- 
liam T. being vice-president of the company. He is 
likewise prominent in Masonic circles being a mem- 
ber of Athelstan Lodge. A. F. and A. M., Worcester 
Chapter, R. A. M. and Hiram Council, R. and S. 
M. Florence J. has taught in the public schools 
at Providence, Rhode Island, but is now residing 
with her parents. 

The J. W. Bishop Co.'s offices and mill are 
located at 107 and log Foster street. Here all the 
wood and ornamental iron work is gotten out, 
while the structural iron and stone work is gotten 
out at the Providence plants. The Providence of- 
fice is located at 417 Butler Exchange and is in 
charge of O. D. Purington. The Boston office is in 
the Es.sex building at 683 Atlantic avenue, and is in 
charge of Ilcywood S. French. The New York 



office is at 333 Fifth avenue, and is in charge of 
Robert F. Brown. The present officers of the com- 
pany are: J. W. Bishop, president; William T. 
Bishop, first vice-president; H. S. French, second 
vice-president; ]lerl)ert \. Leach, treasurer, and 
Robert F. Brown, secretary. 

The monuments to John W. Bishop's long and 
successful career as a builder are numerous and 
enduring. The costly palaces of . Newport and 
Lenox, the great government, state and municipal 
buildings throughout the coumry which he has 
erected, will represent to the next generation both 
his genius and its reward ; but as enduring will be 
ihe story of his rise from humble beginnings to a 
foremost place in the business world, a story whirh 
will worthily add to a record of achievement in 
which the history of industrial progress in America 
is peculiarly rich, and the lesson of it will remain 
an incentive and an influence for good so long as 
pluck, ability and success are recognized and ad- 
mired by the youth and manhood of America. 

FALES FAMILY. James Fales (i), was the 
emigrant ancestor of Mrs. John W. Bishop, daughter 
of Thomas R. and Sarah J. (Fales) F"oster. James 
Fales, or Vales as the name was often spelled, 
came from England to Dedham, Massachusetts, in 
the year 1650. There in 1654, he married Ann 
Brock. They had seven children, three sons and 
four daughters. Their .sons were : James, born 
July 4, 1656, settled at Walpolc, married Dorothy 
Fisher and has many descendants there ; John, Octo- 
_ ber 6, 1658, married Euuity Hawes, settled at 
'Wrentham, where his descendants still live; Eben- 
ezer, February i, 1661, settled on the old homestead 
at Dedham. 

(II) Nehemiah Fales, son of Ebenezer Fales 
(l), was born at Dedham in 1695. He married 
Mary Carew, of Dedham, January 31, 1720. Their 
recorded children ar? : Nehemiah, died November 
9, 1720; Nehemiah, born November 8, 1724. 

(III) Nehemiah Fales, son of Nehemiah (2), 
born November 8, 1724, married Susanna Searles, 
at Dedham, June 27, 1745. Their children were: 
Lemeul. born August 19, 1747; Nehemiah, February 
I, 1749, married Sarah Whiting, October 10, 1772; 
Ebenezer, died April 20. 1761, an infant. 

(IV) Lemuel Fales, son of Nehemiah Fales 
(t), settled at Holden, Massachusetts, about 1786 and 
died there February 14, 1826. His wife Elizabeth 
died February 4, 1S38. Their children were: Sarah, 
born in Dedham, June 16, 1775 ; Eleanor, born in 
Dedham, December 16, 1777, married Joel John- 
son, of Pelham, Massachusetts, February 7, 1808: 
Betsey, born in Dedham. June 4, 1779, married David 
Kimball, at Holden, Massachusetts, December 26, 
1804; Ambrose, born in Dedham, December 28. 
1780, married Amy Newell, March 8, 1804; Hannah, 
born in Dedham, September 7, 1782; Lemuel, born 
in Dedham. March II, 1785, settled in Alburg, Ver- 
mont; Anna, born in Holden, April 14, 1787, mar- 
ried Hugh Johnson, of Henderson, New York, 
December 5, 1815; Samuel Damon, born in Holden. 
June 15, 1789; David, born in Holden, May 17. 
1791; John, born in Holden, May 28, 1793: Leonard, 
born in Holden, March 16, 1798, married Sarah 
Gray, April 17, 1834, settled in Holden, died Feb- 
ruary 21, 1839. 

iV) .\nil)rofe Fales. son of Lemeul Fales (4), 
married Amy Newell and had six children : Sarah 
Jane, born at Holden ; Leonard, married Sally Gray ; 
Ira, married Adaline King, settled at ilonson, 
Massachusetts ; Mary married Porter Tower, re- 
moved to Minnesota, died there ; Susan, died young ; 
Sarah Jane, born November 18, 1827, married 



176 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



Tliomas R. Foster, December 24, 1845; tlioy were 
the parents of Mrs. John \V. (Foster) Bishop. 
Lemuel Fales, of Dedham, Massachusetts, was a 
private in Captain Joseph Guild's company of min- 
ute tnen in Colonel Greaton's regiment, which as- 
sembled on the Le-xington alarm April, 1775. He 
was also in Captain George Gould's company. Col- 
onel Paul Sargent's regiinent, August I, 1775. He 
was in Captain Joseph Lewis' company, Colonel 
William Mcintosh's regiment in 1776. He was a 
corporal in Captain Timothy Stow's company, Col- 
onel Ephraim Whcelock's regiment at Ticonderoga, 
1776. lie was in Captain Robert Smith's company 
Lieutenant-Colonel Symmes' regiment in 1778. 

FOSTER FAINHLY. Hon. Samuel Foster, who 
was born in England in 1619 and settled in Ded- 
ham, Massachusetts, was the progenitor of the Fos- 
ted family to which Mrs. John W. Bishop belongs. 

He married in Dedham, Massachusetts, May jo. 
1647. Esther Kemp, daughter of Edward Kemp, of 
Wenhani. She died April 16, 1702. He removed 
to Wenhani in 1650, and afterwards to Chelmsford, 
which town he represented in the general court in 
1679. While in Wenhani he was a member of the 
Rev. John Fiske's church there. He was one of the 
petitioners for the incorporation of the new town 
on the west side of the Concord river, afterwards 
called Chelmsford, and when the church was organ- 
ized there he was chosen its first deacon. The 
Foster homestead was on the lower edge of the 
northeast corner of Robbins Hill not far from the 
center of the village, now or lately the home of . 
George A. Parkhurst, the town clerk. He also 
had other grants of land. In 1666 he was styled 
lieutenant. In that year he was appointed with 
two others to lay out land and to view fences. He 
and his son Samuel and his grandson Samuel pur- 
chased of Jonathan Tyng in 1675 his interest in five 
hundred acres of land in Wamesit on the Concord 
and Merrimac rivers, twenty acres of which they 
gave to encourage the erection of Hale's mill. In 
1675, in King Philip's war, the whites in reprisal 
butchered the old men left at home by the Indians. 
Deacon Foster opposed this act and sought to have 
it punished, but without success. He died July 10, 
1702, aged eighty-three. 

The children of Samuel and Esther (Ketiip) 
Foster were : Hannah, born 1649, married, June 18, 
1705, Benjamin Barrett, of Chelmsford: Samuel, 1650, 
married Sarah Keyes ; Eli, 1653, married Judith 
Keyes ; Edward, April 30, 1657 ; Esther, Novem- 
ber I. 1659, married, July i, 1681, Abraham Foster, 
of Andover, Massachusetts : Andrew, April 30, 1662, 
died December 20. 1671 ; Abraham, October 27, 1664, 
died December 7, 1671 ; Nathaniel, October 14, 1667, 
married Frances Lovejoy: John, September 28, 1671, 
died December 13. 1671. 

(H) Samuel Foster, son of Samuel Foster (i), 
was born at Wenham in 1650. He married. May 28, 
1678, Sarah Keyes, daughter of Solomon Keyes. 
She was born in 1657 and died in 1738. He died 
July 21, 1730. Their children were: Anna, born 
December 3, 1684 ; Joseph, November 14, ;686, died 
January 29, 1689; Edward, January 29, 1689, mar- 
ried Remembrance Fletcher; Moses, October 4, 1692; 
Sarah, August 14, 1694 ; Andrew, March 28, 1695, 
married Mary Blodgett ; Jean, October 28, 1696, 
married, April 8. 1717, John Senter, one of the pro- 
prietors of the Scotch-Irish town of Londonderry, 
New York ; she died there in 1765 ; Samuel, died 
December 17. 1698; Samuel, died February 18, 1718; 
Joseph, married Thankful Walker ; Elizabeth, 
spinster, made Robert Foster, son of her brother 
Joseph, her heir, November II, 1734. 



(HI) Joseph Foster, son of Samuel Foster (2), 
married Thankful Walker. She was born October 

11, 1698, died January 8, 1750. He died May 4, 
1741, Their children were: Robert, born January 
4, 1735. died April 14, 1737: Leonard (twin), July 

12, 1738, married Esther Blodgett; Robert (twin), 
July 12, 1738, married Mary Emery; Benoni, January 
23. 173.'^. died young; Sampson, March 16, 1736, 
died young; Abigail, July 6, 1741, married October 
17, 1761, Charles Barron. 

(IV) Robert Foster, son of Samuel Foster (3), 
was born at Chelmsford, July 12, 1735. He married, 
November 8, 1764, Mary Emery, born May i, 1740, 
died June 21, 1787. He died September 16, 1784. 
Their children were: Thankful, born March 9, 1764; 
Joseph, March, 1766, married Mary Adams ; Jacob, 
May I, 1768, died September 8, 1791 ; Noah, Novem- 
ber 3, 1778: Samuel Emery, March 19, 1781, mar- 
ried Mary Byani. 

(V) Joseph Foster, son of Robert Foster (4), 
was born at Chelmsford, March 4, 1766. He mar- • 
ried there August 22. 1789, Mary Adams. Their 
children were: Moses, born February 14, 1790; 
Marj', May 9, 1792; Adams, May 6, 1794; Sarah, 
May 3, 1796; Franklin, November 6. 1798; Rufus, 
January 31, 1801 ; Alniira, September 13, 1803; Calvin, 
December 6, 1805. 

(VI) Rufus Foster, son of Joseph Foster (5), 
was born at Chelmsford, January 31, 1801. He mar- 
ried Nancy Torrey, daughter of Abner and Sarah 
(Hobart) Torrey and granddaughter of Abner ard 
Lydia Beal Torrey, of Weymouth. Her great-grand- 
father, Jonathan Torrey, was born October 29. 171 1, 
at Weymouth, died April 9, 1784. Abner Torrey, 
Sr., was a corporal in the French and Indian wars. 
Abner Torrey, Jr., was a private in Captain Edward 
Cobb's company. Colonel Edward Mitchell's regi- 
ment in 1775. Rufus Foster and his wife went to 
Alabama to live and their three children were born 
there. After his death his wife married John S. 
Haven (June, 1828), and had two children; Ann 
Alaria and Elmira. She married the third time in 
1839 H. B. Brewster. She was born in 1800 and 
died in 1843. The children of Rufus Foster were: 
Rufus. Sarah and Thomas R. 

(VII) Thomas R. Foster, son of Rufus Foster 
(6), was born in Mobile, Alabama, ^lay 16, 1822. 
He returned to the north and married there Sarah 
Jane Fales, of Holden, Massachusetts. Their chil- 
dren were : Sarah Ann, born September iS, 1849 ; 
Elmira Jane. September 9, 1857, died 1869. 

(VIII) Sarah A. Foster, daughter of Thomas 
R. Foster (7), was born September 18, 1849. She 
married, January 4, 1870, John Wilson Bishop, of 
Worcester, Massachusetts. 

SAMUEL WATERS FOSKETT. Ebenezer 
Foskett, son of Samuel and Sarah (Hunt) Foskctt, 
was born in Charlton, Massachusetts, March 8, 
1787. He was a farmer and spent his whole life 
on the old Foskett homestead in Charlton, where 
Ebenezer Foskett. of Stoneham, settled in 1739. and 
where Dan Foskett lives now (1905). He died 
in Charlton. October 14. i860. He married in West 
Sutton, July 4. 1820. Anna Waters. (See sketch 
of Waters family.) She was born in West Sutton, 
May 20. 1791, and continued to live on the old place 
after the death of her husband until her death. 
September 23. 1875, in Charlton. Their children 
were: i. Harriet, born April 3. 1821. died at 
Webster. June 17. 1894; married. 1851, Reuben T. 
Eddy, son ,of Joel and Sally (Thurston) Eddy, 
born in Oxford. December 7. 1811. He had a 
meat market in Webster ; died in Webster. July 
3. 1876. Married (first). May 24, 1837, Dulcinea 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



^77 



tiverse, of Spencer, who died March lo, 1S46, had 
ee children : Anna Maria, Byron Edgar, Lewis 
iier. 2. Samuel Waters, born Dtccmber 29, 1823. 
Tamina, born August 15, 1825. died at Charlton, 
inl .30. 1S55: married, 1853, Whitman B. Potter, 
Ihariton larmcr; he went west m 1856, settled in 
Crescent, Minnesota, had by this his tirst marriage 
:ielia Taiiima, born at Charlton. March 24, 1S55, 
rried, 1S72, George Aiartin. 4. Mercy, born June 
1826, engaged in sale of millinery and tancy 
ids at Southbridge, Massachusetts ; in 1858 re- 
ived to Worcester; unmarried. 5. John, born 
irch 28, 1S28, died at Webster, June 6, 1898, niar- 
d, i86y, Betsey A. Dockham; he was a farmer at 
arlton, removed to Lake Village, New Hanip- 
re, 1872, lived at Webster again later and died 
:re ; his children w'ere : Annie Augusta, Harrison 
own, John Waters, Herbert. 6. Samantha, born 
ivember i, 1829, for some years had a millinery 
re at Webster; later kept house for her brother 
in and brought up his children ; removed 1902 to 
irth Wilmington, Massachusetts ; unmarried. 7. 
n, born February 11, 1833, married in Worcester, 
ptember 26, 1862, Millia Antoinette Davis, daugh- 

of Samuel and Chloe (Simpson) Davis, who 
s born in Paxton, February 14, 1843, 's the tifth 
skett in direct line to occupy the old homestead 

Ebenezer Foskett, bought in 1734; has twelve 
Idren. 13. Eliza, born April 26, 1835, taught 
lool some years and afterward was a nurse in 
;bster and Lowell ; removed in 1896 to Worcester. 
lere she lived with her sister Alercy and died 
:re October 30, 1902. 

Samuel Waters Foskett, son of Ebenezer Foskett, 
s born in Charlton. Massachusetts, December 

1823. He went to school in his native town and 

Nicholls Academy in Dudley. For seventeen 
irs he taught school in winter and among other 
lools in w'hich he taught were those of Sutton 
eet, Southbridge, Dudley and Charlton. At the 
le that daguerreotypes came in vogue, some sixty 
irs ago, he went to Boston and learned the process, 
r three years he made photography his business. 
was the custom at first for the photographer to 
)ve from town to town, much as the itinerant 
ture saloon man was doing a few decades ago 
d is doubtless still doing in some sections. Mr. 
skett was located in Framingham, South Fram- 
;ham and Charlton. Doubtless the daguerreo- 
)es that he took in those years are the treasured 
ssessions of many families to-day. The old silver 
lies are as fresh and good now as when first 
:en. There was not much money in the business 
d most of the early photographers took up some 
ler line of work before the later processes made 
otography cheap enough to be popular. Air. 
skett had learned the trade of carpenter and had 
natural aptitude for the use of tools. He liked 
)od-working and eventually entered the business. 
; moved to Webster in 1869. He went to work 
r Palmer & Kent, manufacturers of sash and 
nds. John D. Putnam subsequently bought the 
op and Mr. Foskett worked for him nine years. 
; was a first-class mechanic and wood worker. 
I built a house at Webster. Mr. Foskett stood 
rll in the estimation of his neighbors. He was 
ictcd member of the school committee while in 
larlton. In 1888 he removed to Worcester and has 
ice resided there. He has built several houses 

Worcester, but has not been in active business or 
iployment there. He is a Republican in politics 
d is a member of Trinity Alethodist Episcopal 
lurch. He married in Charlton, December 8, 1855, 
mrgianna Mason, daughter of Ephraim Hubbard 
d Prudence (Hills) Mason, born in Putney, Ver- 



mont, May 9, 1830, and died in Worcester, January 

27, 1892. Their children, all born in Charlton, 
were; i. Dr. George Mason, born October 26, 1856. 
2. Ann, born December 8, i860, taught for many 
years in the public schools of Worcester, was later 
a music teacher, married, July 29, 1905, Charles R. 
Stobbs, of Webster, Massachusetts. 3. Eben, born 
January 14, 1864. 

Dr. Eben Foskett, son of Samuel Waters 
Foskett, was born in Charlton, Massachusetts, Jan- 
uary 14, 1864. He was educated at Webster high 
school and Nicholls Academy, Dudley. He learned 
the printer's trade and for several years was assist- 
ant foreman of the Worcester Evening Gazette 
composing room. While working at his trade he 
qualified himself to enter the medical school of 
A'cw York University, from which he graduated 
AL D. in 1894, and after two years service as interne 
at Bellevue iiospital began the practice of his pro- 
fession in New York city, where he has been lo- 
cated since. He is at present instructor in diseases 
01 women at tlie University and Bellevue Hospital 
Medical School in connection with his extensive 
surgical practice. He married in Worcester, October 
14, 1897, Flora Gertrude Fay, adopted daughter of 
Winthrop Baxter and Elizabeth (Watson) Fay. 
She was born in Jamaica Plain, Boston, March 10, 
1868. Their children, born in New York city, are : 
Winthrop Fay, born February 4, 1899; Elizabeth, 
February 8, igoo; Eben Maxwell, June, 1904. 

(I) Richard Waters, who came to Salem in 
1636, was the emigrant ancestor of Stephen Waters 
Foskett, of Worcester. He was the second .son and 
third child of James and Phebe (Manning) Waters. 
He was born in St. Botolph, without Aldgate, London, 
and baptized March 3, 1604. His father, James 
Waters, was an iron-monger in St. Botolph. His 
will was proven in 1617. His mother, Phebe Man- 
ning, was the daughter of George Manning, gent, 
of Downe, Kent county,' and descended from the 
sister of Geoffrey Chaucer, the poet. His father 
was buried February 2, 1617, and the widow ma-rried, 
February 23, 1618, William Plasse, a gunsmith. 
Richard Waters was also a gunsmith. Richard Waters 
came to Salem, Massachusetts, in 1636, with his 
mother and her second husband. He was admitted 
a freeman May 22, 1639. He was a proprietor of the 
town. His wife Joyce was admitted to the church 
May 2:^, 1641. He had a tavern in Salem in 1668. 

The town of Salem voted to buy Roger Conant's house 
and land for William Plasse because they wished 
him to stay and follow his trade of gunsmith in 
that town. This place is opposite Derby square and 
the- Town Hall. Plasse, or Place, as the name is 
spelled now, died April is, 1646. W'aters made his 
will July 16, 1676, and it was proved November 

28, 1^7. The children of Richard Waters were : 
Mary, married Clement English, August 27, 1667 ; 
James, born in England, married Mary Stalworth, 
Mafch 24, 1669-70; William; Martha (daughter re- 
corded born November 27, 1640) ; John, married 
Sarah Tompkins, .August i. 1663; Elizabeth or Eliza, 
baptized February 26, 1642-3, died unmarried Feb- 
ruary 4, 1662-3 ; Abigail, baptized May 18, 164S, mar- 
ried William Punchard, October 4, 1669; Ezekiel, 
baptized April 9, 1647; Susanna, baptized April i, 
1649; married Benedict Pulsifer, February, 1673; 
Hannah, baptized January 30, 1652-3, married Joseph 
Striker. April 10, 1673 ; Sarah, married, February 26, 
1651, Joshua Ray; Phebe, married, October 11, 
1658, Thomas West; she died April 16, 1674. 

(II) John Waters, son of Richard Waters (i), 
was born in Salem, baptized there November 13, i66g. 
Hf lived ill North Field, now North Salem. He was 
a farmer and owned land on Royal Side, now Beverly. 



178 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



lie died in Salem, Pebniary, 1707. He married, 
June I, 1663, Sarah 'I'ompkins, daughter of John and 
Margaret Tompkins, of Salem, probably grand- 
daughter of Ralph Tompkins, of Salem. She was 
baptized November i, 1642, and died in Salem. He 
made his will February 14, 1706-7, and it was proved 
March, 1707-8. His children were: Richard and 
John (twins), born the last of September, 1664. 
and died within two weeks; John, born July 4, 

1665, married Mary ; Sara, born August 30. 

1667, married John Symonds, March 3, 1689-90; 
Richard, born November 13, 1669, married Martha 
Read, March 3, 1697-S: Nathaniel, born February 
6. 1671, married, December 12, 1699, Elizabeth King; 
Samuel, born March 29, 1674, died aged five weeks ; 
Samuel, born May 6, 1675 probably died young; 
Elizabeth, born January 10, 1677-8, administration 
granted on her estate to brother John November 13. 
1734; Abigail, baptized May 6, 1683. married, April 
6, 1704, John Jacobs. 

(HI) Richard Waters, son of John Waters (2). 
was born in Salem, November 13. 1669, died at 
Oxford while on a visit, February, 1725-6. He re- 
moved in 1720 from Salem to Sutton, Massachu- 
setts. With Saumel Rich, of Bellingham, he pur- 
chased, December 8, 1720, a tract of land at Sut- 
ton of about one thonsand acres of William Taylor, 
of Dorchester, Massachusetts, executor of the 
Stoughton estate. This tract, annexed to the town 
of Sutton in 1724, is now known as West Sutton 
and two-thirds of it belonged to Waters. W^aters 
bought more land near Manchaug pond of Ezekiel 
Lewis, William Dudley and Nathaniel Byfield. He 
built a house at the northeast corner of Sutton 
street and Millbury road. The old well remains 
in use ; the house has long since disappeared. He 
was "desired" by the church in Oxford to become a 
member and deacon,' but did not comply. He prob- 
ably joined the Sutton church by letter. He 
made his will, then living adjacent to Ox- 
ford, county of Suffolk (now Worcester coun- 
ty), and it was proved February 17, 1725-6. 
He then owned land in Salem. He married. IMarch 
3, 1697-8, Martha Read, of Salem. His children, all 
born at Salem, were: Hannah, born March 4, 1699; 
Richard, November 22, 1700. married Anna Hol- 
man, daughter of Solomon Holman. of Newbury ; 
Abigail, August I, 1702, married Samuel Dudley, 
of Littleton; Samuel. September i. 1704; married. 
November 13, 1729, Rachel Holman, of Newbury; 
Mercy, baptized July 24, 1707; Ebenezer, baptized 
July 10, 1709, died in Cuba, while taking part in 
the expedition of Admiral Vernon in 1742 ; Mary, 
baptized September 30, 1711; Lois, baptized May 16. 
1714, married Thomas Chamberlain, of Littleton; 
Amos, born June 9, 1717. 

(IV) Richard Waters, son of Richard Waters 
V3), was born at Salem, Massachusetts. November 
22, 1700. He had a part of his father's large farm 
at Sutton and built a house on the site now occupied 
by Bullard's farmhouse in West Sutton. The present 
house was built by Elezer Waters, his son, in 1767, 
and was standing as late as 1903. He was admitted 
to the First Congregational Church in Sutton by 
letter from Salem between 1724 and 1728, and was 
an active and useful church member and citizen of 
Sutton during a long life. He died there iNIay 7, 
1787. He married, at Sutton, July 12. 1732. Anne 
Holman. daughter of Solomon and Mary (Barton) 
Holman. She was probably horn in Newbury. Massa- 
chusetts. 171 5. and died in West Sutton, February 
20, 1788. Their children were: Mary, married 
Anthony SigOurney, of Boston ; Stephen, born April 
!.■?. 17.^5; Ebenezer, born July 3, 1739; Abraham. 
born April 3, 1743 ; Ruth, born January 6, 1746, 



married Thomas Kendall ; Samuel, born NovEnibtr 
21, 1750; Hannah, born August 5, 1754, married 
Marsh. 

(V) Stephen Waters, son of Richard Waters 
(4), was born in West Sutton, Massachusetts, April 
I3> 1735- His father, Richard, set off to him a por- 
tion of the old homestead property southeast of his 
house. In 1757 Stephen erected upon it the house 
to which he brought his bride, five j'ears later, and 
which has been the Waters home from that day 
to this (1903) and now or recently owned by his 
great-grandson, Samuel Nathan Waters. Stephen 
and his father made many trips to Boston to sell 
produce. The best road led through Grafton by 
the house of Eleazer Flagg, where they often 
stopped for rest and food. Here he met Eleazer's 
daughter, whom he married. He had extensive 
orchards and manufactured cider in considerable 
quantities. His apple trees are still in evidence on 
the old place. He died at West Sutton, January 
10, 1819. He married. May 19, 1762, Huldah Flagg, 
daughter of Eleazer Flagg. She was born in Grafton, 
December 14, 1732. She was an invalid for many 
years in the latter part of her life and became blind. 
She died in West Sutton, January 24, 1825. Their 
children were: Anna, born March 30, 1763, died at 
West Sutton, October 22, 1790, unmarried ; John, 
born October 23, 1764, died at West Sutton, Octo- 
ber 19, 1847. married (first) Huldah Howard; Da- 
vid, born February 2, 1767. died young; Nathan, 
born May 18, 1769; died aged about twenty-one; 
Huldah. born .August 11, 1771, died at Providence, 
Rhode Island, March 6, 1833, married, 1802, Daniel 
Hunt; Rebecca, born May 25, 1775, probably died 
young. 

(VI) John Waters son of Stephen Waters (5), 
was born in West Sutton, October 23, 1764. From 
his father he inherited a large farm and devoted 
himself even more extensively to fruit, so that he 
is said to have had the largest orchards in that sec- 
tion of the state. He made much cider. He divided 
the farm between his sons Nathan and Richard. He 
died in West Sutton. October 19. 1847. He married 
first at Sutton. November 25. 1790. Huldah Howard, 
daughter of Captain John and Huldah (Sibley) 
Howard. She was born in Oxford, June 23. 1768. 
and died in West Sutton, September 26, 1795. He 
married (second) at Sutton, December 15, 1796, 
Hannah Putnam, daughter of Nathan and Betty 
(Buffington) Putnam. She was born in West Sut- 
ton, March 13, 1763. and died there October 28. 

1818. He married (third) at Millbury, August 10, 

1819, Hitty Kidder, daughter of Jonathan and 
'Susanna (Dwinnel) Kidder. She was born in Ox- 
ford, March 18. 1778, died July 17. t866, at West 
Sutton. He had four children by each wife. They 
were: l. Anna, bom May 20. 1791. died at Charlton. 
September 23. 1875. married. 1820, Ebenezer Foskctt. 
2. Lucy, born September 7. 1792, died at Charlton. 
October 15. 1830, married i8t2. David Carpenter, 
farmer in Sutton, born in Sutton. January 9, 1794. 
died in Worcester, May 28, 1886, married (second) 
Abigail Rich, who died October 5, 1873. David and 
Lucy had five children. 3. Lydia, born December 24, 
1793, died at Webster, April 19, 1872 ; married. 1820. 
Elkanah Mclntire. farmer and printer in Charlton, 
born in Charlton, March 16, 1782. died there August 
9, 1853, married (first) Polly Chase ; Elknnah and 
Lydia had six children. 4. Huldah, born September 
24, 1795, died at Oxford, December 14, 1843; mar- 
ried. 1814. Jesse Bigelow. farmer in Sutton and 
west part of Oxford and Webster, born in Douglas, 
March 7, 1792, died in Webster, March 14. 1877. 
married (second), about 1844. Esther M. Simpson, 
of Webster; Jesse and Huldah had five children. 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



179 



Stephen, born August 6, 1797, died at West Sut- 
, September 22, icSso; married Matilda Car- 
ter. 6. Nathan, born May 24, 1799, died at West 
ton, May 8, 1878; married, 1832, Clvah A. Put- 
1, had seven children; he received half the pater- 
estate and the old house; he manufactured cider; 
was selectman and justice of the peace; he set- 
many estates ; he was one of the mam supports 
;he Baptist church. His wife was the daughter 
Cornelius and Abigail (Bigelow) Putnam; she 

born in Sutton, January 18, 181 1, died in West 
vton, August 26, 1893. 7. Richard, born Novem- 

I, 1802, died at West Sutton, March 29, 1876; 
Tied, 1837, Julia A. Torrey ; he was a farmer and 

immense apple orchards; his wife was daugh- 
of Lewis and Betsey (Titus) Torrey, born in 
ton, April 7, 1816, died in Worcester September 
881 ; had live children. 8. Betsey, born January 

1804, died at Rochester, Minnesota, November 
1S63 ; married, 1832, Tyler Carpenter, born in 
ton, October 8, l80i, removed to Rochester, 
mesota, 1856, and later to Marshall, Minnesota, 
;re he died March, 1884. He had seven children 
n in Sutton. 

(VII) Anne Waters, daughter of John Waters 
[), was born in Sutton, Massachusetts, May 20, 
[. She married, 1820, Ebenezer Foskett (q. v.). 
(I) Thomas Flagg or Flegg as the name is still 
led coznmonly in England, who came to New 
;land with Richard Carver in 1637, was an an- 
or of Samuel Waters Foskett, of Worcester. He 

son of Bartholomew and Alicia Flagg, bap- 
d at Whinbergh, Norfolk county, England, in 
;. He embarked at Scratby when emigrating to 
erica. He settled in Watertown as early as 
I, when he had a homestall of six acres and 
;r land. He was selectman there in 1671-72-73- 
'S-76-78-81-85-86-87. He is ancestor of all the 
erican Flagg families, it is believed. He died 
ruary 6, 1697-8. His wife Mary died December 
1702. Their children were : I. Gershom, born 
Watertown, April 16, 1641, was a tanner, re- 
,'ed to Woburn about 1668, held a commission 
ieutenant in King William's war and was killed 
the Indians in a skirmish at Wheelwright's pond, 
, New Hampshire, July 6, 1690; married, 1668, 
mah Lefhngwell, had ten children. 2. John, born 
Watertown, June 14, 1643, settled there, died 
ruary, 1696-7; married, 1670, Mary Gale, three 
dren. 3. Bartholomew, born at Watertown, Feb- 
ry 23, 1644, served in Captain Moseley's company 
King Philip's war, 1675, probably died before 
". 4. Thomas, born April 28, 1646, settled at 
tertown, died there 1719; married Rebecca Di.x, 

six children. 5. William, born in 164S, soldier 
guard at Lancaster in King Philip's war and 
sd by the Indians in the massacre August 22, 
5. 6. Michael, born at Watertown, March 23. 
D-l, settled there, one of the first proprietors of 

attempted settlement of Worcester in 1674, 
:ed in King Philip's war, died in Watertown, 
ober 16, 1711; married (first), 1674, Mary Bige- 
; (second) Mary (Lawrence) Earle ; had six 
dren. 7. Eleazer, born at Watertown, May 14, 
5, see forward. 8. Elizabeth, born at Watertown, 
rch 22, 1654-5, died August 9, 1729; married, 
5, Joshua Bigelow. 9. Mary, born at Watertown, 
uary 14, 1656-7, died September 7, 1720; married, 
\, Samuel Bigelow. 10. Rebecca, born at Water- 
n, September 5, 1660, married, 1679, Deacon 
phen Cook. II. Benjamin, born at Watertown, 
e 25. 1652, removed to Worcester at the time 
:he third and successful attempt to settle in 17x8 

was very prominent among the early settlers ; 
i at Worcester, May 3, 1741 ; married, 1689 or 



1690, Experience Child, had nine children. 13. Allen, 
born at Watertown, May 16, 1665, settled there, 
died November 11, 1711; married, 1684-5, Sarah 
Ball, had nine children. 

(II) Eleazer Flagg, son of Thomas Flagg (i), 
was born at Watertown, Massachusetts, May 14, 
1653. He removed to Concord; was a tanner. Like 
at least three of his brothers he served in the King 
Philip war, being in Captain Samuel Appleton's 
company in the Narragansett expedition in 1675. 
He was admitted a freeman March 20, 1690, and 
held town offices. He died in Concord, May i, 1722. 
He married at Concord, October 10, 1676, Deborah 
(Wright) Barnes, widow of John Barnes, who was 
killed by the Indians in the Sudbury fight March 
31, 1676. She may have been daughter of Edward 
and Elizabeth Wright, of Concord. Their children 
were: Deborah, born at Concord, October 9, 1677; 
Abigail, born at Concord, March 9, 1679-80, died 
there August 11, 1680; Eleazer, born about 1687; 
Priscilla, married, 1705, Joseph Wheat, of (Toncord; 
Joseph, married, 1713, Mary Tompkins, of Salem, 
had eight children. 

(III) Eleazer Flagg, son of Eleazer Flagg (2), 
was born at Concord about 1687. He lived in Con- 
cord and was constable and surveyor of highways. 
He was one of the forty original purchasers of 
1 lassanami.sco, later called Grafton. On the various 
divisions of the land among the proprietors 1728- 
1744 he received parcels aggregating about one 
hundred and fifty acres. There is no evidence that 
he himself ever lived in the new town, but he deeded 
his land to his three sons, Eleazer, Robert and Na- 
thaniel. Eleazer Flagg was also a petitioner for the 
Narragansett townships, as eldest male heir of his 
father, and on the setting apart of these lands by 
the general court in 1733 his name is found as a 
grantee in Narragansett No. 6. (Tcmpleton) and he 
received lot 94 in the division of the township in 
1735- He died in Concord, March 28, 1745, in his 
iifty-ninth year. He married at Concord, January 
26, 1708-9, Deborah Tompkins, daughter of John 
Tompkins. Jr.. and Rebecca Knight, born in Salem, 
January 8. 1688-9. died in Grafton, December 16, 
1753. Their children were: I. Eleazer, born in 
Concord, October 23, 1709, married Huldah Chand- 
ler. 2. Nathan, settled in Concord, bought land in 
Grafton, left no issue. 3. Robert, born at Concord. 
August 25. 1713, removed to Grafton about 1735, 

married Miriam and had seven children. 4. 

Nathaniel, born at Concord, Mav 21, 1716, received a 
gift of land in Grafton from his father and re- 
moved to that town, was a soldier at Crown Point 

1/55, died before 1786, married Elizabeth 

and had nine children. 5. Deborah, born at Con- 
cord, February 13, 1718-9, died before 1757. mar- 
ried at Concord. October 19, 1749, Jacob Whitte- 
more, of Concord, 6. James, born at Concord. May 
3, 1723, removed to Upton about 1750 and to Wil- 
mington, Vermont. 1783, died 1807; married Anna 
Morse, of Cambridge, had eight children. 7. Jon- 
athan, born at Concord, February 3, 1725-6, died at 
Bolton, September 26, 1747. 8. Abigail, born at 
Concord. January 25. 1728-9, married Jonathan Rolf, 
of Westboro. g. Elizabeth (twin), born at Con- 
cord. January 25, 1728-9, married Nelson. 

(IV) Eleazer Flagg, son of Eleazer Flagg (3). 
was born at Concord, Massachusetts, October 23, 
1709. He removed to Grafton probably in 1728, 
the year of the purchase from the Indians. He 
settled first on his father's land. In 183 1 he re- 
ceived a lot by deed of gift from his father, com- 
prising forty-two acres of the eighteenth lot of the 
first division and a part of the thirty acres of the 
second division. This estate was situated in the 



178 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



He died in S;iloni, I'ebruary, 1707. He married, 
June I, 1663, Sarah Tompkins, daughter of John and 
Margaret Tompkins, of Salem, probably grand- 
daughter of Ralph Tompkins, of Salem. She was 
baptized November i. 1642, and died in Salem. He 
made his will February 14, 1706-7, and it was proved 
March, 1707-8. His children were: Richard and 
John (twins), born the last of September. 1664. 
and died within two weeks ; John, born July 4, 

1665, married Mary ■ ; Sara, born August 30. 

1667, married John Symonds, March 3, 1689-90; 
Richard, born November 13, 1669, married Martha 
Read, March 3, 1697-8 ; Nathaniel, born February 
6, 1671, married, December 12, 1699, Elizabeth King; 
Samuel, born March 29, 1674, died aged five weeks ; 
Samuel, born May 6, 1675 probably died young ; 
'Elizabeth, born January 10, 1677-8, administration 
granted on her estate to brother John November 13. 
1734; Abigail, baptized ;\!ay 6, 1683, married, April 
6, 1704, John Jacobs. 

(HI) Richard Waters, son of John Waters (2). 
was born in Salem, November 13, 1669, died at 
Oxford while on a visit, February, 1725-6. He re- 
moved in 1720 from Salem to Sutton, Massachu- 
setts. With Sauniel Rich, of Bellingham, he pur- 
chased, December 8, 1720, a tract of land at Sut- 
ton of about one thotlsand acres of William Taylor, 
of Dorchester, Massachusetts, executor of the 
Stoughton estate. This tract, annexed to the town 
of Sutton in 1724, is now known as West Sutton 
and two-thirds of it belonged to Waters. Waters 
bought more land near Manchaug pond of Ezekiel 
Lewis, William Dudley and Nathaniel Byfield. He 
built a house at the northeast corner of Sutton 
street and Millbury road. The old well remains 
in use ; the house has long since disappeared. He 
was "desired" by the church in Oxford to become a 
member and deacon,' but did not comply. He prob- 
ably joined the Sutton church by letter. He 
made his will, then living adjacent to Ox- 
ford, county of Suffolk (now Worcester coun- 
ty), and it was proved February 17, 1725-6. 
He then owned land in Salem. He married, March 
3, 1697-8, Martha Read, of Salem. His children, all 
born at Salem, were : Hannah, born March 4. i6gg ; 
Richard, November 22, 1700. married Anna Hol- 
man. daughter of Solomon Holman. of Newbury ; 
Abigail. August i. 1702, married Samuel Dudley. 
of Littleton; Samuel. September I. 1704; married. 
November 13. 1729. Rachel Holman. of Newbury: 
Mercy, baptized July 24. 1707 ; Ebenezer. baptized 
July 10. 1709, died in Cuba, while taking part in 
the expedition of Admiral Vernon in 1742; Mary. 
baptized September 30, 171 1; Lois, baptized May 16. 
1714, married Thomas Chamberlain, of Littleton ; 
Amos, born June 9. 1717. 

(IV) Richard Waters, son of Richard Waters 
V3), was born at Salem, Massachusetts, November 
22, 1700. He had a part of his father's large farm 
at Sutton and built a house on the site now occupied 
by RuUard's farmhouse in West Sutton. The present 
house was built by Elezer Waters, his son, in 1767. 
and was standing as late as i0O3- He was admitted 
to the Fir?t Congregational Church in Sutton by 
letter from Salem between 1724 and 1728. and was 
an active and useful church member and citizen of 
Sutton during a long life. He died there May 7. 
T787. He married, at Sutton, July 12. 1732. Anne 
Holman. daughter of Solomon and Mary (Barton) 
Holman. She was probably born in Newbury. Massa- 
chusetts. 1715. and died in West Sutton. February 
20, 1788. Their children were: Mary, married 
Anthony SigOurney. of Boston ; Stephen, born .^pril 
13> 173s; Ebenezer, born July 3, 1739; Abraham. 
born April 3, 1743 ; Ruth, born January 6, 1746, 



married Thomas Kendall; Samuel, born November 
21, 1750; Hannah, born August 5, 1754, married 
■ Marsh. 

(V) Stephen Waters, son of Richard Waters 
(4), was born in West Sutton, Massachusetts, April 
13. 1735. His father, Richard, set off to him a por- 
tion of the old homestead property southeast of his 
house. In 1757 Stephen erected upon it the house 
to which he brought his bride, five years later, and 
which has been the Waters home from that day 
to this (1903) and now or recently owned by his 
great-grandson, Samuel Nathan Waters. Stephen 
and his father made many trips to Boston to sell 
produce. The best road led through Grafton by 
the house of Eleazer Flagg, where they often 
stopped for rest and food. Here he met Eleazer's 
daughter, whom he married. He had extensive 
orchards and manufactured cider in considerable 
quantities. His apple trees are still in evidence on 
the old place. He died at West Sutton, January 
10, 1819. He married. May ig, 1762. Huldah Flagg, 
daughter of Eleazer Flagg. She was born in Grafton, 
December 14, 1732. She was an invalid for many 
years in the latter part of her life and became blind. 
She died in West Sutton, January 24, 1825. Their 
children were: Anna, born March 30, 1763, died at 
West Sutton, October 22, 1790, unmarried ; John, 
born October 23. 1764. died at West Sutton. Octo- 
ber 19. 1847, married (first) Fluldah Howard; Da- 
vid, born February 2. 1767. died young; Nathan, 
born May 18, 1769 ; died aged about twenty-one ; 
Huldah. born August 11, 1771, died at Providence. 
Rhode Lsland, March 6, 1833, married, 1802, Daniel 
Hunt; Rebecca, born May 25, 1775, probably died 
young. 

(VI) John Waters son of Stephen Waters (5), 
was born in West Sutton. October 23, 1764. From 
his father he inherited a large farm and devoted 
himself even more extensively to fruit, so that he 
is said to have had the largest orchards in that sec- 
tion of the state. He made much cider. He divided 
the farm between his sons Nathan and Richard. He 
died in West Sutton, October 19. 1847. He married 
first at Sutton, November 25, 1790, Huldah Howard, 
daughter of Captain John and Huldah (Sibley) 
Howard. She was born in Oxford, June 23, 1768. 
and died in West Sutton, September 26, 1795. He 
married (second) at Sutton, December 15. 1796. 
Hannah Putnam, daughter of Nathan and Betty 
(Buflington) Putnam. She was born in West Sut- 
ton. IMarch 13. 1763. and died there October 28, 
i8rS. He married (third) at Millbury, August 10, 
1819, Hitty Kidder, daughter of Jonathan and 

'Susanna (Dwinnel) Kidder. She was born in Ox- 
ford, March 18. 1778. died July 17. t866. at West 
Sutton. He had four children by each wife. They 
were: i. Anna, born May 20. 1791, died at Charlton, 
September 23, 1875. married. 1820. Ebenezer Foskett. 
2. Lucy, born September 7, 1792, died at Charlton. 
October 15. 1830, married 1812, David Carpenter, 
farmer in Sutton, born in Sutton, January y. 1794. 
died in Worcester, May 28, 1886. married (second) 
Abigail Rich, who died October 5, 1873. David and 
Lucy had five children. 3. Lydia, born December 24. 
1793, died at Webster. April 19. 1872: married. 1820, 
Elkanah Mclntire, farmer and printer in Charlton, 
born in Charlton, March 16. 1782. died there August 
9. 1853. married (first) Polly Chase ; Elkanah and 
Lydia had six children. 4. Huldah. born September 
24. 1795. died at Oxford, December 14, 1843; mar- 
ried. 1814. Jesse Bigelow. farmer in Sutton and 
west part of Oxford and Webster, born in Douglas, 
March 7, 1792. died in Webster. Alarch 14. 1877. 
married (second), about 1844.. Esther M. Simpson, 
of Webster ; Jesse and Huldah had five children. 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



179 



5. Stephen, born August 6, 1797, died at West Sut- 
Lon, September 22, 1850; married i\latilda Car- 
jenter. 6. Nathan, born May 24, 1799, died at West 
Sutton, Way S, 1878; married. 1832, Ulvah A. I'ut- 
latn, had seven children ; he received half the pater- 
lal estate and the old house; he manufactured cider; 
le was selectman and justice of the peace; he set- 
led many estates ; he was one of the main supports 
)f the Baptist church. His wife was the daughter 
5f Cornelius and Abigail (Bigelow) Putnam; she 
\as born in Sutton, January 18, 181 1, died in West 
Mewton, August 26, 1S93. 7. Richard, born Novem- 
jer I, 1802, died at West Sutton, March 29, 1876; 
narried, 1837, Julia A. Torrey; he was a farmer and 
lad immense apple orchards; his wife was daugh- 
:er of Lewis and Betsey (Titus) Torrey, born in 
sutton, April 7, 1816, died in Worcester September 
;, 18S1 ; had five children. 8. Betsey, born January 
17, 1804, died at Rochester, Minnesota, November 
;, 1863 ; married, 1832, Tyler Carpenter, born in 
Sutton, October 8, I8o^, removed to Rochester, 
Minnesota, 1856, and later to Marshall, Minnesota, 
.vhere he died March, 1884. He had seven children 
Dorn in Sutton. 

(VH) Anne Waters, daughter of John Waters 
(VI), was born in Sutton, Massachusetts, May 20, 
1791. She married, 1820, Ebenezer Foskett (q. v.). 

(I) Thomas Flagg or Flegg as the name is still 
spelled commonly in England, who came to New 
England with Richard Carver in 1637, was an au- 
:estor of Samuel Waters Foskett, of Worcester. He 
ivas son of Bartholomew and Alicia Flagg, bap- 
tized at W^hinbergh, Norfolk county, England, in 
[615. He embarked at Scratby when emigrating to 
America. He settled in Watertown as early as 
1641, when he had a homestall of six acres and 
jlher land. He was selectman there in 1671-72-73- 
74-75-76-78-81-85-86-87. He is ancestor of all the 
A.merican Flagg families, it is believed. He died 
February 6, 1697-8. His wife Mary died December 
JO, 1702. Their children were : i. Gershom, born 
It Watertown, April 16, 1641, was a tanner, re- 
Tioved to Woburn about 1668, held a commission 
IS lieutenant in King William's war and was killed 
3y the Indians in a skirmish at Wheelwright's pond, 
Lee, New Hampshire, July 6, 1690; married, 1668, 
Hannah Leffingwell, had ten children. 2. John, born 
n Watertown. June 14, 1643, settled there, died 
February, 1696-7; married, 1670, Mary Gale, three 
:hildren. 3. Bartholomew, born at Watertown, Feb- 
ruary 23, 1644, served in Captain Moseley's company 
in King Philip's war, 1675, probably died before 
1697. 4. Thomas, born April 28, 1646, settled at 
Watertown, died there 1719; married Rebecca Di.x, 
lad six children. 5. William, born in 1648, soldier 
Dn guard at Lancaster in King Philip's war and 
killed by the Indians in the massacre August 22. 

1675. 6. Michael, born at Watertown, March 23. 
[650-1, settled there, one of the first proprietors of 
the attempted settlement of Worcester in 1674, 
served in King Philip's war. died in Watertown, 
October 16, 1711; married (first), 1674, Mary Bige- 
low; (second) Mary (Lawrence) Earle; had six 
:hildren. 7. Eleazer, born at Watertown, May 14. 
t653. see forward. 8. Elizabeth, born at Watertown, 
March 22, 1654-5, died August 9, 1729 ; married, 

1676, Joshua Bigelow. g. Mary, born at Watertown, 
January 14, 1656-7, died September 7, 1720; married, 
1674, Samuel Bigelow. 10. Rebecca, born at Water- 
town. September 5, 1660, married, 1679. Deacon 
Stephen Cook. 11. Benjamin, born at Watertown, 
June 25, 1652, retnoved to Worcester at the time 
Df the third and successful attempt to settle in 1718 
md was very prominent among the early settlers ; 
died at Worcester, May 3, 1741 ; married, 1689 or 



i6go, Experience Child, had nine children. 13. Allen, 
born at Watertown, May 16, 1665, settled there, 
died November 11, 1711; married, 1684-5, Sarah 
Ball, had nine children. 

(II) Eleazer Flagg, son of Thomas Flagg (i), 
was born at Watertown, Massachusetts, May 14, 
1653. He removed to Concord; was a tanner. Like 
at least three of his brothers he served in the King 
Philip war, being in Captain Samuel Appleton's 
company in the Narragansctt expedition in 1675. 
He was admitted a freeman March 20, 1690, and 
held town offices. He died in Concord, May i, 1722. 
He married at Concord, October 10, 1676, Deborah 
(Wright) Barnes, widow of John Barnes, who was 
killed by the Indians in the Sudbury fight March 
31, 1676. She may have been daughter of Edward 
and Elizabeth Wright, of Concord. Their children 
were : Deborah, born at Concord, October 9, 1677 : 
Abigail, born at Concord, March 9, 1679-80, died 
there August II, 1680; Eleazer, born about 1687; 
Priscilla, married, 1705, Joseph Wheat, of Concord; 
Joseph, married, 1713, Mary Tompkins, of Salem, 
had eight children. 

(HI) Eleazer Flagg, son of Eleazer Flagg (2). 
was born at Concord about 1687. He lived in Con- 
cord and was constable and surveyor of highways. 
He was one of the forty original purchasers of 
Hassanamisco, later called Grafton. On the various 
divisions of the land among the proprietors 1728- 
1744 he received parcels aggregating about one 
hundred and fifty acres. There is no evidence that 
he himself ever lived in the new town, but he deeded 
his land to his three sons, Eleazer, Robert and Na- 
thaniel. Eleazer Flagg was also a petitioner for the 
Narragansett townships, as eldest male heir of his 
father, and on the setting apart of these lands by 
the general court in 1733 his name is found as a 
grantee in Narragansett No. 6. (Templeton) and he 
received lot 94 in the division of the township in 
1735. He died in Concord. March 28, 1745. in his 
iifty-ninth year. He married at Concord, January 
26, 170S-9, Deborah Tompkins, daughter of John 
Tompkins, Jr.. and Rebecca Knight, born in Salem, 
January 8. 16S8-9, died in Grafton, December 16, 
1753- Their children were: i. Eleazer, born in 
Concord, October 23, 1709, married Huldah Chand- 
ler. 2. Nathan, settled in Concord, bought land in 
Grafton, left no issue. 3. Robert, born at Concord. 
August 25. 1713, removed to Grafton about 1735, 

married Miriam and had seven children. 4. 

Nathaniel, born at Concord, Mav 21, 1716, received a 
gift of land in Grafton from his father and re- 
moved to that tow-n, was a soldier at Crown Point 

1/55, died before 1786, married Elizabeth 

and had nine children. 5. Deborah, born at Con- 
cord, February 13, 1718-9, died before 1757. mar- 
ried at Concord. October 19, 1749, Jacob Whitte- 
more, of Concord, 6. James, born at Concord, May 
3, 1723, removed to Upton about 1750 and to Wil- 
mington, Vermont. 1783, died 1S07 : married Anna 
Morse, of Cambridge, had eight children. 7. Jon- 
atlian, born at Concord, February 3, 1725-6, died at 
Bolton, September 26, 1747. 8. Abigail, born at 
Concord, January 25, 1728-9, married Jonathan Rolf, 
of Westboro. 9. Elizabeth (twin), born at Con- 
cord. January 25, 1728-9, married Nelson. 

(IV) Eleazer Flagg, son of Eleazer Flagg (3). 
was born at Concord, Massachusetts, October 23, 
1709. -He removed to Grafton probably in 1728, 
the year of the purchase from the Indians. He 
settled first on his father's land. In 1831 he re- 
ceived a lot by deed of gift from his father, com- 
prising forty-two acres of the eighteenth lot of the 
first division and a part of the thirty acres of the 
second division. This estate was situated in the 



iSo 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



Merriam district, east of the centre of the town, 
occupying part of the eastern slope of Chestnut 
Hill and meadow land beyond. There is now on 
exhibition at the museum of the Worcester Society 
of Antiquity a large wooden bowl hewn from a tree 
on this hill by Eleazer Flagg in 1732, four years 
after the original settlement. In 1745 a substantial 
dwelling house was built, which was torn down m 
1S45. He was one of the charter members of the 
church in 1731. He was appointed deputy sheriff in 
1746 by Sheriff Benjamin Flagg, a cousin of Eleazer 
Flagg (HI), who was a very prominent man in 
Worcester. He married at Concord, September 28, 
1731, Huldah Chandler, daughter of Samuel and 
Dorcas (Buss) Chandler, who was born in Con- 
cord, July 5, 1709. She was received in full com- 
munion by the Grafton Church, February -20, 1742. 
She died January 27, 1765; he died 1771. Their 
children were: Huldah, born December 14, 1732, 
died at West Sutton, January 24, 1825, married, 

1762, Stephen Waters; Eleazer, born November 
12, 1734, died at Grafton, February 10, 1767, married, 

1763, Sarah Chandler; Simon, born May 25, 173(1, 
died at Grafton, May 26, 1736; John, born August 
2, 1737, probably died young; Mary, born jNIaixh 
19, 1740, died April 6, 1724, married, 1763, Benjamin 
Goddard (See Goddard Family) ; Samuel, born De- 
cember 5, 1741, died at Grafton, October 17, 1822, 
married, 1769, Lydia Rockwood ; Submit, born Sep- 
tember 5, 1744, died at Berlin, Vermont, March 14, 
1839, married, 1773, Daniel Hayden. 

(V) Huldah Flagg, daughter of Eleazer Flagg 
(4), was born at Grafton, December 14, 1732, mar- 
ried. May 19, 1762, Stephen Waters. (See Waters 
Family .sketch in this work.) 

(I) Roger Chandler, one of a company of 
twenty from Plymouth Colony who settled Concord 
about 1658, was an ancestor of Samuel W. Foskett 
and most of the Worcester county Waters and Flagg 
families. He was admitted a freeman !May 24. 
1682. He died at Concord, January 11, 1716-7, aged 
about eighty, according to his gravestone. He mar- 
ried at Concord, April 25, 1671, Mary Simons, of 
Concord, probably daughter of William and Judith 
(Phippen) Simonds, born December 9, 1647, died 
in Concord, August 29, 1728. Their children were : 
Mary, born at Concord, January 7, 1671-2, died 
there August 14, 1759, married, 1690, Lieutenant 
John Heald; Samuel, born at Concord, March 23. 
1673-4; Joseph, born at Concord, October 7. 1678, 
died there November 14, 1679; Abigail, born at Con- 
cord, May 31, 1681. died there March 29, 176&. mar- 
ried Eleazer Brown, of Concord; Hepzibath, married 
(first) Ephraim Jones, married (second), 1711, 
Joseph Fletcher, of Concord and Acton, who died 
1746. married (third) Stow. 

(H) Samuel Chandler, son of Roger Chandler 
(i), was born in Concord, Massachusetts, March 2,^, 
1673-4. He was a prominent citizen of Concord, 
serving as selectman in 1718-19-20-21-22-23-24-30- 
31-32-33-34-35-36-39 : town treasurer from 1723 to 
1727, inclusive, and representative in the gentral 
court from 1729 to 17.36, inclusive, and again in 
1739. He was active in the purchase of Grafton 
township from the Indians in 1728, being one of the 
forty proprietors ; was also an early petitioner for 
the grant of the Narragansett townships to survivors 
of King Philip's war in the right of his father-in- 
law, John Buss, who had been a member of Captain 
Nathaniel Davenport's company in that war. In the 
records of Narragansett No. 6, now Templeton, 
granted by the general court in 1733. His name also 
occurs in'the drawing of lots among the proprietors 
in 1735. He probably never gave up his residence 
in Concord, however. He died there April 27, 



1743. He married in Concord, December 11, 1695, 
Dorcas Buss, daughter of Joseph and Elizabeth 
(Jones) Buss, born in Concord, January 26, 1672-3, 
died January 13, 1757. The children of Samuel 
Chandler were: i. Elizabeth, born October 6, 1696, 
died October 18, 1712. 2. Alary, born September 22, 
1699. died before 1773, married (first), 1718, Joseph 
Dudley; married (second), 1752, Judah Clark, of 
Lexington. 3. Joseph, born October 11, 1701, died at 
Concord, January 31, 1746. 4. Samuel, born Octo- 
ber 19, 1704, was a farmer in Concord, will proved 

November 17, 1754, married about 1730 Dinah , 

had nine children. 5. John, born January II, 1706-7, 
died at Concord, May 3, 1730. 6. Huldah, born July 
5, 1709, married Eleazer Flagg, (HI). 7. Rebecci. 
born December 2, 1709, married, 1731, Eleazer Da\ 1^, 
of Bedford. 8. James, born August 28, 1714, was iui 
committee of safety and correspondence in 1774, and 
the military stores the seizure of which was one nf 
the objects of the British expedition to Concord 
April 19, 1775, were in part in his care at that time ; 
he died December 8, 1792; married (first) iSlary 
Wright, (second) Mary Flagg, daughter of Josvi'h 
and jNIary Tompkins Flagg; inarried (third) }ilary 
Whittaker, of Carlisle; daughter Sarah married 
Eleazer Flagg (5). 

(Ill) Huldah Chandler, daughter of Sanniel 
Chandler (2), was born July 5, 1709, married Elea/.r 
Flagg (4). (See Flagg Family. Also Waters ai;d 
Foskett families.) 

RUFUS BENNETT FOWLER. Philip Fowler 
(i), the emigrant ancestor of Rufus Bennett Fowler, 
was a cloth worker and was probably born in M:irl- 
borough, Wiltshire, England, about 1590. He sailed 
from England on the ship "Mary and John" the 
24th day of March, 1633-4, a"d arrived in New Eng- 
land in May. Owing to misrepresentation of the 
activities and intentions of the colonists in New 
England, ships sailing to that place were subjected 
at that time to a rigid scrutiny, the passengers were 
compelled to take the "Oathes of Allegiance and 
Suprcmacie" and the master to give bond to per- 
form the services of the Church of England during 
the voyage. On his arrival in New England Philip 
settled in Ipswich, Essex county, Massachusetts, and 
ihe "Fowler place" in that town on which he lived 
i~ still occupied by a Fowder. He received grants 
of other lands in and near Ipswich during his life, 
and performed the duties of a respected and honored 
citizen of the town of Ipswich. He died in 1670, 
having reached the age of eighty-nine. He was 
twice married, first to Mary Winslow in England. 
Of this marriage there were seven children: Mar- 
garet, Samuel, Hester, Joseph and Thomas, all of 
whom except Thomas were born in England. Mary 
Fowler died in 1659, and in 1660 Philip married 
Mary Norton, by whom he had no children. 

(II) Samuel Fowler was born in England in 
1618 and came to Ipswich with his parents in the 
ship "Mary and John." The record of Samuel ( -' ) 
is confused, but it is probable he lived in Ports- 
mouth, New Hampshire, until 1668, when he moved 
to Sali.'^bury, Massachusetts. He was a shipwright. 
He was probably a Quaker, and there is a record 
of his being brought befcire the court in 1675 for 
travelling on Sunday. He married twice, his fir^t 
wife's name being unknown. He married as his 
second wife, about 1675, Margaret, the widow of 
Robert Morgan. He died in Salisbury, January, 
1710-IT, at the age of ninety-two. His children, 
probaI)Iy by his first wife, were: William, ]\Iary. 
Sarah and Samuel. 

(III) Samuel Fowler was born in Portsmouth, 
New Hampi^hire, and came to Salisbury with his ; 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



iSi 



father in 1668. He was a laborer and lived in Salis- 
bury until his death in 17.^7-8. In 1693 his father 
Samuel (2) transferred all his property to his son 
Samuel '(3) in return for the care of him and his 
wife Margaret during their old age. At his death 
Samuel (3) was possessed of considerable property 
for that time. He married in 1684 Hannah Worthen, 
and their children were: Samuel, Hannah. Susanna, 
Jacob, Mary, Sarah, Ann, Ezekiel, Robert, Abraham, 
Thomas, Lydia and Judith. 

(IV) Ezekiel Fowler was born at Salisbury, 
1697-8. He lived at Salem and married, in 1722, 
Martha Chase, of Bristol county, Rhode Island. He 
died at Salem in 1735. The record of his children 
is incomplete. He had however a son Samuel. 

(V) Samuel Fowler was a cordwainer and was 
born probably about 1730. His place of birth is un- 
known. He married Hannah Bowen. of Swansea. 
Rhode Island, in 1752, and lived there until 1753. 
He moved to Warren. Rhode Island, in the follow- 
ins year, and about 1764 moved to Northbridge, then 
a part of Uxbridge, settling in the easterly part of 
the town. Like his father and grandfather he' was 
a Quaker. His children were : Sarah. Ezekiel, Mary, 
Isaac, Olive, Bernard, John, Martha, Elizabeth, Han- 
nah, Peace and Phebe. 

(VI) Bernard -Fowler was born in Warren, 
Rhode Island, in 1762, and came to Northbridge 
with his father in the following year. He married 
his first wife, Rebecca Mowry, of Smithfield. Rhode 
Island, in 1790: she died in 1805. In 1810 Bernard 
(6) married Abigail Steere, of Gloucester, Rhode 
Island. Bernard (6) died in 1843, at the age of 
eighty-one. He was a farmer. His children by his 
first marriage were : Mary. Robert, Willis, Phebe, 
Caleb and Samuel, and by his second marriage : 
Thomas, Rebecca, Charles and Nancy. 

(VII) Charles Fowler was born at Northbridge 
in 1815. He was a farmer and lived in Northbridge 
until about 1890. He married, February 9, 1841, 
Susan Frost Bennett, of Northbridge. She was the 
daughter of Rufus Bennett, known as "Father" Ben- 
nett, a farmer in Northbridge. and member of the 
legislature from that town for a number of years. 
He was ordained a Methodist minister in the early 
days before the Methodists settled and became 
salaried preachers, and he refused to accept such a 
settlement. He continued to minister without pay 
to all who required his services, since as he said, 
■"The Grace of God is free." All the country side 
was his parish, in which he solemnized marriages 
and attended funerals and no gathering of the citi- 
zens was complete without the presence and advice 
of "Father" Bennett. Charles (7) died in Wor- 
cester, in 1895. at the age of eighty, surviving his wife 
hut three days. He was born a Quaker. He had 
three children: Rufus Bemiett, named for his 
maternal grandfather; Charles Thomas and Mary 
Abby.^ 

(VIII) Rufus Bennett Fowler was born at 
Northbridge, Massachusetts, December 5, 1841. He 
graduated at the Barre Academy. Barre. Vermont, 
in i86r. After his graduation he became assistant 
superintendent of the Uxbridge woolen mill. He 
later took a course in the Eastman Business College 
at Poughkeepsie. New York, the first to adopt actual 
business methods in its course of instruction and 
at that time at the height of its popularity, having 
about fourteen hundred students. At the close of 
his course Mr. Fowler accepted the position of 
superintendent and instructor of the banking depart- 
ment of the Eastman College. In this department 
two banks and a clearing house illustrated in a 
practical way the functions of banks in business life. 
In addition to his duties as instructor and super- 



intcndeiil Mr. Fowler also studied law. In 1864-.S 
he became lecturer on commercial law at the United 
Slates College of Business in New Haven, Connccii- 
cut. This college was an ambitious undertaking of 
Mr. Thomas H. Stevens, for many years teacher in 
the Claverack Institute, New York, to broaden the 
instruction in schools of this class. From 1865 to 
the time of the great fire, Mr. Fowler was engaged 
in the wholesale business in Chicago, gradually drift- 
ing into mechanical pursuits and jiatent law, urged 
both by his natural ability and his inclination in that 
direction. His services as an expert in such matters 
were in constant demand. In 1872 he returned to 
the east and was for some time engaged in designing 
special machinery in Worcester. He also at this 
time completed an invention of a ribbon loom. 

He married in 1875. Helen M. Wood, of Barre, 
Vermont, and after his marriage lived in Stafford 
Springs, Connecticut, where he conducted the manu- 
facture of narrow wares by means of looms of his 
own invention. In 1881 he returned to Worcester, 
where he now lives, and took up the profession of 
patent attorney and expert in patent causes. The 
nature of his profession is such that a comparatively 
few become acquainted with his merits and ability, 
and although he ranks high in his profession he is 
l--elter known through his connection with various 
organizations devoted to public service. 

He was president of the Worcester Board of 
Tr.ide in 1900 and 19OT. his natural fitness and 
ability for the position and his public spirit and Inter- 
est in the welfare of Worcester directing attention 
to him. and he was recognized as a very capable and 
efficient president. While at the head of the board 
of trade there was a spontaneous movement to run 
Mr. Fowler for mayor of Worcester, and he could 
have had the Republican nomination with the sup- 
port of all the newspapers, but he declined it on 
account of the pressure of his private business. The 
only pul)lic office he has accepted is that of park 
commissioner of Worcester, which he now holds. 
He is a member of the Worcester Society of .Anti- 
nuity. the Worcester Economic Club, the Public 
Education Association of Worcester, the Worcester 
County Musical .Association, the Massachusetts Civic 
League, the National Municipal League, the Ameri- 
can Forrestry .Association and the National Geog- 
raohic Society. He is an honorary member of the 
Worcester Continentals, a trustee of the Worcester 
County Institution for Savings and a director in 
several manufacturing corporations. Although he 
was reared as a Quaker he and his family have at- 
tended Central Congregational Church. His children 
are Lid.rv Wood, born in 1876. and Susan B.nmcti. 
born in 1885, died in 1892. 

WOODWARD FAMILY. Thomas Woodward 
(i), seems to be the first person of this family of 
which there can now be any positive knowledge. 
He married Elizabeth Tynen, in Childwell parish. 
Lancashire, England. May 23, 1592. Five children 
were born to them, two of whom, John, born .April 
10. 1504. and Henry, born March 22, 1607. emigrated 
to America in the company that followed Rev. Rich- 
ard Mather. They landed in Dorchester. Massachu- 
setts, from the ship "James." Captain Taylor. Au- 
gust 16. 1635. 

(II) Henry Woodward, above named, remained 
in Dorchester until 1660. when he went to Northamp- 
ton, on the founding of the church there, where he 
became one of the "seven pillars." He died April 
7. t68.;. aged seventy-eight years. His wife, Eliza- 
Iieth. died .August 13. 1690. 

(III) John Woodward, son of Henry (2), was 
born in Dorchester. 1649. went to Northampton with 



i8j 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



his father, and married in 1685. He was among the 
first party to settle Northficld, and five years later, 
on the desertion of this northern post, came back and 
went to Westfield, from which town his wife came. 
Before 1700, he removed to Lebanon, Connecticut, 
where his name appears as one of the fifty-one 
grantees to the "five mile purchase." He died in 
Lebanon about 1718. He married Anna Dewey, at 
Westfield, May 18, 1671. Of their six children the 
second, John, was born April 2, 1674. 

(IV) John Woodward, son of John (3), born 
in Northampton, accompanied his father on his many 
migrations and was thus one of the original pro- 
prietors of Lebanon. He was a constable in 1703, 
selectman in 1717-19-25-26, again from 1731-35. He 
was a deputy to the general court of the province 
of Connecticut from 1720 to 1731. A justice of the 
peace for Windham county from 1725 to 1743. He 
was a deacon in the church and a member of the 
council. He died September 19, 1743, aged sixty- 
nine years. He married Experience Baldwin, June 
2, 1703. They had three children, of whom Israel, 
the second, was born June 5, 1707. 

(V) Israel Woodward, son of John and Ex- 
perience Woodward, born in Lebanon, lived on the 
old place until after the death of his father. In 
1747 he bought a farm in Watertown, Connecticut. 
He died August 17, 1800, aged ninety-three years. 

■\^ In October, 1744. he was commissioned captain of 
a train band and was ensign in May, 1749. He 
served in the French and Indian war as captain of 
the Sixth Company of the First Regiment, Connec- 
ticut Line, and was at Fort Edward, Ticonderoga 
and Crown Point. He married Abigail Baird, of 
Huntington, Connecticut, March 31. 1730. His wife 
died December 27, 1803, aged ninety-six years. Of 
the ten children all but one, who died in infancy, 
were present at their mother's funeral, the oldest 
being seventy-one years and th youngest fifty-three. 

(VI) Samuel Woodward, son of Israel Wood- 
ward, the youngest of the family, was born October 
25, 1750. He was apprenticed to his brother to learn 
the tanners trade and remained with him until he 

■ was of age. He taught school for five years and 
entered Yale College in 1776. In 1779 the college 
was broken up by an attack of the British and he 
decided to study medicine. After due training he 
began the practice of medicine in Torringford, Con- 
necticut, where he remained until his death, Janu- 
ary 26. 1835, at the age of eighty-four. For twenty 
years he was a member of the legislature, and for 
a long period the "father of the House." He was 
the unsuccessful Democratic candidate for Congress 
from 1800 to 1810. He married Mary Griswold, 
daughter of Captain Shubae! Griswold, February 10, 
1782. There were eight children born of this mar- 
riage. 

(VII) Samuel Bayard Woodward, M. D., the 
eldest son of Samuel and Mary (Polly) (Griswold) 
Woodward, was born in Torringford. Connecticut. 
June 10, 1787. His mother was a daughter of a 
captain in the French and Indian and the revolu- 
tionary wars. Her brother was a state senator for 
fiftv sessions. Another brother, Stanley, was secre- 
tary of the territory of Michigan and its governor 
under Jefferson's administration. Later he became 
Ignited States senator from Ohio. Samuel Bayard 
Woodward, with three brothers, studied medicine 
under his fnther. who was a physician with a large 
practice in Torringford and educated many students 
in his profession. In 1809 he received a license to 
practice in Connecticut. He remained with his father 
one year, and in t8io reirioved to Wethersfield, Con- 
necticut, began practice for hiiuself and there re- 
mained until he came to Worcester in 1832. In 1822 



he received the honorary degree of Doctor of Medi- 
cine from Vale College. He was instrumental in 
founding the Retreat for the Insane at Hartford. 
While working up this project he traveled over a 
large part of Connecticut in his gig. From 1S27 to 
r8.32 he was physician to the Connecticut State 
Prison, and here became familiar with the cases of 
the insane poor, to which he was to devote the best 
years of his manhood. 

The Massachusetts State Lunatic Hospital at 
Worcester, the first public institution of the kind 
in America for the care of criminal and pauper in- 
sane, had meanwhile been established thfough the 
unceasing exertions of Horace Mann and was being 
built. Dr. Woodward was made first superintendent. 
He began in December, 1832, and served until June, 
1846, and during this period made the Worcester 
Hospital a model for the entire country for the suc- 
cessful treatment of the insane poor. The report 
of the trustees in 1846 says : "The success ''of the 
hospital is due to the professional skill, personal 
address and energy, conscientious fidelity and pure 
ardent philanthropy of Dr. Woodward." In ac- 
cepting his resignation they add : "We feel that we 
are bound to bear our unqualified testimony to the 
justice of your claims to be recognized and remem- 
bered as one of the most distinguished benefactors 
of the Commonwealth." After resigning, he retired 
to a beautiful estate in Northampton, where he re- 
ceived a few private patients, but he never recovered 
his impaired health and passed from earthly scenes, 
January 3, 1850, aged fifty-three years. 

Hon. Stephen Salisbury describes his personal ap- 
pearance anci character as follows : "His person was 
a rare model of strength and manly beauty. On his 
brow sat courtesy and command in entire harmony, 
and it is no exaggeration to Say that his form and 
carriage were majestic. His stature was six feet 
four inches and without the deformity of obesity, 
his weight was two hundred and sixty pounds. His 
ttmper was benevolent, liberal, sanguine, decided and 
persevering. He understood readily the character of 
men, had great power over their feelings and easily 
gained their confidence and love. His mind was of 
a practical character." 

He married in 1815. Miss Maria Porter, of Had- 
ley. Massachusetts, a lineal descendant of Jonathan 
Edwards. She died in Worcester, October 10, 1873, 
at the home of her son Samuel. By her he had 
twelve children: Charles, born April 17, 1816; 
LTrania B., born June 16. 1817, died October 7, 1857; 
Rufus, born October 3. 1819, mentioned below ; Stan- 
ley Griswold. born June 5. 1821 ; Henry, born Sep- 
tember 2, 1822, mentioned below ; Samuel, born Janu- 
ary II, 1825: Maria Porter, born .August 3, 1826; 
Edwin, born June 9. 1828. died 1829; Catherine Todd, 
born March 30, 1831. died 1849; Edwin Porter, born 
July 16, 1832: Algernon Sidney, born June 6, 183S, 
died February, 1836. Of these children Dr. Rufus, 
Samuel and Henry bore well their part in the history 
of Worcester. 

To better fix the reader's mind on the wonderful 
skill and capacity of this man it may be summed up 
by the subjoined review of his work: He studied with 
his father; practiced twenty years at Wethersfield, 
Connecticut ; was elected secretary of the Connecti- 
cut Medical Society ; was one of the examiners of 
the Medical College ; six years physician of the Con- 
necticut State Prison ; was a prime mover in the 
formation of the Retreat for the Insane at Hartford ; 
served fourteen years as superintendent of the In- 
sane .\sylum at Worcester : in 1S32 represented the 
Hartford district in the legislature as senator; became 
a Fellow of the Albany Medical College ; was the 
first president of the Association of Insane .\sylum 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



183 



Superintendents and the founder of the society ; a 
member of the Ohio State Medical Society and Ohio 
Historical Society ; he wrote extensively for medical 
worUs and scientific journals. 

(VIII) Samuel Woodward, son of Dr. Samuel 
B. Woodward, and father of Samuel B. Woodward, 
was born at Wethersfield. Connecticut. January 11, 
1825, and came to Worcester with his father. He 
attended the Worcester schools and from school soon 
went into the Worcester postoffice as a clerk under 
Mr. Fisher, postmaster; after one year of faithful 
work there he entered the employ of the leading 
hardware store of the city at that date — Kinnicutt & 
Rice, in 1S46. was admitted to the firm as partner 
1847. After the death of Mr. Rice he still continued 
in the firm of which he and Mr. Kinnicutt were active 
members. In 1887 he retired. Though many times 
tendered office he always declined to accept, preferring 
rather to attend to bis own matters and support other 
capable fellow-citizens for the various offices. For 
a number of years he was a director in the Citi- 
zens' Bank of Worcester ; also connected officially 
with the Worcester Gas Company. He held an im- 
portant business trust as member of the board of 
sinking fund commissioners, which place he held at 
the time of his death, which took place December 
30, 1888, at the age of sixty-four years. September 
14, 1852, he married L. E. R. Treadw-ell, of Ipswich, 
by whom one child was born — Samuel B., August 
24, 1853. Mrs. Woodward died March, 1857. 

(VII) Edwin Woodward, son of Samuel Wood- 
ward (VI), was born July 16, 1832, at Wethers- 
field. In 1861 he entered the service of his country 
as lieutenant in Captain Studley's company, Fif- 
teenth Massachusetts Regiment of Infantry, and 
was subsequently detailed to serve in the signal 
corps, where he remained until the close of the war. 
After the close of the war he engaged in the drug 
business at Worcester in partnership with David 
Scott, and later went to New York and engaged in 
the brokerage business. He now lives a retired life 
at Summit, New Jersey. He married Helen M. Mus- 
grave. five children ; Thomas N., born July 8. 1863, 
died July 27, 1864; Helen !M.. born December 8, 
1864, died January g, 1870: Martha G.. born July 6, 
1867; William S.. born October 17, 1869, died 1890; 
Anna T., born September 17, 1871. 

(IX) Dr. Samuel B. Woodward, son of Samuel 
Woodward (8). born August 24. 1S53. In Worces- 
ter, his native city, he attended the common school^, 
in 1870 entered Harvard College, graduating in the 
class of 1874, and the Harvard Medical School in 
1878. He began his active medical practice at Wor- 
cester in 1881, and is to-day among the leaders in 
his profession. Dr. Woodward has descended from 
a line of eminent medical practitioners — his grand- 
father and great-grandfather being such in their 
day and generation; also his uncle and others. Dr. 
Woodward is a Republican, and in church relations 
affiliates with the Unitarians. Among the offices 
held by this gentleman are that of surgeon of the 
Memorial Hospital. 'consulting surgeon of City and 
St. Vincent's Hospital, trustee of the Worcester 
[nsane Hospital and Worcester Insane Asylum. Has 
Deen president of the Worcester District Medical 
Society, director of Worcester Gas Light Company, 
Tustee for Worcester County Institution for Sav- 
ings, and one of its investment board. 

He married. September 16, 1884, Margaret Perky, 
jf New Hampshire, daughter of the late chief jus- 
:ice of that state. 

(VIII) Henry Woodward, son of Dr. Samuel 
B. Woodward (7), was born in Wethersfield, Con- 
necticut, September 2, 1822. He came with his 



, parents to Worcester when he was only seven years 
old, and his early education was received in tlie 
common and high schools there. When he was in 
the high school his father gave him his choice of 
studying art or a college education, and he chose 
art. He had a gift for drawing and painting and 
he studied under good masters. While he never 
made painting his exclusive occupation it has been 
an absorbing avocation. He has been prominent 
among the artists of Worcester for many years. He 
has frequently sold his pictures and exhibited in 
various exhibitions for many years. He was one 
of the organizers of the Worcester Art Students' 
Club and has been president of that interesting or- 
ganization. When a young man he taught drawing 
and painting at Holy Cross College and at one 
time had a studio in the business section of tlic 
town. For the most part he has worked in his 
studio at his residence, 43 West street, Worcester. 
He devoted virtually all his time not claimed by 
business to painting pictures, and in spite of ill 
health is still at work with the palette and brush at 
every opportunity. Mr. Woodward is an artist by 
nature. He loved nature and art alike and many 
of his pictures were out-door scenes. along the sea 
shore or in the fields. He did not confine himself to 
scenery, however, but painted many and varied 
subjects. 

Mr. Woodward is known to many who are not 
interested in art as an excellent business man. For 
many years he was an active factor in the financial 
life of Worcester. He began his business career in 
Boston as clerk in the dry goods store of Henry 
Pettis, who was a relative. After a few years he 
returned to Worcester to accept a position as secre- 
tary to his father, who was the superintendent of 
the Worcester Insane Hospital on Summer street. 
After a few years he entered the Worcester Me- 
chanics' Savings Bank, where for forty-nine years he 
was the treasurer. The Mechanics' Savings Bank 
was the second in Worcester. It was chartered May 
IS, 1851, with Isaac Davis as president and Parley 
Hammond as treasurer. In 1854 Mr. Woodward be- 
came treasurer, and at the end of a half century re- 
tired from active work at the bank. He was the 
oldest and best savings bank official of the state. 
While Mr. Woodward divided his time between 
banking and painting he had few other interest<. 
He is a member of the Worcester Horticultural 
Society and of the Worcester Agricultural Society. 
In politics he is a Republican. 

He married (first), May, 1853, Mary Hunt, 
daughter of Eben and Mary (Abbey) Hunt. She 
died January 24, 1872. She was born in Milford, 
Massachusetts. He married (second) Mrs. Amelia 
(Gerry) Wells, of Boston, December 21, 1875. She 
was the widow of Benjamin Wells, of Boston. The 
children of Henry and Mary (Hunt) Woodward 
were: Henry, died young; Catherine Burns, died 
young; Alice Hunt, resides at home; Maria Phil- 
ips, resides at home; Harry Andrews, graduate of 
the Classical high school, married Lottie Benson, 
daughter of Mr. and Mrs. James K. Comstock ; 
Harry Andrew is with Goldman & Sachs, brokers, 
in New York city ; he has one son, James Henry 
Woodward ; Norman Porter, graduate of the 
Classical high school, is with Sanuicl Ward & Co., 
stationers, Boston, as traveling salesman ; resides 
in Boston ; Mary Hunt, teacher of kindergarten at 
the Winslow street public school. Mr. Woodward 
is a member of the Church of the Unity of Wor- 
cester, being one of its early members when its first 
pastor was Edward Everett Hale, and he has taken 
great interest in its building up. 



i84 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



FOX FAMILY. Thomas Fox (i), who settled 
in Cambridge, Massachusetts, as early as March. 
1631, was the emigrant ancestor of Mrs. C. W. 
Hamihon and Dr. Lemuel F. Woodward through 
their mother's line. He was evidently one of the 
earliest political reformers in New England and a 
man of great moral courage, for the very first record 
of Thomas Fox is an account of the proceedings 
in the general court which punished him for sug- 
gesting that the court had taken bribes in the 
Bratcher case. That was in March, 1630-31. He 
was evidently a man of influence. He was admitted 
a freeman in March, 1637-8, and was then thirty 
years of age, showing that he was born in 1607-08 
and probably came over when he was twenty-one, in 
1630. It is said that he came from London and that 
he was the son of Dr. Thomas Fox, a physician of 
that city. He seems to have been an apprentice to 
Governor Craddock, who had a farm in Medford. 
A tradition that has more than the usual claim for 
credence states that he emigrated from England in 
anger and disgust at the injustice done him in a law 
suit, which he believed was decided against him 
because he was a grandson of John Fox, the author. 
The suit was about a lease for three lives on seven- 
teen houses in London, and as it happened in the 
reign of Charles L when Puritans were persecuted 
at every opportunity. Fox had good reason, per- 
haps, to doubt the justice of the English courts. 

Thomas Fox was one of the original proprietors 
of Cambridge, Massachusetts. He dealt in real 
estate and was executor and administrator of many 
estates. He was selectman in 1658 and repeatedly 
afterwards elected to that office. He was an es- 
teemed and enterprising citizen and stood well in 
the church. The name of his first wife was Re- 
becca . She died May 11, 1647. He mar- 
ried (second) Ellen Green, widow of Fcrcival 
Green, May 24, 1650. She died May 27, 1682, aged 
eighty-two years. He married (third), April 24. 
1683, Elizabeth Chadwick, widow of Charles Chad- 
wick. She died in 1685, aged seventy-one years. He 
married (fourth) Rebecca Wyeth. widow of Nich- 
olas Wyeth, December 16, 1685. He died April 25. 
1693, aged eighty-five years. 

The house at Cambridge owned by Thomas Fox. 
sometimes called the Holmes house, stood originally 
on the north side of the college grounds, but is now 
owned by the college. In the early days of the 
colony the place belonged to Mrs. Ellen Green, the 
second wife of Fox. The house was repaired by 
their grandson, Ja'bez Fox, who owned it, and his 
son Thomas Fox, of Woodstock, Connecticut, sold it 
to Rev. John Fox, of Woburn. Massachu.'ietts. 
General Ward, of Shrewsbury, made this house his 
headquarters while in command of the American 
forces in Cambridge in 177S. and he was there at the 
time of the battle of Bunker Hill. Dr. Abiel Holmes, 
while he was chaplain to the college, and Dr. Oliver 
Wendell Holmes, his son. was born in this house. 
The house was torn down in 1890, and the site is 
suitably marked. It is near the law school. 

The daughter of Mrs. Rebecca Fox by a former 
husband, Thomas Andrews, was a victim of the 
witchcraft craze, and there is on record a pathetic 
letter written by Mrs. Fox in 1692 to the general 
court, asking for the release of her daughter "who 
was crazed, distracted and broken in mind and 
had been so these twelve years and upwards." She 
had then been in prison for six months. Her hus- 
band was a fugitive to avoid the same fate, and 
she had four young children, one a baby, left to the 
mercy of neighbors. Not until the following January 
was she tried, acquitted and released. By that 



time the delusion had passed and the persecution 
ceased abruptly. 

Thomas Fox had one son, Jabez, baptized at 
Concord, Massachusetts, and possibly Thomas Fox. 
who married, December 13, 1647, Hannah Brooks. 

(II) Rev. Jabez Fox, son of Thomas Fo.x (1). 
was born in Concord in 1647 and baptized there. 
He was educated at Harvard College, where he 
graduated in 1665. On taking his second degree 
there, three years later, his public address consisted 
of a few lines of Latin verse. He served one year 
as assistant of Rev. Mr. Carter, pastor of the Wo- 
burn church, and November 5, 1679, he was called 
to be minister there. The house which the town 
built for him was on Pleasant street, near the site 
of the public library, and was occupied by ^Ir. Fox 
and his son, who succeeded him as minister, for 
seventy-six years. He died of smallpox, February 
26, 1702, in the city of Boston, .and was buried in 
Woburn, where in the oldest burying ground his 
grave stone may be seen. 

He married Judith Rayner, daughter of Rev. 
John Rayner, minister of Plymouth, Massachusetts, 
and Dover, New Hampshire. His widow married 
(second) Colonel Jonathan Tyng, of Boston, 
formerly member of the council of Sir Edmund 
Andros, governor. Colonel Tyng died January 19, 
1723. Flis widow died June 5, 1736, in her ninety- 
ninth year. The children of Rev. Jabez and Judith 
Fox were: John, born at Woburn, May 10, 167S: 
Thomas, born at Woburn, November 6, 1680. died 
July 10, 1730; Thomas, born at Woburn, November 
13, 16S1 ; Jabez, born at Woburn, December 2, 1684; 
Judith, born at Woburn, June 19, 1690, died 1703 
of smallpox. 

(III) Jabez Fox, son of Jabez Fox (2), was 
born at Woburn, Massachusetts, February 25. 1705. 
He was a merchant tailor and maker of woolen 
cloth. He married Hannah Burroughs, daughter of 
Rev. George Burroughs, Mai-ch 8. 1705. Their chil- 
dren were : Thomas, born in Boston, December 6, 
1706; Hannah, born in Boston, June 27, 1708; Judith, 
born in Boston, August ig, 171 1; Rebecca, born in 
Boston, 1714. 

(IV) Thomas Fox, son of Jabez Fox (3), was 
born in Boston, Massachusetts, December 7, 1706. 
He married INIercy . They settled at Wood- 
stock. Connecticut, among the first settlers, where 
he followed the trade of fuller, manufacturing and 
dressing woolen cloth. He resided in a two-story 
frame house near the famous Putnam wolf cave. 
The old house was destroyed by fire in 1850. He 
died in 1796. His children were : Hannah, born 
April 27, 1731 ; Thomas, born April 27, 1731 ; 
Thomas, born September 7, 1732; iSIaria. born April 
23. 173s ; John, born March 10. 1737 ; Mary, born 
March 10, 1740; Jabez, born May 6, 1745; Fanny, 
born November 17, 1749; Rebecca, born July 9, 
1753. It is said that there were seven daughters 
while the names of only five are known. It is said 

also that one of these daughters married 

Parmenter. 

(V) Sergeant Jabez Fox, son of Thomas Fo.x 
(4), was born at Woodstock, Connecticut, May 6, 
1745. He married Mary Strobridge. September 28, 
1769, at Woodstock. She was born August 10, 
1749, at Middleborough, Massachusetts. He was a 
draper and had a fulling mill at Ketch brook. He 
was the first in this country to make Scotch plaids. 
He was an ardent patriot and was actively engaged 
in the revolution. Sergeant Fox raised a company 
of men to defend the coast at the time General 
Arnold, the traitor, was attacking Connecticut. Ser- 
geant Fox and twelve men w'ere attacked bv a 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



J 8: 



largely superior force of British and Tory cavalry. 
The Americans were stationed in a brick school 
house, where they defended themselves desperately, 
killing six of the attacking party. Their ammiuu- 
tion became exhausted and they attempted to escape 
through the back window to a swamp 'in the rear. 
Sergeant Fox, the last to leave the building, was 
overtaken by the Tory leader. Captain Finch, a 
man who Fox knew and to whom he appealed for 
quarter. Finch called him a damned Rebel and cut 
him down with his sabre. The sword, coat and 
hat of Sergeant Fox were preserved in the Boston 
Atheneuni. He was killed May 20, 1780, and July 
1, 1780, his widow gave birth to a daughter (Han- 
nah). The children of Sergeant Jabez and Mary 
(Strobridge) Fox were: Thomas, born May i_>, 
1770; Polly, born June 20, 1772; William, born 
March ig, 1773; Jabez, born December 13, 1774, died 
in infancy; Asa, born March 23, 1776, died at 
City Point, Virginia, of yellow fever; Jabez, born 
August s, 1777; Betsey, born February 4. i77g; 
Hannah, born July l, 17S0. The widow of Sergeant 
Fox married (second) William Spear, by whom 
she had a daughter Miriam, who married Marvin 
Mudge and had ten children. 

(VI) Thomas Fox, son of Sergeant Jabez F"ox 
(5), was born at East Windsor, Connecticut, May 
22, 1770, and was but ten years old when his father 
was killed. He learned the same trade that his 
father and grandfather had followed. He had a 
fulling mill first at Westfield, Massachusett.'^, and 
later at Tolland, Connecticut. He married Chloe 
Bradley, of Tolland. He died of malignant fever. 
November l, 181 1, probably in Ulster county, New- 
York. His wife died at Crystal Lake, Henry county. 
Illinois, aged seventy-two years. Their children 
were : William Bradley, born in Scotland, Connecti- 
cut, in 1795; Chauncy Johnston, born at Tolland, 
Connecticut, August 21, 1797; Pliny L., born at 
Tolland, Connecticut, 1799; Mary, born at Tol- 
land, probably in 1802 ; Eliza, born at Tolland ; Har- 
riet, born at Tolland. 

(VII) William Bradley Fox, son of Thomas 
Fox (6), was born in Scotland, Hartford county, 
Connecticut, in 1795. At the time of his father's 
death he was only sixteen years of age. He was 
apprenticed to the fuller's trade that had been fgl- 
lowed for at least four generations by his ancestors. 
After serving his apprenticeship he married Eliza 
Ingalls in 1819, and three years later went to Wor- 
cester, where he established himself in the business 
he had learned. F'rom a inodest fulling mill he de- 
veloped a large industry. He owned the well known 
Fox's mills and became wealthy. He died in i860. 
His children were: i. Lemuel Ingalls. born at Tol- 
land, Connecticut, January 23, 1821. 2. William 
Bradley, Jr., born at Tolland, Connecticut, April 
16, 1823. 3. Nancy Jane, born February 10, 1825. 
married Dr. Rufus Woodward ; she died December 
8, 1905. 4. Charles, born in Worcester. June 7. 
1827, married Jennett Hyde in 1855; he died 1891. 
no children. 5. Ann Rebecca Sumner, born Decem- 
ber 16, 1829. 6. Thomas, born February 29, 1832. 
died young. 7. Eliza, born March 23. 1834, married. 
1859. C. Willard Hamilton, of Worcester, a tape 
manufacturer, who died Oct. 3, 1901 ; she resides at 
37 Oak avenue, Worcester, with her daughter, Fanny 
Maria, born March 9, 1865, unmarried 1905. 8. 
Thomas, born in Worcester, May 24. 1835, married 
Mary Feel in 1863; he died 1875; no children. 9. 
Maria Peabody, born in Worcester, September 30. 
1837, died young. 10. Maria, born January 22, 1841. 
died 18S6. unmarried. 

(VIII; Nancy Jane Fox, daughter of William 



B. Fox (7), was born in Worcester, February 10, 
1825, married Dr. Rufus Woodward (q. v.). 

(VIII) Rufus Woodward, M. D., son of Dr. 
Samuel B. Woodward (7). and father of Dr. Lemuel 
F. Woodward, was born in Wethcrsficld, Connecti- 
cut, October 3, 1819. He was fitted in the Worcester 
schools for Harvard College, which he entered in 
1837. After his graduation in 1841 he began the 
study of medicine with Dr. Joseph Sargent, and in 
1842 entered the Harvard Medical School, from 
which he graduated in 1845. F'or three years he 
was assistant physician at the Slate Lunatic Hospital, 
of which his father was the first superintendent. 
Then he spent two years in study in Europe, devot- 
ing much attention to insanity with the intention 
of assisting his father in a private asylum at North- 
ampton, Massachusetts. His plans were clianged 
by the sudden death of his father in 1850, and on 
his return home, soon afterward, he began to prac- 
tice his profession in Worcester. " His first office 
was at No. 2 Elm street. Later he built the house 
at 52 Pearl street, now occupied by Dr. Lemuel F. 
Woodward or "Doctor Lem" as he is universally 
known to distinguish him from his cousin, "Doctor 
Sam" Woodward. This house was built in 1870. 
For thirty-three years he devoted himself to his pro- 
fession, seeing patients on the very day of his own 
sudden death, December 30, 1885, at the age of 
sixty-six. 

He was a member of the local and state medical 
societies. During the civil war he was examining 
surgeon for volunteers, and in 1862 volunteer sur- 
geon under the sanitary commission. From 1863 
to 1866 he was city physician, and on the formation 
of the board of health in 1877 was induced to ac- 
cept the position again. He was city physician the 
remainder of his life and was chairman of the 
board of health, of which ex-officio he was a mem- 
ber. From 1871 to 1880 he was visiting surgeon to 
the city hospital. He was consulting surgeon to the 
Washburn Dispensary from 1874 till his death. He 
was physician to the House of Correction and to 
the Orphans' Home. For twelve years he was a 
member of the school board. He was elected a mem- 
ber of the American Antiquarian Society in 1861. 
He was a member of the Harvard Natural History 
Society and always greatly interested in botany and 
natural history. He was one of the founders of 
tlie Worcester Natural History Society, an organi- 
zation that has shown much activity recently. He 
was president of it for many years. Much of Dr. 
Woodward's leisure time was spent in his garden. 
Perhaps nobody in Worcester knew more about the 
flora of this vicinity than he. He was a member of 
the famous old Worcester Fire Society. 

He married Nancy Jane* Fox, daughter of Will- 
iam B. and Eliza Fox. She was born in Worcester, 
February 10, 1825. Her father came to Worcester 
about 1S25 and was the proprietor of the Fox 
mills at Vernon square. He formerly lived at Tol- 
land. Connecticut. His children were: Dr. Lemuel 
F., Rufus S., Ralph, Jane, (see Woodward Family 
sketch and Dr. Samuel B. Woodward sketch else- 
where in this work). 

(IX) Dr. Lemuel F. Woodward, son of Dr. 
Rufus Woodward (8), was born in Worcester, 
April 26, 1857. He attended the public schools 
of his native city and the high school, preparing for 
college at the latter institution. He graduated from 
the Lawrence scientific school at Harvard University 
in 1878. He went to Harvard ^ledical School, 
where he took his degree of M. D. in 1882. He 
spent two years in the Boston City Hospital and 
the Lying-in Hospital in Boston. He began to prac- 



iS6 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



tice medicine in Worcester, at 49 Pear! street. Ijvit 
soon afterward his father died and he succeeded to 
his practice and has since occupied his father's of- 
fices at 52 Pearl street. The medical library alone 
is exceedingly valuable and interesting from a his- 
torical point of view. The medical works date back 
in some cases two centuries and are the collections 
of four generations of Doctors Woodward. The 
father, grandfather and great-grandfather of Dr. 
Woodward were all noted doctors in their day. He 
has a group of portraits of the three in his office. 
Their libraries and aparatus have descended di- 
rectly to him. With this inheritance of three genera- 
tions of education and training, of practice and 
skillfulness, Dr. Woodward could scarcely help tak- 
ing the leading position he has among the surgeons 
of Worcester. His great-grandfather was Dr. Sam- 
uel Woodward, his grandfather and father have 
been mentioned here. Further history of the family 
will be found elsewhere in this work. 

Dr. Lemuel F. Woodward succeeded his father 
as city physician of Worcester and held the position 
until 1893, when he resigned and was succeeded by 
Dr. W. T. Clark, the present city physician. Dr. 
Woodward was the first out-patient surgeon at the 
City Hospital, when that department was estab- 
lished. For the past nine years he has been house 
surgeon at the City Hospital. He has been on the 
staff of the Memorial Hospital since it was organ- 
ized. This institution was endowed by Ichabod 
Washburn and incorporated in 1871. A dispensary 
was opened in 1874 and the hospital in 1888. It is 
devoted exclusively to the treatment of diseases of 
women and children. He is orthopedic surgeon at 
St. Vincent's Hospital. Worcester. He is a member 
of the Worcester District Medical Society, the 
Massachusetts Medical Society ; the Worcester Nat- 
ural History Society ; of which he is a director ; the 
Worcester Club ; the Quinsigamond Boat Club ; the 
Tatassit Canoe Club ; the Tatnuck Country Club ; 
.\I1 Saints' Protestant Episcopal Church. In politics 
he is a Republican. 

While Dr. Woodward has had a general prac- 
tice in Worcester, he has made surgery a specialty. 
He is called upon to perform a large number of the 
major operations in the hospitals and ranks among 
the best and most successful surgeons in this sec- 
tion of the state. His personalty helps him w'in the 
confidence of his patients. His work as city physi- 
cian among the poorer classes has made him gen- 
erally popular and his professional skill is recognized 
by physicians and surgeons as universally as by the 
public. Dr. Woodward lived for many years at 52 
Pearl street with his mother, who died December 
8, 1905. He is unmarried. 

(IX) Rufus S. Woodward, second child of 
Rufus (8) and Mary Jane (Fox) Woodward, and 
brother of Dr. Lemuel F. Woodward, was educated 
in the public schools of Worcester and Amherst 
College, from which institution he was graduated 
with the class of 1881. He was employed by his 
uncle. Samuel B. Woodward, in the hardware firm 
of Kinnicutt & Co. until 1886, and from that time 
until 1889 by Jerome, Marble & Co. From 1889 
until 1904 he was a member of the last named firm, 
which then became the J. Russel Marble Company, 
with which he becaine identified and with which he 
continues to be connected. He attends All Saints' 
Protestant Episcopal Church, and in politics is a 
Republican. He is a member of the Quinsigamond 
Boat Club, of which he was a former president. In 
1894, he married, at Newburg, New York, Stella 
Brooks, daughter of Colonel T. Benton and Han- 
nah (Hulse) Brooks. Her father was breveted 
colonel of the First Regiment, ' New York Engi- 



neers, for gallant and meritorious conduct at the 
siege of Fort Pulaski in Charleston Harbor dur- 
ing the war of the rebellion. He is a distinguished 
geologist and mining engineer. Mrs. Woodward 
was educated chiefly in German private schools. 
Mr. and Mrs. Woodward are the parents of four 
children, all born in Worcester : Rufus Stanley, Jr., 
born in 1895; Hildegard Hulse, in 1898; Kathenne 
Fox, in 1900; Stella Brooks, born July 2, 1905. 

ELIAS HARLOW RUSSELL. Robert Russell 
(l) was the emigrant ancestor of Principal E. 
Harlow Russell, of the Worcester State Normal 
school. 

Robert Russell is said to have come froin Scot- 
land. He settled in Andover, Massachusetts, and 
froin the strength of his characteristics, or some- 
thing, the district in which he had his home was 
called the Scotland District. He was there probalily 
in 1677, perhaps earlier. He took the oath of fidelity 
February 11, 1678. He was one of the proprietors 
in 1681, and doubtless earlier. He married Mary 
^Marshall July 6, 1659. He was admitted a free- 
man in 1691 ; died December, 1710, in the eightieth 
year of his age. He was the first person buried in 
the South Parish graveyard. His homestead is now, 
or was recently, owned by a lineal descendant. Dr. 
Amnion Russell. 

The children of Robert Russell (i) were: i. 
Robert, died in military service, in war, May 27, 
1689. 2. Thomas, died 1731, aged sixty-eight. 3. 
Benjamin. 4. John, (see forward). 5. James, and 
perhaps daughters. 

(II) John Russell, son of Robert Russell (i). 
born about 1682, at Andover, probably; died 1778. 
aged ninety-si.x years, four months. He married 
Sarah Chandler and settled in Andover. Among 
his children were : John ; Joseph. 

(III) John Russell, son of John Russell (2), 
was born in Andover, Massachusetts, settled there, 
and married Hannah Foster. Among their children 
were, two who removed to Betlirel, Maine: I. Ben- 
jamin, born January 27, 1737: married Mary Favor. 
2. Abraham, married Abigail Swan, resided at Bethel, 
Maine. 

(IV) Benjamin Russell, son of John Russel! 
(3-), born in Andover, Massachusetts, January 27, 
1737; married, October 7, 1762, Mary Favor, born 
March i, 1739. He removed from Andover and be- 
came one of the early settlers at Fryeburg, IMaine, 
in 1767. There he became a leading citizen, serving 
the town as chairman of the board of selectmen. 
In March, 1777, he removed to Bethel, Maine, where 
he was, in 1779, the first town clerk. He performed 
the duties of magistrate under his commission of 
justice of the peace. His records indicate that he 
was well educated. His penmanship was excellent. 
He was one of the most prominent citizens for many 
years. He died November 23, 1802. His children 
were: i. Benjamin, Jr., born July 28, 1763; mar- 
ried Mehitable Abbott. 2. Mary, born October 15. 
1764: married Nathaniel Segar. 3. Theodore, born 
December 6, 1765; married Abigail Abbott, of An- 
dover. Massachusetts. 4. William (see forward). 5. 
John, born at Andover, Massachusetts, married Susie 
Twitchell. 

(V) William Russell, son of Benjamin Russell 
(4), born at Andover, Massachusetts, in 1766; re- 
inoved with his parents to Fryeburg and later to 
Bethel, Maine, where he died suddenly about 1846. 
He was a farmer. He married Mehitable Kilgore, 
of Bethel. Maine. Children were: i. ^lehitable, 
born January 4, 1792; married Sebra Dunham, of 
Paris, Maine. 2. Cynthia, born December 20, 1793 ; 
married William Bent, of Paris. 3. Elsie, born 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



187 



March 8, 1796; married William Bartlctl. 4. Will- 
iam, born March 12, 1798. 5. Elias, (sec forward). 
6. Samuel, born March 9, 1802; married Hannah 
Dustin. 7. Henry, born February 15, 1804, resided 
at Newburj-port, Massachusetts. 8. Mary, born 
June 13, 1806; married Paul Pearson. 9. Theodore, 
born August i, 1808; removed from Bethel early. 
10. Sophia, born August 8, 181 1, married Rodney 
Cole. II. Palmer, born August i, 1813; removed 
from Bethel early. 

(VI) Elias Russell, son of Will.iam Russell (5), 
was born in Bethel, Maine, March 28, 1800. He 
learned the shoemaker's trade and divided his time 
between that and farming. He settled in Sanborn- 
ton. New Hampshire, when a young man, and mar- 
ried, September 29, 1825, Comfort Rundlett, a resi- 
dent of Sanbornton, though they were married at 
Northfield, New Hampshire. He died January 31, 
1868. Their children, all born at Sanbornton, were : 
r. John Simons, born March 30, 1826. 2. William 
Rundlett, born August 7, 1827. 3. Mehitablc Ann, 
born December 31, 182S. 4. Cynthia Eliza, born 
July 22, 1S32. 5. Elias Harlow, (see forward). 

(VH) Elias Harlow Russell, son of Elias Rus- 
sell (6), was born in Sanbornton, New Hampshire, 
November 27, 1836. His early education viras re- 
ceived in the district schools of his native town. 
Like every New Hampshire boy he had more farm 
work than school in his boyhood. He attended the 
Woodman Sanbornton Academy and the Literary 
and Biblical Institution at New Hampton, New 
Hampshire. In 1853, while he was still a student at 
the last named institution, he began to teach school, 
but continued his study and preparation for his pro- 
fession and went to the New England Normal In- 
stitute at Lancaster, Massachusetts, of which Pro- 
fessor William Russell was the principal. This was 
an admirable school in its day and the principal was 
an exceptionally gifted teacher and scholar. It is 
now extinct. In 1856 Mr. Russell taught school 
again. At that time he determined to study medi- 
cine and he began to study under the direction of 
Professor Albert Smith, ]M. D.. who was a member 
of the faculty of Dartmouth College. Before com- 
pleting his course in the Medical school, however, 
he desired to follow his original purpose to teach, 
and in 1859 he went back to teaching. He was in- 
structor for three years in the teachers' institutes 
of Grafton and Coos counties. New Hampshire. 
Then he taught in a number of academies and pri- 
vate schools. His subject was chiefly elocution. 
Among other institutions he taught in the Highland 
Military Academy, Worcester; at Eaton's Business 
College, the predecessor of Hinmann's, in the Board 
of Trade building: Professor Bu-hee's Private 
school in the Walker building: a hoarding school in 
the old Salisbury mansion, Lincoln square. For 
two years and a half he taught in Nichols Academy, 
Dudley, Massachusetts. During the same years, 
1861-62-63, he gave three courses of lectures on elo- 
cution in the Divinity school of Harvard Uni- 
versity. In 1864 he accepted the position of prin- 
cipal of the Leroy Academy at Leroy, New York, 
a non-sectarian school of high character and repu- 
tation, and he held this position for ten years. In 
1894 he was unanimously invited by the State Board 
of Education to become principal of the Worcester 
Normal school, then about to be established. He 
accepted, and from that time to the present has 
been identified with the institution. 

The Worcester Normal school was established 
by a Resolve of the .general court which went into 
effect June, 1871. The State Board of Education 
was authorized and required to establish a State 
Normal school in Worcester, and the trustees of the 



Worcester Lunatic Hospital, a state institution, were 
authorized and required to convey for the purpose 
a tract of land, of not more than five acres, for a 
site, to be designated by the governor and his coun- 
cil. The site chosen is ideal. From the hill on 
which the Normal school was built the city and 
surrounding country, with its green hills and or- 
chards, the smoking factory chimneys in the fore- 
ground, the picturesque buildings of the city around 
and about them, spread out like a great panorama 
below. The tract of land was a part of what had 
been called Hospital Grove. The stone for the build- 
ing was quarried on and near the land where the 
structure was built. The building is massive and 
dignified. The architecture is well suited to the 
purposes of the building. The interior arrange- 
ments, designed by Mr. Russell for the purposes he 
had in view, have been found admirably suited to 
the needs of the institution. Another building has 
been added to the school, for the purpose of a gym- 
nasium. It is a valuable adjunct to the in.stitution. 
The Normal school was opened September 15, 1874, 
and for thirtj--one years Mr. Russell has been the 
principal. He laid out the general plan in the first 
place ; he has developed the school year by year till 
its reputation now is second to none among tlie 
normal schools of the country. 

• He has always cut loose from stereotyped meth- 
ods, not so much for the sake of novelty as to de- 
velop in the students the special talents or abilities 
of the individual. The graduates of this school 
begin their teaching with the idea of reaching each 
of their pupils in different ways, in dealing with 
each individual according to his needs, and the 
graduates of the Worcester Normal school have 
proved the value of Mr. Russell's methods during 
the past thirty years. 

An apprentice system, developed by the prin- 
cipal along original lines, has been one of the most 
popular and attractive features of the school. The 
little folks like to go there to school. The parents 
are eager to send their children there for instruc- 
tion and the students at the school find the train- 
ing for school work, with real pupils there and in 
the Worcester schools, extremely valuable. This 
apprentice system accounts in large measure for the 
high standing of the graduates of this institution 
compared with those of other schools, where actual 
experience and practice in the art of teaching is not 
given. 

To quote from the school announcement : ''The 
design of the Normal school is strictly professional ; 
that is to prepare in the best possible itianner the 
pupils for the work of organizing, governing and 
teaching the public schools of the Commonwealth. 
It is made a special aim to seize every opportunity 
to give the pupils the benefit of whatever tends to 
fit them for the work of teaching. The spirit of this 
endeavor pervades the whole school. The knowledge 
demanded is in great part knowledge of the material 
to be operated on, and of the conditions and limita- 
tions under which the w'ork must be carried on. 
The government of the school is not a government 
of rules, not even of laws. The school is not with- 
out law, but the pupils are led by suggestion, en- 
couragement and admonition to become a law unto 
themselves." 

Of course, the primary purpose of the Worcester 
Normal school is filled when it educates teachers 
for the public schools. About half of the teachers 
in the Worcester city schools are trained in this 
school, and many of the graduates find employment 
in tlie county. There is a very harmonious arrange- 
ment between the school and the city school author- 
ities. The pupils in the Normal school are given 



1 88 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



the opportunity to serve in tlic schools of the city, 
under the direction of the Normal school teachers 
and the teachers in charge. It is an open question 
whether the city needs the school more than tlie 
school needs the city to maintain its present 
efficiency. 

Mr. Russell was a pioneer in the child-study 
movement and must he reckoned among the fore- 
most investigators of the subject. He was one of 
the earliest to study the child after modern scien- 
tific methods, and his was the first Normal school 
systematically engaged in child-study, which has 
been taken up everywhere in America and Europe 
in the past twenty years. The school work under 
his direction began in 1884. For twenty years he 
has been investigating, reading, studying, writing 
papers and making addresses on this subject of 
Child-Study. He has remained at his post at the 
Normal school, notwithstanding offers of more lu- 
crative positions in other cities. He could have been 
president of the Massachusetts Agricultural Col- 
lege at Amherst. He was offered the principalship 
of the State Normal school at Providence, Rhode 
Island, and of the Swain Free school, of New Bed- 
ford. He was offered an attractive place in the facul- 
ty of Washington University at St. Louis. He was on 
two different occasions offered a vacancy on the 
board of school supervisors in Boston. And whep 
Clark University established its collegiate depart- 
ment he was offered the presidency, and unanimously 
elected before he had made his decision. This 
great compliment on the part of an institutiton lo- 
cated in the very city in which his life's work has 
been largely accomplished was a source of great 
satisfaction, and be very reluctantly decided finally 
to adhere to his determination to stay at the 
Normal school. He resigned the post of college pres- 
ident to continue his labors in the Normal school. 
This incident reveals one of the most noticeable 
characteristics of the man. He believes in drilling 
in one hole ; in persisting in a good course once 
begun. It shows, too, how little financial consid- 
erations have influenced him in continuing to serve 
Worcester and the Commonwealth as the principal 
of the Normal school. Everyone of these posi- 
tions, it is learned, carried with them larger sal- 
aries than that of the principalship of this school, 
some of them very much larger. In thirty years 
Mr. Russell seems not to have lost a particle of the 
enthusiasm and abounding magnetism with which 
he influences his pupils. He seems to have car- 
ried into effect the notion of President Eliot, that 
with the proper training, care and development a 
man's intellectual and mental powers should im- 
prove year after year, regardless of age, unless 
health fails. There is a suggestion of youth and 
cheerfulness in Mr. Russell's words and manner 
very encouraging and stimulating to all who meet 
him. 

He has written a number of papers, printed in 
the New England Historic-Genealogical Society, 
among them a sketch of a very intimate friend, the 
late Senator George F. Hoar. He has written ex- 
tensively on educational topics, and twice has read 
papers before the National Educational Associa- 
tion, in Chicago in 1893. and in St. Louis in 1904. 
He has several papers published in the proceedings 
of the American Antiquarian Society, of which he 
is a member, and for a number of years member 
of the council. Few literary honors in America are 
more highly appreciated than honors in the Ameri- 
can Antiquarian Society. Mr. Russell has deliv- 
ered lectures at the Summer schools of Clarke Uni- 
versity, and for two years he was a leclurtr in the 
Harvard L'niversity Summer school. 



He has been a member of the St. Wulstan So- 
ciety, since its organization by the leading schol- 
ars and most gifted men of the city. He is at pres- 
ent its vice-president. He is a member of the 
Colonial Society, of Massachusetts ; of the Friday 
Evening Club, of Boston ; of the Worcester Art 
Museum corporation ; of the State Teachers' Asso- 
ciation ; of the New Hampshire Forestry Associa- 
tion; of the Appalachian Mountain . Club; he was 
formerly, a member of the famous old Worcester 
Fire Society. He is a trustee of Leicester Academy. 
He was formerly a member and president of the 
board of directors of the Free Public Library, of 
Worcester. He has been elected honorary member 
of the Phi Beta Kappa in Massachusetts, notwith- 
standing the fact that he holds no college degree. 

He married, November 11, 1862, Harriet Thurs- 
ton Lee, daughter of George W. and Laura (San- 
ford) Lee, a native of Lancaster, Massachusetts, 
where they were married. She died October 22. 
1900. Their children were: 1. Lee, born at Le- 
roy, New York, January 8, 1865, graduate of the 
Worcester Polytechnic Institute, member of the 
faculty of the State Normal school ; married .A.lice 
L. B. Woodworlh, July 4, 1894, and had : Ralph, born 
January 14, 1900; Helen, born October 28, 1901 ; 
Walter, born April I, 1905. 2. Olive, born at Leroy, 
New York, March 23, 1867, kindergartner, graduate 
of the State Normal school. 3. Philip, born July 
24, 1869; died September 16, 1895, at Worcester, un- 
married. 4. Ernest, born at Leroy, New York, Sep- 
tember 28, 1871, clerk in the Worcester County In- 
stitution of Savings ; married July 9. 1897, Ella G. 
Price, daughter of William B. and Rebecca E. Price. 
Their children are: Robert Price, born July 16, 
1898; Elizabeth, born May 9, 1903; Sidney Lee, born 
in Worcester, February i, 1905. 

DR. WESLEY DAVIS was born in Waitsfield, 
Vermont (now called Northfield), September 5. 1841, 
the son of Horace Atkins and Harriet (Bradley) 
Davis. His grandfather was John B. Davis. His 
ancestral line runs as follows : 

(I) Thomas Davis, of Amesbury. married De- 
borah Martin, December 15. 1709. Their children 
were: i. Abigail, born October 6. 1710. 2. Thomas, 
born February 28, 1711-12. 3. Mary, born January 
I7> 1713-14- 4- Sarah, born January 20, 1715. 5. 
Amos, born November 28, 1718. 6. Meribah, born 
January 21, 1719. 7. Moses, born January 16, 1721 ; 
married Mary Whittier. 8. Timothy, born March i, 

1723. 

(II) Amos Davis, son of Thomas (i), born 
November 28. 1718, at Amesbury, Massachusetts. 
He was in Newton, New Hampshire, 175S: in Upson. 
New Hampshire, 1765 : in Danville. New Hampshire. 
1767; in Bradford. Vermont, between 1768 and 1784, 
and died at Warner. New Hampshire, 1803. leaving 
a widow. His son John, of Warner. New Hampshire, 
was his administrator. Amos Davis married (first) 
.\lice Carrier and had: i. .-Mlis, born April 9, 1748. 

2. .-\bigail. born March 22. 1750; married (second) 
Hannah Blank — and had: I. Amos, born Octo- 
ber 26, 1752. 2, Benjamin, born October 24, 1754. 

3. Hannah, born November 8, 1756. 4. John, born 
.August 12. 1758. 

(III) Benjamin Davis, son of .\mos (2), born 
October 24, 1754. at Newton, New Hampshire. He 
was in Bradford, Vermont, from 1768 to 1793 ; served 
in the revolutionary war as private under Captain 
Frye Braley and (lolonel Peter Olcott, one month 
and four days from September 23, 1777, receiving 
three pound sterling for service in two hundred and 
seventy miles travel, and must have been present 
at the surrender of Burgoyne. In 1781 he served for 



J 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



189 



a short period on scouts under Captain Joseph Iluber 
and Major John Barton. In 1786 he was elected petit 
juror and in 1788 was a grand juror. In 1790 he was 
second constable and collector, and in 179J lister. In 
1793 he was petit juror, trustee of schools and lister. 
April 4, 1793, he sold his homestead in Bradford 
to his brother-in-law, Stephen Jenkins, and moved 
with his family to Du.xbury, Vermont. In 1794 he 
was -elected town representative, being the first one 
ever elected by the town of Duxbury. In 1795 and 
in 1805 he also served as town representative. He 
died October 13, 1830, in Duxbury, and his grave- 
stone inscription reads, "Captain Benjamin Davis," 
the title doubtless coming from his militia service. 
He married Betsey Jenkins and they had : i. Abigail, 
born Mav 28, 1774. 2. Amos, born December 17, 1775. 
3. Betsey, born April iS, 177S. 4. Hannah, born April 
14, 1783. 5. Pally, born May 18, 1785. 6. Elijah, 
born November 6, 1787. 7. John Barron, born Octo- 
ber 2, 1790. 8. Lydia Styles, born August 29, 1792. 
9. Andrew (date not known). The mother, Betsey 
(Jenkins) Davis, died April 28, 1814, aged sixty 
years. 

(IV) John Barron Davis, .son of Benjamin Davis 
(3). born October 2, 1790; married (first) Nancy 

Atkins, daughter of (6), John (5), John (4). Jo-iah 
(3)> Josiah (2), William (i). Their children were: 
AzTO; Charles; Chandler; Mary; Ellen; Horace. 
The mother died March 6, 1834, and Mr. Davis mar- 
ried (second) Lucius Cobb, and had: Nancy; Laura; 
John. 

(V) Horace .\tkins Davis, son of John (4), born 
June 20, 1819. in Duxbury, Massachusetts; married 
Harriet Newell Braley (6), Silas (5). John (4), 
Roger (3), Roger (2), Roger (i). (Children were: 
I. Wesley, born at Northfield, Vermont, Septcmlicr 
i.s, 1841." 2. George Washington, born at same place, 
March 26, 1847. 3. Lydia .\nn, born at Duxbury, 
Vermont, June n, 1849. 

(VI) Dr. Wesley Davis, son of Horace Davis (?>, 
born September 15, 1841, was educated in the acad- 
emy of his native town and at the University of 
Vermont. He graduated from the Pittsfield Medical 
school in i865. and began the practice of his chosen 
profession at Westport, New York. In i860 he 
came to Worcester, where he practiced his profes- 
sion. He was for twenty-one years visiting phy- 
sician of the city hospital. He was the owner of 
the five story .'\dams apartment house — a family hotel 
at number i High street, Worcester, where he had 
his office. 

November i, 1866, he married Cynthia H. .'\dams, 
daughter of Daniel Adams, of Parton. Vermont, 
for whom Adams Ferry was named. Three sons 
were born to them: George A., September 16, 1868. 
Nellie Llarriatt, June 14, 1872, died September 14, 
1872. Edwin H., November 2, 1S74. Daniel A. W., 
April 5, 1882. 

FYFE FAMILY. The family to which William 
E. Fyfe, deceased, of Clinton, Massachusetts, be- 
longed, was from William Fyfe. the first .\merican 
ancestor, who emigrated from Fifeshire, Scotland, 
and early in 1700 settled upon a tract of land in 
Bolton, Massachusetts. This William (I) had a 
son named William (II), who married and had 
among his children a son named William (III). 
The line runs thus: 

(L) William Fyfe, the Scotch immigrant, came 
to Bolton about 1700. 

(II) Williani Fyfe, son of William (i). 

(III) William Fyfe, son of William (2). 

(IV) William Fyfe, .son of William (3). born 
Au.gust 10. 1837. 

(ID William Fvfe. grandfather of the late Will- 



iani E. Fyie, of Clinton, succeeded to the farm 
which had been cleared and improved by his father, 
.■md devoted the years of his life to agriculture. He 
was one of the best farmers of Bolton and took 
a leading part in public matters in his town. He 
died at the age of seventy-si.v years. 

(III) William Fyfe, father of the late William 
E. Fyfe, of Clinton, was reared on the old home- 
stead farm. When a young man he engaged in 
teaming and transporting produce to the Boston 
market. He later returned to the old farm and 
married, but eventually settled on another farm in 
the_ same neighborhood, and there spent the re- 
mainder of his days. His wife's maiden name was 
Sally Carruth; she was born in Spencer, Massa- 
chusetts. He was her second husband. By her union 
with Mr. Fyfe, she had three children, of whom 
VVilliam E. was one. The father, William Fyfe, 
died at the age of sixty-four years. She died at 
the age of sixty-three. They attended the Unitarian 
and Baptist churches, respectively. 

(IV) Williani E. Fyfe, son of William and Sally 
(Carruth) Fyfe, was born in Bolton, Massachu- 
setts, August 10, 1837, on the old Fyfe homestead. 
He received his education at the common schools 
of his native place, but only remained in school 
until thirteen years of age, when his services were 
needed on his father's farm. He there found em- 
ployment as a mill operator and in a shoe shop. 
When seventeen years of age, he went to Cambridge, 
where for two years he drovf a bread-cart and later 
a wagon for the Kennedy Cracker Co. for four 
years. He clerked for a short time in a grocery, and 
tlien opened a grocery store of his own. conducting 
the sanit; for two years and met with good success. 
He finally disposed of his business and purchased 
a bakery, which he conducted in connection with the 
grocery business. This he follovved eight years, when 
he sold out and removed to Clinton, Massachusetts, 
where he engaged in the real estate business and 
erected a handsome residence, known as the "Fyfe- 
shire" on the Bolton Hills. After three years he 
sold this property and bou.ght a sixty-two acre farm, 
and for five years devoted his time and energy to 
the raising of garden produce. He then sub-divided 
his place, reserving a large share for himself and 
sold many lots, upon which to-day may be seen many 
dwellings. His real estate business proved one of 
success and he was financially rewarded. 

For two years he carried on the bakery business 
at Clinton, and was for twelve years interested in a 
lar.ge comb factory, being the director and pur- 
chasing agent. For eight years he was engaged as 
a partner with B. L. Nowell & Co., of Montreal, 
in the horn-glue stock and Canada ash business. 
Not many years since he formed a partnership with 
E. L. Plummer for the purpose of carrying on the 
butter business. This firm later was consolidated 
with tlrat of C. M. Fay. and in April, 1895. moved 
to the new and spacious quarters in a business house 
erected for them by Mr. Fyfe. This firm was known 
as Fyfe. Fay and Plummer. who ca'ried on an ex- 
tensive retail and wholesale grocery and produce 
business. Mr. Fyfe was also a director in the Clin- 
ton Wall Trunk Co. Politically Mr. Fyfe was a 
Republican. He served as road commissioner for 
five years. Both be and his wife were members of 
the Baptist church. 

In i86r Mr. Fyfe married Josephine Carruth, born 
in Cambridgeport, Massachusetts. June 25. l8,ig. 
daughter of C. Edward Carruth, a grocer of that 
city. By this marriage one daughter was born. Dora 
J., who married Edward L. Plummer, her father's 
business associate. They have three children — Helen 
L., Josephine Fyfe. and George Fyfe Plummer. 



190 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



Mr. Fyfe was an extensive traveler, both in this 
conntry and in Europe and Canada. The beautiful 
residence he erected was built in the most thorough 
manner and contains every modern improvement. 
In his estate was a thirty-two acre tract of land, 
being part of the old Fyfe homestead. This land 
has been greatly improved and it should be recorded 
as a part of the original tract granted by the king. 
It is now a beautiful park and has a small lake. 
He, in his lifetime, provided that it should go to 
a charitable institution, and be forever known as the 
"Fyfeshire." in honor of its ancestral history, com- 
ing as it did, direct from the king. In the midst of 
life, surrounded by all that tended to give him 
pleasure, in the enjoyment of the handsome fortune 
he had accumulated by industry, when all bid fair 
for many more years, both he and his estimable 
daughter were killed by a railway train, upon a 
crossing in Lancaster, June 23. 1899. The funeral 
was among the largest attended of any in the coun- 
try, showing in what esteem they were held. 

CHARLES fi. GATES. The Worcester family 
of descendants of the emigrant Stephen Gates has 
been traced elsewhere in this work in detail. The 
line of descent of Charles B. Gates, of Worcester, 
is as follows: 

(I) Stephen Gates, descendant in England from 
Thomas Gates of Higheaster and Thurseubie, Essex 
county, 1327. through William, Peter, Geoffrey, Geof- 
frey, Sir' Geoffrey, WHliam, Sir Geofifrey. William 
and Thomas Gates. He was the son of Thomas 
Gates of Norwich, Norfolk county, England, and 
came to Hingham, Massachusetts, in 1638, removed to 
Lancaster, then to Cambridge, Massachusetts. He 
died at Cambridge in 1662! His children were : Eliza- 
beth, Mary, Stephen, Thomas, Simon, Isaac, and 
Rebecca. 

(II) Simon Gates, son of Stephen Gates, was born 
1645. died April 21, 1693, at Brockton, Massachu- 
setts. He married Margaret and they resided 

at Cambridge, Lancaster and Brookline, Massachu- 
setts. Their children were: Abigail, Simon, Simon 
2d, George, Amos. Jonathan, Samuel, -Margaret. 

(III) Simon CJates, son of Simon Gates (2), 
born January 5, 1675-6; died March 10, 1735: mar- 
ried May 29, 1710, Sarah Wood, and settled in Marl- 
boro. Their children were: Simon, Sarah, Susannah, 
Stephen, Solomon, Samuel, Silas, John. 

(IV) Solomon Gates, son of Simon Gates (3), 
born May 14, 1721 ; died March 2, 1761, at Worcester, 
Massachusetts : married Mary Clark and lived at 
Worcester. Their children were : Sarah, Samuel, 
Mary. Paul. Silas and James. 

(V) Samuel Gates, son of Solomon Gates (4), 
born at Worcester, Massachusetts, January I, 1750-1, 
died December 19, 1831 ; married Lucy Chadwick. 
He was a soldier in the revolution. His children 
were: I. Joel, born March 7, 1782. 2. Polly, born 
October 12, 1783. 3. Joshua, born June 19. 1787. 
4. Willard, born October 15, 1793- S- Henry Brazer, 
born August I, 1797. 6. Nahum, born June 10, 
t8oi. .-\il the foregoing were born at Worcester, 
Massachusetts. 

(VI) Joel Gates, son of Samuel Gates (5), born 
at Worcester. Massachusetts, March 7, 1782 ; died 
in Worcester 1856; married Joanna Stearns, May 
17, 1805, at Worcester. They settled on the old 
Gates farm at Bloomingdale, now in large part oc- 
cupied by the state hospital for the insane. The 
old house is owned by A. Frank Gates. Later in life 
he resided on Prospect street. He married (second) 
Wood. All his children were by the first wife. 

The children were, according to Worcester 
records: i. Leonard, born January 3, 1805. 2. John, 



born March i, 1807. 3. Charles Emory, born April 
13, 1806. 4. Harriet Porter, born April 17, 1810. 5. 
Lucy Chadwick. born June 22, 1813. 6. Samuel, 
luirn December 19, 1S17. 7. Mary Walker, born 
October 27, 1818. 

(VII) John Gates, son of Joel Gates (6), born 
in Worcester, March i, x8o6; died at Worcester 
December 12, 1877. He was raised on the old Gates 
homestead at Bloomingdale, and educated in the 
Worcester schools. He learned the carpenter's 
trade and worked at it in Worcester for a number 
of years. About 1831 he began business as an 
undertaker with an office and shop on School street, 
adding the lumber business in a small way in 1835, 
and continued to deal in lumber until his death. 
He sold the undertaking business to his partner, 
W. G. Maynard, about 1845, and bought the place 
on Union street where the lumber yard of John Gates 
and of John Gates Sons has since been located. Be- 
fore starting for himself he had been in partner- 
.ship for a time with Henry Golding in the manu- 
facture of woolen machinery. Golding subsequently 
sold his business to R. B. Wetherbee. Mr. Gates 
carried on an extensive lumber business with marked 
success. He was one of the substantial business 
men of the old school in Worcester. 

He married Betsey W. Allen, of Plymouth, 
Massachusetts. Their children, all born in Wor- 
cester, were: i. George Allen, born January 7, 1833, 
now associated with his brother Charles B. Gates, 
proprietor of the business conducted as John Gates' 
Sons, lumber dealers at 179 Union street, Wor- 
cester. 2. Harriet Davis, born January 8, 1836. 3. 
John Bradford, born April 16, 1839. 4. Mary Eliza- 
beth, born March 3, 1841. 5. Albert Holmes, born 
July 14. 1842. 6. Albert Stearns, born January 21 
or 23, 1844. 7. Emory Winslow, born June 22, 1848. 
8. Charles B., born September 12, 1851. 

(VIII) Charles B. Gates, son of John Gates, 
was born in Worcester, Massachusetts. September 12, 
1851. His early home was on Central street. He 
attended the public schools, Worcester Academy 
and Leicester Academy. He entered the University 
of Michigan as a special student, and graduated 
there from the Law Department in 1874 with the 
degree of LL. B. He practiced law in Michigan for 
a short time, then returned to Worcester. He was 
admitted to the Worcester county bar in 1875, n^d 
opened an office in Fitchburg. Massachusetts. Two 
years before his father died the lumber business on 
LTnion street was closed out. In November. 
1877, Charles B. Gates and his brother Emory 
W. Gates decided to revive the business. A part- 
nership was formed under the firm name of John 
Gates' Sons. The taste for a business life was 
stronger in Mr. Gates than the love of a professional 
career as a lawyer, so he abandoned law to take 
up his father's business as a lumber merchant. Un- 
fortunately his brother died at the very outset of 
the new firm's career, in 1880, and Charles B. Gates 
has carried the business on alone, really building 
it up to its present proportions. The name of his j 
firm stands well among business men. The central 
location has perhaps given the business some ad- 
vantages for retail trade. Mr. Gates simply buys 
and sells every kind of lumber according to the de- 
mand. He has no mill and manufactures none of 
his stock. As a business man he ranks high. He 
has tended pretty closely all his life to his busi- 
ness interests, and has not entered politics or other 
business. He is well known in Masonic circles. He 
is a member of Athelstan Lodge, of Eureka Chap- 
ter, of Hiram Council. Lawrence Chapter of Rose 
Croix. Worcester County Commandery. and has 
taken the thirtv-second degree in the Scottish Rite 




i 







WORCESTER COUNTY 



191 



in Masonry. He is a member of the college fra- 
ternity Phi Delta Phi, which is especially strong 
in the western colleges. He is a Republican. 

He married February 2, 1881, Ida Evelina Noble, 
at Ann Arbor, Michigan. She was the daughter 
of Charles E. Noble and Jerusha P. (Crosman; 
Noble. Her mother was born at St. Johnsbury, Ver- 
mont, 1824, and removed in 1830 to Michigan, where 
the family settled. Her father was in the railroad 
business, and during the last years of his life was gen- 
eral eastern agent of the Michigan Central and Ureal 
Western Railroad with ofiices in the Astor House, 
New York city. He died in New York, 1S73. Her 
mother is living (1903) at the age of eighty-one. 
She was born November 22, 1851, at Detroit, where 
the family was then located. They have two chil- 
dren, both born in Worcester, i.' Burton Noble, 
born December 19, 1881, spent two years in Cornell 
University, graduated at Clark College, Worcester, 
in 1905, and will take graduate courses in Clark Uni- 
versity next year. His specialty in college has been 
biology. 2. Aleene Crosman, born September 28, 
1886, graduate of the South high school at Wor- 
cester, now a student in the Bumham Preparatory 
school at Northampton, Massachusetts. 

JOSEPH CHARLOTLE DAPPER, artist, of 
Worcester, was born in Rhine, Hessen, Germany, 
April 12, 1861, a son of Matthew and Emilie (.Mil- 
ler) Dapper, who were born in Mayennce, on the 
Rhine, Germany. Matthew Dapper (father) served 
in the capacity of judge. They were the parents 
of three other children, all of whom reside in 
Germany and are married, namely : Eugenia, Lud- 
wig, who serves as judge in a high court; and 
Franz, a district attorney in Metz. 

Joseph C. Dapper pursued a course of study in 
art at the Royal Academy in Munich under the 
famous painter, Carl von Piloty, who for the greater 
part of his life, was a member and professor of the 
Munich Academy. He began his studies in 1878 
and continued up to 1883, a period of five years. 
In 1884 he came to the United States, locating in 
New York city, and for a time was engaged in the 
practice of his profession with several artists. Later 
he opened a studio in the building on the southwest 
corner of Fifth avenue and Fourteenth street. New 
York city, where he remained for a number of years. 
In 1899 he took_up his residence in Worcester, Massa- 
chusetts, and opened a studio in the Dexter build- 
ing, No. 540 ]Main street. He makes a specialty of 
portrait work, in which line he is highly proficient. 

In the city of New Y'ork, September 2, i8gi, 
Mr. Dapper was united in marriage to Miss Alex- 
andria C. Enig, who was born in Roeskilde, Den- 
mark, January 5, 1S68, a daughter of Andreas Enig, 
a musician. Their children are: May W., Alice E., 
Harry H., and Helen E. Their residence is at No. 
80 MerricK street, Worcester. 

WILLIAM HENRY FAIRBANKS. Jonathan 
Fairbanks (i), the immigrant ancestor of William 
Henry Fairbanks, of Clinton, Massachusetts, was 
born in England before 1600 and came to Boston 
with his family in 1633, remained there about three 
years, and then settled in Dedham, where he was 
one of the pioneers. He was a singer of the famous 
Dedham Covenant. His house is still standing at 
Dedham and is now owned by the family associa- 
tion, having been occupied to the present time by 
Jonathan and his lineal descendants. He was ad- 
mitted to the church August 14, 1646, and was a 
town officer. He married Grace Lee, who died 
December 28. 1673. He died at Dedham, December 
5, 1668, and his will was proved January 26 fol- 



lowing. The children : John, died November 13, 
1684; George, died January 10, 1082-3; Mary, born 
April 18, 1622, married Michael Metcalf; Susan, 
married October 12, 1647, Ralph Day, of iJcdham ; 
Jonas, sec forward; Jonathan, Jr., died January 
28, 1711-2. 

(H) Jonas Fairbanks, son of Jonathan Fair- 
banks (l), was born in England, and came to 
Dedham with his parents. He signed the covenant 
in 1657, and March 7, 1659, became one of the fathers 
of the town. He was a tanner and believed to be a 
carpenter also. In 1652 he was lined for wearing 
great boots, not being worth two hundred pounds, 
the amount of wealth prescribed by the laws of 
the colony in 1651 to suffice for men who could law- 
fully wear great boots. He removed to Lancaster 
in 1657. There he met his death in the assault liy 
King Philip and fifteen hundred warriors, Febru- 
ary 10, 1675-6. Some fifty persons were slain that 
day, including Joshua Fairbanks, son of Jonas. 

Jonas Fairbanks married, Alay 28, 1658, Lydi.i 
Prescott, daughter of John Prescott, who came from 
Sowerby, Halifax, England, the same place that 
the Fairbanks came from. Lydia was born in Wa- 
tertown, August 15, 1641. After P'airbanks was 
killed she married (second) Ellis Barron, of Wa- 
tertown, Groton and Lancaster. The children of 
Jonas Fairbanks: Marie, born June 20, 1659; 
Joshua, April 6, 1661, killed by Indians; Grace. 
November 15, 1663; Jonathan, October 7, 1666; 
Hasadiah, February 28, 1668, married John Moore, 
of Concord, January i, 1698; Jabez, January 8, 
1670-1. see forward; Jonas, May 6, 1673, was of 
Watertown, 1695-6, when he sold to brother Jabez 
land of their father Jonas; died September 13, 
1697. and is buried in his brother Jonathan's lot. 

(III) Captain Jabez Fairbanks, son of Jonas 
Fairbanks (2), was born at Lancaster, January 8. 
1670-1, and he settled there after the war. He died 
March 2, 1758, aged eighty-seven. He was a very 
efficient soldier and officer in the Indian war, and 
was no doubt incited to heroic exploits by the 
massacre of his father and brother in 1676 and of 
his only surviving brother in 1697 during a raid on 
the town. At the time his brother Jonathan and 
one of his children were killed, Captain Jabez was 
the means of saving a garrison and perhaps many 
lives including that of his own little son Joseph. 
Twenty-one persons were killed in this raid, two 
were wounded and six carried off captives, of whom 
five were ransomed later, including the wife of 
Jonathan Fairbanks. In 1700 Jabez had lands laid 
down to him on both sides of Dane's brook above 
Thomas Sawyer's saw mill. This site was the 
homestead of Jabez and his descendants for a 
hundred years. He was deputy to the general court 
in 1714-21-22-23. 

He married Mary Wilder, daughter of Thomas 
and Mary (Houghton) Wilder, who died Feb- 
ruary 21, 1718, in her forty-third year. He 
married (second), March 25, 1719, Elizabeth Whit- 
comb, who died May 11, 1755, aged about eighty 
years. The children of Jabez and i\Iary were: Jo- 
seph, born 1693, see forward ; Jabez ; Elizabeth, 
married Deliverance Brown, December 24, 1718; 
Jonas; Thomas: Abigail, married Major Henry 
Willard, of Ashburnham, descendant of Major Si- 
mon Willard; Jonathan, baptized June 18, 1710: 
(Jrace. baptized February 27. 1712, married Joseph 
Brown, March 27, 1733; Joshua, baptized March 28, 
1714; Anna, baptized November 18, 1716, married, 
April 5, 1738, Simon Butler. 

(IV) Deacon Joseph Fairbanks, son of Jabez 
Fairbanks (3), was born in Lancaster, Massachu- 
setts, 1693, and died at 1 farvard, December 6. 



192 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



177J, in his seventy-fourth year. Th; section of 
Lancaster ni which he lived was set off in the new 
township of Harvard in 1732, and he was dismissed 
from the First Church at Lancaster to the new 
church at Harvard, September 9, 1733. He was 
selectman of Harvard in 1733-35-43-45-52, and was 
town treasurer from 1736 to 1740, He was the 
first deputy to the genera! court from the town, 
sent in 1740, but he declined and Peter Atherton 
served instead. He was a prominent citizen for 
many years and was on most of the town commit- 
tees appointed to protest against and resist British 
aggression. The old homestead at Harvard is owned 
by Andrew Fairbanks. It was built about the year 
1720. 

Deacon Joseph Fairbanks married, April 21, 
1718, Mary Brown, who died November 14, 1791, 
aged ninety-one years, eleven months and six days. 
Iheir children: Phineas, born April 8, 1719; Mary, 
October 17, 1721, died October 22, 1721. Joseph, 
November 4, 1722; Mercy, February 6, 1724-5, died 
Fcl.iruary 17, 1724-5; Cyrus, May 23, 1726, died Sep- 
temlier 3, 1736; Mary, January 19, 1729, married, 
October 12. 1748, John Priest; Lydia, August lO, 
1731, married, February 18, 1756, Manasseh Sawyer; 
Elizabeth, May i, 1734, died November 19, 173O; 
Amos, April 21, 1737; Relief, December 31, 1739, 
married December 31, 1760, Caleb Sawyer. 

(V) Captain Amos F'airbanks, son of Deacon Jo- 
seph Fairbanks (4), was born in Harvard, Massachu- 
setts, April 21, 1737. He was a farmer. He was 
a soldier in the French war, a private in the foot 
company from Harvard commanded by Captain 
Israel Taylor, of Harvard, Colonel Oliver Wilder's 
regiment, in 1757. He was an ensign in the oldest 
military company in 1774 was lieutenant when the 
company responded to the Lexington call, April, 
1775. and captain in the miscellaneous service dur- 
ing the revolution. He was on the committee of 
safety and correspondence in Harvard, 1780. He 
was deacon of the church, elected November 28, 
1786, resigned November 4, 1798. He died January 
4, 1809, aged seventy-one years, eight months and 
twenty-three days. 

He married (tirst). April 23, 1760, Lucy Gates, 
who died November 12, 1767, aged twenty-eight 
years, twelve days. He married (second) Rhoda 
Sawyer, who died February 23, 1813, aged seventy- 
two years. Children of Captain Amos and Lucy 
Fairbanks were : Jacob, born June, 1761, died 
young; Jacob, May 6, 1762; Lucy, March 24, 1764, 
married Reuben Whitney; Mercy, March 28, 1766. 
The children of Captain Amos and Rhoda F'air- 
banks: Amos, born September 5, 1769, see forward; 
Noah, June 23, 1771 ; Rhoda, June 15, 1774. "lar- 
ried Josiah Haskell, Jr.; Joseph, February 19, I77ti; 
Daniel, October 20, 1778, died JNIarch 10, 1779; 
;\lary, February 24, 1781. 

(VI) Amos Fairbanks, son of Captain Amos 
Fairbanks (5), was born at Harvard, Massachusetts, 
September S, 1769, died March 28, 1837. He 
settled at Harvard, on the old farm. He mar- 
ried, April 27, 1794, Rebecca Whitney, born April 
13. '^T/T< daughter of Israel and Hannah (Mead) 
Whitney, of Harvard. She died at Charlestown, 
Massachusetts, October 15, 1763, at the home of her 
daughter, Eliza Seymour, aged eighty-six years. 
Their children, all born at Harvard, were : Horace, 
October 15, 1795, resided at Boston, married Amelia 
Dodge. July 13, 1818: Amos, November 27, 1799; 
Clark, February 13, 1802. died May 7, 1885; Israel W., 
November i, 1804; Zopher, October 20. l8o5. resided 
at Duxbury. married Harriet C. Longley, December 
31. 1833, died December 14. 1879; Rebecca, August 5, 
1808, married, February 23, 1836, Edmund Sawyer. 



of Warner, New Hampshire; Henry, June li, 1811, 
see forward; William, May 4, 1813, died 1817; 
Eliza, September 6, 1718, married, October, 1844, 
F'riend Seymour, and lived at Charlestown. 

(VII) Henry Fairbanks, son of Amos Fair- 
banks (6), was born at Harvard, Massachusetl.■^, 
June II, 181 1, on the old homestead. He received 
a common school education in his native town and 
learned the butcher's trade. He was in business 
in Princeton and Sterling, and drove a market wagon 
to Boston from 1850 to 1870. About 1870 he re- 
moved to Sudbury and subsequently returned to 
Sterling, where he died January 18, 1897, in the 
eighty-sixth year of his age. He married Martha 
Conant, who died August 25, 1858, in Princeton, 
and is buried jn Acton, Massachusetts. He mar- 
ried (second) Sarah A. Moore, of Sudbury, who 
died in Sterling and was buried in Sudbury, fie 
married (third) Lucinda Brown, died in Sudbury. 
The children of Henry and Martha Fairbanks were: 
William Henry, born at Littleton, November 7, 
1841, see forward; Martha Ann, born at Littleton, 
died aged eight years; Ellen Maria, died December 
9, 1897 ; Albert Conant, born September 5, 1852, 
married Emma T. Sprague; Curtis Albro, born 
September 27, 1855, died 1871. Albert Conant 
Fairbanks is a successful manufacturer of musical 
instruments, and wood rims for bicycles and other 
vehicles, the patent for which is his. His com- 
pany has a large plant for manufacturing the wooden 
rims in England and also at Tonawanda, New 
York. He was a member of the city council of 
Somerville, Massachusetts, in 1893-94. 

(VIII) William Henry Fairbanks, son of Henry 
Fairbanks (7), was born at Littleton, Massachusetts, 
November 7, 1841. He was educated in the public 
schools of the neighboring towns of Sterling and 
Acton. He became associated with his father in 
the meat business. In 1865 he started in business 
on his own account in South Lancaster. In 1867 he 
removed to Hudson, Massachusetts, and carried on 
the meat and provision business there for three 
years. From 1870 to 1875 he was in the manufact- 
uring business in Boston, making rubber syringes 
and other goods. He settled in Clinton in 1875 
and since then has been engaged in the meat and 
provision business there. He has also dealt exten- 
sively in cattle and horses, buying his stock in the 
west by the carload. He has been successful in 
business and commands the esteem and confidence 
of his townsmen. He is a Republican in politics, 
but has never cared for public office. 

He married, at Sterling, Mary Jennie Bailey, 
born at Northborough, Massachusetts, March 3, 
1840, died September 5, 1895, daughter of Charles 
M. and Mary (Rice) Bailey. Her father was a 
tanner by trade. The children : May Bailey, born 
May 30, 1871, formerly a teacher in the Clinton 
public schools, now residing at home ; Harry Co- 
nant, born October 23, 1881, now a partner in his 
father's business. 

LAWRENCE WILLMORE PENNINGTON. 

Arthur Pennington (l), father of Lawrence Will- 
more Pennington, of Worcester, Massachusetts, was 
born in Birmingham. England. He married Sarah 
Shaw, daughter of William Shaw, of Birmingham, 
England. They were married at Birmingham 
and lived there. He was a tool maker and drain 
maker by trade. After making ready to go to 
America twice they finally started in March, 1854, 
with their son Lawrence. Arthur Pennington died 
on the voyage over. His widow remained in Boston 
for about two years and then returned to her old 
home in Birmingham, England, with her two chil- 



I 



J 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



193 



drcn, the younger having heen born on tlie voyage 
to America. A few years later she married Wil- 
Ham Empson, and had several children, only one 
of vvliom is now living, Emma, who married John 
Asbury, and now or recently was living in Provi- 
dence, Rhode Island. Sarah Shaw, mother of 
Lawrence W. Pennington, was the only daughter 
among thirteen children borne by her mother. Her 
father married twice and had in all twenty-five 
children. (She died in Birmingham in 1869.) The 
children of Arthur Pennington were : Lawrence 
Willmore, born at Birmingham, England, February 
26, 1852 ; Arthur, born on the voyage from England 
to America, March, 1854, returned to England, came 
to Providence, Rhode Island, after he was grown 
up, but soon returned to his native place, where 
he married Julia Rowland. 

(II) Lawrence Willmore Pennington, son of 
Arthur Pennington (l), was born in Birmingham, 
England, February 26, 1852. He came to America 
first with his parents when two years old and re- 
turned a few years later to England with his mother 
and brother. He was brought up and educated in 
Birmingham. He is a graduate of Midland In- 
stitute, receiving in 1873 the degree of ^Master of 
Arts. He had specially good training in draughting 
and designing, for which he early showed a special 
aptitude. 

He learned the trade of manufacturing jeweler 
and followed his trade in England for a time. In 
1870 and 1871 he was designer and pattern maker 
for Joseph Josephs & Son, St. Paul's Square, 
Birmingham, England, who had at that time the 
reputation of making the highest grade and most 
costly diamond and precious stone jewelry of any 
makers in England. In 1871 he patented his first 
invention, a reversible "E" ring top, and sold forty- 
three designs at considerable profit. In 1872 he 
patented a scarf stud and sold sixty-one designs. 
In 1873 he patented eighteen designs used in the 
jewelry trade, a window curtain pulley, a new sus- 
pender buckle, a separable cuff button, patented in 
the United States, and sold to George Mason. In 
1873 he came to the United States and located at 
Providence, Rhode Island, where he worked as 
foreman for a number of the large manufacturing 
establishments, such as Thomas Quail's. Milim & 
Hutchins, and here he invented his method of iri- 
descent coloring of metals, which was a great money 
maker for him. He also had a secret process for 
straight and for basket coloring that was in great 
demand. He invented about this time a contriv- 
ance for bending scrolls and another for setting 
stones and pearls. In 1874 he returned to England 
and stayed about three years, and while there pat- 
ented several more valuable patents, one of which 
netted him for some time a hundred pounds a week. 
He made a machine for cutting joints for bracelets 
and lockets. 

He returned to the United States in 1878. After 
working a short time at Newark, New Jersey, he 
returned to Providence, Rhode Island. Here he 
taught the workmen of Dity Wilcox the trade of 
diamond ri;ig manufacturing. He opened his own 
shop on Peck street, Providence, in 1878. and began 
to manufacture jewelry. Much of his work, how- 
ever, was applying his process of coloring and lap- 
ping to the work of other Providence jewelry 
manufacturers. For Rice, Allen & Mason alone 
he did contract work to the amount of seventy-five 
dollars a dav profit. Twice he enlarged his shop, 
movinsj first to Dyer street, then to Eddy street. 
In 1887 he transferred his business to Worcester. 
In 1879 he sold George Mason his process for inlay- 
ing and producing colors on metals. From 1878 
13 



to the time of his removal to Worcester he pro- 
duced a series of valuable inventions, used by man- 
ufacturers of jewelry, most of which are of too 
technical a nature to be described here. 

His first location in Worcester was at 81 Me- 
chanic street, where he made all kinds of jewelers' 
goods to order. He developed a large business, 
designing all kinds of jewels, diamond settings, de- 
signing and making emblems, badges and insignia of 
all sorts. He made goods for retail jewelers in all 
parts of the state. He had to move soon to better 
c|uarters on Main street, at the corner of Mechanic. 
He continued to experiment, invent and patent new 
devices. In 1886 he invented a method of soldering 
metal to glass; in 1891 he brought out his process 
for soldering aluminum ; in 189T, after he had be- 
come interested in pyrography, he invented a poker 
for the work, and in 1894 devised the electric pencil, 
for permanent writings and drawings on glass, china 
and all delicate surfaces; in i8g6 he invented a new 
process for casting gold and silver hollow. It is 
doubtful if any man in his line of work has pro- 
duced more useful and numerous inventions than 
Mr. Pennington. He continues to experiment as 
he has the opportunity. 

He opened a retail store at 6 Elm street in con- 
nection with his manufacturing business. In 1904 
he removed to No. 377 Main street, where he is 
now located. Mr. Pennington has made many 
famous designs. He made the Ten Eyck charm and 
pin, and the Prince Henry souvenir, consisting of 
the Worcester city seal wrought in ivory and silver, 
presented to Prince Henry of Prussia, March 6, 1902, 
by the citizens of Worcester. As far back as 1869 
he took a queen's prize for pencil drawing of his 
teacher. In 1870 he took a prize for a bronze de- 
sign. He has a burnt wood picture in the Dublin 
Art Gallery and a portrait of President Roosevelt 
in the White House. 

It is as an artist in burnt wood that Mr. Pen- 
nington has made himself famous. He was a few 
years ago conceded to be the best artist in burnt 
wood in this country. Pyrography has become 
in the last few years the most attractive and popu- 
lar form of art among all classes and ages. The 
beautiful and skillful work of Mr. Pennington has 
done as much to inspire the devotion to this form 
of art as anything else. His exhibitions have in- 
terested many to learn how to do burnt wood pic- 
tures. When Mr. Pennington began to burn pictures 
on wood he found the art in a crude state. Lie 
broke away from the conventional scrolls and designs 
and attempted successfully pictures requiring deli- 
cate shading and coloring. He was probably the 
first artist to make a distinctly successful picture 
of nude figures in burnt wood. The first large pro- 
duction which is now famous, is the "Diana's Hunt- 
ing Party," owned by J. F. Regan, of Worcester. 
This picture brings out in efaborate detail thir- 
teen figures over fifteen inches in height, while 
the effect of foliage and water is produced very 
naturally and effectively. This picture is as large 
as the original painting, eight feet long and forty- 
two inches in width. The original painting by Hans 
Makart in the Metropolitan Art Museum of New 
York is one of the best known productions of any 
artist. At the time Mr. Pennington made this 
beautiful specimen of his art, it was pronounced 
the largest, most elaborate and artistic specimen 
of pyrography ever produced. 

Mr. Pennington has made many hundreds of 
pictures since he began to study burnt wood art. 
He has been a prize winner in exhibitions in New 
York. Chicago and Boston, besides numerous ex- 
hibitions in smaller cities. One collection of his 



194 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



pictures was exhibited in London and Germany. 
Among his best are "Reveries" and "The Golden 
Age." While much of his work is original in de- 
sign, he has made very artistic reproductions of many 
famous paintings, such as Rosa Bonheur's "Head of 
a Lion," Paul Potter's "Head of a Bull and Cow," 
"Lion in His Cage," and "Words of Comfort," which 
is a specially fine piece of work representing an 
aged woman reading to her husband, sick in bed. 
Another large production of Mr. Pennington's is the 
"Battle of Nevvbern," which is forty-four inches in 
length and fourteen in width, containing four hundred 
and thirty different figures. He made for Nathan I. 
Durlech, of New York, a reproduction of "Nymphs 
and Satyr," a well known painting. Another speci- 
men of his best work is "Bacchante Awakening," 
a life size nude figure, beautifully drawn and colored. 
It is f^fty-four inches by seventy-two inches in size. 
It is a copy of the painting by Frederick Kraus. 
Another large work is a reproduction of Le Quesne's 
"The Daughters of Menistho," four feet five and 
three-fourth inches by six. feet, one inch. The 
"Nymphs and Satyr" picture was the largest of 
all, being six feet by nine and a half. One of his 
most successful collections of burnt etchings con- 
sisted of portraits of members of the Mitchell fam- 
ilv of London, made from photographs. It is im- 
possible to give an adequate idea of the extent and 
variety of Mr. Pennington's work with poker and 
aluminum pencil. He received much assistance from 
his daughter, Lavinia, who was also a clever artist. 
Mr. Pennington has never joined any secret orders 
and is not a club man. Most of his burnt wood 
pictures were produced at home evenings. For the 
past thirteen years he has resided at No. 13 June 
street, Worcester. 

He married, September 6, 1871, Selinia Cashmorc, 
daughter of Edward and Elizabeth Cashmore, at 
Birmingham, England. Her father is still living in 
that city at an advanced age. She died January, 
i8g8. He married (second) Lucy Chaffee, daughter 
of James H. and Laura Chaffee, of Berkshire, Ver- 
mont, June 20, 190S, at Worcester. The children 
of Lawrence W. and Selinia (Cashmore) Penning- 
ton were : Lawrence, born at Birmingham, England, 
February 24, 18",^, married Lillian Wheeler, of Graf- 
ton, has one daughter ; Selinia Lavinia, born January 
16, 1876, married, at Worcester, January 29, 1904, 
Dr. Nicholas William Hoffman, of Dubuque, Iowa, ' 
dean of the N. A. R, D., resides in Worcester. 

Arthur H. Hioras, professor of Electro-Metallurgy 
in the Midland Institute at Birmingham, England, 
married Elizabeth Cashmore, sister of Mrs. Pen- 
nington. His text books known as "Mixed Metal 
and Metallic Alloys," "Elementary Metallurgy," 
"Iron and Steel Manufacturing" and "Practical 
Metallurgy aiid Assaying" — are used in this country 
by most all the teachers of that line in the colleges, 
and his works are accepted as authority on the various 
subjects. 

THE STEWART BOILER WORKS of Wor- 
cester, well known throughout the New England 
states, and which stands high among the leading 
industries of the city of Worcester, sustaining a 
reputation for thorough workmanship and honorable 
dealing, has since September, 1888, been under the 
ownership of James C, John C. and Charles M. 
Stewart, sons of Charles Stewart, a native of Gla';- 
.gow, Scotland, who learned his trade in England. 
LTpon his arrival in Worcester, Massachusetts, Charles 
Stewart began manufacturing boilers for Bellows 
& Whitcomb. who were at that time engaged in 
building portable steam engines. 

The firm comprising the three gentlemen above 



named was founded in 1S65 by Charles Stewart and 
David M. Dillon under the original firm name of 
Stewart & Dillon, and the first shop was on Man- 
chester street, but was later removed to Cypress 
street. In December, 1869, Mr. Dillon retired from 
the firm and Mr. Stewart continued the business 
alone tmtil 1872, when William Allen became his 
partner, the style changing to Stewart & Allen, and 
this partnership continued for a period of three years. 
Prior to that time (1871) Mr. Stewart purchased 
the boiler business of Rice, Barton & Fales, machine 
and iron company, wdiich they carried on in connec- 
tion with their business of paper-making machinery. 
LIpon the dissolution of the partnership, in 1875, 
Mr. Allen established the firm of William Allen & 
Sons, which has continued in business in the city 
of Worcester since, and Mr. Stewart in 1878 admitted 
his son, James C. Stewart, to partnership, changing 
the name of the firm to that of C. Stewart & Son, 
In 1888 Charles Stewart retired and his three sons, 
above mentioned, have continued the business up 
to the present time (1906). 

In September. i88g, the works were moved to 
new shops at the present location, Albany street. 
The plant is e.xtensive, covering a space of nearly 
two acres of land located a half mile east of the 
LInion station, and on the line of the Boston & Al- 
bany Railroad, and easily accessible from all parts of 
the city of Worcester by means of the electric cars. 
The main building is sixty by three hundred and 
seventy feet, and there are a number of smaller 
buildings for various purposes, all admirably equipped 
with machinery. There is a spur track running 
alon.gside the works, and with a powerful electric 
hoisting crane gives excellent facilities for receiving 
and shipping goods. The firm manufactures loco- 
motive, marine and tubular boilers, tanks for oil, 
water and general purposes, smoke stacks, penstocks, 
and heavy plate iron work of all kinds. They also 
attend to repairs of boilers in mills, etc. They em- 
ploy on an average seventy-five men, many of whom 
have served at the works for a long period of time. 

JOSEPH McGOWN. The pioneer ancestor of 
the American branch of the McGown family was 
Joseph McGown (grandfather), wdio emigrated 
thither from his native land — Scotland — landing in 
New York city. Prior to his emigration to America 
he married and among the children born to him was 
a son Henry McGown. 

Henry McGown (father) was born at Paisley, an 
important tiianufacturing town in Scotland, was 
reared and educated there, and by giving close at- 
tention to his studies and by pursuing a course of 
reading good literature became a well informed 
man on a number of subjects. After his marriage 
to Elizabeth Bizland, of Paisley, Scotland, about 
1842, he came to the United States, locating first at 
L'nkersville. Connecticut, where he was employed at 
his trade of weaver. After a residence of one year 
there he moved to Mason Village. New Hamp- 
shire, where he served as foreman for the Columbia 
Manufacturing Company's mill for about thirty years, 
and later he removed to High Bridge, same state, 
where he continued to act as foreman for the same 
company. In 1871 he took up his residence in Clin- 
ton, Massachusetts, and engaged in the grocery busi- 
ness, this proving a most lucrative enterprise. The 
following named children were born to Mr. and 
Mrs. McGown: Joseph, of whom later; Elizabeth, 
John. Henry. William W.. and Jean. Henry Mc- 
Gown (father) died January, 1874: his wife passed 
away August, 1874. 

Joseph McGown, eldest son of Henrv and Eliza- 
beth (Bizland) McGown, was born in Paisley. Scot- 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



195 



land. November 13. 1840. When eighteen months old 
he was brought to this country l)y his mother, his 
father having preceded theiu. and after a tedious 
and perilous voyage on a sailing vessel was landed 
safely in New York city. He received his educa- 
tion in the schools of New Ipswich and Mason Vil- 
lage. New Hampshire, and when five years old ac- 
companied his parents to High Bridge, New Hamp- 
shire, where he was employed for a number of 
years in the mill operated by his father. Upon the 
removal of the family to Clinton, Massachusetts, he 
followed the trade of machinist for a short period 
of time, and then entered into partnership with his 
father in the grocery business, established by the 
latter, this connection continuing until the death of 
Mr. McGown. Sr., since which time the son has 
conducted the business alone and is now in receipt 
of an extensive and lucrative patronage, only ex- 
ceeded by establishments in the large cities. Mr. Mc- 
Gown has accumulated considerable real estate in 
his adopted town, and ranks among the prosperous 
and influential citizens. Although repeatedly re- 
quested by the leaders of the Republican party in 
his community to accept political office, he has al- 
ways declined the honor but is willing to aid the 
party otherwise to the best of his ability. He is, an 
active and interested member of the Masonic Order, 
also the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. 

ilr. McGown married, January i, 1863, Miss 
Clementine E. Baxter, a daughter of Anson Baxter, 
of Central Falls, Rhode Island, and their children 
are : Henry A., married Grace Buttrick. and their 
family consists of three children: Margery. Mary J., 
and Ellenoir. Joseph E., who married Jean Mc- 
Gown. and the issue of this marriage were three 
children : Edith. Muriel, and one who died young. 
George, deceased, who married May Harden, and 
one children was born to them. Pauline. Andrew B., 
who married Mary Morgan, now deceased, and their 
children are : Dorothy. Virginia. John L., who 
married Nellie Jenkins. Isabelle C, who became the 
wife of John Sparks, issue : Donald, and one who 
died voung. Esther, unmarried, resides at home. 

fa 
Clinton. 

CHARLES BASSETT EATON. The Eaton 
family, of which Charles Bassett Eaton is a repre- 
sentative in the present generation, is lineally de- 
scended from Jonas Eaton. 

(I) Jonas Eaton came from England and pur- 
chased land in Watertown. Massachusetts, where 
he had a residence in 1643. He with his brother Will- 
iam, also of Watertow-n, Massachusetts, were among 
the first settlers of Reading. Massachusetts. Jonas 
and wife Grace were recorded among the members 
of the church at Reading as early as September 29, 
164S. He died there February 24. 1674. and his widow 
married. November 18. 1680. Henry Sillsbee. of Lynn. 
Jonas and Grace Eaton had children : Mary, born 
February 8. 1643-4: died 1731 : John, born Septem- 
ber 10. 16.1;: Jonas, born September 28, 1647, died 
October 14, 1647: Jonas, born September 24. 1648: 
Sarah, born 1650: Joseph, born January 5. 1651 : 
Joshua, born December 4, 1653 : Jonathan, born De- 
cember 6. 1655 : David, born September 22, 1657. 
died October 7. 1657. 

(in John Eaton, born September 10. 1645, mar- 
ried. November 26, 1674, Dorcas Green, and lived in 
Reading. He died there May 25. 1691. Their chil- 
dren were : Jonas, born March 13. 1676-7. died March 
28. 1676-7: Grace, born January 12. 1677-8. married 
John Eoutelle ; Noah, born January 26, 1678, died 
in 1701 : Thomas, born June 22. 1679, died Novem- 
ber 30. 1679 : Jonas, born May 18, 1680. married 



and settled in Framingham; Joseph, born .April 18, 
1681, died April 29, 1681 ; Benjamin, horn January 
16, 1683-4. died February 2, 1683-4; Joseph, settled 
m Reading: Benjamin, settled in Roxbury ; Dorcas, 
born July 26, 1688, died young; Steplien, born Au- 
gust II, 1689, died August 25, 1689; Phoebe, born 
August 25, 1690, married Jonathan Nichols. 

(III) Jonas Eaton, born May 18, 1680, was a 
carpenter and bricklayer, settled in Framingham, 
Massachusetts, and married Grace, daughter of John 
Gould. He purchased March 10, 1705-6, the east 
half of what was known as the "Half Mile Square," 
and died there August 13, 1727. His children were: 
Mehitable. born February 17, 1706-7; Noah, born 
July 22, 1708; John, born September 3, 1710. settled 
in Killingly. Connecticut ; Phebe, born October 22, 
1714; Jonas, born October 22, 1714: Joseph, born 
March 12, 1716; Mary, born March 12, 1718: Joshua, 
born July i, 1721, settled in Voluntown, Connecti- 
cut; Benjamin, born October 9, 1723; Ebenezcr, born 
September 2, 1727, cordwainer. 

(IV) Noah Eaton, born July 22, 1708. married 
Hannah Vinton of Stoneham, and resided in Fram- 
ingham. He died October 8, 1791 ; she died March 
^, 1795- Their children are: Hannah, horn Novem- 
ber 8, 1731, married John Cheney; Noah, born Au- 
gust 7, 1733; Abigail, born February i. 1735, married 
Daniel Gregory; Jonas, born January 29, 1737; John, 
born July 30. 1740; Mehitable. born April '21, 1743, 
married Deacon Samuel Dakin ; Ruth, born Febru- 
ary 16, 1744, married Peter Parker: Maltiah, born 
January 15, 1747; Silas, born December i, 1750; 
Mary, born May II, 1753, married Simon (joddard, 
of Philipston. 

(V) ]\Ialtiah Eaton, born January 15, 1747, 
in Framingham. Massachusetts, married Huldah 
Haynes, of Sudbury. December 31, 1778, who died 
in 1S16. In the year 1773 he purchased a tract of land 
in the township of (jerry, now Phillipston, Massa- 
chusetts, somewhat later removing his goods from 
Framingham to that place on a one-horse litter made 
of two wooden poles serving as thills extending 
back of the horse to the ground, across which short 
poles \yere fastened to support a platform to hold 
the freight, the horse dragging the poles along, after 
the Indian style of transporting camp fixtures. He 
died August 17. 1831. His children were: Amy. 
born 1780, married Daniel Grossman; Huldah. born 
.April 19, 1785. died unmarried. July 4, 1849, in Win- 
chester. New Hampshire ; Avery, born February 2, 
1789: Maltiah, died in infancy. 

(VI) Avery Eaton, born February 2. 1789. in 
Phillipston, married. January 22. 1818. Lydia Brown, 
liorn in Lexington. Massachusetts. January 18. 1793. 
Lydia Brown was a descendant from Deacon Joseph 
Brown, who came from England, and located in Lex- 
ington. Massachusetts, where his son Benjamin was 
born June 30. 1720. He married Sarah Read. De- 
cember 23. 1742, and died ^larch 4, 1802. Their 
son Nathan, born September 5, 1766, married Lydia 
Muzzy, December 25. 1788. and were the parents of 
Lvdia Brown, w-ife of .Avery Eaton. She died in 
.Springfield, Massachusetts, July 14, 1881. Avery 
Eaton built a house just back of his father's on 
the old homestead at Phillipston. and resided there 
until his father's death. In 1844 the place passed 
into the hands of the eldest son, William Avery 
Eaton, who resided there about thirty years, when 
he built a house in .Athol and removed there, subse- 
nuently sellin,s the farm. The children of Avery 
Eaton were: William Avery, born October .i, 1818: 
Lvdia Samantha. born October 15, 1820; Caroline 
Huldah, born October 12. 1822; Harriet Relief, born 
November 9. 1824. married. April 7. 1847, Lorenzo 
Blanchard. of Petersham; Almira J., born May 27, 



196 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



i8j7, died Jul_v j/, 18^7; Juhn Osgood, born Sep- 
tember 2, 1^26, died July 0, 1S32 ; Charles Bassett, 
born June 20, 1831 ; Mary Augusta, born July 18, 
1S35. married George P. King, of Barre, Massa- 
chusetts. 

(VII) Charles Bassett Eaton, seventh child of 
Avery and Lydia (.Brown) Eaton, was born in 
Phillipston, Massachusetts, June 20, 1831, on the 
original homestead of seventy-five acres that his 
grandfather, Maltiah Eaton, purchased November 11, 
1773. Here upon this farm were spent the first 
twelve years of his life, attending the village school, 
building windmills, sleds, wagons, and water-wheels 
in the old shed chamber (the latter used in driving 
a miniature saw mill constructed on the brook near 
the house), while his sisters braided palm leaf hats. 
At the death of the grandfather the farm became 
the property of his father Avery and his Aunt Hul- 
dah. Later they sold the place to their brother 
William, and in April, 1844, removed to a farm of 
forty-five acres with cottage house and barn upon it 
in Winchester township. New Hampshire, about three 
miles south of the center. In the fall of 1845 young 
Eaton, at the age of fourteen, entered the employ 
of Mr. Belding in a cotton factory in West Win- 
chester. Within a few weeks this mill with a woolen 
factory standing near it were consumed by fire, and 
the lad found employment as chore boy for Mr. 
Murdock. who owned a woolen mill in the town 
and boarded his help at the house. During winters 
the lad usually went home to attend the town school. 
In 1847 he was engaged in painting pails in South 
Orange, Massachusetts, for Mr. Washburn (after- 
wards governor of the state), and the following 
season performed the same work at a pail factory 
in Winchester, New Hampshire. Here he gained 
great proficiency in the work but found it quite in- 
jurious to health, for on entering Edwin Kendall's 
high school at Petersham, in September, 1S48, he 
found his strength greatly impaired. This, however, 
returned to him, and those school days in Petersham 
have ever been to him a source of pleasant recollec- 
tions, for it was at that time that he made the 
acquaintance of Mary Caroline Cheney, who after- 
ward became his wife, and who for more than fifty 
years has been a true helpmate. 

After returning to Winchester and giving a little 
further attention toward obtaining an education, 
he began looking for a situation as clerk, and visiting 
the store of B. B. Murdock at Northfield, Massa- 
chusetts, in the midst of a severe snow storm, made 
such a favorable impression that within a few days 
he received a letter asking him to call again, when 
the contract was closed to accept a clerkship in his 
store one year for one hundred dollars and his 
board. It was a very large country store, and the 
associations between employer and employed proved 
to be of the most pleasant character. In the fall 
Mr. Murdock sold the business to Messrs. Hastings 
and Fay, who desired Mr. Eaton- to remain with 
them, but wishing to be among his acquaintances at 
Petersham, he entered the employ there of Weth- 
erell & !Mudge, making a contract to remain with 
them three years, and continued at the store and 
postofiice until disabled by a severe attack of rheuma- 
tism, which made him almost helpless for several 
months. As soon as he was able to leave his home 
at Winchester, whither he had gone when unable to 
attend to his duties with Wetherell & Mudge. he again 
returned to Petersham and engaged to clerk in the 
store of George A. Rogers, who after a time sold out 
to Messrs. Hawes & Tolman, Mr. Eaton continuing 
with them about two years. 

In 1849 E. D. Cheney, father of Mary Caroline 
(before mentioned) removed from Petersham to 



W'oreester. and Mr. Eaton followed tliem there, en- 
gaging with B. L. Hardon & Company, dealers in 
dry goods, with store on Main street, Worcester, 
the members of the firm being B. L. 'Hardon, Stephen 
Sawyer and William Cary. After his clerkship here, 
he was with Warren & Emerson, who kept a country 
store in Royalston, but in September, 1852, he en- 
tered the store of Lee & Bassett, in Athol, who car- 
ried on a large general store business, also having 
an extensive palmleaf hat trade, and a tailoring de- 
partment, where a large number of girls found em- 
ployment. Here Mr. Eaton remained nearly three 
\ears, much of the time having a large share of 
responsibility in the conduct of the business. No- 
vember 14, 1854, he married Mary Caroline Cheney, 
and began housekeeping in Athol, at the same time 
making a home for his w'idowed mother, who for 
more than thirty years received his generous and 
kindly ministrations of help and support. Mr. Eaton 
was now enjoying the full confidence of his em- 
ployers, and business was prosperous, but there ex- 
isted an undercurrent which in time changed the 
course of events. Mrs. Eaton was an only daughter, 
and her parents were arriving at the conclusion that 
she must have a home near them. All the induce- 
m(;nts Messrs. Lee & Bassett could offer and the 
earnest appeals from other friends in Athol failed 
to check the tidal wave rolling toward Worcester, 
and there the young couple arrived in April, 1855. 
Mr. Eaton soon found employment with Mr. E. H. 
Sanford, who had opened a store in Flagg's block 
for the sale of fancy dry goods, and here made 
himself so useful that within a few months he 
was given a substantial increase in salary, and within 
a year was allowed to take a third interest in the 
business. This agreement was continued for six 
years, when' (in 1862) Mr. Eaton rented a store 
in Brinley Hall block and began for himself, at 
first in a small way, but business grew as time went, 
and in 1870, for the purpose of securing more 
room, he removed to the old Butman store,, on the 
site of the present State Mutual building. Here he 
continued the fancy dry goods business until Octo- 
ber. 1877, when he sold to Hebbard & Shepherd. The 
following year he engaged in the galvanized iron and 
sheet metal business. That not proving satisfactory, 
he relinquished it and in 1879 went to work in the 
store of Sanford & Dixon, dealers in paper and 
stationery, soon purchasing Mr. Sanford's interest, 
and with Mr. Di.xon removed the stock to No. 505 , 
Main street, and for two years business was con- 
ducted under the firm name of Eaton & Dixon. 
After purchasing Mr. Dixon's interest the business 
was continued tmder the style of C. B. Eaton & 
Company, Harry H. Browning holding an interest 
about two years. At that time Mr. Eaton sold one- 
half interest in the business to Will W. Lewis, who 
had been a clerk in the store a number of years, 
but November i, 1892, Mr. Eaton sold his half in- 
terest to W. B. Emerson, since which time Mr. 
Eaton has been engaged in the real estate business 
and caring for the large property interests now in 
the possession of the family. 

Mary Caroline (Cheney) Eaton, wife of Charles 
Bassett Eaton, was a granddaughter of Ebenezer 
Cheney, born in Milford, Massachusetts, April 14, 
17S2. He was by trade a blacksmith, and married 
Mary Daniels, of Holliston. Their son. Edson 
Daniels Cheney, born in Milford, October 16, 1810, 
married Sarah B. Shattuck. of Barre, April 11, 1833. 
She was daughter of Asa Shattuck, born in Han- 
cock. New Hampshire. March 26. 1789, and his wife 
.\bigail Conant, of Oakham, Massachusetts, born •" 
there November 16, 1791. This Asa Shattuck was '' 
son of Ezekiel, of Groton, Massachusetts, and his 



i 



I 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



197 



wife Sarah Bullard. Edson Daniels Cheney came 
to Worcester in 1849, and was engaged in the manu- 
facture of carriages, in Petersham, Massachusetts, 
until he came to Worcester. Then for six years he 
carried on carpentering and house building, and in 
i860 opened a Hour and grain store, and after a period 
of seventeen years retired with a well earned 
competency and the reputation of a successful, hon- 
est business man. He died in Worcester, April 13, 
1894. His daughter, Mary Caroline Cheney, wife of 
Charles Bassett Eaton, was born in Barre, Massa- 
chusetts, February 23. 1834. 

The children of Charles Bassett and Mary Caro- 
line (Cheney) Eaton, born in Worcester, were: 
Alice Carrie, born March 8, 1859 ; Cora Belle, born 
October 15, 1870; Grace Cheney, born August 12, 
1876, died August 12, 1877. 

(Vni) Alice Carrie Eaton, eldest child of Charles 
Bassett and Mary Caroline (Cheney) Eaton, mar- 
ried Frederick Norton Cooke, February 9, 1881. He 
is a native of Norwich. Connecticut, born Septem- 
ber 12. 1854. a telegrapher. Their home is with the 
parents. Their children are : Cheney Eaton Cooke, 
born November 13. 1882, died January 31, 1884; 
Frederick Norton Cooke, born August 12. 1884. 

(Vni) Cora Belle Eaton, second child of Charles 
Bassett and Mary Caroline (Cheney) Eaton, mar- 
ried William H. Nelson. August 16, 1893. Their 
children are: Charles Winthrop, born June 8, 1894; 
Madeline, born June 19. igoo, died August 21, 1900; 
William Earl, born April 25, 1903. 

(VH) William Avery Eaton, eldest brother of 
Charles B.. married Emily Johnson, of Petersham, 
May 2. 1843. They had three children : Lucy Caro- 
line. Emily Elvira, and Martha Fidelia. He died 
June 12, 1895. 

(VH) Lydia Samantha Eaton, his eldest sister, 
married, April 23, 1844, Uri Twichell, of Athol, a 
farmer. They had four daughters and one son. 
She died August 31, 1854. 

(VH) Caroline Huldah, another sister, married, 
January 3, 1853, William Hutchins, of Winchester, 
New Hampshire, a farmer, who died September 6, 
i860. She married (second), July 4, 1863, Edwin 
M. Cooper, also of Winchester. They had no chil- 
dren. She died August 17, 1901. 

WILLIAM HERBERT INMAN, senior mem- 
ber of the firm of Pratt & Inman. conducting an 
extensive steel business in Worcester, Massachu- 
setts, is a native of Rhode Island, born in Burrill- 
ville, March 15, 1845. His parents were Francis 
Henry and Hannah (Marsh) Inman. His mother 
was a daughter of John and Lucy Marsh, of Slaters- 
ville. Rhode Island. His paternal grandparents were 
James and Nancy Inman. of the same town. 

W'illiam H. Inman was four years old when his 
parents took up their residence in Worcester, Massa- 
chusetts. He was educated in the public schools of 
that city, and after leaving his studies entered the 
office of his father. May 8. 1864, when nineteen 
years of age. From that time he has been con- 
tinuously connected with the business to which he 
was then introduced, and which is worthy of some- 
what extended notice. 

The keeping of bar iron and steel for sale as a 
special business in Worcester was commenced by 
Joseph Pratt and Samuel Hathaway, under the firm 
name of J. Pratt & Co., in May. 1829. At that 
time the only modes of transportation to Worcester 
were by horse or ox teams from Boston, or by the 
Blackstone canal from Providence. The business 
gradually developed in importance, and was con- 
tinued by the firm above named until 1832. when 
occurred the death of Mr. Hathaway. It was then 



continued without change of name by Mr. Pratt, 
with Isaac Davis as a partner, until 1835, when 
I'ldward Earle succeeded Mr. Davis, and the style 
of the firm was changed to that of J. Pratt & Earle. 
This was continued until 1848, when Elbridge G. 
Pratt, brother of Joseph Pratt, purchased the in- 
terest of Edward Earle, and the firm again, took the 
designation of J. Pratt & Comi)any. Elbridge G. 
Pratt died that year, and the business was continued 
without change of firm name until 1853, when Francis 
H. Inman, who had entered the house as a clerk, 
in 1849, was admitted to partnership, and the firm 
name was changed to that of Pratt & Inman, which 
has been its form to the present time. In 1871 
William H. Inman, who had entered the employ of 
the house in May. 1864, was admitted to partner- 
ship. In 1874 Mr. Pratt retired from the firm. This 
excellent man, who w-as born in 1800. lived to the 
remarkable age of ninety-five years, dying in 1895. 
Mr. Francis H. Inman continued his connection with 
the business until his death, in iSgS. after which 
the business was continued by William H. Inman 
tmtil T903, wdien his son, Albert H. Inman. who 
had been with the establishment since 1R87, was 
admitted to partnership. The firm fully maintains 
the prestige enjoyed by its predecessors, through 
so many years, and its house is recognized as one 
of the substantial and important enterprises of 
Worcester, distributing its goods through a wide 
territory, and supplying many of the largest manu- 
facturing establishments throughout the East. 

October 3. 1867. Williatu H. Inman married Mary 
E. Cheney, a granddaughter of Charles Davis, who 
was for many years connected w'ith the Washburn 
& Moen firm of Worcester. Two children were born 
of this marriage : Albert Henry and Edith Loraine. 

.\ll)ert H. Inman, son of William .H. Inman. 
married. January i. 1891, EflSe B. Moore, a daugh- 
ter of Charles F. Moore, of Worcester, and to them 
have been born two children. Chester M.. and Mar- 
jorie. Mr. Inman is a member of the Masonic 
fraternity, affiliated with Quinsigamond Lodge and 
Worcester Royal Arch Chapter. 

THE GODDARD FAMILY has had for several 
generations some very distinguished representatives 
in Worcester and Worcester county. It is one of the 
finest old families of English lineage. The emigrant 
ancestor was William Goddard. Some of his de- 
scendants, especially those who are ancestors of the 
Worcester families, are here given. 

(I) William Goddard was born about 1630 in 
London, England. He was a grocer. In 1650 he 
married Elizabeth Miles. They had six children be- 
fore coming to .'\merica. three of whom died when 
infants, and they had six more in Watertown, Massa- 
chusetts, wdiere they settled in 1666. He caiuc over 
the year before and prepared a home for his family. 
Of the .\merican born children, three died in in- 
fancy and three sons survived as happened w'ith the 
six born in England. The second son born in Water- 
town was Benjamin. 

(II) Benjamin Goddard. son of Williairi Goddard 
(l). was born in Watertown. Massachusetts, in 
t668. He married Martha Palfrey, of Cambridge, 
Massachusetts, about 1700, and died in Cambridge. 
October 2-1. 1730. Their children were: Nathaniel, 
born in Charlestown about 1702, died in Weston. 
1780: Benjamin, born in Charlestown. 1705. died in 
Grafton. Massachusetts, 1759: John, born in Charles- 
town. 1709. died in Cambridge. May 12. 1751 ; 
Thomas, born in Charlestown, died in Cainbridge. 
1768: Martha, born in Charlestown, died in Cam- 
bridge. 1770. 

(III) Benjamin Goddard. son of Benjamin God- 



198 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



dard (2), born 1705, married Mary Kidder, of Graf- 
ton, in that town about 1730. Their children were: 
Natlianiel, born in Grafton, Massachusetts, about 
173^; Josiah, about 1735; Benjamin, November 15, 
1737, died in Grafton, March II, 1806; James, April 
24, 1740. died in Athol, February 22, 1809; Samuel, 
December 27, 1742, died in Royalston, Massachusetts, 
August 16, 1806 ; Elizabeth, died in Petersham, 
Massachusetts. 1820 ; Hannah, settled in Worcester, 
New York ; Mary, married Thomas Gregg, of Sutton. 

(IV) Samuel Goddard, son of Benjamin (3) 
and Mary Goddard, was born December 27, 1742, 
married Elizabeth King, of Sutton, in that town 
(Rev. D. Ball), and second Catherine Parker Parks, 
nee Gerry, a widow, of Petersham, June 28, 1790. 
He had twenty-three children, including four sons 
that his second wife had by her first marriage. 
Some of his children were : Henry, born in Sutton, 
February 25. 1770, died in Royalston, February, 1848; 
Samuel, born in Sutton, July 6, 1772. died in Nor- 
wich. Vermont, November 14, 1844 ; Elizabeth, born 
in Sutton, February 2, 1774, died in Montpelier, 
Vermont, October 4, 1834 ; Salmon, born January 
26, 1776, died young; Ashahel, born in Sutton, Sep- 
tember 25, 1777. died in Belfast, Maine, November 
II, 1806; Salmon, born in Royalston, Massachusetts, 
January 6, 1783 ; James, born in Royalston, July 5, 
1784, died in Royalston, February 9, 1841 : a son, 
born in Royalston, March 15, 1786. died the same 
day and was buried with his mother; Benjamin, 
born in Royalston, May 5, 1791, died in Worcester, 
September i, 1867; Catherine, born in Royalston, 
March 5, 1793. died March 6. 1793; Tamar, born in 
Royalston, February 5. 1795, died in Minneapolis, 
Minnesota, May, 1888 ; Nathaniel, born in Royalston, 
February 7, 1797, died in Millbury, Massachusetts, 
after 1890; a son, born in Royalston, April 8, 1799, 
died 1799; Catherine, born in Royalston. November 
4, 1800, died 1800: Danford. born in Royalston, No- 
vember 8, 1801, died 1804; Danford, born in Royals- 
ton, March 7, 1804, died in Valparaiso, South Amer- 
ica, February 2, 1859. Two infants by the first wife 
died unnamed. 

(V) Benjamin Goddard, son of Samuel (4) and 
Catherine Goddard. was born May 5, 1791. married 
Sarah (Stockwell) Sibley, widow of Dorrance Sib- 
ley, of Sutton, at Millbury. February 7, 1822. He 
died in Worcester, September i, 1867. Their chil- 
dren were : Henry, born in Worcester, October 4, 
1823, died in Worcester. January 12. 1904 : Harriet, 
born in Worcester, October 11, 1825, died in 
Dowagiac, Michigan. December 3, 1869 ; Catherine 
Parker, born in Worcester, November 2. 1827, died 
in Worcester, August 18, 1843 ; Dorrance Sibley, born 
in Worcester, October 11, 1829; Delano .'Mexander, 
born in Worcester, August 27, 1831, was editor of 
the Worcester S/'y and the Boston Advertiser, died 
in Boston. January 11. 1882. 

(VI) Henry Goddard, eldest son of Benjamin 
(S) and Sarah (Stockwell) Goddard, was born in 
Worcester, October 4, 1823. During his entire busi- 
ness life he was intimately identified with the progress 
of the manufacture of wire. With the exception of 
a single attempt in Walpole, all the earliest e;fforts 
at wire drawing in this country were made in Wor- 
cester and two or three neighboring towns. Prior 
to 1831 the hardware dealers of Worcester county 
imported all their wire from England and Germany, 
and it is stated on good authority that shortly be- 
fore that the entire output of wire in England did not 
exceed one four horse load weekly. In 1843 or 
1844 he entered the mill of the Washburn & Moen 
Company where his father was manager, later was 
employed as a wire drawer, and continued in that 



company's service uninterruptedly for more than 
fifty years. Upon the death of his father he became 
manager of the South Worcester mill. Shortly after 
this building was destroyed by fire, and he was 
transferred to the larger mill of the company on 
Grove street, returning the following year to take 
charge of the new mill at the old location. In 1869 
this mill was closed and Mr. Goddard went again 
to the Grove street works, where he remained as 
foreman of the wire drawing and nail department 
until poor health and the arrival of his seventy-fifth 
birthday induced him to give up active work. He 
finally severed his connection with the company in 
December, 1898. After that date he was not actively 
engaged in any business. 

His withdrawal from this service was marked 
with many tokens of the esteem and affection of 
those who for so many years had been associated 
with him or served under him. The directors of 
the corporation testified upon their records to his 
faithful and intelligent leadership, his unvarying de- 
votion to the company's interest and the great respect 
inspired in all who knew him by his uprightness of 
character and kindly disposition. No other person 
had been so long and so prominently identified with 
the business which, during his connection with it, 
had grown from what was almost a mere handicraft 
to a leading place among the great industries. 

Mr. Goddard married. April 7, 1849. Eugenia D. 
C. Ball, a native of Holden but living with ber par- 
ents in Worcester at the time of their marriage. 
Of this union two children survive him. Julius God- 
dard and Mrs. Willietta Goddard Ball, both of whom 
now reside in Massachusetts. 

His naturally retiring disposition and his fidelity 
to the interests of his employers hindered to some 
extent his active participation in the burdens of pub- 
lic office. He was always deeply interested, how- 
ever, in public matters, jealous of the reputation of 
his city, keenly alive to its best interests, and for a 
long time influential in its affairs. He served as a 
member of the common council in 1860-62-73-74, 
and as alderman in 1865-68-69. 

There was perhaps no place in Massachusetts 
where the Morgan or anti-Masonic excitement was 
greater, or attracted a larger percentage of the lead- 
ing business and professional men, than Worcester 
county, where it actively interferred with the affairs 
of both church and state. Mr. Goddard's father, 
being naturally a man of positive conviction and 
great earnestness, and sustaining an important rela- 
tion to one of the leading industries having adopted 
a position hostile to the Fraternity, was prominent 
and outspoken in his opposition, and after a bitter 
contest, was elected to the general court upon the 
anti-Masonic issue. It is, however, worthy of note 
that his son Henry never sympathized with his 
father's attitude, and was among the earliest to ally 
himself with the Fraternity in the Masonic revival, 
which followed this great excitement. This act 
seemed to completely upset his father's antagonism to 
the Order. From the moment that he knew of his 
son's connection with it he never uttered another 
word against Freemasonry. Others who had been 
hostile to the Fraternity were heard to say that if 
all its members were like Henry Goddard there was 
much to be said for it and nothing against it. 

He received the first three degrees in Morning 
Star Lodge, in 1847 : the orders of Knighthood in 
Worcester County Commandery in 1855 and was its 
eminent commander in 1866-67-68. On September 
7, 187 1, the Commandery elected him to honorary 
membership. In 1S63 he received the Scottish Rite 
in Boston Consistory, was subsequently a deputy 





^U ^i^< 



-/^. 



'1//'>1^<^U^ 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



199 



master of Worcester Lodge of Perfection, and was 
the first senior warden of Lawrence Chapter of Rose 
Croix, which was instituted June 17, 1870. 

When the Masonic bodies in Worcester first oc- 
cupied their present halls in 1866, Mr. Goddard was 
one of those most actively interested in securing 
them, and was a generous contributor in preparing 
them to suitably accommodate the Fraternity. He 
was made a member of the board of directors of 
Masonic Apartments at its organization, and up to 
the time of his death was active in the management 
of that body and its successor, the present trustees 
of the Masonic Fraternity. 

Few men in Worcester had a larger personal 
acquaintance and none more highly respected. 
Modest and unassuming, he never sought prefer- 
ment, but when it came he faithfully performed the 
duties it imposed. In his relations with his fellow- 
men, he exemplified the principles of charity and 
brotherly love, and by his many amiable qualities 
made himself beloved by men of every station. His 
deep sympathy with any one who was in trouble 
was continually manifested by his kindly acts. To 
such he gave freely and gladly, never grudgingly. 
He was thoroughly devoted to his business, pro- 
verbially honest, and his great simplicity and purity 
of character were recognized and prized by all who 
knew him. Departing, he has left the record of an 
upright and honorable citizen, a kind and ^nial 
man, a true and sympathizing friend. Mr. Goddard 
died at his home in Worcester. January 12, 1904. 

(VI) Dorrance Sibley Goddard, son of Benja- 
min (5) and S.arah S. Goddard, was born October 
II, 1829, married Mary Howe Williams, of Hubbards- 
lon, in that town, March 25. 1855. Their children 
were : Gertrude, born in Worcester March 20, 1856, 
married Henry Brannon. see sketch elsewhere in this 
work. Alice, born in Worcester, August 28, 1857, 
married John Sackville West, of Tiverton. Rhode 
Island, June ig, 1890, no children. Emma, born in 
Holyoke. November 25, 1859, see sketch of C. S. 
Hall Dwight. born in Worcester. December 27, 
27, 1861. Harry Williams, born in Holyoke, Septem- 
ber 14. 186.S. Winthrop, born in Worcester, July 
16. 1866. died April 10, 1868. Mary, born in Wor- 
cester, October 3, 1869, married Archibald N. God- 
dard, in Worcester, August i. 1900. Their children, 
born in Worcester, are : Eloise Olive, born Janu- 
ary 28, 1902 ; Miriam, April 19, 1903 ; Emmons, Au- 
gust TO, 1904. 

Dorrance Sibley Goddard was educated in the 
Worcester public schools and at Worcester Acad- 
emy. After completing his studies he went back to 
the home and for three years lived the strenuous life 
of a New England farmer. Then he decided that 
he preferred manufacturing and he apprenticed him- 
self in the Washburn & Moen wire mills at South 
Worcester where he learned the trade of wire drawer. 
He learned the business of wire making thoroughly 
and rose step by step to the superintendence of the 
mill, a position that he filled for many years. Dor- 
rance S. Goddard followed in his father's footsteps 
in entering the wire business. It is fair to count 
Benjamin Goddard as one of the founders of the 
great wire business now owned by the American 
Steel and Wire Company operated in Worcester. 
The Washburn & Moen Manufacturing Company 
started in 1831 in Northville in a small wooden 
building. The owners were Benjamin Goddard and 
Ichabod Washburn. The building was occupied in 
part by C. Read & Co.. manufacturers of wooden 
screws, and it was in connection with the making 
of screws that the first wire making machinery 
was developed. Wire was drawn by hand when 
Washburn & Goddard began operations, most of the 



wire being imported from England. The business 
grew rapidly, but in 183.^ ;Mr. Goddard withdrew 
and Mr. Washburn established the first wire mill 
on the Grove street location. It was natural then 
for his son Dorrance to enter the business that had 
developed durin.s; his youth by consolidation an<l 
growth to the point where it became the largest wire 
manufactory in the world. Mr. Goddard has the 
distinction probably of having seen more of the 
progress and development of this the greatest of 
Worcester industries than any other living man, 
possibly more than any other one man. He has 
the satisfaction too of seeing his son. Harry W. 
Goddard, president of a great wire making institu- 
tion, The Spencer Wire Company, making the third 
generation of the family prominent in the manu- 
facturer of wire and wire goods. After the firm 
of Washburn & Goddard was dissolved, Benjamin 
Goddard at first manufactured wool machinery in 
the Northville mill wdiere the wire works were 
started. After he gave up this business, however, 
the mill passed into the hands of .\fr. Washburn, 
his former partner, and Mr. Goddard again en- 
tered the business of wire making there under con- 
tract for Mr. Washburn. In 1840 Benjamin God- 
dard took charge of the wire mill established by Mr. 
Washburn at South Worcester on the site later occu- 
pied by the Worcester Wire Company and its suc- 
cessor. The American Steel and Wire Company. Ben- 
jamin continued in charge of this mill until his son 
succeeded him. He died in 1867. His son, Henry 
Goddard, worked here and became the head of an 
important department for The Washburn & Moen 
Manufacturing Co. Delano A. Goddard, another 
son. making three of them in all. worked under 
his father in the South Worcester mill. Delano was 
a man of culture and great intellectual powers. He 
went on the editorial staff of The Spy and later to 
Boston, where he made a brilliant record as editor 
of The Advertiser. The South Worcester mill was 
a one-story structure about thirty by fifty feet. 
Coarse wire was drawn there and then taken to the 
Grove street mill to be finished. The old mill at 
Northville was burned February 13, 1845. and the 
mill at South Worcester was also burned July 7, 
1867, but rebuilt immediately. In February, 1868. 
the various companies were consolidated under the 
name of Washburn & Moen Manufacturing Co. 
with a capital of one million dollars. In the ca- 
pacity of superintendent of the Quinsi.gamond works 
of this great company Dorrance S. Goddard spent 
his life until he retired some years ago. 

For a time Mr. Goddard was in the wire busi- 
ness at Holyoke, Massachusetts. In 1862 he formed 
a partnership with William E. Rice, of Worcester, 
and started a mill at Holyoke. This firm continued 
in the business of wire making until 1866, when a 
favorable proposition to sell to the Washburn & 
Moen Company was accepted and both Mr. Rice 
and Mr. Goddard became identified with the Quin- 
sigamond works of the Washburn & Moen Manu- 
facturing Company, Mr. Rice being president and 
Mr. Goddard superintendent of the wire depart- 
ment. The mill and real estate at Holyoke were 
sold to the Whiting Paper Company. 

Mr. Goddard loves travel and has taken ad- 
vantage of his opportunities to see much of his 
own country. Soon after the discovery of gold in 
California he made his first trip across the con- 
tinent. That was in 185 1 when the journey was 
slow, difiicult and dangerous. He has been an in- 
terested observer of the development of the rail- 
road system that now makes travel to California 
an attraction for the pleasure seeker and a brief 
vacation outing for the business man of the east. 



300 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



He has kept a journal of his travel that should be 
of public interest as well as record for his friends 
and family. He has crossed the continent twelve 
times, and returned nine times by land and thrice 
by water. He has made three trips to Alaska, the 
first in 1885, when the country was isolated from 
the rest of the world and difficult of access. He 
crossed the Isthmus of Panama three times while 
the French companies were trying to dig the canal. 
ISlOi.- that the American government is pushing the 
work in a workmanlike way he is following the 
progress made with great interest and plans a visit 
to Panama shortly. Mr. Goddard's interest in this 
great undertaking is not only that of a business 
man with a love for the solution of mechanical and 
engineering problems, but of a very earnest Ameri- 
can citizen who believes that the completion of 
this canal will add immensely to the future pros- 
perity and wealth of the American people. Mr. 
Goddard is an active man in spite of his years and 
is fully able to enjoy travel. He loves books and 
thoroughly enjoys his home life at his beautiful 
residence at South Worcester. 

In his religious views he is liberal. He belongs 
to no secret societies. He relates that his father 
was much opposed to all secret orders and when 
one of the sons became a Mason he was greatly 
shocked. Somewhat to the surprise of his son, how- 
ever, the subject was never mentioned between 
them. Mr. Goddard has been a Republican since 
the party was organized. He has been a member 
of the school board, of the board of aldermen for 
four years and representative to the general court 
one year. 

When the First Co-operative Bank was organ- 
ized in Worcester Mr. Goddard was a charter mem- 
ber and its first president and served seven years, 
when he resigned. 

(VII) Dwight Goddard, eldest son of D. S. 
Goddard (6), was born December 27, 1861. He 
graduated from the Worcester Polytechnic Insti- 
tute, class of 1881, as mechanical engineer, and 
from that year up to 1884 was superintendent of the 
Massachusetts Screw Company, at Holyoke. From 
1884 to 18S7 he was assistant mechanic of the 
Washburn & Moen Manufacturing Company, and 
from 1888 to i8gi was treasurer of the Goddard 
Machine Company, at Holyoke. He then entered 
the Hartford Theological Seminary, from which he 
was graduated in 1894. For five years, from 189S 
to 1900, he served as missionary of the American 
Board at Foochow, China, and during the years 
igoo and 1901 served as minister at Lancaster, 
Massachusetts, and associate pastor of the Taber- 
nacle Church, Chicago, Illinois. In the latter named 
year he returned to his former vocation, mechanical 
engineer, becoming connected with the firm of 
Wynian & Gordon, manufacturers of drop forgings, 
and at the present time (1905) is the manager of 
their Cleveland office. Mr. Goddard is a member 
of the Worcester Central Conference of Congrega- 
tional Ministers, and of the American Society of 
Mechanical Engineers. He is the author of a scries 
of biographies of Engineers and Inventors. 

Mr. Goddard married, October 22, 1889, Harriet 
M. Webber, of Holyoke, Massachusetts, who died 
May 17, i8go. Mr, Goddard married (second), 
November 27. 1895, Frances E. Nieberg, INI. D., of 
St. Marys, Ohio. Their children arc ; Dorrance, 
born October 4, 1897; Theodore N., May 18, 1902. 
Mr. Goddard is at present a resident of Cleveland, 
Ohio. 

(VII) Harry Williams Goddard, son of Dor- 
rance S. Goddard (6), was born September 14, 
1863, at Holyoke, Massachusetts, where his father 



was in business for a few years. His father re- 
turned to Worcester when he was an infant and 
both father and son have subsequently lived there 
or at Spencer. Harry attended the public schools 
of Worcester and entered the high school. After 
two years in the high school he left to work in the 
wire mills of the VV'ashburn & Moen Manufactur- 
ing Company at Quinsigamond, Worcester. He be- 
gan as a scale boy, weighing the wire. After two 
years in the wire mill, he spent a year at Wil- 
braham Academy. The wire business had its at- 
tractions for him, as his father and grandfather were 
prominent figures in the wire industry and it was 
natural that he should inherit a liking for the busi- 
ness and an aptitude for it. At seventeen he left 
the academy and started in the Spencer Wire Com- 
pany at Spencer, Massachusetts, literally at the 
foot of the ladder. He did all kinds of work, and 
became familiar with each department as a matter 
of course. Without design or expectation of ad- 
vancement he gained a thorough insight and under- 
standing of the business, so that almost as a mat- 
ter of course he was made superintendent of the 
mills when he was twenty-one years old. Mr. Sug- 
den, who was at that time the president of the 
corporation, had been his own superintendent. The 
Spencer Wire Company was an old and somewhat 
conservative concern. It had grown from a small 
beginning in 1828 to considerable importance. In 
1884, when Mr. Goddard was made superintendent, 
about seventy-five hands were employed and an 
extensive property at Spencer had been acquired. 
Mr. Goddard was secretary of the company as 
well as superintendent of the mills for several 
years. 

When the president of the Spencer Wire Com- 
pany, Mr. Sugden, died in 1895, Mr. Goddard took 
his place. At that time he bought of the heirs 
of i\Ir. Sugden the latter's interests in the cor- 
poration which gave him the control of the capital 
stock. Mr. Goddard has remained the chief owner 
of the company since then. For many years the 
business had not been extended much, the proprie- 
tors being satisfied with quiet progress. Not until 
1900 was any great change made. The facilities of 
the company were then increased by the addition 
of a new and model plant in Worcester. Four 
acres of land at the corner of Webster and Jacques 
streets were acquired and substantial brick build- 
ings erected there. The general offices were moved 
to the new plant and the business has been rap- 
idly developed in the past five years. The com- 
pany has now five and a quarter acres of floor space 
devoted to manufacturing and has over four hun- 
dred acres of land for yard, storage and other pur- 
poses of the business. There are forty separate 
buildings in the plant at Spencer. The company 
makes all kinds of uncovered steel iron and cop- 
per wire, besides hundreds of specialties, and em- 
ploys at present about four hundred hands. 

Mr. Goddard has become interested in other 
corporations to some extent. He is the treasurer of 
the Hobbs Manufacturing Company, which makes 
paper box machinery at its factory near Lincoln 
Square, Worcester. He was for ten years presi- 
dent of the Springfield Drop Forging Company. He 
is president of the New England Anchor Fence 
Company, the Worcester Color Company and the 
Central Grocery Company, a co-operative grocery 
organized in 1905. 

The energy and executive ability that have 
made him so successful in his business brought him 
into prominence in the board of trade, and in 1903 
when President Blodget became mayor of Worces- 
ter, Mr. Goddard was elected president of the Wor- 




CHmtt^^ 




WORCESTER COUNTY 



201 



cester Board of Trade. He was re-elected tlic fol- 
lowing year. His administration is conceded to be 
one of the best in the history of the board. The 
activity of the organization was increased and its 
usefulness greatly extended. With the co-operation 
of an exceptionally able secretary Mr. Goddard has 
maintained the record of the past and maintained 
^ratifyuig progress in the organization. When Sec- 
retary of War Taft came to Worcester in 1905 to 
speak at the annual banquet of the board of trade, 
Mr. Goddard had the pleasant duty of entertaining 
Judge Taft at his beautiful home on Salisbury 
street. 

Mr. Goddard is a director of the Mechanics' 
National Bank of Worcester, and a trustee of the 
People's Savings Bank. He is a member of the 
Maine Coast Club, the Quinsigamond Boat Club, 
the Commonwealth Club- and of the Tatnuck Coun- 
try Club. He is an earnest Republican and has 
been at times active in the party management. He 
and his family attend Piedmont Church. Mr. God- 
dard easily ranks among the leading captains of in- 
dustry in a citj'" where hundreds of men have 
achieved success in manufacturing. He belongs 
to a group of young men who are building their 
fortunes under the new and complicated conditions 
of modern business, young men who have been 
fitted by education, inherited gifts and early train- 
ing to carry their burdens easily and keep the in- 
dustries of Worcester in the front ranks. 

He married, December 14, 1887, Grace Watson, 
daughter of George and Eleanor Watson, of Spen- 
cer. Their children are : Eleanor Grace, born 
March 25, 1889; Marion Williams, August 29, 1893. 

DELANO ALEXANDER GODDARD, yoimg- 
«st son of Benjamin Goddard (s), was born in 
Worcester, August 27, 1831. His early education 
was obtained in tlie Worcester schools. His father 
had hoped to send all his boys to college, but owing 
to financial reverses the older sons had to forego the 
benefits of a liberal education. When Delano reached 
the age when his preparation for college examina- 
tions should begin, the father felt his circumstances 
improved enough to warrant the expense of a col- 
lege education for the youngest son and the one 
perhaps most attracted by learning and study. Ben- 
jamin Goddard was a man of broad sympathy, but 
rather taciturn. He was a strong anti-slavery man, 
a man of firm integrity in business, but seldom 
_given to the expression of his feelings. He had 
the characteristic habit of the old Yankee stock of 
hiding his sentiments and emotions. One day as 
Delano was standing at his machine in the wire 
mill, where his half holidays were industriously 
spent, his father stopped at his side and said ab- 
ruptly; "Delano, do you want to go to college?" 
The reply came without hesitation : "Yes, sir !" Ap- 
parently the father expected this decision, for he 
said : "Go home, change your clothes and go to the 
academy to be examined." There was no more 
talk. The boy went home. That interview was 
characteristic of both. Delano graduated from Wor- 
cester Academy with honor, delivering the vale- 
dictory of his class. He entered Brown University 
in 1849, but the following year entered the sopho- 
more class at Yale College and graduated in 1853. 

He left Worcester and sought his opportunity 
in the west. He began his career as an editor in a 
humble way on the local weekly. The Herald, at 
Painesville, Ohio. A year later he returned to his 
native city. He was on the staff of The Chronicle. 
a Boston daily, in 1856. Early in 1857 he became 
the associate editor of The IVorcestcr Tratucript, a 
daily newsparer, but soon became the editor of The 



Spy, under the Hon. John D. Baldwin, a post filled 
afterward by Captain J. Evarts Greene, late post- 
master of Worcester. While writing the editorials 
of The Spy Mr. Goddard served the city in the 
legislature in 1861 and in 1867 in the house of repre- 
sentatives. He was for about a year trustee of the 
public library. In April, 1868, he became editor of 
the Daily Advertiser of Boston and filled this 
position with unsurpassed intelligence and ability 
till his death, January 11, 1882. In 1876 he look a 
sea voyage for his health and spent a few weeks in 
England and the Isle of Wight. In 1880 he made an 
extended trip through the southern and western 
states. 

He was specially interested in tlie American In- 
dians and perhaps no work of his pen was under- 
taken with more intense earnestness than his pleas 
for the nation's wards. He wrote little except for 
his newspaper. He contributed in 1880 a paper on 
"'Newspapers and Newspaper Writers in New Eng- 
land, 1787-1815" to the New England Historic- 
Genealogical Society and a number of other papers 
to learned societies to which he belonged and also 
some magazine articles. He was a member of the 
council of the Massachusetts Historical Society, and 
member of the American Antiquarian Society. He 
took the degree of A. M. in regular course at Yale 
College in 1856. Hon. Robert C. Winthrop, presi- 
dent of The Massachusetts Historical Society at the 
time of Mr. Goddard's death, said in a tribute at 
the society meeting next day ; "Amiable, intelligent, 
accomplished, he had entered heartily into our work. 
I often met him here and never without a renewed 
sense of the variety of his information, of the candor 
of his judgment, of the kindness of his heart, and 
of that singular modesty which sometimes threatened 
to conceal his sterling abilities." Charles C. Smith, 
the author of a memoir published by the Historical 
Society of ]\Ir. Goddard, said of him : "Mr. God- 
dard's character was such that no one wjio was 
brought into anything like intimate relations with 
him could help being attached to him as by hooks 
of steel. Those who were connected with him in his 
daily duties felt for him an affectionate regard 
which he called loyalty to the paper — apparently not 
suspecting that it was a personal relationship to 
their chief." Rev. Edward Everett Hale took oc- 
casion to speak of the editor's duty toward history. 
"In a word," he concluded his eulogy, "with fresh 
memory for the loss wdiich this society and the 
press of this country have both sustained. I should 
say that we could in no way draw better the dis- 
tinction between the two schools of journalism — 
that which is bad through and through, because it 
is sensational, and that which is good through and 
through, because it aims at truth — than by saying 
of the two that the editor in the first school fails 
because he is false to the claims of history, and 
that the editor of the upright school triumphs be- 
cause to history he is true." These are but brief 
selections from the tributes paid to the deceased. 
When the history of journalism in Massachusetts 
is written for the Nineteenth Century the name 
of Delano A. Goddard, of Worcester, will take a 
place among the foremost editors of his generation. 

HARVEY BR.-\DTSH WTLDER. Nicholas 
Wilder (i), to whom the ancestry of Harvey 
Bradish Wilder is traced, settled on Sulham estate 
in Berkshire county. England, in April, 1497, when 
the property was given him by Henry VII. The 
property is now or was at last accounts still in 
the Wilder family. Four of the line have been 
rectors of the parish. Nicholas Wilder was a chief 
in the army of the Earl of Richmond at the battle 



202 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



of Boswortli, 1485. When he was given the Siilham 
estate he was also given a coat of arms which may 
be found in Burke or the Genealogy. He had but 
one son, John. 

(11) John Wilder, son of Nicholas Wilder (1), 
inherited his father's estates in 1525. His children 
Were: John, see forward; Agnes, died 1580. 

(,111) John Wilder, son of John Wilder (2), 
and grandfather of Thomas Wilder, who emigrated 
to New England, married the only daughter and 
heiress of Thomas Keats, who built Sulham House. 
It was given in 1582 by entail to William Wilder, 
their son. During the nineteenth century it was 
greatly improved and the church was restored and 
repaired by the owner, John Wilder, D. D., who 
was also rector. Since 1777 Purley Hall has been 
the residence of the inheritors of the estate. It is 
about two miles north of Sulham. Thomas Wilder, 
the fourth son, received the entailed Wilder estate. 
The sons John and Thomas were also provided for 
in his will. Their children were; John, Nicholas, 
William, Thomas, Eleanor, Joan, Alice. 

(IV) Thomas Wilder, son of John Wilder (3), 
was born in Sulham, England. He settled in Ship- 
lake, Oxford county, but was proprietor of the 
Sulham estate. He was born and died in Shiplake, 

however. He married Martha . He died in 

1634 and she went to New England where two of her 
sons, Edward and Thomas, settled. She came on 
the ship "Confidence'' in 1638 with her daughter 
Mary. She settled near her son Edward in Hing- 
ham, where she was a proprietor in 1638. She 
died April 20, 1652. Some authorities spell the 
name Shiplake, Shiplock. The children of Thomas 
and Martha Wilder were : John, heir to his father's 
estates, died in 1688 ; Thomas, see forward ; Eliza- 
beth, born 1621, married Thomas Ensign; Edward, 
married Elizabeth Ames, settled in Irlingham, 
Massachusetts, died October 28, 1690; Mary, came 
to Hingham also. 

(V) Thomas Wilder, son of Thomas Wilder 
(4), was born in Shiplock, England, in 1618. He 
settled in Charlestown, New England, where he 
was a proprietor as early as 1638. He was admitted 
a freeman June 2, 1641. He bought land in Charles- 
town, October 27, 1643. He was selectman in 1660 
and 1667 and held other offices. He removed to 

Lancaster in 1659. He married Ann in 1641. 

She died June 10, 1692. She was admitted to the 
church May 7, 1650. He died October 23, 1667. 
He may have been born later than the date given 
as he deposed June 17, 1654, that he was thirty- 
three years of age. His will was dated January 22, 
1667-8 and proved March 4, 1667-8. He bequeathed 
to his wife and six children named below. The 
children of Thomas and Ann Wilder were : Mary, 
born June 30, 1642, in Charlestown; Thomas, born 
September 14, 1644; John, born 1646; Elizabeth, 
born 1648; Nathaniel, see forward ; 'Ebenezer. 

(VI) Nathaniel Wilder, son of Thomas Wilder 
(5), was born in Charlestown, November 3, 1650, 
died July, 1704. He married Mary Sawyer, of Lan- 
caster, daughter of Thomas Sawyer and his wife 
Mary-and was born July '4, 1652. (See sketch of 
Sawyer Family.) He settled in Lancaster, was 
lieutenant in the company, and was killed by the 
Indians. The children of Nathaniel and Mary 
(Sawyer) Wilder were: Nathaniel, born 1675, set- 
tled in Petersliam ; Ephraim, born August 16, 1678, 
of Lancaster, representative in general court ; Alary, 
born May 13, 1679; Elizabeth, born April 20, 1685, 
died 1707; Jonathan, born 1686, married, and was 
killed by the Indians 1707 ; Dorothy, born 1686, mar- 
ried Samuel Carter ; Oliver, see forward. 

(VII) Oliver Wilder, youngest son of Nathaniel 



Wilder (6), was born in 1694. He married, 1713, 
Mary Fairbanks, daughter of Jonathan Fairbanks,, 
who served in Captain Champney's company under 
Sir William Phipps in the Canada Expedition, and 
was a grandson of the emigrant, Jonathan Fair- 
banks, of Dcdham. (See sketch.) She was born 
in 1692 and died June 15, 1745. When he was six- 
teen years old he was working on his father's farm 
with his brother Nathaniel, when they were at- 
tacked by Indians. Three years before their brother 
Jonathan had been brutally tortured to death by the 
Indians and their brother Ephraim severely wounded. 
Oliver and Nathaniel managed to escape to the gar- 
rison, but the Indian servant who was working 
with them was killed. Oliver was an ensign in the 
service August 23, 1725, and at that time was living 
at Turkey Hills. In 1726 he refused to accept the 
office of constable and declined to pay the five 
pound fine which the law imposed as a penalty for 
refusing to take office. He rose through the various 
grades to the rank of colonel. At the age of sixty- 
three he turned out with his regiment at the Fort 
■ William alarm in 1757 and inarched as far as Spring- 
field, Massachusetts. He was in the Crown Point 
expedition in 1759. He often served the town as 
moderator and selectman. He owned a mill privi- 
lege. His home was at South Lancaster and his 
house is now or was lately standing. T'he place is 
now known as the Heald place. He was a cousin 
of Judge Joseph Wilder, another very prominent 
Worcester county man. Colonel Oliver Wilder died 
March 16, 1765. There are stones suitably in- 
scribed marking the graves of Colonel Wilder and 
his wife. 

The children of Colonel Oliver and Mary 
(Fairbanks) Wilder were: Hannah, born January 
15, 1716, died November 23, 1723; Mary, December 
24, 1717; Oliver, see forward; Tilley, June 23^ 
1722; Keziah, February 27, 1725; Tamar, May 23, 
1727; Phinehas, April 24, 1730, married, 1780, Lois 
Boies ; Lois, April 20, 1733 ; Moses, May 4, 1736, 
married Submit Frost ; Abigail December 16. 1740. 
tVIII) Oliver Wilder, third child of Colonel 
Oliver Wilder (7), was born May 17, 1720, at Lan- 
caster, Massachusetts. He settled in that part of 
Lancaster set off as Sterling. He was justice of 
the peace and captain of the militia company there. 
He became one of the leading citizens. He served ia 
the Indian wars. He married (first), June 6, 1739, 
Sarah Townsend. She died 1743. He married 

(second), 174S, Ruth — ■ •. The children of 

(jliver and Sarah (Townsend) Wilder were; Ezra, 
born May 27, 1741, died 1816; Oliver and Sarah 
(twins), born November 7, 1743; Samuel, born Jan- 
uary 13, 1746. The only child of Oliver and Ruth 
Wilder was ; Tamar, born May 27, 1748. 

(IX) Samuel Wilder, fourth child of Oliver 
Wilder (8), was born in Lancaster, Alassachusetts, 
January 13, 1746. He settled in Sterling. He died 
October 22, 1824. aged seventy-nine years. He was 
a sergeant in Captain Benjamin Houghton's com- 
pany. Colonel John Whitcomb's regiment in the 
revolution at the Lexington Alarm in 1775. Later 
he was a lieutenant. He married, January 15, 1772, 
Martha Rugg. The children of Lieutenant Samuel 
Wilder or Mr. Wilder as he is designated usually 
on the records were ; Calvin, see forward ; Alice,, 
baptized April 10, 1774 ; David, baptized April 6, 
1777; Daniel, baptized April 4, 1779; Polly, bap- 
tized November 18, 1779; John, baptized August 26, 
1781 ; Josiah, baptized October 26, 1783; Luke, bap- 
tized October 2, 1785; Dolly, baptized May 25, 
1788. (Five children of Samuel, Jr., recorded as 
baptized 1794 to 1808 may be his also.) 

(X) Calvin Wilder, eldest child of Samuel 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



203 



Wilder (9), was born in Lancaster, Massachusetts, 
October 30, 1772, and was baptized in the Lancas- 
ter church, November 11 following. He died April 
5, 1S32, aged sixty years. He married, December 
'/> 1795> Susanna Celandine or Solendine, of Lan- 
caster. They settled in Lanca^^ter. lie was select- 
man of the town in 1812-15-24-25. He served the 
town in other oltices and committees. He was one 
of the leading citizens. His only son was Alexander 
Hamilton Wilder, born July 20, 1804, see forward. 

(XI) Alexander Hamilton Wilder, only son of 
Calvin Wilder (.10), was born in Lancaster, Massa- 
chusetts, July 20, 180 1. He married, November 
10, 1835, Harriet Eaton, of Philadelphia. She was 
the daughter of Nathaniel and Eunice (.Wilder) 
Eaton. Her mother was from another branch of 
the Lancaster Wilder family. Her parents were 
married in 1792. 

Alexander H. Wilder received his early educa- 
tion in the schools of Lancaster. He came to Wor- 
cester at the age of nineteen in 1823 and entered 
the office of the register of deeds under Artenias 
Ward, Esq. When twenty years old he suffered an 
attack of rheumatic fever that crippled him for life, 
but did not interfere seriously with his duties in 
the register's office. He was a clerk and assistant 
to Mr. Ward for twenty-three years. He succeeded 
him as register June 17, 1846, and was elected and 
re-elected to this office until his death. From 1823 
to 1874 he was continuously in the register's office 
as clerk and chief. jNlore than half of the business 
of the office, from the establishment of the county 
in 1731 to the day of his death, was performed under 
his administration. His name first appears as 
register in book No. 409 and is signed for the last 
time in book No. 945. During the latter years of his 
service he had no opponent at the polls, both par- 
ties honoring him w-ith a nomination. The Spy said 
at the time of his death : "Probably no one who 
habitually transacts business with that ofiice can 
remember the time when ]Mr. Wilder was not em- 
ployed in it, and the experience of very few goes 
back to the time of the register who preceded him. 
His unfailing courtesy and patience, his quiet and 
systematic business methods, his absolute rectitude 
and accuracy, made him a model official, whose 
service and example have been of inestimable value 
to the community." He was a man of deep re- 
ligious feeling. He was for many years member of 
the Central Congregational Church, but joined the 
Plymouth Church W'hen it was formed. He was 
generous in his charity. He was a man of many 
friends. Few men were better known or more highly 
esteemed in the county. He died December 12. 
1874. The children of Alexander Hamilton and 
Harriet (Eaton) Wilder were; Harvey Bradish, see 
forward; Alexander E., born August, 1839, died 
September 29, 1839. 

(XH) Harvey Bradish Wilder, only surviving 
son of Alexander Hamilton Wilder (11), was born 
in Worcester. Massachusetts, October 12, 1836. He 
attended the Worcester public schools, the Thetford 
(Vermont) Academy and the Leicester Academy. 
He began the business of life in the office of the 
register of deeds, under his father's administration, 
in 1853. In April, 1855, he accepted a clerkship in 
the book store of Ticknor & Fields, in Boston, but 
in August, 1856, he was called back to Worcester, 
Massachusetts, to become chief clerk in the regis- 
ter's office. In 1875 he served as register, having 
been appointed by the county commissioners to fill 
the unexpired term of Alexander H. Wilder. He 
resigned this office at the expiration of a year, and 
Mr. Charles A. Chase was elected and served during 
the year 1876. At the election in 1876 Mr. Wilder 



and !Mr. Chase were both candidates, and Mr. 
Wilder was elected. It is a notable fact that .Mr. 
Wilder was connected with this office as clerk for 
his father, and as register for a period of forty-four 
years, until his retirement January i, 1901. liis 
successor was Daniel Kent, the present register. Mr. 
Wilder was recognized as a model oHicer. The 
Worcester registry is the third largest in the state, 
being exceeded in volume of business done only by 
the registry offices of Suffolk county and Middlesex 
county, both older and larger. Worcester held its 
rank even after the towns of Fitchburg, Leominster, 
Lunenburg, Ashburnham and Westminster were 
taken to form a new registry in August, 1884. (See 
Merriam family of I'itchburg, Massachusetts.) The 
office is looked upon as showing the highest efficiency 
and accuracy. Since the new. quarters were occu- 
pied in the new court house the registry has had 
the best modern appliances and conveniences, as 
well as fireproof rooms. Since his retirement Mr. 
Wilder has lived at his home in Worcester, No. 12 
Walnut street, having no active business. He is a 
charter member of Quinsigamond Lodge of Free 
Masons. He is a member of the Ancient and Hon- 
orable Artillery Company of Massachusetts. He was 
a member of Worcester City Guards from 1856 to 
1861. He was appointed adjutant of the Third Bat- 
talion of Rifles, • Fifth Brigade, Third Division, 
Massachusetts Volunteer ^lilitia, January 18, i8bi, 
and March 2, 1861, was appointed on the staff of 
Brigadier-General (jeorge H. Ward, Fifth Brigade, 
Third Division, ilassachusetts Volunteer Militia, 
with rank of captain. He was first sergeant of 
Artillery in the Ancient and ITonorable Artillery 
Company in 1877, and second lieutenant in 1880. 
He is a member of the Commonwealth Club. 

He married. October 21, 1862, .Xnna F. Chapman, 
of Ossipee, New Hampshire. She died November 
12, 1864. He married (second), June 14, 1870, Mary 
J., daughter of Dr. Jefferson Pratt, of Hopkinton, 
Massachusetts, and they have one son, Charles 
Pratt Wilder, born in Worcester, April 3, 1873. 

NELSON R. SCOTT. The name Scott is ob- 
viously of Scotch origin. The families bearing that 
name are now scattered all over the world. IJefore 
the year 1200 there were well established lines in 
the counties of Peebles, Fife, Forfair, Roxbury, 
Dumfries, Selkirk, Kincardine, etc. Members of 
the Scott family have held the dukedoms of Buc- 
cleuch and Queensbury ; the marquisate of Dumfrie- 
shire ; the earldoms of Buccleuch, Deloraine, Drum- 
lanrig. Sauquahar and Tarras ; the viscounties of 
Hermitage, Nith, Torthorwald and Ross. .Alexander 
Scott was in the Scotch Parliament in 1473, and 
throughout its history the Parliament, frequently 
if not always, had members of this family among 
its membership. 

The branch of the Scott family that went to the 
north of Ireland at the instance of the Protestant 
rulers of England to settle in the place of dispos- 
sessed Roman Catholic Irish have still some repre- 
sentatives there, though many of the Scotch-Irish 
branch have come to America. In 1890 there were 
born in the whole of Ireland only one hundred and 
ninety-six persons of the name of Scott. Of this 
number one hundred and forty-seven were in the 
Ulster counties of Antrim, Down and Londonderry, 
indicating a population of about seven thousand. 

(I) John Scott, the pioneer ancestor of Nelson 
R. Scott, of Worcester, was from the Scotch Cov- 
enanters of L'lster. He came among the first Scotch- 
Irish emigrants in 1718, or soon before. He must 
have brought with him more than most of the set- 
tlers, for he soon became one of the heaviest ta.x- 



204 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



payers of tlie town of Leicester, Massachusetts, 
where he bought huid and made his home. His 
wife Martha and five or more children came with 
him. He bought his first land of the original pro- 
prietors of the town of Leicester. The original 
homestead which he settled upon remained in the 
hands of his descendants until 1850. It has been 
known to the present generation as the Grosvenor 
farm. The farm is situated in Auburn, formerly 
Ward, formerly Leicester. 

John Scott was on the ministerial tax list dated 
December 7, 1727, as owning thirteen hundred and 
three acres of land, the largest amount of any per- 
son on the list. He paid the largest tax in 1735 
and subsequent years. In his will he bequeaths a 
coat of armor, an indication that some ancestor had 
been a knight some generations before. His will is 
dated 1753, and it was allowed May 15 following. 
Before he died he deeded lands to his son Matthew, 
December 29, 1743-4; to his "beloved son" Nathaniel, 
August I, 1749. Thomas received the homestead in 
the will. The children were: Matthew, born 1712, 
died at Leicester, November 25, 1797, aged eighty- 
eight, according to town records ; married Martha 
Lockard, January 2, 1745-6; Nathaniel, was captain 
in the revolutionary war, married Eunice Woods 
Cintention dated January 2, 1762) ; Elizabeth, mar- 
ried Hugh Cunnmghani; Thomas Csee forward); 
Rebtcca, married James Browning, of Rutland, Jan- 
uary 15, 1756; Jane, married Thomson. 

(H) Thomas Scott, son of John Scott (i), was 
born about 1720-30. He came with the fainily to 
Leicester and worked with his father to clear the 
land and subdue the soil. He inherited the home- 
stead on the death of his father in 1753. He bought 
land first of Thomas Denny, November 30, 1760, 
in Leicester, and then December 3, 1760, of Caleb 
Nichols, a piece of land adjoining the other. He 
deeded his farm and buddings to his so:i Thomas 
Scott, Jr., January 10, 1791. Nine of his ten chil- 
dren were living, and most of them married, in 
1803, when he made his will. The will is filed 
May 19, 1803. He died April 23, 1S03, age not 
given, in Ward, Massachusetts, now Auburn. 

He married Mary Livermore, January 3, 1766. 
She was born in 1743. He must have been much 
older. Their children were : Asa, born August 23, 
1767; Thomas, Jr., iNIarch 13. 1769; Elizabeth. Jan- 
uary 6, 1771, married Eddy; Reuben, Decem- 
ber 29, 1772; Nancy, December 27, 1774, died Sep- 
tember 17, 1787; Catherine .(twin), January 18, 
1777. married Phillips ; the preceding are re- 
corded in Auburn as born in Ward ; the following 
were born in Ward: David, November i, 1779; 
Mary, February 4, 1781 ; Jerusha, April 17, 1783, 
married Gale. 

(HI) David Scott, eighth child of Thomas 
Scott (2), was born in Auburn, Massachusetts, No- 
vember I, 1779. He inherited the old homestead. 
He was a farmer. He married (first), August 30, 
1820, Chloe Ryan, of Charlton, Massachusetts, who 
was born April 13, 1796, and died at Auburn July 
31, 1823, leaving two children; married (second), 
March 13, 1825, Betsey (Sprague) Trask, who died 
at Auburn August 25, 1840; married (third) Elmira 
(Watson) Crosby, widow, of Brookfield, June 25 or 
24, 1841 ; she died at Auburn July 28, 1845 ; mar- 
ried (fourth) the sister of his first wife, April 2, 
1849, Ruth (Ryan) Sibley, of Spencer. She sur- 
vived him. Children of David and Chloe (Ryan) 
Scott were: David, Jr., (see forward); Nelson 
Ryan, (see forward). Child of David and Betsey 
(Trask) Scott was: Elizabeth Sprague, born in 
Auburn, Massachusetts, April 16, 1827, lived and 
died in Worcester ; unmarried. 



(IV) David Scott, Jr., eldest son of David Scott 
(3), born June 7, 182 1 ; married, October 14, 1846, 
Lucinda H. Fay, of Princeton, Massachusetts, who 
was born March 8, 1823. He came to Worcester 
when a young man, learned the drug business and 
opened a drug store. For many years he was suc- 
cessful in business. His store was on the north 
corner of Main and Mechanic streets, Worcester, 
and he was the owner of the land and building in 
which his store was located. The block is still 
owned by his heirs. Mr. Scott was a prominent 
Free Mason and was a member of the Worcester 
County Commandery, Knights Templar. He died 
March 16, 1878. Children were : Frank, born Jan- 
uary S, 1850, died young; Fred, June 13, 1852, was 
a physician ; died at Terre Haute, Indiana, unmar- 
ried ; Alice, December 16, 1854. All the foregoing 
were born in Worcester. 

(IV) Nelson Ryan Scott, second child of David 
Scott (3), was born at Auburn, Massachusetts, 
July 23, 1823. His mother died when he was but 
a week old. His mother's sister, Ruth W., then 
the wife of Deacon Sibley, of Spencer, took him to 
her home and brought him up. After the death of 
Deacon Sibley, she became the fourth wife of 
David Scott and step-mother to Nelson Ryan Scott. 
He attended the district and high schools at Spen- 
cer, and Leicester Academy, and worked at farming 
until he was seventeen, when he went to his father's 
home in Auburn and helped his father with the 
farm work there. In order to induce him to remain 
on the old homestead his father deeded to him an 
undivided half of the farm, provided he would re- 
main on it and care for him the rest of his life. But 
farm life was distasteful to him and in March, 1849, 
he gave up the deed and followed his elder brother 
to Worcester, and went to work for him in his 
drug store. He learned the business thoroughly and 
remained there until 1852. 

He formed a partnership with the late Charles 
Sibley, the deputy sheriff and court crier for many 
years afterwards. The firm name was Sibley & 
Scott. They began business May 22, 1852, in the 
store at the south corner of i\lain and Sudbury 
streets. The partnership was dissolved in 1854. Mr. 
Scott entered into a new partnership with Thomas 
Pierce, his father-in-law, for the purpose of manu- 
facturing boots and shoes. Their factory was on 
Main street opposite the foot of Chatham street. 
The firm managed to pull through the financial panic 
of 1857 with severe losses, but without failure. In 
1858, however, Mr. Scott retired from the shoe 
business and went to work again for his brother 
David, May I, 1858. He remained with him until 
December l, 1866, when he started to build Scott's 
block at the junction of Main and Southbridge 
streets, on a triangular lot, from which it is gen- 
erally called the "Flatiron Building." When the 
building was completed he opened a drug store in 
the north store July 4, 1867, and this store has 
been conducted successfully there by i\Ir. Scott, 
and since his death by his son, George T. The store 
was favorably located and Mr. Scott took rank 
among the most successful merchants of the city. 

He found much pleasure in genealogical and 
antiquarian research. He collected antiques, coins, 
medals, Indian implements of stone, etc. He had a 
very large and valuable collection which after hi^ 
death was presented to the Worcester Society of 
Antiquity, of which he was an active and interested 
member. Among other things of special value in 
this collection are the pewter platters. He loved 
travel and knew his own country thoroughly. He 
went to California when trips for pleasure to that 
state were rare. He went by steamer by way of the 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



20: 



Isthmus of ranania, and he brought back with him, 
after a stay of live months, an exceedingly interest- 
ing collection of natural curiosities, such as pebbles, 
mosses, chemicals, etc. He spent the last year of 
his life in Europe, a country that fascinated him 
with its antiquities and historical researches. 

Mr. Scott was well known in Masonic circles. 
He was a member of JNiontacute Lodge; of which 
he was the Worshipful ISIaster in 1871, declining a 
re-election ; a member of Worcester Chapter, Royal 
Arch Alasons; of Worcester County Comniandery, 
Knights Templar, and of the Worcester Lodge of 
Perfection, to which he was exalted September 13, 
1863. He was a charter member of the Worcester 
Continentals and remained an active member until 
his last trip to Europe, when he was made an hon- 
orary member. He was also a member of Stella 
Chapter, order of the Eastern Star ; Hopewell Coun- 
cil, Legion of Honor; the Worcester Council, Royal 
Arcanum; the Worcester County Mechanics' Asso- 
ciation ; the Worcester Art Students' Club ; the 
Ani-.rican Pharmaceutical Association; the Massa- 
chusetts College of Pharmacy; and the Worcester 
Pharmaceutical Association, of which- he was the 
first president. He was a regular attendant of the 
Salem Street Congregational Church from the time 
he came to Worcester until he left for his last trip 
abroad, when he deeded his pew to the society. He 
sat under the preaching and pastorates of Rev. 
George Bushnell, Rev. Merrill Richardson and Rev. 
Charles M. Lamson. 

He was of a cheerful, self-sacrificing disposition, 
ready and willing to extend a helping hand in case 
of need. He was unwilling to mar the pleasure of 
others, a characteristic that was shown even during 
the last few weeks of his life when, rather than de- 
tain the party with which he was travelling at Cairo 
in Egypt, he decided, only two w'eeks before his 
death, to push on up the River Nile with them. On 
his arrival at Luxor he w-as so exhausted that he 
had to be carried by two natives to the hotel. When 
questioned within three days of his death whether 
he would remain at Luxor or return with the party 
to Cairo, he replied : "I will return with you to 
Cairo, so as to be nearer my Heavenly home." He 
was unconscious when the boat arrived at Cairo 
and died three days afterward February 19, 1883. 
aged fifty-uine years, seven months, seven days. His 
wife died January 17, 1904. 

He married (first) June 15, 1845, Maria E. 
Crosby, of Brookfield, daughter of his father's 
third wife. She had one son, Charles Nelson, born 
at Auburn April 6, 1846. She died at the age of 
twenty-four years, July 27, 1847. He married (sec- 
ond) Julia A. Pierce, daughter of Major Thomas 
and Maria (Mason) Pierce, May 6, 1851. She had 
one son, George T., born Octobet 30, 1853. She 
died at Boston, January 17, 1904. 

(V) Charles N. Scott, eldest son of Nelson 
Ryan Scott (4), was born in Auburn, Massachu- 
setts, April 6, 1846. He was educated in the public 
and high schools of the city and at the Higliland 
Military Academy. He entered the United Slates 
navy as midshipman. He was in the United States 
Naval Academy during the war when it was located 
at Newport, and later when it was back in the old 
home at Annapolis. He was in the same class with 
Commodore Richard T. Wainright ; with Adolph 
Marix, who was judge advocate at the hearing on 
the Maine disaster, and with Seaton Shroeder, ex- 
governor of Guam. Mr. Scott suffered a severe at- 
tack of malaria and was pronounced by a medical 
board physically unfit for naval service. He resigned 
before graduating and returned to his home in Wor- 
cester. When the drug store was opened he en- 



tered upon an apprenticeship in pharmacy. After 
three years in the drug business he was obliged to 
leave to take charge of the property of his late 
father-in-law, Benjamin Goddard, who died sud- 
denly. Mr. Goddard was the owner of a large 
jewelry business which was continued by Mr. Scott 
m partnership with Frank A. Knowlton, under the 
firm name of Benjamin Goddard & Co. In 1876 
Mr. Knowlton purchased the interests of the God- 
dard estate and the partnership was dissolved. The 
jewelry store of Mr. Goddard was for a long time 
located at the corner of Main and Walnut streets. 
In July, 1876, he opened a jewelry store on Main 
street, opposite Foster street. He removed later 
to the Butman block, corner of EUm and Main 
streets. Then he removed to the south store of 
Scott's block, where he was in business for about 
five years. In 1888 he retired from the jewelry 
business, and with the exception of three years, 
when he was in the brokerage business with an of- 
fice in the Taylor building, opposite the city hall, 
he has not been engaged in any active business. 
He is a member of Montacute Lodge of Free Ma- 
sons; of Eureka Royal Arch Chapter, and of Wor- 
cester County Comniandery, Knights Templar. He 
is a Republican in politics. He attends Plymouth 
Congregational Church. 

Mr. Scott has had the same love of travel and 
interest in genealogy, archaeology and antiquities 
that characterized his father. He spent many win- 
ters in the tropics and is quite familiar with Ja- 
maica, Cuba, and the West Indies. He was in 
Cuba when the war broke out, and crossed the island 
under a guard of Spanish soldiers on his way home. 

He married, May 3, 1869, Ella Frances Goddard, 
daughter of Benjamin and Martha (Dollivtr) God- 
dard. Benjamin Goddard was born May 15, 1813, 
in Philadelphia. Martha DoUiver was born in Wor- 
cester, July 8, 1814. The children of Charles N. and 
Ella Frances (Goddard) Scott are: Arthur Nelson, 
born in Worcester, January 29, 1870, died August 
12, 1886, drowned while bathing in Coe's Pond, just 
after entering Massachusetts Institute of Technology 
at the age of fifteen with honors in French and 
English ; Ralph Goddard, born at Worcester, No- 
vember 10, 1884, died October 24, 1890; Chester 
Francis, born in Worcester, October 20, 1887, grad- 
uate of the English high school. 

(V) George T. Scott, youngest son of Nelson 
Ryan Scott (4), was born in Worcester, Massa- 
chusetts, October 30, 1853. He received his early 
education in the Worcester public schools. He also 
attended the academy at Easthampton, Massachu- 
setts. He then entered the drug store of his father 
and learned the business, for which he showed a 
natural aptitude. He became a skillful pharmacist 
and soon assumed the burden of the business. His 
father took him into partnership in 1875. After his 
father's death he became the sole owner of the 
business which he has carried on successfully to the 
present time. His drug store has held its rank as 
one of the leading stores of its line in the city. He 
is a prominent Free Mason, a member of Athelstan 
Lodge, Eureka Chanter, Hiram Council, Worcester 
County Comniandery of Knights Templar, and re- 
ceived the thirty-second in the Massachusetts Con- 
sistory. He is also a member of the Worcester 
Pharmaceutical Association ; the American Pharma- 
ceutical Association; Conquest Council, Royal Ar- 
canum, and the Worcester County Mechanics' Asso- 
ciation. 

He married, October 28, 1879, Emma E. Long- 
ley, of Worcester, who was born December 26, 
1856, died September 18, 1903, daughter of James 
O. and Caroline E. Longley. James O. Longley was 



2o6 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



born in Boylston, September ii, 1830. Caroline 
(Lawrence) Longlcy was born in West Brookfield, 
July 30, 1833. Their children are : Harry Longley, 
born in Worcester, February 5. 1882, associated with 
his father in the drug store; Nelson Theo, born in 
Worcester, February 7, 1884, associated with his 
father in the drug store; Sidnev Mason, born in 
Worcester, June 4, 1889, student in the South liigh 
school; Forrest L., born September 9, 1890, died 
December 21, 1891. 

HENRY BRANNON, manufacturer of Wor- 
cester, is a striking exainple of a self-made man, 
one who, favored by no stroke of luck or family 
heritage, has carved out his own career and achieved 
conspicuous success entirely through the exercise 
of unflagging industry, indomitable resolution and 
wise judgment. 

He is a -native of England, born in Nottingham, 
March 7. 1850, a son of John and Margaret E. Bran- 
non. The father was a trunk maker in that city. 
He came to the United States in the year in which 
his son was born, and the following year sent for 
his wife and child, who joined him in Boston. In 
1S57 Mr. Brannon bought a farm in Princeton, 
Massachusetts, and was engaged in its cultivation 
during the remainder of his life. He was a Repub- 
lican in politics, and his first vote after his naturali- 
zation was cast for Abraham Lincoln, at the first 
electioti of that immortal man. Mrs. Brannon died 
in 1892, and her husband five years afterwards, in 
1897. They had ten children, of whom two died 
in infancy : the oldest being Henry, of whom further ; 
Margaret E., James H., William E., Katie M.. died 
aged eleven years, Charles F., Sarah B., and A. 
Gertrude. 

Henry, eldest child of John and Margaret E. 
Brannon, was less than a year old when his parents 
arrived in the United States. He received his edu- 
cation in the common schools of Princeton, Massa- 
chusetts, and at the early age of sixteen years went 
to work, devoting his earnings to assist his father 
in liquidating a mortgaged indebtedness on the farm 
which he had purchased. Young Brannon's first 
employment w-as in the Crompton Loom Works in 
Worcester, where he remained for five years. He 
then worked for some years in Taylor & Farley's 
organ factory in the same city. In T874. at the age of 
twenty-four, ha\'ing acquired a little money by dint 
of energetic labor and careful economy, he pur- 
chased the turning and cabinet shop of J. M. Goodell 
in Worcester, and has been the proprietor of that 
estabHshmcnt ever since. Mr. Brannon has de- 
veloped a Ijusiness of considerable proportions, one 
of the first in its particular line. His product in- 
cludes all descriptions of doors, sash and blind work, 
door and window screens, and fine house finishing 
wood work. A specialty for which his factory is 
widely famed is artistic bank, office, store and other 
fine hardwood cabinet \vork, made to order, and 
after special designs. The establishment is equipped 
with the most modern machinery, and employs seven- 
teen operatives throughout the year. 

Mr. Brannon is actively identified with various 
institutions of a semi-public nature, and which 
largely enter into the life of the community. He is 
a member of the directorate of the Worcester Co- 
operative Bank, and has served as trustee of the 
City Hospital, a trustee of the Mechanics' Associa- 
tion, and a director and treasurer of the Young 
Men's Christian Association. Political honors have 
been bestowed upon him. and he has served with 
tact, judgment and efficiency for four terms as a 
member of the board of aldermen from the fifth 
ward, and in his last term honorably filled the posi- 



tion of president of the board, the most important 
in the gift of the citizens, next to that of mayor. 
He served in the Old State Guard with the rank of 
orderly sergeant, and is an honorary member of the 
Worcester City Guards, in which he served four 
years. He is a member of the Union Congregational 
Church of Worcester, has been treasurer of the 
church and parish, and on the standing committee 
of the church for many years. He is a member of 
the Congregational Club, Worcester Society of Anti- 
quity, Worcester Board of Trade, and Home Market 
Club of Boston. Mr. Brannon is also connected with 
the local lodge of Odd Fellows. In Masonry he is 
a Knight Templar, and a trustee of the permanent 
fund of the Commandery ; also a trustee of the 
Masonic Fraternity and vice-president of the Ma- 
sonic Charity and Educational Society. In politics 
he is an unsw-erving Republican. He is deeply in- 
terested in all things affecting the community, and 
has rendered efficient aid in behalf of municipal im- 
provements as well as . religious, educational and 
benevolent institutions. 

Mr. Brannon is a man of sterling business integ- 
rity. His word is as good as his bond, and that 
has been rated AA in the first grade among finan- 
cial agencies for many years. The popularitv of Mr. 
Brannon among his fellow citizens was demonstrated 
some time ago. when he had a unanimous request 
from the prominent Republicans of his ward to be 
their nominee for the position of representative to 
the legislature. His probity of character, companion- 
able disposition, and genius as a master workman 
have all tended to place him in an enviable position 
among his fellow citizens. He has taken his own 
full share in the duties of a public-spirited citizen, 
and all the interests that have engaged his attention, 
included in the organizations already mentioned, par- 
ticularly has he rendered invaluable service to the 
church in which he is an honored member and also 
in the Y. M. C. A., in which organization he has 
received signal honors, and done yeoman service 
for the young men of the city. 

February 14, 1878, Mr. Brannon was united in 
marriage to Gertrude Goddard. oldest daughter of 
Dorrance S. Goddard, who for many years was con- 
nected with the wire industry in Worcester, and 
whose sketch appears in this work. By this mar- 
riage were born these children : Alice M., a gradu- 
ate of the high school and Smith College, and is a 
school teacher: Mildred I., a graduate of the school 
of Domestic Science of Boston ; Olive G., a high 
school graduate, and bookkeeper in her father's 
office ; Henry G.. who is completing his course in 
the high school : Roger W. ; Dorothy W. : Edna L. ; 
and two who died in infancy. 

HARRISON GRAY OTIS. The Otis family 
has had many men of distinction from colonial times 
to the present and all are of the same family, all 
descendants of the same progenitor, John Otis, or 
as the name is spelled otherwise Attis, Oates. Oatise. 
The English family has a coat of arms. 

(I) John Otis, the emigrant ancestor of Har- 
rison Gray Otis, John P. K. Otis and Mary Eliza- 
beth Otis, of Worcester. Massachusetts, was born 
in Barn.vtable. England, in 1581. He settled in 
Hingham in New England. He was there at the 
time of the first division and drew land in 1635. 
Most of the early settlers in Hingham. INIassachu- 
setts. were from Hingham. England, and it is thought 
that Otis lived in Hingham for a time before com- 
ing to New- England. His homestead was on Otis 
Hill in the southwest part of Hingham, Massachu- 
setts. He had numerous grants of land between 
1635 and 1647. He was admitted a freeman March 




c7a^>^-^^^>6^^^^;'.^>'2^-' 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



207 



3: 1635-6. He was a town officer. Hi.s buildings 
burned March 15, 1645-6. He removed about 1655 
to Weymouth, Massachusetts. 

He married (first) Margaret in England. 

She died in Hingham, June 28, 1653. He married 
(second) and his widow drew land in Weymouth 
in 1663. He died in Weymouth, May 31, 1657, aged 
seventy-six. His w'ill was dated the day before his 
death and was proved July 28, 1657. He bequeathed 
to his wife; to son John, who was made executor; 
to daughter Margaret Burton and her three chil- 
dren; to daughter Hannah Gile ; to Mary and 
Thomas Gile, Jr. ; to daughters Anne and Alice. 
His widow Elizabeth made will September 12, 1672, 
proved July 17, 1676, and bequeathed to son John 
Streme ; daughter Elizabeth and son-in-law, Lieu- 
tenant John Holbrook. The children of John Otis 
were: John, see forward; Richard, went to Wey- 
mouth in 1654. settled in Dover, New Hampshire, 
in 1662; killed by the Indians 16S9 with his son 
Stephen; wife and child captured and sold to the 
French ; his widow married a Frenchman in Canada, 
but after his death she returned to her old home 
and married (third) Captain Thomas Baker; Mar- 
garet, married Thomas Burton, of Hingham ; Han- 
nah, married Thomas Gile ; Ann ; Alice. 

(II) John Otis, eldest son of John Otis (l), 
•was born in Barnstable, Devonshire, England, in 
1620. He came to New England with his parents 
and lived on Otis Hill in Hingham. He held land 
in Hingham in 1668-9. In 1661 John Otis removed 
to Scituate, where John Otis was buried May 8, 
16,11. It seems likely that John Otis, who died there 
and of whom all record is lacking, may be father of 
Joint Otis (I) and grandfather of John Otis (II), 
who went to Scituate twenty years later to live. 
He probably had land there. He bought a house 
of Deacon Thomas Robinson, south of Coleman's 
hill. Otis also bought of John Hatherly twenty- 
three shares of the Conihasset partnership of forty 
shares. This Conihasset tract was three miles square 
and included parts of the present towns of Hanover 
and Abington. He was admitted a freeman at Hing- 
ham, 1662, and at Barnstable, Massachusetts, in 1678. 
He .settled in Barnstable on the Otis farm, opposite 
Hinkley lane, near the marshes in the West Parish. 
He left his son John there and returned to Scituate, 
w-here he died January 16, 1683. There is a stone 
on his grave in the old burying ground in the meet- 
ing house land a mile south of the harbor, but the 
inscription is not legible. 

He married (second) Mary Jacob, daughter of 
Nicholas Jacob, who came over in 1633. His chil- 
dren were : Mary, baptized 1653, married John 
Gowan ; Elizabeth, married (first) Thomas AUyn, 
(second), David Loring ; John, born in Hingham, 
1657, married Mercy Bacon, captain, deputy to gen- 
eral court, chief justice of the court of common 
pleas, first judge of probate, member of His Ma- 
jesty's council; Hannah (probably), born 1660; 
Stephen, see forward ; James, 1663, settled at Wey- 
mouth ; Joseph, 1665, judge of court of common pleas, 
deputy general court, etc ; Job. 1667, settled at Scit- 
uate. 

(III) Stephen Otis, fifth child of John Otis (2), 
was born at Hingham, Massachusetts, 1661. He was 
captain of the company and prominent in town af- 
fairs. He was a tanner by trade. He built a new 
house about 1691. He died May 26, 1733. His grave 
is marked in the old burying ground near the har- 
bor. His will was made in 1729. He married Han- 
nah Ensign, of Scituate, 1685. She was the daugh- 
ter of John Ensign and granddaughter of Thomas 
Ensi.gn. one of the Conihasset partners in 1646. She 
was born in 1660. Her father fell in the Pawtucket 



fight, March 26, 1676. The estate which came from 
the Ensign family went to Ensign Otis, her son, 
and was owned by three of the name. Ensign Otis, 
in successive generations. The children of Captain 
Stephen and Hannah (Ensign) Otis were: Ensign, 
born 1691 ; John, 1694, selectman of Boston ; Han- 
nah, 1696 ; Mary, 1697 ; Dr. Isaac, see forward ; 
Stephen, 1707. died in Scituate, 1755; Joseph, 1709, 
settled in Boston and was keeper of the jail there; 
Joshua 1711 settled in Scituate. 

(IV) Dr. Lsaac Otis, fifth child of Stephen Otis 
(3), was born in 1699. He married 1718, Deborah 
Jacobs, daughter of Deacon David Jacobs and his 
wife Sarah Gushing, daughter of John Gushing. 
Deacon Jacobs was grandson of Nicholas Jacobs, 
of Hingham, whose daughter, Mary Jacobs, married 
John Otis (2). Isaac Otis was the first regularly 
bred and educated physician in Scituate. He set- 
tled there and began to practice in 1719. when the 
town voted a settlement of a hundred pounds to 
encourage him to remain there. He was a 
man of uncommon accomplishments of person and 
mind. He died in 1786. "The children of Dr. Isaac 
and Deborah (Jacobs) Otis were: Isaac, born in 
Scituate. 1719, graduate of Harvard College, 1738; 
Josiah, 1721, died young; Josiah, 1725, died young; 
William, 1726. married, died without issue ; Stephen, 
1728, settled in Hanover, see forward ; James, 1732. 
died young; James, 1734, married Lucy Gushing. 
granddaughter of Rev. Jeremiah Gushing ; he was 
third physician in Scituate ; was in French war ; 
Thomas, 1736, died young; Thomas. 1738, died 
voung. 

(V) Stephen Otis, fifth child of Dr. Isaac Otis 
(4), was born in Scituate, Massachusetts, in 1728 
died early in life. He married Elizabeth Wade, 
They settled at Hanover, a neighboring town. Their 
children were: Charlotte, born 1763; Deborah, 1765; 
William, January 16, 1768; Paul, born 1771. see 
forward ; a daughter, married ^ How-ard. 

(VI) Paul Otis, fourth child of Stephen Otis 
(5), was born in 1771. He married (first) Pene- 
lope Nichols, November 5, I79i- She was born 
April 15. 1769, died April 24, 1792- He married 
(second) Lucv Bailey, August, 1795- She was born 
March 9. 1776, died August 2t, 1805. He married 
(third) Mabel Litchfield, February 15, 1806. She 
was born October 12, 1784. and survived him. In 
1792 he lost three children by .small pox, during an 
epidemic. His children w-ere : Elizabeth, born April 
25, 1792. died November 25. 1792; Henry, July iS, 
1796, died February 10, i8,-;4 ; Benjamin Bailey, July 
II, 1799, see forward: Harvey. September 19. 1802. 
settled in Kingston, New York ; William, April 16. 
1807, married Mary Boynton, and lived at Hubbards- 
ton, Massachusetts, and Claremont, New Hampshire; 
Lucy Bailev. May 22. 1809, married William Ross, 
of Worcester; Mary p., October 25. 1811, married 

Mussey. of Leominster ; Silas D., June 26, 

1814, married and settled in Lowell, Massachusetts: 
Roland L.. September 11. 1816, married Elizabeth 
Thompson.' and settled in Leominster. Massachusetts ; 
Paul. October 18, 1818, settled in Worcester; mar- 
ried there, October 13, 1840, Laura M. Knight. 

(VII) Benjamin B. Otis, third child of Paul 
Otis (6), was born in North Scituate, Massachu- 
setts, on the old homestead. He married Mary 
Garter. 1S22. She was the daughter of John Garter, 
of Lancaster. Massachusetts. Mr. Otis started for 
himself in Worcester in the shoe and leather busi- 
ness. His store was on Main street, betw^ecn School 
and Thomas streets, which in the thirties and forties 
was the business centre of the town. Mr. Otis was 
a prominent business man in his day and was active 
in town affairs. He was constable for many years. 



208 



WORCESTER COUXTY 



He was a member of the First Unitarian Church 
(Second Parish) of Worcester during the pastorate 
of Rev. Alonzo Hill, who was appointed colleague 
of the first minister, Dr. Aaron Bancroft. Mr. Otis 
died in Lancaster, Massachusetts ; his wife also died 
in Lancaster. 

Their children, all born in Worcester e.xcept the 
eldest, were: Mary Elizabeth, born April 23, 1823, 
in Lancaster, Massachusetts, died in Worcester, June 
26, 1S24; John Carter, see forward; Benjamin Frank- 
lin, January 27, 1827, lives in West Newton and is 
auditor of the city of Newton, Massachusetts ; George 
Henry, March 10, 1829; Nancy Carter, July 10, 1831, 
died October 10, 1832; Mary Jane, born September 
.3. iSi3, married, November 29, 1S65, Hon. Phinehas 
Ball, who was mayor of Worcester, etc. (See sketch 
of Ball Family); Harrison Gray, see forward; Ann 
Eliza, March 19, 1838; Lucy Maria, July 30, 1840; 
Edwin Augustus, March 16, 1843; Ellen Louisa, 
March 31, 1846. 

(Vni) John Carter Otis, eldest son and second 
child of Benjamin B. Otis (7), was born in Wor- 
cester, Massachusetts, March 12, 1825. He received 
his education in the public schools. At the age of 
fifteen he entered the employ of Samuel B. Scott, 
who Kept a shoe store in Worcester, and also went 
to live in his employer's family, after the custom 
of the times. He remained in this position for about 
five years, when he went to work for his father, 
who was a manufacturer and dealer of boots, shoes 
and leather in Worcester. In 1844 he went to St. 
Louis, Missouri, where his mother's brother resided, 
and was employed about three years as clerk. He 
returned to Worcester in 1848 and was in partner- 
ship with his father until 1850, when he formed with 
C. H. Fitch the firm of Fitch & Otis for the manu- 
facture of boots and shoes, occupying first a shop 
on Front street .and later part of the Bangs block 
on Main street. The financial troubles of 1857 caused 
a suspension of their business in common with that 
of many others. 

In 1861 Mr. Otis was employed for a time in the 
office of the city treasurer, and the following year 
entered the Quinsigamond Bank as teller, and dur- 
ing the absence of the cashier on account of illness 
served as assistant cashier. He held this position 
for ten years and retired, greatly to the regret of 
the directors, to devote himself exclusively to the 
duties of the treasurership of the Union Water Meter 
Company, an office to which he had been elected in 
1868, when the company was formed by his brother- 
in-law, Hon. Phinehas Ball, and Abram and Benajah 
Fitts, for the manufacture of the Ball & Fitts water 
meter. At the death of Mr. Ball in 1894 Mr. Otis 
was elected president, and the two positions he held 
until his death March 11, 1900. 

Mr. Otis was vice-president of the Worcester 
Five Cents Savings Bank ; member of the Worcester 
County Mechanics' Association, of which he was vice- 
president and for twelve years a trustee ; an active 
member of the Worcester Society of Antiquity. 
From early childhood he was a member of the First 
Unitarian church, and was elected deacon in 1863. 
He was a life member and for several years was a 
director of the American Unitarian Association, and 
he served twenty-five years from 1866 as treasurer 
of the Worcester County Conference of Unitarian 
Churches, of which he was later vice-president.^ He 
was a man of upright character, generous and kindly 
in disposition, and highly esteemed in social as well 
as business circles. 

Mr. Otis married, April 18, 1849, Mary E. Ket- 
tell, daughter of John P. and Maria (Vose) Kettell. 
She died February 2. 1894. He died March 11, 1900. 
They had three children: John Pierce Kettell, born 



March 9, 1853, succeeded his father in business; 
Mary Elizabeth, born April 27, 1857 ; James Frank- 
lin, born May 19, 1861, died March 8, 1884. 

(IX) John P. K. Otis, son of the late John C. 
Otis (8) and grandson of B. B. Otis (7), was 
born in Worcester, March 9, 1853. He attended the 
public schools of Worcester, leaving the high school 
in his second year. He was in the city engineer's 
office from 1869 to 1871, when he entered the Wor- 
cester Free Institute, now the Worcester Polytech- 
nic Institute, and was graduated as a civil engineer 
in 1873. He was assistant engineer of the Spring- 
field (Massachusetts) Water Works from 1873 to 
1876, and engineer of the Portland (Maine) Water 
Company from 1876 to 1878. During the three years 
from 1878 to 1880 he was an instructor in civil en- 
gineering in the Worcester Polytechnic Institute. 
He became manager of the Union Water Meter 
Company, with which his father and uncle were con- 
nected, in 1880. When his father died in March, 
1900, he was elected president and treasurer of the 
company. 

The Union Water Meter Company was organized 
November 9, 1868, and re-organized in 1875 with a 
capital of $75,000. The first building occupied by 
the company was a one-story wooden structure in 
;he rear of 31 Hermon street. In 1872 a four-story 
brick building forty by one himdred feet was added 
to the plant. The first meter made by the company 
was the Ball & Fitts reciprocating piston meter, the 
joint invention of the Hon. Phinehas Ball and Ben- 
ajah Fitts. In 1876 the company bought the Union 
rotary piston meter of Benajah Fitts, and in 1892 
the company l)ought the Columbia pattern meter of 
Phinehas Ball. "This meter was especially designed 
and adapted for measuring water carrying sediment 
or tending to corrode or form deposits in meters. 
The company has been among the leaders in its line 
of business for many years, and it is one of the 
imique industries in which all Worcester takes pride. 
Besides the manufacture of water meters the com- 
pany makes water, steam, air and gas pressure regu- 
lators, steam fire gongs, chronometer governor 
valves, hydraulic valves, cement testing machines, 
cement lining presses, hand feed drills, and special 
hydraulic machinery. The products of the company 
are used in every state and territory of the country 
and largely exported. Mr. Otis was a member of 
the Worcester County Mechanics Association ; the 
Worcester Board of Trade ; the Worcester Society 
of Civil Engineers ; the Worcester Society of Anti- 
quity and the Commonwealth Club. 

\tr. Otis married, October 19. 1874, Isabelle C. 
Stratton. daughter of Charles T. and Jane M. (Grif- 
fin) Stratton, of Worcester. Charles T. Stratton 
was a machinist. Mr. and Mrs. Otis have five chil- 
dren. Albert Stratton. born November 23, 1875 ; 
Emma Heywood, born January 30, 1880, married 
John Wilson, of Bangor, Maine : their child Caroline, 
born July 26, 1905 ; Edward King, born October 6, 
18S4; Donald Kettell, born March, 1892; Mary Eliza- 
beth, born October 14, 1895. 

(VHI) Harrison Gray Otis, seventh child of 
Benjamin B. Otis (7), was born in Worcester, , 
Alassachusetts, September 18, 1835. He received 
his early education in the public schools of his native 
town and at Worcester Academy. After leaving 
school he went to work for Fitch & Otis, shoe manu- 
facturers. His brother, John C. Otis (VIII), was 
the junior partner. He was first 'a leather cutter, 
then traveling salesman for the firm. From 1859 
to 1863 he was assistant door-keeper at the state 
house in Boston during the time that Hon. Alexander 
H. Bullock, of Worcester, was speaker of the liouse. 
When Mr. Bullock was elected governor he ofifered 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



2og 



Mr. Otis the position of governor's messenger. 
During these years Mr. Otis was a hiw student in 
Mr. Bullock's office. He returned to the shoe busi- 
ness, and for twenty years was associated with 
Smyth Brothers, shoe manufacturers, and Charles 
H. Fitch & Co., boot and shoe manufacturers. 

In 1S87 Mr. Otis was elected an assessor of the 
city of Worcester and was at once chosen chairman 
of the board. He served the city in this important 
office, giving the taxpayers the utmost satisfaction 
until 1899, when he was appointed to his present posi- 
tion as deputy tax commissioner of Massachusetts, 
a position to which his experience as an assessor 
and long business training admirably fitted him. 
Mr. Otis has made a thorough study of taxation 
and is one of the leading experts in this subject 
today. He was one of the founders of the Associa- 
tion of Massachusetts Assessors, and was for four 
years its president and for many years chairman of 
its legislative committee. He is known to all the 
assessors and legislators of the state, and his intelli- 
gent and courteous co-operation with the managers 
of the corporations of the state in getting them to 
conform to the statutes, in making their reports and 
adjusting their taxes, is thoroughly appreciated. Mr. 
Otis is an ideal public officer, having the tact, com- 
mon sense and integrity that his responsible position 
requires. Mr. Otis is a Congregationalist. He was 
for many years member of the Salem Street Con- 
gregational Church and treasurer of its society. He 
is now a member and trustee of Union Congrega- 
tional Churck. He is a member of the . Worcester 
Society of Antiquity and of the Congregational Club. 

He married. April 29, 1858, Olive Haywood 
Fitch, daughter of James Harvey Fitch. Their chil- 
dren are: Charles H., born in Worcester, July 7, 
1859, died 1880; Edward F., born ■ September 29, 
1867: Annie Louise, resides at home with her par- 
ents, is clerk in the city treasurer's office, Worcester ; 
Harry Benjamin, clerk in the city treasurer's office. 
Mr. Otis resides at 41 Harvard street. All the 
children live a: home. 

BENJAMIN WILLIS CHILDS. Samuel Childs 
O). the emigrant ancestor of Benjamin Willis 
Childs, of Worcester, was an early settler at Plym- 
outh, New England. He came from England and 
w'as probably the first emigrant of this name in New 
England. He was related in some way to the fam- 
ilies of this name at Roxhury. Savage gives Richard 
Childs as his brother. Freeman states that he was 
slain by the Indians at Rehoboth, March 25, 1675. 
He has many descendants in western Massachusetts, 
Vermont and in the west. Another line of his de- 
scendants is to be found in Maine. The family 
genealogy gives Richard, of Barnstable, as the son 
of Samuel Childs (i). 

(II) Richard Childs, son of Samuel Childs (l), 
was born in 1624. He married Mary Linnett. Oc- 
tober 15, 1648. She was of Barnstable. They had 
one son, Richard, and probably other children. 

(III) Richard Childs. son of Richard Childs (2), 
was born in Barnstable, Massachusetts. March, 1653. 
He married, about 167S, Elizabeth Crocker, daughter 
of John Crocker. She was born October 7, 1660, 
died January 15, 1716. He married (second) Han- 
nah . He was a prominent citizen of Barn- 
stable and was the honored deacon of tlje church 
there. He died January 15. 1716. The children 
of Richard and Elizabeth (Crocker) Childs were: 
Samuel, born November 6. 1679, see forward ; Eliza- 
beth. January 25, i()8i : Thomas, January 10. 1682; 
Hannah. 1684: "Timothy. September 22, 1686; Ebe- 

nezer, 1691. married Hope , born ' 1690, who 

died in Barre. where her son and other relatives 

14 



lived. May ,5, 17S3; Elizabeth, June 6, 1692; James, 
November 6, 1694; Mercy, May 7, 1697; Joseph, 
March 5, 1699; Thankful, August 15, 1702. 

(IV) Deacon Samuel Childs, son of Richard 
Childs (3), was born in Barnstable, Massachusetts, 
November 6, 1678. lie married( first), July 7, 1709, 
Haimah Barnard. She died May lb, 1727. He mar- 
ried (second), about 1729, Experience . She 

died May 25, 174.4. He married (third), June 25, 
7750, Sarah Philip ( Mattoon) Field, widow of 
Zachariah Field, of Northfield, Massachusetts. She 
died March 21, 1752, aged sixty-three years. He 
died March 18, 1756, aged seventy-seven years. He 
removed from Barnstable to Dccrfield when a young 
man. He was a man of character and influence, 
lie was deacon of the Northfield church. He was 
a blacksmith by trade. His children were born in 
Deerfield, viz: Hannah, born July 8, 1710; Samuel, 
Jr.. September 20, 1712; Asa, January 3, 1715; David 
(twin). March 23, 1718; Jonathan (twin), March 
23. 1718. sec forward; Ebenezcr, November 11, 1720; 
Elizabeth. August 5, 1724; Experience, June 7, 1730. 

(V) Jonathan Childs, twin son of Deacon Sam- 
uel Childs (4), was born in Deerfield, Massachu- 
setts, March 23, 1718. He married, about 1739, Re- 
becca Scott, who was born January 9, 1707. He re- 
moved from Deerfield to Hardwick, Worcester 
county, Massachusetts, where' he died March 18, 
1793, aged seventy-three years. Rebecca, it is said,, 
was a woman of marvellous strength and health. 
She lived to the age of one hundred and one years. 
Tradition in the family tells us that she met the 
good old-fashioned test of physical prowess — She 
could lift a barrel of cider from the cart and carry 
it to the door unaided. She died at Hardwick in 
1809. The children of Jonathan and Rebecca (Scott) 
Childs were: Jesse, born October. 1740; Hannah, 
September 17, 1742; Ebenezer, see forward; Joseph, 
March 2, 1746; Jonathan, Jr., October 13, 1748, died 
young; Elizabeth, November 29, 1750; Moses, April 
3, 1752; Sarah, April 2, 1755; Jonathan, October 24, 
175(3; Rebecca, October 8, 1758; David, November 
16, 1760; Sarah, April 22, 1763. 

(VI) Ebenezer Childs, third child of Jonathan 
Childs (5). was born January 25, 1744. He married 
(intentions dated November 15), 1769, Abigail Wil- 
lis. He removed from New Salem to Barre about 
1775, thence to Hardwick, Massachusetts, about 1785. 
He died at Hardwick, March 7, 1809. His wife died 
December 25, 1810. Their children were : Betsey, 
born at New Salem. Massachusetts, May 27, 1772, 
died 1870; Benjamin Willis, born in Barre, October 
5, 1774, see forward: Moses, July 6, 1777; Ebenezcr, 
born in Hardwick. March 21, 1784, died March 7, 
1786; Ebenezer. born in Hardwick, July 2, 1787, 
married (first) Hannah Lowell; (second) Pede 
Johnson; (third) Mary Bullen ; Anna, married 
Lionel Tenne}-, of Barre. 

(VII) Deacon Benjamin Willis Childs, second 
child of Ebenezer Childs (6), was born October 5, 
1774, in Barre, Massachusetts. He married, about 
1798, .Anna Washburn, who was born May 21, 1780, 
died October. 1844. She was the daughter of Eli- 
phalet Washburn. Deacon Childs lived for several 
years in Barre, but spent most of his life in Hard- 
wick, where he was deacon of the Congregational 
church, and a successful farmer and school teacher. 
He died at Hardwick. January 13, 1838. The chil- 
dren of Benjamin Willis and Anna (Washburn) 
Childs were : Benjamin Willis, Jr., see forward ; 
Tryphenia, August 13, 1801, married Eli (jooley; 
.\urelia. June 28, 1803. married William Burnap : 
Elvira, May 28, 1805, died January 31, 1842; Franklin 
L., September 10, 1807, married Margaret Marsh ; 
Tyler. June t8, i8og; married Nancy Williams; 



2IO 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



Martin LutlK-r, June 2, 1811, married, January 6, 
1840, Mercy Holmes Cliapin ; Ann W., May 26, 
1813, married (first), October 18, 1832, Lyman 
Hawkes; married (second). 1840, Elias Ayers ; Julia 
Ann, Ajjril 5, 1815, married, October, 1828, Rev. 
Gideon Dana, of Amherst ; Alexander Hanson, Feb- 
ruary 26, 1817. married Phebe Stevens; William Al- 
len, June 2. 1820, married, October 29, 1S45, Olive 
Hinckley; Elizabeth Hoyt, January 21, 1826, died 
1S50. 

(Vni) Benjamin Willis Childs. eldest son of 
Benjamin Willis Childs (7), and father of Benja- 
min Willis Childs (IX), of Worcester, was born in 
Barre, November 6, 1799. He married, January 24, 
1827, Elizabeth Southworth. See account of her 
ancestry forward. He was a mason by trade. He 
came to Worcester about 1833 and after a few years 
moved to Oxford, where he spent most of the active 
years of his life following his business of mason 
and builder. While in Worcester he was lieutenant 
in the Worcester Light Infantry in the early thirties. 
He died in Oxford, December 31, 1866. His wife 
died August 7, 1853. 

The children of Benjamin Willis and Elizabeth 
(Southworth) Childs were: I. Anne Elizabeth, 
born at Granby, Massachusetts, December 19, 1S27, 
died in Worcester, Massachusetts, July 30. 188S, un- 
married. 2. William Lee, born June 7, 1830, died 
August 28, 1830. 3. Frances Maria, born March 21, 
1834, in Worcester ; married, November 26, 1863, 
Bernard Barton Vassall, of Oxford, Massachusetts, 
who was born October 10, 1835, died in Worcester 
March 23, 1894. He was the son of Vester and 
Sarah (Barton) Vassall, and grandson of Benjamin 
and Polly (Stone) Vassall. He enlisted in Company 
E, Fifteenth Massachusetts Infantry, in the civil war, 
May 4, 1861, and was commissioned s^econd lieu- 
tenant. He was taken prisoner at the battle of Ball's 
Bluff and confined in a prison in Richmond for six 
months. ' He was promoted to the rank of first 
lieutenant, but resigned and was. honorably dis- 
charged December 20, 1862. After the war he served 
the government in the post office department, re- 
organizing the service in North and South Carolina. 
He was for many years special agent of the postal 
department for New England. He was connected 
with the juvenile department of the State Board of 
Charities for several years as agent. He was a 
prominent member of the Grand Army. He made 
his home in Worcester after the war, and his widow 
resides at 247 Park avenue, Worcester. They had 
no children. 4. Benjamin Willis, Jr., see forward. 

(IX) Benjamin Willis Childs, youngest child of 
Benjamin Willis Childs (8), and the third in direct 
line of this name, was born in Oxford, Massachusetts, 
January 15, 1839. He received his early education 
in the district schools of Oxford. At the age of 
fourteen he went to the Berlin (Massachusetts) 
Academy, when Mr. Bride was the principal. He 
began his business career as clerk in the general 
store of Erastus Ormsbee, of Oxford, where he 
worked for four years. Then was a student at Wil- 
braham and Dudley Academies. At the age of nine- 
teen he bought the store of Mr. Ormsbee and began 
business on his own account. His affairs prospered 
and after ten years he sold his store in O.xford, 
which is at the present time owned by Leonard E. 
Thayer, and entered upon a larger field in Worcester. 
He became the senior partner of the firm of Childs 
& Manning Brothers, wholesale dealers and jobbers 
of boots and shoes. His partners were George G. 
Manning and Theodore Manning. Their place of 
business was on Pleasant street and they began to 
do business in 1869. In 1874 Mr. Childs sold his in- 



terests to his partners, who continued the business. 
Mr. Childs started in business again on Mechanic 
street at the present location of Polis'Theatre. He 
was associated with Irving W. Tourtelottc under 
the firm name of B. W. Childs & Co. After six 
months Henry E. Smith was admitted to the firm 
and the name became Childs, Smith & Co. The 
business grew rapidly and became the largest in this 
section of the state. Mr. Childs continued in busi- 
ness until 1890, when he sold to his partner. Colonel 
Henry E. Smith, and retired from active business. 
He has for many years been prominent in the bank- 
ing circles of the city. From 1880 to 1896 he was 
a director of the Citizens' National Bank, and from 
1885 to 1889 was the president. Since 1896 he has 
been a director of Merchants' National Bank of Wor- 
cester. His business judgment and knowledge of 
banking and business and his sterling common sense 
are appreciated by his associate directors. 

Mr. Childs has always taken an interest in politi- 
cal affairs. He was a Republican until 1884, but 
having always advocated a "tariff for revenue only," 
supported Grover Cleveland for president, and he 
has since been allied with the Democratic party. He 
was elected as a Republican to represent ward 
eight in the common council in 1882 and 1883. He 
was an active member of the Republican city com- 
mittee and could have had other positions had he 
cared for public office. Since he has been a -Demo- 
crat he has occasionally been drafted by his party. 
He was their candidate for mayor, senator and other 
offices. Mr. Childs has been a member ef the Church 
of the Unity of Worcester since 1888, and has served 
as member and chairman of the parish committee for 
several years. He is a trustee by appointment of the 
governor of Westboro Insane Hospital and has 
served since 1892 on the board. He has been one of 
the park commissioners of Worcester since 1899. 

He married, September 20, 1865, Olive Maria 
Chamberlin, of Templeton, Massachusetts, who was 
born there January 5, 1843, the daughter of Mose; 
and Charlotte (Miller) Chamberlin. Their children 
are; l. Thomas Southworth, born in Oxford, Massa- 
chusetts, August 13, 1866, married, December 29, 
1897, Eliza Porter Prescott, of Rockville, Connecti- 
cut; they have two children: Prescott, born at Hol- 
yoke, Massachusetts. December 2, 1898; Benjamin 
Willis, fourth of this name, born at Holyoke, May 
14, 1903. Thomas S. is a graduate of Philips Acad- 
emy at Exeter. He was formerly in business with 
his father, but since 1888 has been in the shoe busi- 
ness in Holyoke. 2. Frances Maria, born in Ox- 
ford, January 3, 1S68, died at Templeton, Massachu- 
setts, August 30, 1896, unmarried. 3. Alice Louise, 
born in Worcester. August 23, 1873, graduate of 
Smith College, 1896, now assistant registrar of Smith 
College. 4. Mabel Willis, born in Worcester, No- 
vember 12, T875, died January 2, 1885. 5. Agnes 
Chamberlin, born in Worcester, September 29. 1877, 
graduate of Smith College, 1901 ; teacher of physics 
at Smith College. 6. Gertrude, born in Worcester, 
March 6, 1SS3, graduate of Bradford (Massachusetts) 
Academy; lives with her parents. 7. Breta Willis, 
born in Worcester, February 10, 1S88, student in 
Worcester hi^h school. 

THE SOUTHWORTH FAMILY. (I) Edward 
Southworth was the progenitor of the American 
families in Southworth. He was born in England 
about 1590 and died there about 1621. He married, 
May 28, 1613, Alice Carpenter, born About 1590. 
i'ed in Plvmn'itli. Massachusetts. March 26, 1670. 
She was the daughter of Alexander Carpenttr, of 
Wrington. England, which is in Somersetshire. He \ 
was a silk worker in Leyden, one of the Pilgrim . 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



21 I 



exiles who formed Rtv. John Robinson's cluircli. 
ie was descended from the Southworths of Saniles- 
)ury Hall in Lancashire, where the family was cs- 
ablished in the thirteenth century. His widow mar- 
led Governor William Bradford, of Plymouth. Tra- 
iition has is that Alice Carpenter and Bradford were 
overs before either married and that her parents 
lelected Edward Souihworth because of his higher 
;ocial rank. After Bradford's wife Dorothy was 
irowned in Provincctown Harbor, Governor Brad- 
■ord wrote to the widow in England and she came 
)ver in the ship "Ann" in 1623 to marry him. Her 
;wo sons, Thomas and Constant, came with lier or 
;oon followed. She died March 27, 1670, aged 
;ighty years. The children of Edward and Alice 
(.Carpenter) Southworth were: Constant, born in 
Leyden, Holland, 1615, died in Duxbury, Massa- 
:husetts. March 10, 167S-9; Thomas, born in f^ey- 
ien, Holland, 1616, died in Plymouth, Massachusetts, 
December 8, 1669. 

(H) Constant Southworth, son of Edward South- 
worth (i), was born in Leyden, 1615. He was 
Drought up in the family of his step-father. Governor 
William Bradford, at Plymouth, Massachusetts. He 
was admitted a freeman 1636-7. He was in the 
service against the Indians in the troubles of 1637. 
In 1646 he was color bearer for the Duxbury com- 
pany. He was of the council of war in 1653. He was a 
deputy, to the general court and assistant to the 
governor. He was treasurer of the colony, 1659 to 
1673. He owned land in Tiverton and Little Comp- 
ton as well as Duxbury. Lie married, Xovember 2, 
1637. Elizabeth Collier, of Duxbury, daughter of 
William Collier, a London merchant, who assisted 
the Plymouth colonists, and in 1633 himself made 
his home in Plymouth, where he died in 1670. Con- 
stant Southworth died March 10, 1679. His children 
were: Mercy, born about 1638; Edward: Alice, 
1646. married Benjamin Church, the celebrated In- 
dian fighter ; Nathaniel, see forward : Mary, probably 
about 1650. married David Alden. son of John and 
Priscilia Alden, Pilgrims ; Elizabeth ; Priscilla : Wil- 
liam, 1659. 

(III) Nathaniel Southworth, son of Constant 
Southvvortli (2), was born in Plymouth, Massachu- 
setts. 1648. died in Middleboro. Massachusetts, Jan- 
uary 14, 1710-11. He married, January 10. 1671-2, 
Desire Gray, born November 6. 1651. died at Ply- 
mouth, December 4, 1690, daughter of Edward and 
Mary (Winslow'l Gray. He lived at first in 
Plymouth, later in Middleboro, Massachusetts. He 
was surveyor of highways in Plymouth in 1673, 
constable there in 1668. selectman 1689, and 1691, 
and ensign 1694 and 1695. He owned land in Tiver- 
ton, Rhode Island. The children of Nathaniel and 
Desire (Gray) Southworth were: Constant, born 
August 12, 1674; Mary, April 3, 1676: Ichabod, 
March, 1678-9; Elizabeth, 1682; Nathaniel, May 18, 
1684: Edward, see forward. 

(IV) Edward Southworth. youn.gest child of 
Nathaniel Southworth (3), was born in Plymouth, 
Massachusetts. 1688. died in Bridgewater, Massa- 
chusetts. April 26, 1748. He married in Hull. June 
2.S, 1711. Bridget Bosworth, of Hull. He removed 
with his family to the north parish of Bridgewater 
during its early settlement. The children of Edward 
and Bridget (Bosworth) Southworth were: Con- 
stant, born July 25, 1712. see forward; .Bridget, 
April 15. 1714; Ebenezer. .-Xugust 13, 1716; Edward, 
December, 1718; Theophilus, February 10, 1720, 
revolutionary soldier ; Sarah, January 16, 1723 ; 
Lemuel, April 27, 1728 (twin) ; Benjamin (twin), 
April 27, 1728: Mary, January 2, 1732. 

(V) Constant Southworth, eldest child of Ed- 
ward Southworth (4), was born July 25, 1712, died 



'775. He married (first), April 18, 1734, Martha 
Keith, daughter of Joseph and Elizabetli (Lobes) 
Keith. He married (second), January 6, 1770, Mrs. 
llaimah Shaw, of Raynham. She married (second), 
September 29, 1780, Robert Keith. Constant South- 
worth and wife joined the church in 1741. He was 
a loonier by trade. He resided at Bridgewater, where 
all his children were born. He_ was in the militia 
in 1762, and in 1775 was ensign in Captain Abiel 
Packard's company (Sixth Bridgewater), Colonel 
Thomas Clapp's regiment. He died from disease 
contracted while working on the Continental forti- 
fications of Dorchester Heights. The children 
of Constant and Martha (Keith) Southworth 
were: Betsy, born January, 1735; Nathaniel, see 
forward ; Ezekiel, March 10, 1738, revolution- 
ary soldier; Martha, April 18, 1741 ; Mary (twin 
of preceding), April 18, 1741 ; Desire, Septem- 
ber 7, 1742 ; Jedediah, January 6, 1745 ; Constant, 
January 29, 1747; Sarah, December 9,^749; Ichabod, 
June 9, 1 75 1. 

(VI) Nathaniel Southworth, second child of 
Constant Southworth (5), was born February 16, 
1737, in Bridgewater. He married (first), January 
15, 1762, Katherine Howard, daughter of David 
Howard, son of David (III), son of Ephraim (II), 
son of John (I) Howard, a pioneer at Duxbury. 
Nathaniel married (second), March 18, 1777, Janet 
or Jenny Brett, daughter of Simeon and Mehitable 
(Packard) Brett, of North Bridgewater. She mar- 
ried (second), April 20, 17S9, Ephraim Groves. He 
resided at North Bridgewater, where his children 
were born. The children of Nathaniel and Kather- 
ine (Howard) Southworth were: Martha, born 
1764, died young; Simeon, July 17, 1766, see for- 
ward; Nathaniel, April 6, 1769; David, 1773. The 
child of Nathaniel and Janet (Brett) Southworth 
was: Catherine, 1777, married Ambrose Keith. 

(VII) Simeon Southworth, second child of 
Nathaniel Southworth (6), was born in North 
Bridgewater. Massachusetts, July 17, 1766, died Ju',v 
I, 1820, in Lyme, New Hampshire. He married, 
December 24, 1789, Elizabeth Anderson, born 1768, 
died August 28. 1795. He married (second), April, 
30, 1798, Anna Stone, of Oxford (North Gore), born 
February I, 1770, died October 28, 1834, in Wor- 
cester. She is buried at North Oxford. She was the 
daughter of Uriah and Lois (Stone) S^one. He was 
a carpenter, born in Bridgewater, removed to \Vard, 
now Auburn, Massachusetts, and later to Lyme, 
New Hampshire, where his six youngest children 
were born. The children of Simeon and Elizabeth 
(Anderson) Southworth were: Alva, born 1791; 
Justin, 1793; child, died young. The children of 
Simeon and Anna (Stone) Southworth were: Eliza- 
beth, see forward ; Nancy, April 24, 1801, died Janu- 
ary 20. 1881, at Ilardwick, Massachusetts, unmar- 
ried; Sarah, September 17, 1803, died April 5, 1824, 
unmarried ; Louisa, November 29, 1806, died in Ox- 
ford, January 8, 1870, married (first) Benjamin 
Vassal], probably a descendant of Hon. William 
Vassall, who settled in Scituate among the Pil- 
grims ; ( Vester Vassall, see above, was his son by 
a previous marriage) ; James M., January 2, 1809, 
died September 19, 1816; Alvah, August 15, 1812, 
died January 19, 1872, in Hardwick, married, 1843, 
Fanny Hunter; representative to general court, 1851 ; 
farmer; Constant, March 15, 1814, died December 5, 

1877. 

(VIII) Elizabeth Southworth. fourth child of 
Simeon Southworth (7), was born in .»\uburn, Massa- 
chusetts. July 12. 1799. died in Oxford. August 7, 
1853. She married Benjamin Willis Childs (VIIT), 
and was the mother of Benjamin Willis Childs (IX), 
sec above. 



21. 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



WILLIA.M ARTHUR KILBOURN. Thomas 
Kilburii (i), the niiuiigrant ancestor of William 
Arthur Kilbotirn. of Lancaster, Massachusetts, was 
born in Wood Ditton, Cambridgeshire, England, in 
1578, and baptized there jMay S, that year. In 1613 
lie received a bequest in the will of Agatha Bor- 
rowdale. He was a member of the Church of Eng- 
land in good standing and seems not to have been 
a Puritan, like most of the immigrants of the first 
half century of the settlement of New England. He 
was warden of his parish in 1632. In April, 163S, 
with part of his family, he sailed in the ship "In- 
crease," Robert Lea, master, and settled in Wethers- 
field, Connecticut. He died there before 1639; she 

about 1650. He married in England Frances . 

Their children were: Margaret, baptized at Wood 
Ditton, England, September 23, 1607, married Rich- 
ard Law, prominent magistrate of Connecticut ; 
Thomas, baptized November 30, 1609, came over with 
wife Elizabeth; aged thirty, in the ship "Elizabeth" 
of Ipswich, sailing .April 30, 1634. from England; 
may have returned to England ; George, of whom 
later; Elizaljeth, baptized May 12, 1614, did riot 
emigrate; Lydia, baptized July 14, 1616, married 
Roljert Howard, of Windsor, Connecticut, and had 
five children ; ^lary, born 1619, married John Root, 
Sr., resided at Farmington, Connecticut ; he died 
August 1684; Frances, baptized September 4. 1621, 
married Thomas UfTord, of Stratford, Connecticut; 
John, baptized at Wood Ditton, September 2, 1624, 
prominent citizen, sergeant in militia, representative 
to general court, etc. 

(II) George Kilburn, son of Thomas Kilburn 
(i), was baptized at Wood Ditton, England, Feb- 
ruary 12, 1612. He came to Roxbury in New Eng- 
land as early as 1638 and was a member of John 
Eliot's church there. He removed to Rowley, where 
he became a proprietor. He was admitted a free- 
man there May 13, 1640. He married Elizabeth 
Barker, sister of James Barker. Fie died October 
14, 1685. The inventory of his estate was returned 
by his widow Elizabeth November 20, 1685. The 
children of George and Elizabeth Kilburn were : 
Mary, born at Rowley, May 3, 1649; Joseph, March 
2, 1652-3, married Mary Trumball, May 3, 1678; 
Jacob, December i. 1654, soldier in the Indian wars 
in 1680; Samuel, of wliom later; Isaac, January 26, 
1659, married, July 24, 1684, Mary Cheney; he died 
December 19, 1713; was a deaf mute; Elizabeth, 
February i, 1663. 

(III) Samuel Kilburn, fourth child of George 
Kilburn (2), was born in Rowley, Massachusetts, 
January 9, 1656. He settled at Rowley. Married 
Mary Foster, November 12. 1682, died April 22, 1722, 
leaving a will in the court at Ipswich. Their chil- 
dren were : Hannah, born October 2, 1683, married, 
.April 5, 1701, Judah Clark; Samuel. July 20, 1687, 
married Mary Lovell, December 7, 1734; David, of 
whom later; Maria, July 21, 1696, died September 24, 
1710; Jedediah, April 20, 1699, married Susannah 
Fisher, of Ipswich. March 22, 1724, died February 
4, 1759: Dr. Eliphalct, 1706, married Jane Frazer, 
widow of Nathan Prime, widow of Mark Prime; 
he died June 4, 1752. 

(IV) David Kilburn, third child of Samuel Kil- 
burn (3), was born in Rowley, Massachusetts, March 
12, 1689. He settled in Rowley also. He married, 
Januarv 25. 1724, Elizabeth Fiske, of Ipswich. She 
died .^pril 17, 1731. He married (second)' Novem- 
ber 5, 1731, Ruth Fiske, of Andover. The children 
of David and Ruth Kilburn were : David, born at 
Rowley, October 10, 1733, died aged three months; 
David, November 22, 1734, died aged two years ; 
Jonathan, November 15, 1737, married Elizabeth Nel- 
son, July 22, 1760; removed to Lunenburg, 1767, and 



died there 1806, leaving a son David; David, March 
-• 1738-9; Ruth. June 15, 1740, died 1746; Samuel, 
April 12, 1742. died 1747; William. 1743, of whom 
later; Lydia, May 22, 1746, became a Shaker at 
Shirley; Ruth, February 24, 1747-8, married Thomas 
Houghton; after he died she joined the Shakers; 
Samuel, November 10, 1749, removed to Lunenburg 
in 1767, married Sarah Cook; he joined the Shakers 
in 1785; son Samuel settled in Fitzwilliam, New 
Hampshire. 

(V) William Kilburn, seventh child of David 
Kilburn (4), was born in Rowley, March 9, 1743-4. 
He removed with others of the family in 1767 to- 
Lunenburg, in Worcester county, Massachusetts. He 
was a soldier in the revolution in 1779-80 in the 

Tenth Massachusetts Regiment. He married Mercy 
Smith. He died in Fitchburg in the home of his 
son William, August 14, iS.p, aged eighty-eight years. 
Their children were: William, of whom later; Jere- 
miah, died young ; Elmous, died young ; Mercy, born 
in Lunenburg, married Ezra Cowdrey, of Lunen- 
burg, and had twelve children ; Betsey, married Wil- 
liam Taintor, of Leominster, had nine children ; son 
Jf hn graduated at Brown University ; she died at 
Charle-town, June, 1843, aged forty-three years; 
Ruth, married Josiah Burrage and had thirteen chil- 
dren. 

(VI) William Kilburn, son of W'illiam Kilburn 
(s), was born in Lunenburg, Massachusetts, July 
16, 1773. He settled there and married Mary Mace 
or Macy, January 12, 1796. He removed to the 
adjoining town of Fitchburg in 1802, and to Groton, 
Massachusetts, in 1840. He was a shoemaker by 
trade and also carried on a farm until his death in 
1857. Their children were : Deacon Jeremiah, of 
whom later ; Mary, born .A.pril 8, 1800, married. 1830, 
Stephen Stickney; William, June 12, 1802, was a 
physician and surgeon ; Elbridge Gerry, Fitchburg, 
February 25, 1808, attended Brown University, but 
left in senior year before graduating; married, No- 
vember, 1849, Elizabeth A. Hall ; Martha. Fitchburg, 
March iS, 1810, married .\very Stockwell, 1830; 
Sarah, June 26, 1819, married Asa L. Kendall, June, 
1842; resided at Groton, Massachusetts. 

(VII) Deacon Jeremiah Kilbourn, eldest child of 
William Kilburn (6), was born at Lunenburg, 
Massachusetts, January 24, 1797. He settled in 
Groton. where his parents moved in 1840. He be- 
came deacon of the Groton Unitarian Congrega- 
tional Church there. He was a hatter by trade. He 
died in Groton in 1862, aged sixty-five years. He 
married, April 7. t8i8, at Fitchburg. Patty Flint, 
daughter of John Flint, of Concord, Massachusetts. 
Her father was a prosperous farmer. Their chil- 
dren : Martha .'\ugusta, horn 1818, died .August 17, 
1841 : Jemima Flint, 1820, died in Fitchburg while 
visiting in 1826 ; Mary E., 1822 ; Josiah Burrage, 
Groton, March 15, 1824, married l\Iary E. Farns- 
worth, daughter of Dr. Amos Farnswortli, of Boston, 
December g, 185 1 ; member of the firm of French, 
Wells & Company, dealers in crockery, etc.. Milk 
street, Boston ; director of the Grocers' Bank, Bos- 
ton ; Ann Maria, 1826; Frances Jane 1829, married 
Tames E. Wellington; Williain Arthur, 18^8; George 
Wells. 1844. 

(VIII) William A. Kilbourn. seventh child of 
Jeremiah Kilbourn (7), was born in Groton, Massa- 
chusetts,- July 16, 18,38. He was educated there in 
the common schools, at Lawrence .Academy at Gro- 
ton; Philips .'\cademy at Exeter, New Hampshire, 
where he fitted for college, and at Harvard L^njver- 
sity where he was graduated in the class of 1858. 
For the -fifteen years following he was engaged in 
educational work. He taught school at Framing- 
ham .Academy five years and in the Lancaster .-Vcad- 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



213 



emy. In 1S73 he accepted the position of manager 
of the country place and farm at Lancaster of 
Nathaniel Thayer and he has filled that responsible 
position with eminent success ever since. He is 
well known among the agriculturists and horticul- 
turists of .the state. He is an expert in his line and 
the farms of which he has charge are famous 
throughout the country for their fruits, vegetables 
and stock, their cattle and horses. Mr. Kilbourn 
was for many years secretary of the Worcester 
East .Vgricultural Society, and a member of the 
State Board of Agriculture of Massachusetts for 
sixteen years. He is past master of Lancaster 
Grange, and Worcester East Pomona Grange, Pa- 
trons of Husbandry, and he has accomplished much 
to better the lot of the Massachusetts farmer and 
to make farming more attractive and profitable. 

He is highly esteemed and honored by his fel- 
low citizens. For more than twenty years he served 
on the board of overseers of the poor of Lancaster. 
He was on the school committee and for nearly 
twenty years served as moderator of the town meet- 
ings. He is the treasurer of the water board of the 
town and has served on many important special com- 
mittees of the town. He is a Republican in politics. 
In reli.gion he is a LTnitarian. 

He married (first) Ellen Levingston. of Keene, 
New Hampshire. 1S62. He married (second) Abbie 
F. Goss. daughter of Jonas and Abbie (Fletcher) 
Goss. of Lancaster. The children of William A. and 
Ellen Kilbourn were : Robert B.. born April 29, 
1S6.1 ; Nellie, October 22, 1865, died February 21, 
1901. leaving two children, Eben C. Mann and j\Iaud 
K. Manning. The children of William A. and Abbie 
Kilbourn were : Martha, born December 8. 1871, 
married George L, Willard. of Somerville. Massa- 
chusetts : William, born August 14. 1873. died, Feb- 
ruary 25, 187,3: Elizabeth F., born December 28, 
1S74 : Arthur Goss, born August 19, 1S76 ; Mary, 
born April 25, 1880; Alice Maud, born January 10, 
1882 ; Anna Goss, born August 23, 1883 ; Flint, died 
in infancy; Ruth B., born February 23. 1888; Wal- 
ton Goss, born May 18, 1891. 

GEORGE ALEXANDER BIGELOW. John 
Bigclow (i), proprietor of Watertown, in New 
England, as early as 1642, was the pioneer ancestor 
of George Alexander Bigelow. of Worcester, and, 
in fact of all the American families of that sur- 
name. He bought a house and lot in Watertown 
in 1649 and took the oath of fidelity in 1652. He was 
1 blacksmith by trade. He acquired considerable 
real estate and carried on a farm. His homestall 
n-as bounded by those of Richard Ambler, William 
Parker, Thomas Straight and Miles Ives. For fur- 
:her details of John Bigelow. see sketches of other 
tranches of the Bigelow fainily of Worcester county 
n this work. He was a town officer. 

He married (first), October 30, 1642. Mary War- 
den. She died Octotjer 19. i6gi. He married (sec- 
5nd), October 2. 1694. Sarah Bemis, daughter of 
Foseph Bemis. of Watertown. Mr. Bigelow died 
Fuly 14, 1703, aged eighty-six years. His will was 
iiade January 4, 1703, and proved July 23, 1703. 
rhe children of John and Mary Bigelow were : John, 
)orn October 27, 1643 ; Jonathan, born December 
[I, 1646; Mary, born March 14, 1648. married 
^ichael Flagg. ancestor of the Worcester county 
^laggs; Daniel, born December I. 1650. resided in 
"ramin.gham : Samuel, mentioned below ; Joshua, 
lorn November 5. 1655. resided in Watertown and 
iVeston ; Elizabeth, born June 15. 1657, married 
Jentenant John Stearns; Sarah, born September 29, 
6^9, married Isaac Learned, of Sherborn. near 
F'ramingham ; James, lived in Watertown ; Martha, 



born -April i, 1662; Abigail, born February 4, 1664, 
married Benjamin Harrington; Hannah, born March 
4, 1666, died young; a son, born and died December 
18, 1667. 

(II) Samuel Bigclow, fifth child of John Bige- 
low (l), was born in Watertown, Massachusetts, 
October 28, 1653. He married Mary Flagg, daugh- 
ter of Thomas and Mary F'lagg, who was born 
January 14, 1658, died September 7, 1720. He was a 
prominent citizen of Watertown. He was an inn- 
holder from 1702 to 1716. He represented the town 
in the general court in 1708, 1709 and 1710. His 
will, dated September 30, 1720, mentions his chil- 
dren, as given below, and some of his grandchil- 
dren. The children of Samuel and Mary Bigelow 
were : John, born May 9, 1675 ; Mary, September 
12, 1677; Samuel, September 18, 1679; Sarah, Octo- 
ber I, 16S1, married Josiah Howe; Thomas, men- 
tioned below; .Mercy, April 4, 1686, (Martha in 
some accounts) married Lieutenant Thomas Gar- 
field, son of Captain Benjamin Garfield (see (jar- 
field family sketch); Abigail, May 7, 1687; mar- 
ried, August I, 1710, Jonathan Cutler, of Killingly, 
Connecticut; Hannah, May 24, 1711, married Daniel 
Warren, a soldier in the French war. 

(HI) Thomas Bigelow, fifth child of Samuel 
Bigelow (2), was born in Watertown, Massachu- 
setts, October 24, 1683, married, July 12, 1705, Mary 
Livermore, of VVatertown. He settled in Marlbor- 
ough, Massachusetts, where he lived until 1720, 
when he removed to Waltham, w'here he died Octo- 
ber 6, 1755. His wife died August 14, 1753. The 
children of Thomas and Mary Bigelow were : 
Thomas, born April 26, 1706, resided in Marlboro; 
Mary, September 2, 1707; Grace. February 7, 1709; 
Uriah, July 15, i/ii, killed accidentally at Marl- 
boro, Martfh 5, 1734; Abrahcfm, March 5. 1713. re- 
sided in Weston; Isaac, September i, 1716; Jacob, 
September, 1717; Sarah, May 15, 1720, married 
Lieutenant Elislia Livermore, who -was prominent 
in Waltham ; Josiah, mentioned below. 

(IV) Lieutenant Josiah Bigclow. youngest child 
of Thomas Bigelow (3), was born in Waltham, 
]Massachusetts, July 30. 1730. lie married. July 
27, 1749, Mary Harrington, daughter of Jonas and 
Abigail (Stearns) Harrington, born March 8. 1730. 
He was prominent, like his brothers, Jacob and 
Abraham, in town affairs. He was lieutenant of 
the Weston Artillery Company and turned out on 
the Lexington Alarm, April 19, 1775. He died at 
Waltham, July 15, 1810, aged eighty years. His 
children, all born in Weston or Waltham, were: 
William, born October 11, 1749; Anna. August 23, 
1751 ; L'riah. November 30. 1753; Converse. Jan- 
uary 20, 1755; Mary, March 3, 1756; Alpheus, No- 
vember 4. 1757; Eunice, married, .'\pril 24. 1788, 
Joseph j\Iorse, and settled in Templeton, Massachu- 
setts, and Eaton, New York ; had eight children. 
Uriah, March 15, 1766; Thomas. .August 11. 1768; 
Sarah, July 31, 1773. married, July 8, 1790, Hezekiah 
Morse. 

(V) William Bigelow. eldest child of Lieutenant 
Josiah Bigelow (4). was born in Weston, October 
II, 1749, married, March 25, 1772, Hepsibah Russell. 
who was born September 12. I7s8. at Weston. They 
lived a few years at Weston and then removed in 
1778 to Natick, Massachusetts, an adjoining town, 
where he spent the remainder of his life. He died 
March 25, 1813, and his widow died October 31. 
1830. He served in the revolution in Captain Samuel 
Lamson's company at the Lexington call. He was 
the original character described by Harriet Beechcr 
-Stowe in her "Old Town Folks" as "Deacon Bad.ger" 
and his wife Hepsibah was described as Grand- 
mother Badger. Those who remembered Mr. and 



214 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



Mrs. Bigelow at the time the story was written de- 
clared that the characters were very accurately 
drawn. William Bigelow, their eldest son, was de- 
scribed as "Uncle Bill." Hepsibah, the mother of- 
Professor Calvin E. Stowe, husband of the author, 
was known as "Susy" while Eunice figured as 
"Aunt Lois" and Abigail as "Aunt Keziah." 

Their first three children were born at Weston, 
the remainder in South Natick. The children : i. Will- 
iam, born September 21, 1773, married Margaret 
Lander. 2. Mary, born August 16, 1775, died Octo- 
ber 17, 1823. 3. Isaac, born October 2, 1777, mar- 
ried Fanny Jackson. 4. Hepsibah, born December 
IS, 1779, married, March 16, 1797, Samuel Stowe, of 
Natick, and resided in Natick. (Their second child 
was Calvin Ellis Stowe, born April 26, 1802, married 
Harriet Beecher, daughter of Dr. Lyman Beecher. 
She was the famous author of Uncle Tom's Cabin ; 
he wrote many theological works.) 5. Abigail, born 
February 15, 17S2, died October 30, 1844, unmar- 
ried. 6. Josiah, born March 16, 1784, died April 13, 
1794. 7. Eunice, born April 10, 1786, died April 15, 
1831, unmarried. 8. Abraham, mentioned below. 
9. Susanna, born May 20, 1790, married, 1817, Alex- 
ander Thayer ; mother of A. W. Thayer, for twenty- 
five years consul at Trieste, Austria, a well known 
writer, author of life of Beethoven ; she was mother 
also of Dr. Henry Thayer; she died June 12, 1845. 
ID. Mehitable, born August 18, 1792, married Hon. 
Chester Adams, a native of Bristol, Connecticut ; re- 
sided at Natick; was colonel in the war of 1812; 
town clerk of Natick for twenty-seven years ; repre- 
tentative to the general court five years; to the 
state senate four years; she died November 10, 
1877; he died 1856, aged seventy-one years. 

(VI) Colonel Abraham Bigelow, youngest child 
of William Bigelow (s), was born at Natick, Massa- 
chusetts, March 15, 1788. He married, March 15, 
1814, Louisa Train, who was born at Weston, June 
6, 1794, and died in Natick, December 23, 1874. 
Colonel Bigelow was prominent in the militia and 
became colonel of a regiment of mounted militia. 
He was commander of the Ancient and Honorable 
Artillery Company of Boston in 1827 and 1828. He 
was colonel of the Artillery when Rev. John Pier- 
pont delivered his election sermon in which he made 
a strong protest against the ;nilitary in so ofi^ensive 
a way that it was noticed in the records of the or- 
ganization. He died at Natick, October 16, 1873, 
aged eighty-five years. 

The children of Colonel Abraham and Louisa 
Bigelow were: I. Alexander, mentioned below. 2. 
Louisa Fiske, born May 14, 1816, married, October 
6, 1840, James W. Locke, who was born at Fitz- 
william, New Hampshire, October 6. 1813, and died 
March 4, 1844; resided at Batesville, Arkansas. 3. 
Margaret L., born September 21, 1817, married, No- 
vember 29, 1843, Farnum White, of Holden ; re- 
sided at Hudson, New York, where he died 1854; 
she died at Natick, July 6, 1886. 4. Lucy Train, born 
April 8, 1819, married. May 15, 1845, Jonathan B. 
Mann; he resided for many years in Washington, 
D. C. She wrote often for the newspapers on his- 
torical subjects; he died 1905. 5. Marshall Train, 
born January 28, 1821, died August 16, 1822. 6. 
Marshall Field, born October 5, 1822, married Caro- 
line Warland. 7. Francis Oliver, born February 6, 
1823, died February 25, 1862; resided at Medford, 
Massachusetts. 8. Mary, born March 8, 1825, died 
July 30, 1827. 9. Mary Elizabeth, born January 
5, 1828, died November 30, 1846. 10. Martha Green- 
wood, born February 8, 1830, married Samuel S. 
Richardson, and settled in Terre Haute, Indiana. 
II. Ellen Maria, born November 14. 1831, married, 
April 12, 1859, Isaac De Forest White ; resided at 



Buffalo, New York ; he died October 12, 1873. 12. 
William Perkins, born July 29, 1834, married Martha 
Mansfield. 13. Abby Frances, born in Holden, 
Massachusetts, September 29, 1836, married, Feb- 
ruary 22, 1855, Isaac Gale. 

(VII) Alexander Bigelow, eldest child of Abra- 
ham Bigelow (6), was born in Natick, Massachu- 
setts, December 12, 1814. His educational advantages 
were limited to the common schools. When he 
was fifteen he went into a woolen mill to work, 
and after he learned the trade of woolen manufactur- 
ing in its various branches, came to Worcester and 
started in business for himself in partnership with 
George Barber about 1850. The firm was Bigelow 
& Barber and their location was the present site of 
the carpet mills of M. J. Whittall at South Worces- 
ter. In 1853 Bigelow & Barber bought the mill and 
privilege at Hopeville on the Middle river, below 
the power station. They built a new mill, were 
twice burned out, but rebuilt. In 1870 Mr. Barber 
withdrew from the business and Mr. Bigelow formed 
a stock company with E. D. Thayer to continue the 
mill. The name of the corporation is the same as 
that under which the business has since been con- 
ducted to the present time, the Hopeville Manu- 
facturing Company. Mr. Thayer was president, 
Mr. Bigelow treasurer and Edward Gould, a di- 
rector. After ten years Mr. Bigelow bought the 
other interests and remained until his death the 
sole owner. 

Mr. Alexander Bigelow started with nothing and 
acquired a very creditable competence; he built up 
a prosperous business and ranked among the most 
respected and esteemed of the manufacturers of his 
day in Worcester. The industries of Worcester of 
which the Hopeville Manufacturing Company is 
an example have been developed by the energy and 
ability of men like Mr. Bigelow. His woolen mill 
is the best memorial of his prudence, economy and 
thrift, his business sagacity and indefatigable in- 
dustry. Mr. Bigelow was a member of the Church 
of the Unity (Unitarian). In politics he was a 
Republican, but never cared for public office' him- 
self. 

He married, April 5, 1845, Adeline Stockwell, 
daughter of Cyrus Stockwell. She died at Worces- 
ter, December 24, 1879. He married (second) Oc- 
tober 18, 1881, Sarah M. Goodwin. She resides in 
Worcester. Mr. Bigelow died January 22, 1887. 
The children of Alexander and Adeline Bigelow 
were: I. Elizabeth, born in Worcester, married in 
Worcester, July 16, 1878, David Manning, Jr., a 
prominent lawyer ; he was representative to the 
general court ; state senator two terms ; he died Jan- 
uary 5, 1905, leaving one son, Alexander Bigelow 
jNIanning (see sketch of Manning family). 2. 
George Alexander, mentioned below. 

(VIII) George Alexander Bigelow, younger 
child of Alexander Bigelow (7), was born in Wor- 
cester, July 19, 1853. He attended the public schools 
of his native place. After three years in the Wor- 
cester high school he left to accept a position in the 
Central National Bank. He was advanced to various 
positions in the bank, where he worked in all for 
four years. He then entered partnership with 
George W. Coombs in the firm of Hyatt, Coombs 
& Company, dealers in wool, 184 Front street. Jo- 
seph Hyatt, who was interested in the firm, lived 
at Delaware, Ohio. After three or four years the 
headquarters of the business was removed to the 
Boston office on Federal street, and the firm name 
was changed to Coombs & Bigelow. After seven 
years Mr. Bigelow withdrew from the business in 
order to take charge of the Mechanical Refrigerating 
Company on North street, Boston, the controlling 



Jl 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



21 = 



interest of which was owned by his father and 
brother. Mr. Bigelovv managed this business until 
it was bought by the Quincy Market Cold Storage 
Company. 

In 1S94 Mr. Bigelow returned to Worcester to 
take charge of his father's mill. Snice tlien he has 
been president and treasurer of the Hopeville Man- 
ufacturing Company. For some years Ins brotlier- 
in-law, David Planning, was an officer of the cor- 
poration and devoted some attention to its affairs. 
At present Mr. Bigelow's son, Edward A. Bigelovv, 
is the clerk of the company. During the past ten 
years the capacity of the plant has been doubled and 
the product correspondingly increased. The chief 
product of the mill is woolen cloth for men's and 
boys' clothing. Mr. Bigelow is a member of the 
Commonwealth Club, and the Worcester County 
Mechanics' Association. He is a member of the 
South Unitarian Church. In politics he is a Re- 
publican. 

He married, October 10, 1877, Dora L. Tucker, 
daughter of James and Ellen (VValbndge) Tucker, 
of Norwich, Connecticut. Their children are: i. 
Adelaide, born in Norwich, July 27, 1878. 2. Helen 
Louise, born in Worcester, August 5, 1880. 3. Ed- 
ward Alexander, born in Worcester, May S, 1885, 
attended the Worcester public schools and the 
Lowell Textile School and now with the Hopeville 
Manufacturing Company. 4. Dorothy Elizabeth, 
born in Worcester, September 10, 189 1. 

WALTER FREDERIC BROOKS. Captain 
Thomas Brooks (i) was the emigrant ancestor of 
Walter Frederic Brooks, of Worcester, Massachu- 
setts, and a large part of the Brooks families in this 
country. It is claimed by some authority he came 
from Suffolk, England. He settled first at Water- 
town, where he had a lot assigned him in 1631. He 
was admitted a freeman December 7, 1036, but very 
soon afterward removed to Concord and settled. In 
Watertown he was one of "the townsmen then in- 
habiting" to whom the general court granted certain 
plow lands along Beaver brook in 1636. 

He was elected by the general court constable 
of Concord, December 4, 1638. He was a deputy to 
the general court seven years, representing the town 
of Concord. He was captain of the Concord com- 
pany. He held various other offices. He was an 
assessor, or "appraiser of horses, cattle, etc., for 
the purpose of taxing." He was appointed a special 
officer to prevent drunkenness among the Indians. 
He purchased of the general court the right to carry 
on the fur trade at Concord for the sum of five 
pounds. In his day he was a leading citizen, both 
in civil affairs and in the military. 

His wife Grace died May 12, 1664. He died in- 
testate, JNIay 21, 1667. An agreement among his 
heirs on file at the probate office made June 17, 
1667, was signed by the eldest son, Joshua Brooks, 
Captain Timothy Wheeler, husband of Mary Brooks, 
Caleb Brooks and Gershom Brooks, also sons of 
Captain Thomas. The children of Captain Thomas 
Brooks were: I. Mary, married Captain Timothy 
Wheeler, of Concord. He died- July 10, 1687; she 
died October 4, 1693. 2. Hannah, married, Decem- 
ber 13, 1647, Thomas Fox. 3. Joshua, of whom later. 
4. Caleb, born 1632, married, April 10, 1660, Susan- 
nah Atkinson (daughter of Thomas Atkinson), born 
1641 and died 1669; married (second) Hannah, 
sister of his first wife, born 1643 ; removed from 
Concord to Medford in 1670. 5. Gershom, married, 
March 12, 1666-7, Hannah Eckles, daughter of Rich- 
ard and Mary Eckles. of Cambridge, had sons Daniel 
and Joseph, and four daughters. There may have 
been other children of Captain Thomas Brooks. 



(II) Joshua Brooks, son of Captain Thomas 
Brooks (i), was born about 1630, probably in Eng- 
land. He married, October 17, 1653, Hannah Ma- 
son, daughter of Captain Hugh Mason. He was a 
tanner by trade. He settled in that part of Con- 
cord later made the town of Lincoln, where many 
of his family and his descendants have since lived. 
Three generations of his descendants in the direct 
male line have successively held the office of deacon 
of the Lincoln Church. He was the ancestor of 
nearly all the name since in Concord and Lincoln. 
He inherited one-half the Medford property, but 
there is no account of its disposition except that ni 
January, 1708. He learned his trade as furrier and 
tanner from Captain Mason, and subsequently mar- 
ried his daughter. He was admitted as freeman 
May 26, 1652. The children of Joshua Brooks were : 
Hannah, married Benjamin Pierce, of Watertown; 
John, died JNIay 18, 1697 ; Noah, born 1657, died I-'eb- 
ruary i, 1738-9; married Dorothy Wright, daughter 
probably of Edward Wright, of Concord. Grace 
l3orn at Concord, March 10, 1660-1, died 1753, mar- 
ried Judah Potter; Daniel, born at Concord, No- 
vember IS, 1663, of whom later; Thomas, born May 
5, 1666, died Septeinber 9, 1671 ; Esther, born July 4, 
1668, died 1742; married, August 17, 1692, Benjamin 
Whittemore, born 1669, died 1734, son of John and 
Mary (Upham) Whittemore; Joseph, born Septem- 
ber 16, 1671, married (first) Abigail Bateman ; 
(second) Rebecca Blodgett; Elizabeth, born Decem- 
ber 16, 1672; Job, born July 26, 1675, died May 18, 
1697; Hugh, born January i, 1677-8, died January 
17, 1746-7, married, March 9, 1701-2, Abigail Barker, 
born 1683, daughter of John and Judith (Simonds) 
Barker; Thomas (possibly), married Elizabeth 



(III) Daniel Brooks, son of Joshua Brooks (2), 
was born at Concord, Massachusetts, November 15, 
1663. He was known as Daniel Brooks Sr., or 
Ensign Daniel Brooks. He died October 18, 1733. 
He married, August 9, 1690, Ann Meriam. She died 
January 24, 1757, and was daughter of John and 
Mary (Cooper) Meriam. His will is dated January 
6, 1728-9. It mentions "my brother Joseph." wife 
Anna, daughters Anna Jones and Mary Wheeler, 
sons Samuel and Job and no others.' The children 
of Daniel Brooks were : Daniel, born 'June 5, 1693, 
died young; Samuel, born May 5, 1694, married in 
Weston, September 6, 1738, Elizabeth Garfield; Han- 
nah or Antia, born February 21, 1695-6, married, 
1716, John Jones, who died March 12, 1762, aged 
seventy-two years ; she died in 1753 ; she had five 
children; Job, baptized 1698, (he was the father 
of John Brooks, and the grandfather of Hon. 
Eleazer Brooks), married, January 26, 1721, Eliza- 
beth Flagg; Mary, born March 2, 1699-1700, mar- 
ried Thomas Wheeler; John, born February 12, 
1701-2. 

(IV) Deacon John Brooks, son of Daniel 
Brooks (3), was born February 12, 1701-2, in Con- 
cord. He married Lydia Barker, daughter of John 
and Elizabeth Barker, and born June 18, 171 1. He 
was deacon of the First Church in Acton, where he 
died March 6, 1777. Issue, four children recorded 
at Concord, the remainder at Acton : John, born 
December 17, 1728; Samuel, March 16, 1729-30; 
Charles, April 6, 1732; Lydia, May 7, 1734; Ephraim, 
August S, 1736; Daniel. October 24, 1738; Nathaniel, 
February 17, 1740-1 ; Jonas, March 18, 1742-3, died 
March 15, 1746; Peter, March 29, 1745; Jonas, July 

31. 1747- 

(V) Captain Samuel Brooks, son of Deacon 
John Brooks (4), was born in Concord, Massa- 
chusetts, March 16. 1729-30. He married Mrs. Han- 
nah Brown, of Carlisle, Massachusetts, March 14, 



2l6 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



I7S5- Her maiden name was Hannah Davis, and 
she was a daugliter of Simon and Hannah (Brown) 
Davis, of Concord, ]\Iassachnsetts, where she was 
born June 9, 1724. Captain Samuel Brooks settled 
in Worcester, Massachusetts, about 1752, the first 
of the name in that town, and where many of his 
descendants have lived and are living. He was on 
the jury list as early as 1760. He was elected field 
driver in 1762, highway surveyor in 1764, town 
warden in 1766, tythingman in 1768, juror of the 
superior court, highway surveyor in 1770, surveyor 
of boards, shingles, etc., and special committee to 
perambulate the town line between Shrewsbury 
and Worcester in 1771, juror, in 1772, tythingman, 
school conniMttee and special committees 1773. In 
1774, with many of the most wealthy and influential 
men of Worcester, he signed a protest against tlie 
acts and agitation of the committee of safety and 
correspondence. He apparently wished to avoid 
war and separation from the mother country, but 
when the war came he workea and fought against 
the crown. He was sent to the general court from 
Worcester in 1786 and 1787. He was a selectman 
from 1783 to 1793. He was captain in the militia. 
He died in Worcester, June 29, 1817, aged eighty- 
seven years. Hannah, his widow, died at Worcester, 
December 6, 1819, at the advanced age of ninety- 
five years. The child of Captain Samuel Brooks 
was : Samuel, born at Worcester, ^Massachusetts, 
June 10, 1755. 

(.VI) Deacon Samuel Brooks, son of Captain 
Samuel Brooks (s), was born in Worcester, Massa- 
chusetts, June 10, 1755. He removed from Wor- 
cester, Ma.ssachusetts, to Haverhill, New Hampshire, 
at about the close of the revolution and settled there. 
He went to Haverhill to open a store at the '"Cor- 
ner." He was also the owner of an oil mill on the 
brook, but was not very successful in these ventures. 
Later he went to Quebec in Canada, and contracted 
with the governor of the provinces for a tract of 
land in the town of Chester, then in an unbroken 
wilderness, and two of his brothers began lumber- 
ing in the forest. A year or two later, in 1812, he 
took his family to Canada, but owing to a change 
of governors in the provinces, the plans he had 
marked out were defeated, and he left Chester to 
settle Stanstead. Canada, where he lived to the 
close of his life. Deacon Brooks was, while in 
Haverhill, the History of Haverhill says, one of the 
most influential citizens of the town. He took part 
in all public affairs. He was a representative to 
the general court, selectman of the town, and filled 
many other positions of honor and trust. For many 
years he was the register of deeds for Grafton 
county. New Hampshire. He was a man of genial 
manners, very ingenious and skillful. 

He married Ann Bedel Butler, March 8, 1789. 
She was the daughter of Colonel Timothy Bedel, 
who was prominent in the revolutionar}- war. She 
was the widow of Dr. Thaddeus Butler. Their 
daughter ?Iannah married for her first husband Cap- 
tain William Trotter, of Bradford, Vermont, and 
for her second husl)and Colonel William Barron, 
of the same town. Both it is said were famous in 
their day for their fondness for the chase, and they 
had access to hunt for deer back of Mt. Gardner. 
Barron was a gentleman of the old school, somewhat 
slightly built, and very dignified and commanding 
in person and in speech. Another daughter of Dea- 
con Samuel Brooks married Asa Low, of Bradford, 
Vermont, and a third. Judge Nesmith, of Franklin, 
New Hampshire. The Haverhill history says these 
women were of great excellence of character and 
ornaments of home, society and church. Other chil- 
d', en were : Nathaniel, born in Haverhill, New 



Hampshire, October 3, 1797, resided at Worcester, 
Massachusetts; Samuel, Edwin, George Washing- 
ton, had twenty children. The old Brooks house 
where the Deacon lived in Haverhill stood on the 
South Park near where the pmnp now or was re- 
cently. The house and barn were afterward moved 
to Court street. It was remodeled and was recently 
occupied by Judge Westgate, and later by Mrs. Bar- 
stow. Samuel Brooks, son of Samuel Brooks (6), 
was born in 1793, at Haverhill. New Hampshire. He 
married Eliza Towle. of Haverhill. They lived a 
short time at Newbury, Vermont, then removed to 
Canada, where he became a prominent merchant at 
Stanstead, later at Lennoxville, where he was a 
farmer and trader. In 1837 he was appointed a 
delegate to go to London to interest capital in de- 
veloping Canada. He formed the British Land 
Company, and became the manager. Fie removed to 
Shcrbrooke. He was manager there of a branch of 
the Montreal Bank. He was a promoter of the 
Grand Trunk Railroad. His sons William and 
Charles resided in Chicago. Another son. Dr. Sam- 
uel Brooks (Dartmouth, 1874, McGill, M. D.), re- 
sides at St. Johnsbury, Vermont. Edward Brooks, 
son of Samuel (VII). is also a graduate of Dart- 
mouth, is a lawyer, has been senator and judge of the 
Canadian courts. Edwin Brooks, son of Samuel 
Brooks (VI), was a lawyer in New York, removed 
to California, where he was living in 1888. 

(VII) Nathaniel Brooks, son of Samuel Brooks 
(6), was born at Haverhill, New Hampsliire, Oc- 
tober 3, 1797. His parents removed from Haverhill 
with a large family of children, and settled finally 
at Stanstead, Canada, where they both died. At the 
age of twenty-one Nathaniel Brooks came to Wor- 
cester, where his grandfather Brooks died in 1817, 
the year before. His grandfather had been in his 
day one of the leading citizens. He soon took a 
leading part in the affairs of the town of Worcester. 
He was selectman and filled various other town 
offices. He represented the town in the general 
court in 1843-44. He was deacon of the old South 
Clnirch the last fourteen years of his life, and was 
highly esteemed for his many excellent qualities 
as a neighbor and citizen. 

He married, April 9, 1822. Mary Chadwick. who 
was a member of the family for which Chadwick 
Square was named, was born in Worcester. July 3. 
1794. She died .\ugust 31, 1876. He died November 
3, 1S50. Tliey had eight children, all born in Wor- 
cester, as follows: John Adams, born April 10, 1823, 
died July 17. 1832; Charles Edwin. August 15. 1824; 
Elizabeth Fisk, June S, 1S26. married Geor.ge Prich- 
ard, of Bradford. Vermont, June 5, 1844: Nathaniel 
Newton, November 27, 1828 (twin) : Mary Chad- 
wick, November 27, 1828 (twin), married John 
Anderson, of Anderson, Heath and Company, of Bos- 
ton, Massachusetts, and is the last survivor of the 
family ; Horace Earle, March i, 1834. was in the 
civil war. and died October 22. 1870: Frederic Barron, 
July II, 1838 (twin), died April 11. i8.?9: Francis 
Lowe, born Julv 11, 1838 (^twin). died .Xpril 11, 

1839. 

(VIII) Charles Edwin Brooks, son of Nathaniel 
Brooks (7), was born at Worcester, ^Massachusetts, 
August IS, 1824. He was educated in the Wor- 
cester schools and at Worcester Academy. When 
a young man he left the farm to enter mercantile 
life. After a service of four years in the office of 
the Daily Spy, he entered the grocery business as a 
member of the firm of Brooks and Stearns, whose 
store was at 8 Front street. He was in business 
there for about twelve years. . During a part of the 
civil war he served as commissary at Newbern, 
North Carolina. L^pon his return to this city he 



WORCESTER COUXTV 



:i7 



"became associated with his brother Horace and his 
brother-in-law, David H. Fauiiiiig, in the Worcester 
Skirt Company, the name of which was afterward 
■changed to the Worcester Corset Company. He 
was treasurer and Hbrarian of the Worcester County 
HorticuUural Society from 1879 until his death, 
■which occurred December 22, iSgo. 

He married, December 2, 1851, Elizabeth Capron 
Fanning. Her father, Henry Willson Fanning, 
■was of the sixth generation in descent from 
Edmund Fanning, who settled at what is now 
Groton, Connecticut, in 1653. (See sketch of Fan- 
ning family and D. H. Fanning in this work.) Her 
mother was of the well known Hale family of Con- 
necticut. The children of Charles Erwin and Eliza- 
beth Capron (Fanning) Brooks were: 1. Ella 
Brooks, died at the age of four. 2. Arthur An- 
derson, born in Worcester, December 25, 1856. was 
graduated at the Worcester high school, fitted for 
college. He graduated from Harvard College in the 
class of 1879, and from the Divinity School in 1884. 
He was ordained and installed in 1885 minister of the 
Third Congregational Society (Unitarian) at Green- 
held, Massachusetts. He resigned this charge De- 
cember, 1896, and we-U abroad for study and recre- 
ation. . He resides in Boston, Massachusetts. 3. 
Walter Frederic, born in Worcester. Massachusetts, 
January 13, 1S59. 

tlX) Walter Frederic Brooks, son of Charles 
Edwin Brooks (8), was born in Worcester, ]\Iassa- 
chusetts, January 13, 1859. He was educated in the 
Worcester schools and fitted for college. He grad- 
uated from the high school in the class of 1877. 
He preferred to enter business at once rather than 
go to college, and he entered the office of George 
Crompton, loom manufacturer, where he worked for 
two years. He was associated, with William H. 
Morse for eleven years in the banking business. In 
1891, in partnership with Mr. J. F. Rock, he leased 
the Worcester Theatre and they managed it for 
three years. He was elected treasurer of the' Wor- 
cester Corset Company in December. 1895. and 
since then has been identified with this concern, 
which is the largest, best equipped one of the most 
famous corset factories in the country. The present 
corporation is the Royal Worcester Corset Com- 
pany, of which he is the treasurer. The plant is 
located on Wyman, Hollis and Grand streets, Wor- 
cester, and is one of the finest manufacturing build- 
ings in the city. During Mr. Brooks' connection 
with the business, it has been growing very rapidly 
and has greatly prospered. 

Mr. Brooks is a well known Mason, having 
taken all the degrees to the commandery. He is a 
member of the Worcester County Commandery, 
Knights Templar. He is a member of the Worcester 
Society of .\ntiquity, and of the New England His- 
toric Genealogical Society as well as other societies. 
He is a Republican. He resides at 54 Queen street, 
Worcester, with his aged mother, Elizabeth Fanning 
Brooks. He is author and compiler of "History 
of the Fanning Family," published in two volumes 
in 1905. 

PARKER FAMILY. Since that memorable 
nineteenth day of April, 1775, when Captain John 
Parker stood in command of his company of minute- 
men lined up on Lexington Green confronting the pro- 
gress of Major Pitcairn and his eight hundred British 
regulars, the name of Parker has occupied a promi- 
nent place in the early annals of the United States of 
America. But members of this family have not 
only become distinguished for services upon the 
battle field, but as divines, doctors of medicine and 
of surgery, judges, members of congress, journalists. 



artists, lawyers, civil engineers and in fact in all the 
various walks of life. In this monograph, however, 
w-e design to present to the reader in brief outline 
some of the incidents and professional undertak- 
ings, of George Alanson Parker and three of his sons, 
Harold, Herbert and Chester. 

George Alanson Parker was born in Concord, 
New Hampshire, May 8, 182 1, son of Joseph and 
Esther (Chapman) Parker. His childhood days 
were spent in Concord, and from experience in the 
schools of that town He developed a strong desire 
for a classical education, and with that object in 
view fitted for entrance to Harvard College. But 
the fates led in another direction, and he entered the 
oftice of Loammi Baldwin, a noted civil engineer, 
where he prepared himself for a lifework that proved 
not only congenial, but in the jjrosccution of wdiich 
he was highly successful. 

In 1842 he, in company with Samuel M. Felton, 
became the successors of Loammi Baldwin at Mr. 
Baldwin's death and for many years they were the 
most successful firm of civil engineers in New 
England. Among the public works in which he 
was engaged during this time were the surveys of the 
Fitchburg. Petersboro and Shirley and Sullivan 
roads, and the building of the Sugar River and P.el- 
lows Falls bridges. About 1855 he established a 
home in Lancaster which was occupied as a sum- 
mer residence mainly until his business permitted 
him to make it his permanent abode. He was chief 
engineer of Philadelphia. Wilmington & Baltimore 
Railroad during and after the war, and built while 
chief engineer of that road the then famous 
bridge across the Susquehanna river at the head of 
Chesapeake Bay. This undertaking was particu- 
larly difficult owing to the depth of water, the in 
secure bottom and the innnense bodies of ice that 
annually descended the river. The successful com- 
pletion of this structure brought Mr. Parker in 
national reputation as a constructing engineer. He 
was one of a boarei to examine and report upon 
the proposed bridge across the Mississippi at St. 
Louis. 

He was for a time acting president of the Phil- 
adelphia, WiIn)ington & Baltimore Railroad and was 
oft'ered the office permanently. He, however, pre- 
ferred a more independent life than the duties of 
such a position would permit. 

During the civil war he was engaged by the 
L'nited States government to supply the rolling 
stock for the various roads used by the war depart- 
ment. He built many railroad lines in Delaware, 
^'irginia, the eastern shore of Maryland and later 
the Zanesville & Ohio River Railway, and for 
many years was consulting engineer for the Balti- 
more and Ohio Railroad corporation. He was also 
interested in railroads in Mississippi and Texas. 

Mr. Parker was a special admirer of nature, 
therefore found enjoyment in out-door life and rec- 
reation, and in selecting a home for himself and fam- 
ily in which to take the comfort and leisure due as 
a reward for an active, strenuous, successful busi- 
ness life, located in the ancient but charming resi- 
dential town of Lancaster. And here be entered 
heartily into the duties as a citizen, serving on vari- 
ous committees for the improvement of the high- 
ways and the building of substantial bridges, a work 
for which by large experience he was specially 
well fitted. He was also chosen to represent his 
district in the state legislature, serving in that 
capacity for three years, 1870-71-72, and when Me- 
morial Hall was ready for occupancy he gave lib- 
erally toward furnishing it with fixtures and a valu- 
able collection of books and works of art. With 
his natural taste for rural life Mr. Parker took great 



2l8 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



deliglit at his Lancaster home and gave nnich time 
to beautifying- it with trees, choice shrubs and 
plants, and the entertaining of his friends and 
neighbors upon his premises was an additional pleas- 
ure, for he was held in high esteem by the people of 
Lancaster. He was among the first to recognize 
the consequences of the destruction of our forests 
and believed that it was a wise business proposition 
for every farmer who owned even a small terri- 
tory to plant trees to take the place of those annu- 
ally cut down. He exemplified his views by himself 
planting many thousands of forest trees in planta- 
tions, distinct from ornamental planting, and now 
the practical value of his views is demonstrated by 
the valuable timber growing upon sandy hillsides 
and fields otherwise valueless, within the limits of 
his Lancaster estate. 

Mr. Parker married Harriet N., daughter of Cor- 
nelius C. Felton and Anna Morse his wife. She 
was a sister of Samuel M. Felton, Mr. Parker's 
first associate in civil engineering in Cliarlestown, 
Massachusetts, and in the seventh generation from 
Nathaniel Felton, who came from England to Salem 
in 1633, when seventeen years of age, and later 
married Mary Skelton, daughter of Rev. Samuel 
Skelton, the fir.st minister of Salem. George Alan- 
son Parker died April 20, 1887. His children were : 
Edith, born in Charlestown, August 2, 1848 ; George 
A., May 22. 1852, died February 18, 1853; Harold, 
June 17. 1854; Herbert, March 2, 1856; Bertha, 
March 16, 1858; Felton, October 8, i860; Chester, 
born in Chester, Pennsylvania, August 10, 1862. 

Harold Parker, born in Charlestown, Massa- 
chusetts, June 17, 1854, received his early education 
in the public schools at Lancaster, and by private 
tutor. Subsequently he attended a private school in 
the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and then 
entered the Lancaster Academy, then a popular and 
highly successful institution. Here he prepared to 
enter Exeter Academy and there fitted to enter Har- 
vard College ; after a year and a half he left Cam- 
bridge and between the years 1871 and 1899 was en- 
gaged in engineering, manufacturing and railroad 
work in many parts of the United States, and for 
most of that period maintained an engineering office 
in Clinton, but has always had his home in Lan- 
caster. He represented the twelfth district in the 
legislature and has held continued town office for 
many years. He was appointed by Governor Crane 
commissioner of Wachusett ^'It. State Reserva- 
tion in 1899 and re-appointed by Governor Bates. 
He was appointed by Governor Crane a commis- 
sioner of state highways and has been re-appointed 
by successive governors to the present time. He 
has been engaged in the cutting and manufacture of 
lumber in Massachusetts and Connecticut, and in the 
construction and operation of street -railways and 
other enterprises. And as a token that he is compe- 
tent, and that the people have confidence in him, Mr. 
Parker has frequently been selected as arbiter where 
differences were to be adjusted and where property 
rights came in question. He has served as road 
commissioner and water commissioner in his home 
town, and the Lancaster people have honored him 
with other public positions, all of which he has 
filled with credit to himself and profit to the com- 
munity. 

He married, July 29, 1S84, Elizabeth W., daughter 
of Rev. Dr. George M. Bartol, of Lancaster, which 
place has for many years been his home. Mr. 
Parker is a member of the famous Hasty Pudding 
Club of Cambridge, president of the Chaffee Manu- 
facturing Company and a director in several street 
railway companies. In politics he is a Republican, 
and an active worker in whatever he undertakes. 



Public-spirited, and like his father is fond of out- 
door exercise, appreciating to the full his beautiful 
home in Lancaster. Their children are : Bartol, 
born 1885, a student at Harvard; Elizabeth, 1887; 
Cornelia, 1894. 

Herbert Parker, son of George Alanson Parker, 
was born in Charlestown, Massachusetts, March 2, 
1856. He received his early instruction in private 
schools in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and after 
fitting for college with private tutors entered Har- 
vard in 1S74, from whence he graduated with high 
honors in 1878. Because of ill health he did not com- 
plete the academic course but was later given his 
degree of A. B. He read law in the office of the 
late United States senator, George F. Hoar, and in 
1883 was admitted to the bar of Massachusetts, and 
commenced the practice of his profession in Wor- 
cester the following year. Attracted by his special 
qualities. Senator Hoar engaged him to act as his 
private secretary at Washington, where his asso- 
ciations with leading legislators of the country gave 
opportunity for the young lawyer to add materially 
to his already generous stock of knowledge. At the 
conclusion of his duties as private secretary for 
Senator Hoar, he again opened a law office in Wor- 
cester, but later located in Clinton, forming a co- 
partnership with the late Judge Corcoran. He be- 
came a member of the law firm of Norcross, Baker 
& Parker in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, later opening 
an office in Worcester, where the practice of his 
profession was continued until he was appointed 
assistant district attorney for the county of Wor- 
cester in 1886, the district attorney being the Hon. 
Francis A. Gaskill, and upon Mr. Gaskill's retire- 
ment to go upon the superior court bench, he be- 
came district attorney by appointment of Governor 
Greenhalge, and was later elected to the same office,, 
the duties of which he discharged with ability and 
professional skill. 

In 1901 he was elected attorney general for the 
state of Massachusetts and re-elected until 1905, 
when he declined a renomination for the pur- 
pose of conducting his private practice. During his 
term as attorney general it devolved upon him to 
try many important cases, in all of which he dis- 
played remarkable foresight, care and wisdom, and 
especially was he congratulated for the manner 
in which he conducted the trial of the murderer of 
Mable Page and its successful issue, in obtaining the 
conviction of the guilty party. In 1905 Tufts Col- 
lege conferred upon him the honorary degree of 
LL. D. Mr. Parker is a gentleman of many gifts, 
learned, thoughtful, witty, has a good command of 
language and knows how to use it effectively. He 
is a member of the Union Club, the St. Botolph, and 
the Tatcum Club of Boston, also of the Boston 
Press Club and of the Worcester Club of Worcester. 
He resides in Lancaster, Massachusetts. 

He married in 1886, Mary C. Vose, a daughter 
of Josiah H. and Caroline C. (Forbes) Vose, of 
Clinton, Massachusetts. Their children are : George 
A., born in 1887; Katherine Vose. 1888; Edith, 
September, 1894; Haven, April, 1899; Mary C, 
June. 1903 ; Harriet Felton, April, 1905. 

Chester Parker, son of George Alanson Parker, 
born in Chester, Pennsylvania, August 10, 1862, was 
educated in the schools in Lancaster, IMassachusetts, 
a private school in Worcester and at Exeter Acad- 
emy', New Hampshire, remaining two years at the 
latter place. He then entered into the real estate 
business in Boston, and has continued in that with 
great success as a real estate broker with offices 
in Devonshire Building and 15 Exchange street, 
Boston. He resides at Lancaster, Massachusetts, 
upon the old Parker homestead. He is a member of 



•i 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



219 



the board of real estate arbitration in Boston, also 
a member of the Real Estate Exchange in that city. 
He is a Republican in politics but, like his brothers, 
not a seeker for public oiBce. He is a gentleman 
whose opinions are greatly respected, and whose 
judgment ori values of real estate are in frequent 
demand. 

He married, October, 1899, Ethel Whitney Law- 
ton, daughter of Robert G. Lawton, of Havana, 
Cuba. Their children are : Chester, born Septem- 
ber, 1900 ; Felton, 1902, died the same year ; Lydia 
B. F., November, 1904. 

In tracing out the emigrant ancestor of this fam- 
ily we have not been confined to the narrow limits 
of the "three brothers," but found on investigation 
that choice must be made from at least three dozen 
Parkers, who were launched upon our New Eng- 
land shores prior to the year 1630. To the uniniti- 
ated It might appear that where there are so many 
to select from, the choice might be the more easily 
made, but experience teaches otherwise. We have 
after careful research taken as the progenitor of 
this New England family: 

(I) Joseph Parker, who located in the town of 
Newbury, Jilassachusctts, as early as 1642, when in 
May of that year his son Joseph was born. Three 
years later he was of Andover, where he helped to 
form the first church there. His children were : 
Joseph, Stephen. John and Samuel. Joseph, the 
father, died 1678. 

(II) Joseph Parker, born at Newbury, May 
IS, 1642, resided in Andover subsequently to 164S, 
and had a son Joseph. 

(III) Joseph Parker, born about 1660, married 
Elizabeth Bridges, lived in Andover, Massachusetts, 
and had sons Joseph and Peter. 

(IV) Joseph Parker, born February 27, 1682, 
married, February 6, 1712, Abigail Mitchell, and 
made their home in Andover, Massachusetts. Had 
son Joseph and perhaps others. 

(V) Joseph Parker, born November 12, 1712, 
in Andover, married Elizabeth Martin, April 26, 
1757. He was one of the very early settlers of Pem- 
broke, New Hampshire. As early as 1737 a vote 
was passed that the ferryboat at Suncook be kept 
against Joseph Parker's house lot, which was No. 
14. He also bought lot No. 20 of Eleazer Allen 
about 1760, which he sold to James Knox, May 8, 
1776. He signed the "Association Test" in summer 
of 1776. "We the subscribers do hereby sol- 
emnly engage and promise that we will to the ut- 
most of our power at the risk of our lives and for- 
tunes with arms oppose the hostile proceedings of 
the British fleets and armies against the United 
American Colonies." Their children were : John, 
born August 15, 1760; Molly, born September 7, 
1766; Dorcas, born February 12, 1769; and perhaps 
others. 

(VI) John Parker, born August IS, 1760- mar- 
ried Martha Lovejoy. ]\Iay 21, 1781. He purchased 
a tract of wild land in North Pembroke and there 
built a log house and lived with his father until he 
could build a better one. He was a member of the 
first militia company of the town, and with others 
signed a petition December 30, 1777, to have this 
company annexed to Colonel Stickney's regiment. 
July I, 1780, he enlisted to serve for three months. 
He died May 27, 1825, having merited the military 
title of colonel. Children were : Joseph, born No- 
vember 3, 1781; (Taleb, February 28, 1784; Abigail, 
June 29, 1787; John Ladd, 1789; Ezra, September 12. 
1791 ; Obidiah, 1793: James, 1794; Mehitable Love- 
jov, April 17, 1800 ^Charlotte, April 30, 1803; Martha, 
180S. 

(VII) Joseph Parker, born November 3, 1781, 



married Esther Chapman. He w-ent to Concord, 
New Hampshire, about the year 1821, and for sev- 
eral years was employed on the Granite Ledge, and 
later was the first overseer of the alms house and 
town farm. He was a much respected and useful 
citizen. He left Concord in 1834. Children were : 
Lucretia, born iMay 4, 1807; Martha, November 30, 
1808: Caleb, September 8, 1810; Lyman, January 
2, 1812: Horace. April 5, 1814; Joseph, April 30, 
1817; Horace. August 15, 1819; George Alanson, 
May 8, 1821 ; Mary Esther, July ID, 1823; Lucy Ann, 
March 0. 1826 ; Lucretia, August 19, 1829. 

(VIII) George Alanson Parker, born in Con- 
cord. New Hampshire, May 8, 1821. 

HENRY WILLIAM EDDY. Rev. William 
Eddy (l), of Crainbrook, Kent countj', England, was 
the father of the two emigrants of the name who 
settled in New England in 1630. He was the pro- 
genitor of Henry William Eddy, of Worcester. The 
sons were : John, born about IS9S I Saimiel, was in 
Plymouth in 1632, and probably came with his 
brother in 1630: he was admitted a freeman at 
Plymouth in "1633 '■ reported able to bear arms 
1643; his wife was Elizabeth, and they had a large 
family and resided in the Plymouth colony. 

(II) John Eddy, son of Rev. William Eddy (l), 
was born in Crainbrook, Kent county, England, in 
159s, according to his oath made December 15, 1673, 
when at the age of seventy-seven he asked to be 
excused from training ! John Eddy came to Plym- 
outh in New England in the ship "Handniaid," 
arriving October 29. 1630. He removed to Water- 
town. Governor Bradford wrote of him : "A 
Godly man. now and then a little distempered." 
He was admitted a freeman in Watertowii, Septem- 
ber 3, 1634. He served the town in various town 
offices. He married (first) Amy , and (sec- 
ond) Joanna , who died August 25. 1683, at 

the age of eighty years. The children of John and 
Amv Eddy were: Pilgrim, born August 25, 1634; 
John, born February 16, 1636-7; Benjamin, biiried 
in 1639; Samuel, born September 30, 1640; Abigail, 
born October 11, 1643. 

John Eddy died October 12, 1684. at the age of 
ninety years. His will dated January 11. 1677, and 
probated December 16, 1684. bequeathed to sons 
Samuel and John: sons-in-law John Miriam (J^Ier- 
riam) and Thomas Orton ; and daughters Mary Or- 
ton, Sarah Miriam, Pilgrim Steadman and Ruth 
Gardner; wife to have according to their marriage 
contract. 

(HI) Samuel Eddy, son of John Eddy (2). was 
born in Watertown. Massachusetts, September 30, 
1640. He was a farmer, settled at Watertown. He 
married Sarah Mead, November 3I (sic 31 -.g:). 1664. 
She was the daughter of Gabriel Mead, of Dor- 
chester, Massachusetts. He was admitted a free- 
man there May 2. 1638. Her mother, Joanna, was 
admitted to the church there about 1638. Gabriel 
Mead died Mav 12, 1666, aged about seventy-seven 
and his will w'as proved July 17, 1667. His four 
daughters, Lydia. Experience, Sarah and Patience, 
were all minors at the time. The children of Samuel 
and Sarah (Mead) Eddy were all born in Water- 
town, viz.: Samuel, born June 4. 1668: Benjamin, 
born September 16, 1673. 

•(IV) Samuel Eddy, son of Samuel Eddy (3), 
was born in Watertown, Mas.sachusetts, June 4. 
1668. He married. December 13. 1693, Elizabeth 
Woodward, of an old Watertown family. He died 
August 6, 1746. She died .\u.gust 7. i753- The 
children of Samuel and Elizabeth (Woodward) 
Eddy were : John, born at Watertow-n, May 6, 1696, 
settled in Oxford. Massachusetts; Elizabeth, born in 



220 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



Walcrtovvu, May 28, 1697, died young ; Sarah, born 
in VVatcrtown, May 9, 1700, settled in Oxford, mar- 
ried, June I, 1730, Peter llurd; Samuel, born in 
Watertown, August 18, 1701; Elizabeth, born in 
Watertown, July 29, 1703; Ebcnezer, born in Water- 
town, January 9, 1705. settled in Oxford; Benjamin, 
born in Watertown, November 30, 1707, married, 
1733, Elizabeth Trucsdell ; he was a tailor; settled 
in Winchendon or Royalston where he died aged 
ninety years. 

(V) Samuel Eddy, son of Samuel Eddy (4), 
was born in Watertown, Massachusetts. August 18, 
1701. He settled in Oxford, Massachusetts. He 
married, January 30, 1727, Elizabeth Bellows, of 
Marlboro, Massachusetts. His farm was in that 
part of Oxford later set off as Ward, now Auburn. 
He died there August 4. 1762. The inventory of his 
estate was five hundred and seventy-eight pounds. 
The deed of his farm was dated May 20, 1724. when 
Abraham Skinner of Colchester. Connecticut, sold 
him sixty acres on Prospect Hill. He was select- 
man and held other offices. The children of Samuel 
and Elizabeth (Bellows) Eddy were: Elizabeth, 
born November 24, 1728, at Oxford ; Samuel, born 
1731, died 1736; Ruth, born in Oxford, October 23, 
I733. married (intentions dated July 10), 1762, John 

Hart, of Leicester ; Jonathan, born in Oxford, De- 
cember 23, 1735, soldier in the French war; died at 
Fort Edward unmarried; Samuel, born July 31, 
1738; Abigail, born in Oxford, December 5. 1740, 
married. January 2, 1759, Joshua Merriam, of Ox- 
ford North Gore ; Levi, born in Oxford. April 27, 
174s, married (intentions dated June 28) 1766, Sarah 
Stone (Smith?) of Charlton, The Eddy genealogy 
gives also John, died in French and Indian war. 

(VI) Samuel Eddy, son of Samuel Eddy (5), 
was born in Oxford, July 31, 1738. He married, 
March 13, 1760, Susannah Merriam, of Oxford 
North Gore, and settled on the Eddy homestead. 
He was a man of prominence. He served in the 
French war, 1757. At the close of the war in 1763 
he was lieutenant of the second company, Joseph 
Phillips, captain. In 1776 with William Campbell 
and Amos Shumway he was on the Oxford com- 
mittee of safety and correspondence. He was cap- 
tain of the militia and served in the revolution. 
He was selectman in 1771 and 1773. He served 
the town as constable and in other capacities. He 
died July 4, 1798. His wife died January 17. 1S03, 
aged sixty-si.x years. The children of Samuel and 
Susanna (Merriam) Eddy were: Isabella, born 
March 27, 1761 ; Samuel, born July 11. 1764; John, 
born May 31, 1768; Rufus. born April 6, 1772: 

Susanna ; Ruth. All of the foregoing are mentioned 
in iheir father's will, dated June 5, 179?, excepting 
Isabella. 

(VII) Samuel Eddy, son of Samuel Eddy (6), 
was born in Oxford, Massachusetts. July 11. 1764. 
He married Sarah Hart and settled in Oxford. He 
died May 11, 1813: she died October 17. 1838. aged 
seventy years. He was deputy sheriff for many 
years and well known all over the county. The 
children of Samuel and Sarah (Hart) Eddy were: 
James: Samuel, born July 19. 1796. settled on the 
homestead ; Lewis, born February 16, 1801 ; Leonard ; 
Lydia, married Daniel P., son of Reuben Eddy ; 
Sarah, married (first) Thomas Baird ; married (sec- 
ond) Swan Knowlton ; Susan; Mary, married W. 
T. Warren, resided at Holden, Massachusetts. 

(VIII) Lewis Eddy, son of Samuel Eddy (7), 
was born in Oxford. Massachusetts, February 16. 1801. 
He married. May 14. 1823. Almira Smith, daughter 
of Samuel Smith, of Oxford, Massachusetts. He 
'settled on a farm in Auburn and also owned a farm 
in Fitchburg, Massachusetts. He was a carpenter 



and builder, also a ieading citizen of O.xford, He 
and his brother Samuel were both captains of the 
militia company and both represented the town in 
the general court, Samuel of Oxford, Lewis of 
Auburn. Lewis Eddy was assessor and selectman 
in Auburn, and a prominent member of the Con- 
gregational church. He sold both farms some years 
before his death and moved to Worcester, where 
he died June 14, 1875. His wife died June S, 1867, 
also in Worcester. The children of Lewis and Al- 
mira (Smith) Eddy were: l. Eliza N., born April 

16, 1824, married, December 22, 1847, Levi Eddy, 
settled in Worcester; he died December 5, 1870; 
she died 1888, 2, Henry William, born October 17, 
1826, married January 3, 1850, Julia Foster, of 
Fitchburg; married (second) Nancy M. Merrill. 

3. Amelia L., born April I, 1829, married, April 10, 
1849, William H. Richards; married (second), June 
24, 1869, David B. Galloupe, of Salem; no children. 

4. Emily S., born November 24, 1831, married. De- 
cember II. 1856, Charles A. Bowker; she died Janu- 
ary IS, 1852. 5. Lewis M., born June 9, 1834, mar- 
ried, April, 1871, V. Adelaide Libby, of Rockland, 
Maine; resided in Boston. 6. Mary F., born Feb- 
ruary 10. 1836, married, December 29. 1859, John N. 
Peters, of Westboro; resided in Worcester. 7. Sam- 
uel S., born April 27, 1838, married, January i, 1857, 
Susan W. Carry; married, (second), October 14, 
l88o, Franc O. Webster, of Rochester, New York; 
second lieutenant Fifty-first Regiment Massachusetts 
Volunteer Militia in the civil war and very efficient; 
raised in Worcester, Company F, Forty-second Reg- 
iment, of which he was made captain ; removed in 
1867 to Rochester, New York, where he became 
colonel of the Fifty-fourth Regiment, New York 
National Guard; manufacturer and trader. 8. Lucian 
A., born March s, 1842, married, June, 1863, Caro- 
line A. Haskell, of North Brookfield, Massachusetts ; 
resides in Syracuse, New Y^ork. 9. Albert M., 
born March 22, 1843. married, December, 1869, Caro- 
line j\I. Hervey, resides in St. Louis, Missouri. 10. 
Alfred Theodore, born February 28, 1845, married, 
July 12. 1864. Elizabeth S. Cummings, of Nashua, 
New Hampshire ; she died April i, 1878 ; he was 
in the civil war, the Forty-second and Fifty-first 
Massachusetts Regiments. 11. Herbert, born 1849, 
died 1850. 

(IX) Henry William Eddy, son of Lewis Eddy 
(8). was born in -A-uburn. ^Iassachusetts, October 

17, 1826. He attended the- district schools of his 
native town and Leicester .Academy. After leaving 
school he learned the trade of carpenter of his 
father, who was a contractor in Auburn. When he 
was twenty-one years old he came to Worcester and 
worked at his trade for Captain Lamb. .After a 
year he went into business for himself in. Worcester, 
and his first shop was on Southbridge street. He 
began in a small way, but in 1849. when he started 
as a builder. Worcester was growing into cityhood 
and he soon became one of the leading builders 
of the place. When he started Worcester had a 
population of only 8.500. It has now 130,000. He 
was in business until he was seventy years old. a 
period of nearly fifty years, while his active life 
was much longer. But in those fifty years Mr. 
Eddy took a large share in the development of 
Worcester, in building the shops, business blocks, 
homes and public buildings that comprise the tangi- 
ble city of today, that will comprise a substantial 
part of Worcester for hundreds of years in part, 
for the monument of a builder's work lasts longer 
than the work of most craftsmen. 

Among the buildings that Mr. Eddy constructed 
in the course of his business career are the follow- 
ing : The People's Savings Bank building on Main 



-I 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



221 



street, a tine type of modern office building ; the 
Fawcett building adjoining the People's Bank build- 
ing; the Five Cents Savings Bank building, another 
fine olfice building; the Dean and Salisliury build- 
ings at Lincoln square; the VaiU buildnig; Loring 
& Blake's building, the National Wire Goods build- 
ing and other shops on Union street. He built the 
Whitcomb Envelope factory on Salisbury street; 
the 1-ogan, Swift & Brighani Envelope factory and 
the Ames Plow Company works on Prescott ; the 
Chase building and others for Ransom C. Taylor 
•on Front street, the Foster building on Foster 
street; the stone freight house of the Boston & 
Maine Railroad, formerly the Worcester & Nashua 
Railroad, near Lincoln square; the Grout building. 
Main street; Dr. Henry Clarke's building, Waldo 
street; the Sargent building; the Sumner Paratt 
building, Front street. He re-built the Central Ex- 
change building, now next to the best and largest 
office building in the city. He has constructed more 
than two hundred dwelling houses in Worcester, 
some of them among the finest in this section. He 
built the home of Charles F. Washburn on Elm 
street ; Mrs. William Dickinson on Cedar street ; 
Major L. J. White on Harvard street; the Bowker 
house on Cedar place ; the residence of the late 
Lucius J. Knowles and that of William H. Burns. 

His place of business was first on Southbridge 
street. Then he removed to the Painc-Aldrich shop 
on High street, and later to 6 Norwich street, where 
he was located for some forty years. In 1S65 he be- 
gan the manufacture of small parts of boot and 
shoe machinery in Lynn. The name of the firm 
was Tripp, Eddy & Co. Later the firm removed to 
Boston and bought the business of A. L. Perkins & 
Co., a firm in the same line, and continued in busi- 
ness until 1900, when the firm sold to the trust, the 
United Shoe Manufacturing Company. Since re- 
tiring from business Mr. Eddy has lived at his 
handsome home, 7 Ashland street, Worcester. 

He married, 1848, Julia Ann Foster, of Fitch- 
burg. He married (second), 1884, Mrs. Nancy M. 

Morrill, a widow, daughter of Lord. The 

children of Henry W. and Julia Ann (Foster) Eddy 
were: i. Frank Foster, born in Worcester; he is 
a manufacturing dentist with places of business at 
172 Tremont street, Boston, and at the Franklin 
building. New York city; married and has one 
daughter. 2. Charles H., born in Worcester, gen- 
eral manager and treasurer of the Chickering Piano 
Company of Boston. 

FRANK AUGUSTUS ATHERTON has been 
identified with the business life of Worcester since 
the close of the civil war. His boyhood was spent 
in his native town of Harvard, in Worcester county. 
In 1864, when he was only fifteen years of age, he 
enlisted in Company E, of the Sixth Massachusetts 
Regiment, one of the famous Worcester county regi- 
ments, and served for three months. At the close 
of his term of service the war was approaching an 
end, and he returned to his home in Harvard, where 
for a year and a half he worked in a sawmill, and 
acquired a knowledge of wood manufacturing that 
was essential to his success in his subsequent busi- 
ness. In 1865 he purchased his father's business, 
which he still conducts. He has a large mill, one 
hundred and sixty-three feet in length, at 183-5-7 
Park avenue, in Worcester, equipped with modern 
machinery for the manufacture of refrigerators, 
store fixtures and other cabinet making. For forty 
years he has taken an active interest in city afifairs. 
He is a Republican, and in 1889, 1890-91-92 repre- 
sented his ward in the common council. He was 
a member of the committees on sewers and high- 



ways. He is and has been for twelve years (1905) 
an overseer of the poor of the city. He is a mem- 
ber of the Masonic order in Massachusetts, having 
taken all the degrees, including the thirty-second; 
is also a member of Morning Star Lodge. His home 
is at 5 Hall street, Worcester, AMassachusetts. 

Mr. Atherton's ancestry is extremely interesting. 
It runs back in tlie Atherton line to James Atherton, 
probably a brother of Governor and Major General 
Humphrey Atherton. The Athertons came to Lan- 
caster, Massachusetts, in 1653, and some of the 
Atherioii family still reside on the original farm. 
Harvard, Mas.sachusctts, where Frank A. Atherton 
and several generations before him were born, was 
part of the same settlement. 

(I) James Atherton was born in England, 
probably in Lancaster, where for a thousand years 
the Athertons have been an important family, hav- 
ing a manor and of course bearing arms. He was 
born in 1626; he died in Shcrborn, Massachusetts, 
at the home ot his daughter, Deborah, wife of 
Captain Samuel Bullard, August 6, 1710. His wife 
died also at Sherborn, December 29, 1713. Children 
were: i. Hannah and 2. James, (twins), born 
March 13, 1654. 3. Joshua, born March, 1656. 4. 
Hannah, born November 10, 1657. 5. Mary, born 
November 17, 1660. 6, Elizabeth, born June 10, 
1665; died September 6, 1666. 7. Deborah, born 
June I, 1669. 8. Joseph, (see forward). 

(H) Joseph Atherton, son of James (i) and 
Hannah Atherton, born May 28, 1672, at Lancaster, 
Massachusetts ; married Hannah Rogers, at Lan- 
caster, January 9, 1720. Children, born at Harvard, 
Massachusetts, were: i. Oliver, born August i, 
1721. 2. Mary, born May 8, 1722-3. 3. Joseph, (see 
forward). 4. Elizabeth, born May 5, 1727. 5. 
Elizabeth, born September 7, 1729. 6. Hannah, 
born May 16, 1731. 7. Patience, born August 15, 
1735- 

(III) Joseph Atherton, son of Joseph (2) and 
Hannah (Rogers) Atherton, his wife, was baptised 
October 26, 1729; born about 1725; married Sarah 
Hutchins in 1752. Children, born at Harvard, were : 
I. David, born July 31, 1753, died young. 2. Sarah, 
born May 25, 1755. 3. David, born September 17, 
1757- 4- Jonathan, born November 11, 1759. 5. 
Abigail, born November 2, 1762. 6. Joseph, born 
May 12, 1768. 

(IV) David Atherton, son of Joseph (3) and 
Sarah .\therton. born September 17, 1757, married 
Esther Atherton. He lived in the house built by 
Joshua (2) Atherton. It stood under a great elm 
and was one of the familiar land marks for nearly 
two hundred years. It was destroyed in 1852. It 
had a great central chimney, part of stone, part of 
brick, laid in clay mortar. Joshua Atherton died 
there. His son, Peter, who was a prominent man 
in the town of Harvard, representing the town in 
the general court and serving as its first town clerk, 
occupied the house. David Atherton was its fourth 
owner. In 1805, while gathering nuts, he fell from a 
tree, and as a result of his injuries his legs and the 
lower part of his body were paralyzed. He lived 
for twenty-five years, working at the shoemaker's 
trade which he learned after his misfortune. His 
children were : I. Silence, born May 29, 1785. 2. 
Louisa, born May ir, 1787. 3. Ebon, born March i, 
1789. 4. Charles, born February 22, 1792. 5. Martin, 
born July 2, 1793. 6. Emily, born July 31, 1795. 7. 
George, born January 21, 1798. 8. Mary, born March 
2, 1801. 

(V) Ebon .Atherton, son of David (4) and Esther 
Atherton, born March I, 1789, at Harvard and lived 
there. He had a son Alfred, born at Harvard. 

(VI) Alfred Atherton, son of Ebon Atherton 



222 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



(S), was born at Harvard and learned the carpen- 
ter's trade. He established the business in Wor- 
cester now carried on by his son, Frank A. Ather- 
ton. He married Abbie M. (.Adams) Stacy, born in 
Harvard about 1822. She was a daughter of Jona- 
than and Alice ^Whitney) Adams, a descendant of 
Henry Adams, of Bramtree, Massachusetts, who was 
the progenitor of John Adams, John Quincy Adams 
and many other famous men. Her father died at the 
age of forty-seven. She is the youngest and only 
survivor of a family of ten children and was obliged, 
at the age of thirteen, to earn her own living. She 
went to work in a cotton mill at Lowell, where she 
was employed till her marriage, in her twentieth 
year, to George VV. Stacy, who died before the 
birth of her first child. This daughter, Georgianna, 
is now the wife of Francis Merrifield, of Worcester. 
The children of Alfred Atherton and his wife, Abbie, 
were: l. Frank Augustus (see forward). 2. Edward 
Herbert, born at Harvard, February 11, 1856; grad- 
uated at Harvard College 1879; teacher of foreign 
languages in Boston Latin School. 3. Walter E. 
Atherton, born May 16, i860; a resident of Worces- 
ter; married Ethel Muzzy and had: Leroy, born 
August, 1880; Dora, born September 27, 1S85 ; Carl, 
born June, 1886. The widow of Alfred Atherton is 
still living (.1905) in Worcester. He died there in 
1892. 

(VH) Frank Augustus, son of Afred Ather- 
ton (6), born February 15, 1849; married November 
5, 1873, Inez L. Adams, daughter of John Quincy 
and Harriet L. (Bottom) Adams, born at Wood- 
stock, Connecticut, a descendant of President Adams. 
Their children are: i. Ralph, (see forward). 2. 
Bessie F., (see forward). 3. Philip Hyde, born 
May 27, 1888. 4. Ruth Eveline, born March 5, 1890. 
5. Laura Inez, born June 11, 1S92. 

■ (VIII) Ralph Edward Atherton, son of Frank 
A. Atherton (7), born August iS, 1878, was edu- 
cated in the Worcester schools. He graduated from 
the Worcester Polytechnic Institute and is now a 
district inspector for the American Bell Telephone 
Company, at Chicago, Illinois. 

(Vlli) Bessie F. Atherton, daughter of Frank 
A. Atherton (7), born September 17, 18S5, graduated 
from the Worcester high school in 1903. 

GEORGE HENRY CLEMENCE. Richard 
Clemence (l), from whom George Henry Clemence 
is descended, emigrated from England about 1782. 
He was born November 12, 1757, and died in Brook- 
field, Massachusetts, March 5, 1813. He married 
Anne Ainsworth November 22, 1781. She was born 
in England May 4, 1762, and died April 20, 1832. 
Eight children were born to them. 

(II) Henry Clemence, son of Richard Clemence 
(i), born October 14, 1795 ; was a hatter by trade, and 
located in Brookfield, Massachusetts. He settled in 
Hubbardston, Massachusetts, about 1S14, and was 
made a Master Mason April 27, 1830, in the Temple- 
ton Lodge, of Templeton, Massachusetts. 

He married, November 27, 1820, Harriet W. 
Waite. of Hubbardston, Massachusetts, born Febru- 
ary 26, 1802, at Hubbardston; died there December 
II, 1824. He died in Hubbardston, January 30, 1863. 
Two children were born to them. 

(III) Richard Henry Clemence, son of Henry 
Clemence (2), born at Hubbardston, September 28, 
1821 ; died September 17, 1868, in Worcester, Massa- 
chusetts. He was a carpenter by trade, and lived 
in Fitchburg a number of years. He came to Wor- 
cester where he entered the employ of the Wash- 
burn & Moen Manufacturing Company, and in 1863 
went to New York city for the company. Before 
the close of the civil war he returned to Worcester 



and opened there a grocery and provision store. 
He was a 'member of Masonic bodies. He married 
Mrs. Eva L. Kendall (born Osgood), November 27, 
1862. She was born January 9, 1831, at Hartland, 
Vermont, and died December 21, 1904, at Worcester, 
Massachusetts. 

(IV) George Henry Clemence, son of Richard 
Henry Clemence (3), was born at Worcester, Massa- 
chusetts, January 13, 1865. He attended the Wor- 
cester public schools, afterward preparing under 
private tutors for entrance to the Massachusetts 
Institute of Technology, which he entered in the year , 
1886, taking the special course in architecture. He 
entered the employ of Stephen C. Earle, architect, 
of Worcester, in 1882 ; severing his connections with 
him in 1890, he entered the employ of Darling Broth- 
ers, general building contractors, of Worcester, and 
remained with them two years. In 1892 he began 
the practice of his profession, taking offices in the 
Walker building, Worcester, Massachusetts, where 
he has remained to date. His practice has steadily 
increased, resulting in placing his reputation with 
those of the leaders of the profession in Worcester. 
A large number of residences, public buildings, busi- 
ness premises, etc., attest his capacity and industry 
in his profession. 

He married at Worcester, Massachusetts, Octo- 
ber 9, i88g, Anna Eliza McDonald. She was born 
in Worcester November 27, 1865, and is a grad- 
uate of the Classical high school ; class of 1883. 
They have one child, Hazel, born at Worcester, 
Massachusetts, August 28, 1890. Mr. Clemence is a 
member of local Masonic bodies, and of the order 
of Odd Fellows ; also a member of Hancock Club. 
He is a fellow of the American Institute of Archi- 
tects, and of Worcester Chapter, American Institute 
of Architects. 

LYMAN JOSL\FI TAFT. Robert Taft (i), the 
first emigrant of this surname, who is the progenitor 
of so many of the Taft families of Worcester county 
where the name is more common than in any other 
section of the country, was the ancestor of Lyman 
Josiah Taft, late of Worcester. Under the heading 
of other Taft families a pretty complete record of 
the life of Robert Taft in New England, gathered 
largely from the researches of the late Judge AI- 
phonso Taft, father of the Secretary of War, may 
be found in this work. 

Robert Taft was a native of Scotland. He ap- 
pears to have come to New England in 1677 or 167S 
and settled in Braintree, now Quincy, Massachu- 
setts, near Boston. It was just after the disastrous 
King Philip's war. In 1678 and 1679 the colonists 
who had been driven away from the frontier towns 
by the Indians, were making plans for re-settling 
their farms. Robert Taft and Savill Simpson joined 
in the purchase of Colonel William Crowne's farm 
at Mendon for which they paid ninety pounds Au- 
gust IS, 1679. They sold their place in Braintree, 
November 18. 1679, and doubtless moved to Mendon 
with others from Braintree in the spring of 1680. 
The land was divided by deed dated July 29, 1680. 
Half the property which was on one side the road 
was known as Pondfield and that went to Simpson ; 
while the land on the opposite side of the road known 
as Fortfield from an old fort built long before the 
days of King Philip, as shown by the name in 
earlier deeds, went to Robert Taft and became the 
nucleus of the Taft homestead. Taft w-as acquisitive. 
He got land in one way and another until he owned 
all about the pond which was in the earlier days 
known as Taft Pond. Alanson Taft, of Mendon, 
lately owned the original home site, besides owning- 
for two miles and a half from his home a tenth 



f 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



223 



interest in what became the town of Sutton, Massa- 
chusetts, in 1703. In rebuilding the town of Mendon, 
Taft was an important factor. He was on the 
first board of selectmen. He and liis sons built the 
first bridge over the Blackstone river. He served 
during all his active life on important town com- 
mittees and in other ofBces of trust and honor. He 
was for his day a citizen of wealth and distinction, 
and he founded a family than which there is none 
in Worcester county with a more honorable record 
or with a greater number of distinguished men. The 
children of Robert and Sarah Taft were : Tliomas, 
born 1671 ; Robert, Jr., 1674; Daniel, 1677; Joseph, 
1680; and Benjamin. 

(II) Daniel Taft, third son of Robert Taft (i), 
was born probably in Braintree, Ma.'sachusetts, but 
possibly in England in 1677. He died August 24, 
1761. as stated on his gravestone in the Mendon 
burying ground at the age of eighty-four years. 
He settled on part of the Fortfield farm given him 
at the time of his marriage by his father. It is the 
farm occupied some years ago by Samuel H. Taft. 
He had five sons w-ho became enterprising farmers 
in the vicinity. After his wife Lydia died in 1758 
he went to live with his son Daniel on what is 
now known as the Southw'ick farm in Mendon where 
he died in 1761. He was a lawyer as well as farmer. 
He was legal adviser to his .brothers and to the 
town. He w-as town treasurer inany years and 
moderator of the town meetings. He was the lead- 
ing citizen for some years. He was a delegate to 
negotiate for a new county and Mendon and Ux- 
bridge were transferred from Suffolk county to the 
new county of Worcester. He gave the town the site 
for a burying ground in Mendon. He represented 
the town in the general court in 1728 and other years, 
and was justice of the peace and conveyancer for 
his section. Mr. Taft married (first). 1702-oj, 

Hannah . who died August 8, 1704, leaving an 

infant son Daniel, who died soon afterward. He 
married (second), December 5, 1706, Lydia Chapin, 
daughter of Captain Josiah (Ihapin. The child of 
Daniel and Hannah Taft was: i. Daniel, born August 
4, 1704. The children of Daniel and Lydia (Chapin) 
were : 2. Abigail, born September 24, 1707. 3. 
Josiah. see forward. 4. Lydia, April 13, 1713. 5. 
Daniel, April 2g, 1715. 6. Ephraim, May 25, 1718. 
7. Japhet, March s. 1721-22. 8. Caleb, 1724. 

(III) Josiah Taft, third child of Daniel Taft 
(2), was born April 2, 1709, and died 1756, aged 
forty-seven years. His father gave him his farm 
by deed. It was on the west side of the Blackstone 
and passed to his son Bazaleel. He was captain 
of the militia. In 1732 he became a resident of the 
town of Uxbridge where he became as prominent 
as his father had been in Mendon. He held the 
various town offices. Among his children were: 
Caleb, died at Harvard College in 1756; Bazaleel, 
a prominent citizen, soldier in the revolution ; Joel, 
born 1747-48, see forward. 

(IV) Joel Taft. son of Captain Josiah Taft (3), 
was born in Uxbridge, Massachusetts, in t 747-48, and 
settled there. Among his children was Joel. 

(V) Joel Taft, son of Joel Taft (4), was born 
on the old homestead at Uxbridge, Massachusetts, 
in 1766. He married Chloe Fisher in 17S9, and they 
had among other.s a son John, born June 22, 1797. 

(VI) John Taft, son of Joel Taft (5), was born 
in Uxbridge. Massachusetts. June 22, 1797. He re- 
ceived a good education in the public school? and 
in New Salem .Academy. He married, April 18, 
1826. Lurenza Newton, daughter of Josiah New- 
ton, a resident of Hubbardston. Massachusetts. John 
Taft died at Petersham in 1834. leaving a widow and 
two sons. Mrs. Taft married (second) Captain 



Sewall Moulton, of IIul)bardston. The children of 
John and Lurenza (Newton) Taft were: Alonzo ; 
and Lyman Josiah, see forward. 

(VII) Lyman Josiah Taft, son of John Taft 
(6), was born in Petersham, Massachusetts, Octo- 
ber 10, 1829, and died in Worcester, February 24, 
1878. His father died when he was very young and 
after his mother married again his stepfather and 
he did not get along well together. The boy had a 
taste for books and study ; the stepfather expected 
him to be' content with a single term in the dis- 
trict school of Hubbardston, and when the boy studied 
at home by candle light the stepfather interfered 
and forbade him the use of candles. He then re- 
sorted to pine knots for light and the woods for his 
school room. Here he was not molested, but the 
strain on his eyes weakened them and later prob- 
ably caused them to fail him. He went to the 
Westminster Academy and offered to work for 
his tuition. He made the arrangement and then his 
mother saw to it that each week when he came 
home he should take a week's supply of provisions 
back with him. He made rapid progress in his 
studies, especially in the classics, but after two 
years his eyes failed him and were so bad that he 
had to stay in a darkened room to save them. He 
gave up further study and was never able to read 
much afterward. This misfortune made a prosperous 
business man out of a promising scholar. 

First Mr. Taft decided to follow the example of 
Richard H. Dana, who was a common sailor for 
two years when a young man, and who detailed his 
adventures in a fascinating book "Two Years be- 
fore the Mast." Mr. Taft went to sea. He made 
voyages to South America and the Pacific and ac- 
cepted every chance to study navigation. His progress 
was so rapid that when at the end of two years the 
ship's captain and mate both died in New Orleans, 
he was able to assume command and he brought 
the ship to its home port in safety. He visited his 
mother at Hubbardston and then came on foot to 
Worcester to look for work. He got a position in 
a railroad restaurant, not being able to take employ- 
ment requiring much strain on the eyes. He found 
the work congenial, and made many friends among 
the traveling public as well as in Worcester. He 
decided to follow this business on his own account. 
He established a restaurant and became a prosperous 
business man in Worcester. He soon acquired a 
competence. His partners were Charles H. Rice and 
Frank Harrington, and their store at 233 Main 
street was run under the name of Taft, Rice & 
Harrington. He extended his business to include the 
railroad restaurant in the Union station. He built 
a five-story building in which he located his busi- 
ness ; he purchased other real estate in Worcester 
and invested his money to advantage. In 1868 he 
was able to retire from active business, leaving his 
business interests in the hands of partners. At 
that time he was one of the foremost citizens of 
Worcester. He traveled extensively in the South 
and elsewhere. In 1876 he sold out all his business 
interests and two years later died as universally re- 
gretted as any man of his day in Worcester. He 
w\as still in the prime of life and had reason to 
expect many more years of life. Although his career 
would probably have been professional if his eyes 
had been stronger, he found much to occupy his 
mental gifts in his business career. The purity of 
his life and the nobility of his character were an 
example to all about him. The following resolu- 
tion passed by some of his associates expresses the 
esteem and appreciation for him : "To an unusual 
degree Mr. Taft mingled dcvoutness of spirit with 
strong, practical good sense. Modest and retiring 



2^4 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



to a fault, yet lie was never afraid nor ashamed to 
speak out the faith that was in him when oceasion 
called. As a Christian man he merited and re- 
ceived the respect of all who knew him. Kind to 
the poor, a helper of the needy in their distress, 
ever ready to respond according to the measure of 
his ability to calls for help, he failed not to adorn 
the doctrines of Clirist in all things. He rests from 
his labors and his works do follow him." He was 
brought up in the Congregational church, but later 
joined the Episcopal church wdien it was located in 
Pearl street. He was a vestryman and helped build 
the present edifice of All Saints Church. He mar- 
ried Mary Augusta Roper, daughter of Ephraim and 
Eunice (Richardson) Roper, of Templeton, Massa- 
chusetts. She was born at Templeton October 21, 
iS,i,2. married December 12, 1854. 

" Ephraim Roper was the son of Manasseh and 
Lucy (Livermore) Roper, born at Sterling, Massa- 
chusetts. September 17, 1799, married at Sterling, 
July 10, 1821, Eunice Swan Richardson, born Barre, 
Vermont, May 30, 1799, daughter of Asa and Mary 
(Stuart) Richardson, and granddaughter of Captain 
Benjamin Richardson. Ephraim Roper settled in 
Templeton. He was the first overseer of the town 
farm. He had eight children. Manasseh Roper, 
father of Ephraim, was born !n Sterling May 26. 
I7S2. He married at Princeton, November 25, 1790, 
Lucy Livermore, born Weston, November 25, 1760. 
He was a soldier in the revolution. He lived on 
the homestead in Sterling. He had seven children. 

Ephraim Roper, father of Manasseh Roper, was 
born in Sudbury. Massachusetts, October 21, 1716. 
He married, April 8, 1748, Michal, daughter of Ben- 
jamin and Zerviah Houghton. She was born June 
22, 1725, arid died December 31, 1816. He died De- 
ceinber 5, 1793. They had eleven children. Mr. 
Roper was the founder of the Sterling branch of the 
Roper family. 

Ephraim Roper, father of the preceding Ephraim 
Roper, was born in Sudbury, Massachusetts, about 
1714. He married Sybilla Moore, who was born in 
Sudbury September 2, 1694. He was captive among 
the Indians 1697-9. He lived in Sudbury and Wor- 
cester, Massachtisetts, where he was a farmer. He 
was accidentally killed in the woods February 16, 
17.30. He had ten children, the records of only two 
being known — Ephraim and Daniel, who founded the 
Rutland family of his name. 

Ephraim Roper, father of the preceding Ephraim 
Roper, was born in Dedham, Massachusetts, Decem- 
ber 23, 1644. He married (first) Priscilla . He 

was a farmer, and settled in Lancaster. His eldest 
daughter, Priscilla, the only child born in Dedham, 
and his wife Priscilla were killed by the Indians 
February 10. 1676. He married (second) at Concord, 
November 20. 1677, Mrs. Hannah Goble, of Con- 
cord. Both husband and wife were killed in the 
second massacre at Lancaster, September 11. 1697. 
and also the third daughter. He was the father of 
six children, the last five being born in Concord. 

John Roper, father of the preceding Ephraim 
Roper, was born probably in Buckingham. England, 
161 1. He married Alice ,born 1614. They prob- 
ably came on the ship "Rose" of Yarmouth. He 
was admitted a freeman at Dedham, Massachusetts, 
June 2, 1641. He resided in Charlestown and Lan- 
caster, and was selectman in the latter place. He 
was massacred by the Indians March 26. 1676. Alice, 
his widow, married (second) at Charlestown, April 
ij. 1681, John Dickinson, and resided at Salisbury, 
Massachusetts, She married (third) 1684. William 
Allen. She died there April i, 1687. John and Alice 
Roper had eight children. 

John Roper, father of the preceding John Roper, 



lived in New Buckingham, Norfolk county, England, 
born about 1588. He sailed with his family to New 
England in 1637, and settled in August of that year 
in Dedham, Massaclnisetts. Two of the children are 
known : John, Jr., mentioned above, and Walter, born 
1614, married Susan . 

Mrs. Taft came from a sturdy race. Her an- 
cestors fought in the early wars and many of them 
lost their lives. Mrs. Taft lives at 2 Congress street, 
where she has lived for over forty years. 

The children of Lyman Josiah and Mary Au- 
gusta (Roper) Taft were: Marion Lurenza, bor/i 
October 23, 1855, died May 4, 1879; Ella Lillie. Jan- 
uary 17, 1858. married in 1900, Archibald Blinn;, 
they reside in Mavilette, Nova Scotia ; Frank Wil- 
fred, January 11, 1862, died April 6, 1864; Walter 
Stuart, Noveniber 17, 1863, died April 9, 1864; 
Georgia Frances, February i, 1867, died August 28, 
1867 ; Charles Lyman. January 9, 1870, died July 
25, 1888, at Pigeon Cove, Massachusetts. 

CLARENCE WHITMAN HOBBS. Jeremiah 
Hobbs (i), born in Hopkinton, Massachusetts, June 
14, 1747. removed to Norway, Maine, with the first 
settlers. Eight children and his wife came also 
soon afterward. Part of the town of Norway was- 
formerly called Rustfield from the fact that the land 
was owned by Henry Rust, of Salem, Massachusetts. 
In 1786 five settlers came to form a colony at Nor- 
way. They were Jeremiah Hobbs, Amos Hobbs, his 
brother, Joseph Stevens, Jonas Stevens and George 
Lessley (Leslie), all from the town of Gray, Maine. 
The records do not show that they stayed at Gray 
for any length of time. They felled trees and 
cleared land in what they supposed was the Rust 
land. By mistake Jeremiah Hobbs cleared a lot 
in the Cummings purchase, which was later incor- 
porated in the town of Norway, however. His lot 
is east of the present location of the Congregational 
Church. The five pioneers built their little houses 
next spring; each of these houses were of the same 
style, sixteen by twenty-seven feet. They were clap- 
boarded with pine rift clap-boards, nailed on the stud- 
ding, and the roofs were covered w'ith long shingles 
similar to those still used in some remote places iti 
New England and the provinces. The chimneys were 
tooped out with what was called "Catting" — laying 
up split sticks cob-house fashion, in clay mortar 
mixed with straw chopped fine to make it adhere. 
The floors were of bass wood planks, hewed out with 
axes. Each of the five had a board sawed at Jack- 
son's saw mill in Paris. Maine, out of which to 
make a door. Most of the window panes were made 
of paper oiled to make it weather-proof and 
translucent. The houses were occupied in the spring 
of 1787. as soon as they were ready. The families 
stayed that winter at Shepardsfield, now Hebron, 
and Oxford, to be nearer their new homes where 
the men were preparing the land and houses. 

Jeremiah Hobbs moved his wife and eight chil- 
dren to Norway about September i, 17S7. .A.mos 
Holibs had moved June I, in the same year. The 
first marriage in the town of Norway, Maine, was 
that of Miriam Hobbs, daughter of Jeremiah Hobbs. 
to Nathan Foster, May 17. 1791, and the third was 
anotlier daughter, Olive Hobbs, to Joel Stevens, 
one of the pioneers. Lydia Hobbs, the only child 
of Jeremiah Hobbs, the pioneer, to be born in Nor- 
way, was one of the first children born in the town. 

Jeremiah Hobbs married about 1770, .\nna Fow- 
ler, who was born in Kittery, Maine. October 20, 
1746, died June 18. 1824. He died June 17, 1814. 
Their children were : Olive, born May 30, 1771, 
married Joel Stevens, third wife ; Miriam, July 17. 
T772, married. May 17, 1791. Nathan Foster; 



WORCESTER COUXTV 



225 



Wealthy, February 10, 1774, died April. 1S45 ; mar- 
ried John Daniels, Jr., of Paris, Maine; Anna, 
March IS, 1776.. died 1849; married Deacon John 
Horr; Daniel, September 17, 1778, was on list of 
those coming to Norway in 1797, probably had lived 
there most of the time : married Sarah Noyes, daugh- 
ter of Bela Noyes; William, April 2, 1780, died Feb- 
ruary 19, 1845 ; settled in Norway in 1802. married 
Catherine Wetherby, kept a general store at Nor- 
way; Sally, January 8. 1782, died February 15, 
1850; married Nathan Foster; Jeremiah, January 17, 
1785. died February 15, 1850; married Anna Frost; 
Lydia, born in Norway. Maine, August 20, 1789, died 
April 25, 1813. (In 1807 Jeremiah Hobbs, Jr., and 
Jeremiah Hobbs, 3d, are mentioned as coming to 
Norway. They were probably Jeremiah, Jr.. here 
mentioned and a son of Amos Hobbs, named Jere- 
miah, about the same age.) 

.^mos Hobbs, mentioned above, the brother of 
Jeremiah, was born in Hopkinton, Massachusetts, in 
1761, and came to Norway, Maine, with the first 
settlers. He married Lucy Robinson, who died in 
Norway, September 7, 1848, aged eighty-nine years. 
They had eight children and have many descendants. 

(H) William Hobbs, son of Jeremiah Hobbs (l), 
was born probably in Maine, April 2, 1780, died 
February 19, 1845. He married, June 7, 1808, Cath- 
erine Wetherbee or Weterby. He settled in Nor- 
way and kept one of the first general stores in that 
town ; his place was near what is now the centre 
of the village. He was a prominent man in the 
vicinity, and active in town affairs. His children 
were: Charlotte Sophronia. born October 29, 1808, 
married Dr. Nathaniel Grant, removed to Ossipee, 
New Hampshire ; William Whitman. May 20, 1810, 
married Sarah Farrington Merrill, daughter of 
Ezekiel Merrill, first settler of Andover, Maine, said 
to be from Andover, Massachusetts ; Jeremiah 
Wellington, June 8. 1814, married Fanny O. Green- 
leaf: Charles Leslie, June 10, 1816, died May 16, 
1834: Henry Hill. March 13. 1821, married Sarah 
Moulton : Milton Wilkins. x\pril 30, 1823. married 
Mrs. Louisa Mndgett, resided in Boston: Cornelius 
Washington. June 5, 1826. married Lucy J. Hobbs, 
daughter of Robinson Hobbs. 

(HI) William Whitinan Hobbs, son of William 
Hobbs (2), was born at Norway, Maine, May 20, 
1810. He received a good education at first class 
schools and an academy, and for several years de- 
voted himself to teaching, for which he had a special 
aptitude. He taught schools at Paris Hill. Augusta, 
Andover and others places in Maine, and with in- 
variable success. While teaching at Andover. Maine, 
he first met Sarah Farrington Merrill, whom he 
married June 17, 1840. She was the daughter of 
Deacon lizekiel Merrill, who was the oldest son of 
the first settler of the town of Andover, Maine. 
Mr. Hobbs settled at Norway after his marriage 
and conducted a farm there. In 1849 Mr. Hobbs 
caught the gold fever and was captain of a corn- 
pany which crossed the continent. He remained in 
the gold fields of California about two years. When 
he returned he settled on the old homestead in 
Norway and greatly improved it. He was select- 
man in 1850 and representative in the legislature 
in 1865. For many years he was deputy sheriff in 
his county, and he was well known to all the 
lawyers, jurors and others attending the courts at 
Paris, the county seat. He was appointed to a 
department position in Washington, but after two 
years resigned on account of his dislike for Wash- 
ington life. He moved to Minnesota and engaged 
in business there. He was liberally endowed phy- 
sically and mentally, and had great energy and pub- 
lic spirit. He died in Minnesota in 1876. 
15 



The children of William Whitman and Sarah F. 
(Merrill) Hobbs were: Adcla Sophronia, born July 
12. 1842, married, April 18. 1867, John Milton Adams, 
of Portland, Maine, and settled at Deering, Maine; 
their children are: Susan Merrill, Sarah Whit- 
man, John Milton, Adele, Charles; Martha Ellen, 
born July 4, 1844, married, December 2, 1872, Alvin 
S. Wilcox, and have one son : Roger Merrill Wil- 
co.x ; Sarah Frances, born June 11, 1847, died Sep- 
teml)er 10, i8si ; Clarence Whitman, born June 27, 
1852. 

(IV) Clarence Whitman Hobbs, son of William 
Whitman Hobbs (3), w-as born in Norway, Maine, 
January 27, 1852. He was educated in the schools 
of his native town. He began his business life in 
the office of the Daily Eastern Argus of Portland, 
Maine, in 1870. He soon afterward entered the First 
National Bank as clerk, and filled various positions 
there for two years. This experience has been ex- 
tremely valuable to him in his subsequent career 
as a manufacturer and man of business. He started 
in business at Lynn, Massachusetts, manufacturing 
paper bo.xcs in 1883. The business was run under 
the name of the New England Paper Box Co. and 
proved successful. He sold his interests in t888 
and removed to Boston. In 1891 he went to Wor- 
cester and organized the Hobbs Manufacturing Com- 
pany with Richard Sugden and Harry W. Goddard, 
of the Spencer Wire Company. In 1894 Mr. Sugden 
died. The Hobbs Manufacturing Company started 
on Union street to make paper box machinery, the 
value of which Mr. Hobbs had seen in his busi- 
ness in Lynn. In 1895 the Hobbs Manufacturing 
Company was incorporated, and in 1903 bought the 
business of Winthcrby, Rugg & Richardson and their 
factory at 26 Salisbury street. (See sketches in this- 
work of Seneca M. Richardson and Gilbert J. Rugg 
for history of the firm.) Another large brick build- 
ing was constructed. The president of the corpora- 
tion is Mr. Hobbs. the treasurer Harry W. Goddard 
and the other director is J. Philip Birci. Besides the 
paper box machiner>' and the wood working ma- 
chinery made by the company, some envelope making 
machinery is built. With the four story addition 
on Prescott street the company now has sixty-five 
thousand feet of fioor space. The new Iiuilding is 
one hundred and twenty-five by sixty feet, four 
stories high and adjoins the old building. 

There has been a systematic and very success- 
ful effort made for the past fifteen years to improve 
the machinery turned out by this concern. New 
patents and devices have added to the simplicity and 
efficiency of the machines. The paper box machines 
of 1S91 are crude affairs compared with those of 
the present day. The.se machines find a market in 
all parts of the world. They are made to be as 
nearly automatic as possible and capable of many 
adjustments for various sizes and styles of paper 
boxes. The Hobbs Manufacturin,g Co. has the 
reputation among those in the business of bringing 
out new machines ahead of all their competitors. 
The experimentation goes on constantly. In the 
summer of 1906 Mr. Hobbs says there are no less 
than si.x new machines in preparation for the paper 
bo.x making business. The regular force at present 
is about one hundred and thirty hands, and the busi- 
ness of the company gives the best of promises for 
future growth and expansion. 

Mr. Hobbs belongs in the list of Worcester manu- 
facturers who have built up new industries by his 
shrewdness and energy. He has inade two paper 
boxes grow where only one was used before his 
time. His company is turning out better wood- 
working machinery than ever before. Mr. Hobbs 
has devoted hiniself almost exclusively to his busi» 



226 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



ness, which has naturally made great demands upon 
him. lie is a member of the Commonwealth Club 
and of the Knights of Pythias. He is a Republican 
in politics. He is a member of Central Congrega- 
tional church, Worcester. 

He married, June 13, 1877, Marion Blanchard 
Twitchcll, daughter of Samuel B. and Malvina A. 
(Chapman) Twitchell, of Bethel, Maine. Their 
children are: I. Clarence Whitman, Jr., born Octo- 
ber I, 1878, educated in the Worcester schools and 
at Harvard College, graduated 1002, from the law 
school in 1904, practicing law in Worcester. 2. 
Samuel Twitchell, born in Portland, Maine, October 
29, 1880, a graduate of Harvard College, 1903, Mas- 
ter of Arts, 1904, salesman for Hobbs Manufacturing 
Co. Both sons live at home, 12 Westland street. 

THE WHITMAN FAMILY. John Whitman 
(i), one of the earliest settlers of the town of 
Weymouth, Massachusetts, is an emigrant ancestor 
of Clarence Whitman Hobbs, of Worcester, and of 
nearly all bearing the name of Whitman in this 
country, as well as an equal number, at least, bear- 
ing others names, in this country. 

He came from England, but from w-hat particular 
part of it has not been ascertained. He may have 
come from Holt in the county of Norfolk. The name 
of Whitman or Whiteman was common there, and 
he may have been attracted to a colony in New 
England where old friends were to be found. Gov- 
ernor Winthrop and his company came from the vicin- 
ity of Holt and settled Weymouth, Massachusetts. 
Mr. Whitman probably came to New England some 
years prior to 1638. He was made a freeman March 

13, 1638-9, was a town officer of Weymouth in 1643, 
and was appointed an ensign by the governor in 
1645. He was probably the first military officer in 
the town of Weymouth. At the same time. May 

14, 1645. he was made the magistrate of the town, 
a commissioner to end small causes, as the office 
was termed. He was also deacon of the church 
there probably from its foundation, and until his 
death, November 13, 1692. 

He was probably nearly ninety when he died, 
as the youngest of his nine children was born in 
1644 and the eldest son was born in 1629, while some 
of the daughters may have been older. It is sup- 
posed that he was married in England about 1625. 
The family did not follow the father to Weymouth 
until 1641. He had a brother Zachariah who emi- 
grated at the time he did or soon afterward and 
settled in Milford. Connecticut, as early as 1639. 
His estate at Milford was bequeathed to Rev. 
Zechariah Whitman, son of his brother. John Whit- 
man, of Weymouth. The records according to Pope's 
Pioneers show that Zachariah. aged forty, came with 
his wife Sarah, aged tliirty-five, and child Zachariah, 
aged two and one-half, in the "Elizabeth" from Wey- 
mouth. England. April 11, 1635. 

Robert Whitman, aged twenty, from the parish 
of Little Minories, England, came in the "Abigail" 
in June, 1635. and settled at Ipswich. It is not 
known that he was a relative. The fact that 
Zachariah and Robert Whitman came in 1635 makes 
it probable that John came also in that year. 

John Whitman owned and lived upon a farm ad- 
joining the north side of the highway, leading by 
the north side of the meeting house of the north 
parish of Weymouth and directly a.gainst it, and 
extending to Weymouth river. His dwelling house 
was near the middle of the farm and a part of the 
house now on the place w-as built about 1680; if this 
date is correct it was occupied by the emigrant an- 
cestor. The farm until 1830 was owned by a de- 
scendant. He had many grants of land and must 



have become by purchase and otherw'ise the largest 
land-holder or one of the largest in the town. lie 
held the office of ensign until March 16. 1680. May 
15, 1664, he was appointed a messenger to the In- 
dians and held other positions of trust in the colony. 

The children of John Whitman (i) were: 
Thomas, born about 1629, died 1712, married Abigail 
Byram, settled at Bridgewater, Massachusetts. John, 
died February I, 1713. Zechariah, born 1644. died 
November 5, 1726, married Ruth Reed, settled at 
Weymouth. Abiah, born 1646, died January 28, 
1727-8; inherited the homestead, admitted freeman 
October 12, 1681 ; married Mary Ford, daughter of 
Andrew Ford, had seven children. Sarah, mar- 
ried about 1653, Abraham Jones, son of Thomas 
Jones, the tailor, of Hingman ; she 'was probably 
the eldest child ; they lived together sixty-five years 
lacking a month or two: she died June 11, 1718; 
they resided at Hull. Mary, born 1634. died July 
10. 1716; married, November 22, 1656, John Pratt. 
Elizabeth, died February 2, 1720: married, May, 1657, 
Joseph Green. Hannah, born August 24, 1641, mar- 
ried, September 9, 1660, Stephen French. Judith, 
married Philip King. 

(II) Rev. Zechariah Whitman, son of John Whit- 
man (i), was born in Weymouth, Massachusetts, 
1644. He graduated at Harvard University in 1668, 
and was ordained September 13, 1670, as the first 
minister of Point Alderton. Nantafket or Hull, with 
the munificent salary of forty pounds per annum. 
Marmaduke Matthews had been preaching at Hull, 
but for "several erroneous expressions" was ad- 
monished by the government, which would not grant 
the desire of his people to have him return. 

The young tninister, soon after his ordination, 
married Sarah Alcock, twin of Anna daughter ol 
Dr. John Alcock (H. U. 1646) of Roxbury. The 
contract of marriage was dated October 26, 1670. 
He was admitted a freeman in May, 1673. At the 
death of his uncle, Zachariah Whitman, of Milford, 
Connecticut, in 1666, he inherited the property and 
in the right of his w'ife had a considerable property 
at Stow, Massachusetts. Mr. Whitman continued 
minister of the Hull church until his death, though 
November 24, 1725. he had a colleague, Ezra Car- 
penter (H. U. 1720) ordained. Mr. Whitman died 
November s, 1726. The preceding August the town 
voted to pay to his children twenty-five pounds a year 
for his maintenance while he lived and did not 
preach. His wife died April 3, 1715, aged sixty- 
five years, according to her gravestone. 

Mr. Whitman was a good scholar and penman 
and wrote most of the wills and legal papers in Hull. 
According to the Boston Nezvs Letter in which his 
obituary was published December 15, 1726 : "he was 
well esteemed for his natural and acquired accom- 
plishments : but especially for steady piety, diligent 
zeal and faithfulness in the discharge of his pastoral 
office : the exemplariness of his conversation ; and 
his patience and submission to the will of God under 
his afflictions." By his will, made June 12. 1725, 
and proved December 16, 1726. he confirms the 
grants of land already made to his sons and daugh- 
ters and names various heirs. His children were: 
Zechariah, born 1672, died 1752, aged eighty ; mar- 
ried (first), January 6. 1702-3, Mrs. Sarah Fitch, 
who died November 27, 1705: he married (second) 
Damaris Carmen, who died November 27, 1705-6; 

married (third) Hannah ■: he received from his 

father the Milford estate and he removed to Mil- 
ford about 1700. John, bom 1674. died February 
22, 1684 : his gravestone was evidently inscribed 
by Rev. Zechariah, his father, and is the oldest stone 
in the graveyard. Joanna, born at Hull, married 
Ephraim or John Hunt, and resided in Boston. 



VvORCESTER COUXTY 



Rev. Samuel, born 1677, died July 31, 1751, aged 
seventy-five years : graduated at Harvard in 1696 
and is said to have been a tutor there for a short 
time. He occasionally preached at Lancaster, Massa- 
cluisetts, between 1697-1701. In 1699 he was the 
teacher of the grammar school at Salem, later the 
minister at Farmington, Connecticut, at that time 
one of the largest towns in Connecticut. Ordained 
December 10, 1706. He inarried, March 19, 1707, 
Sarah Stoddard, daughter of Rev. Solomon anti 
Esther (Warham) Stoddard, of Northampton, by 
whom he had a large family. He was a fellow of 
Yale College in 1726, a position he retained for more 
than twenty years; he died Juy 31, 1751. Sarah, 

married (first) Cocks; (second) Lieutenant 

Robert Gould, Sr., of Hull, his third wife. She 
lived with and took care of her father until his 
death, he having deeded her his homestead, to take 
effect upon his decease; she died at Hull, September 
29, 1784. Elizabeth, died at Hull, November 19, 
1708. John, born 1688, died August 3, 1772, aged 
eighty-five years. Mary, married, October 22, 1713, 
Nathaniel Jacobs, of Hull. Eunice, born April 10, 
1696. died October 5, 1734. 

(Ill) John Whitman, son of Rev. Zechariah 
Whitman (2), was born in 1688, married Mary 
Graves, of Charlestown. She died November 24, 
1716, aged seventeen years, nine months. He mar- 
ried (second) Dorcas Chitty, vv-idow of Thomas 
Chilty and daughter of Captain Jacob Green, of 
Charlestown, Massachusetts. She died October 18, 
1718, aged thirty-four. He married (third) Mar- 
garet Damon, widow of John Damon, of Charles- 
town, and daitghter of Rev. John Clark. She died 
October 16, 1758, aged sixty-six years. He was a 
magistrate, deacon of the church and one of the 
wealthiest and most influential men of the town. 
He received by deed and inheritance from his father 
a large tract of land at Stow, Massachusetts, and set- 
tled there. He also received from his second wife 
and her brother a considerable property. He died 
August 3. 1772, aged eighty-four. By his will dated 
October 15, 1757, proved September 8, 1772, he made 
his son, Charles Whitman, residuary legatee and 
5ole executor, directing him to support and manumit 
1 negro servant named Boston. His children were : 
I. Jacob, born November 16, 1716, died May 10, 
1802, aged eighty-six ; married Hannah Hartshorn, 
daughter of Jacob and Martha Hartshorn, of Boston ; 
he settled at Bristol, Rhode Island, about 1745: he 
ivas a blacksmith by trade and especially skilled in 
making iron work for ships ; was thrice elected 
leputy to the general assembly of Rhode Island ; was 
member of the town council from 1769 to 1773 ; was 
ippointed in 1778 by the general assembly general 
;ealer of weights and measures within and through- 
out the state. He left a large and valuable estate, 
;onie of which is now or recently was owned by his 
descendants ; he subscribed toward the building fund 
Eor the college edifice and president's house of 
Brown University. He had thirteen children. 2. 
[ohn, born September 21, 1717, died September 12, 
r763; married. February 6, 1747. Mary Foster, 
laughter of Rev. Mr. Foster, of Stafford, Connecti- 
cut. He went to Nova Scotia in June, 1761. with 
fortv-five others in the sloop "Charming Molly." 
3Ut he died before the settlers received their grants 
jf land, his share being distributed among his sons. 
He was deacon of the church at Stow, and left 
considerable real estate. He had eleven children. 
His widow married (second) Samuel Bancroft, 
brother of Rev. Aaron Bancroft, of Worcester, and 
> said to have several children by this marriage. 3. 

Lucv, born Januarv i, 1718-9, married Harris. 

(. Thomas, born March 18, 1720, was a physician, 



died unmarried before his father. 5. Zechariah, born 
November 18, 1722, died January 14, 1793; mar- 
ried Elizabeth Gates, settled upon a part of his 
lather's lands, and had fifteen children, all of whom 
survived their parents and were married. 6. Jean, 
born November 25, 1724. probably died without issue 
. before her father. 7. Charles, born 1731, died De- 
cejnber 10, 1807, aged seventy-six. 

(IV) Dr. Charles Whitman, son of John Whitman 
(3), was born at Stow, Massachusetts, 1731. He 
studied medicine, settled in his native town and 
practiced his profession for nearly fifty years. His 
first wife was Anna Stevens, a direct descendant of 
Pocahontas. She died in 1785 and the next year 
he married Mrs. Catherine Davis Swift, widow of 
the Rev. Dr. Swift, of Billerica, Massachusetts. He 
died December 10, 1807, aged seventy-six. His 
widow died September 28, 1834, aged eighty-seven. 
He had eleven children, all by his first wife. He 
was a inan of great dignity of manner and fastidious 
aljout his dress. He always wore a long, dark green 
coat with silver buttons, silver knee buckles, his cue 
tied with ribbons three yards and a half in length. 
He was a man of great influence and much respected 
in the vicinity. 

The children of Dr. Charles Whitman were: I. 
Isaac, born August 13. 1758, died October 24, 1758. 
2. Isaac, born February 16, 1760. died August 15, 
1791, aged thirty-one; married. July I, 1781, Susanna 
Gates. 3. Catherine, born April ,30, 1761. 4. Eunice, 
born November 30, 1762, died March 11, 1811, and 
married John Russell, Jr., son of John and Abigail 
(Hildreth) Russell; married (second), November 
2. i8or. Dr. Martin Howe, son of Adonijah and 
Lydia (Church) Howe, who practices in Barre and 
Boston ; the Russell homestead was at Princeton, 
Massachusetts. 5. Lois, born May 17, 1765, died 
October 17, 1778. 6. Dorcas, born April 7, 1767, 
died July II, 1S44, aged seventy-seven years; married, 
April 20, 1788. Dr. Isaiah Whitney, who settled at 
Rindge. New Hampshire ; had ten children ; she was 
drowned by the upsetting of a coach near Burling- 
ton, Vermont. 7. Hannah, born February 11, 1769, 
died June 23, 1784. 8. Jane, born April 8, 1771, 
died December, 1858, aged eighty-seven years ; mar- 
ried. September 25. 1794. Captain Moses Todd, a 
farmer and inn-holder, first postmaster of Rindge, 
New Hampshire; often town officer; removed to 
Fitchburg, Massachusetts, in 1833 ! had nine chil- 
dren. 9. Charles (twin) born April 28, 1773. died 
September 24. 1846: married, 1798, Charlotte Wood, 
who died June 8. 1836; married (second), March 
26. 1840. Lydia Whitnay, daughter of Jacob and 
Esther Whitnay ; studied medicine with Dr. Eldridge, 
father of the first husband of "Fanny Fern ;" he in- 
herited a large estate and his father's professional 
practice ; he represented the town in the general 
court six years ; in 1802 was appointed surgeon to 
the Second Regiment of militia ; had six children. 
TO. Betty (twin) born April 28, 1773. died Octo- 
ber 6. 1778. II, Anna, born December 12. 1787. died 
November 21. 1868: married, August 30, 1805, Benja- 
min Hapgood. of Marlboro. Massachusetts, where 
they resided for fifteen years, then settled in Stow ; 
she married (second), December 20. 1842. Deacon 
Josiah Whitman, son of Deacon John and Abigail 
(Whitman) Whitman, removed to Bridgewater, 
Massachusetts, where she died November 21, 1868. 
aged eighty years ; had ten children by first mar- 
riage. 

rV) Catherine Whitman, daughter of Charles 
Whitman (4). was born .Vpril .-^o. 1761. She mar- 
ried. June 10. I'Sa, Judah Wetherbee, son of Silas 
and Betsey Wetherbee. He was born in Stow about 
April 13, 1755, died in Stow about December, 1835. 



228 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



They resided for a time in Stow, then removed to 
Waterford, Maine. She died in Boston about 1843. 
Their children were: i. Charles Wctherbee, born 
November 30, 1781, said to have married and died 
in New York city about 1825. 2. Betsey Wctherbee, 
born March 8, 17S3, died about 1S33 unmarried at 
Marlboro. 3. Amelia Wctherbee, born December 
4, 1784, married, September 17, 1810, Darius Wilkins, 
born February 26, 1774, died November 23, 1858; 
she died June 23, 1843; resided at Norway, Maine, 
had five children. 4. Catherine Wctherbee, born 
May 26, 1787, married William Hobbs. 5. Charlotte 
Wctherbee, born June 20, 1789, married Henry Hill, 
died at Providence, Rhode Island. 6. Jane Whit- 
man VVethcrbec, born January 28, 1791, married at 
Norway, Maine, March 16, 1813, David Fowler, son 
of John' Fowler, of Ipswich, Massachusetts, deputy 
sheriff; she died August 16, 1866, aged seventy-tive 
years; had four children. 7. Judah VV'etherbee, born 
at Stow, Massachusetts, July 19, 1794. married (first), 
January 4, 1821, Miranda Russell; married (second) 
at Dedham, Massachusetts, November 28, 1833, Mary 
Draper Kingsbury, daughter of Dr. Ezekiel, and 
Mary (Draper) Kingsbury; he served in the war 
of 1812; resided till 1803 m Stow, then removed to 
Charlestown; provision dealer in Quincy market, 
Boston, also milk dealer; died in Charlestown. Jan- 
uary 7, 1869; widow died after 1889; had ten chil- 
dren. 8. Isaac Wctherbee, born July 17, 1797, mar- 
ried, September, 1818, Sophia Greene, daughter of 
Barnabas and Mary Greene; he died at Lawrence, 
Massachusetts, July 18, 1868; she was living in 
1889, at Lawrence. 9. Jacob Wetherbee, born August 
19, 1798, died young. 10. Ann S. Wetherell. born 
November 17, 1799, married in Stow about 1827 
Charles Newell; resided in Florida; she died in 
Nashville, Tennessee, December 8, 1872. 11. Mary 
Wetherbee, born August 12, 1803, married (first) 
John Hunter; married (second), 1837, Charles Whit- 
man Hapgood, son of Benjamin and Anna (Whit- 
man) Hapgoo'd; she died August, 1850. 

(VI) Catherine Wetherbee, daughter of Judah 
and Catherine (Whitman) Wetherbee (S), was born 
May 26, 1787. She married, January 17, 1807, Will- 
iam Hobbs, son of Jeremiah and Anne (I<"owler) 
Hobbs. He was born April 2, 1781, and died Feb- 
ruary 19, 1843. They settled at Norway, Maine. 
She died in 1864. Their children were all born in 
Norway, Maine. (See sketch of Hobbs Family.) 

JAMES EDWIN WESSON. John Wesson (i), 
of Salem. Massachusetts, the earliest American an- 
cestor of James Edwin Wesson, of Worcester, was 
the progenitor of many if not all the Massachusetts 
families of that name, as well as of those known as 
Weston, the patronymic appearing in both these 
forms. The family originated in England, whither 
came its founder with William the Conqueror, from 
whom he received valuable estates in Staffordshire 
and elsewhere in England. 

John Wesson was born in 1630 or 1631, in Buck- 
inghamshire, England, and died about 1723, aged 
over ninety years. About 1644, when only thirteen 
years old, his father being dead, he sailed as a 
stowaway in a ship bound for America. He settled 
in Salem, Massachusetts, where in 1648, at the age 
of eighteen, he was a member of the First church. 
About 1653 he removed to that part of Reading now 
known as Wakefield, and accumulated one of the 
largest estates in the town, his lands adjoining the 
Meeting House square and extending southerly. He 
was a Puritan, very earnest in his piety, and his 
gravestone in the Reading graveyard shows that he 
was one of the founders of the church there. He 
served in King Philip's war. In 1653 he married 



Sarah, daughter of Zachariah Fitch, of Reading, and 
this is the first marriage there of which record 
exists. He had at kast eight children, four sons 
among them, each of whom became the head of a 
family, and has many descendants in all parts of the 
country. His children were: i. Sarah, born July 
15, 1656; baptized May 10, 1657. 2. Mary, born 
May 25, 1659; probably died young. 3. John, born 
March 8, 1661 ; baptized August 29, 1661 ; married 
JNIary Bryant, 1684, and had twelve children ; lived 
at Reading, Massachusetts. 4. Elizabeth, born at 
Reading; baptized October, 1663. 5. Samuel, (see 
forward). 6. Sttphen, born 1667; was a pious, in- 
dustrious man; had a farm in Reading where he died 
in 1753. aged nearly ninety. (Stephen, his son, be- 
came the owner of a farm in Wilmington, Massa- 
chusetts, deacon of the church and a leading citi- 
zen; died 1776, aged eighty-one years; left many 
descendants.) 7. Ihomas, born 1670; married Sarah 
Townsend, and is the ancestor of the Weston fam- 
ilies in New Hampshire. The facts herein given 
with reference to John Wesson are from a manu- 
script record left by his son John. 

(II) Samuel Wesson, son of John Wesson (i), 
was born at Reading, Massachusetts, 1665. His 
name usually appears as Weston. He married 
Abigail , about 1688 and settled at Read- 
ing. Their children were: Abigail, born 1689; 
Samuel, (see forward). 

(III) Samuel Wesson, son of Samuel Wesson 
(2), was born in Reading, Massachusetts, in i6go, 
and went to Framingham, in 171 1, when he was 
twenty-one years old, and there married. May 7, 1711, 
Martha, daughter of Nathaniel Haven, granddaugh- 
ter of Richard Haven, of Lynn, who came over in 
1645. In 1713 Samuel died, and his widow married 
Isaac Cousins, of Sherborn, Massachusetts, Janu- 
ary 12, 1745-46; she died the following year, at her 
home in Sherborn. The one child of Samuel and 
Martha (Haven) Wesson was: John (see for- 
ward). 

(IV) John Wesson, born in Framingham, Alass- 
achusetts, December I, 171 1. He married Ruth 
Death, of Sherborn, ^lassachusetts, an adjoining 
town, January 22, 1740, She was born April 20, 
1711, daughter of Henry and Rachel (Leland) 
Death, her father being the son of John, who came 
from Natick to Sherborn in 1677-78. John Wesson 
probably lived at Framingham until after the death 
of his mother in 1746. He moved to Grafton, Mass- 
achusetts, near the Sutton and Worcester lines as 
early as 1749. He' bought of John Gould nine 
acres in Sutton in 1749, and several other tracts of 
land in >the neighborhood, owning land in Grafton,. 
Worcester, and Sutton, in that part now Millbury, 
but part of which was annexed to Worcester in 
1785, called the "Gore." He was a revolutionary 
soldier in the F'ramingham company. He was in 
Captain Joseph Winch's company, Colonel Samuel 
Bullard's regiment in 1777, and was in ihe cam- 
paign under General Gates that ended in the sur- 
render of Burgoyne. He married (second) Re- 
becca Daniel, August 24, 1757. The children of John 
and Ruth Wesson were : i. Samuel, born at Sher- 
born. July 14, 1741 ; he became a revolutionary sol- 
dier ; married Rebecca ; died 1776. 2. Levi. 

3. Joel. 4. John, Jr., married Mehitable Elliott. 5. 
Abel, married Sarah Drury. 6. Silas ; he was one 
of twelve soldiers who joined with Major Timothy 
Bigelow, of Worcester, and marched to Canada^ 
where Silas was killed at the attack on Quebec, De- 
cember 31, 1775. 

(V) Joel Wesson, son of John Wesson (4), 
was born probably about 1746, at Framingham. He 
married Hannah Bigelow, born in Worcester, July 





.^^^•^^^^i^^'Tt*^ /-W?*; 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



229 



3, 1748, daughter of Joshua and L)-dia Bigelow. 
They hved for a few years, in the seventies, in 
Brookiield, but for the greater part of their lives in 
Worcester. He held much real estate, and paid 
one of the largest taxes in that town. He was a 
juror in 1785 and on the school committee in 1787. 
He was a plow-maker by trade and was in Fram- 
ingham in 1789. plying his trade there. Hannah, liis 
widow, died December 29, 1829, aged eighty-two 
years. Their children were: i. Hulda, married' 
Lewis Witherby, of Shrewsbury. 2. Hruniah, mar- 
ried Bartlett. 3. Mary, married Charles 

Warren. November 16, 1808; she was called Polly. 

4. Sewell. 5. Joel, Jr., born April 7, 1775. at Brook- 
field, Massachusetts ; married Thankful Newton, in 
Shrewsbury, September 15, 1796; she was born Jan- 
uary 4, 1778 ; they had two sons : David, married 
Anna Burbank, of Worcester, November I, 1827; 
and Andrew, born November 14, 1S08. at north 
parish of Sutton, now Millbury, who had a son 
Frank B., now (1905) of New York city. 6. Rufus, 
(see forward). 

Joel Wesson and his brothers were the owners 
of a large part of "the Gore," which was claimed by 
both Worcester and Grafton. Joel was considered 
an inhabitant of Grafton until 1785, when the title 
of Worcester to the section was acknowledged 
formally. A very important deed in tracing this 
genealogy is recorded at Worcester. Joel Wesson 
and his brother Levi Wesson deeded to their bfoth- 
•ers, John, Jr. and Samuel, October 24. 1777, certain 
lands in "the Gore." and the deed gives the names of 
the children of John and Ruth (Death) Wesson. 
Joel sold his farm in North Brookfield to his 
brother. John Wesson, June 25, 1789. 

(VI) Rufus Wesson, son of Joel Wesson (5). 
was born in 1786, in Worcester, on the old home- 
stead at "the Gore." He was a farmer, and ac- 
<juired much real estate, and bought what is known 
as the Wesson place near Lake Quinsigamond, 
March 7, 1814, of Lewis Baird. He was also a 
plow-maker. He was a highway surveyor and col- 
lector of taxes in 1825, fence viewer in 1816, and 
served in the militia in the Grafton company. He 
married, at Worcester, September 18, 1808, Betsey 
Baird. She was of a family well known in Wor- 
cester. The Bairds were from the west of England, 
and of earlier date from Scotland. The English and 
Scotch pedigrees have been carefully kept. (See 
Vol. I, Proceedings of the Worcester Society of 
Antiquity.) Of the children of Rufus jnd Betsey 
W^esson, nine are recorded in Worcester: i. Cor- 
nelia, born January 28, 1810: married to H. H. Har- 
rington, of Shrewsbury, 1833 ; of her children were 
Gilbert H. Harrington, late of Harrington & Rich- 
ardson Arms Company. (See sketch of Gilbert H. 
Harrington elsewhere in this work.) Mrs. Cornelia 
(Wesson) Harrington lived to the age of upwards 
of ninety years. 2. Martin, married Abigail H. 
Green, of Cirafton, at Marlboro, January 6, 1840. He 
was a shoe manufacturer in Springfield. 3. Edwin, 
born December 13, 181 1; married at Marlboro, 
Nancy H. Harrington, of Grafton, June 10, 1838. 
He was a rifle manufacturer, and operated a fac- 
tory at Northboro, and afterward in Hartford, Con- 
necticut. He died at the age of thirty-nine years. 
4. Betsy, born January 26, 1814; married W. H. H. 
Conner, of Grafton. October 17, 1844. 5. Rufus, Jr.. 
(see forward). 6. Charlotte, born September 3. 
1819. 7. Jane, born IVLay 8, 1823. 8. Daniel B.. (see 
forward') . 9. Franklin, born November 8. 1828, at 
Worcester, Massachusetts. He went to California 
in 1851. built the first brick building in Shasta, and 
there carried on a large business, being an expert 
rifle-maker. 10. Frances, born August 8, 1830. 



(\'Ii) Daniel Baird Wesson, who made for him- 
self world-wide fame as an inventor of the revolver 
which bears his name, was a son of Rufus Wesson 
(6). He was born at Worcester, Massachusetts, 
May 18, 1825. At the age of seventeen, while yet at 
school, he began to devote his evenings to making 
firearms in Northborough, Massachusetts, under the 
direction of his brother Edwin, who died in 1850, 
and whose interests he took in charge, and it was 
this establishment which turned out the Wesson 
rifle, the leading favorite with hunters at that time. 
Subsequently, at Norwich, Connecticut, he formed 
a partnership with Horace Smith, under the name 
of Smith & Wesson, and they established a factory 
and made the "volcanic" rifle, a repeater. Mr. 
Wesson also invented a metallic cartridge. About 
185s the firm sold their patent rights to the Volcanic 
Repeating Arms Company, now the Winchester 
Rifle Company. Mr. Wesson remained for a time 
as superintendent, but in 1857 joined Horace Smith 
again, under the firm name of Smith & Wesson, and 
began to manufacture revolvers in Springfield, ^lass- 
achusetts. They began in a small shop with about 
seventy-five men, making a .few thousand arms a 
year, but the busincess grew very rapidly, espec- 
ially after the^breaking out of the civil war, and 
became enormous. The Smith & Wesson works are 
in some respects the largest and most com- 
plete of the kind in the world. The build- 
ings and equipment are especially substantial 
and complete, and an average force of five 
hundred men have been employed for many 
years. The Smith & Wesson revolvers are famous 
all over the world, and are the favorite weapon in 
some of the foreign armies, as they are in that of 
the United States. They received the highest award, 
against the competition of the whole world, at the 
Exposition in Paris, 1867 ; JNIoscow, 1872 ; Vienna, 
1873; Philadelphia. 1876; Australia, 1880; and at 
many of the numerous exhibitions more recently. 
Mr. Smith retired from the firm in 1874. Mr. 
Wesson admitted to partnership, January i, 1882, 
his son, Walter H., and later his son Joseph, and 
these two are now the active managers of the 
business. 

]\Ir. Wesson has also been actively identified with 
with various other business interests, being a direc- 
tor in the First National Bank of Springfield, Mass- 
achusetts, and the Bigelow-Cheney Wire Coinpany, 
and was an officer in the water companies of Lead- 
ville, Colorado, and Independence, Iowa. He has 
borne a prominent part in local affairs, and has gen- 
erously contributed of his means to various enter- 
prises of public worth. He is president of the Oak 
Grove Cemetery Association, and. a charter member 
and vice president of the Hampden County Horti- 
cultural Society. His broad, public spirit is manifest 
in various splendid gifts. With James Kirkland and 
Joshua D. Sackett he purchased the magnificent 
estate out of which Edgewood Park was made and 
opened to the public, and he gave to the city of 
Springfield the beautiful Wesson Fountain, de- 
signed by Gilbert and Thompson. In jiolitics he is 
a Republican, and has been an active and influential 
advocate of its principles and policies. Mr. Wesson 
married. May 26, 1847, Cynthia M. Hawes, of North- 
boro. Some years ago he built on the place wdiere 
his wife was horn, within .sight of the little shop in 
which he learned to make arms, a residence costing, 
it is said. $300,000. The children of Daniel Baird 
and Cynthia M. (Hawes) Wesson were: I. Sarah 
Jeanette, married George J. Bull. 2. Walter Her- 
bert. 3. Frank Luther. 4. Joheph Hawes. 

(VII) Rufus Wesson, Jr., son of Rufus Wes- 
son (6), was horn May 17. 1815, at Worcester, Mas- 



230 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



sachusetts. He began work with his father on the 
farm, making plows. In 1844 he engaged in the man- 
ufacture of shoes in South Shrewsbury, cutting out 
the stock and distributing it among farmer-shoe- 
makers for miles about, as was then the custom. 
He built up a large demand for his goods, and in 
1848 established his factory on Front street, Wor- 
cester. Prosperity there attended him, but he de- 
cided to locate in the west, and in 1851 removed to 
Peoria, Illinois, where he engaged in shoe manufac- 
turing. Suffering financial reverses, in 1854 he re- 
turned to Worcester and made a new begmning as 
a shoe manufacturer, opening a shop on Waldo 
street, nearly opposite the police station, where he 
carried on a successful business until 1870, when he 
retired, just before the great change in shoe manu- 
facture, whereby the shoes were made in large fac- 
tories by machinery, operated by steam power. He 
married Miriam Harrington, July 23, 1840, daughter 
of Colonel Daniel and Zillah Harrington, of Shrews- 
bury, where they were married. She died in Chi- 
cago in 1851. There were two children by this mar- 
riage : 1. James Edwin, (see forward). 2. Char- 
lotte Miriam, born April 18, 1845, at Shrewsbury, 
Massachusetts; married Charles T. Sherer, the dry 
goods dealer, and has a son, Joseph'^F. Sherer, and 
several daughters. i\Ir. Wesson married, in 1851, 
Mrs. Jennie (.Burtnett) Kendrick, of Kenosha, Wis- 
consin, who died in 1856 without issue. He mar- 
ried (third) in 1858, Sophia Goddard, daughter of 
Deacon Nathaniel Goddard, of Millbury, who is now 
(1905) living in Worcester. Their children were: 
I. Afred, born July 18, 1863, married Ella Daniels, 
and has two sons; is manager for the Woodbury- 
Carlton Engraving Company, Walnut street, Wor- 
cester. 2. Walter Gale, (see forward). 

(Vni) James Edwin Wesson, son of Rufus 
Wesson, Jr., (7), was born in Grafton, Massachu- 
setts, June 14, 1841. He was educated in the pub- 
lic schools of Springfield and Worcester, Massa- 
chusetts, but at the age of fourteen, at the time 
or his father's financial reverses, left school and 
went to work with him to build up their fortunes 
anew, and the two were thus associated until the son 
attained his majority, and learned the shoe manu- 
facturing business thoroughly, as it was then con- 
ducted. The father was conservative and disposed 
to let well-enough alone, but the son, recognizing 
the impending revolution in the shoe business, es- 
tablished in a small way a business on his own ac- 
count, in a small room in the same building owned 
by his father on Waldo street. It was his purpose, 
as soon as possible, to install the most modern ma- 
chinery and make shoes entirely at the factory. In 
a few years, however, all manufacturers were driven 
to choose between the Idrge shop and an elaborate 
equipment of machinery, or retirement from busi- 
ness. The senior Wesson retired, and the son, 
James E. Wesson, fitted up a larger and more com- 
pletely equipped shop in the C. C. Houghton build- 
ing, 105 Front street, Worcester. He had made 
an auspicious beginning on Waldo street, and after 
five years at the Front street location he moved (in 
1874) into a building at 31 Mulberry street, owned 
by Samuel Winslow, where he remained for six or 
seven years. Finding these quarters inadequate to 
the increased demands he leased of Charles Bigelow 
the building at 10 Mulberry street, where he con- 
tinued business for five years. Again the business 
had outgrown his facilities, and he again made a 
removal (in 1889), this time to the present factory, 
corner of Asylum street, then owned by Samuel 
Winslow, but which he subsequently purchased from 
the Winslow Trust. In 1905 Mr. Wesson received 
into partnership his brother, Walter Gale Wesson, 



who had been associated with him in the business 
and had resided with him for many years. The 
factory is one of the few shoe factories of Worcester 
which have been uniformly successful, and has con- 
stantly extended its business. The building is 
40x166 feet, four stories with basement, and in re- 
cent years has employed two hundred operatives or 
more, with a daily capacity of fifteen hundred pairs 
of shoes. An interesting memento of the earlier 
days of the industry is to be seen at the factory, 
a shoe made in 1854 by Rufus Wesson, Jr. 

Mr. Wesson married, January I, 1865, at Clin- 
ton, Massachusetts, Anna Endora Stoneberger. (See 
forward.) They reside at 7 Linden street, in a 
house which was erected by jNIr. Wesson's father. One 
of the pleasant reminiscences of the family life in the 
old mansion was the entertaining at dinner, on the 
fortieth wedding anniversary of Mr. and Mrs. James 
Edwin Wesson, the same company that was enter- 
tained by his father and mother, on that New Year's 
eve forty years before, with the exception that, the 
father having died, his place was occupied by his 
youngest son, Walter Gale Wesson. Otherwise the 
personnel of the company was exactly the same. Mr. 
Wesson is a man of domestic tastes, and has but 
few interests outside his home, his only society con- 
nection being wdth Morning Star Lodge, Ancient 
Free and Accepted Masons, the Worcester C}ub, and 
the Tatnuck County Club. 

Mrs. James Edwin Wesson, daughter of Adam 
and Harriet Newell (Mason) Stonebarger, was 
born in Dayton, Ohio. The early representatives 
were called Steinberger and are of Austrian origin. 
The founder of the American branch came to this 
country in 1767, settling in Frankfort township, 
Cumberland county, Pennsylvania. 

Peter Stonebarger (3), grandfather of Mrs. 
Wesson, went from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, to 
Dayton, Ohio, and was among the early settlers of 
that place. He was architect and builder of the first 
bridge built across the Miami river at Dayton, be- 
fore the days of railway construction, cutting the 
timbers for it in the Alleghany mountains and Heat- 
ing them down the river to their destination. When 
the old bridge was torn down in 1904, it was seen 
that the timbers were all hewn out by hand ; he also 
designed and built the first Roman Catholic Church 
in Dayton, and Leon Beaver, his grandson, was 
supervising architect of the present cathedral built 
on the old site, the original church having been 
torn dowiii Adam Stonebarger, son of Peter Stone- 
barger (3), after being associated with his father 
for a time, went into business for himself as a dealer 
in paints and oils in western Pennsylvania. He 
married Harriet Newell Mason, born in South- 
bridge, Massachusetts, the daughter of Lemuel and 
Lydia (Adams) Mason, whose ancestors (Adams, 
Harthaway and jNIason) came from early Puritan 
stock. 

(VIII) Walter Gale Wesson, son of Rufus 
Wesson (7), was born at Worcester, Massachusetts, 
October 14, 1865. He attended the Worcester 
schools and the Worcester Polytechnic Institute, 
from which he graduated in 1886. Directly after 
graduatiijg he accepted a position in the school de- 
partment of Washington, District of Columbia, to 
organize and take charge of a manual training course 
in the high schools. The next year he held a posi- 
tion with the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Com- 
pany at Baltimore, Maryland. After a year at 
Baltimore, he spent three years in Philadelphia, or- 
ganizing the manual training department in a pri- 
vate school for boys. At a later day he was sim- 
ilarly occupied for three years at Menomonie, Wis- 
consin, as principal of an industrial school estab- 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



231 



lished there by Senator Stout along the lines of a 
technical institute. 

Whtn manual training was introduced into tiie 
public schools of Worcester, Mr. Wesson was 
chosen to organize the work. He has won high 
praise from those competent to judge, and from 
the families of the boys and girls who have taken 
the manual training courses in the past few years. 
The manual training idea with its natural develop- 
ment into the industrial school is by far the most 
useful and nnportant thing recently adopted in the 
American system of public education, and the in- 
herited mechanical skill and fine technical training 
of Mr. Wesson admirably fitted him for the pio- 
neer work of organizing such schools. ^Ir. Wesson 
left the Worcester schools in 1904, and became as- 
sociated with his brother, J. Edwin Wesson in the 
manufacture of shoes, and in 1905 became a mem- 
ber of the firm. 

KINNICUTT F.'^MILV. Roger Kennicutt (i)(,in 
the first deed, 1680, spelled Kennecut) came from 
Devonshire, England, about the middle of the seven- 
teenth century, and settled in Maiden, Massachu- 
setts. He married, 1661, Johanna Shepardson, born 
^Jarch 13, 1O4J, the third daughter of Daniel and 
Johanna Shepardson. Danitl Shepardson came to 
America from England in 1632, and settled in 
Charlestown, Massachusetts, where he died July 26, 
1644. January 30, 1679, Roger Kennicutt sold his es- 
tate in Maiden, consisting of a house, land in the 
limits of Charlestown, known as Molton Island, 
south and southwest, to Lieutenant J. Smith. He 
moved with his family to Swansea, Rhode Island, 
and bought, May 19, 1680, of John and James Brown, 
a tract of land bounded on one side by Kikemut 
Creek. He died about i6g6. Roger and Johanna 
Kennicutt had three children : Johanna, born Jan- 
uary, 1664; Lydia, born January, 1667; John, born 
October, 1669. 

(II) John Kennicutt, son of Roger and Johanna 
(Shepardson) Kennicutt, born in Maiden, October, 
1669, moved with his father to Swansea, Rhode 
Island, 1680. He married Elizabeth Luther, daugh- 
ter of Hezekiah Luther, of Swansea. The exact date 
is not known. He died August 23, 1722. 

(III) John Kennicutt, son of John and Eliza- 
beth (Luther) Kennicutt, born in Swansea, 1700, 
married Anna Eddy, 1725, who died December 8, 
1735- Two years after her death. May 30, 1737, he 
married Hannah Gorham, daughter of Jabez Gor- 
hani, of Bristol, and great-great-granddaughter of 
John Howland, one of the "Mayflower" passengers. 
He died in JNIarch, 17S2. He was town clerk of 
Warren, Rhode Island, and a noted Tory at the out- 
break of the revolution. He was a "firm Episco- 
palian." "His usual practice was to catechise his 
children every Sunday morning and then prepare for 
church. They attended St. Michael's, Bristol, dis- 
tant six miles. His daughters rode on horseback 
and the sons walked on foot." Records. "Histori- 
cal Discourse, St. JNIark's Church, Warren, Rhode 
Island, November 10, 1S78." Providence Press 
Company, printers, 1879. 

(IV) Shubael Kinnicutt, son of John and Han- 
nah (Gorham) Kennicutt, born Swansea, March 
28, 1732, married Elizabeth, daughter of Simon Burr, 
of Rehoboth. July 3, 1765. He died in Swansea, 
August 13, 1810. 

(V) Thomas Kinnicutt, son of Shubael and 
Elizabeth (Burr) Kinnicutt, born Swansea, August 
13. 1768, married Amey. daughter of Deacon Samuel 
Wightman, of Rehoboth, June 14, 1794. He died in 
Seekonk, August 28, 1820. 

(\T) Francis Harrison Kinnicutt, son of 



Thomas and Amey (Wightman) Kinnicutt, was born 
in Seekonk, Rhode Island, April 27, 1812. He came 
to Worcester, Massachusetts, in 1828, and in 1830 
became a clerk in the hardware store of George T. 
Rice, Main and Walnut streets. He was soon ad- 
mitted as a partner, and after a few years, with his 
brother, Thomas Kinnicutt, he purchased the inter- 
est held by Mr. Rice, who took up cloth manu- 
facturing. Samuel Woodward took the place o£ 
Thomas Kinnicutt, who was a lawyer by profession, 
and in later years assumed the active management, 
giving Mr. Kinnicutt time to attend to other im- 
portant duties. The above named were all honorable 
members of the Worcester Fire Society. Francis H. 
Kinnicutt from his coming to Worcester took up 
and bore well his part in the functions connected 
with the social life of the then small town, and his 
name appears in connection with many of the early- 
day balls and other assemblies held each winter, 
especially in court time. The man of affairs of to- 
day is often so absorbed in the details of his busi- 
ness that he does not show the world the better 
side of his nature. In the last years of Mr. Kinni- 
cutt's life, relieved from care, his geniality of dis- 
position became known to a wider circle. He main- 
tained his interest in the prosperity of the city to 
the last. His great sympathy for young men to 
whom he took a liking was frequently manifested in 
a practical manner. 

He was made director of the Citizens' Bank in 
1842, and was its president from i860 until his 
death, September 12, 1885. He was also a director 
of the Worcester & Nashua Railroad from 1855, 
and its president from 1866 to 1881, when he sur- 
rendered his trust. For nearly a quarter of a cen- 
tury he was ^ member of the board of investment of 
the Worcester County Institution for Savings, and 
in each and every position of trust evinced fidelity 
and good management. He held few if any public 
offices, but took an interest and supported every 
means calculated to make better his city, county and 
commonwealth. He married Elizabeth, the second 
daughter of Hon. Leonard Moody Parker, of Shir- 
ley. Mrs. Kinnicutt was the granddaughter of the 
first Levi Lincoln and great-granddaughter of the 
first Daniel Waldo. 

(VII) Rebecca Newton Kinnicutt, daughter of 
Francis PI. and Elizabeth Waldo (Parker) Kinni- 
cutt, born September 17, 183S, married Dr. George 
E. Francis, of Worcester, June 23, 1868. She had 
two children, Elizabeth and George Kinnicutt. 

(VII) Elizabeth Waldo Kinnicutt, daughter of 
Francis H. and Elizabeth Waldo (Parker) Kinni- 
cutt, born August 18. 1840, married Dr. William II. 
Draper, of New York, October 15, 1861 ; died De- 
cember 19, 1869. She had three children : William, 
Martha, and Robert Watts. 

(VII) Julia Burling Kinnicutt, daughter of 
Francis PI. and Elizabeth Waldo (Parker) Kinni- 
cut, born July i, 1843, married John M. Barker, of 
Worcester, no issue. 

(VII) Frank Parker Kinnicutt, son of Francis 
H. and Elizabeth Waldo (Parker) Kinnicutt, born 
July 13, 1846, married Eleanor Kissel, of New York, 
November 19, 1875. He engaged in medical prac- 
tice. They had two children: Frank Harrison, and 
Gustave Herman Kissel. 

(VII) Lincoln Newton Kinnicutt, son of 
Francis H. and Elizabeth Waldo (Parker) Kenni- 
cutt, bom March 14, 1849, was educated in the pub- 
lic schools and completed his education abroad. At 
the age of seventeen he entered the hardware house 
of his father, and upon attaining his majority was 
admitted as a partner. In 1877 he retired from this 
business and entered the office of George T. Rice, a 



232 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



banker, and in 1884 formed a partnership with Alex- 
ander Dewitt, and the firm of Kcnnicutt & Dewitt, 
bankers, was founded which is today the largest 
private banking house in Worcester. Mr. Kinni- 
cutt has been actively connected with many of the 
institutions of Worcester, serving in the capacity of 
treasurer of the Worcester Art Museum since its 
organization ; trustee and treasurer of the Worcester 
Polytechnic Institute ; trustee of the Worcester 
County Institution of Savings, and as a director of 
the Citizens' National Bank, Worcester National 
Bank, Worcester Consolidated Street Railway, Wor- 
cester Trust Company, and the Boston Tow Boat 
Compan}'. He is also an active factor in the follow- 
ing charitable institutions of Worcester, namely : 
The Children's Friend Society, the Worcester 
Employment Society, and the Old JNIen's Home. He 
is a Republican in nolitics, but has never taken any 
active part in public affairs. He married, October 
ID, 1878, Edith Perley, daughter of Judge Perley, 
of Concord, New Hampshire. They have one son, 
Roger, born at Worcester, February 12, 1880. He 
is a graduate of Harvard, and is now attending the 
Harvard Medical School. 

(VII) Leonard Parker Kinnicutt. D. Sc, son 
of Francis H. and Elizabeth Waldo (Parker) Kinni- 
cutt, was born in Worcester, May 22, 1854. He mar- 
ried Louisa Hoar Clarke, daughter of Dr. Henry 
Clarke, June 4, 18S5, who died January 22, 1892. 
He married (second) Frances Ayres Clarke, daugh- 
ter of Josiah H. Clarke, July 9, 1898; no issue. He is 
professor of chemistry in the Worcester Polytechnic 
Institute. 

The Parker and Kinnicutt families, together with 
the families into which they have married and inter- 
married, have been of much importance and as- 
sociated with many of the historic events during 
the period covered by the last two centuries. 

(I) James Parker was living in Woburn, Massa- 
chusetts, in 164D. He married Elizabeth Long, 
daughter of Robert Long, of Charlestown, May 23, 
1643, bv whom he had one son. She died, and in 
his old age he married Mrs. Eunice Carter, widow 
of Samuel Carter, who was the son of the Rev. 
Thomas Carter, by whom a daughter was born thirty 
years after any of her father's other children. There 
are no records of his children except his son James, 
to be further written of in this narrative. 

He came to Groton . about the date of its or- 
ganization, and was the first and largest proprietor. 
The town was divided into "acre rights," each one 
of which entitled its owner to nearly fifty acres. 
Mr. Parker had fifty of these "rights," and his landed 
estates were increased until he became the largest 
land owner, if not the richest man within the terri- 
tory during its early history. He was an in- 
fluential man, a deacon in the church; a sergeant, 
and so on up to captain, in the military service; a 
selectman at the town organization in 1662, hold- 
ing the position more than thirty years ; and was 
also town clerk, and usually moderator of the 
meetings and chairman on all important committees, 
appointed to locate roads, lay oft' lands, and es- 
tablish bounds. In later life he was appointed to 
represent the town in the general court. His home 
was far out from the present village, near Martin's 
Pond, somewhat removed from the highway, in a 
shaded, secluded spot, with at present no house 
to mark the spot where dwelt the chief original 
proprietor. His son, 

(II) .James Parker, Jr., was born in Woburn, 
April 15, 1652. He married Mary Parker, Decem- 
ber II, 1678, lived at Groton, and had five children. 
He was killed by the Indians, July 27, 1694, and his 
family carried into captivity. His second son was, 



(HI) Phineas Parker, born 1684, at Groton, 
where he died August 13, 1744. He w-as twice mar- 
ried, first to Abigail , who died February 4, 

1721 ; and second to Elizabeth . Of the eight 

children of Phineas Parker, his second soii was 

(IV) Leonard Parker, born at Groton, June 
3, 1718; married Abigail , and had ten chil- 
dren, the third of whom was 

(V) James Parker, born at Groton, November 
26, 1744. He came to Shirley soon after he reached 
his majority, and settled upon the farm for many 
years in the possession of the Parker family. He 
married Sarah Dickenson and had ten children. For 
one year he was a selectman, and later held a justice's 
commission, but never exercised the function of 
his office. He lived in the trying days of the 
revolution, but took no active part except to en- 
roll with the eighty volunteers called out by the 
alarm of April 19. 1775. His life was mainly spent 
in the discharge of his personal business, his lands 
were kept under good cultivation, and he thus be- 
came wealthy. In 1802 he resigned his farm to 
his eldest son, and removed to the centre village, 
where he died September 29, 1830. His wife Sarah 
preceded him to the grave, her death occurring 
November 22, 1829. He had ten children : Sarah, 
James, Lovey, Henrietta, Rhoda, Abigail. Daniel. 
David. Lydia and Leonard Moody. 

(VI) Leonard Moody Parker, son of James and 
Sarah (Dickenson) Parker, was born in Shirley, 
January 9, 1789. At the age of fourteen he was 
sent to Groton Academy then under the preceptor- 
ship of Caleb Butler, Esq.. and in 1804 entered Dart- 
mouth College from which he was graduated in 1808 
with high honors. He studied law two years in the 
office of the Hon. Abijah Bigelow, of Leomiiistir. 
and one year in the office of Hon. Levi Lincoln, of 
Worcester, and , in 181 1 commenced the practice of 
law in Charlestown, Massachusetts. In 1812, upon 
the declaration of war against Great Britain, Mr. 
Parker was appointed army judge advocate attached 
to military district No. I, and held that office until 
the reduction of the army, after peace was declared. 
During his life he was an ardent and consistent 
politician of the Democratic school, and repeatedly 
held seats in both branches of the state legislature. 
He held the office of commissioner, and was a mem- 
ber of the national convention of 1820. But politics 
did not absorb the active life of Mr. Parker. He 
was a life member of the Boston Society of Natural 
History, an honorary member of the Northern Acad- 
emy of Arts and Sciences, of Hanover, New Hamp- 
shire, and a corresponding member of the North 
Eastern Historical and Genealogical Society. In 1830 
he received from President Johnson the appointment 
of naval officer for the Port of Boston and Charles- 
town in which he continued for four years, when 
he retired to his native place, the pleasant and quiet 
town of Shirley, where he passed the residue of 
his days. He married, March 22. 1814, Martha, 
daughter of Governor Levi Lincoln (senior), by 
whom he had three children : Martha, Elizabeth and 
Sarah. Mrs. Parker died at Charlestown. April 26, 
1822. Mr. Parker died in Shirley. August 25. 1854. 
In his will he bequeathed the sum of four thou- 
sand dollars to constitute a fund for the endowment 
and support of a high school for the benefit of all 
the youth of the town, and his books were given to 
the town for the beginning of a library. 

(VII) Elizabeth Waldo Parker, daughter of 
Leonard Moody Parker (6). was born in Charles- 
town. May 9. 1817. married Francis H. Kinnicutt, 
of Worcester. October 26. 1837. and is the mother 
of cix children: Rebecca Newton. Elizabeth Waldo, 
Julia B.. Frank Parker, Lincoln N., Leonard Parker. 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



233 



(VII) Sarah Rebecca Parker, daughter of 
Leonard Moody Parker (6), born March 6. 1S22, 
married Joseph Mason, of Worcester. November 10, 
1846. One child was born of this union, Josepli P., 
at Worcester, September 15, 1848, married A. 
Wright, of New York city, November 13, 1877. 

FREDERICK SUMNER PR.\TT. The Pratt 
family, of which Frederick S. Pratt is a representa- 
tive, traces its ancestry to Thomas Pratt, who took 
the oath of fidelity in Watertown. Massachusetts, 
in the year 1652, and who was there as early as 
1647. He is reported to have come to America 
about that date from London, England. About the 
year 1679 he purchased of Thomas Eames thirty 
acres of land in Framingham, and settled in that 
town. By his wife Susanna he had the following 
children : Thomas, Abial, married Daniel Bigelow ; 
Ebenezer, Joseph, John, Philip, Ephraim, Nathaniel, 
Jonathan, David, and Jabez. 

(ID Jonathan Pratt married Sarah, daughter o£ 
John Gale, of Framingham, and first resided on a 
portion of his father's place in Framingham; then 
removed to Oxford and was a selectman of Ox- 
ford in 172,3. Administration on his estate was 
granted in 17,35. His children were: Jonathan, born 
April 21. 1701 ; Abraham, Sarah, married Oliver 
Shumway : Joseph, Lydia, married Jedediah Barton ; 
Micah. Jonas, and Susanna, married Jonas Coller. 

(III) Jonathan Pratt, born April 21, 1701, re- 
ceived from his father a deed of sixty acres of 
land in Oxford, in 1723, and November 18. 1725, 
married Lydia. daughter of Theophilus Phillips, of 
Watertown. He built the house afterward, known 
as the Deacon Stone place, which was standing in 
1892. and then considered to be the oldest house in 
Oxford. His wife died in May. 1720. and he mar- 
ried (second). May 28, 1730. Ruth Eddy, who died 
April I, 1731. and he married (third). December 
15. 1731, Deborah, daughter of Deacon John Coolidge, 
of Watertown. He died July 25. 1788. and his wife 
.died February 9, 1793. aged eighty-three years. He 
-was a selectman of Oxford in 1740-41-51-56. 
His children were : Keziah, born March 18, 
1727, married Moses Holmes; Lydia, born 1728, 
died 1729; Ruth, born 17,31, died 1746; Mellison, 
born 1733, died 1746; Lydia, born 1736. died 1746; 
Huldah. born March i, 1739. married Isaac Town; 
Jonathan, born August 15, 1741 ; Elias. born No- 
vember 7, 1743: Elisha, born July 15, 1747; Esther, 
Ijorn June 6, 1752: Deborah, born July 15, 1754, 
married Jesse Merrram. 

(IV) Elias Pratt, born in Oxford, November 7, 
17J3, married, August 6. 1767, Lydia, daughter of 
Jonathan Hill, of Billerica. She was born March 
-25, 1746. He settled near the old homestead in 
Oxford, and was one of the men who marched in 
Captain John Town's company in answer to the 
alarm, April 19. 1775. They went to Roxbury and 
served fourteen and three-quarter days. Septem- 
ber 25. 1778. he was commissioned captain of the 
Fifteenth Company, Fifth Worcester County Regi- 
ment, Colonel Jonathan Holman. commanding. He 
again served as captain, from .'\pril 11, 1779, to July 
I, 1779. a period of two months and twenty days, 
his company being stationed at Rutland. He was a 
selectman of Oxford from 1785 to 1794. He died 
March 14, i8r6, and his wife died March 10, 1829, 
in Sutton. Their children were : Lydia, born 1768, 
died the same year ; Jerusha, born September 18, 
1760, married Thomas Davis ; Lydia and Ruth 
(twins), born September 25. 1771, married brothers, 
Ambrose and William Stone: Elias and Elijah 
(twins), born March 4. 1773; Zadock, born Novem- 
ber 17. 1775; Jeremiah, born September 20, 1779; 



Sylvanus and Sylvester (twins), born August 20, 
1781 ; and .\masa, born May 7. 1787. 

(V) p:iias Pratt, born in Oxford, March 4, 1773, 
married Sally, daughter, of Dr. Ezra Conant of Ox- 
ford, November 15. 1801. He first settled upon the 
old family homestead in Oxford, but about 1817 
removed to the neighboring town of Sutton, where, 
in 1825, he purchased the Hathaway place, known later 
as the Pratt house, and afterward as the Rufus 
King house. He made this farm his home for a 
number of years, but finally removed to Worcester, 
where he died September 2, 1854. In Oxford he 
served on the board of selectmen 1808-09-17. and was 
captain of militia. His children were: Sally, born 
1802, died 1804 ; Ezra, born October 6, 1804, died 
October 9. 1805 ; Serena, born .August 14. 1806, 
married Charles King ; Sarah, born January ^ 29, 
1808, married Joshua O. Lewis; Sumner, born Sep- 
tember ,30, 1809; Emeline, born^ December 14, 1812, 
married Leonard Woodbury ; and Amanda, born 
August II, 1815. died May 22, 1837. The mother 
of these children, Sally (Conant) Pratt, was a 
lineal descendant of Roger Conant. often called the 
first Colonial governor of Massachusetts. She was 
born in Warwick, Massachusetts, May 15, 1777, and 
died in Worcester, December 4, 1852. 

(VI) Sumner Pratt was born in Oxford. Massa- 
chusetts, September 30, i8og, upon the farm which 
was the home of his ancestors for three genera- 
tions, and there his school days and early man- 
hood were passed. His business career began with 
the manufacture of loom shuttles in 1831. In 1S43 
he was engaged in manufacturing cotton thread in 
Worcester. This continued for two years, when he 
established an agency for cotton and wool machinery 
and mill supplies in that city. He was very success- 
ful in this business, which grew extensively in the 
course of years, and he maintained an active interest 
in the firm which bore his name until a short time 
before his death, which occurred January 6, 1887. 
He was respected as a high-minded and public- 
spirited citizen and was held in esteem by all his 
associates for his sound judgment and nobility of 
character. In his social and family life he was 
beloved for personal qualities of an uncommon order. 
He served the city as a member of the common 
council in 1869-70-71-72, and of the board of alder- 
men in 1876-77. He was a trustee of the Wor- 
cester County Institution for Savings, vice-presi- 
dent of the People's Savings Bank, a director of the 
Worcester Safe Deposit and Trust Company, and 
at one period president of the Board of Trade. Dur- 
ing his life in Worcester he attended All Saints' 
Church (Protestant Episcopal), holding the offices 
of vestryman and warden for a long period. In 
politics he was first a Whig and then a Repub- 
lican. 

Sumner Pratt was twice married. His first wife, 
whom he married May 19. 18,36. was Serena, daugh- 
ter of Caleb Chase, of Sutton, and who died June 
IQ. 1848. By her he had two children : Frederick 
Sumner, born September 21. 1845; and Emma 
Amanda, born May 8, 1848. His second wife, whom 
he married August 5. 1850, was Abby Curtis, dau.gh- 
ter of Ebenezer Read, of Worcester, and who died 
April 29, 1896. By her he had one child, Edward 
Read, born May i" 1851. died October 31, 1880. 

(VII) Frederick Sumner Pratt was born in Wor- 
cester, Massachusetts. September 21. 1845. He was 
educated in the schools of Worcester, graduating 
from the hi.gh .school in 1862. After four years of 
service in the Worcester Bank he entered the busi- 
ness of his father, soon after becoming a member 
of the firm of Sumner Pratt & Co. In 1896 he 
retired from this firm in order to confine his at- 



234 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



tention to portrait and landscape painting, a work 
which for some years had been of exceeding in- 
terest to him. This interest, ahhough dating from 
art studies pursued in early life, received a fresh 
impulse from the visit of John Sargent to Worcester 
in the year i8go. when a most friendly and helpful 
intercourse with that distinguished master was 
brought about. Naturally his advice and criticism 
proved an invaluable aid to the Worcester artist. 
There are many portraits bearing Mr. Pratt's signa- 
ture now in Worcester homes and others, and he 
has been an occasional exhibitor at the art galleries 
of national reputation. He is a trustee of the Wor- 
cester County Institution for Savings and an officer 
of the Worcester Art Society and the Worcester Art 
Museum, as well as a inember of several clubs. He 
is a parishioner and warden of All Saints' Church 
(Protestant Episcopal) and a Republican in politics. 
Frederick Sumngr Pratt married, January 19, 
1S71, at Worcester, Sarah McKean Hilliard, who was 
born in Boston and was a daughter of Judge Francis 
Hilliard and Catharine Dexter Haven (daughter of 
Judge Samuel Haven, of Dcdham, Massachusetts.) 
She died in Worcester, December 27, 1897. Their 
children are : Francis Hilliard, born in Worcester, 
November 3, 1871, died November 4. 1871. Frederick 
Haven, A. i\I., M. D., born in Worcester, July 19, 
1873, a graduate of Harvard College and of the Har- 
vard Medical School, who has published papers on 
scientific and educational subjects, and is engaged 
in physiological research. He is a member of the 
Arnerican Association for the Advancement of 
Science, the Boston Society of Medical Sciences and 
of the St. Botolph Club, Boston. Katherine Chase, born 
m Worcester, December 29,1875. She became the wife 
of Dr. Alfred Lindsay Shapleigh, of Boston, June 
2, 1896, and they both went to (Thina as missionaries 
in 1896 and again in 1904. In February, 1905, her 
husband and only children (Samuel Brooks and 
Stephen) died from smallpox at Ngankin; a third 
son (Frederick Gordon), having died in igoo at 
Worcester. With rare courage and devotion she 
resolved to continue her work in China and is now 
(1906) at Yang Chow. Robert Gage, born in Wor- 
cester, October 17, 1877, a graduate of Harvard 
College, class of 1900. and now (1906) holds a re- 
sponsible position in the Crompton & Knowles Loom 
Works. He married, July 9, 1906. Edythe McCord 
Coleman, of Morristown, New Jersey. Elizabeth 
Hilliard. born in Worcester, July 27, 1882, married 
Dr. William Irving Clark, of New York, June 23, 
1906. 

PETER WOOD.- Thomas Wood (i), great- 
grandfather of Peter Wood, of Worcester. Massachu- 
setts, was born and brought up in Yorkshire. Eng- 
land. He came of an old English family not quite 
generally scattered over Ireland as well as Eng- 
land. Few surnames had a larger representation 
among the early settlers and pioneers of New Eng- 
land. Thomas Wood left England when a young 
man to make a home in Ireland and establish him- 
self in business there. He bought a farm in Castle 
Bleyney, county Monaghan, Ireland, established a 
woolen mill and manufactured woolen cloth. His 
son John, grandfather of Peter Wood, of Worcester, 
succeeded him in business. 

(II) John AVood, son of Thomas Wood d), 
was born in Castle Bleyney, county Monaghan, Ire- 
land. He followed his father in the manufacture 
of woolen goods in his native town. He left his 
business to three of his sons, Bernard, James and 
William. In fact, the woolen mill established a 
hundred years ago by Thomas Wood is still owned 
and operated by his descendants. The children of 



John Wood were : James, Thomas, William, Ber- 
nard, father of Peter Wood; Catherine, married 

Markey. All the children were born in Castle 

Bleyney, Ireland. 

(III) Bernard Wood, son of John Wood (2), 
was born about 1798 in Castle Bleyney, Ireland, died 
there in 1848. He was a farmer and manufacturer, 
owning with his two brothers the woolen mill of 
his father and grandfather. He married Anne Cum- 
mesky. She died 1880, aged about seventy-eight 
years. The children of Bernard and Anne (Cum- 
mesky) Wood were: Catherine, resides on the old 
homestead in Ireland ; Mary, died unmarried at the 
age of nineteen in her native place; Patrick, mill- 
wright, resides in Bleyney, has a family ; Margaret, 
died in 1900 in Albany, New York; four of her 
children are living in New York state, viz. : Anne, 
John, Patrick and Bernard; Owen, died in Ireland 
unmarried ; Bernard, a bleacher by trade, resides in 
Brookfield. Massachusetts, married Anne Shevlin ; 
Peter, born March 18, 1845; James, died young in 
Ireland. 

(IV) Peter Wood, son of Bernard Wood (3), 
was born in Castle Bleyney, county Monaghan, Ire- 
land, March 16, 1845. He obtained a common school 
education in the national schools of his native parish. 
He went to work in the dyeing establishment of 
Alexander Reid & Son in the city of Glasgow, Scot- 
land, and there learned the trade of dyeing and 
bleaching. In 1868, at the age of twenty-three 
years, he came to this country. He was engaged at 
his trade for four years and saw something of the 
country, working in various places in the United 
States. In 1872 he came to Worcester and since 
then he has lived there. He went to work first in 
the dye-shop of Orr & Walker at the corner of 
Gardner and Southgate streets. Two years later 
he bought an interest in the business of Mr. Walker 
and became a partner with Mr. Orr, of the original 
firm. The firm name was the Worcester Bleach and 
Dye Works, with shops at no Grove street. In 
1894 Peter Wood sold his interest in the com- 
pany. The Worcester Bleach and Dye Works are 
now located at 61 Fremont street, near Webster. 
James E. Orr is treasurer of the company, which 
was incorporated in 1891. This company bleaches 
and dyes cotton yarns and warps, braids, threads 
and tapes. 

Mr. Wood established his present business in 
the following year. He fonned a corporation known 
as the Peter Wood Dyeing Company, with capital 
of $20,000. The original officers were Peter Wood, 
Walter Delano and Robert Ruddy. The present 
works were built at the foot of Holmes street. South 
Worcester, in 1895, and Mr. Wood began business 
there in 1896. At present the officers of the com- 
pany are : President and treasurer, Peter Wood ; 
directors. Robert Wood, his son, and Ini C. Davis. 
Robert Wood is the boss bleacher. Another son, 
Peter Wood, Jr., is superintendent of the works. 
The company bleaches and dyes cotton yarns and 
warps, threads, tapes, braids, etc., largely for the 
cotton mills, employing thirty or more hands regu- 
larly. Mr. Wood has interests in several other 
successful Worcester enterprises. In 1887 Mr. Wood, 
Robert Ruddy and Robert Redford started the thread 
factory on Manchester street under the firm name 
of Ruddy Thread Company. It developed into an 
excellent business, but in 1899 it seemed advisable 
to sell out to the trust — The American Thread Com- 
pany. But Mr. Wood and his associates did not 
stay out of the thread business long. Mr. Wood 
bought the shop of the Worcester Steam Heating 
Company at 116 Gold street. Mr. Wood, James 
Montgomery, Charles Dolan, Charles Hall and James . 




,^^ ~^A/-^^:z^^ 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



Ruddy became the directors of the Wachusett 
Thread Company, which for several years has con- 
ducted a profitable and growing business in the 
manufacture of thread. Mr. Wood is president, 
Mr. Dolan superintendent of the mill and Mr. 
Montgomery treasurer. The business in 1905 
amounted to $360,000. Mr. Dolan has demonstrated 
the fact that he has good judgment and business 
ability. The industries that he has established have 
been creditable to the city as well as to him, and 
there is every prospect that the business has a great 
future in Worcester. Mr. Wood is a member of the 
Worcester Lodge of Elks, No. 243 ; Alhambra Lodge, 
Knights of Columbus, and of the Frohsinns. He be- 
longs to the Roman Catholic Church of St. Peter's 
parish, Worcester. In politics he is a Republican. 
He married (first), November 24. 1875, Anne 
McKenna, daughter of Terence and Anna (Hughes) 
McKenna, at Worcester, Massachusetts. He mar- 
ried (second), July 31, 1895, at Worcester, Agnes 
Mitchinson, daughter of Joseph and Ellen (Pilken- 
ton) Mitchinson. the children of Peter and Anne 
(McKenna) Wood were : Catherine, born October 
12, 1S76, resides at x^lbany. New York ; Owen, born 
October 12, 1S78, plumber by trade, resides in 
Schenectady, New York ; Robert, born December 
17, 1879, attended the Worcester schools, entered the 
dye. shop and learned the business: is now boss 
bleacIT?r for the Peter Wood Dyeing Co. ; Peter, Jr., 
born March I, 1881, attended the Worcester schools, 
went into the dyeshop and learned the business ; is 
now superintendent ; unmarried ; lives with parents 
at 24 Cambridge street ; Anne, born March 28, 1882, 
lives at home with her parents. The children of 
Peter and Agnes (Mitchinson) Wood were: INIildred, 
born May 10, 1896; William, born July 31, 1897; 
Agnes, born March 10, 1898. All the children were 
born in Worcester, Massachusetts. 

GEORGE HENRY COATES, son of Henry 
Moss and Orra Natalia (Cone) Coates, was born in 
Windsor, Vermont, June 23, 1849. For his mother's 
family see sketch of Cone family. She is living, 
1905, with her son in Worcester at the age of 
eighty-four. There were twelve children born to 
her parents and six of them are now living : Mrs. 
Coates ; H. S. Cone, Ascutneyville, Vermont, aged 
eighty-seven; Mrs. Lucy Marston, Marshall, Mich- 
igan, aged seventy-nine; Jaines M. Cone, Keenc, 
New Hampshire, aged seventy-three ; Mrs. Ellen M. 
Putnam, Alanchester, New Hampshire, aged seventy- 
one. In her immediate family there was not a 
death until the oldest child was sixty-two years old. 
There were ten of the twelve alive in 1901, when the 
youngest was sixty-six j'ears old. The family has 
an unusual record for longevity. Henry M. Coats, 
as his name was formerly spelled, was a blacksmith 
by trade. He was the son of Prescott and Lydia 
(Penniman) Coates. 

George H. Coates was educated in the public 
schools and at Windsor Academy. He had some 
mechanical knowledge and doubtless much inherited 
skill in mechanics. He catne to Worcester at the 
age of eighteen to learn tool making and ;iiechanical 
engineering. He started to work for the Ethan Allen 
Fire Arms Company and learned the business 
thoroughly. He had charge of the construction of 
the first self-cocking fire arms. He was foreman at 
Allen's for about eight years. 

In 1877 he established the business in which he 
has been so successful and with which his name is 
associated the world over, the manufacture of the 
Coates Clipper. When he invented the adjustable 
clipper in 1876 all clippers were imported from Eng- 
land and France. Mr. Coates had made a specialty 



of repairing these imported instruments. It re- 
quired a mechanic of exceptional skill to insert new 
teeth in these instruments, temper them anew and 
grind them. Mr. Coates did considerable work of 
this kind for McCoy & Saunders of New York city. 
He naturally came to devise a vastly better article 
than the one then made abroad. He showed his 
patent to McCoy & Saunders and received at once 
an order for five hundred. These were the ad- 
justable hair clippers, and doubtless many of the 
first made are still m use in barber shops. Mr. 
Coates had no machine shop, but the price he had 
been quoted by Forehand & Wadsworth for the 
manufacture of his machine caused him to buy a 
small plant and start to manufacture his own goods. 
Step by step he advanced until he has a very ex- 
tensive plant and an extremely successful business. 
His first niachinery was bought in Boston of Hill, 
Clark it Company, and he has bought a great deal 
tif machinery of that firm since. After a year in the 
little basement of a house on Dewey street, .Mr. 
Coates was able to build a shop forty by fifty feet 
on the present location, 237 Chandler street. He 
had only a five horse power engine to run Ins ma- 
chinery. His first engine and boiler was bought of 
William Allen & Son. His Chandler street shop 
was built in 1878 and was but one story high. He 
soon had to build an addition forty feet long. In 
1884 lie raised the building to two stories and added 
fifty feet, making the building six times its original 
size. The business increased with proportionate 
rapidity. The clippers found a market all over the 
world. The power was increased to one hundred and 
fifty horse. Another addition of seventy-five feet 
on the Dewey street end of the building was erected 
in 1903. At present the factory has over an acre 
of floor space. 

Mr. Coates was not satisfied with his first in- 
vention and he has from time to time improved on 
his own work and added new devices. He has 
taken out more than forty patents. He says that 
in his experimenting and designing he has been 
greatly indebted to the education received at 
the night school in mechanical drawing at the Wor- 
cester Polytechnic Institute soon after he came to 
Worcester. He studied under Professor Alden and 
Superintendent Higgins, who arc now the owners of 
the Norton Emery Company and the Plunger Ele- 
vator Company. He won several prizes at exhi- 
bitions of mechanical drawings in Boston, and re- 
ceived the highest reward of merit there for a col- 
ored drawing of a Corliss engine. The business is 
now a corporation. The officers are : President 
and treasurer, George H. Coates; vice-president and 
manager, B. Austin Coates. These two own the 
business. The additions have been made as their 
means would permit. Mr. Coates has shown a rare 
combination of inventive genius and shrewd business 
ability. He has made his own fortune without out- 
side assistance from the outset. 

The Coates Clipper Manufacturing Company is 
known all over the world for ingenious and use- 
ful machinery. The selling agents are John H. 
Graham & Co., 113 Chambers street. New York. 
The London place of business is at 14 Thayies Inn, 
Holborn Circus ; the continental headquarters in 
Copenhagen. The latest patterns of clippers are 
models of artistic work. They have ball bearings, 
the teeth are beautifully cut and hardened, and each 
blade is ground with diamond dust. These clippers, 
for the use of amateur and professional barbers, are 
sold from $2.50 to $3.50 each. A Worcester man 
who returned recently from a visit to Australia 
told Mr. Coates that he found the Coates clipper 
the only kind on the market in Australia, where he 



236 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



and many others used it to keep their beards 
trimmed close. 

The power clipper equipped with the Coates 
patent flexible non-heating shaft is the best instru- 
ment yet devised for clipping horses and shearing 
animals. It is the only gearless machine on the 
market. Special sheep shearing machines are built. 
The ordinary horse clipper is run by hand power, 
but some very fine instruments run by electric 
motors are made. A number of other specialties 
are made by the Coates Clipper Mfg. Co. The 
Coates grooming brush is operated by power and is 
warranted to groom perfectly twenty-five horses in 
an hour. This company makes an ingenious machine 
to grind the caulks on horses' shoes without having 
the expense and trouble of taking the shoes off 
when they get dull. 

The flexible shaft which Mr. Coates invented is 
one of the most important devices recently used in 
the mechanical world. They are made large enough 
to transmit twenty horse power or more and small 
enough for the most delicate dentist machinery. The 
Coates Company has recently built some dentists 
machinery, using this shaft which never breaks like 
the coiled wire flexible shafts in general use. The 
flexible shafting has been found extremely useful 
by some manufacturers of automobiles and launches. 
In some forms of grinders used in the manufacture 
of machinery this device is a wonderful time saver. 
It is believed that Mr. Coates has in this shaft an 
even more valuable patent than that of the clippers. 
In all of the Coates manufacture the greatest pains 
is taken to make all parts interchangeable and to 
test fully everything made in the shop. 

Another important department of the Coates 
Company is the manufacture of the Coates housed 
gear breast drills and the Coates drill press. An 
ingenious device is a combination of the Coates 
flexible shaft, an electric motor for power and a 
magnetic Hold-on with a Coates drill for use in 
marine work, bridge work and in other places diffi- 
cult to reach by ordinary drills. It is easily portable, 
is used under water and it is said to be a great time 
saver for all kinds of drilling. The Coates angle 
drive is a device to transmit power at right angles. 
The Coates screw driver is used by chair builders 
and others having to insert a large number of 
screws. It is operated with a flexible shaft and 
works very rapidly. There is hardly a day but 
some new use tor this flexible shafting develops. It 
has been tried successfully in transmitting one 
hundred and fifty horse power. The possibilities of 
the device are incalculable. 

A biography of a man like Mr. Coates, who has 
made his business what it is, must be something 
of a catalogue of the products of his factory. Those 
products represent his life work and thought. They 
represent an important contribution to civilization 
and progress. ]\Ir. Coates has made some tremen- 
dous contributions to the labor-saving machinery of 
the world. Every successful device means labor- 
saving for the whole human race, in other words 
means that each man's labor should bring him a little 
more of the fruits of human toil, more of what 
is generally described as wealth. While Mr. Coates 
is one of the inventors who has gained some return 
financially from his invention, he has given to the 
world devices that will always be useful and labor- 
saving. 

Mr. Coates is fortunate in his partner. His son, 
B. Austin Coates, was born June 2, 1879. He gradu- 
ated from the Worcester high school in 1896 and 
from the Worcester Polytechnic Institute in 1900. 
Since then he has been associated in business with 
his father. He married Louisa Boyden Coe, daugh- 



ter of S. Hamilton Coe, June 5, 1901. He is a mem- 
ber of the Commonwealth Club ; the Worcester 
Automobile Club; Quinsigamond Lodge, Ancient 
Free and Accepted Masons; Eureka Royal Arch 
Chapter; Hiram Council; Lawrence Chapter of 
Rose Croix ; Worcester County Commandery, 
Knights Templar. He has taken all the degrees in 
the Scottish Rite. He attends St. Mark's Protestant 
Episcopal Church. 

George H. Coates has taken all the degrees of 
Free Masonry in the Scottish Rite, and is a member 
of the Quinsigamond Lodge, Hiram Council, the 
Chapter and Worcester County Commandery. He 
is a Shriner. He is also a member of the Economic 
Club, the Worcester Automobile Club, the Worces- 
ter County Agricultural Society, the Worcester 
County Mechanics' Association, the Home Market 
Club of Boston. 

He married, June 23, 1872, Adelaide Long, daugh- 
ter of William Long, an expert machinist of Bidde- 
ford, ]\Iaine. They were married in Worcester in 
what was then a first class neighborhood on Me- 
chanics street. Their only son is B. Austin Coates, 
mentioned above. George H. Coates was himself 
an only son. 

(I) Daniel Cone, who was of Connecticut before 
1657, was the first known ancestor of Mrs. Henry 
M. Coates, mother of George H. Coates, of Wor- 
cester, Massachusetts, and of a large number of 
descendants now scattered widely throughout the 
United States. He was probably the first of the 
name in this country. The first mention of Daniel 
Cone was March 2, 1657, when Governor John 
Winthrop of the Connecticut made a requisition 
on Governor Peter Stuyvesant of New York for the 
return of one James Parker, for whom Daniel Cone 
was a bondsman, and on whose complaint the action 
was brought. In the spring of 1662 he appears 
as one of twenty-eight persons who received from 
the Connecticut Colony a grant of land sit- 
uated on both sides of the Connecticut 
river about thirty miles above its mouth. 
This land had been in the possession of the 
Wangunk tribe of Indians from time immemorial." 
The Indians deeded to them a tract of land six 
miles east and west and from Middletown to Chester, 
Connecticut. The consideration was thirty red coats, 
which may have been worth a hundred dollars. The 
colony granted the land to these twenty-eight set- 
tlers and later the general court confirmed their 
title. The town was called Haddam after a town 
in England of that name. Daniel Cone received his 
allotment of four acres on the town site, on the 
west side of the river, with land in the meadow and 
timbered land adjoining in 1662, and removed to the 
new town in that year. Previous to this change of 
location he had married Mehitable Spencer, fourth 
daughter of Jared and Alice Spencer, then of Hart- 
ford, Connecticut. Jared Spencer settled at New- 
town (Cambridge), Massachusetts, in 1634, removed 
to Lynn, Massachusetts, in 1637. to Hartford, Con- 
necticut, in 1660, and to Haddam, Connecticut, in 
1662, being also one of the founders of that town. 
Mehitable Spencer was born in Lynn in 1642 and 
died in Haddam in 1691. 

Daniel Cone married (second) Rebecca Walkley, 
widow of Richard Walkley, of Haddam, Connecti- 
cut. No record of her death has been found. He 
resided in Haddam until 1680, when he removed to 
the east side of the river to the vicinity of Machi- 
Moodus. About 1695 he returned to Haddam. where 
he died October 24, 1706, aged eighty years. He was 
commissioner for his town in 1669 and held other 
town offices. A few months before he died he 
deeded his land on the west side of the river at 



WORCESTER COUXTY 



237 



laddam to his youngest son, Caleb. The children 
f Daniel Cone (I) were: Ruth, born January 7, 
662, place of birth unknown; Hannah, born April 
, 1664, in Haddam, Connecticut ; Daniel, born Janu- 
ry 21, 1666, married Mary Gates, died June 25, 
725; Jared, born January 7, 1668, married Elizabeth 

; he died April 11, 1718; Rebecca, born Feb-. 

uary 6, 1670 ; Ebenezer, born in Haddam, baptized, 
larch 25, 1673; Nathaniel, born in Haddam, bap- 
ized June 4, 1675. married Sarah Hungerford ; he 
ied about 1730; Stephen, born at Haddam, baptized 
'larch 26, 1678, married Mary Hungerford ; he died 
)ecember i, 1756: Caleb, baptized March 19, 1682, 

larried (first) Elizabeth , married (second) 

Elizabeth Cunningham; he died September 25. 1743. 

(H) Caleb Cone, youngest child of Daniel Cone 
l), was born at Haddam, Connecticut, in 1679, 
nd baptized in the Middletown Congregational 
Church, March 19, 16S2. He married in Haddam, 

)ecember 16, 1701, Elizabeth , who died there 

Joveniber 14, 1714. He married (second) Elizabeth 
"unningham. September 6, 1723. He was born, lived 
nd died on the homestead where his father originally 
ettlcd in Haddam. He was buried within sight of 
he old home, his grave being marked by a stone 
uitably inscribed. He was a representative of his 
listrict in the general court in 1731-32-33-34-35-39. 
ie held the commission of captain in the colonial 
roops for many years. He held other offices in 
he town. 

The children of Caleb Cone were : Caleb, born 

jeptcmber, 1702, married (first) Hannah ; 

second) Sybil Bailey; he died February 27, 1790; 
oseph, born January 26. 1704, married Susannah 
.Veils; he died 1779; Noah, born July 14. 1707, 

narricd Hannah : he died August 5, 1757; 

ili.-ha. born September II, 1709, married Hannah 
lubbard ; he died !March 6, 1809; Joshua, born July 
., 1714, died young; Simon, born June 11, 1724, died 
756 ; Daniel, born December 22, 1725, married 
jusannah Hurlburt; he died July 12. 1762; Beriah, 
)orn September 12, 1727, had son Beriah ; Abigail 
I'orn July 2, 17,30, married Elisha Knowles ; Mary, 
lorn March 23, 1732. married Richard Knowles ; 
he died October 8, 1796 ; Lydia, born January 29. 
735, married Joseph Tyler, died 1823. 

(HI) Daniel Cone, son of Caleb (2) and Eliza- 
)eth (Cunningham) Cone, was born in Haddam. 
"onnecticut, December 22, 1725. He married. May 
2, 1750, Susannah Hurlburt, daughter of Daniel 
md Esther (Hamlin) Hurlburt who was born in 
Middletown, Connecticut. They settled in ^liddle- 
own and most of their children w-ere born there. 
She was born November 19, 1729, died May 15. 
[774. He died in Middletow'n. July 12, 1762. Their 
children were: Esther, born August 11, 1751 ; Dan- 
el H., born July 16, 1753, married Elizabeth Atkins ; 
le died April 17. 1841 ; William, born April 6, 1755, 
parried Abiah Atkins ; he died 1834 : Joshua, born 
September i. 1757. married Mehitable Blinn ; Robert, 
jorn December 16. 1759, married j\Iargaret Paget; he 
iied May 19, 1804 ; Thomas born probably in Mid- 
iletown, baptized February 8, 1763, married Mehit- 
ible Lyman; he died April 12, 1854. 

(IV) Thomas Cone, son of Daniel Cone (3), 
was baptized at Middletown, Connecticut, February 
i. 1763. At the age of twenty-one and just at the 
dose of the revolutionary war he left his home 
and started up the Connecticut valley in search of 
work. He was a tailor by trade. He located first 
at Northampton. Massachusetts, where he worked 
for two years. He married there, March 13, 1786. 
They started immediately on horseback to make a 
home for themselves in Vermont. Their wedding 
trip was through the wilderness to the little town 



of Winchester, in western Vermont, where they 
settled and spent the remainder of their lives. He 
became one of the most prominent citizens of the 
town. His wife was born November 17, 1764, died 
October 11, 1827. He died April 12, 1854, at the 
age of ninety-one years. Their children, all born 
at Winchester, Vermont, were: Thomas, born May 
5> 1787, married Olive Lane; he died January 22, 
1858; Robert, born November 27, 1788, married 
Fanny Royce ; he died December 30, 1814; Morris, 
born October 6, 1790, married Lydia Farrington; 
he died March 29, 1846; Laura, born .March 13, 
1793, married (first) Cyrus Jones; married (sec- 
ond) James Swinton ; she died February 13, 1879; 
Theodore, born October 11, 1795, married Eliza 
Wooley; he died August 25, 1852; John, born Octo- 
ber 7, 1797, married Lucinda Rand ; he died June 
2, 1879; James, born October 7, 1797, married Cath- 
erine Cuyler; he died October 24, 1861 ; Stephen, 
born February 2, 1800, married Sally Pratt; he died 
.\ovember I. 1884: Charles, born March 4, 1802, 
married Martha Dean; he died November 7, 1870; 
Eliza, born December 13, 1805, married Lyman 
Haywood ; she died 1848. 

(V) Thomas Cone, son of Thomas (4), and 
Mehitable (Lyman) Cone, was born at Westminster, 
Vermont, May 5, 1787. He married Olive Lane, 
daughter of Samuel Lane, in 1808. She was born 
at Claremont, New Hampshire, March 4, 1790, died 
May 6, 1852. He was a tailor by occupation. He 
settled first at Swanton, Vermont, near his birth- 
place, removed 1816 to West Claremont, New Hamp- 
shire, where he died January 22, 1858. He was 
held in high esteem by his neighbors. He was a 
man of excellent character and standing in the 
community. . His children were : Curtis E., born 
January 17, 1809, married Celia S. Judd ; he died 
July 17, 1873; Julia Ann, born September 17, 181 1, 
married John Mercer; she died December 6, 1902; 
Narcissa i\I., born February 9, 1814, married (first) 
Elias Lovell; (second) Abel Camp; she died Feb- 
ruary 8, 1885; Fannie E., born October 13, 1815, 
married John L. Seaver; she died May 3, 1900; 
Harley S., born December 28. 1817, married Estella 
J. Adams, lived at Ascutneyville, Vermont ; Charles 
E., born June 2,' 1820, married Luthera E. Sturte- 
vant; died October 12, 1900; Natalia O., born March 
18, 1822, married Henry W. Coates, lives at Wor- 
cester, Massachusetts, with her son, George H, 
Coates ; Lucy E., born April 6, 1824, married Lorenzo 
Marston, lives at jMarshall, Michigan; Robert L., 
born September 2. 1826. married Mary S. Maynard; 
no children; died May 21, 1900; Lyman H., born 
January 22, 1829, married Lucia Judd, resided at 
Windsor. Vermont; James Monroe, born June 28, 
1831, married Harriet C. Richardson, lives at Keene, 
New Hampshire ; Ellen M., born March 2, 1834, 
married Orrin Putnam, lives at Manchester, New 
Hampshire. 

(VI) Natalia Ora Cone, daughter of Thomas 
Cone (5). was born at Claremont, New Hamp- 
shire, March 18, 1822. She married, March 18, 
1847. Henry Moses Coates, son of Prescott and 
Lydia (Penniman) Coates. She resides w-ith her 
son, George H. Coates, Worcester, Massachusetts. 
See George H. Coates sketch which precedes this in 
the work. 

CHARLES HOMER PERRY. M. D. John 
Perry (i), the first American 'ancestor of Dr. 
Charles H. Perry, of Worcester, was born in Eng- 
land in 1613. He was in WatertowMi, Massachu- 
setts, in 1674. when his age was sixty-one years. 
That is about all that is known of him. He came 
late in life and Bond surmises that he was the 



238 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



I 



brother of William Perry, of Walertown, who was 
born in England in 1606, a tailor by trade, who came 
over before 1642. 

Another John Perry lived in Roxbury and had 
three children there: Elizabeth, born January 25, 
1637; John, born September 7, 1639; Samuel, born 
March i, 1640. But this John Perry, Sr., died 
September, 1642, leaving his house and land to his 
wife to bring up his three children. Curiously 
enough we are told that John Perry, Jr., had a 
brother and a sister. Obviously, however, the John 
Perry, Sr., who died in 1642 was not the sarre one 
that was in Watcrtown in jf)74. 

(II) John Perry, son of John Perry (l), was 
born in London, England, according to the genurally 
accepted story, in 1644. and came to America in i66t>. 
He married Sarah Clary, daughter of John Clary, 
of Cambridge, where she was born October 16, 
1649. They settled in Watertown. In 1701 he 
was in North Brooktield for a year and Perry's 
pond there was named for him. He died in 1724, 
before December 23. Children of John and Sarah 
Perry were : John ; Joanna, born November 8, 
1672; Sarah, born July 11, 1675; Elizabeth; Josiah, 
see forward; Joseph, born January 17, 1690. 

(III) Josiah Perry, son of John Perry (2), was 
born in Watertown, Massachusetts, November 28, 
1684, married, January 12, 1708, Bethia Cutler, 
daughter of John Cutler, of Watertown. She was 
born November 26, 1684, and died September 16, 
1767. He married (second) Elizabeth Harrington. 
The children of Josiah and Bethia Perry, all born 
in Watertown, were: Jonathan, born January 7, 
1710; Lydia, December 8, 1711, married John Ball; 
Josiah, Jr., February 7, 1714; Ephraim, November 

1, 1715; Nathan, of whom later; Bethia, -January 31, 
1719; Mary, February 13, 1721 ; Israel, February 6, 
1723; Dorcas, December 2, 1727; Sarah, 1728. 

(IV) Nathan Perry, fifth child of Josiah Perry 
(3), was born in Watertown, Massachusetts, May 

2, 1718. He was a weaver by trade. He came with 
his father April, 1751, and settled in Worcester and 
was for twenty-three years deacon of the church 
(Old South) from 1783 until he died, February, 
1806, aged eighty-eight years. He succeeded John 
Chandler as county treasurer. He was town treas- 
urer and selectman for ten years from 1780 to 1790. 
His homestead was on what is now Vernon street, 
the Elijah Hedge estate, which he bought when he 
came to Worcester. He married, at Watertown, May 
I, 174s, Hannah Fiske, daughter of Deacon Nathan 
Fiske. She was born in 1719 and died in 1813, aged 
ninety-four years. Their children were : Hannah, 
born in Watertown, 1747, died 1749; Hannah, born 
1749, in Watertown; Nathan, Jr., born March 30, 
1751, in Watertown; the following children were 
born in Worcester : Sarah, born November 29, 1752 ; 
Josiah, see forward; Mary, born March I, 1759; 
Deacon INIoses, born February i6,' 1762, father of 
Deacon Samuel Perry and ancestor of many of the 
Worcester Perrys. 

(V) Josiah Perry, son of Deacon Nathan Perry 
(4), was born in Worceser, March 9, 1755, died 
March 12, 1842. He married (first) Lydia Flagg, 
April 3, 1777; (second) Prudence Harrington, July 
6, 1780; (third) Sarah Metcalf, November 22, 1796. 
The only child of Josiah and Lydia was : Lydia, 
born February 20, 177S. The children of Josiah and 
Prudence Perry were: Nathan, see forward; Mind- 
well. February 7, 1783; Josiah, October 16, 1784; 
Sophia, October 3, 1786; William, April 22, 1789. 
The children of Josiah and Sarah Perry were : 
Sarah, October 20, 1797; Prudence, January 31, 1803. 

(VI) Nathan Perry, second child of Josiah 
Perry (s), was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, 



March 24, 1781. He conducted a farm and had .1 
grist mill on the old homestead. He married Anna 
Galen, daughter of Elisha Galen ; she died February 

I, 1845, aged seventy years. He died October 3, 
1837. Their children, all born in Worcester, were : 
Sereno Haven, born December 26, 1802 ; Loring 
Fish, June 17, 1804, died August 8, 1848; Louisa, 
May 15, 1806; Miranda, May 18, 1808; Josiah Galen, 
see forward; Julia, June 12, 1812 ; Dexter Har- 
rington, June 4, 1814, married, December 17, 1839, 
Elizabeth A. Baker, born September 21, 1815, daugh- 
ter of James Baker and sister of Charles and Will- 
iam J. Baker, the lumber merchants of Worcester; 
he died March 16, 1872, and she died April 19, 
1877; Frank D. Perry, the contractor, is their son; 
Sophronia, February 27, 1816; Nancy, October 5, 
1819; Harriet, February 22, 1822, died August 2, 
1848, unmarried. 

(VII) Josiah Galen Perrj-, fifth child of Nathan 
Perry (6), was born in Worcester, June 15, 1810. 
He lived on the homestead at Quinsigamond village. 
He carried on a grist mill with his brother. Dexter 
H. Perry, until 1855. The partnership was dissolved 
in 1862 and the property divided. He married 
Martha Homer, born in Hopkinton, Massachusetts. 
Their children were: Charles H., see forward; 
Louisa Emerett, born February 24, 1839; iMary 
Aurelia, December 28, 1841 ; a child, born August 

II, 1845; a child, born March 15, 1848. 

(VIII) Dr. Charles Homer Perry, son of Josiah 
Galen Perry (7), was born in Worcester, Massa- 
chusetts, March 17, 1835. He was educated in the 
public schools of Worcester and at W'orcester Acad- 
einy, where he fitted for college. He was graduated 
from Brown University in 1859. He studied medicine 
at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia 
and Bellevue Hospital and received his medical de- 
gree in medical college there. He was connected 
with Bellevue Hospital in New York city when the 
civil war broke out, and he entered the service in 
1861 as assistant surgeon, United States navy, and 
served through the war. He served under Admiral 
Farragut for twenty-six months and also under 
Admiral Porter. Served as surgeon on United 
States gunboat "Kenebec" twenty-six months ; 
United States receiving ship "Ohio" six months; 
United States ship "Susquehanna" nine months, un- 
der Admiral Porter. At the close of the war he re- 
turned to Bellevue to complete his studies. He be- 
gan the practice of his profession in Medway, Massa- 
chusetts, but after a short time settled in Worces- 
ter, where he has been practicing since 1874. He 
has been fortunate in his practice and ranks high 
in the medical fraternity. He is a member of the 
Massachusetts INIedical Society, the Worcester Med- 
ical Society, and the American Academy of INIedi- 
cine. He was a charter member of a G. A. R. post 
at West Medbury ; this post is no longer in exist- 
ence. Is a member of Worcester Post, No. 10, G. 
A. R. Member of iSIontague Lodge, F. and A. M. 

He married, 1868, Clara T. Thayer, daughter of 
Eli Thayer, the great anti-slavery leader of Massa- 
chusetts. They have no children. 

CHARLES AUGUSTUS VAUGHAN. John 
Vaughan (i), the pioneer ancestor of Charles 
Augustus Vaughan, of Worcester, Massachusetts, 
was born in England, probably about 1615. He set- 
tled in Providence, although he seems to have lived 
in Watertown, Massachusetts Bay, for a few years. 
John Vaughan was in Watertown in 1633, and a 
proprietor in 1636, but John Vaughan, of Provi- 
dence, had a case in court in Providence March 4, 
1634. The only other early settler of this family 
was William Vaughan, a proprietor of Springfield, 



Jj 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



239 



•who leased his land January 10, 1644, for a pcriud 
of six years, and perhaps returned to England. John 
Vaiighan was accepted as an inhahitant in good 
standing at Newport, May 20, 1638, and was ad- 
mitted a freeman, which meant also membership in 
the church, 165s. He was granted forty-lwo acres 
of land at a place called the Hermitage 111 1639, and 
^lay 22, 1662, had an eighty-acre lot laid out to him. 
He deeded eight acres to his son, John, by deed of 
gift April 16, 1673, and a farm July 23, 1680, to his 
son Daniel, of Newport. He died 1687, at New- 
port, where he lived during most of his active life. 
Children were: i. John, born April 19, 1644; set- 
tled in Newport. 2. David, born July 19, 1640 ; set- 
tled at Portsmouth. 3. George, {.see forward). 4. 
Daniel, born April 27, 1653; married Susan Grimes 
and settled in Newport. 5. Mary, born July 3, 1658. 

(.H) George Vaughan, son of John Vaughan 
(l), born October 20. 1650, died May 7, 1704. He 
lived at Newport, Rhode Island, and later at East 
Greenwich. He was a blacksmith by trade. He had 
a grant, with others, of five thousand acres of land 
at East Greenwich, October 31, 1677. He was deputy 
to the general assembly in 1O84-98-99, and was on 
the grand jury in 169S. He commanded a cavalry 
company in 1687. His will was dated April II, 
1699, and was proved May 25, 1704. His wife Mary 
and son George, Jr., were the executors. He men- 
tioned his smith's tools in the will. He married, 
July 26, 1680, Margaret Spink, daughter of Robert 
and Alice Spink. She died 1704. Their children 
were; i. George, Jr., born April 19, 1682; married 
Jane Nichols. 2. David, born April 29, 1683 : mar- 
ried Mary Pearce. 3. Mary, born February 23, 
1685. 4. Christopher, (see forward). 5. Abigail, 
born February 24, 1689; married John Hall. 6. 
Robert, born March 7, 1691; married Joanna Sweet. 

(IH) Christopher Vaughan, fourth child of 
George Vaughan (2), born in Newport, Rhode 
Island, April 29, 16S6. He was admitted a freeman 
1707, and settled in East Greenwich, on the land 
granted to his father. He died there October 11, 
1751. and his will was proved August 29, 1752. It 
mentions a loom, showing that Christopher was 
probably a weaver as well as a planter. His executor 
was Christopher, Jr., to whom he left the home- 
stead for life, and to his grandson Christopher after 
him. His estate was valued at two thousand, six 
hundred and forty-eight pounds. He married, June 
26, 1709, Deborah Nichols, born February 17, 168S, 
daughter of Thomas and Mercy (Reynolds) Nichols. 
Their children, all born at East Greenwich, were : 
I. Christopher, Jr., born July 6, 1710. 2. Benjamin, 
born July 2, 1713. 3. Mary, born May 8, 1715 ; mar- 
ried Nichols. 4. Deborah, born July 13, 

1719;. married Weaver. 5. Ruth, born 

August 12, 1729, married Spencer. 

(IV) Christopher Vaughan, Jr., son of Christ- 
opher Vaughan (3), born July 6, 1710, at East 
Greenwich, Rhode Island; died there April 23, 
1758. He had the homestead of his grandfather. 

He married (first) Hannah and (second) 

Elizabeth ( ?) . The children of Christopher 

and Hannah Vaughan, all born at East Greenwich, 
were: i. Christopher, Jr., born April 22, 1735, set- 
tled in East Greenwich. 2. Benjamin, born Sep- 
tember 6, 1744, settled in Vermont and was in the 
revolution, (he seems to be the Benjamin Vaughan 
who finally settled at Danby, Vermont, though the 
statement of his English birth there is evidently 
wrong, being confused apparently with the earlier 
ancestor, John). Benjamin lived also at Tinmouth, 
Vermont. In the revolution he was in the same 
company with John and James Vaughan, his broth- 
ers. (See the record of John.) 3. Abigail, born 



September 6, 1744. The only child on record of 
Christopher and Elizabeth, born at East Green- 
wich, was Alice, born October 25, 1754. Other 
children were : 5. James, soldier in the Vermont 
companies with John and Benjamin Vaughan. 6. 
John, (see forward). 

(V) John Vaughan, son of Christopher Vaughn 
(4), born about 1760. Benjamin, John and James 
Vaughan were all soldiers together in the revolu- 
tion. Benjamin Vaughan was the first to enlist in 
the Shoreham (Vermont) company. Captain Eben- 
ezer Allen's, April, 1778, probably about the time 
that the Vaughan family went to Vermont. In 1780 
Benjamin and James Vaughan were in Captain 
Gideon Orms'oy's company. Colonel Ira Allen's regi- 
ment. In 1781 Benjamin, James and John Vaughan 
were in the same regiment. Colonel Ira Allen's, 
under Captain Jacob Odell. The only other Vaughans 
in the revolution, from Vermont, were Charles, 
Obadiah and Jabesh, whose relationship has not 
been traced. 

John Vaughan settled in Shoreham, in the west- 
ern part of Vermont, named evidently from Shore- 
ham, Rhode Island. Some of the settlers came from 
Danby where Benjamin Vaughan settled. There 
were only six families in Shoreham before 1775. 
The Vaughan family came during the revolution. It 
is related in the town history that Major Nathan 
Smith, who settled there with three brothers from 
Nine Partners, New York, was, with Benjamin 
Vaughan, the first to scale the breastworks in pur- 
suit of the enemy at the battle of Bennington. Ac- 
cording to family tradition John Vaughan sold sup- 
plies from his farm to the soldiers at the battle of 
Bennington in 1777. John Vaughan married Achsah 
Hill, the daughter of David Hill. Among their 
children was George Pike Vaughan, (see forward). 

(VI) George Pike Vaughan, son of John Pike 
(5), was born in Shoreham, Vermont, about 1813. 
For many years he was engaged in farming in the 
neighborhood of his birthplace, but later in life 
changed his abode to Thetford, Vermont, where he 
died. He married, October 29, 1845, Mary Moore 
Palmer, born August 21, 1823. She is still living 
with her family. Her father was Jared Palmer. 

Jared Palmer was born January 18, 1795, at 
Orford, New Hampshire, and died May 23, 1886; 
his wife died 1867. Their children were: I. Mary 
Moore Palmer, before mentioned. 2. James M. Pal- 
mer, a real estate agent in Lowell, Massachusetts, 
where he died. 3. Charles Palmer, lived in Thetford ; 
was an invalid all his life, from an accident early 
in childhood. 4. Caroline Palmer, married Wilson 
Farnsworth, of Thetford, Vermont ; they were mis- 
sionaries for fifty years in Turkey; representing 
the American Board. 5. Helen Palmer, married 
William Slade, who was a farmer and judge in 
Thetford, Vermont, and has four children : William, 
Congregational clergyman ; Maria, married Fred 
Garey, a carpenter, of Thetford, and they have four 
children : Nellie, school teacher in Gloucester, 
Massachusetts ; Mary, married Leon Turner, resides 
in Vermont. 

The children of George Pike and Mary Moore 
(Palmer) Vaughan. all born at Shoreham, Ver- 
mont, were: I. George Leslie, born July 1846; mar- 
ried Emma Lyman, of Thetford ; is a farmer ; they 
have five children : Lyman ; Elizabeth ; Raymond ; 
Christine; Charles. 2. Charles Augustus (see for- 
ward). 3. Mary E., married Warren C. Jewett, of 
Worcester. (See sketch of Jewett.) 4. David .'\lbert; 
married A. Emily King; resides in Metcalf, Massa- 
chusetts; they have four children: Mabel; Ethel; 
Irving: Justin (twin of preceding). 5. Frank M., 
married and has two children; resides at Cambridge. 



240 



WORCESTER COUNTY 






Massachusetts. 6. Arthur J., a carpenter and builder, 
resides in Worcester; married Clara Davis and they 
have two children. 7. Octavia H. teaches school 
in the Adams square public school, Worcester. 8. 
Henry, married Cora Dakin, died leaving one child, 
Florence. 

(VII) Charles Augustus Vaughan, second child 
of George Pike Vaughan (6), born at Shoreham, 
Vermont, August 19, 1847. His education was ac- 
quired in the common schools and academy of 
Ihetford, Vermont, whither his parents removed 
during the early years of his life, and at the age 
of fifteen he left school to work on the farm with 
his father. Three years later he came to Worcester, 
Massachusetts, to learn the trade of carpenter, of 
H. & A. Palmer, for whom he worked ten years. 
In 1875 he started in business for himself as car- 
penter and builder, and has since been engaged 
successfully in this business. Among the many fine 
residences and buildings that he has built are the 
following: L. D. Thayer's residence. Main street; 
Gilbert Harrington's, Main street; T. B. Brown's and 
Henry Taylor's, Richards street; William H. Saw- 
yer's, Lincoln street; Fred S. Taylor's, Institute 
road; John D. Baldwin's, Cedar street; George F". 
Blake's ; Judge William T. Forbe's, Trowbridge 
road ; George Moore's ; George Heywood's, Gardner, 
Massachusetts; Andrew J. Bates's, Webster, Massa- 
chusetts ; Mr. Sibley's country house, Spencer, 
Massachusetts; Mann Brothers', Leicester; The 
Armsby Block, Main street, Worcester; Whitins- 
ville public school; a number of churches in Wor- 
cester county. 

Mr. Vaughan was for two years president of the 
Builders' Exchange, of Worcester. He has been 
active in public affairs in Worcester and prominent 
in public life. He is a leading Republican, serving 
the city in the board of aldermen in 1899, 1900-01-02, 
from Ward one. He is an active member of Union 
Church, was a member of the building committee, 
and has been a trustee since 1897. He is a member 
of the Worcester Board of Trade and of the Ver- 
mont Association ; a trustee of the Worcester County 
Mechanics' Association ; a director of the Young 
Men's Christian Association and director of the 
Merchants' and Farmers' Insurance Company of 
Worcester. He married (first) October 6, 1869, Ann 
E. Morse, daughter of Willis and Maria M. Morse, 
of Southbridge, Massachusetts, a descendant of Sam- 
uel Morse, one of the pioneer settlers of Massachu- 
setts, and one of the leading families. She died De- 
cember 19, 1889. He married (second) September 
19, i8g6, Adele Fairbanks, daughter of William H. 
and Ellen (Williams) F^airbanks, of Holden, Massa- 
chusetts. She is a descendant of Jonathan Fair- 
banks, of Dedham, the progenitor of all of that name 
in this country. 

The children of Charles Augustus and Ann E. 
Vaughan were; i. Charles Albert, born October 
7, 1871 ; now a resident of Minneapolis, Minnesota, 
of the firm of Bull & Vaughan, builders and con- 
tractors ; he was a corporal in Company C, Light 
Infantry, of Worcester, and served in the Spanish 
war, in Cuba; married, in 1900, Isabella Cundall, of 
Worcester, and they have had two children: Isabel 
and Edward Cundall Vaughan. 2. Robert Henry, 
born October 27, 1876: married. 1899, Elizabeth 
Cundall, sister of Isabella (Cundall) "Vaughan, and 
they have four children : Charles Augustus, born 
October 3, 1900; Jessie, born August 7, 1902; Marian, 
born October 29. 1904 ; Willard Cundall, born Jan- 
uary, 1906. 3. Louis Edgar, born March 9, 1880, 
graduate of the Boston Technical school. 4. Ralph 
Donald, born January 28, 1884 ; student at Cornell 
University, class of 1907, making a specialty of 



architectural engineering. 5. Catherine May, bom 
May 24, 1887. The children of Charles Augustui 
and Adele (Fairbanks) Vaughan were: 6. George 
Fairbanks, born January 30, 1897, 7. Margaret, born 
July 16, ig02, 8. Barbara, born August 21, 1904. 

CLAFLIN FAMILY. Robert Claflin (i), or 
Mackclothlan, was the immigrant ancestor of Charles 
Winslow Claflin, late of Hopkinton, and his daugh- 
ter, Mrs. Arthur Osgood Young, of Worcester, and 
in fact all of the name in this vicinity, including 
Governor Claflin and the late H. B. Claflin, the 
great dry goods merchant of New York. This name 
was particularly difficult for our forefathers to spell ; 
it is found rendered in fourteen dift'erent ways in 
Scotch records and about as many in the early Amer- 
ican records. The first of the name was probably 
Norse or Scandinavian, and the name means with- 
out the Mac, lake-land, the first of the name doubt- 
less taking his name from some locality. Mac 
means simply "son of" in Scotch and Irish names. 
The name is found in Ireland as McLaughlin at 
present. 

The family tradition supports the belief that 
Robert McLaughlin was a soldier in the Scottish 
army, taken prisoner by Cromwell at the battle of 
Dunbar. Many of these prisoners were sent to New 
England and sold for a term of years to the colonists. 
Robert settled in Essex county and was admitted 
or accepted as a townsman November 4, 1661, in 
Wenham. He received a grant of land in 1669 in 
Wenhani and sold some land in 1673. He was sur- 
veyor of highways there. His house or part of it is 
still standing and the old well is still in use. The 
place was owned lately by a family named Richards. 
Robert Claflin married Joanna Warner, October 14, 
1664. She was probably a daughter of John War- 
ner, an early settler at Ipswich and later at Brook- 
field, JNIassachusetts. He died shortly before Sep- 
tember 19, 1690, when the inventory of his estate 
was filed by Thomas Fiske, administrator. The 
children of Robert and Joanna Claflin, all born at 
Wenham except the second, were : Joanna, born 
August 12, 1665 ; Robert, probably born at Brook- 
field ; Elizabeth, May 18, 1670; Priscilla, August 
22, 1672; Daniel, January 25, 1674, of whom later; 
Abigail, March 19, 1676; Mary, February 22, 1678; 
Antipas, 1680. 

(II) Daniel Claflin, son of Robert Claflin (i), 
was born in Wenham, Massachusetts, January 25, 
1674. He was a tanner by trade' and lived in Wen- 
ham until after May 25, 1722, when he sold to Emer- 
son Cogswell, of Ipswich, for eighty pounds his 
home, bark, mill, tan vat and material for carrying 
on the trade of tanner. He had three acres of land. 
He then removed to Hopkinton, Massachusetts. He 
was probably attracted to this town by the large 
number of Scotch Presbyterians who located there 
among the first settlers. The town was incorporated 
December 24, 1715. It was bought with a legacy yj 
of eight hundred pounds given by Governor Edward'lj 
Hopkins, of Connecticut, "for the breeding up of ' 
youth in the way of learning for the public service 
of the country in future time," and "for the uphold- - 
ing and promotion of the kingdom of the Lord Jesus. '-i 
Christ in New England." The income from the • 
rentals of the land owned by the trustees of the? 
estate was paid to Harvard College. Claflin wasi 
one of the most prominent of the early settlers. He • 
was selectman in 1727 and town treasurer in 1729 1 
and several years after that. 

He married. March n, 1701. Sarah Edwards, 1, 
probably daughter of Rice Edwards, who was in ( 
Salem in 1643 and removed to Wenham, where he« 
died in 1683. Sarah died January 6, 1743, at Hop- 



I 




/^. 








';Z(lJ 





WORCESTER COUNTY 



241 



kinton, and Claflin died at Framinghani, tlic ad- 
joining town, 1775, calling himself in liis will "old 
and decrepid." The children of Daniel and Sarah 
Claflin, born at Wenham, were : Daniel, born Feb- 
ruary 19, 1702; Sarah, April 27, 1703; Mesheck, 
November 4, 1705, died June 3, 1706; Joshua, June 
8, 1707; Caleb, December II, 1708; Cornelius, Feb- 
ruary 2, 1711; Robert, August 16, 1714; Ebenezer, 
July 2, 1716, of whom later. 

(III) Ebenezer Claflin, son of Daniel Claflin 
(2), was born in Wenham, Massachusetts, July 2, 
1716, and died at Hopkinton in 1793. His wife was 
received into the church at Hopkinton, September 
10, 1731, by letter from the Ipswich Church. He 
served in the second Hopkinton company, under 
Captain John Jones, and was later on the trainband 
and alarm list of the town 'of Hopkinton. He mar- 
ried in Hopkinton, May 22, 1739. Hannah Smith, 
daughter of Nathaniel and Elizabeth Smith. Their 
children, all born at Hopkinton, were : Hannah, 
April 26, 1741 ; Ebenezer, September 14, 1742 ; Dolly, 
1744, died July I, 1839, unmarried ; Isaac, of whom 
later; John, July 5, 1750; Aaron, 1753. 

(IV) Isaac Claflin, son of Ebenezer Claflin (3), 
was born at Hopkinton, Massachusetts, 1748, and 
died there May 19, 1831. He was a soldier in the 
revolution in Captain John Holman's company, 
Colonel Samuel Bullard's regiment, and responded 
with his company on the Lexington alarm, April 
19. 1775- He married Mary Stimpson, daughter of 
Stephen and Hannah (Haven) Stimpson. His wife 
died at Hopkinton, July 27, 1825, aged sixty-nine 
years. Their only child was James, born at Hop- 
kinton, July 4, 1790. 

(V) James Claflin, son of Isaac Claflin (4), was 
born at Hopkinton, Massachusetts, July 4. 1790, 
and died there May 25, 1851. He settled at Hop- 
kinton also. He married, August, 1812, at Barre. 
Massachusetts, Susannah Wadsworth, and she died 
January 9, iSgo, aged ninety-eight years. Their 
children, all born at Hopkinton, were : Thomas Jef- 
ferson, born August 21. 1813; Mary Wadsworth, 
September 7, 1816; Charles Winslow, April 4, 1820, 
of whom later; Martha Wadsworth, April 15, 1823; 
Isaac, June 13, 1826; Susannah, January 28, 1828; 
James Fitzgerald, March 25, 1834. 

(VI) Charles Winslow Claflin, son of James 
Claflin (5), was born at Hopkinton, April 4, 1820, 
and died October 13, 1884. He was the founder 
of the business still bearing his name in Boston 
and Worcester. He was one of the most successful 
coal merchants of New England. He married. April 
18, 1844, Ann Maria Valentine, who was born De- 
cember 23, 1819. Their children, born at Hopkin- 
ton, were: Emma Francis, born February 21, 1845; 
Charles Leslie, of whom later; Mary Valentine, 
November 3, 1855, of whom later. 

(VII) Mary Valentine Claflin, daughter of 
Charles Winslow Claflin (6), was born at Hopkin- 
ton, ]\Iassachusetts, November 3, 1855. She mar- 
ried, January 16, 1890, Arthur Osgood Young, of 
Worcester, son of Stephen Young. Mr. Young has 
■been a member of the firm of C. W. Claflin & Com- 
pany for many years. The business was in charge 
of Charles L. Claflin, son of C. W. Claflin, when 
started in Worcester, in 1875, and later an office 
was opened in Boston. The business at present is 
a partnership and is owned by the Charles L. Claflin 
estate of Hopkinton, Arthur O. Young, of Wor- 
cester, and Edward W. Pierce, of Brookline. The 
wholesale department in Boston is in charge of Mr. 
Pierce, and the Worcester business, wholesale and 
retail, is in charge of Mr. Young. The main ofiice 
in Worcester is at 375 Main street. The firm has 
extensive yards at 5 Grafton street, 301 Shrewsbury 

16 



street, and at Ludlow street, opposite the station at 
Jamesville. Mr. Young's home is at 26 Institute 
road, Worcester. 

The children of .Arthur Osgood and Mary Val- 
entine Young are : Charles Claflin, born December 
5, 1893; Margaret Valentine, February i, 1897; Ar- 
thur Osgood, Jr., November 5, 1898. 

DEXTER FAMILY. The following family to 
which William H. Dexter, business factor and phil- 
anthropist, belongs, descended from Gregory Dc.xter, 
of Rhode Island, one of the companions of Roger 
Williams, when he founded Providence plantation in 
1 636- 1 674. 

William H. Dexter, was born in Charlton, Massa- 
chusetts, January 11, 1823. He is the son of John 
B. and Lucinda (Mclntyre) Dexter. The father was 
born in Marlboro, Massachusetts, June 24, 1795 ; 
died at Worcester, November 24, 1867. He married 
Lucinda Mclntyre. February 12, 1818, a native of 
Charlton, born April 8, 1793 ; died at Worcester, 
January 5, 1866. William H. attended the schools 
of his native town, entering his father's .store when 
but fourteen years of age. Later he clerked at Bur- 
rillville, Rhode Island, but returned to Charlton and 
re-entered his father's store, where he remained for 
a time, and then spent five years clerking in Boston, 
three years in a hotel with Pardon Stevens and two 
years in a general merchandise house. His 
various clerkships imbued him with the notion 
of becoming a merchant himself. In 1846, 
having acquired a good knowledge of business 
and sufficient capital he came to Worcester, 
opening the first grocery store off of Main street. 
Here he operated five years with much success. He 
then started in business as a wholesale and retail 
flour and grain merchant. Here he laid well the 
foundation of his future business career, which 
proved more than usually successful. Three years 
later, 1854. he bought land of Judge Charles Allen, 
on Franklin square, and erected a fine four-story 
block, moving his business to the ground floor. He 
paid one dollar per foot for the land and many 
thought he paid more than it was worth, but he 
looked ahead and had faith in the location and pros- 
perity which finally came to Worcester. The same 
land he sold in 1893 at thirteen dollars per foot. 
He kept pushing ahead in his operations and became 
easily the largest grain and flour merchant of his 
city, at the same time building up for himself a 
good and lasting business reputation over a large 
area of country. 

In 1873 he retired from the flour business by 
selling to Curtis & Company. He then gave his at- 
tention to the development of Franklin square, which 
he so named. Dexter's name adorns the five-story 
blocks on the square, and another block was erected 
by him on the northeast corner of Main street and 
Allen court. The Franklin building, erected by Mr. 
Dexter in 1872, stands near the postoffice building, 
and was at that time one of the largest building 
blocks in the city. It has has an imposing brown 
stone front; contains numerous offices and fine 
stores, and has paid on the investment good returns 
for thirty years. Mr. Dexter has always been noted 
for his rare good judgment in real estate matters. 

From 1873 to 1878, inclusive, he was a valued 
member of the city council, and was for three years 
a member of the school board. He has never been 
especially interested in holding office, being too much 
absorbed in his own affairs. He was an originator 
of the First National Fire Insurance Company, of 
which he was a director for twenty-four years, and 
three years vice-president and manager, resigning to 
look after his real estate business. While this worthy 



242 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



gentleman has been an active business factor in Wor- 
cester, and has amassed a goodly fortune, he has 
not become sordid and miserly, but on the contrary, 
has been a benefactor second to none. His religi- 
ous life has ever been consistent with his profession. 
He has been identified with the Main Street Bap- 
tist Church for about fifty years, and has rendered 
invaluable aid to the Worcester (Baptist) Academy, 
as a trustee and treasurer, having had charge of 
the endowment fimd for nearly a quarter of a cen- 
tury. He has been a great force in the upbuilding of 
this institution, having accomplished more, perhaps, 
than any other man. In 1892 he gave the United 
States government five thousand dollars to help pur- 
chase the site for the new post office building, and 
many thousands toward the erection of Dexter hall, 
Worcester Academy. This structure, named for 
him. is among the finest up-to-date dormitories in 
this ' country. East or West. Half of his time has 
been spent in behalf of the institution. He has en- 
couraged study and research among the students, 
by giving valuable prizes to them for merit, hence 
is revered ever as a father by the vi'hole faculty and 
students roll. One of the supreme pleasures of his 
life has been to aid struggling youjig men, many of 
whom have made their mark in the world. 

In 1848 he was married to Eliza A. Foss. of 
Livermore, Maine. Their only , child, a daughter, 
died in infancy. January 11, 1905, Mr. Dexter and 
his friends celebrated his eighty-second birthday. 
He is robust for one of four-score and two years. 
He preaches and practices the gospel of pure air 
and sunshine. Summer and winter, when the 
weather is at all suitable, both he and his good wife 
lake their usual ride about the city. 

To enumerate the many benefactions of his life 
would not be practical in such a sketch, but the 
chief, in addition to those above referred to are these: 
He gave, but a short time ago, the Worcester Acad- 
emy, a block on Main street ; Newton Seminary five 
thousand, five hundred dollars ; Dexter hall, to Wor- 
cester Academy ; statute in memory of the soldiers 
of the civil war to the town of Charlton. Charlton 
was his native town, where he attended school and 
spent his childhood days and hence the tender regard 
for her people. Recently he gave that place a town 
hall and public library, costing over thirty thousand 
dollars. It is a fine brick structure, complete in 
every detail. To the Methodist church of Charlton 
he gave an organ. Mrs. Dexter gave a handsome 
dormitorv tn the young ladies' Colby College, at 
Watervillc. M.Tine, costing nearly fifty thousand dol- 
lars. Through the associations of Oread school in 
Worcester, she became an intimate friend of Mrs. 
John D. Rockefeller and her younger day associates. 

In sketching the life of this busy man. one is 
impressed with the value of good training and a con- 
sistent religious life, for in such cases the results 
of a business career become potent factors for the 
common good of mankind. 

GEORGE F. BLAKE. William Blake (i) was 
llie emigrant ancestor of George F. Blake, of Wor- 
cester, Massachusetts. His father was William 
Blake', of Pitminster, England, where he was bap- 
tized July TO, 1594. He married there, September 
23, 1617, Agnes Band, widow, whose maiden name 
has not been ascertained. Some recent investiga- 
tions however, suggest that she may have been the 
widow of Richard Band and daughter of Hugh 
Thornc, of Pitminster, baptized January 12, 1594. 
In the same parish in England four of the children 
of William Blake were baptized, but from 1624 to 
1636 his place of residence is unknown. It is be- 
lieved that he came to America in the fall of 1635 



or early in 1636 and remained at Dorchester or Rox- 
bury, making the acquaintance there of William Pyn- 
chon and others who were considering a plan of 
settlement in the Connecticut valley. At any rate 
he was with Pynchon and his associates on May 
14 and 16, 1636, when they drew up and signed the 
articles of association at Agawam, now Springfield, 
and he was one of five to assign the lots and manage 
affairs of the colony. He drew land there but ap- 
parently decided to return to Dorchester and settle. 
He drew land in South Boston in March, 1637-8. 
He was made a freeman of the colony March 14, 
1638-9. He was a man of integrity and ability. He 
was constable in 1641, selectman in 1645-7 and 1651 
on the committee to build the new meeting house. 
In 1656 he was elected town clerk and "clerk of the 
wrils for the county of Suffolk," and these offices 
he held till within six weeks of his death, which 
occurred October 25, 1663. He was also the clerk 
of the train band. In his will he made a bequest 
for the repairing of the burying ground. Soon after 
his death his widow Agnes removed to Boston, 
probably to live with her son, John, or her only 
daughter. Anne Leager. She died in Dorchester. 
His estate was appraised at two hundred and twenty- 
four pounds. His children were: John, baptized 
baptized at Pitminster, September 6, 1620, died at 
Boston, January 25, 1688-9 '• Anne, baptized at Pit- 
minster, .\ugust 30, 1618, died at Boston, July 12, 
1681, in the sixty-third year of her age; William, 
baptized at Pitminster, September 6, 1620, died at 
Milton, Massachusetts, September 3, 1703. at the age 
of eighty-three years ; James, baptized at Pitminster, 
April 27, 1624. died at Dorchester, June 28. 1700, 
aged seventy-six years ; Edward, supposed to be the 
youngest child, died at Milton, Massachusetts, Sep- 
tember 3, 1692. 

(II) James Blake, son of William Blake (l), 
was born in Pitminster. England, baptized April 27, 
1624. He came to New England with his father. 
He married about 1651, Elizabeth Clap, daughter 
of Deacon Edward and Prudence (Clap) Clap, who 
died in Dorcester, January 16, 1693-4, in the sixty- 
first year of her age. He married (second) in Reho- 
both. September 17, 1695, Elizabeth (Smith) Hunt, 
widow of Peter Hunt, and daughter of Henry and 
Judith Smith, from county Norfolk, England. Mr. 
Blake lived in the north part of Dorchester. His 
hou^e. built about 1650. was of such substantial 
character that the town voted to model the parson- 
age after it in i66g and it remained in the Blake" 
family until 1825. In 1895 it was removed frum 
the original location on Cottage street to Richar(Nnn 
Park, and the Dorchester Historical Society secured 
possession of it and have fitted it up for their pur- 
poses. Mr. Blake was a busy man. From 1658 to 
1685 there is scarcely a year that he did not serve 
the town in some official capacity. He was select- 
man thirteen years, later constable, deputy to the 
general court, clerk of the writs, recorder, sergeant 
of the militia company. He was deacon of the Dor- 
chester church for fourteen years and ruling elder 
for the same period. He was often called upon as 
administrator and in other capacities in the settle- 
ment of estates. He died June 28. 1700, leaving a 
will dated June 26. 1700. His estate was appraised 
at four hundred and seventy-three pounds. He and 
bis wife are buried in the old graveyard in Dor- 
chester, and the stones that mark their graves are 
in excellent condition. 

Their children were: I. James, born .August 15, 
1652. married (first) Hannah Macey. February 6, 
1681, and married (second) Ruth Bachellor. July 8, 
1684. 2. John, born March 16. 1656-7, inherited 
property of his uncle John in Boston, but remained 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



243 



in Dorchester, deacon, married Hannah 



vlio 



had four children; she died May 16, 1729, he died 
March 2, 171S. 3. Elizabeth, born October 3, 1658, 
married Jeremiah Fuller. 4, Jonathan, born July 12, 
1660, died November 10, 1660. 5. Sarah, born Feb- 
ruary 28, 1665, died May 22, 1666. 6, Joseph, born 
August 27,' 1667, married Mehitable Bird, who died 
Anril 15, 1751 ; he died February I, 1738-9, eleven 
children lived at Dorchester. 

(III) James Blake, son of James Blake (2), 
was born at Dorchester, Massachusetts, August 15, 
1652. He married (first), February 6, 1681, Han- 
nah Macey, daughter of George and Susannah 
Macey, of Taunton, who died June I, 1683. aged 
twenty-three years. He married (second), July 8, 

1684, Ruth , Bachellor, who was born in Hampton, 
New Hampshire, May 9. 1662, daughter of Nathaniel 
and Deborah (Smith) Bachellor. She died in Dor- 
chester, January 11, 1752, aged ninety years. 

There has long been a tradition in the family 
that the first house upon Dorchester Neck (now 
South Boston) was erected by James Blake. An 
investigation made a few years ago brought to light 
evidence that Captain James Foster had a dwelling 
there as early as 1676, but Blake's house was without 
doubt the second built on the peninsula about 1681. 
Although isolated from the village of Dorchester 
the house was beautifully situated to command a 
view of the harbor and shore. It was on the road 
to Castle William, later Fort Independence, and at 
times it became a sort of house of entertainment for 
the English officers at the fort. His new house 
was almost entirely destroyed by the British troops, 
February 13, 1776. Mr. Blake was a farmer. He was 
deacon of the Dorchester church twenty-three years. 
He died October 22, 1732, at the age of eighty years. 

His children were: i. Hannah, born September 16, 

1685, died October 2, 1686. 2. James, born April 29, 
1688, married Wait Simpson, daughter of Jonathan 
and Wayte (Clap) Simpson, born in Charlestown, 
March .-so, 1685, died in Dorchester, May 22. 1753, 
town clerk twenty-four years, author of Blake's 
Annals, the original of which is deposited with the 
New England Historic Genealogical Society ; he died 
December 4, 1750. at Dorchester, had seven children. 
3. Increase, born June 8, 1699, married, July 23. 1724, 
in Boston, Anne Gray. 

(IV) Increase Blake, son of James Blake (3), 
was born at Dorchester, Massachusetts, June 8, 
1699. He married in Boston, July 23, 1724, Anne 
Gray, daughter of Edward and Susanna (Harrison) 
Gray, who was born in Boston, March 16, 1704-5, 
and died there June 20, 1751. Mr. Gray was a rope 
maker and became wealthy. One of his sons. Har- 
rison Gray, was prominent in public life and treas- 
urer of the province. Another, Rev. Ellis Gray, 
was pastor of the Second Church of Boston, and 
these names, Ellis Gray and Harrison Gray, have 
been retained among the descendants of their sister 
even to the present generation. 

Increase Blake shared with his only brother 
James in his father's estate in 1732. but soon after- 
w-ard sold all his share of the real estate. He resided 
in Boston, where all his sixteen children were born, 
probably in the vicinity of Milk and Batterymarch 
streets. He was a tin plate worker, and his trade 
was followed by several of his sons and grandsons. 
He did not appear in public life as much as his 
brother. He was an inn-holder on Merchants row 
in 1740. From 1734 to 1748 he was sealer of weights 
and measures, an office appropriately connected with 
his trade. In 17,37 'le leased of the town of Boston 
one of the shops at the town dock at an annual 
rental of thirty pounds, and in 1744 requested a re- 
newal. He died probably in 1770. It is stated that 



he was buried in the Gray and Blake tomb, No. 74, 
at the Granary burying ground. 

His children were: I. Ann, born May 8, 1725, 
married, November 6, 1746, Thomas Andrews, house- 
wright, died in Boston, June 2, 1752, aged thirty- 
five years (Granary burying ground inscription). 
2. Increase, born October 28, 1726, married, April 
18. 1754, Ann Crafts, and married (second), Decem- 
ber 7, 1762, Elizabeth Bridge. 3. Edward, born 
July 9, 1728, married, October 24, 1751, Rebecca 
Hallowell. 4. James, born March 20, 1730, living 
1774. 5. Harrison, born September 10, 1731. 6. Wil- 
liam, born September 14, 1732, married in Bo.ston, 
March 26, 1770, Dorcas Ward. 7. Hannah, born 
September 9. 1733, married 1752, Colonel Thomas 
Dawes. 8. Susannah, born October 14, 1734, mar- 
ried, 17.^5, Captain Caleb Prince. 9. John, born June 
22, 1736. married in Boston, June 28, 1757, Anne 
Clarage ; was a tinplate worker. 10. Thomas, born 
January 14, 1737-8. II. Benjamin, born May g, 1739, 
married, August 17, 1763, Elizabeth Harris. 12. 
Joseph, born July 5, 1740, married, December 3, 
1761, Sarah Dawes. 13. Nathaniel, born September 
28, 1741, died October 15. 1741. 14. Ellis Gray, born 
September 9, 1743, married, August 23, 1778, Jane 
Cook. 15. Mary, born August 17. 1745, married, 
March i, 1770, in Boston, Simon Whipple, had three 
children. 16. Sarah, born August 18, 1746, mar- 
ried Joseph Bachelder, of Chelsea, Massachusetts. 

(V) Increase Blake, son of Increase Blake (4), 
was born in Boston, October 28. 1726, married there, 
April 18, 1754, Anne Crafts, daughter of Thomas 
and Anne (White) Crafts, who was born in Boston, 
January 10, 1734, and died March 21, 1762, aged 
twenty-eight. A few years ago a grave stone in- 
scribed with her name and date of death was found 
on Boston Common. He married (second), Decem- 
ber 7, 1762, Elizabeth Bridge, perhaps daughter of 
Ebenezer and Mary Bridge, of Boston, born 1731. 
She died of small pox in Worcester, November 22, 
1792, aged sixt\'-one years, and was buried in a pas- 
ture in the northern part of the city near what is 
now Nelson place. An obituary notice in the Spy 
of December, 1792, refers to her as "one of the 
noblest women earth was ever blessed with. A liv- 
ing Christian." 

Mr. Blake was a tinplate worker in Boston, hav- 
ing a shop on King street, now Slate street, near 
the old State House. He is said to have supplied 
the Provincial troops with canteens, cartridge boxes 
and the like, but refusing to make them for the 
British troops was driven from town. His wife 
was equally patriotic. Her bible, which is in pos- 
session of Mrs. E. A. Knowlton of Rochester, Min- 
nesota, gives evidence of- an encounter she had with 
a British soldier. One day when sitting in front 
of her door reading her Bible she was asked by a 
soldier as he passed wdiat she was reading. She 
replied "the story of the cross," upon which he 
answered that he would fix her Bible so she would 
always remember the cross and with his sword he 
made a deep cut across the page through many 
leaves. The story has several forms as it has been 
handed down, but the Bible, the cut and the sword 
of the British soldier are undoubted realities. When 
forced to leave Boston, just after the Battle of 
Bunker Hill, he removed his wife and seven children 
to Worcester, sacrificing nearly all of his Boston 
property. He opened a shop in Worcester at Lin- 
coln square and worked at his trade. In 17S0 and 
for a number of years he was jailer or gaoler. He 
died in Worcester, February 28, 1795. His estate 
was appraised for forty-two pounds and proved to 
be insolvent. The claims amounted to $91.49, the 
net assets were only eleven shillings, six and a half 



244 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



pence — $1.92 — to be divided, Twelve of his children 
were born in Boston, the thirteenth at Worcester. 
His children by his first wife were: Anne, born 
August 9, 175s, died December 6, 1760; Thomas, 
born December 20, 1756, died in infancy; William, 
born March I2, 1758, died September 7, 1759; Eliza- 
beth, died March 7, 1760; James, died January 22, 
1762; James, born January 29, 1762, married, July 

14, 17S4, Rebecca Cunningham. The children of his 
second wife were : Mary, born November 5, 1763, 
married, September 15, 1797, Andrew Tufts; Persis, 
born March 31, 1765, married, December 8, 1790, 
Samuel Case ; Thomas Dawes, born October 23, 
176S, married, January 3, 1802, Martha Norton; 
Ebenezer, born May 31, 1771, supposed to have been 
lost at sea; Sarah, born November 25, 1772, living 
1795; Susanna, born April 4, 1774, married, August 
3, iSoo. George Anson Howes; Dorothy, born June 

15, 1781, m Worcester, no further record of her. 
(VI) Dr. Thomas Dawes Blake, son of Increase 

Blake (5), was born in Boston, October 23, 1768. 
He married, January 3, 1802, Martha Norton, daugh- 
ter of Cornelius and Lydia (Claghorn) Norton, of 
Vineyard Haven, Massachusetts, who was born there 
May I, 1786, and died September 30, 1873, at Farrn- 
ington, Maine. Mr. Blake spent his early days in 
Worcester and attended Dr. Payson's celebrated 
school, from which he graduated with the highest 
honors of his class. He practiced for a short time 
as a physician at Petersham, Massachusetts, but in 
1799 settled at Farmington Falls, Maine. He was 
a ripe scholar and to quote the history of Farming- 
ton, "possessed of those strong virtues acquired dur- 
ing the troublous times in which his early life was 
spent." He died in Farmington, Maine, November 
20, 1849. 

His children, all born at Farmington, were: 
Cordelia, born April 19, 1804, died May 24, 1808; 
Adeline, born September 16, 1806, married, April 9, 
1835, John F. W. Gould ; Martha, born November 
12, 1808 married, April 27, 1828, David C. Morrill, 
son of David and Lucinda (Woods) Morrill, who was 
born December 4, 1804, and died June 12, 1877, she 
died January 22, 1895, lived at Farmington ; Thomas 
Dawes, born February 4, 181 1, married, May 13, 
1841, Hannah D. Norton; Increase, born December 
8, 1812, married, September 26, 1S44, Sarah Farns- 
worth; Cornelius N., born February 8, 1815, died 
August 29, 1827 ; Ebenezer Norton, born July 30, 
1817, married, February 16, 1843, Harriet Cummings ; 
George Fordyce, born May 20, 1819, married (first), 
January i, 1845, Sarah S. Skinner; married (second) 
December 24,' 1857, Martha J. Skinner; Jotham 
Sewall, born February 6, 1821, died March 5, 18S1 ; 
Freeman Norton, born June I, 1822, married Helen 
S. Baker. 

(VII) George Fordyce Blake, son of Dr. Thomas 
Blake (6),. was born May 20, 1819, at Farmington, 
Maine. He married (first) at Lynnfield, Massa- 
chusetts, January i, 1845, Sarah Silver Skinner, 
daughter of William and Lucy (Aborn) Skinner, 
who was born at Lynnfield, June 18, 1821, and died 
in Boston, October 14, 1856. He married (second) 
at North' Sandwich, Massachusetts, December 24, 
1857, Martha J. Skinner, sister of his first wife, who 
was born at Lynnfield, June 24, 1835, and died in 
Boston, June 2, 1897. 

Mr. Blake began his business career at an early 
age and before he was thirty he held a responsible 
position as mechanical engineer at the Cambridge 
brick yards. His mechanical skill led him to devise 
several useful inventions, among which was a water 
meter which brought his name into public promi- 
nence. His greatest achievement, however, was the 
Blake steam pump, which he devised originally for 



use in his own business. This pump was so suc- 
cessful that he devoted most of his energies to its 
manufacture and improvement. He must be counted 
as one of the great mechanical inventors of the 
nineteenth century. Unlike many of them he reaped 
richly of the fruit of his invention. The Blake pump 
is now manufactured by a corporation known as the 
George F. Blake Manufacturing Company. Mr. 
Blake made his home at various times in Cambridge, 
Medford, Belmont and lastly in Boston, where he 
died July 22, 1905. He had two children by his 
first wife and four by his second. 

His children were : Thomas Dawes, born Oc- 
tober 25, 1847, at Cambridge, Massachusetts, mar- 
ried, May 18, 1870, Susan P. Symounds, four chil- 
dren ; Sara Augusta, born December 6, 1853, at 
Cambridge, Massachusetts, married, October 21, 1885, 
at Belmont, Massachusetts, Roland H. Boutwell, son 
of Rodney C. and Nancy J. Boutwell ; she died at 
Belmont, February 27, 1891, no children; George 
Fordyce, born February g, 1S59, at Medford, Massa- 
chusetts, married, April 29, 1885, Carrie H. Turner; 
Grace Bertha, born August 30, 1863, at Medford, 
died there February 29, 1868; Jennie Maria, born 
April 29, 1869, at Medford, married at Boston, April 
17. 1805, Arthur Stoddard Johnson, son of Samuel 
and Mary (Stoddard) Johnson, who was born in 
Boston. June 4, 1863, has three children ; Alice Nor- 
ton, born July 6, 1872, at Belmont, resided at Bos- 
ton, Massachusetts ; married James M. Newell, June 
6, 1901, one child. 

(VIII) George Fordyce Blake, son of George 
Fordyce Blake (7), was born at Medford, Massa- 
chusetts, "February g, 1859. He was educated in the 
public schools of his native town. He attended the 
Warren Academy at Woburn, where he prepared 
for admission to the Massachusetts Institute of 
Technology, and entered in the class of 1879. He 
made a trip around the world in 1880. During the 
next four years he was a draughtsman in the office 
of the Blake Manufacturing Company, of which his ■ 
father was the president. He was also connected 
with the Knowles pump works as draughtsman. His 
father was also president of this company. 

He engaged in business on his own account Feb- 
ruary 28, 1884, when he formed a partnership under 
the firm name of Blake, Boutwell & Co., to deal in 
iron and steel at Worcester, Massachusetts. In 
October, 1891, the firm became George F. Blake, 
Jr., & Company. In May, 1893, th^ business of the 
company was extended by the addition of an iron 
mill at Wareham, Massachusetts, and a store in 
Boston. Mr. Blake has numerous other interests 
and connections. Since 1896 he has been the senior 
partner in the firm of Blake, Sampson & Co., dealers 
in wood and coal, in Worcester. He is a director 
of the Worcester Trust Company, the State Mutual 
Life Assurance Company, and the Callahan Supply 
Company. He was a director of the Central National 
Bank, which was absorbed by the Worcester Trust 
Company. He is a trustee of the Worcester 
County Institution for Savings. He was for three 
years a director of the Providence & Worcester 
Railroad, now owned by the New York, New Haven 
& Hartford Railroad Company. He is a trustee of 
the Worcester Insane Asylum and Hospital, ap- 
pointed by Governor Bates to fill out the unfinished 
term of Philip W. Moen, a director and vice-presi- 
dent of the Worcester Cold Storage Company. He 
is a member of the Worcester Board of Trade, the 
Home Market Club, the Worcester Club, the Com- 
monwealth Club, the Quinsigamond Boat Club, of 
which he was for two years president ; the Tatnuck 
Country Club,, the Exchange (ilub, Boston ; the Tech- 
nology Club, Boston ; the Calumet Club, New York ; 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



U5 



and Grafton Country Club. Mr. Blake's home is 
on Lincoln street, Worcester, and he has a beautiful 
summer place on Salisbury street, Worcester, where 
he indulges a taste for farm life at its best._ He has 
traveled extensively both for business and for pleas- 
ure. 

He married, April 29, 1885, at Newton, Massa-' 
chusetts. Carrie Howard Turner, daughter of Job 
A. Turner, treasurer of the George F. Blake Manu- 
facturing Company and" of the Knowles Pump 
Works. Her mother was Vesta Howard. Mrs. Blake 
was born April 19, 1861, in Boston. Their children 
are : Fordyce Turner, born February 10, 1889 ; 
Vesta Carolyn, born March 31, 1896. 

COLLEGE OF THE HOLY CROSS. The Col- 
le.ge of the Holy Cross, founded in the year 1843, 
bv the Rt. Reverend Benedict Joseph Fenwick. second 
Bishop of Boston, is the oldest Catholic Colle.ge in 
New England. The most cherished wish of Bishop 
Fenwick was to establish in his diocese an institu- 
tion which should furnish a secular education of 
the highest grade, and at the same time thoroughly 
imbue its students with the principles of the Catholic 
faith. He was aided in his first steps to realize this 
desire by the generosity of the Rev. Jaines Fitton, 
of Boston, who, in 1840, had erected on Pakachoag 
Hill, or Hill of the Pleasant Springs, near Wor- 
cester, the Seminary of Mount St. James. This 
building, with nearly sixty acres of land. Father 
Fitton presented to the Bishop in 1842. The fact 
that the site was given for the purpose was not the 
only consideration that induced the Bishop to erect 
his college there. The location is ideal for an in- 
stitution of this kind. There is a magnificent view 
of the city of Worcester to the north. Beyond the 
city is Mount Wachusett, amid the clustering hills 
of Central Massachusetts, and in every direction the 
scenery is the finest that nature affords. It is 
true that from the Bancroft Tower, from the summit 
of Newton Hill or from Green Hill one gets equally 
beautiful scenery, but none better. There could be 
no more picturesque site to display the architectural 
simplicity of Holy Cross ; there could be no location 
in Worcester offering more natural beauty to the 
eye of teacher and student. 

The Bishop organized the first classes in the Semi- 
nary of Mount St. James November 2, 1843. He 
had called the Fathers of the Society of Jesus to 
take care of the new college. The college building 
was completed and occupied January 13, 1844. The 
cornerstone was laid June 21, 1843, by Bishop Fen- 
wick. The first annual exhibition was held July 
29, 1844. Bishop Fenwick died August 10, 1846, 
just as his great work was fairly under way. At 
his own request he was buried in the college ceme- 
tery. A few days before his death he gave to the 
Fathers in charge of the college the legal title to 
the property. 

On the afternoon of July 14, 1852, eight days 
before Commencement, fire broke out in the main 
building, and it was burned down. This disaster 
was so serious that the very existence of the college 
was threatened, but Rt. Rev. John B. Fitzpatrick, 
the Bishop of Boston, determined that the institu- 
tion, which had been established by his predecessor, 
should not perish. He began the work of rebuilding 
and October 3, 1853, a larger and better college 
building was ready for the students, and the college 
resumed its functions as before. A class of students 
who had entered in 1843 and 1844 had advanced to 
Philosophy, by which name the senior year was 
then known, and were ready for graduation in 1849. 
The college authorities, therefore, applied to the leg- 
islature to be incorporated. Their petition was not 



granted, and it was not until the close of the civil 
war, which effectually eliminated the sectarian pre- 
judices at Beacon Hill, in 1865, that the charter was 
granted by the general court. While the action of 
the Massachusetts legislature prevented the confer- 
ring of degrees that had been rightfully earned at 
Holy Cross, an arrangement was made, so that 
Georgetown College in the District of Columbia con- 
ferred the degrees earned at the Worcester institu- 
tion until the Act of Incorporation was passed in 
1865. How the faculty and students bore their dis- 
appointment at this time may be judged from the 
testimony of His Excellency Alexander H. Bullock, 
who said at the Commencement in 1868 that he had 
been deeply impressed by the manner in which the 
friends of the college hid all signs of their dis-' 
appointment in failing to get the charter, and ex- 
hibited a patience which, under such circumstances, 
he should hardly have dared to expect from many 
Christian denominations. It was during the civil 
war that the colle.ge, besides having become dear to 
the Catholics of New England, attracted the favor- 
able notice and support of many of their non-Catho- 
lic brethren. Gov. John A. Andrew visited and in- 
spected the college during the school term of 1862, 
End presided at the annual Commencement that 
year. On that occasion he spoke in the highest 
terms of the college, and the sincerity of his praise 
was shown by his constant friendship for the col- 
lege at ever}' opportunity. The charter was signed 
by the governor March 24, 1865. It gave the college 
the right to confer such degrees as are conferred 
bv other colleges in the state, except medical de- 
grees, and placed Holy Cross on an equal footing 
in the statutes of the Commonwealth with Harvard, 
Amherst, Williams, Tufts and other colleges. Per- 
haps the Holy Cross degrees mean more to the grad- 
uate now than they would if the charter had not been 
withheld for a time. In this connection the college 
acknowledges its indebtedness to the late Hon. 
Alexander H. Bullock, of Worcester, who, while 
Speaker of the House, offered to present the petition 
for a charter, and while governor of the state pre- 
sided at three successive Commencements. 

The college buildin.gs have been vastly improved 
and greatly enlarged in the past twenty-five years. 
In 1875 the esat wing of the main building was 
raised and extended. This wing, which was the 
only part of the building not destroyed by the fire 
of 1852, gave place in time to a structure one hun- 
dred and twelve feet long, with an easterly frontage 
of ninety feet. On the first story is the refectory; 
on the second the study hall : on the upper floor the 
chapel. Adjoining this wing on the southeast cor- 
ner is the infirmary. A later and more modern 
structure, known as the O'Kane building, was com- 
pleted in 1895, 3nd formally opened in September 
of that year. It contains the gymnasium. 50x139 
feet, one of the largest and most complete in New 
England. On the third floor is Fenwick hall, an 
auditorium for public lectures, debates, meetings, 
assemblies of students, etc. A new dormitory build- 
ing, alumni hall, with one hundred rooms for stud- 
ents, was completed in the fall of 1905. 

The system of education is the one in use in all 
the colleges of the Society of Jesus, and is guided 
Iv the principles laid down in the famous "Ratio 
Studiorum." This body of rules and suggestions 
has been elaborated by centuries of experience, and 
has been judged worthy of attentive study and 
hearty approbation by the ablest scholars. The col- 
lege announces that instead of abolishing prescribed 
studies and increasing elective courses it advocates 
a wise, deliberate and prudent selection by men 
whose profession is education ; and not an unwise. 



246 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



sudden and rash choice by inexperienced yonlhs just 
entering on the process of education. "It is not a 
system of ever-changing theory and doubtful ex- 
periment, but one on which have been built the char- 
actors of the world's best scholars and statesmen 
for centuries. It meets the demand for modern 
improvement by wise adaptation and readjustment. 
The natural sciences and modern languages are by 
no mean.-i overlooked or neglected in this system, but 
the ancient languages and their literatures are still 
retained as prescribed studies and. with mathematics 
and philosophy, form the 'essential trinity of courses' 
which Professor Ladd, of Yale considers 'abso- 
lutely necessary for a truly liberal education.' " 

The college has an excellent library. In every 
department the college has grown rapidly in the 
past few years. Nearly a thousand bachelors of 
arts have been graduated in the college of the Holy 
Cross. In the athletic world Holy Cross more than 
holds her own with colleges of her size. _ The pres- 
ent officers of the college are : President, Rev. 
Joseph F. Hanselman : vice-president. Rev. Joseph 
H. Hann ; chaplain, Rev. Albert R. Peters ; treas- 
urer. Rev. Patrick A. McQuillan ; prefect of studies. 
Rev. Thomas E. Murphy ; prefect of discipline. Rev. 
Fernand A. Rousseau. There are sixteen instructors 
in the college and thirty in the preparatory depart- 
ment besides the facultv. 

REV. JOSEPH FRANCIS HANSELMAN. 
(l) Henry Hanselman, father of Rev. Joseph Francis 
Hanselman, of the Society of Jesus, and president of 
the College of the Holy Cross at Worcester, was 
born in the Canton of St. Gall, Switzerland, October 
16, 1828. He was a paper manufacturer, and in 1847 
came to this country, in the interests of his firm, 
to establish a paper mill, first in Philadelphia and 
then in New York city, but the undertaking was 
not successful. Later he engaged in various com- 
mercial enterprises successfully in Brooklyn and New 
York city. The later }-ears of his life he was en- 
gaged in the real estate business in Brooklyn, where 
he won the respect and confidence of his fellow citi- 
zens. He was interested in public afifairs and held 
varfous offices in the city government of Brooklyn. 
Shortly before he died he was tendered the nomina- 
tion for city auditor, but his health was failing and 
he had to decline the honor. He was a Democrat. 
He was originnlly a Protestant in his religious be- 
liefs and affiliations, but was converted to Catholi- 
cism after he came to America. While in search of 
the same sect to which he belonged in Switzerland,' 
he found such a conflicting array of various denomi- 
nations in America that he began to doubt whether 
God's truth, which ought to be the same everywhere, 
could consistently be found in all the sects alike. 
His investigations led him into the Catholic 
Church. He died October 17, 1884. in Brooklyn. 
New York. 

He married Margaret Jacobs. She was born 
near Treves in Rhenish Prussia, November 30. 1S30. 
She emigrated to this country in 1849, and lived be- 
fore as well as after her marria.ge in New York 
city and Brooklyn. She died December 28, 1904. 

(ID Joseph Francis Hanselman. son of Henry 
Hanselman (i"), was born in Brooklyn, New York, 
October 28. 1856. He received his early education in 
the parochial school. He studied the classics under 
private tutors and fitted for college. He entered St. 
Vincent's College, near Latrobe. Pennsylvania, where 
he was a student for two years. He completed his 
collegiate education at St. Francis Xavier's College, 
in New York city and was graduated w'ith the degree 
of A. B. in the class of 1877. He studied theology 
in the Grand Seminary, Montreal, in 1S77 and 1878. 
On September 7, 1878, he entered the novitiate of 



the Society of Jesus at Manresa, West Park, New 
York. In 1880 he went to Frederick, Maryland, to 
review his classical studies at the Jesuit Normal 
school. He spent three more years at Woodstock, 
Maryland, in the study of philosophy. From 1884 
to 1S88 inclusive he was professor of the classics 
at St. Peter's College. Jersey City, New Jersey, and 
during the college year, 1888-9 he taught philosophy 
and mathematics in St. John's College, Fordham, 
New York city. After thrS'e years more of study 
at Woodstock. Maryland, he was ordained there in 
June. 1892, but remained in the study of theology 
until 1893. During the years 1893 to 1897, inclusive, 
he was prefect of studies and discipline at Holy 
Cross, Worcester. Then he spent another year at 
Frederick in the study of ascetic theology. He re- 
turned to the College of the Holy Cross and was 
prefect of discipline in 1898-99, 1900-01. He became 
president of the college, August 24, 1901, and has 
since held the position. During his administration 
the college has enjoyed the utmost prosperity. It 
has been difficult to accommodate all the students 
who have sought admission. 

WILLIAM PHINEHAS SEARLS. Robert 
Searls (i ), the pioneer ancestor of William Phinehas 
Searls, late of Worcester, Massachusetts, and of a 
number of families in Massachusetts and Connecti- 
cut, was born in England, in Dorchester, if the 
family tradition is correct. The date of his birth 
was about 1640. He married in 1660. Deborah 
, and about the same time came to this coun- 
try, settling in Dorchester, Massachusetts. Other 
Searles or Searle pioneers preceded him. Many of 
the Searles families are descended from John 
Searles, of Springfield, Massachusetts, who was 
there as early as 1637, and from Philip Searl of 
Roxburj', Massachusetts. The name is variously 
spelled in the early records, but the descendants of 
Robert Searls. of Dorchester. Massachusetts, have 
maintained the spelling, Searls, in all the generations, 
except for occasional variations of individuals. 

Robert Searls was admitted an inhabitant of Dor- 
chester June 9, 1662. His wife died March 2, 1713-4, 
at Dorchester. The town record of his death notes 
that he was "town clerk for many years." Doubt- 
less the completeness of the early records in Dor- 
chester, relating to the Searls family, is due to the 
fact that for sixteen years he himself kept the 
record as town clerk. He died, at Dorchester, Feb- 
ruary 7, 1717. He signed the Dorchester petition 
to the King in 1664. He owned twelve acres in the 
"Great Lots" in 1668. The children of Robert and 
Deborah Searls were : Nathaniel, born in Dorches- ■ 
ter, June 9, 1662. baptized there April 5, 1668 ; mar- 
ried, 1694, Sarah, daughter of John Rogers and 
Elizabeth Peabody, and great-granddaughter of 
Thomas Rogers of the "Mayflower" ; Salter (a pe- 
culiar family name found in almost every family 
of Robert Searls' descendants. There were several 
pioneers of this name. William Salter, of Boston, 
left a large family of children and was in Boston 
as early as 1638), born June 26, 1664, died April 
8, 1690; baptized at Dorchester Church, April S, 
1668; Esbon (given Edna in some accounts), born 
February 24, 1669, died young; Robert, (see for- 
ward); Esbon, born March 18, 1674; Deborah, born 
April 4, 1677; Jabez. born March 13. 1679, married 
Thankful Toplifif. April 9, 1702, at Dorchester, and 
had a large family of children there ; she died May 
I, 1747; he died July 31, 1724, 

(II) Robert Searls, son of Robert Searls (l), 
born in Dorchester, Massachusetts. July 2, 1671 ; 
married there December 4, 1695, by Rev. Mr. Dan- 
forth. Rebecca Evans. He settled in Dorchester 




^^^^-^^^^6^ (J^^S^^^^^^. 




WORCESTER COUNTY 



247 



md died there July 13, 1752, of smallpox "being," 
he town records tell us, "the fourth ptrsoii that 
lad it in the town in the year 1752, and the only 
)erson that died of it m the town of Dorchester, 
hough such numbers had it in Boston and sur- 
ouuding towns, and hundreds died of it there." 
rlis widow, Rebecca, died May 17, 1761, in her 
;ighty-litth year. Both were buried in Dorchester, 
ind their graves are marked with headstones. The 
:hildren of Robert and Rebecca (Evans) Starls 
vere : Salter, baptized December 6, 1696, died at 
Dorchester, Alay 15, 175.3 (headstone at Dorchester) ; 
iebecca (twin), born February 15, 1700; Deborah, 
(twin), born February 15, 1700. died January 20, 
[755, unmarried; Mary, born December 21, 1701, 
lied unmarried October 12, 1765; Robert, (see for- 
vard). 

(III) Robert Searls, son of Robert Searls (2), 
)orn in Dorchester, Massachusetts, July 3, 1705; set- 
led in Dorchester and married Sarah Jilaudsley, 
vho w'as of an old Dorchester family, January 6, 
731. He was know'n generally as Robert Searls, 
Ir. Children, all born in Dorchester, were : Eliza- 
)eth, born December 17, 1732 ; Rebecca, May 26, 
734; Elijah, March 28, 1736; John, ;May 17, 1738, 
lettled in Dorchester and raised a family there ; 
Salter, (see forward). 

(IV) Salter Searls, son of Robert Searls, Jr. (3), 
vas born in Dorchester, Massachusetts, June 15, 
741. When a young man he removed to Brooklyn, 
he county seat of Windham county, Connecticut, 
rle died there May 25, 1808. He served on the 
•chool committee and in other offices. He married 
\lice Cady, of Brooklyn, Connecticut, born Feli- 
uary 23, 1747; died October 24, 1819. Their seven 
ons and one daughter all settled in Windham county 
n the towns of Plaintield, Brooklyn, Hampton, and 
r'omfret. The children were : Daniel, Sarah, Phine- 
las, (see forward) ; Elijah, Joel, John, Richard, 
kla. 

(V) Phinehas Searls, son of Salter Searls (4), 
vas born April 26, 1773; died May 30, 1856; married 
(first) Alithea Brown, born in Brooklyn, Connecti- 
:ut, April 11, I78<:); died February 15, 1825. She 
vas the daughter of Alpheus and Sarah Brown; 
Harried (second) Mary Witter Paine, born January 
10, 1785; died January s, 1857. 

The children of Phinehas and Alithea (Brown) 
searls were : Harriet, born May 28, 1805 ; died 
luly 8, 1805; William, (see forward); Charles, July 
;, 1815, died October 18, 1892; Alithea, October 27, 
i8ig, died January 24, 1824; Henry, March 18, 
821, died July 13, 1821 ; Almary, August 12, 1822 ; 
lied April 8, 1856; Daniel, February 15, 1825, died 
lune 29, 1866. The children of Phinehas and Mary 
(Vitter (Paine) Searls were: Martha Ann, Novem- 
)er 29, 1826, died February 15, 1829; Lewis, Sep- 
ember 2, 1828, died December 19, 1902. 

(VI) William Searls. son of Phinehas Searls 
[S) and father of William P. Searls, was born in 
Plainfield, Connecticut, (now called Wauregan) on 
he Quincbaug river, January 26, (?) 1811; died 
lanuary 11, 1900. He married Catherine Jane 
Backus, of New York city. May 27, 1841. She was 
he twin daughter of Simon and Eunice Alice 
(Linus) Backus, of a family of ten children. She 
was born in New York city December 8, 1822 ; 
lied in Worcester, April 20, 1905. She was the 
jreat-great-granddaughter of Rev. Timothy Ed- 
vards, her father's grandmother being a sister of the 
:amous Rev. Jonathan Edwards. The record of the 
L-inus family was destroyed in a fire some years ago, 
.vhen the old homestead at Bridgeport, Connecticut, 
was destroyed. The family was of English and 
French descent. 



Mr. Searls removed from Plainfield, with his 
parents, to Brooklyn, Connecticut, when he was a 
young boy. The Searls place at Brooklyn is the 
farm now owned there by Frank Weaver. 'I'he 
family occupied the place forty-seven years. He 
began life as clerk in the country stores at Brook- 
lyn and Plainfield, Connecticut. ]'"rom there he 
went to Hartford, Connecticut, where he held a po- 
sition in a dry goods establishment. He went to New 
York to take a responsible position in one of the 
largest dry goods store there. Eventually he went 
to Wall street and became one of the leading brokers 
of his day. With his brother Charles he became 
associated with several of the most prominent oper- 
ators of Wall street. Both were members of the 
New York Stock Exchange for many years. Will- 
iam Searls was elected president of the Stock E.k- 
change in 1868. At the end of his term he retired 
from active life. For thirty years he enjoyed his 
retirement, occupied only with the cares of his in- 
vestments. He resided in Brooklyn, New York. 
He became a member of the Clinton Avenue Congre- 
gational Church of that city May i, 1850. 

Children were : Catherine Isabelle, born in New 
York city, June 2, 1842, died July 26, 1842; Flor- 
ence Amelia, born in Brooklyn Heights, New York, 
June 29, 1848; educated in private schools and at the 
Parker Collegiate Institute ; has lived in recent years 
in Worcester, at the home of her brother, William 
P. Searls, 105 Burncoat street ; William Phinehas, 
(sec forward). 

(VII) William Phinehas Searls, son of William 
Searls (6), was born in Brooklyn, June 3, 1851; 
died November 20, 1904. His early education was 
obtained at private schools and at the Brooklyn 
Polytechnic Institute. For a time he was with his 
father on Wall street in the brokerage business. 
Later he was associated with Hatch & Foote, bank- 
ers and brokers, and with the Tifliany jewelry es- 
tablishment. He went to Chicago, where he was 
connected with the grocery business of J. W. Doane. 
Returning to New York, he married September 12, 
1882, Kate Robinson, daughter of John R. Robinson. 
His father-in-law was interested in Mexican silver 
mines and Mr. Searls for a time managed a mine 
for him at Chihuahua, Mexico. He was in the real 
estate business until 1890, when he came to Worces- 
ter to live on account of the health of his daughter 
Florence. He made his home at 105 Burncoat street, 
in an attractive portion of the suburbs of the city. 
Soon after coming to Worcester he became inter- 
ested in the North End Street Railway Company. 
When the company was organized in 1892 he became 
its first president. While his company was fighting 
for its franchise and locations he was called upon 
many times to appear before the Board of Aldermen 
at hearings in opposition to the powerful Consoli- 
dated Street Railway Company, of Worcester. He 
won for his company, and the line was constructed 
from Greendale to Washington Square, and it was 
operated by the North End Street Railway Company 
until it was leased to the Consolidated August i. 
1895, for a term of ninety-nine years. The North 
End Street Railway Company is still in existence as 
a corporation. It was the intention of the company 
from the first to extend its lines to Clinton. He 
was also interested for a time in the Drapery Fixture 
and Wood Carving Company, and during the last 
years of his life was interested in the Worcester 
Alanufacturing Company, which conducted extensive 
experiments w'ith comcressed air motors., etc. 

He was one of a committee of seven appointed 
to recommend a plan for the investment of the funds 
obtained by the Worcester Agricultural Society from 
the sale of its grounds. His committee reported 



248 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



in favor of the purchase of the present grounds at 
Barbers' Crossing. At a meeting in Horticultural 
Hall it was voted to accept the recommendation 
and to negotiate the purchase of the tract, also to 
locate and lay out a regulation racing track, much 
to the satisfaction of horsemen generally. Mr. 
Searls was an ardent Republican. He represented 
Ward Two in the general court in 1893-94-95. He 
was on the committee on election laws in 1894, and 
chairman of the committee on finance and house 
chairman of the committee on expenditures in 
1895. He was a man of attractive personality. He 
made friends readily and kept them. He was a 
shrewd man of business. The only child of Will- 
iam Phinehas and Kate (Robinson) Searls was: 
Florence, born on West End avenue. New York 
city, November 3, 1888. 

DANIEL KINSLEY. Richard Montague (i) 
was the emigrant ancestor of Daniel Kinsley, of 
Worcester, and of many others in Worcester county 
and Western Massachusetts. ' His pedigree is traced 
in England back to 1066. An abstract of the line 
of descent is as follows : Beginning with William 
Montague, who was born about 1500. William 
Montague, of Boveney Parish, Burnham, Bucking- 
hamshire, England. Robert j\iontague, married Mar- 
garet Cotton, daughter of Roger Cotton, of Ward- 
ville, Berkshire. William Montague, married Mar- 
garet Malthouse, daughter of John Malthouse, of 
Binfield, Berkshire. William Montague of Boveney, 
M. A., Fellow of Kings College, Cambridge, left 
Eton College and succeeded to his estate at Boveney, 
1585 ; living in 1634. He married Richard Burn's 
daughter Elizabeth. Their children were : William, 
Peter, was in Virginia in 1634; Richard, Robert, 
Elizabeth, Anne, Margaret. 

Richard Montague was born about 1614 in 
Boveney. where for generations his ancestors had 
lived. When he came to New England is not known. 
The first i-ecord is 1646, when he removed with his 
wife from Wells, Maine, to Boston, Massachusetts. It 
is believed that he went to Wells in 1637 from 
Boston. He married Abigail Downing, daughter of 
Rev. Dr. Downing, of Norwich, England. The 
Downing family in England has a well established 
pedigree in the Montague genealogy, but some of 
the links connecting Rev. Dr. Downing with the 
pedigree seem to lack proof, though probably cor- 
rectly guessed. 

In 1651 Richard Montague removed to Wethers- 
field, Connecticut, taking with him a letter from 
Emanuel Downing, of Salem, his wife's cousin, to 
Governor Winthrop, of Connecticut. He was one 
of the original fifty-nine citizens who signed the 
agreement April 18, 1659, at Goodman Ward's house 
in Hartford to settle at Hadley, Massachusetts. He 
held various town offices in Hadley and was select- 
man in 1671 and 1677. In March, 1681, he was made 
clerk of writs. He died December 14, 1681. His 
wife died November 8, 1694. Their children were : 
Mary, born about 1642, probably in Wells. Maine; 
Sarah, born June 15, 1646, in Boston, died June 
19, 1646, in Boston ; Martha, born June 16, 1647, in 
Boston; Peter, born July 8, 1651, probably in Weth- 
ersfield, Connecticut ; Abigail, born 1653, in Wethers- 
field ; John, born probably 1655, in Wethersficld. 

(II) John Montague, son of Richard Alontague 
(l), was born probably in 1655 or 1656, in Wethers- 
field, Connecticut. He removed with his parents to 
Hadley, Massachusetts, in 1659 or 1660. He mar- 
ried, March 23, 1681, in Hadley, Hannah Smith, 
daughter of Chileab and Hannah (Hitchcock) 
Smith, granddaughter of Luke and Elizabeth (Gib- 
bons) Hitchcock, of Wethersfield. She was born 



July, 1662. The grave-stones of her parents are of 
interest. They read : "Ens. Chileab Smith d. March 

7, 1731, aged 96 years, and Hannah his wife d. Aug. 
3l> I733> aged 88 years. It is a worthy memorial 
they lived in marriage state 70 years." John Mon- 
tague was a selectman in 1697. He lived on the 
original homestead at Hadley until his death about 
1732, as stone shows. The children of John Mon- 
tague were : John, born December 31, 1681 ; Rich- 
ard, born March 16, 1684 ; Hannah, born August 

8, 1687, died November, 1688 ; Hannah, born March 
21, 16S9, died April 19, 1689; Peter, born May, 1690; 
William, born December 16, 1692; Samuel, born 
April 2, 1695 ; Hannah, born May 28, 1697 ; Luke, 
born October 4, 1699; Nathaniel, born October 6, 
1704. 

(III) Deacon Samuel Montague, son of John 
Montague (2), was born in Hadley, Massachusetts, 
April 2, 1695. He married, January or June 24, 
1716, Elizabeth White, daughter of Deacon Na- 
thaniel White, of Hadley. She died October 15, 
^753< aged fifty-seven years. He married (second), 
June 13, 1754, Mary Billings, widow of Jonathan 
Billings, and daughter of Joseph Root. He was one 
of the first forty settlers in Sunderland, Massachu- 
setts. His home lot, which he received from his 
Uncle Peter, was No. 14 and this land is now or was 
recently owned by his descendants. He was a man 
of energy, activity and good judgment, and in the 
course of his long life filled almost every office in 
the gift of his fellow citizens. The records indi- 
cate the order or rank of certain offices. He is 
designated as lieutenant, then deacon, then captain, 
showing the rank of deacon in the estimation of 
the people was higher than lieutenant but lower 
than captain. He was selectman also. He died 
January 31, 1779, aged eighty-four years. The chil- 
dren of Deacon Samuel Montague were : Samuel, 
born June 30, 1720; John, born January 10, 1723, 
died February 15, 174S, unmarried; Daniel, born 
January 13, 1725; Giles, born January 29, 1727; 
Richard, born May 7, 1729; Caleb, born July 27, 
1731 ; Giles, born December 16, 1733, died Septem- 
ber ID, 1734: Elizabeth, born September 18, 1735, 
died September 17, 1743; Nathaniel, born February 
13. 1739^ slain in battle at Lake George, August 7, 
I7S7; Ebenezer, born October I, 1741, died Sep- 
tember 28, 1743. 

(IV) Samuel Montague, son of Samuel Mon- 
tague (3), was born in Sunderland, Massachusetts, 
June 30, 1720. He. married in 1742, Elizabeth Mon- 
tague (his cousin), daughter of Peter and Mary 
(Hubbard) Montague, of South Hadley, Massa- 
chusetts. He resided in Sunderland many years 
and there his children were born. He was one of a 
number of Separatists who were excommunicated 
from the church at Sunderland, September 
24, 1753- He removed to Bennington, Vermont, 
in 1761, and was moderator of the first town meet- 
ing there. Some of the Kinsley family, among them 
John Kinsley, were also among the early settlers of 
Bennington. The church at Bennington was founded 
by the Separatists. In 1773-4 he removed to Pitts- 
ford, Vermont, but returned to Bennington, where 
he died of smallpox, January 17, 1777. His widow 
married Rev. James Smith, a Baptist minister. She 
died January 31, 1816, in Pittsford, aged ninety-five 
years, three months. He was a weaver by trade. 
His sons settled on the land he owned in Pitts- 
ford. His children were : Samuel, born in Sunder- 
land, as were all the other children, January 15, 
1743; Elizabeth, born October 4, 1744; Mary, born 
November 25, 1746, baptized February i, 1747, at 
Amherst; Martha, born November 21, 1748; Persis, 
born February 13, 1751; Azubah, born February 14, 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



249 



1753; Experience, born I\Iay 14, 1755; Adonijah. 
born April 11, 1757; Nathaniel, born June 4, 1759, 
died in Oneida, New York; Rufus, born October 
28, 1762. 

(V) Samuel Montague, son of Samuel Mon- 
tague (4), was born in Sunderland, Massachusetts, 
January 15, 1743. He married, 1764, in Benning- 
ton, Vermont, Lucy Safford, daughter of Josiph and 
Ann (Bottom) Safford, of Ipswich, Massachusetts, 
and Norwich, Connecticut. She was born June, 1748, 
and removed with her parents to Bennington. They 
resided in Bennington until eight of their children 
were born. He removed in July, 1784, to Cam- 
bridge, Vermont, when there was no road and the 
trail was blazed. They were among the first set- 
tlers in Cambridge. He died March 27, 1826, in 
Cambridge, \'ermont. She died April 4, 1828, aged 
eighty-one. The children of Samuel and Lucy 
(Safford) Montague were: Lucy, born February 12, 
1765; Dariu.s, born April 18, 1767, died of smallpox; 
Anna, born October 2, 1769; Elizabeth, born Feb- 
ruary II, 1771 ; Samuel, born April 23, 1775; Ce- 
linda, born November 28, 1777; Child, born April 3, 
1779, died April 27, 1780; Joseph, born July 0, 
1781 ; Solomon, born April 15, 1785 ; Challis, born 
November 18, 1788. 

(VI) Lucy Montague, daughter of Samuel Mon- 
tague (5), was born in Bennington, Vermont, Feb- 
ruary 12, 1765. She married Daniel Kinsley. (See 
Kinskv Family). 

KINSLEY FAMILY. (I) Stephen Kinsley was 
the emigrant ancestor of Daniel Kinsley, of Wor- 
cestor. The records show that his descendants have 
followed this way of spelling the name without a 
"G" wherever they have settled. The emigrant was 
in Braintree, first in 1637. John Kingsley, of Dor- 
chester, is believed to be a brother. Stephen was a 
proprietor of the town of Braintree and was ad- 
mitted a freeman May 13, I640. He removed to 
Dorchester and bought half of the Hutchinson farm, 
February 23, 1656. He returned to Braintree and 
sold land in Milton, May 11, 1670. He was an 
elder of the church and deputy to the general court. 
His will was dated at Milton, May 27, 1673, and 
proved July 3, 1673, in which he mentions his 
lamily. His children were: Samuel; John; a daugh- 
ter who married Henry. Crane; a daughter who 
married Anthony Golliver ; a daughter who mar- 
ried Robert Mason ; Mary, born August 30, 1640, 
at Braintree. 

(II) Samuel Kinsley, son of Stephen Kinsley 
(i), was born probably in England. He married 

Hannah ■ . He died before 1673, when his 

father's will was made. He probably lived at Milton. 
His children were: Samuel, born 1662; and two 
daughters. 

(III) Samuel Kinsley, son of Samuel Kinsley 
(2), was born in 1662, at Dorchester. He married 
Mary Washburn, in 1694. She was the daughter of 
John Washburn. They settled at South Bridge- 
water, Massachusetts, and bought the Jeduthan 
Robbins place, adjoining Thomas Washburn's, His 
children, except Daniel, who is believed to belong 
here, are given by the Bridgewater history. See 
also Easton. Iilassachusetts, history. The children : 
Samuel, born 1720, died 1773, at Worcester ; John, 
married Thankful Washburn, daughter of William 
Washburn, 1746 ; Nathan, married Betty Dunbar, 
daughter of James Dunbar ; Benjamin, born March 16, 
1701, married (first) PrisciUa Manley, died March 
l.^. 1759. Easton; married (second) Widow Perkins; 
Mary, married Thomas Willis, 1716; Sarah, mar- 
ried Josiah Hayward, 1715; Benjamin; Bethia, mar- 
ried William Brett, 1732 ; Susanna, married Samuel 



Packard, 1729; Daniel, born 1720-30, (need proof 
of this connection). (Samuel (IV) died in Wor- 
cester on his way from Decrfield to his family in 
Bridgewater, September 25, 1773, aged fifty-three. 
His son Samuel went to Charlemont, Massachu- 
setts, where Daniel Kinsley settled. His son Martin 
settled at Hardwick, Massachusetts. His son Caleb 
at Montague, Massachusetts. He married Sophia 
White, about 1742.) 

(IV) Daniel Kinsley, son of Samuel Kinsley 
(3), of Bridgewater, probably, was born about 
1720-30. He removed to western Massachusetts 
and was one of the prominent settlers of Charle- 
mont in Hampden county. His brother, Samuel 
Kinsley, had sons settle in Charlemont and other 
towns in the vicinity. Samuel died at Worcester on 
his way home from Deerfield to his liome in Bridge- 
water, as the inscription on his stone tells. He was 
buried in Worcester. He must have been one of 
the early settlers at Charlemont, as his son Daniel 
was born there in 1764, and in 1770 he was one of 
the three largest property owners as shown by the 
tax list. The others were Othniel Taylor from 
Deerfield, and Aaron Rice, brother of the founder, 
Moses Rice. He married Eunice . The fol- 
lowing list of children is probably incomplete : 
Daniel, born at Charlemont, Massachusetts, April 
22, 1764; John, settler ,at Bennington before, 1775; 
Stephen, who drew lot 47 in Cambridge at the same 
time Daniel, Sr., and Daniel, Jr., drew land there 
in 1783. (The records show that the family was in 
Bennington, Vermont, before coming to Cambridge 
and the adjoining town of Fletcher, Vermont.) 

(V) Daniel Kinsley, son of Daniel Kinsley (4), 
both in battle of Bennington, Vermont, was born 
at Charlemont, Massachusetts, April 22, 1764. He 
removed with his father to Bennington, Vermont, 
about 1780. He and his .father drew land in Cam- 
bridge, Vermont, together, August 28, 1783. Daniel, 
Sr.. had lot No. l; Daniel, Jr., lot No. 44; Stephen 
Kinsley lot 47. 

Daniel Kinsley married, November 22, 1788, 
Lucy Montague (q. v.), daughter of Samuel Mon- 
tague (V). This was the first marriage in the 
town of (Cambridge, Vermont. (Date from family 
record differs from that in Montague Genealogy). 
He died in Fletcher, Vermont, September 27, 1828; 
siie died February 10, 1850, in Fletcher. Their chil- 
dren, all born in Cambridge, were : Clarissa, born 
August 9, 1789, died at North Hero January 22, 
1820, married Moses Haynes, of North Hero, March 
31, 1805; Eunice, born August 23, 1790, died at 
Cambridge; Hannah, born January 21, 1792, married 
Elihu Parks, of Russelton, Canada, January 31, 
1812 ; Lucretia, born January 19, 1794, lived at 
Brasher, New 'V'ork, died there 1871, married Melzar 
E. Buck, at Russelton, Canada, January 6, 1812 ; Ben 
Alvah, born January II, 1796, died at Lowell, Ver- 
mont. December 6, 1870; Elvira, born January 5, 
1798, died at Fletcher, Vermont, July 3, 1859; Guy, 
born May 8, 1800, married Emily Scott Fletcher, 
July 4, 1826; Earl, born in North Hero, Vermont, 
August 4, 1802, died at Grand Isle, June 29, 1868; 
Nancy, born December 17, 1804, married Jefferson 
Scott, at Fletcher, May 8, 182S; Samuel, born May 
29, 1807, died at North Hero, October 5, 1808; 
Chellis. born July 19, i8og, married, March 12, 1837, 
Almira Hubbard, at North Hero ; Calista, born in 
Russelton, Canada, April 20, 1812, died in North 
Hero, August 8, 1847. 

(VI) Ben Alvah Kinsley, son of Daniel Kinsley 
(5), was born in Cambridge, Vermont, January 11, 
1796. In 1812 he served six months in the New 
York state militia. He enlisted April 27, 1813, in 



250 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



the Second Company, Thirtieth Vermont Volunteers, 
and served a year in the army commanded by Gen- 
eral Wade Hampton. The sufferings and privations 
of this campaign were terrible. He was slightly 
wounded by a bullet in the battle of LaCole Mill, 
Odelltown, Canada. He had a narrow escape from 
death crossing the ice from Butler's Island to North 
Hero, which is related in Vol. 2, page 200 of the 
Vermont Gazeteer. He married, February 26, 1824, 
Catherine Montague, daughter of Rufus Montague, 
granddaughter of Samuel Montague (q. v.) above, 
a second case of marriage of cousins in the line. She 
was crippled several years before her death, Feb- 
ruary 15, 1849. He married (second) Lucy or M. 
P. Blair, of Fletcher. He was the author of the 
history of Fletcher in the Vermont Gazeteer. He 
was said to be a man of good judgment, deep feel- 
ing and excellent religious principles. He was 
original in his ways and thought. His biographer 
terms some of his ideas eccentricities. Five of his 
sons, Rufus, Jason, Edgar, William and Alonzo, 
were soldiers in the civil war and all passed through 
the service. After the war a very interesting family 
reunion was held at which all the children were 
present. He died December 6, 1870, at Lowell, 
Vermont. 

The children of Ben Alvah Kinsley, all born in 
Fletcher, Vermont, were : Guy, born February 12, 
1825, married, March 14, 1853, Lucinda Ellsworth, 
resides at Council Hill. Clayton county, Iowa, has 
had eleven children. Lucretia, born February 13, 
1827. Daniel, born June 13, 1829. Rufus, born 
October 9, 1831, printer by trade, married, April 
ic, 1872, at Cambridge, Ella L. Bingham, daughter 
of Judge Royal T. Bingham, of Fletcher, has seven 
children. Jason, born October 25, 1833, served in 
First Iowa Cavalry throughout civil war, teacher, 
died at McGregor, Iowa, October, 1903. Alonzo, 
born February 3, 1836, served in Company H, 
wounded in breast by minie ball July 16, 1861 ; 
farmer at Cambridge, Vermont, married, January 
6, 1869, at Johnson, Vermont, Emma Alsie Brown, 
daughter of Dexter W. Brown, of Waterville, Ver- 
mont, has four daughters. Edgar, born -August 16, 
1837, adopted by his uncle, Rufus Montague, and 
name changed by act of legislature ; married. March, 
i860, Louise Sherwood, daughter of Zalmon Sher- 
wood, of Fletcher; married (second) Annette Blair, 
daughter of Charles Blair, of Fletcher; was a sol- 
dier in the civil war; has had six children. Will- 
iam Lyon, born March 12, 1844, died September 
24, 1901 ; carried a ball in his elbow received in the 
battle of Cold Harbor ; married Ellen Lucretia Whit- 
tle, in Lowell. Vermont ; has one son, Ross. 

(VII) Daniel Kinsley, son of Ben Alvah Kins- 
ley (6), was born in Fletcher, Vermont, June 13, 
1829. He spent his boyhood in his native town, 
working on a farm and attending the district school. 
He came to Massachusetts when he was seventeen, 
as many Vermont boys did about that time, hoping 
to save money enough to buy a farm and settle in 
Fletcher. He went to work for Bonum Nye, of North 
Brookfield, one of the county commissioners, and 
he became acquainted with the other county commis- 
sioners in the course of business. When a vacancy oc- 
curred in the messenger's office at the court he was 
the unanimous choice of the board. He was elected 
June 21, 1853, as messenger of the courts and held 
the position for fifty years. His duties at first in- 
cluded work now done by the janitor and others. 
Time has worked many changes in the court house 
and the courts of Worcester county. One interest- 
ing souvenir of the early days of his work for the 
county is the magnificent elm, known as the Kins- 
ley elm, between the court house and the Unitarian 



church. It was a seedling in the year he began as 
custodian of the court house, and next year he 
transplanted it to its present location. It is as 
large as many elms of twice its age and nowhere is to 
be found a more graceful and beautiful tree. 

Hon. Alfred S. Roe in an article in the Wor- 
cester Magazine, October, 1903, just after Mr. Kins- 
ley had completed his fifty years of service at the 
court house, reviewed briefly the history of those 
years. "In these fifty years," he said, "Mr. Kinsley 
saw no less than thirty-three different men sit 
upon the supreme bench and, had he been a note- 
taker, what a volume of reminiscences he might have 
prepared. He has followed the entire existence of 
the superior court, for he had been six years on duty 
when it was established and each one of the more 
than fifty judges left his own distinct impression on 
the mind of the messenger. He saw the progress 
of distinguished and elequent lawyers from their 
places as counsel to those of judges and two, Gray 
and Holmes, he saw promoted to the highest judicial 
positions attainable in the United States, viz. : seats 
in the supreme court of the nation. He was present 
when Charles Devens exchanged his pen for the 
the sword and went out to do battle for his coun- 
try." 

Mr. Kinsley returned to Fletcher to marry an 
old schoolmate, August 24, 1854. His wife was 
Harriet Newell Mudgett, daughter of Jesse Mudgett, 
of Cambridge. Mrs. Kinsley died March 4, 1900. 
Mr. Kinsley is now retired. He resides at the rear 
of the Court House at 15 Court street, this being 
a portion of the Isaiah Thomas estate, which Mr. 
Kinsley purchased in 1883 and upon which he built 
two apartment houses. He is a member of Ply- 
mouth Congregational Church, although formerly a 
member of Central Church. He was one of the early 
promoters of the Y. M. C. A. His children are : 
Catherine Montague, born in Worcester, June 23, 
1855, married, 1878, Charles A. Reed. They have 
had ten children : Josephine E., born September I, 
1880, wife of Rev. Tyler E. Gale ; Henry D., born 
September 4, 1S81, died August 16, 1882; Millicent 
E., born January 30, 1883 ; Horace B., born July 8, 
1884; Karl, born March 11, 1886, died in infancy; 
Margaret K., born May 19, 18S7 : Katherine Mon- 
tague, born May 6, 1889, died June 2, 1900 ; Frank 
H., born July 27, 1891 ; Maybelle, born August 22, 
1893; Raymond, born June 11, 1897, died January 
31, 1898. Fanny Amelia, born September 10, 1857, 
died January 17, 1863. Florence Josephine, born 
October 26, i860, resides at home. Carrie Carleton, 
born March 26, 1864, is a public school teacher. 
Sumner Alvah, born April 8, 1868, married Maybelle 
Pierce, in 1893 ; they have two children : Katherine 
Montague, born October 9, 1896, and Mildred, born 
September 7, 1901. He (Sumner Alvah) is with the 
Woodbury-Carlton Engraving Company of Wor- 
cester, Massachusetts. Edward William, born Janu- 
ary 12, 1871, married, December, 1905, Edith Lan- 
caster. He is a member of the banking house of 
Kinsley & Adams of Worcester. 

SHATTUCK FAMILY. William Shattuck (i). 
the progenitor of the Shattucks, of Worcester, and 
of most of the name in this country, was born in Eng- 
land in 1621 or 1622, and died at Watertown, Massa- 
chusetts, August 14, 1672. He was a young boy 
when he came to America, and his name does not 
appear in the records until 1642, when he was 
twenty years old. That same year he married 

Susanna . After the death of Shattuck she 

married Richard Norcross who survived her. She 
died December i, 1686. Shattuck was a farmer and 
weaver. In 1853 one of his descendants. Lemuel 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



2^1 



Shattuck, had a monument erected on his grave 
and suitably inscribed. It is in the old graveyard 
on the road from Cambridge to Watertown west of 
Mount Auburn. Their children were: i. Susanna, 
born 1643 ; married J. Morse and J. Fay. 2. Mary, 
born August 25, 1645 ; married Jonathan Brown. 3. 
John, born February 11, 1647; married Ruth Whit- 
ney. 4. Philip, born 1648; married D. Barstow and 
R. Chamberlain. 5. Joanna, died April 4, 1673. un- 
married. 6. William (see forward). 7. Rebecca, born 
1655 ; married Samuel Church. 8. Abigail, born 
1657; married J. Morse and J. Parker. 9. Benjamin, 
died in his twentieth year. 10. Samuel, born Feb- 
ruary 28, 1666; married Abigail . 

(II) William Shattuck, son of William (i) and 
Susanna Shattuck, born 1653, at Watertown, in the 
old homestead in the easterly parish on the high- 
way to the pond, where he lived all his life and 
died October 19, 1732, at the ripe old age of seven- 
ty-nine. Like his father he was a weaver, but like the 
versatile neighbors about him he did other things, 
such as farming and brick-making, as the season 
called him. He was a prominent man and held sev- 
eral town offices. He married Susanna Randall in 

^ 1678. She died May 8, 1723. Her father, Stephen 
Randall, married Susanna Barron. He died Feb- 
ruary 26, 1708. Susan Barron was the daughter of 
Ellis Barron, who died at Watertown, October 30, 
1676, and sister of Moses Barron, born March i, 
1643, who married Mary Learned, settled in Chelms- 
ford and was ancestor of Lucy Barron, wife of Dr. 
Benjamin Shattuck, (see forward). The children of 
William and Susanna Shattuck were: I. Susanna, 
married Samuel Holden. 2. Joanna, married Isaac 
Holden. 3. Elizabeth, born November 23, 1684 ; 
married R. Goddard and others. '4. William, born 
1686; married Hepzibah Hammond. 5. Benjamin, 
(see forward). 6. Mary, baptized April 13, 1690; 
married William, Greenleaf. 7. Abigail, married 
Joseph Holden. 8. Joseph, born October 9, 1694: 
died October 15, 1694. 9. Jonathan, born October 16, 
1695 ; married Elizabeth Stearns. 10. Robert, born 
January i, 1698; married Mary Pratt. 11. Moses, 
born November 11, 1703; died at Boston, May 31, 
1724, unmarried. 

(III) Rev. Benjamin Shattuck, son of William 
(2) and Susanna Shattuck, born at Watertown, July 
30, 1687. He graduated at Harvard College in 1709 
and engaged soon afterward as teacher of the pub- 
lic school at Littleton, at the princely salary of thirty 
pounds a year. The town engaged to build for him 
a new school house. During the next six years he 
studied for the ministrj- while he taught the youth 
of Littleton, and he was so well liked there that he 
was called to preach, and became tfie first minister 
of Littleton. He preached for fifteen years, then 
resigned, but spent the rest of his life in the same 
town. He died August 30. 1730. He married Martha 
Sherman, baptized September i, 1689, the daughter 
of Joseph Sherman, blacksmith and prominent citi- 
zen of Watertown. This Joseph Sherman married 
Elizabeth, daughter of Edward Winship, of Cam- 
bridge, and was the father of William Sherman, 
shoemaker, of Watertown, and grandfather of Roger 
Sherman, signer of the Declaration of Independence. 
The father of Joseph Sherman was Captain John 
Sherman, a distinguished citizen, born 1613, at Ded- 
ham, Essex county, England, who came to America 
in 1634. The children of Rev. Benjamin Shattuck 
were: i. Stephen, born February 10, 1710, married 
Elizabeth Robbins. 2. jNIartha. born January 7, 1712; 
married Samuel Tuttle. 3. Benjamin, (see for- 
\yard). 4. Timothy, married Desire Hall. 5. Wil- 
liam, born January i, 1718; married Abigail Reed. 



6. Sarah, December 13, 1719; married Jonathan Dix. 

7. Ebenezer, born February 22, 1722. 8. Susanna, 
born April 8, 1724; married Caleb Taylor. 9. Eliza- 
beth, born February 13, 1726; married Elias Taylor. 
10. Jonathan, born July, 1728 ; died February rg, 
1745. II. Moses, born June, 1732; died December 

13, 1737- 

(IV) Dr. Benjamin Snattuck, son of Rev. Ben- 
jamin (3) and Martha (Sherman) Shattuck. born 
in Watertown, December 8, 1713; was a physician 
at Littleton, but removed shortly before his death 
to live with his son at Groton, wdiere he died Octo- 
ber, 1790. He married, November 13, 1740, Dinah 
Hunt of Littleton, probably a descendant of William 
Hunt, one of the early settlers of Concord, Massa- 
chusetts. She was buried at Littleton, January 17, 
1791. Their children were: I. Moses, born Aug- 
ust 10, 1741, keeper of general stage house at Port- 
land, Maine, where he died February I, 1801. He 
married Hannah, widow of Joseph Golding. daugh- 
ter of John Waite of Newbury, Massachusetts. She 
died December 22, 1800. Edmund, born July 20, 
1744; married Abigail Chamberlain. 3. Jonathan, 
(see forward). 4. Somers, born July 6, 1749; mar- 
ried Esther Rogers. 5. Arthur, born November 29, 
175I' probably lost at sea. 

(V) Jonathan Shattuck, son of Dr. Benjamin 
(4) and Dinah Shattuck, born in Littleton, August 
9, 1746. In 1776 he bought of John Earle a farm 
in Oxford. In 1781, he removed to Chesterfield, New 
Hampshire and in 1787 to Townshend, Vermont, 
where he died April, 1821. He married September 
15. 1767. Huldah Curtis, born at Dudley, Massa- 
chusetts, 1748. After his death she removed to 
Bakersfield, Vermont, where she died November i, 
1821. Their children were: i. Jonathan, born 
September 20, 1768; married Mehitable Fairbanks. 
2. Huldah. born March 24, 1770; married Harmon 
Davis, a blacksmith of Townshend, Vermont ; died 
October, 1805. 3. Arethusa, born August 15, 1772; 
married James Saunders, of Chesterfield, New 
Hampshire. 4. Elizabeth, born April 6, 1774; mar- 
ried Amos Coburn, farmer of Champion. New York; 
died July, 1851. 5. Moses, born November 20, 1776; 
married Hannah Brigham. 6. Phebe. born June 27,. 
1778 ; married Winslow Wheelock, settled in LeRoy, 
New York. 7. Josiah, (see forward). 8. John, 
bom September 11, 1786, resided at Brandon, New 
York. 9. Benjamin, born March 20, 1789; married 
Lydia Jackman. 10.. Hepsibah, born May 16, 1793, 
married Ezekiel Cady, chair-maker, of Wilmington, 
Vermont: married (second) John Smith, farmer of 
the .same town, died August, 1850. 

(VI) Josiah Shattuck. son of Jonathan Shat- 
tuck (5). born in Chesterfield, New Hampshire. 
October 20. 1781 ; died, 1858. He was a farmer at 
Bakersfield. Vermont. He married, October 25, 
1810. Susan B. Boutelle, born at Leominster, Tilassa- 
chusetts, February 9, 1792. daughter of William and 
Tabitha Boutelle ; died 1877. Their children were : 

1. Harriet S., born ]March 4, 1812; died December 

2. 1812. 2. William B.. (see forward). 3. Flar'riet 
.'\... born February 9, 1818; married, March 5. 1837, 
James Maynard. a farmer of Bakersfield. 4. Jason 
L., born May 5, 1820; married. May I, 1844, Lucy 
R. Farnsworth. who was a farmer at Bakersfield, 
Vermont. 5. Noel K., born May 9. 1822 ; married 
July 12, 1853. Emily A. Purdy, school teacher in 
Moundsville, Loudon county. Vermont. 6. Ora L., 
and 7. Orrilla L., born October 9, 1824; died 1855, 
unmarried. 8. Laura A., born November 3, 1826; 
married December, 1849. Horace H. Farnsworth, 
carpenter, teacher. 9. Henry and 10. Henrietta, born 
February 9. 1829; Henrietta died August 16, 1845. 



252 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



II. Lydia S., born October 3, 1831; married William 
H. Drake, born in New London, Connecticut, ma- 
chinist; resided in Bellows Falls, Vermont. 

(VII) William Boutelle Sliattuck, son of Josiah 
(6) and Susan Shattuck, born January 18, 1816; 
died December 9, 1893 ; married Emily M., daugh- 
ter of Simon and Phoebe (Bowen) Maynard, of 
Bakersfield, Vermont, formerly of Leominster, Mass- 
achusetts. She was born in 1813 and died April 8, 
1879. Their children were: I. James Harlan (see 
forward). 2. William Oscar, born April 3, 1847, in 
Burlington, Vermont. 3. Raymond B., born May 
26, 1856; died December 13, 1893. 

(VIII) James Harlan Shattuck, son of William 
B. (7) and Emily M. (Maynard) Shattuck, was 
born May 25, 1844, at Bakersfield, Vermont, where 
his early }'ears were spent. His education was ob- 
tained in the common schools of his native town 
and in Bakersfield Academy. At the age of twenty 
he came to Worcester, after a short stay in Boston, 
and started in the fruit and commission business, 
building up a large and successfull business. After 
twenty years of mercantile life he retired, and has 
since lived in the city of his adoption. In 1865 he 
enlisted for service on the frontier but on account of 
a full quota he was not called upon to serve. 

Mr. Shattuck is a Republican. He is a mem- 
ber of St. Mark's Episcopal Church. He married, 
April 20, 1874, Anne Emerson Perley, daughter of 
Anderson and Edith Emerson Perley, of Enosberg, 
Vermont, born June 3, 1843. They have no children. 

FREDERICK E. REED. Reed, Read, Reede, 
and Rede were all derived from the word Rehea, 
which had its origin in Phoenicia and Greece. The 
mode of spelling used by the Puritan ancestors was 
usually Reede and Reade. There are many accounts 
of the race of Reeds fighting against the Romans. 
They are to be found in England, Scotland, Ireland, 
and America. About fourteen hundred or fifteen 
hundred years before the Christian era, in the great 
western emigration, the Reed families emigrated to 
the present England and Scotland, and Prince Reda, 
their chief, and his knights put to flight the Romans 
in 180, A. D. The Reads or Reeds are directly de- 
scended from these conquerors, who settled in the 
region now forming the barony of Redesdale. The 
present Baron of Redesdale is a relative and a prom- 
inent member of the House of Lords. The scenes 
in Scott's novels and poetical works are laid in this 
territory, rich in monuments of the past, and some 
of the present names of towns and parishes are de- 
rived from Reed, Redsford, for Reidsfors, Radham 
for Reedham. and Riddle for . Redesdale. 

As the line of England and Scotland was con- 
stantly changing according to the valor and the 
strength of parties, the Reeds have become mixed 
with both nations, and the barony of Redesdale, 
being on the border, the Reeds had the advantage 
of distinguishing themselves and consequently were 
promoted in civic government, and they were con- 
necte'd with the royal family of England long be- 
fore the days of William the Conqueror. There 
was : Withred, King of Kent, in the seventh cen- 
tury. Ethelred, or Read the Good, in 866. Alfred, 
or Reed the Shrewd, in 871. Eldred, or Reed the 
Elder in 946. Eethelred the Second, in 978. 

When William the Conqueror took possession of 
the English throne, the legal heir to the throne was 
the brother-in-law of the King of Scotland. Wil- 
liam's heir married the legal heiress, the daughter 
of Edward the Confessor, who was Ethelred the 
Second's own son. So both houses became merged 
into one family. The Reeds are among the reign- 
ing princes of Northumberland, Kent, Wessex and 



Mercia, and all are politically allied. Many ruins 
of castles and fortifications are to be found in Eng- 
land and Scotland along rivers, valleys, and high- 
lands, and there are still some splendid castles oc- 
cupied by the Reed descendants at the present time, 
as: Chipchase Castle at the junction of the Reed 
and Tyne rivers, which is now occupied by Sir 
Christopher Reed, and owned by Sir Christopher's 
son, who is deputy lieutenant of the county ; also 
Ewellgrove, Ipsden House, Ashmans in Suffolk, 
Wood Parks in Galway, Rossenara in Kilkenny. 

Brianus De Rede, 1 139, living in Morpeth on 
Mensbach river, in the northern part of England, 
had : Robert, of Rede ; William, bishop of Chiches- 
ter; Thomas, of Redydale. William's grandson, Gol- • 
frinus, had : William ; Thomas, of Redydale ; Rob- 
ert. Thomas, of Redydale, had : Thomas and John. 
John, maj-or of Norwich, 1388, had an only son, who 
married Isiod Stanley, and they had : John, Both- 
oniomew, Robert. William. William Reade, S. T. P., 
had a son, Sir William, whose son married Rcvecca, 
daughter and co-heir of Menis, whose first child, 
Mathew, married Alice, daughter of Andrew Wood, 
whose son William married Lucy Henage, who had 
Elias, John, and William. William sailed from 
Gravesend, county of Kent, in the "Assurance de 
London" in 1635, of which Isaac Bromwell and 
George Percy were masters. There were on this 
vessel at the time of sailin.g two hundred and tw:nty- 
one persons, the average age of whom was about 
twenty-five years. The vessel sailed July 24, 1635, 
and probably landed about a month later in Boston, 
whence Reade proceeded to Weymouth and settled 
there. 

It is supposed that he came from Maidstone, near 
London. On March 9, 1636-7, he purchased from 
the estate of Zachery Bicknell his house and farm, 
which was located on the west side of Middle street. 
The old house stood on the knoll opposite the junc- 
tion of Middle and Charles streets. The premises 
were recently owned by James Clapp. They passed 
out of the family in 1769. William Reade was among 
the first settlers of Weymouth, which was made a 
plantation May 8, 1635. He was admitted a freeman 
September 2, 1635, and was elected deputy to the 
general court, December 7, 1636, and again Septem- 
ber 6, 1638. Rev. Joseph Hull and his company came 
to Weymouth in the spring of 1635, shortly before 
Reade settled there, and this band of very worthy set- 
tlers established one of the most noted colonies of the 
early days of the New England Puritans. In the 
same month that Mr. Reade left England another 
ship containing his future wife sailed. Avis Dea- 
con was on the "Alice," of which Richard Orchard 
was the master, and which sailed July 13, 1635, from 
Gravesend with thirty-two passengers, most of whom 
were young men and women. Her twin brother, 
Thomas Deacon, came on the boat with Reade. 
Avis Deacon married William Reade probably soon 
after her arrival in New England. Reade was al- 
lotted land in the first division at Weymouth and 
he acquired considerable real estate later. 

The children of William and ,\vis (Deacon) 
Reade were : Margaret, born 1636, died July 6, 
1659; married. May 11, 1651, John Vining; Hannah, 
born 1637. married, April 2, 1658. Nicholas Whit- 
marsh; William, born October 15, 1639, married, 
1675, Esther Thompson ; Esther, born May 8, 1641 ; 
Ruth, born 1642, died 1663 ; married, December 19, 
1662, John Whitman ; Thomas, born 1645, died No- 
vember 14, 1719; married, in 1670, Sarah Bicknell; 
Mary, born 1647, died 1655, unmarried ; John, born 
1649, died January 13, 1720; married Bethiah Frye ; 
James, died July 21, 1726; married. April 18, 1683, 
Susanna Richmond. There is considerable difficulty 




J^'^.. 



i 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



253 



in tracing the children of William Reade of Wey- 
mouth and the authorities differ. In this sketch it 
has been thought best to follow the genealogy writ- 
ten by John L. Reed, published in igoi. 

(II> William Reed, son of William Rccd (l),was 
born October 15, itijg, at Weymouth, Massachusetts, 
and died in 170O. He was constable of Weymouth in 
167s and selectman in 16S1. He was an extensive 
dealer in land. His will, dated October 26, 1705, 
was proved September 12, 1706. He lived on Pleas- 
ant street on the southwesterly side. In 1888 a 
part of the old house was still standing, having been 
remodeled and occupied by Palmer Loud. The old 
dam which Reed built across the river in 1O80 or 
before 1690 is near the house. He owned all the 
land on both sides of the street from f-lnigham line 
to Ragged plain and from the river to a point west- 
erly from the house owned by William Dyer. He 
built a double house later on the site that had been 
occupied by William Dyer's house, and also a house 
between that and his own residence. 

Esther Thompson, his wife, was the daughter of 
Lieutenant John Thompson, who was born in Wales 
and was only six years old when he landed in Wes- 
son's company in May, 1622. He married, December 
6, 1645, Mary Cook, daughter of Francis Cook, 
who came in the Mayflower to Plymouth. She was 
born in Plymouth in 1626, died March 21, 1715. He 
settled thirteen miles west of Plymouth and built a 
log house there. The site is now in Halifax or Mid- 
dleboro. He lived there until his house was 
burned by the Indians. While living there he or his 
wife walked to the church at Plymouth every Sun- 
day. John Thompson died June 16, 1696. He and 
his wife are buried at Middleboro, Massachu- 
setts. After his death the widow removed to Abing- 
ton. Mr. Thompson was a private in Lieutenant 
Edward Oaks' company, April 26, 1O76, in King 
Philip's war. He removed to Weymouth and set- 
tled on land bought of John Raue, whose house 
had been burned by the Indians in King Philip's war. 
Some of the timbers of the original house are in 
the house now standing on the property. In 1900 
the Thompson place at Halifax was sold to John 
Ljinberg and passed out of the hands of the Thomp- 
son family, which had owned it from the first set- 
tlement. 

In 1669-70 William Reed was fence viewer of 
Weymouth. He was elected a selectman November 
28, 1681, and in 16S2 perambulated the Hinghani line 
with Corporal French. He was again selectman in 
1686 and 1687, 1695, 1696 and 1697. He also served 
the town on important special committees at vari- 
ous times. His will names his children : They were ; 
John, born October 21, 1680, died young; William, 
born May 24, 1682, died June 3, 1753; married, 1703, 
Alice Nash; John, born July 10, 1687, married (first) 
Sarah Hersey; married (second) ^lary Whitmarsh ; 
Jacob, born November 6, 1691, died 1766, married 
(first) Sarah Hersey; married (second) Hannah 
Noyes, widow; Bushna, married Nicholas Porter; 
Mercy, born at Weymouth, married Whit- 
marsh ; Mary, born at Weymouth ; Hester ; Sarah, 
born March 21, 1694, married Hezekiah King. 

(Ill) William Reed, son of William Reed (2), 
was born at Weymouth, May 24, 1682, died June 3, 
1753. He married, 1703, Alice Nash. She died 
December S, 1751. She was a daughter of Lieutenant 
Jacob Nash, the son of James Nash, who settled in 
Weymouth, in 1628. William Reed moved to Abing- 
ton in 1708. At the first town meeting held in Ab- 
ington he was elected town clerk and selectman. 
He was fence viewer in Weymouth in 1707. and 
served that town as a member of many important 
committees. Rev. Mr. Dodge in his journal June 



3, 1753. says of William Reed : "Attended the funeral 
of the aged Capt. Reed, the largest I have ever 
seen in town. Ten at least of his descendants in the 
male line have been liberally educated. Of these 
two have been members of Congress, viz. : his grand- 
son, the late Rev. Dr. John Reed, of West Bridge- 
water and his son, Hon. John Reed, or Yarmouth, 
now a member. After the expiration of his present 
term he will have been in Congress twenty-two 
years — eighteen in succession" 

The children of William Reed (3) were: Alice, 
born in Boston, October 19, 1703, died October 24, 
1703; William, born December 15, 1704, died Novem- 
ber 21, 1724; Obadiah, born March 14, 1707, died 
November 4, 1753; married, October 19, 1731, Mary 
Nash'; Ebenezer, born July 13, 1709, married, Feb- 
ruary 21, 1732, Hannah Thompson; Alice, born 
April 4, 171 1, died September 29, 1724; Daniel, born 
December 6, 1713, died April 5, 1781 ; married (first) 
September 15, 1739, Ruth White; married (second), 
February 7, 1776, Sarah Hamlin; James, born March 
3, 1716, died aged thirty-seven years; married, May 
10, 1739, Abigail Nash; Solomon, born October 22, 
1719, died 1785, married (first), in 1748, Abigail 
Stoughton, of Connecticut ; married (second) Sarah 
Reed, widow of Elijah Reed; Jacob; Moses, born 

January 15, 1723, married Phebe ; Alice, 

born April 19, 1725, married, December i, 1748, Jacob 
Reed. 

(IV) Rev. Solomon Reed, son of Captain Wil- 
liam Reed (3), was born October 22, 1719, at Wey- 
mouth, Massachusetts. He died in the spring of 
1785, aged sixty-six years. He married (first), in 
1748, Abigail Stoughton, of Connecticut ; married 
(second), Sarah Reed, the daughter of Jacob Reed, 
his father's youngest brother. 

He graduated at Harvard College in 1739. He 
was ordained as minister of the Second Congrega- 
tional Church in Framingham in 1746. and remained 
there until 1756, when he was installed as minister 
of Titicut, a parish in the northwestern part of 
Middleboro and the .southwest part of Bridge- 
water. His health failed in 1684 and he died 
in the spring of 1685, at little past sixty-five years 
of age. He seems to have been a very earnest and 
pious' minister of the church. There are a few of 
his manuscript sermons in the archives of the Pil- 
grim Society at Plymouth, written in a fine clear 
hand, and showing decided ability as a writer. There 
is also a manuscript journal for the period from 
October 3, 1743, to January 9, 1745. During this 
period Rev. Mr. Whiteficld was preaching in this 
country and laying the foundations of many churches. 

In his will he mentions by name all his children 
except Sarah. His children were: Sarah, born 
1750; John, born November 11, 1751, married (first), 
in 1780, Hannah Sampson; married (second), in 
1822. Mrs. Phebe Sampson Paddock; Solomon, born 
March 18, 1753, died February 2, 1808; married, 
March 14, 1781, Susannah Willard ; Samuel, born 
1754, died July 13, 1812; married, 1780, Anna Shaw; 
Timothy, born 1756, married, 1788, Hannah King- 
man. 

(V) Rev. Samuel Reed, son of Rev. Solomon 
Reed (4), was born probably at Framingham. Mass- 
achusetts, where his father was then pastor. He died 
July 13, 1812, aged fifty-seven, and in the thirty- 
third years of his ministry. He married, 17S0, Anna 
Shaw, of Warwick, Massachusetts. He graduated 
at Yale College in 1777 and was ordained over the 
church and society at Warwick, Massachusetts, in 
1779. He was said to be a man of sound sense, a de- 
voted Christian and much beloved by his people and 
the community generally. The inscription on the 
monument erected by his parishioners at Warwick 



254 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



is as follows : "Rev. Samuel Reed, second minister 
at Warwick, died July I3tli, 1812, aged 57- He had 
strong powers of mind; was bold in the defense of 
truth ; severe against wickedness ; mild towards the 
humble; pitiful to the distressed; atifectionate 
towards his friends. Frank and sincere in all his 
professions; rational and fervent in his piety; faith- 
ful in his pastoral duties. 

"He taught the Christian doctrine in its sim- 
plicity and truth ; he maintained the freedom of the 
human mind, the unchangeable obligations of moral 
duty, the impartial justice of God and future retri- 
bution. 

"Under the vital impression of this faith, he felt, 
and communicated the cheering entertainments of 
life, and enjoyed the richest solace and triumph in 
death." 

The children of the Rev. Samuel Reed were ; 
Samuel, born March 23, 1781, died young; Anna, 
born April 19, 1784, died 1835, in Warwick; mar- 
ried, December, 1813, Deacon Joseph W'ilson ; Abi- 
gail, born February 17, 1786, married, December, 
1805, Joel J\layo; Samuel, born April 25, 1788, mar- 
ried Welinda Wheelock ; Stephen, born November 5. 
1790, died 1847; married Jerusha Moor; Timothy, 
born July 10, 1793, died 1854; married Susan Kings- 
ley. 

(VI) Samuel Reed, son of Rev. Samuel Reed, 
(5), was born at Warwick, Massachusetts, April 
25, 1788. He married Melinda Wheelock. They 
settled in Greenfield, Massachusetts. He died very 
suddenly and was buried in Warwick, Massachusetts, 
where his widow afterward resided. His children 
were : John, born February 26, 1820, married Delia 
Winter; Melinda A., born October 12, 1824. 

(VII) John Reed, son of Samuel Reed, was 
born in Greenfield, Massachusetts, February 26, 1820. 
He married Delia Winter. They resided first at 
Croyden, Sullivan county, New Hampshire, where 
their son, Frederick E. Reed, was born. They re- 
moved to W'orcester about 1850. John Reed was 
a teacher of music and later foreman of one of the 
departments of one of the largest and best equipped 
machine shops in New England at that time. He 
continued in the machinist business after coming to 
Worcester. He retired from active work in 1883. 
He resided after that at Shrewsbury and Worcester. 
He died in Holden, Massachusetts, December, 1902, 
at the advanced age of eighty-two. He was a mem- 
ber of the First Church of Christ. His children 
were; Frederick E., born in Croyden, New Hamp- 
shire, March i, 1847; Ella E., born in Worcester, 
Massachusetts, August 7, 1856. 

(VIII) Frederick E. Reed, son of John 
Reed (7), was born in Croyden, New Hampshire, 
March i, 1847. He came to Worcester with his 
parents when very young, and was educated in the 
Worcester schools. At seventeen he went into the 
machine shop and learned the trade of machinist. 
After two years he returned to school and took 
a course at Worcester Academy and at Howe's Busi- 
ness College in Worcester. While attending school 
he also kept books for the Wood & Light Machine 
Co., the concern with which his father was for many 
years connected. This business was established in 
1848. They made iron working machinery, did mill 
work, dealing in shafting, pulleys and hangers. He 
was bookkeeper five years for this company. He 
rested for a year on account of his health, and then 
went into the draughting department and had charge 
of the draughting and designing of the company for 
five years. He studied in the drawing school of the 
Worcester County Mechanics' Association. This 
school was established in 1864 and is said to be the 
first of its kind in tlie country. It gave practical 



instruction in architectural and mechanical drawing 
and daughter. Drawing was later introduced into 
the public schools, and when it was finally taught 
in the evening schools of the city the school of the 
Mechanics' .Association was discontinued. Mr. Reed 
was active in the promotion and support of the school ; 
during the time when it was needed in the city. 

Mr. Reed went into business for himself in 1875 
at 54 Hermon street under the firm name of A. F. 
Prentice & Co. He manufactured an improved up- 
right drill, also hand and foot power lathes, slide 1 
rests, milled machine screws and made to order 
special machinery of all kinds. He makes a spe- I 
cialty of machine tools, of engine lathes, hand . 
lathes and foot lathes of all kinds. He built the 
first building on the present site in 1883 at 120 Gold 1 
street. The business has been very successful and : 
the plant has grown from a small beginning to ■ 
large proportions. The present name of the com- - 
pany is F. E. Reed Company. The original shop at '- 
the Gold street location had 2262 feet of floor space. 
In 1905 the shops of the F. E. Reed Co. had two i, 
and three-tenths acres of floor space. The first i 
building in 1883 was two stories high, 55 by 183;; 
feet. The second, built in 1888, was 50 by 58 feet. .; 
A large building was erected in 1889, another inij 
1890, another 93 by 107 was erected in 1896; another 
50 by 131 in 1899; another 30 by 107 in,i90i and 1 
another in 1904, 40 by =s feet. The later buildings 1 
are four stories in height and all are well constructed I 
brick buildings of modern design. W'hen Mr. Reed 1! 
began he employed six men. The average pay roll i| 
lately has contained over three hundred names of ' 
employees. He is the chief owner of a number of 
other important enterprises in Worcester. The Mat- 
thew Manufacturing Company at 104 Gold street was 
organized in 1894 with Mr. Reed as president and A. 
T. Matthews as general manager. They manufacture 
metal goods and employ one hundred and fifty hands. 1 
They make a specialty of drawn sheet steel work, 
stove trimmings, steam pipe collars, bicycle fittings,' 
ferules, and other sheet metal specialties. Mr. Reed 
is a partner in the Reed & Curtis Machine Screw 
Company, which employs one hundred and fifty 
hands. He is the proprietor of the Reed Foundry 
Company at 95 Gold street, iron foundaries, employ- 
ing one hundred and twenty-five hands. He is 
treasurer of the Worcester Lawn Mower Company, 
employing sixty hands. Mr. Reed has been one of 
the most successful manufacturers in Worcester. He 
has built up a very large business and has shown 
himself possessed of business ability of a high order. 
He has been devoted to his business career and has 
cared for no outside interests. He is counted among 
the leaders of industry in Worcester. Mr. Reed's 
summer home at Thompson, Connecticut, is a model 
of its kind. 

SOUTHGATE FAMILY. Richard Southgate, ■ 
the pioneer of the American branch of the family, • 
came with Daniel Denny from Coombs, Suffolk, 
England, in 1715. The following year he went back 
for his family, brought then over in July, 1717. and 
with them his brother James. In March, 1718, the 
Southgates and Daniel Denny removed to Leicester 
and settled there, but what circumstances led to their 
selecting that spot is not known. Mr. Southgate 
became an extensive landowner in the town, and is 
one of the grantees in the settlers' deed ; lots Nos. 
35, 41, and 42 were conveyed to him by that deed. 
In 1737 he was the owner of seven hundred and sev- 
enty acres in the town. He was the first treasurer of 
the town, and was much employed as a surveyor of 
lands, being a skillful and trustworthy person. 

Richard Southgate was born in 1671. a 'on of 






WORCESTER COUNTY 



-00 



John Southgate. In October, 1700, he married Eliza- 
beth Steward ; they had six children, all born in 
England, five of whom came to Leicester, Massa- 
chusetts. Steward, born 1703; Elizabeth, 1705, died 
1791, unmarried; Hannah, 1709, married Nathaniel 
Waite, of Leicester, 1737, and died 1754; Mary, 1712, 
married Daniel Livermore, of Weston, 1732; Rich- 
ard, 1714. Richard Southgate (father) died in 1758, 
aged eighty-eight years; his wife died in 1751, in 
the eighty-eighth years of her age. They are said 
to be the ancestors of all of the name in New Eng- 
land. 

Steward Southgate, son of Richard and Elizabeth 
(Steward) Southgate, married Elizabeth Scott, of 
Palmer, then called the "Elbow," in 1735, while he 
was living there. About 1740 he returned to Leicester, 
and spent the remainder of his days there. Thtir 
children were: John, born 1738; Robert, 1741, was 
a physician, removed to Scarboro, Maine, and 
is noticed in this work; Margaret, 1743; Sarah, 
1744. married Azariah Dickinson, of Hadley ; Stew- 
ard, 1748. 

Steward Southgate, son of Steward and Eliza- 
beth (Scott) Southgate, married and removed to 
Hardwick. He was a soldier in the revolution, and 
after the close of the war went to Barnard, Ver- 
mont, where in 1795 he lost five children by the 
canker-rash within a few days of each other. For 
his second wife, IMr. Southgate married Elizabeth, 
daughter of Nathaniel Potter, and their children 
were: Amos, born 1751, died in Boston, 1775; he 
married and had a daughter born after his death, 
who became the wife of Jonah Earle ; Rebekah, born 
1754, died 1756; Ruth, born 1758, died in Boston, 
1777; Moses, born 1761, died in Boston, 1777. Mr. 
Southgate was at first a member of the (Congrega- 
tional church, but became a zealous and leading mem- 
ber of the Society of Friends, to which society his 
second wife's father belonged prior to 1732. He must 
have been well educated for his day, and seems to 
have possessed a clear head, strong purpose, and 
withal great sensibility and Christian resignation. He 
had a commanding influence among his religious 
brethren, and the memoranda that he left alludes in 
terms of deep emotion to the afflictions through 
which he was called to pass. He did in 1765, and his 
second wife died in 174S. 

John Southgate, son of Steward Southgate, mar- 
ried Eleanor Sargent, daughter of Jonathan Sargent, 
1776, and their children were: Sally, born 1777, 
died unmarried ; John, born 1778, died 1804, unmar- 
ried, as related in this work; William, born 1782, 
died 1811, unmarried. He was rather a skillful and 
talented painter, he had cultivated his taste under 
several masters, among others, Ralph Earle, to whom 
he was remotely related, and Gilbert Stuart. The 
department of art to which he devoted his attention 
was that of portraits, in which he would have prob- 
ably attained a distinguished reputation had he dili- 
g:ently devoted himself to it as a profession. Har- 
riet, born 1792, died 1841, unmarried; Eliza, born 
1796. married Jacob Bigelow, then of Montreal, 
where she died, leaving one son. Dr. George F. 
Bigelow, of Boston. George W., born 1800. Mrs. 
Southgate died in 1825. 

Richard Southgate, youngest son of Richard and 
Elizabeth (Steward) Southgate, the pioneer an- 
cestors, came with his father from England. He 
married Eunice Brown, daughter of Samuel Brown. 
1741, and their children were: Richard, born 1742, 
removed to Bridgewater, Vermont; Isaac. 17; j. 
Samuel, 1747, resided in various places and died in 
Scarborough, 1773; Elijah, 1751, marri?d Patty 
Hastings, died in Shrewsbury, 1837. a-; 1 eighty- 



seven years, without children; Jonas, 1753, married 
Mary Whitney, of Grafton, 1782, and died 1784; 
Eunice, 1757, died unmarried; Judah, 1761, mar- 
ried Susannah Taylor, of Spencer, 1798, and died 
1799; Mercy, died unmarried. Mr. Southgate was 
known as "Elder," and was a Baptist preacher. He 
held meetings in the schoolhouse, when it stood 
where the brick factory now stands, opposite to 
where Esquire Rawson lived. He resided in the 
southeast part of the town, near the line of Spencer, 
and was a farmer. 

Isaac Southgate, son of Richard and Eunice 
(Brown) Southgate. married Rebekah Brown, 
daughter of John Brown, 1769, and they were the 
parents of one daughter, Rebekah, born 1770, mar- 
ried a Mr. Hodges, of the state of New York. 
Mr. Southgate married for his second wife, Eunice 
White, 1771, and their children were : Asa, born 
1772; Betsey, 1774, married Nathan Beers, 1790; 
Samuel, 1776, married Hannah Waite, 1801, and they 
reared a familv of children in Leicester; one of 
their sons, John P., died 1S82, in Worcester, and 
another. Samuel, died in 1874. in Leicester ; Eunice, 
1779, married Sylvanus Earle, removed to Ohio, 
and died in 1835; Isaac, 1782, married Maria Webb, 
daughter of Peter Webb, Esq., and granddaughter 
of Thomas Denny, Sr. Mr. Southgate died in 1800, 
aged fifty-six years. He was one of the active bus- 
iness men and public-spirited citizens of the town; 
for many years a manufacturer of cards. He rep- 
resented the town in the legislature, served as trus- 
tee of the Worcester County Agricultural Society, 
and took an active part in promoting the interests 
of that important association. 

James Southgate, who came with his brother Rich- 
ard Southgate. from England, as above stated, 
became a proprietor of the settlers' half of 
the town, as owner of lot No. 30. At the 
first town meeting he was chosen one of the 
selectmen and surveyor of highways. He with his 
brother and several other inhabitants of Leicester 
addressed a letter to the governor, in 1725. asking 
for soldiers to guard the town from tbe Indians. 
He was a deacon of the church, and took an active 
part in settling Mr. Parsons in 1720. His wife's 
name was Mary, and they had one son, James, 
born 1718, who married Dorothy Lincoln, in 1741, 
and they were the parents of one daughter, Dor- 
othy, born 1746. His house was located a little north 
of ^Ir. Morton's, in the east part of the town. There 
is no trace of the family after that period. 

John P. Southgate, son of Samuel and Hannah 
(Waite) Southgate, above referred to. was born in 
■ Leicester, Massachusetts, July 29, 1804, died Feb- 
ruary 7, 1882. in the seventy-eighth year of his 
age. Samuel Southgate (father) was also born in 
Leicester, 1776, and probably attended the schools 
of that town. During the latter years of his life 
he engaged in the manufacture of cards, and con- 
timipfl t " sntTip until his decease, February, 1882. 
John P. Southgate learned the trade of a cabinet 
maker of Diac^n Murdock. then town sexton in 
Leicester, and after attaining his majority in 1825, 
worked at his trade a few years in Worcester, and 
"■■•■ r - -1 tn I "i'esier. where he changed 

his business to brush making, and in 1834 removed 
again to Worcester, where he opened a shop for 
brush making in a building which stood on, the site 
of the present Horticultural Hall on Front street. 
In 1837 he removed to the north corner of Main 
and Mec'ianic streets, where he went in company 
with James H. W-'Il in the boot, shoe and leather 
rade, and was burned out in 1841. He then re- 
moved to the building which then stood on the 



256 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



site of Piper's Block, next south of the old 
United States Hotel, where he was alone two or 
three years, and in 1844 went in partnership with 
Thomas M. Rogers in the leather and shoe find- 
ings trade, the firm being Southgate & Rogers. In 
1850 they removed to the north corner of jMain and 
Pleasant streets, in the block on the site of the one 
now owned by Mr. Rogers. Mr. Southgate retired 
from this busniess in 1855, with a handsome com- 
petence, and engaged for a few years in some real 
estate operations which resulted very unfortunately 
for him in the sudden collapse of 1857 and '58, 
which proved disastrous to so many. From 1S60 
to 1880 he was engaged in manufacturing on a 
limited scale in Auburn, but during the last year 
or two, since the decease of his wife, he had re- 
sided in this city with one of his sons. Mr. South- 
gate was a man of sound practical judgment and 
strict business integrity, and universally respected. 
Always taking a lively interest in public affairs, 
he was a member of the common council in 1850 
and 1S51, and alderman in 1855 and 1856, ever faith- 
ful and prompt in attention to the duties assigned 
him. 

Mr. Southgate married May 21, 1829, Sarah 
Swan, of Leicester, and their children were : John 
Frederick, born June 13, 1831, died 1858; Reuben 
H., born December 8, 1833, mentioned hereinafter; 
Frank White, born February 10, 1840, now a resi- 
dent of Worcester; James Stewart, born October 
8, 1842, died November 22, 1899. 

Reuben H. Southgate, second son of John P. 
and Sarah (Swan) Southgate, was born in Lei- 
cester, Massachusetts, December 8, 1833. In 1835 
he was brought by his parents to Worcester, Massa- 
chusetts, attended the common and high schools of 
that town and for a short time the Baptist Academy, 
now Worcester Academy. Shortly after attaining 
the age of eighteen years he engaged in business 
with his father, who was associated with Thomas 
M. Rogers, they being dealers in shoe findings. In 
1855 Mr. Southgate, Sr., retired from active pur- 
suits, his son, Reuben H., succeeding him, and 
under the name of Rogers & Southgate they con- 
ducted a store at the corner of Pleasant and 
Main streets until 1873. I" that year Mr. South- 
gate bought out the interest of his partner, Mr. 
Rogers, and moved to Franklin Square, where he 
remained until April i, 1888, when he retired from 
business. Since then he has devoted his time to 
travel in foreign countries, visiting Asia, Africa, 
Europe, and in fact all parts of the globe, gaining 
thereby a vast store of useful and interesting knowl- 
edge and pleasure. He has always adhered to the 
principles of the Republican party, and he cast his 
first presidential vote for J. C. Fremont. 

Mr. Southgate married, June 8, 1864, Anna J. 
Wood, daughter of Ichabod and Anna (Warren) 
Wood, of Watertown, the latter named now lead- 
ing a retired life at Asheville, North Carolina, aged 
ninety years. Their children are Louis Warren, 
born February 25, 1865, married, June 8, 1892, 
Clara Brigham, daughter of L. L. Brigham, of 
Worcester, and they are the parents of one child, 
Richard Brigham, born May 5, 1893. Philip Wood, 
born May 10, 1S68, died December 7, 1905. Both 
Louis Warren and Philip Wood Southgate grad- 
uated at Worcester Technical School and Columbia 
Law School of Washington. Both spent three years 
in the patent office in Washington, D. C. Under 
the firm name of Southgate & Southgate they were 
engaged as patent attorneys in Worcester, where 
they conducted an extensive and lucrative business. 
They were admitted to practice in the supreme and 
district courts in all the states of the Union. 



FRANCIS A. GASKILL. Many persons in the 
United States bearing the name of Gaskill may trace 
their lineage to Edward, the ship carpenter of 
Salem, Massachusetts. As early as 1636 his name 
appears among those in the list of proprietors of 
lands in that old historic town. The name is 
variously spelled in the early records as Gaskin, 
Gasking, Gascoyne, Gascoins, Gaskell, Gaskill and 
Gaskil. 

(I) Edward Gaskill, the ship carpenter, owned 
in 1636 the right to twenty acres of land in Salem, 
and by his wife Sarah had children : Samuel, 
baptized August 7, 1639; Daniel, born October 10, 
1640; Sarah, born May 14, 1643, married Peter Joy, 
May 24, 1661 ; Hannah, born March i, 1646; Ed- 
ward, born April 30, 1648. 

(II) Samuel Gaskill, born 1639, married Pro- 
vided Southwicke, 30th day, loth month, 1662. In 
the Registry of Deeds, book 9, leaf 29, date of 
October 13, 1690, we find that Thomas Maul of 
Salem, merchant, for forty-five pounds conveyed 
to "Josiah and Daniel Southwicke, Samuel Gaskni, 
Caleb Buffum, Christopher Foster, and Sarah Stone, 
all of Salem, in New England, Samuel Collins of 
Lynn, and several others of ye people called Quak- 
ers, in ye county of Essex in New England, a small 
tract or parcel of land containing about four rods 
or poles, be it more or be it less, being situate in ye 
town of Salem aforesaid, bounded easterly and 
southerly by said Maul, westerly by land in pos- 
session John Richards of Salem ; northerly by the 
main broad street or highway just as it lies and is 
now fenced together, with a meetinghouse which 
stands upon said land, for the use of the above 
named and several other of ye people commonly 
called Quakers, to worship and serve God in." The 
before mentioned meeting house was the first Quaker 
meeting house in Salem, and the Samuel Gaskill 
mentioned is without doubt the son of Edward, who 
married Provided Southwick, and was punished for 
attending the Quaker meeting. In 1716 they sold 
this meeting house and the land to Thomas Maul, 
of Salem, for twenty-five pounds, and two years 
later Daniel Southwick, Samuel Gaskill, Caleb 
Buffum. and Samuel Collins having bought another 
lot on the other side of the way, more commodious 
for setting a meeting house, and erected a meeting 
house thereon, etc. (See deed recorded November 
18, 1718, vol. xxxiv, p. 202, Registry of Deeds.) 
This was the second Quaker meeting house in 
Salem. The children of Samuel Gaskill and Pro- 
vided Southwick: Samuel, born 23, nth month, 
1663 ; Edward, born October 23, 1667 ; Hannah, born 
January 2, 1669; Provided, born April 22, 1672. 

(III) Samuel Gaskill, born 23, nth month, 1663, 
married Bethiah Gardner, daughter of Thomas 
Gardner, Jr., and his wife Hannah, February 18, 
1723-4. Mr. Gaskill owned four rights to common 
land in the two lower parishes of Salem. By his 
will dated September i, 1725, we find the names of 
several of his children: I. Samuel. 2. Nathan. 3. 
Jonathan, married Alice Pickering, of Salem, and 
had Jonathan, inarried Hannah Estes, November 
30, 1761. 4. Hannah, married David Nichols. 
5. Content, and 6. Sarah, both unmarried; 
also four other daughters, names not given ; ten 
children in all. Nathan had, January 18, 1726, 
eighty acres of land in Mendon, and Jonathan had 
eighteen acres laid out to him in the same town in 
February, 1737-8. 

(IV) Samuel Gaskill married Sarah , and 

was living in Salem in 1722, a shipwright by occu- 
pation. April 8, 1736, he purchased of Stephen 
Swett a large farm which was formerly the prop- 
erty of John Cass, situated in the south parish of 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



257 



Mendon (now Blackstone) whither he removed, 
and where he died in September, 1761. In his will 
dated December 5, 1758, his son Ebenezcr was named 
executor. An mventory of the estate was tiled 
October 28, 1761. His children were : Samuel, died 
prior to December 5, 1758; Ebenezer; Joseph; 
Stephen; Benjamin; Sarah, married Richard Estes ; 
Huldah, married Benjamin Cook; Elizabeth. 

(V) Ebenezer Gaskill married Hannah Girdler 
(or Gurley), Julj' 15, 1745. He resided in the south 
parish of Mendon, now Blackstone. Their chil- 
dren were : George, married Sarah Read, Novem- 
ber 5, 1767; David; Peter: Joseph; Samuel, mar- 
ried (first) Olive Cook, May 27, 1784, and had 
Hannah, Xaum and Sarah. 

(,VI) Peter Gaskill, born 1763, died May 17, 
1S46; married, January 20, 1790, Hannah Thomp- 
son, of Mendon, who was the mother of his chil- 
dren. She died July I, 1809, in the forty-seventh 
year of her age. He married "(second) Esther 
Scott, widow of David Metcalf. He resided in the 
south parish of Mendon, now Blackstone. He was 
a very thrifty farmer, and left a large estate for his 
time. His will was dated November 24, 1S30, in 
which he provided for the care of his wife Esther, 
gave each of his six daughters one thousand dol- 
lars, and named his son Peter sole executor. He 
also mentioned the following children: i. Lebbeus. 
2. Elisha. 3. Dianna, married Daniel Aldrich. 4. 
Sally, married William Metcalf. 5. Asenath, mar- 
ried Joseph Aldrich. 6. Mariah, married Thomas 
Aldrich. 7. Hannah, married Caleb Thayer, Jr. 8. 
Anne, married Samuel ,Verry. 9. Peter, died un- 
married, September 18, 1846, before his father's 
will had been approved. This Peter Gaskill left a 
will dated September 17, 1846. by which he be- 
queathed the farm where he lived to Albert and 
David Gaskill, sons of his brothers, Lebbeus and 
Elisha. By an inventory of the Peter Gaskill estate, 
dated October 10, 1846, and returned October 27, 
same year, we learn that the value of the estate 
was $21,097.83. 

(VH) Lebbeus Gaskill married Susan DeWitt. 
He was by occupation a farmer, and called of Cum- 
berland, Rhode Island, but was the proprietor of 
lands in Mendon, south parish. His will was dated 
December 23, 1861, and the inventory was returned 
March 16, 1863. He died February 9, 1863, aged 
sixty-nine years, seven months and ten days. . The 
widow, Susan Gaskill, then of Smithfield, Rhode 
Island, made her will October 15, 1867. Their chil- 
dren were : Albert, born April 9, 1821 ; Warren, 
born August 31, 1822. 

(VIII) Albert Gaskill married Anna Smith 
Comstock, December 30, 1840, Rev. Adin Ballou 
performing the ceremony. Mr. Gaskill was a farmer 
and an extensive dealer in real estate. His chil- 
dren were: I. Alice K., attended Oread Institute. 
Worcester, 1869 and 1870, married Charles Wilson, 
who is deceased and they have one child also de- 
ceased. 2. Francis Almon. 

(IX) Judge Francis Almon Gaskill was born 
January 3, 1846, at the family home in that part of 
Mendon now known as Blackstone. He attended 
the schools in his native town and after taking a 
course at the Woonsocket High School entered 
Brown University, from which institution he grad- 
ated in 1866 at the age of twenty years. For a year 
he served as private tutor for a family in Newport, 
and at the close of this engagement entered the 
Harvard Law School, remaining there a year and a 
half, when he came to Worcester and continued 
the study of law in the office of Hon. George .F. 
Verry, one of the most noted and accomplished 
lawyers in central ^Massachusetts. After being ad- 

17 



mitted to the bar in 1869 an association was formed 
for the practice, of law under the style of Verry 
& Gaskill, resulting in a most successful business 
career, and which was brought to a close by the 
death of Mr. Verry in 1883. In 1875 and 1S76 
Mr. Gaskill served the city of Worcester as a mem- 
ber of the common council. After tllc death of Hon. 
George F". Verry, Mr. Gaskill bscamc associated with 
a stepson, Horace Verry, Esq. F'or ten years this 
firm continued, and during this time Mr. Gaskill 
was district attorney for the middle district of 
Massachusetts, holding that office from 1887 to 
1895, when he was appointed by Gevernor Grcenhalge 
associate justice of the superior courts of Massa- 
chusetts, an office which he now holds. 

Judge Gaskill has served the city of Worcester 
as a director of the Free Public Library for several 
years, and as president of the board in 1888, and 
as trustee of both Brown University and Worces- 
ter Academy. Flis fondness for books, of which 
he posesses a rare assortment, brings him into the 
circle of various literary and social bodies, notably 
the Club of Odd Volumes of Boston, also the Uni- 
versity Club of that city, the Worcester Club and 
the Tatnuck Country Club. He is vice-president of 
the People's Savings Bank, and director of the 
State Mutual Life Assurance Company. Brown 
University in 1899 gave him the degree of LL. D., 
and recently paid him an honor by placing him upon 
its Board of F'ellows. In politics Judge Gaskill 
is a strong Republican, and at various times has 
given valuable aid to the promotion of the princi- 
ples of that party upon the political platform, being 
a forcible and nolished speaker. 

Judge Gaskill married (first), 1869. Katherine 
j\I., daughter of A. B. and Ann Eliza Whitiaker, of 
Providence, Rhode Island, where Mr. Whittaker 
was a prominent merchant. She died in 1889, having 
borne to her husband two children: Mary i\I., 
and George A. Gaskill. Judge Gaskill married (sec- 
ond) Josephine L., daughter of Joseph and Phebe 
Abbott, of Providence, Rhode Island. No children 
have been born of this marriage. Judge Gaskill 
attends the First Baptist Chnreli in Worcester. 

George A. Gaskill, only son of Judge Francis 
Almon and Katherine M. (Whittaker) Gaskill, was 
born in Worcester, June 4, 1877. He graduated 
from Worcester Academy, class of 1894; and from 
Brown University, A. B., 1898. He attended Harvard 
Law school two years, was admitted to the bar 
1901, and has since practiced law in 'Worcester in 
the office of Herbert Parker, attorney general of 
Massachusetts. He was elected a trustee of Wor- 
cester Academy, 1905. He married, June i. 1905, 
Caroline Dewey Nichols, daughter of Dr. Charles 
L. Nichols, and granddaughter of Judge Francis H. 
Dewey. 

ROBINSON FAMILY OF DORCHESTER. 
James Robinson (l), the immigrant ancestor of 
Hannah Caroline (Robinson) Davis, of Worcester, 
was born in England and came to this country about 
1660, when a young man. There is no proof that 
he was related to any of the numerous other immi- 
grants of this surname among the early settlers, 
nor is there any clue yet discovered whereby his 
birthplace in England could be discovered. This 
difficulty in tracing the family in England is of 
course the rule with all the Puritan fathers, and the 
difficulties are enormously increased in the case of 
a family bearing a surname like Robinson, because 
of the great number of persons of the same name 
at the same time. 

James Robinson settled in Dorchester and was 
admitted a freeman there in 1669. He died there 



258 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



April i8, 1694. H's name appears in the seating 
of the church March 17, 1693-94, in the "fourth 
men's below." His wife was admitted to the church 
February 15, 1673-74, and a month later on the 
strength of her membership her four children were 
baptized — James, Thomas, Samuel and Mary. He 
married September 27, 1664, Mary Alcock, daughter 
of Thomas Alcock, now generally spelled Olcott. 
She died March 13, 1718, aged seventy-three years. 
Children of James and Mary Robinson were: i. 
James, born November 8, 1665, w-as soldier in the 
Canada expedition in 1690 under Captain John With- 
ington ; there is no record of his having any family 
at Dorchester. 2. Thomas, born April 15, 1668. 3. 
Samuel, born September 4, 1670. 4. Mary, born 
March 17, 1673, died young. 5. John, born April 
17, 1675; see forward. (Many of the early writers 
have followed excellent authority in calling this 
John the Rev. John Robinson, who became the min- 
ister at Duxbury in 1701 and preached there until 
dismissed in 1738; but it has been shown that he 
was the son of Samuel Robinson, of Dorchester, 
possibly a brother or some relative of James ; he 
died at Lebanon, Connecticut, 1745, aged seventy- 
four years, making him several years older than 
John, son of James Robinson (i), mentioned above.) 
6. Henry, born June 21, 1678. died young. 7. 
Ebenezer," born January 5, 1682, killed at Port Royal, 
May 27. 1707, while fighting with the x\mericans 
and British against the French. 

(H) John Robinson, son of James Robinson (i).^ 
was born in Dorchester, Massachusetts. April I7, 
1675. He seems to have been a quiet citizen like 
his father. He joined the church October 15, 1699, 
and owned the covenant February 22, 1701-02. He 
died at Dorchester, February 6. 1742-43. He mar- 
ried Mary , who died at Dorchester, Decem- 
ber 22, 1713. He married (second). January 20. 
1714-15, Ruth Burt. Only two children w^ere recorded 
at Dorchester, viz.: I. James, born May 19. bap- 
tized May 21, 1704. 2. John, Jr., born March 20, 
1706-07, see forward. 

(HI) John Robinson. Jr.. son of John Robinson 
(2). of Dorchester, was born there March 20, 1706-07. 
He seems to have been a prominent citizen of Dor- 
chester and is called Major, doubtless serving in 
the Colonial wars. He died in T767. He married 
Susannah Williams, born 1706 and died 1804. Their 
children, all born at Dorchester, were : John, born 
July 28. 1728, probably captain in the revolution; 
Ma'rv. born 'January 12, 1730-31 : Captain James, see 
forward ; Ebenezer. born March 25. 1735. died young ; 
Ruth, born December 19. 1737: Ebenezer, bom Sep- 
tember 27, 1741 : Stephen, born January 4. 1748. 

(IV) Captain James Robinson, son of John Rob- 
inson. Jr. (3), was born in Dorchester, Massachu- 
setts, January' 30. 1732. and died there^ March 14, 
180S. He seems to have been a soldier in the revo- 
lution in Captain Ebenezer Withington's company. 
Colonel John Robinson's regiment. April 19, 1775. 
at the battle of Lexington. Later he became cap- 
tain of the militia and commanded a company in the 
regiment of Colonel Ezra Bedlam during "Shays's 
Rebellion" in 1787. He was one of the signers of 
the .Suffolk Resolves. He was on a committee with 
a number of other Dorchester men to remonstrate 
with the general court against the annexation of 
Dorchester Neck to Boston. January 23. 1804. He 
married Sarah Breck. born in 17,^6 and died 1797. 
They lived at Dorchester and their children, all 
boni there, were: i. Stephen, see forward; 2. James, 
born July 17. 1756. 3. Edward, born December 26, 
1758. 4. John, born November 27, 1761. 5. John, 
born July. 1763. 6. Joseph, born June 18, 1766. 7. 



Sarah Breck, February 2, 1769. 8. Susanna, born 
June 8, 1771. 

(V) Lieutenant Stephen Robinson, eldest son of 
Captain James Robinson (4), was born in Dor- 
chester, Massachusetts, August 23, 1776, and died 
there October 24, 1852. He was lieutenant of the 
First fSrigade of Artillery, First Division, in 1806. 
He married April 11, 1805, at Dorchester, Hannah 
Withington, daughter of Ebenezer Withington, who 
was a soldier in the revolution, a minute man at 
Lexington. The children of Stephen and Hannah 
Robinson were : Stephen Augustus, see forward ; 
James Ebenezer, born December 16, 1810; James 
Withington, February 2i, 1812; Hannah Withington, 
July 10, 1814; John Flavel, January 29, 1817; Mary 
Withington, April 30, 1819; Edward Breck, May 
29, 182 1. 

(VI) Captain Stephen Augustus Robinson, eldest 
child of Stephen Robinson (5), was born at Dor- 
chester, Massachusetts, May 3, 1806 (family record 
May 5), and died there June 9, 1863. He settled 
at Dorchester and married Mary Capen, daughter 
of Joseph Capen, of Canton, Massachusetts. 

CHARLES FREEMAN READ. Esdras Read 
(i), the immigrant ancestor of Charles Freeman 
Read, of Worchester, was born in England, the son 
of Mathew Read. The name Esdras is sometimes 
found Ezra. A tract of land was granted him by 
the town of Boston, of which he was a proprietor 
as early as 1638. His place was at Muddy river, 
now Brookline, but he removed that year to Saleui 
and was a proprietor of the tow'n. He was admitted 
to the Salem church. May 10, 1640. and his wife 
Alice December 29, 1640, when Rev. John Fiske was 
pastor, and went with him and his church to Wen- 
ham, then called Enon, meaning "much water," in 
1643. He was deputy to the general court from 
Wenham in 1648 and also in 1651. He was sent 
in 1655 by Rev. Mr. Fiske and his church to look 
out for a more commodious settlement and he 
selected Chelmsford. The next spring Rev. i\Ir. 
Fiske, Mr. Read and a majority of the church mem- 
bers removed to that place. While at Wenham 
he was deacon of the church. In 1658 he was again 
admitted an inhabitant of Boston, where he died 
in 1680, and his gravestone is now standing in 
Copps Hill cemetery. He was a tailor by trade and 
owiied considerable property on Copps Hill at the 
time of his death. Administration was granted De- 
cember 17, 1680, to his son, Obediah Read, of Bos- 
ton. Esdras Read married Alice Ward. 

(II) Obediah Read, son of Esdras Read (i), 
was born about 1639. He married Anna Swift, of 
Boston. She died September 13, 1680. The record 
of his death is on his gravestone in Copps Hill ceme- 
tery, Boston, as February 19, 1721. He was a car- 
penter by trade. The children of Obediah and Anna 
Read : Thomas, born 1665, see forward : Rebecca, 
1668; Elizabeth, 1669; Sarah, 1671 ; Anna, 1672; 
Obediah. Jr.. 1677; James, 1679. 

(III) Thomas Read, son of Obediah Read (2), 
was born in Boston in 1665. He went back to 
Chelmsford and had a grant of land from the town. 
The name of his first wife is not known. He mar- 
ried (second) Hannah . His children by the 

first wife were: Thomas, born 16S7, see forward; 
Jonathan. William. Esdras. John. The children of 
Thomas and Hannah : Benjamin. Timothy. 

(IV) Thomas Read, son of Thomas Read (3), 
was born at Chelmsford, Massachusetts. 1687. and 
married Sarah Fletcher. He was a prominent man 
in the town of Chelmsford and held the office of 
justice of the peace. He died December 24. 1773, 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



259 



agLii eighty-six years. Tlie Reads were the first set- 
tlers in that part of Chehnsford, now Westford. 
The children of Thomas and Sarah : Sarah, born 
1712; Timothy, 1714, see forward; Elcazcr, 1731; 
Benjamin. 1732. 

(V) Timothy Read, son of Thomas Read (4), 
was born at Chelmsford. Massachusetts, March 21, 
1714. He married, November 10, 17,32, Mary Cum- 
mings. He moved from Chelmsford to Dunstable, 
Massachusetts, when that town included the present 
towns of Dunstable, Nashua, Nashville, Hollis and 
parts of the towns of Pelham. Londonderry, Hudson, 
Merrimac and Townsend, some now of New Hamp- 
shire, some of Massachusetts, having an area of two 
hundred square miles. For many years Dunstable 
■was on the frontier and the early settlers were ex- 
posed to Indian attack frequently. Many outrages 
were committed there by the Indians and many deeds 
of valor and heroism by the white men. The chil- 
<jren of Timothy and Mary Read: Elizabeth, born 
1/3^: Mary. 1734; Timothy, Jr.. 1736; Eleazer. 1749. 

(\T) Eleazer Read, son of Timothy Read (5), 
■was born in Dunstable, Massachusetts, February, 
1749. He was a soldier in the revolutionary war 
and fought in the battle of Bunker Hill. He mar- 
ried Rachel Cumniings. Their children : Rachel, born 
January 4, 1770; Rhoda, November 26, 1772: Caleb, 
August 7, 1775, see forward; Leonard, 1777; Re- 
becca, 1779: Betsev. December 17. 1780. 

(VII) Caleb Read, son of Eleazer Read (6), 
■was born in Dunstable. Massachusetts, August 7. 
''77$. died November 28. 1838. He was a captain 
in tlie militia and served as such in the war of 
t8i2. He iTiarried Sarah Richardson and their chil- 
dren were : Calvin, see forward ; James, born in 
1759: Rachel; Abigail. 

' (VIII) Calvin Read, son of Caleb Read (7), 
■was born in Dunstable. Massachusetts. January 20, 
1798. He was educated in the common schools. 
He was a farmer during his active life. In re- 
ligion he was a Universalist, in politics a Democrat. 
He was a very skillful fifer and used to play a great 
■deal for parades and military occasions. He married 
Catherine Baxter, born December 30. 1799. in Haw- 
ley, Massachusetts. Their children: Sarah Richard- 
son, born in Hawley, January 4, 1821 ; Calvin Dwight, 
Taorn at Ashfield, February 28, 1824; William Eleazer, 
Iwrn in Hawley, June 25. 1828 ; Caroline Rathbone. 
born in Hawley. December 19. 1829: Calista Blood, 
born in Hawley. July 13. 1831 ; Anna Eliza, born in 
Dunstable, February 8. 1833 ; Charles Freeman, see 
forward : James Alonzo. born at Dunstable, Noveni- 
"ber 9. 1839: Emily Etta, born in Lennox. New York, 
September 2, 1844. All deceased except Calista, 
Charles F.. James A. and Emily E. 

(IX) Charles Freeman Read, son of Calvin Read 
(8). was born in Dunstable. Massachusetts. August 
7. 1835. He received his early education in the pub- 
lic and high schools, working, when not in school, 
on the homestead. He went with his father's fam- 
ily to Lennox. Madison county. New York, in 1841. 
and worked with his father on the farm there until 
1852. He then went to Fitchhurg. Massachusetts, 
and attended the high school. He began his career 
in business at Gardner, where he became clerk in 
a general store. February 21. 1853. He remained 
in this store as clerk and bookkeeper for five years. 
He then entered the employ of Greenwood & Wright, 
■chair manufacturers of Gardner, as shippine clerk 
and bookkeeper. Later he became a member of 
thv firm, and was for many years identified with the 
chair manufacturing business of Gardner. He re- 
tirer! f'om business and removed to Worcester in 
1S06. His home there is on Burncoat street, corner 
Marie avenue. Mr. Read has always been a Republi- 



can in politics. He was elected to various positions 
of honor and trust in Gardner. He was town audi- 
tor, assessor, aiKl member of the school committee. 
During the civil war he served three years in the 
cavalry. At the expiration of his term of enlist- 
ment he was mustered out as first sergeant in 
"Read's" company. Third Massachusetts Cavalry, 
Second Division, Nineteenth Army Corps. He served 
under Generals Banks, Butler and Sheridan. He 
was in the Department of the Gulf and in Shenan- 
doah Valley. He was at the battle of Cedar Creek. 
He saw Sheridan's famous ride. 

i\Ir. Read joined the Evangelical Congregational 
church in Gardner, Massachusetts, in 1858. That 
church afterward merged into and became a part 
of the First Congregational Church of Gardner. He 
remained in that church until 1896, when removing 
to Worcester, he changed his membership .to the 
First Congregational (Old South) church, Worces- 
ter. Since 1902 he has been parish clerk of Old 
South. While at Gardner he was superintendent 
of the Sunday school for a number of years. In 1865 
he joined Hope Lodge, A. F. and .A.'M., of which 
he was master in 1876 and of which he is at present 
an honorary member. He was commander of D. G. 
Farragut Post, No. Ii6, G. A. R., in 1880 and 1881. 
He was a member of the Massachusetts stafif of the 
national commander, G. A. R., in 1895. He is a 
member of George H. Ward Post, No. 10, G. A. 
R.. of Worcester, and served for four years on 
the library committee. He was elected quartermaster 
of the post. March 15. 1906. 

Mr. Read married, at Gardner, Massachusetts, 
December 15, 1858, Catherine Augusta Wright, born 
April 9. 1839. daughter of David and Elizabeth 
(Gay) Wright, granddaughter of Joseph Wright, 
who came from Sterling to Gardner, settled on 
Wright Hill, married Rebecca Nichols. Of the chil- 
dren of Joseph Wright, Rebecca, born June 25. 1791, 
married Walter Greenwood ; Martha, born July 12, 
1802, married Levi Heywood, the chair manufacturer; 
and Emily, born December 24, 1814, married Seth 
Heywood, the chair manufacturer, all of Gardner. 
David Wright w'as one of the pioneers in the manu- 
facture of cane and wooden seat chairs. He was 
one of a family of eleven children and lived to the 
advanced age of ninety-one years. He was born in 
Gardner. October 25. 1808. Catherine was educated 
in the public and high schools and academy and 
taught school for some time before marriage. She 
was eligible for membership in the Daughters of 
the American Revolution throu.gh her maternal an- 
cestors. She died at Gardner. April 10, 1889. 

Mr. Read married (second), at Worcester, Janu- 
ary I, 1896, Oella Elizabeth Stone. She is eligible 
to membership in the Daughters of the American 
Revolution through her great-grandfather, Jedulhan 
Stone, son of Nathan and Mary Stone, born Janu- 
ary 13. 1748. served in the revolutionary army under 
Captain Thomas Fusts, marching from Rutland to 
Cambridge. April 19. 1775. Jeduthan married. Janu- 
ary II. 1773. Elizabeth Howe, who bore him seven' 
children. Mrs. Read's grandfather was .Augustus 
Stone, and her father. Joseph Stone, who married 
Martha E. Maynard. Oella was educated in the 
public schools and at Worcester .Academy. The 
children of Chirles Freeman and Catherine Augusta 
Read: Ettie Elizabeth, born in Gardner. March 11, 
i860, died 1884; married A. E. Knowlton. had one 
son. Stanley Read Knowlton. Charles Clarence, 
born in Gardner. January 2. 1862. graduate of the 
Gardner high school, commercial traveler, selling 
chairs and furniture ; married .Annie Hurlbut and 
they have three daughters — Katherine. Alice, and 
Esther. Gertrude Wright, born in Gardner, August 



26o 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



1 



26, 1866, died igoi ; married A. E. Knowlton, whose 
first wife was her sister Ettie E. ; their three chil- 
dren — Dorothy, Henry, Hazel. David Wright, born 
in Gardner, November 27, 1874, died aged three years 
and two months. 

JAMES ATKINSON NORCROSS. The emi- 
grant ancestor, Jeremiah Norcross (l), came from 
England to America in the year 1638, and from 
"Bond's History and Genealogies of Watertown, 
Massachusetts," we learn that he was a proprietor 
in that place as early as 1642, his family then con- 
sisting of wife Adrean and three children, Nathaniel, 
Richard and Sarah. The original homestead in 
Watertown covered about twenty-six acres, the ti- 
tle to which was held within the family for more 
than one hundred and sixty years. A portion of 
this estate was later purchased by the United States 
government, and is now the location of the Water- 
town arsenal. The senior Mr. Norcross, in 1654, 
when arranging to visit England, e.xecuted a will 
in which the various members of his family are 
mentioned, leaving at his death the greater part 
of his estate to his son Richard. The brother 
Nathaniel received the degree of A. B. at "Cather- 
ine Hall College," Cambridge, 1636-37, was called 
to become the minister at Lancaster, and signed 
with others a petition to the general court to plant 
a settlement there. But there being so much de- 
lay in preparing for the settlement and building 
the early houses, that his attention was called in 
another direction, he is said to have returned to 
England in 1646. His father died in England in 
1657. 

(II) Richard Norcross, born in England, 1621, 
was the possessor of a small estate at Watertown in 
1642. He was chosen to act as the first schoolmaster 
in that town, and from 1651 to about the year 1700 
followed the occupation of a school teacher, and for 
nearly a quarter of a century was the only person 
in the town to fill that office. He married (first) 
Mary Brooks, daughter of Captain Thomas Brooks. 
She died in 1671,-and he married (second) Susanna, 
widow of William Shattuck. Mr. Norcross died 
in 1709, leaving si.x children, the eldest, Mary, hav- 
ing died in 1661. 

(III) Nathaniel Norcross, born in Watertown, 
December 18, 1665, was a shoemaker, and resided 
in Watertown and Sudbury. He married (first) 
Mehitable Hagar. She died April s, 1691, and he 
married (second) Susanna, daughter of Dr. Philip 
Shattuck, of Watertown. She died in Sudbury. 
February 15. 1711-12. He died in 1717, leaving a 
family of four children. 

(IV) Philip Norcross, born March 5, 1698, 
married, in 1721, Sarah, daughter of Edward Jack- 
son, of Newton, and settled in that town, their home 
being on the site of the present Eliot meeting hou>e. 
Philip Norcross died in 1748, leaving nine children. 

(V) Jonathan Norcross, born February 7, 
1734-35, "le fifth child of Philip Norcross, was a 
soldiEr in the French and Indian war, and at Lake 
George in 1758. Two years later he removed to 
Georgetown, Maine, where he married Martha, 
daughter of James Springer. In 1775, he was a 
resident of Readville, Elaine, but we have no record 
of his death. His wife died in 1809, and was bniried 
at Hollovvell, iSlaine. 

(VI) Jonathan Norcross, Jr., born 1767, mar- 
ried Jane Atkinson, of Lancaster, England, and re- 
sided during the greater portion of his life in Wayne, 
Maine, where he owned a farm. It is believed at 
his death he was buried in Winthrop, Maine. His 
widow died and was buried in Salem, Massa- 
chusetts. 



(VII) Jesse Springer Norcross, son ot 
Jonathan Norcross, Jr., was born in Wayne, Maine^ 
in 1806. He was a carpenter and builder, also pro- 
prietor of the "Norcross Mills," at Winslow, Maine. 
He married, in 1S26, Margaret Ann Whitney, of 
Westboro, Massachusetts. They resided in various 
places in the state of Maine, among them the towns 
of Clinton and Winslow. In 1843 he removed to 
Salem, Massachusetts, where he continued to ply 
his occupation as carpenter and builder. In the- 
year 1849 he joined the great concourse of seekers 
for gold in California. He died the following year 
and was buried at Benicia, in that state. Plis widow, 
Margaret Ann (Whitney) Norcross, was the daugh- 
ter of Jonah and Anna (Rider) Whitney. The- 
father of Jonah was Thomas Whitney, a revolution- 
ary soldier from the town of Shrewsbury, Thomas 
being in the fifth generation from the emigrant an- 
cestor, John Whitney, who settled in Watertown, 
Massachusetts, and was admitted freeman there in 
1635-36. The children of Jesse Springer and iNIar- 
garet Ann (Whitney) Norcross were: Rosina C, 
Julia and James A., twins; Elizabeth, Orlando W., 
William, died at sea, when nineteen years of age; 
Leander, who died an infant, and Charles Henryv 
died when four years of age. As the business ca- 
reer of the two brothers, James Atkinson, bora 1 
March 24, 1831, and Orlando Whitney, born Octo- 
ber 25, 1839, appears so closely interwoven, it seems- 
highly proper that they should be reviewed together. 

James Atkinson Norcross, eldest son of Jesse 
Springer and ^Margaret Ann (Whitney) Norcross, 
born March 24, 1831, in Kennebec county, Maine, 
was a mere lad when the family removed to Salem, 
Massachusetts. The early death of his father placed 
upon his shoulders heavy responsibilities. Having in- 
herited in a large degree the mechanical genius of 
his father, he learned the trade of a carpenter, which 
he followed at Salem a number of years. In 1864,' 
upon the return of his brother Orlando from his- 
three years service in the war of the rebellion, the 
two formed a partnership which continued until the 
year 1897. The style of the firm was Norcross 
Brothers, and their business career was started in 
Essex county, Massachusetts, in the city of Salem, 
but they soon removed to the city of Worcester to- 
gain a larger field in which to labor. The Leicester 
Congregational Church was their first large contract. 
The excellent manner in which that contract was filled 
gave the firm an enviable reputation among build- 
ing contractors, and from that date onward they 
were awarded a large share of the contracts given 
out for expensive structures erected within their 
immediate locality. As their facilities for executing 
work, and the quality of their workmanship became 
known to the public, demand for their services came 
not only from the various cities and towns in the 
New England states, but far and near throughout 
the United States, until there was scarcely a city 
among those most prominent in the Union but wdiat 
contained a sample of their handiwork. 

During the thirty-three years of most unpre- 
cedented business prosperity, James A. Norcross 
attended to the clerical and financial part,, 
while Orlando Norcross gave attention to di- 
recting the men in their employ, an arrange- 
ment which proved to ensure signal suc- 
cess. They erected factories, equipped with the 
latest improved machinery, where they manufacture 
doors, sash, and all necessary finish required by their 
contracts, and the firm soon became conspicuous , 
for reasonable prices, promptness, and the skill- 
ful way in which all of their contracts were met. 
Scores of magnificent structures erected by this 
firm may be found noted in the personal sketch of 




Lcxy>-"i^^-<^ 



0-7 c 1 (z^y 





CrL^c^D^ 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



261 



ihe brother partner, Orlando, which follows at the 
■conclusion of the notice of James A., who retired 
from the firm in 1897 for the purpose of enjoying 
some of the ease and comfort to which a lifetime 
•of labor and steady brain work entitled him. For 
jears he had resided in an elegant mansion on 
Claremont street, Worcester, built of Longmeadovv 
sandstone, but he sought better and more roomy 
surroundings, and afttr purchasing a tract of land 
containing several acres, situated on May street, a 
short distance west from his Claremont street home, 
upon a beautiful eminence, furnishing a command- 
ing view of the surrounding country, he reared his 
"Fairlawn," and passed the remainder of his days 
within this home of beauty and luxury, into which 
he with his family removed in July, 1895. After his 
retirement from business he visited various 'portions 
■of the United States for the purpose of inspecting 
rare and choice specimens of work produced by 
his craft, and in February, 1892, in company with 
his wife, visited the Old World, passing considerable 
■time in England, France, Holland, and Italy, enjoy- 
ing the scenes and meditating on the contrast be- 
tween the New and the Old World. 

James A. Norcross was not a seeker of public 
-office, although he served the city one term as a 
member of the common council in 1877. He was a 
member of the Worcester Board of Trade, the Coni- 
xtionwealth Club, the Sportsman and Continental 
Clubs, also the Worcester County Mechanics' Asso- 
■ciation. In the building of the South Unitarian 
Church he was one of the most liberal contributors. 
In this society he took an active interest, and within 
its circle found his religious home. He was a man 
■of charitable disposition, and his kindliness was 
often evinced by his many acts of charity. He died 
at his home, August 4, 1903, and was survived by 
his widow, who was Mary Ellen Pinkhara, and their 
children, as follows : 

1. Julia Ellen, born October 14, 1851 ; married, 
June 8, 1871, at Worcester, Thomas Seymour Os- 
borne, of Nova Scotia, and had children : John 
Seymour, born February 28, 1872, died an infant; 
Wary Gertrude, May 5. 1873, married Alfred Mer- 
rifield. of Worcester ; Florence Elizabeth, born April 
27, 187s, died July 9, 1902. She married, 1892, Fred 
A. Corey, of Worcester, and had children : Charles 
E., died August 29, 1893 ; James Earle, born April 
-27, 1896; Fred, born September 10, 1900. Rosie 
Winifred, born April 5, 1878, married, January 18, 
1899, Harry E. Mayo, of Worcester, and had one 
child, Virginia, born June 3, 1899. John Edwin 
Norcross, born August 24. 1880, married Nellie 
Billings. James William Thomas, born July 24, 
1882, married Ethel Comstock, and have Lawrence 
Wilmot. Arthur Wilmot. born February 7, 1888, 
■died January 18, 1889. Ellen, born September 28, 
1890. David Benjamin, born July 7, 1894. 

2. James Ephraim, born 1853, in Salem ; died 
1855. 

3. James Franklin Norcross, born in Salem, 
Massachusetts, January 8, 1856. He attended the 
common schools there, and in South Adams and 
Worcester, in turn. He left school at the early age 
of fourteen years to enter the employ of Norcross 
Brothers, and took up carpentering, in which he 
continued almost three years. He then went to 
East Longmeadow. Massachusetts, to learn quarry- 
ing and stone cutting. After ten years he w'as 
made superintendent of all this business for Nor- 
cross Brothers, and served in that capacity until 
April I, 1897, when he resigned, and later engaged 
in the same line of business on his own account. 
After a year he sold his plant, and on December i, 
1898, removed to Springfield, Massachusetts, w'here 



he has since resided. He was engaged in caring for 
his father's business, and arranging his own affairs 
until 1901, when he bought an interest in the West- 
field Marble and Sandstone Company, a corpora- 
lion doing business in Westficld, Massachusetts, 
where their quarries are located. Fie was vice- 
president and manager from the time he entered 
the company until 1906, when his widowed mother, 
desiring his assistance in the management of her 
affairs, he resigned the position of ijianager, but has 
retained to the present time, that of vice-president. 
While in East Longmeadow, Mr. Norcross attended 
the Congregational church, and served as a mem- 
ber of its parish committee, and was also for one 
year secretary of the school board. In 1882 he 
joined Hampden Lodge No. 27, I. O. O. F., of 
Springfield, Massachusetts, of which he is yet a 
member. In politics he is a Republican. He mar- 
ried, March 7, 1878, Sarah Etta Robinson, born in 
East Longmeadow, Massachusetts, July 13, 1857, a 
daughter of Jonas and Martha (Bradbury) Robin- 
son; her father is a -leading stone cutter and setter. 
To Mr. and Mrs. Norcross were born two children: 
Jonas Walter, May 23, 1879; and Mary Etha, August 
21, 1882. 

4. Arthur Warren, born at Salem, Massachusetts, 
July 27, 1861. He received his education in the Wor- 
cester public schools, graduating from Woodland 
grammar school in June 1878. In the fall of that 
year he entered the Classical High School, where 
he continued his studies for a time, subsequently 
taking a course in Bryant & Slratton's Business 
College at Boston. In 1881 he entered the employ 
of Norcross Brothers, contractors and builders, where 
he remained about a year, subsequently removing 
to New York city, Baltimore. Cleveland and other 
cities in the employ of the firm until about 1897, 
when he became a partner in the firm of Norcross 
& Cleveland, contractors and builders, of Boston. 
This firm built the present Brewer building on 
Front street, Worcester. Mr. Norcross, since the 
dissolution of Norcross & Cleveland, continued as 
contractor until recently, and is at present super- 
intendent of a large building concern in New York 
city. He was an attendant of the First Universa- 
list Church at Worcester, and is a Republican in 
politics. He married, December 18, 1888, Alice 
Willard Warren, born in Worcester, adopted daugh- 
ter of Otis and Caroline E. Warren, of Worcester. 
One child was born to them, Pauline, born Sep- 
tember 12, 1S90, died February 10, 1892. 

5. Rosa Minerva, born in Salem, June 2, 1863; 
died April 5, 1877. 

6. William Ephraim, born at Salem, Massachu- 
setts, May II, 1866. At the age of three years he 
removed with his parents to Worcester, wdiere he 
attended the public schools at Woodland street, 
from which he graduated, taking a year's course in 
the Classical High School. He then entered the 
employ of Norcross Brothers, where he was pay- 
master of the outside help for two years, after 
which time he entered the shipping department as 
head shipper, continuing for three years. Subse- 
quently he entered the office of the draughting de- 
partment, where he remained for two and a half 
years. About a year before the dissolution of part- 
nership of Norcross Brothers, he became interested 
in the affairs of "Fairlawn," the estate of his father, 
where he assumed charge of the farm and has re- 
mained in charge of affairs to the present day. In 
1898 he built his residence at ''Fairlawn," adjoining 
the home of his father, where he resided until the 
death of his father, August 4. 1903, when he came 
to live with his family at "FairlawMi." Mr. Nor- 
cross is an attendant of the South Unitarian Mentor- 



262 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



ial Church in which he ha? ^erved as treasurer and 
clerk. He is a Republican in politics, and a member 
of the Worcester Automobile Club; he was a mem- 
ber for two years of the Lakeside Boat Club, and for 
three years of the Commonwealth Club. He mar- 
ried, November 23, 1890, Lillian Mabel Blenus, 
born at South Dedham, Massachusetts, June 17, 
1867, daughter of Charles W. and Vesta (Gates) 
Blenus, of Worcester, Massachusetts. Charles W. 
Blenus was a piano case maker, a veteran of the civil 
war, and a member of Post No. 10, G. A. R. The 
children of Mr. and Mrs. Norcross are : Hazel, born 
August 19, 1893; Rosemary, born November 26, 
1899. 

7. Mary Elizabeth, born at South Adams, Massa- 
chusetts, October 31, 1868, married, September 20, 
1892, William Lorin Davis, of Millbury, Massachu- 
setts, a brick manufacturer. One child, Margaret, 
born at Worcester, Massachusetts, January 10, 
1896. 

8. Florence A., born in Worcester, 1871 ; did 
July 9, 1871. 

9. Jesse Orlando, born at Worcester, Massachu- 
setts, Decembtr i, 1875. He received his education 
in the Woodland street grammar school, the pri- 
vate school of John Dalzell on West street, where 
he remained two years. He then entered the employ 
of Norcross Brothers as clerk and bookkeeper in 
his fathers office. Here he remained about two 
years, and then entered the employ of his brother, 
who was of the firm of Norcross & Cleveland. In 
the latter position he began to learn the trade of 
carpenter, and later became a journeyman in the 
business. He remained about two years in their em- 
ploy. In 1901 he purchased an eleven acre farm 
on Millbury avenue, just over the line in Millbury, 
where he built an elegant mansion and engaged in 
the poultry business for some time ; he still resides 
at this place. In January, 1905, the firm of Nor- 
cross & Shiland under Massachusetts laws was 
incorporated with quarters at 214 Summer street, 
for the sale of automobiles. Jesse O. Norcross is 
the president and director; H. E. Shiland, secretary, 

5. Norcross, clerk of the corporation. Mr. Shiland 
retired from the company si.x months later. In 
February, 1906, the company moved to more com- 
modious quarters at the corner of Foster and Com- 
mercial street, the. firm name having changed to that 
of Norcross Automobile Company, agents for the 
"Packard," "Peerless," and "Auto Car." Mr. Nor- 
cross is an attendant of the South Unitarian Memor- 
ial Church, a Republican in politics, a member of 
Worcester Grange, No. 22, Patrons of Husbandry, 
the Worcester Automobile Club, and was formerly 
a member of the Lakeside Boat Club. He was a 
charter member of Wellington Rifles, Company H, 
Second Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteer Militia, 
enlisting as private at its organization. May 2, 1894, 
serving three years. He married, December 16, 
1896, Maud Marie Smith, born July 13, 1877, daugh- 
ter of Marcus M. and Ann Elizabeth (Butterfield) 
Smith, of Keene, New Hampshire. Marcus M. 
Smith has been connected with the foundry depart- 
ment of the Crompton & Knowles Company. 

Mrs. Mary Ellen Norcross, widow of Jame- 
Atkinson Norcross, was born January 8, 1835, in 
Peabody, Massachusetts, daughter of Hicks and 
Mary B. Pinkham. Her father was born October 

6, 1806, in New Hampshire, and died December 
23, 1849; he was a contractor and carpenter; his 
wife, the mother of Mrs. Norcross, was born in 
Massachusetts, December 16, 1806, and died January 
21, 1850. Mrs. James A. Norcross is possessed of 
like charitable and philantrophic traits of character 
with her lamented husband. Like him she has always 



been deeply attached to the South Unitarian Church, 
of Worcester, to which, since her husband's deaths 
she has presented the sum of $20,000 for the liquida-. j 
tion of its debt. Her benefactions have been con- 
stantly extended to all worthy purposes. 

CHARLES ANDREW FLETCHER. Robert 
Fletcher (I) was the emigrant of Charles Andrewj 
Fletcher, of Worcester. The family name is doubt-i 
less of French origin, signifying archer. While somel 
genealogists state that the family came to England^ 
first at the time of William the Norman, others be- 
lieve that the first of the name was Jean de Ial 
Flechiere, who came to England with the Duke of « 
Savoy in the thirteenth century. He came from 
Burgundy, now the Canton de Vaud of Switzer- 
land. His son Henry and other descendants were 
prominent in English and Scotch history. 

Robert Fletcher, the emigrant, was born as shown 
by the record of his death, in 1592. Family tradi- 
tion has it that he was from Yorkshire, England. 
He settled in Concord, Massachusetts, early. He is 
said to have cotne to New England in 1630. He 
was appointed the constable of the town of Con- 
cord by the general court, November 2, 1637. He 
removed to Chelmsford and joined with William 
FJetcher and others in 1654 in inviting Mr. John 
Fiske and the Wenham Church to remove to Chelms- 
ford. His will was made February 4, 1672, "aged 
about fourscore," as the will has it. He commits 
his wife to the care of his son Francis and his wife, 
and bequeaths also to sons, Francis, William and 
Samuel. The inventory was dated May 12, 1677. 
He died April 3, 1677, at Concord, at the age of 
eighty-five years. He was counted among the most 
influential and wealthy men of the vicinity. The 
children of Robert Fletcher were : Luke, born in 
England, died in Concord, May 21. 1665. probably 
unmarried ; William, born in England, 1622, settled 

in Chelmsford. Massachusetts : Cary, married 

Kebby ; Samuel, see forward ; Francis, born in Con- 
cord. Massachusetts, 1636, settled there. 

(II) Samuel Fletcher, son of Robert Fletcher 
(i), was born in Concord, Massachusetts, in 1632. 
He was admitted a freeman March 21, 1680-OO. He 
"ettled in that part of Chelmsford now Westford, 
Massachusetts. He inarried Margaret Hailston, Octo- 
ber 10, 1659. He died December 9, 1697, and his- 
grave is in the Middle Chelmsford cemetery. The 
inscription on the headstone reads : "Here lyes ye 
body of S.amuel Fletcher, aged 65 years, died Decem- 
ber 9. 1697." The children of Samuel and Margaret 
(Hailston) Fletcher were: Samuel, born in Con- 
cord, Massachusetts, 1661. married Mary Cotton ; 
Sarah, born August 24, 1663; Hannah, born Septem- 
zer 26, i66q: William, see forward. 

(III) William Fletcher, youngest son of Samuel 
Fletcher (2), was born in Chelmsford, Massachu- 
setts. January I, T671. He married there, Decem- 
ber 10. 1701. Mary . He died about 1743- His 

will (Vol. 21, Page 20,^, Middlesex) names his liv- 
ing children. His children, all born in Chelmsford, 
were: \\^illiam, born 1702, at what is now Westford 
in Chelmsford, died September 22. 1784: Samuet 
(captain), born 1707, had fifteen children at West- 
ford: Oliver (H. C. I735), selectman 175S-61, died 
December i, 1771 : Thomas, born January 15, 1711; 
Robert, born April 20. 1713. resided near what is 
now the Lowell city farm: Beniamin. see forward; 
Mary, born January i. 1718; Lydia, born June I, 
1724. 

(IV) Benjamin Fletcher, sixth child of William 
Fletcher (3). was born in Chelmsford, now West- 
ford. Massachusetts, February 22. 1715, died 1774- 
He lived in Chelmsford and vicinity. He was a 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



263 



prominent man and wealthy for his day, as the in- 
ventory of his estate iti the possession of Charles 
A. Fletcher shows. He was collector of taxes in 
Chelmsford in 1754. He held other offices. His 
children were: Benjamin, see forward; Eleazer. 

(V) Benjamin Fletcher, son of Benjamin Fletcher 
(4), was born probably in Chelmsford, Massachu- 
setts, about 1750. He married, December 4, 1770, 
Rachel Spaulding, of Chelmsford, and they settled 
in that town. Among their children was: Benja- 
min William or William Benjamin, see forward. 

(VI) Benjamin William Fletcher, as his name is 
given in the Weare, New Hampshire, history, son 
of Benjamin Fletcher (5), was born November i, 
1772, in Chelmsford, Massachusetts. He settled in 
Weare. New Hampshire, about a mile north of the 
Oil Mill village. He was a farmer. He ap- 
pears as a taxpayer of Weare as early as 1820 and 
as late as 1S40. and probably lived all his active life 
in Weare. He married Sarah Ballard, and their 
children were : William, removed to Vermont ; Har- 
riet, Sarah, remained in Weare; Susan. Benjamin, 
see forward ; Charles B.. Beulah, Mary Grace. 

(VII) Benjamin Franklin Fletcher, son of Benja- 
min William Fletcher (6), was born in Weare. New 
Hampshire, January 7, 181 1, died at Manchester, 
New Hampshire. June 18. 1886. He married Elvira 
Adams Wilson, of the well known Scotch-Irish Wil- 
son family, whose progenitor was among the settlers 
of Londonderry. New Hampshire, in 1718. She w'as 
a native of New Boston, New Hampshire. He re- 
sided at Manchester, New Hampshire, was a house 
carpenter and contractor. His wife was born April 
24. 1812. in New Boston, New Hampshire, and died 
in Manchester, September 25, 1S86. The children 
of Benjamin F. and Elvira Adams (Wibon) 
Fletcher were: r. James Franklin Wilson, born 
April 9, 1843, died November 13. 1902; was a house 
carpenter ; served through the whole civil war in 
Company E, Eighth New Hampshire Regiment ; he 
enlisted as a private and was discharged as first 
lieutenant : he resided in Manchester and Nashua, 
where he died ; never married. 2. Eben Harris, born 
in Manchester, July 5, 1845, died at Manchester, 
New Hampshire. September 5, 1868. resided at Man- 
chester, New Hampshire, and Salem, Massachu- 
setts, where he was editor of the Salem Entcy/'risL- ; 
was captain of a militia company in Manchester; 
never married. 3. Mary Maria, married George War- 
ren Currier, he is deceased and she resides in Bed- 
ford. New Hampshire, with her son. Allen Fletcher 
Currier, who conducts the farm. 4. Sarah Eliza- 
beth, married John Milton Todd, resides at New 
Boston, New Hampshire ; their son. Samuel Herbert 
Todd, resides at home. 3. Laura A., born January 
7. 1850. died June i. 1853. 6. Charles Andrew, born 
July 17. 185 1, see forward. 

(VIII) Charles Andrew Fletcher, president of 
the Clark-Sawyer Company of Worcester, was born 
in Manchester. New Hampshire. July 17, 1851. He 
was the son of Benjamin Franklin and Elvira Adams 
(Wilson) Fletcher. His mother came from a well 
known Scotch-Irish family that settlefl in 1718 in 
Londonderry. New Hampshire. Mr. Fletcher at- 
tended the Manchester public schools. After grad- 
uating from the grammar school he accepted a clerk- 
ship in the crockery store of Charles A. Smith in 
Manchester. New Hampshire, where he gained his 
first experience and knowledge of the business, in 
which he has been engaged ever since. After a year 
and a half later he came to Worcester, in November, 
1869. and went to work for Clark, Sawyer & Com- 
pany, then as now the leading store in the crockery, 
glassware and housefurnishing trade. Except for 
two periods of two years each Mr. Fletcher has re- 



mained in the Clark-Sawyer store ever since he 
came to Worcester, serving in various capacities 
from clerk to president. In 1874-75-76 Mr. Fletcher 
was in business in Fitchhurg. In 1884 he left the 
company again and established at Gardner, Massa- 
churetts, the Central Oil and Gas Stove Company. 
.After two years he was induced by the Clark-Sawyer 
Company to return and take charge of the house 
furnishing department. The business was incor- 
porated at this time and Mr. Fletcher became a 
director and clerk of the company. The company 
l)ecame a Massachusetts corporation in 1890 with 
a capital of $100,000. The officers for the past few 
years have been: President, Charles A. Fletcher; 
treasurer, George Richardson; secretary, Stephen 
Sawyer. Mr. Fletcher has been president since 
1897, and during these years the company has en- 
joyed a season of great growth and prosperity. The 
Clark-Sawyer Company stores occupy 36,000 square 
feet of floor space in the best business section of 
Worcester. The wholesale department has be- 
come the larger and more important end of 
the business. The company has commercial 
travelers all over New England, and they make 
a specialty of foreign novelties, having their 
own buyers in the markets abroad every season, A 
characteristic of the house is to take hold of a 
new invention of an attractive novelty, a specialty 
for instance having been made of refrigerators. Mr. 
Fletcher has for many years given personal atten- 
tion to the imported goods of the house. The holi- 
day trade has grown to enormous proportions in both 
wholesale and retail departments, owing largely to 
the attractive line of toys and bric-a-brac of both 
foreign and domestic manufacture sold there. The 
markets of England, Germany. France, Italy, Austria 
and Bohemia are visited every season. The Clark- 
Sawyer Company carries the largest line of whole- 
sale novelties in New England. It is the largest 
retail house furnishing store in New England, and 
outside of Boston also the largest crockery house. 

Mr. Fletcher is a member of the Commonwealth 
Club and of the Worcester Society of Antiquity. 
He is a Republican. On account of the pressure of 
business he has in late years withdrawn from most 
of the clubs and societies to which he formerly be- 
longed. 

He married. October i, 1874. Helen Maria Shat- 
tuck. daughter of Samuel F. Shattuck, of Worcester. 
Thev have had two children : Helen Esther, born 
July, 1876, married Edward ^Marcus Dodge (See 
sketch elsewhere in this work) : Charles Shattuck, 
born July 21, 1878, died September 13, 1903, while 
a junior at Harvard College. 

STILLMAN HOUGHTON FAMILY. Sir 
Richard Houghton (i), bart., of Houghton Towers, 
Lancashire, England, father of Ralph Houghton, 
of Lancaster, was a progenitor of the Houghton 
family, of Worcester county, to which the late Still- 
man Houghton belonged. Sir Richard fought against 
King Charles, although the rest of the family fought 
for the king. If tradition is correct then, and John 
Houghton, of Lancaster, was cousin of Ralph, son 
of Sir Richard, the two men came, for opposite 
reasons, to America : one because he was against the 
king, the other because he was not. That is not 
important The two cousins seem to have lived 
amiably side bv side in Lancaster, the son and 
nephew of Sir Richard Houghton. The Houghton 
ancestors are traced to Roger de Bushi, one of the 
followers of William the Conqueror. 

(II) Ralph Houghton, son of Sir Richard Hough- 
ton (i). born in England, in 1633; died April IS, 
1705, in Lancaster. He is believed to have emigrated 



264 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



to New England in 1635. He was in Lancaster in 
1647, and was one of the founders of that town 
with five others : Edward Breck, Nathaniel' Had- 
lock, William Kerley, Thomas Sawyer, John Pres- 
cott. He was the first town clerk, and the writing 
of the early records in his hand show that he was 
not only a good penman but well educated. His 
home was on the Neck. He was town clerk for many 
years ; was admitted a freeman in 1668, and was 
deputy to the general court in 1673-89. He was one 
of the leaders, and was identified with the organiza- 
tion of the town and its government until his death. 
He had to abandon his home with the others at the 
time of King Philip's war in 1675. In 1682 he set- 
tled in Milton. He returned to hi.s Lancaster home 
in 1685, but was again in Milton in 1690. and built 
a homestead there in which seven generations of de- 
scendants have been born. He married Jane , 

who was born 1626, in England, and died January 
10, 1700-1. Their children were: I. Mary, born Janu- 
ary 4. 1654. 2. John, born April 28, 1655. 3. Joseph, 
born July 6, 1657; settled in Milton. 4. Experience, 
born October i, 1659; married May 22, 1784, Ezra 
Clapp. of Dorchester. 5. James (see forward). 6. 
Sarah, born February 17, 1664. Ralph Houghton,, 
of Dorchester (Milton later), was lost at Port Royal 
June 7. 1782, aged twenty-eight, in the earthquake. 

(ni) James Houghton, son of Ralph Houghton 
(2), born in Lancaster, in i66r. (This date is given 
in the American Ancestry.) It is stated by some 
writers that he was born before the family came 
to Lancaster. Ralph Houghton's family was among 
the first to come, and was doubtless living there 
by 1650. James Houghton settled first on the Neck 
but removed to Still river before the massacre in 
1697. with his brother-in-law. Caleb Sawyer, and 
built upon lands given him by his father, Ralph 
Houghton. He had eight children. The second son, 
Ralph, was a soldier in the Acadian expedition to 
Canada and died in 1710, in the service. His brother 
James was his administrator. 

James Houghton died in 1711. His will was 
proved September II, 1711. His widow was the 
Widow Mary Houghton mentioned in the list of 
those in the garrison house in 171 1. The garrison 
house of James Houghton has descended from father 
to son for five generations, and has been occupied 
the longest of any in old Lancaster, continuously in 
the same family. The present house is a capacious 
farm house, including at least three structures, all 
ancient. The west end is the original garrison 
house which sheltered the families of the neighbor- 
hoods from Indian raids. It was built from 1692 
to 1704. The first chimney was of stone, and the 
huge foundations still fills half the cellar. It was 
early replaced by the present many-flued brick pile, 
vvfith eight fire places, ovens, cupboards, and smoke 
closet, where there is room enough to cure simul- 
taneously the hams and shoulders of a dozen swine. 
Many of the little windows remain, though the 
sash has been renewed, at nearly double the height 
now thought convenient. The walls are filled with 
brick and stone so as to be bullet proof. The huge 
oak beams and plates show for a third of their length 
below plaster and laths. These timbers are 12x14 
inches. Once when it became necessary to remove 
some of the panels of the wainscoting, during renova- 
vations. the wood was found to be unpainted soft 
pine without knot or check, of excellent workman- 
ship, thought to be from the hand of James Hough- 
ton, himself a carpenter, and builder of his own 
house. The house passed to Thomas Houghton, 
his son, also ancestor of Stillman Houghton. It 
passed to his son Elijah, to his son Thomas, to 
his son Cephas and then to his son now or lately 



the owner, Edward Warren Houghton, of Harvard, 
Massachusetts, as that section of Lancaster is now 
known. 

Children of James and Mary Houghton were: 

1. James, born 1690; married Sarah (called 

James Houghton, Sr., to distinguish him from James 
Houghton, son of Jonas Houghton, a younger man). 

2. Ralph, died in service in Canada, his brother 
James administered his estate. 3. John. 4. Thomas 
(see forward). 5. Edward (see Houghton family 
under Knapp family). 6. Ephraim, joined in deed, 
with Edward and James, to Jonas. 7. Hannah. 8. 
Experience. In 1723 Ephraim, Edward, Thomas 
and John, sons of James, lived in the vicinity of the 
old house in Harvard. James Houghton, who mar- 
ried Sarah, was not there at that time. 

Caleb Sawyer was grandson of John Prescott, 
the founder of Lancaster, and fifth son of Thomas 
Sawyer, one of the first proprietors, who married 
Mary Prescott. Caleb Sawyer was born in Lancaster, 
April 20, 1659; married Sarah, daughter of Ralph 
Houghton, December 28, 1683. He had a special 
grant of thirty acres on the east side of Bare Hill 
where he built his house some time after the massacre 
of 1697. The well known "rendezvous" tree was 
near his house. He died February 13, 1755. 

(IV) Thomas Houghton, son of James Hough- 
ton (3), born in Lancaster, Massachusetts, about 
1690-1700; married Maria or Moriah Moor and set- 
tled on the homestead in Harvard. He was a farmer. 
Children were: i. Hanah, born December 16, 1728-9. 
2. Thomas, born October 9, 1731. 3. Moriah (as 
Maria was then spelled by the family), born Sep- 
tember 5, 1736. 4. Elijah (see forward). 

(V) Elijah Houghton, son of Thomas Houghton 
(4), born in Harvard, or what is now Harvard, then 
Lancaster, Massachusetts, June 2, 1739: married 
Mercy Whitney, and settled in Harvard. Their chil- 
dren were: i. Thomas, born January 11. 1767. 2. 
Elijah, born October 23, 1769. 3. Abraham, born 
January 23, 1771. 4. Moriah, born November 7, 1772. 

•5. Mercy, born September 27. 1774. 6. Abraham 
(2d), born April 26. 1777. 7. Elizabeth, born Decem- 
ber 3. 1779. 8. Hanah, born April (?), 1781. 9. 
.Alice, born February 22, 1784. 10. Hannah, born 
April 22, 1786. II. Sally, born September 22, 1788. 

(VI) Abraham Houghton, son of Elijah Hough- 
ton (5). born in Harvard, Massachusetts, April 26, 
1777. He settled in Harvard. Massachusetts, and 
died there. He married Elizabeth Parks. They had 
six children Betsey, Maria, Andrew, Martha, Will- 
iam, Thomas Stillman. 

(VII) Stillman Houghton, son of Abraham 
Houghton (6), born in Harvard, Massachusetts, 
June 19, 1820; died April 26, 1889. He was raised 
on the farm in Harvard and attended school there. 
He learned the machinist trade and started the first 
loom for the Clinton Wire mill, where he was em- 
ployed for a number of years. He came to Wor- 
cester to associate himself with D. H. Fanning, who 
in 1861 started the manufacture of hoop skirts in 
Worcester. The company was called the Worces- 
ter Skirt Com'pany. Out of it grew the Worcester ' 
Corset Company, at the head of which Mr. Fanning 
has continued. Mr. Houghton was engaged in the 
manufacturing of skirts and corsets for many years. 
For a time he was in business for himself in the 
manufacture of pocketbooks. He retired some years 
before his death. His widow now lives in their old 
home, 19 Oak avenue, Worcester. He died April 
26. 1889, in Worcester. He was a Republican in 
politics. 

He married. 1845. Merry Randall Weatherbee, 
daughter of Silas and Mary (Taylor) Weatherbee, 
Iiorn in Boxboro, Massachusetts, November 8, 1824. 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



265 



Her fatl^er was born in Boxboro, hor molhor in Har- 
■vard, Massachusetts. She was one of fourteen chil- 
dren. Her grandfather was Simeon Wcatherbee. 

Children of Stillman and Mercy Randall 
(Weatherbee) Houghton were: I. Evander, born 
1847, died 1853. 2. Herbert O. (see forward). 3. 
Lilla, born February 12, 1861. married Albert C. 
Marble and had: Ralph L., born, 1898. 

(Vni) Herbert O. Houghton, son of Stillman 
Houghton (7), born in Clinton, Massachusetts, Octo- 
ber 22. 1850. He was educated in the Worcester 
schools and is in the city directory business. He 
resides at 19 Oak avenue, Worcester. He married 
Carrie L. Stockwell, daughter of Deacon Leander 
and Julia (Lealand) Stockwell. of Grafton. Chil- 
dren are: I. Arthur S., born February 17, 1879; at- 
torney in Worcester. 2. Mabel S., born July 18, 
l88r. 3. Cecil F., born September 20. 1883: is a 
teacher in Sharon, Connecticut. 4. Louis H. (twin), 
torn May 14, 1887; is now on training ship Enter- 
prise. 5. Louise M. (twin), born May 14, 1S87. 

STEPHEN SAWYER. Thomas Sawyer, one of 
the founders of Lancaster, Massachusetts, was the 
emigrant ancestor of Stephen Sawyer, of Worces- 
ter, Massachusetts. 

(H) Thomas Sawyer, born in England about 1616, 
settled first at Rowley, Massachusetts, about 1643. 
He removed to Lancaster in 1647. wdien there were 
but three permanent settlers there : John Prescott, 
Richard Linton and Lawrence. John Ball had ap- 
parently left the settlement after being there for some 
time in behalf of the proprietors. In May, 1653, 
Thomas Sawyer was appointed by general court one 
of the prudential managers of the town. They had 
full powers to allot land, govern the town and admit 
freemen. The other members of the board were 
Edward Breck, Nathaniel Hadlock, William Kerley, 
John Prescott and Ralph Houghton. Thomas Saw- 
yer was admitted a freeman 1654, and was a pro- 
prietor of Lancaster 1648. Naturally he became one 
of the leading men. He was a blacksmith by trade. 
His farm was on the present grounds of the Seventh 
Day Adventists, between South Lancaster and Clin- 
ton. There is a stone to mark his grave in the 
old graveyard in Lancaster. He died September 12, 
1706. about ninety years of age. 

There is little of interest on the records about 
Thomas Sawyer until 1676, when King Philip's war 
was raging and Lancaster suffered greatly. His son 
Ephraim Sawyer was killed by the Indians at Pres- 
cott's, Garrison, now in Clinton. Sawyer's house was 
one of the garrisons, and he was in command there. 
It was just behind the house now or lately owned 
by John A. Rice, of Lancaster. It is interesting to 
note that other heads of Worcester county families 
of note, written about in this work, were in the 
same garrison. In 1704 the garrison was at the house 
of Thomas Sawyer, Jr., the aged father in com- 
mand. Sawyer had nine men under him : Andrew 
Gardner. Thomas Sawyer, Jr., Mr. Gardner. Jabez 
Fairbanks, ancestor of the vice-president ; Nathaniel, 
another son of Thomas Sawyer ; John Harris ; Daniel 
Rugg. ancestor of Arthur P. Rugg and most of the 
Worcester county Ruggs ; Samuel Prescott. ancestor 
of the historian and of Worcester families of the 
name. These families all lived on the west side of 
the Nashua river, at what is now called South Lan- 
caster. In the following year Thomas Sawyer., Jr. 
was taken captive, as will be related later. Thomas 
Sawyer. Sr. lived with his daughter. Mary Wilder, 
while Thomas was a captive in Canada. 

Thomas Sawyer, Sr., married, 1648, Mary, daugh- 
ter of John Prescott of Watertown and Lancaster. 
(See Prescott family). His will is dated March 6, 



1705-6, proved .'\pril 12, 1720. The children of 
Thomas Sawyer and Mary (Prescott) Sawyer were: 
I. Thomas, born July 2, 1649. 2. Ephraim, born 
January 16, {$50- 1, , 3. Marie, born January 4, 1652-3; 
married -— ^- Wifder. 4. Elizabeth, born January, 
1654. 5. Joshua, born March 13. i655- 6. James, born 
March" 22, 1657. 7. Caleb, born April 22, 1659. 8. 
John, born AJiril, 1661. 9. Nathaniel, born Novem- 
ber, 1670, mentioned in father's will; three of fore- 
going not living at time father's will was made — 
Ephraim, John and Elizabeth. 

(II) Thomas Sawyer, son of Thomas Saw-yer (i), 
was born in Lancaster, Massachusetts, July 2, 1649, 

the first wdiitc child born there. His capture by the 
Indians forms one of the most familiar stories of 
the colonial period in Massachusetts. He was a 
man of fifty-five when the event took place, and 
was living in the garrison as described above. Queen 
Anne's war was making the lives of the colonists 
unsafe especially on the frontier. Indians made 
frequent attacks and massacred men, women and 
children. On October 16, 1705. Thomas Sawyer, 
Jr.. his .son Elias. and John Bigelow, of Marlboro, 
were at work in his saw mill when they were sur- 
prises and captured by Indians. The Indians took 
their captives back to Canada, and turned Bigelow 
and young Sawyer over to the French to ransom. 
The Indians kept the other Thomas Sawyer to put 
to death by torture. Sawyer proposed to the French 
governor that he should build a saw mill on the 
Chamblay river in consideration of saving his life 
from the Indians and giving the three captives their 
freedom. The French needed the mill and were 
glad of the opportunity. But the Indians had to be 
reckoned with. They insisted on burning Thomas 
Sawyer at the stake. They knew him and knew he 
was a brave man, not afraid of torture and death. 
The crafty French governor defeated their purpose 
by a resort to the church. When Sawyer was tied 
to the stake a French friar appeared with a key 
in his hand, and so terrible did he paint the torture_s 
of purgatory, the key of which he told them he 
had in his liand ready to unlock, that they gave up 
their victim. Indians fear the unseen more than real 
dangers, and doubtless the friar took care not to 
specify just what he would do in case the auto-de-fe 
was carried on. Sawyer built the mill successfully, 
the first in Canada, it is said. He and Bigelow came 
home after seven or eight months of captivity. Elias 
Sawyer was kept a year longer to run the mill 
and teach others to run it. The captives were well 
treated after the French found them useful to them. 
Thomas Sawyer married three times: First, 

Sarah , 1670 : second, Hannah , 1672 ; and 

third. Mary White, 1718. He died at Lancaster, 
and his grave there is marked by a stone. He 
died September 5. 1736, in the eighty-ninth year of 
his age (so said), but was p''"'>'i'ily eighty-seven, 
if the records are correct. His will mentions four 
sons and two daughter. He bequeathed twelve 
pounds to purchase a communion vessel for the 
Lancaster church. Children of Thomas Sawyer 
were: i. William. 2. Joseph 3. Bazalies. 4. 
Elias. 5. Mary, married Joshua Rice, -of Marlboro. 
6. Hannah, married Jonathan Moore, of Bolton. 7. 
(perhaps) Sarah, married Rev. Nathaniel Whitman, 
of Deerfield. Mfissachusetts. 

(III) William Sawyer, son of Thomas Sawyer 
(2). was born in Lancaster, where the family lo- 
cated during Indian troubles. He married, 1700, 
Hannah, daughter of John Houghton. 2d. They 
settled in Lancaster, in wdiat is now the village of 
Bolton, in the southerly part. Their garrison as- 
signment near the centre was with John Moore, 
near Frveville. He owned land in other places — a 



266 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



hundred acres on the west slope of Gates Hill, now 
called Sawyer Hill, and one hundred and twenty 
acres on the east slope of the hill. 

Deacon Josiah Sawyer, son of William Sawyer 
(3), born in Lancaster, 1714; married Sarah Fair- 
banks, a descendant of the Lancaster branch of he 
descendants of Jonathan Fairbanks of Dedham. (Set 
Fairbanks.) She was the daughter of Jabez Fair- 
banks, of Bolton, granddaughter of the famous 
Indian lighter, and brother of Esquire Ephraim 
Fairbanks of Berlin, Massachusetts, whose home 
in 1738 was on Wheeler Hill. Josiah Sawyer was 
one of the charter members of the Berlin church, 
and its deacon. His Bible and the stand on which 
it rested during his daily family devotions have 
been preserved by his descendants. The Indians 
were still a menace to the inhabitants of Worces- 
ter county towns when he was a young man. In 
1735 he was living with his father at Bolton, but 
was clearing the land on Sawyer Hill and was pre- 
paring to make his home there. While returning 
home one evening afoot, as w'as his custom, an 
Indian waylaid hm, just as he was descending the 
hill north of Quaker meeting house. Sawyer dodged 
the upraised tomahawk and took to his heels. For- 
tunately for him. he was a good runner, for he 
was unarmed. The savage soon saw that he was 
outclassed and gave up the pursuit. By measure- 
ment next day it was found that one of the leaps, 
as the foot prints showed, was sixteen feet. That 
leap is famous in Berlin history. 

He married Sarah , who died 1762. He 

married (second) Mary Tooker. The Tooker fam- 
ily preceded the Chase family on the Acre in Clin- 
ton. She died March 25, 1799, aged seventy-one 
years. He died July 3, 1805, aged ninety-one years. 
He was deacon of the church from 1770 to 1799. 
The children of Deacon Josiah and Sarah Sawyer 
were: i. Josiah, born November 24, 1738, died 
young. 2. William, born March 5. 1740. 3. Han- 
nah, born June 25. 1743, married Curtis, of 

Harvard. 4. Rebecca, born February 15, 1745, mar- 
ried • Wilder of Putney, Vermont. 5. Sarah, 

born February 6, 1747, married William Wilder of 
Putney. Vermont. 6. Aholiab. born 1749. 6. Josiah, 
born November 8, 1752. The children of Josiah 
and Mary were: 7. Levi, born November 10, 1764, 
died young. 8. Silas, born July 5, 1766. 9. Thomas, 
born March 9, 1770, died 1771. 

(V) Josiah Sawyer, son of Deacon Josiah 
Sawyer (4), was born in Berlin, Massachusetts, 
Noveniher 8, 1752. He married Bathsheba Moore, 
of Putney', Vermont. He had the homestead in 
Berlin, which he left to his daughter Lucinda. Her 
son Daniel H. Carter inherited it. The place is now 
or was lately owned by Willard G. Bruce. Josiah 
was a farmer. Bathsheba, his wife, died starch 17, 
1778. He married (second) Persis Baker, daughter 
of Samuel Baker. She died 1785, and he married 
(third) Prudence Johnson, of Leominster, Massa- 
chusetts, January 4, 1786. The children of Josiah 
and Bathsheba (Moore) Sawyer were: i. Alvan, 
born October 30, 1770. 2. Eunice, born November 
10, 1774, married Ephraim Babcock. 3. Bathsheba. 
born JNIay 9, 1778, died young. The children of 
Josiah and Persis (Baker) Sawyer were: 4. Su- 
sannah, born November 19, 1781. 'married Caleb 
Houghton. 5. Bathsheba, born 1784, died young. 
The children of Josiah and Prudence (Johnson) 
Sawyer were: 6. Ira, born October I, 1787. 7. 
Lucinda, born April 20, 1789, married Amory Car- 
ter and Cummings Moore. 8. Rufus, born September 
22, 1790. 9. George, born February 6, 1793. 10. Asa, 
born September 3, 1795. 11. Persis. born June 18,1798; 
married Loring Howe, of Marlboro. 12. Sarah, born 



July 12, 1800, married Lewis Carter; died February 
26, 1895. Josiah Sawyer was a soldier in the'revolu- 
ticm. in Captain Benjamin Hasting's company, Col. 
John Whitcomb's regiment in 1775, and also served 
in Captain Jonathan Houghton's company and Cap- 
tain David Nourse's company. He served at Fish- 
kill. New York, and at the Bennington alarm in 
1778. 

(VI) Alvan Sawyer, son of Josiah Sawyer (5), 
was born in Lancaster, (now Berlin), October 30, 
1700. He married. February 13, 1794, Sarah, daugh- 
ter of James Goddard, Sr. He settled in Berlin on 
the farm previously owned by Thomas Bride, and 
now or lately by Leonard W. Brewer. His wife Sarah 
died November 14, 1806, and he married (second) 
Sally Newton, of Marlboro, 1808. The children of 
Alvin and Sarah (Goddard) Sawyer were: i. Lucy, 
born March 16, 1795, married Amory Sawyer. 2. 
Zilpah, born February 3, 1797, died October tl. 1775, 
unmarried. 3. Levi, born April 7, 1799, died un- 
married, 1837. 4. Eli, borli January 7, 1801. 5. 
Alvan, born September 8, 1803, married Lucy Bige- 
low, of Lowell, who died May 18, 1831 : married 
(second) Jerusha A. W. Tarleton, of Nashua ; he 
died in Cuba 1856. The children of Alvan, Sr., and 
Sally (Newton) Sawyer were: 6. Josiah, born 
March 25. 1810. 7. George W., born October 11, 
181 1. 8. Stephen, born February 11, 1813. 9. Sally 
Newton, born 1815, married Julius L. Clarke, son 
of Rev. Eber L. Clarke ; resided in Worcester and 
Newton, Massachusetts, has been state auditor and 
commissioner of insurance. 10. Susan, born 1819, 
married Edward L. Brigham, of Worcester, in 1S44; 
she died 1871. 

(VII) Stephen Sawj-er, son of Alvan Sawyer 
(6), was born in Berlin, Massachusetts, February 
II, 1813. He worked on the farm in summer and 
went to school in the winter, and obtained an excellent 
education. At an early age he began to teach 
school, but preferred a mercantile life and went 
to work in the general store of Haman Hunt in 
Berlin. After a year there the outlook did not 
seem to him wide enough ito accord with his 
aspirations. Most of his youthful friends elected 
to settle in their native town. Against much sin- 
cere and kindly advice he concluded that a larger 
field would be more promising to his hopes. In ac- 
cordance with this conclusion, which he has called 
an inspiration, he left Berlin in 1841 and came to 
Worcester, he at once found employment in the dry 
goods house of H. B. Claflin & Co., there. 

At that time H. B. Claflin & Co.'s was the live- 
liest business house in the commonwealth outside 
of Boston. A few years later, when Mr. Claflin 
sought the larger field for business afifordcd by 
New York. Mr. Sawyer w'as retained as salesman 
by the succeeding firm of Hardon, Hunt & Brown, 
which was soon reconstructed under the title of B. 
L. Hardon & Co., with Mr. Sawyer as one of the 
partners. Through his connection with this well 
known business Mr. Sawyer became well known in 
mercantile circles ; his ability was generally recog- 
nized, and he acquired a thorough knowledge of 
business that must have been a large factor in his 
greater successes in later life. He was a member 
of the firm for fifteen years, retiring in 1856 on ac- 
count of ill health. Like many others who have 
lived to an advanced age and won large successes 
in the business world, he met ill health in middle 
life and retired, built up his health and strength, 
and went back to work with renewed vigor and 
courage. He re-entered business in Worcester with 
T. H. Clark and E. W. Ball, in 1866, under the 
well known firm name of Clark, Sawyer & Co. 
They bought the stock of crockery, glassware, etc., of 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



267 



John Firth & Co., and rented the store, their pre- 
decessors had occupied in the Flagg huilding. Main 
street. The business prospered and they soon out- 
grew their quarters, and they rented two large 
btores in R. C. Taylor's building on Main street, 
opposite the Worcester Common. A few years 
later Mr. Ball retired and George Richardson 
took his place in the firm. They had to increase 
their store space again, and moved to their present 
stores at 478 to 482 Main street. No mercantile 
house in the city has shown a greater and steadier 
rate of growth. They have constantly added to 
their store by taking rooms in the building above 
and adjoining and occupy more floor room and 
transact a larger wholesale and retail trade than 
any other house of the kind outside of Boston in 
Massachusetts. Besides all kinds of glassware, 
silverware and crockery, the firm deals in a mul- 
titude of housefurnishing articles, and has for years 
had a practical monopoly of the business in Wor- 
cester. They import extensively staple goods and 
novelties, toys, etc. 

Mr. Sawyer devoted himself zealously to busi- 
ness. As head of the firm, for most of the time 
he was responsible directly for its great success. 
He enjoyed his material advantages modestly. He 
was elected a trustee of the Worcester Five Cents 
Savings Bank in 1867, and vice-president in 1876. 
His position in the business world was shown 
soon after the firm of Clark, Sawyer & Co. was 
formed, by his election in January, 1867, as a 
director of the Mechanics' National Bank, a posi- 
tion that he filled until his death in 1904. He was 
a director of the Worcester Mutual Fire Insurance 
Company of Worcester, elected December 8, 1886, 
and served in that office seventeen years, during 
ten of which he was chairman of the board. He 
was not especially active in politics. He was a 
Republican, and served the city as alderman during 
the administrations of ^layers Clark Jillson, Charles 
B. Pratt and Frank H. Kelley. He attended the 
Congregational church, and contributed liberally 
to its charities. He always took an interest in 
Berlin, his native place, and often expressed his af- 
fection for the town. 

Mr. Sawyer died January 2, 1904, after a short 
illness. The estimation in which he was held gen- 
erally by his fellow citizens is perhaps best ex- 
pressed by extracts from the formal actions of the 
various boards of which he was a inember. The 
trustees of the Worcester Five Cents Savings Bank 
in their memorial said : "His long business life of 
over fifty years in this city made him familiar with 
most of its leading business men, and his good 
judgment as to the value of property eminently 
fitted him for usefulness in this bank. He carried 
the burden of his years with the vigor of a much 
younger man and was rarely absent from the stated 
meetings of the bank." In the memorial of the 
Mechanics' National Bank the following statement 
was made : "He was a director for thirty-seven 
years. During that time he has taken an active in- 
terest in its affairs, and has been constant in his 
attendance at its meetings. While he was always 
careful and conservative in his views on the various 
questions that might arise, and in his judgment of 
men, he was at the same time willing to lend as- 
sistance and credit to those whom he felt were en- 
titled to receive it. He exhibited the same traits 
in his own affairs, and from a small beginning he 
built up a strong and substantial business. He 
was a gentleman of the old school, and his pleas- 
ant manners and genial ways made friends of those 
who met him or were associated with him." The 
directors of the .Worcester lilutual Fire Insurance 



Company expressed their appreciation of Mr. Sawyer 
as follows : "His business experience in Worces- 
ter, covered a period of about sixty years, during 
which Worcester grew from a town of .some 6,000 
inhabitants to a city of multiform activities, with 
a population of nearly 130,000, and he had much to 
do as a public-spirited citizen in furthering its 
growth and prosperity. We record our high ap- 
preciation of his loyalty to duty, his upright char- 
acter, his pure mindedness, his thorough integrity, 
his uniform kindness, his honest purpose to serve 
well his fellow men, and his rare example of carry- 
mg to ripe years the cheerfulness, courage and hope 
which pertains to young manhood." 

He married Lucy Fairbanks Sawyer, daughter 
of Deacon Oliver Sawyer, granddaughter of William 
Sawyer, the son of Deacon Josiah Sawyer, whose 
family is given in this sketch. She died December 
29, 1847. He married (second) Mary W. Bigelow, 
Worcester, December 2, 1857. Flis children were: 
I. Lucy Fairbanks (by first marriage), born De- 
cember 29, 1847, resides in Worcester, unmarried. 
The children by the second marriage were : 2. Mary 
Sophia, born at Worcester, November i, 185S, died 
March 9, 1859. 3. Harriet Louise, born in Worces- 
ter, September 26, 1862, died March 19, 1868. 4. 
Stephen, born October 29, 1868. 5. Grace IMay, born 
in Worcester, March 6, 1871, resides with her mother 
and brother Stephen at 31 Chestnut street, Wor- 
cester. 

(VIII) Stephen Sawyer, Jr., son of Stephen 
Sawyer (7), was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, 
October 29, 1868. He attended the public schools 
of his native city, and graduated in due course from 
the Worcester high school with the class of 1887. 
He immediately went into the Clark, Sawyer & Com- 
pany store to learn the business and was soon after- 
ward admitted to partnership. The firm was in- 
corporated in 1890 under the laws of Massachusetts, 
with a capital of $100,000. During the latter years 
of his father's life the son assumed his share of 
the work in the store. The present oflicers of the 
company are: President, Charles A. Fletcher; 
treasurer, George Richarcison ; secretary, Stephen 
Sawyer. Mr. Sawyer has devoted his attention to 
business exclusively. In politics he is a Republican 
He is a member of Quinsigamond Lodge, F. and A. 
M.. and of Eureka Chapter, R. A. :M., and of the 
Tatassit Canoe Club. 

(V) William Sawyer, ancestor of Mrs. Stephen 
Saw-yer, son of Deacon Josiah Sawyer (4), born 
March 5, 1740. married Hannah Barrett, daughter 
of Lieut. Oliver and Hannah (Hunt) Barrett, of 
Bolton, January 10, 1764. The Barrett family has 
always been prominent in Bolton. William Sawyer 
settled on part of his father's homestead in Berlin, 
now or lately owned by M. Reed Tyler, known as 
Lakeside. He died February 28, 1S22, aged eighty 
years ; she died February 8, 18,^0. aged eighty- 
eight years. He was in the revolutionary war in 
Captain Benjamin Hastings' company. Col. John 
Whitcomb's regiment, 1775, and possibly also in the 
Continental armv in 1776. The children of AVilliam 
and Hannah (Barrett) Sawyer were: i. Abigail, 
born May S, 1765. married Cotton Newton. 2. 
William, born February 6, 1767. 3. Amos, born 
March 17, 1769. 4. Mary, born February S. 1771, 
married, September 26, 1792, Rufus Howe, of Berlin, 
son of Joseph Flowe, of Gates Pond; resided at 
Marlboro, Vermont. 5. Oliver, born April 17, 1774. 
6. Asa. born August 2. 1775, settled in Jaffray. New 
Hampshire, 1803 to 1817. 7. Uriah, born May 24, 
1778 ; married, February 2, 180.1, Sally Spofford, re- 
sided at Jaffray, New Hampshire, and in Ohio. 8. 
Polly, born 1780, married Rufus Howe, who died 



268 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



in Marlboro, Vermont; she returned to Berlin. 9. 
Hannah, born January 6, 1781, married Robert 
Fosgate, resided at Winchester, New Hampshire ; 
died there, 1S71, aged ninety years. 10. Levi, born 
1784, died young. 

(VI) Deacon Oliver Sawyer, son of William 
Sawyer (5), born in Berlin, Massachusetts, April 
17, 1774, married Lucy Fairbanks, of Northboro, 
who died April 22, 1810, aged twenty-three years. 
He married (second) Sophia Rice of Northboro. 
He succeeded to the homestead on Sawyer Hill in 
Berlin, and built the house that was burned there 
while owned later by Madame Rudersdorff, the 
mother of Richard Mansfield, the famous actor. 
Deacon Oliv-er Sawyer was prominent in the town 
as well as the church. He was a town officer, and 
highly respected by his fellow citizens. He died 
April 15, 185! ; his wife Sophia, died September i, 
1841. 'J'heir children were: i. Lewis, born February 2, 
1813. died on the homestead, February 8, 1856. un- 
married. 2. Oliver Barrett, born June 5. 1816. 3. 
Lucy Fairbanks (twin), born September 9, 1819, 
married Stephen Sawyer, of Worcester, January 8, 
1845, died in Worcester, December 29, 1847. 4. 
Sophia( twin), born September 9, 1S19, died on the 
homestead October 24, "1873, unmarried. 

BIGELOW FAMILY. John Bigelow (i), the 
common ancestor of the Worcester families of the 
same surname, was the progenitor of Mary Wood- 
bury Bigelow, whp married Stephen Sawyer of Wor- 
cester. 

John Bigelow is believed to have come from Eng- 
land, but the variations in spelling at the time of 
his emigration to New England make it difficult 
to trace this name, which was spelled according to 
the fancy of the writers. He was born in 1617 
and came to America before 1642. The first men- 
tion of his name on the records is found in Water- 
town, Massachusetts, where, September 30, 1642, 
he married Mary, daughter of John and Margaret 
Warren, and said to have been born in England. 
She died October 19, 1691: He took the oath of 
fidelity at Watertown in 1652, and was made a 
freeman April 18, 1690. He was a blacksmith by 
trade, and was allowed certain timber for the build- 
ing of his forge by the town. He was highway sur- 
veyor 1652 and 1660: constable 1663, and one of 
the selectmen 1665, 1670 and 1671. His homestead 
consisted of six acres. He married (second) Octo- 
ber 2, 1694, Sarah, daughter of Joseph Bemis, of 
Watertown. (See Bemis). He died July 14, 1703, 
aged eighty-six. His will was dated January 4, 
1703, and proved July 23, 1703. The children of 
John and Mary (Warren) Bigelow were: i. John, 
born October 27. 1643, married Rebecca Olmstead, 
lived in Hartford, Connecticut. 2. Mary, born March 
14. 1648, married. June 3, 1674, Michael Flagg. son 
of Thomas and Mary Flagg; he was born March 
23. 1651. and died about 1711; she died before, as 
he married (second) Mary Earle. 4. Daniel, born 
December i, 1650, married Abigail Pratt, lived in 
Framingham, Massachusetts, .s. Samuel, born Octo- 
ber 28, t653, married Mary Flagg, lived in Water- 
town. 6. Joshua, born November 5, 1655. mar- 
ried Elizabeth Flagg. lived in Watertown and 
Westminster. 7. Elizabeth, born June 15, 1657, 
married Lieut. John Stearns, and lived in 
Billerica. Massachusetts, where they had a large 
family of children : she died April 18, 1694. 8. Sary, 
born September 29, 16.S9. married July 23, 1679, 
Isaac Learned, son of Isaac and Mary (Stearns) 
Learned. He was born October 5. 1655. Thev moved 
to Framingham. near the Sherborn line. He was 
selectman of Framingham in 1711. 9. James, mar- 



ried thrice, resided in Watertown. 10. Martha, born 
April I, 1662, married twice ; her second husband 
was Obadiah Woods, of East Hartford, Connecticut; 
he died April 11, 1712. 11, Abigail, born February 
4. 1664, married, December 10, 1684, Benjamin Har- 
rington. 12. Hannah, born March 4, 1666, died 
March 8, 1666. 13. A son, born and died December 
18, 1667. 

(II) Samuel Bigelow, son of John Bigelow (l), 
born October 28, 1653 ; married, June 3, 1674, at the 
same time that his sister Mary was married, Mary 
Flagg, daughter of Thomas and Mary Flagg. She 
was born January 14, 1658, and died September 7, 
1720. He was a prominent man in Watertown, an 
innholder 1702-16: and represented the town in the 
general court 1708, 1709 and 1710. His will, dated 
September 30, 1720, proved February 21, 1731, men- 
tioned his sons John, Samuel, Thomas and Isaac; 
daughters Mercy Garfield, Abigail Cutler and De- 
liverance Stearns; sons-in— law Thomas Read, Josiah 
Howe and Daniel Warren ; grandchildren David 
Bruce, Nathaniel Read, Isaac Read, Thomas Read, 
Catherine Read, Phinehas Howe, Abraham Howe, 
Rachel Howe, Samuel Warren, Daniel Warren and 
Hannah Warren. The children of Samuel and Mary 
(Flagg) Bigelow were: i. John, born May 9, 1675, 
married Jerusha Garfield, lived in Marlboro. 2. 
Mary, born September 12, 1677, married, February 
2, 1700. David Bruce, of Marlboro: married (sec- 
ond) Thomas Read, Jr., of Sudbury. 3. Samuel, 
born September 18, 1679, married Ruth Warren, 
lived in Marlboro. 4. Sarah, born October I, 1681, 
married, December 11, 1706, Josiah Howe, of Marl- 
boro, a grandson of John Howe, the first settler. 
(See Howe). 5. Thomas, born October 24, 1683, 
married Mary Livermore, of Watertown. 6. Mercy, 
born April 4. 1686 (recorded Martha), married Jan- 
uary 2, 1707, Lieut. Thomas Garfield (See Garfield) ; 
she died February 23, 1745, and he died February 4, 
1752. 7. Abigail, born May 7, 1687, married. Au- 
gust I. 1710, Jonathan Cutler, of Killingly, Connec- 
ticut, resided at Colchester, Connecticut. 8. Han- 
nah, born May 24, 1711, married Daniel Warren 
and they lived in Westboro. Shrewsbury ; he was a 
soldier in the French and Indian war, and was taken 
prisoner to Canada. 9. Isaac, born May 19. 1691, 
married Mary Bond, and lived in Colchester, Con- 
necticut. 10. Deliverance, born September 22. 1695, 
married August 10. 1 71 5. John Stearns of Lexington, 
Massachusetts, resided in Worcester, where many 
descendants have lived. 

(III) Samuel Bigelow. son of Samuel Bigelow 
(2), born Watertown, Massachusetts. September 18, , 
1679; married, in Watertown, March 28. 1705, Ruth j 
Warren, of Watertown. They removed to Marl- ■ 
boro, where she died April 12. 1716. He married 
(second) December 4, 1716. Mary Gleason. daugh- 
ter of Joseph and Martha Gleason. of Sudbury. 
She was born October 6. 1682, and died in Shrews- 
bury, May 14, 1752. He died in Marlboro. The 
children of Samuel and Ruth (Warren) Bigelow 
were: i. Mary, born December 17, 1705. married, 
December 10. 1727, Daniel Ward, son of Joseph and 
Abiah (Wheelock) Ward, of Marlboro: he was born 
April 14. 1701. 2. Samuel, born October 16. 1707, 
married Jedidah Hathorn, lived in Shrewsbury. 3. 
Cornelius, born November 24, 1710. married Mary 
Graves, lived in Westboro. 4. Jedediah, born Feb- 
ruary 8. 1714, married Thamazin Nurse, lived in 
Douglas. Massachusetts. 5. Ruth, born April 10, 
1716, died July 25. 1716. 6. Jason, born April ir, j| 
i7tS. married Abigail Witt, lived in Brookfield, I 
Massachusetts. 7. Ruth, born December .-^o. 1719, 
married, June 7, 1743, Daniel Heminway, of Fram- 
ingham, and moved to Sherborn in 1745; she died 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



269 



^Jovenibcr 15. 1794. 8. Ainariali, l)orn September 
4, 1722. married Lydia Brigham, lived in Siirews- 
)ury. 9. Martha, born October 21, 1724, married 
December 14. 1749, Ezekiel Brigham, of Marlboro 
md Grafton, Massachusetts. 

(IV) Samuel Bigelow, son of Samuel Bigclow 
[3), born in Marlboro, October 16, 1707; married, 
^Jovember 28, 1729, Jedidah Hathorn, and moved 
,0 Shrewsbury, where he settled in the south part 
)f the town, near the Grafton town line. She died, 
md he married (second) May 7, 1770, Mrs. Abigail 
Hastings, widow of Moses Hastings, and daughter 
)f William Taylor. His will dated April 14, 1795. 
nentions wife Abigail, daughters Dorcas Lcland and 
[edidah Wheeler, children of Samuel (deceased) ; 
:hild of daughter Sarah Smith (deceased) ; sons 
Solomon and Ithamar. who were appointed exec- 
jitors. The children of Samuel and Jedidah (Hat- 
lorn) Bigelow were: I. Samuel, born June 24, 1731, 
Harried Phebe Rand. 2. Jedidah, born March 2T, 
1733. married, April 30, 1760, John Wheeler, of 
Shrewsbury. 3. Dorcas, born July 6, 1735, married, 
December I, 1768, Seth Swan, of Paxton. 4. Sol- 
Dmon, born July 25, 1767, died October 25, 1742. 5. 
Sikis, born October 10, 1739, married Sarah Hall, 
resided at Paxtoji. 6. Solomon, born July I, 1742, 
married Sarah Newton. 7. Ithamar, born July 30, 
1745, married Persis Barrett. 8. Sarah, born Sep- 
tember 10, 1747, married June 8, 1767, Ephraim 
Smith, of Grafton, Massachusetts. 

(V) Samuel Bigelow, son of Samuel Bigelow 
(d). born Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, June 24. 1731; 
married, at Shrewsbury, July i, 1755. Phebe Rand, 
daughter of Daniel Rand. She died June 10, 1770. 
He married (second) 1770, Anna Winchester, of 
Grafton. He died in 1787. The children of Sam- 
uel and Phebe (Rand) Bigelow were: I. Levinian, 
born February i, 1756, married, November 5, 1776. 
Samuel Whitney, of Westboro. 2. Mary, born April 
13. 1757. 3- Vashti, born May 19, 1758. married, 
February 26. T777. James Wheeler, son of Ebenezer 
Wheeler, of Grafton. 4. Lucretia, born June i, 1760, 
married. .August 14. '17S1, Adam Harrington of 
Shrewsbury. 5. Humphrey, born September 4, 1761, 
married Mary Underwood. 6. Serena, born March 
16, 1765. married. November 13, 1786, Benjamin Jen- 
nings, of Brookfield. 

(VI) Humphrey Bigelow, son of Samuel Bige- 
low (5). was born in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, 
September 4, 1761. He married, December 20, 17S6, 
Mary Underwood, of Westford, Massachusetts. She 
died in Shrewsbury. October 6. 1789. He married 
(second), October 26, 1791, Hannah Whipple, of 
Grafton. She was born October 5, 1771, and died in 
Worcester. Janiiary 5, 1848. They lived in Shrews- 
bury until 1S04. when they removed to Charlton, 
Massachusetts, where they lived several years. Later 
they lived in Sutton and Westford. and then moved 
back to Shrewslniry. He died October 2, 1842. Chil- 
dren of Humphrey and Mary (Underwood) Bige- 
low : 1. John, horn .August 12, 1787. married Mary 
Jones. 2. Samuel, born .August i, 17S9. died Octo- 
ber. 1789. The children of Humphrey and Hannah 
(Whipple) Bigelow: 3. Samuel, born July 2, 1793, 
married Cynthia Forbush. 4. Catherine, born Au- 
gust 12, 1795. married, November 2, 1818, Joel Fay, 
of Sutton. 5. Hannah, born October 2. 1797. mar- 
ried Samuel Lamb : resided at Charlton : married 
(second) Daniel Richardson: married (third) 
Pardon .Aldrich. of Grafton. 6. Mary, born August 
4. 1799. died December 25. 1819. unmarried. 7. 
Silas, born August to, 1801, married Silence Pierce. 

8. Atoses. horn Tnly 2^. . married Amanda Smith. 

9. Susan Whipple, born September l, 1806, married, 
November ,30, 1826, Owen W. Allen, of Shrewsbury, 



moved to Ohio. 10. Miriam, born September 6, 
1809, married, June 12, 1833, Joel Fay, late hus- 
band of her deceased sister; she died August 15, 
1837. II. Whipple, born February 16, 1812, married 
-Amy Chase. 13. John,' born November 27, 1814, 
married Lucinda M. Slocomb. 

(VII) Silas Bigelow, son of Humphrey Bige- 
low (7), was born in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, 
August 10, 1801. He married, November 20, 1823, 
Silence Pierce. She was born February 6, 1803, 
daughter of Amos and Anna (Hicks) Pierce of 
Sutton. He died in Worcester, October 12, 1883; 
she died there August 12, 1886. He went to Sutton 
before he was married, and carried on a boot and 
shoe manufacturing business in addition to con- 
ducting his farm. He reinoved to Worcester in 
1847, and continued in the shoe manufacturing busi- 
ness^ there until i860. All their children were born 
in Sutton, viz. : i. Silence Adaline, born August 
9. 1824, married, June i, 1846, Curtis B. Greene; 
she died June 30, 1902; their only child, Jennie A., 
married Frank E. Kimball, resides at 8 John street; 
he is w'ith E. T. Smith Co., wholesale grocers. 2. 
Harriet Ann. born February 14. 1826, married De- 
cember 13, 1864, Albert G. Mann, of Worcester (see 
Mann). 3. Mary Woodbury, born July 5, 1828, mar- 
ried. December 2, 1857. Stephen Sawyer (see Saw- 
yer). 4. Edward H. (twin), born at Northbridge, 
Massachusetts, July 5. 1830, married April 21. 1852, 
Mary S., daughter of Samuel and Martha Patterson; 
resided in W'orcester. where he died September 10, 
1867; Louisa Carrie, their only child, born June 19, 
1853, married, December 25. 1S82, Luther Baker, and 
died 1905. S- Emily (twin), born July 5. iS.p, died 
February 19, 18.34. 6. Silas Austin, born October 
22, 1832, died March 26. 1844. 7. Charles Airlos, 
born October 3. 1834, in Sutton ; married. February 
14. 1856, Mary Caroline Patch (born in Worcester, 
September 10, 1836, died August 10, 1883), lived 
several years in Texas, then engaged in the whole- 
sale grocery business with E. T. Smith : he died 
in Worcester, April 23. 1885. His children were: 
i. Charles Frederick, born in Worcester. September 
9. 1857, married Mabel E. Hewitt, November 4, 
1885 : lieutenant in Battery B ; engaged in the business 
of E. T. Smith Co.: died November 4, 1900; ii. 
Frank -A. Bigelow, born in Belton, Texas. January 
2. 1861, resided at New York city ; iii. Mary Ella, 
born in Salado, Texas. September 20, 1866, married 
Frank Green of Gardner : resides in Brooklyn. 8. 
Luther Henry, born December 30. 1836, in Sutton, 
married C. Helen Lovell : daughter of A. Beaman 
Lovell ; resided in Worcester, where he died No- 
vember 22. 1871 : his two children died in infancy. 
He entered the book store of Jonathan Grout when 
a boy, later became a partner under the name of 
Grout & Bigelow (now Davis & Banister) ; he was 
in Company C. 51st Regiment. Massachusetts 
Vokmteer Militia in the civil war, with rank of 
lieutenant. 9. James Whipple, born September 8, 
1839. married, October 24, 1877, Mrs. C. Helen 
(Lowell) Bigelow, widow of his deceased brother, 
Lieut. Luther H. Bigelow; he' was a partner of 
Walker Armington in the grocery business in Wor- 
cester : he died November 30, 1901 ; she died De- 
cember 9. 1882. 

(VIII) Mary Woodbury Bigelow, daughter of 
Silas Bigclow (7), was born July 5, 1828. She 
married. December z, 1857, Stephen Sawyer,' of 
Worcester. (See Sawyer). 

DOLLIVER FAMILY. Robert Dolliver or 
Dalyber (i), as it was then generally spelled in the 
English records, was the progenitor in England of 
the Dolliver family of Essex and Worcester coun- 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



ties, Massachusetts, ancestor of Edward B. Dolliver, 
a business man of Worcester, and Henry W. Dolli- 
ver. postmaster of Whitinsvillc, Massachusetts. 
Robert Dolliver lived in the parish of Stoke Abljot, 
Dorset countv. England. The name is said to be 
of Welsh origin, and the earliest location of the 
English branch was at North Junterice in Wales. 
Robert Dolliver was a yeoman. He died in 1633, 
and his will, dated March 20, 1632, proved March 
27, 1633, gives much information of his family. He 
directed' that he should "be buried in the church- 
yard of Stoke Abbot before the church porch_ there, 
near the place where my father was buried," indi- 
cating thereby that the family had been located there 
for some time, and giving a clue to the English an- 
cestry. "And my will and desire is" the will de- 
clares "that I may have a tomb set over me and 
towards that charge i give 13 shillings, four pence." 
He remembered the poor and the church in his 
will. (See pages 128 Genealogical Register 1894). 
I. Robert, Jr., "Eldest" was executor. 2. Samuel, 
left fifty pounds in father's will, see forward. 3. 
Tristram, baptized 1598, May 28, at Stoke Abbot; 
came to Salem before 1641 and was in the fishing 
business at ;Marblehead and Gloucester; returned 
to Stoke Abbot — whence he wrote, April 20, 1648, 
to John Balch about accounts due him in New 
England ; asked for the date of death of his wife 
from the records ; gave power of attorney to his 
brother, Sainuel Dolliver, of Marblehead, for col- 
lection of money from John Whitt, of Wenham ; 
he came again to Massachusetts; he married (first) 

Mary , who died July 3, 1644, and (second), 

at Stoke Abbot, August 31, 1657, Sarah Peavie ; 
be died at Gloucester, July 3, 1664. 4. Joseph, mar- 
ried Rachel and settled at Greenwich, Rhode 

Island. 5, Mary. 6. Sarah, 7. Rebecca. 8. Dau.gh- 
ler. married Walter Burt. 9. Daughter, married 
John Lestry and had three sons; John, Edward and 
William Lestry. 

(H) Samuel Dolliver, son of Robert Dolliver 
(l),-was baptized at Stoke Abbot, England, Febru- 
ary 5, j6o8. He settled in Marblehead, Massachu- 
setts, about 1642. and was probably in Salem for 
a time before that. He was admitted a proprietor 
of the town and elected to various town offices. 
He bought of Thomas Millirad, of Newbury, Massa- 
chusetts, his farm of forty acres of tillage and ten 
acres of marsh at Fresh Water Cove, Gloucester. He 
died at Gloucester. July 22, 1683, leaving an estate 
valued on inventory dated September, 1683, at 113 
pounds. The division of the estate was made to 
the eldest son Joseph ; sons Richard. William and 
John ; daughters Mary, wife of Richard Babson ; 
Sarah Dolliver (Dalliber as it was then spelled) ; 
to son-in-law, Richard Dike ; to Mary, his widow, 
who was then the wife of James Gardner. The 
heirs receipted for their portions at various dates 
from 1684 to i6g6. Samuel Dolliver had the un- 
usually large herd of ten cows at the time of his 

death. He married (first) . and (second). 

August, 1654, Mary Elwell, daughter of Robert 
Elwell. The children of the first marriage were : 
I. Joseph, born 1629 "the eldest," see forward. 2. 
Dorothy, married at Marblehead, November, 1653, 
John Waldron. 3. Rebecca, married Richard Dike, 
at Gloucester, and had many children. The chil- 
dren of Samuel and Mary Dolliver were : 4. Cap- 
tain' William, born August 16, 1656. married Anne 
Higginson, daughter of Rev. John Higginson ; she 
was acL'used of witchcraft; marriage was unfortunate 
5. Samuel, born July g, 1658. 6. Mary, born March 
26, 1662. married Richard Babson. 7. Richard, born 
April 18, 1665. 6. Sarah, born December 24, 1667, 
married Joseph Killutn. 9. John, born September 



2. 1671, married Susanna Marriner, November, 1700; 
she died February 26, 1705; married (second), Feb- 
ruary II, 1706, Elizabeth Wood; had eight children, 
removed to North Falmouth, Maine. 

(HI) Joseph Dolliver, son of Samuel Dolliver 
(2), was born in 1629, in England. He gave his 
age as forty in 1669. He was among the early pro- 
prietors of Marblehead. He is said to have been 
early of Salem, also, but he was settled in 1648 in 
Marblehead, where he lived the remainder of his 
life, and died there in 1688. He was a constable of 

Marblehead in 1660. He married Lucy and 

among their children were: i. Joseph, Jr., see for- 
ward. 2. Abigail, born 1685, baptized December 13, 
16S5. 

(IV) Joseph Dolliver, son of Joseph Dolliver 
(3), was born about 1665, in Marblehead, Massa- 
chusetts. He settled in his native town and seems 
to have had three wives all named Mary. He mar- 
ried (first), January 16, 1689-90, Mary Pousland ; 
(second) Mary Furnace, October 19, 1704, and 
(third), ."Kpril 10, 1707, Mary Salmon, all at Marble- 
he.-id. The children of Joseph and his wives were^ 
I. Peter, died young. 2. Samuel, baptized March 
8, 1690-91. 3. John, "Jr.," see forward. 4. Thomas, 
baptized September 27, l6g6, died May 11, 1760, 
aged sixty-two years, six months. 5. Peter, born 
1701, see forward. 6. Joseph, married, January 27, 
1736-37, Lucy Mcrritt. 

(V) John Dolliver (called Jr. because of an 
elder John of Marblehead. according to the pre- 
vailing custom), son of Joseph Dolliver (4), was 
baptized at Marblehead. Massachusetts, May 19, 
1695. He settled in Marblehead and all his five 
children were born there. He married, January 2, 
1715-16. at Marblehead, Mary Trefry. She died at 
Marblehead, 1751, aged fifty-six years. Their chil- 
dren: I. John, baptized June 23. 1723. 2. Mary, 
baptized July 12, 1726. 3. Sarah, baptized June 22, 
1720. 4. Annice (Agnes), baptized May 20, 1733. 
5. Richard, baptized November 2, 1735. 

(V) Peter Dolliver, son of Joseph Dolliver (4), 
was. baptized at Marblehead when probably less than 
a month eld, November .30, 1701. He married. De- 
cember 29, 1724, Mary Dennis, and their children 
all born in Marblehead, were: I. Peter, born 1726, 
baptized March 6, 1725-26. 2. Hannah, baptized 
Noven;ber 5, 1727. 3. Mary, born February 25, 
i7,S2-33- 4- Joseph, baptized April 6, 1735.^ 5. 
Thomas, baptized March 20, 1736. 6. John, baptized 
June 10, 173Q. 7. Sarah, baptized July 29, 1744. 

(VI) Richard Dolliver. son of John Dolliver (5"), 
was baptized November 2. 1735. He married Sarah 
Crtfin, October 2, 1759, and settled at Marblehead, 
where iheir children were born, viz: i. Sarah, bap- 
tized September 6, 1761. 2. Richard, baptized Janu- 
ary 5, 1764. died young. 3. Mary, baptized Decern- j, 
her It;. 1765. 4. Richard, baptized June 28, 1767. ■{ 
5. Willinm. baptized April 29, -1770. 6. Joseph, bap- 
tized February 24, 1771. 7- John, baptized May 8, 
1774. see forward. 

(VI) Thomas Dolliver. son of Peter Dolliver 
(O, was baptized at Marblehead. March 20. I7i6-T,y. 
He settled in Marblehead. and was a soldier in the 
revolutionary war. He married. August 7. 1759, 
Sarah Bowdoin, and their children were: I. Thomas, 
born October 24. 1762. 2. Samuel, baptized October 

7. T764. 3. Mary, baptized November 2. 1766. 4. 
Peter, baptized November 6. 1768. 5. Williain. bap- 
tized 1770. died young 6. Mary, baptized November 
I. 1772. 7. John, baptized .August 8, 1773- 8. Sarah, 
baptized April 2, 1775. 9. John, baptized December 

8, 1776, see forward. 10. Thomas, baptized July 
?. 177S. II. Sally, baptized December 26. 1770. 12. 
Sarah, baptized September 17, 1780. 13. William 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



271 



baptized July 28, 1782. 14. Thomas, baptized June 

15. 1783- 15- Isaac, baptized December 12, 1784. 

16. Isaac, baptized November 5, 1786. 17. Polly, 
baptized September 24, 1786. 18. Benjamin, bap- 
tized July II, 1790. 19. Benjamin Stone, baptized 
April 27, 1794. 20. Hannah, baptized February 9, 
1800. 21. Mary Green, baptized January 26, 1812. 

(VII) John Dolliver, son of Richard DoIIiver 
(6), born 1774, baptized at Marblehead, May 8, 1774, 
or son of Thomas Dolliver (6), and baptized De- 
cember 8, 1776, descendant unquestionably from 
Joseph Dolliver (4), was born and brought up in 
Marblehead, where so many generations of his an- 
cestors had lived. He learned the trade of shoe- 
maker. He removed to Worcester and bought a 
lot of land of Joseph Searl. He removed to Grafton 
in the thirties and bought land there of Elijah 
Brooks, Samuel Wood and Jonathan Warren, of 
Grafton, six acres with the house, etc. He became 
a manufacturer of shoes and at his death bequeathed 
his half-interest in the shoe factory at Grafton to 
liis .son Joseph. He died January 7, 1863. Johli 
Dolliver lived at Lynn for .some time before coming 
to Worcester and some of his children were 
born there. He removed to Worcester, where 
bis wife was born, and the remainder of 
the children were born in that town. He 
married, at Worcester. November 11, 1S02. Mary 
or Mercy Barber, daughter of Joseph and Elizabeth 
Barber, and she was born in Worcester, May 20, 
1779- Joseph was the son of Robert and Sarah 
Barber, and was born at Worcester, April 25, 17,38. 
The children of John and Mercy Dolliver were: 
I. Mercy, born at Lynn, May 13. 1804. 2. Betsey, 
born at Lynn. November 17, 1805, died at Worcester, 
Aoril 25, 1826. 3. John B., born at Lynn, Decem- 
ber 17. TiSc7, died before his father; left children 
Ellen McKenzie, Caroline Augusta Aspinwall, Mary 
Eli/a Dolliver and Annie E. Dolliver, all born in 
Worcester. 4. Samuel Varnum (took the middle 
name B.) born at Lynn, September 20, iSio, see 
forward. 5. Martha, born at Worcester. July 8, 
1813. married Benjamin Goddard, of Worcester. 6. 
Joseph, born at Worcester, May 22, 1816, married, 
April 12, 1842, Znrviah Mason, resided at Grafton. 
7. Horatio, born at Worcester, July 12, 1819, re- 
sided at South Reading, Massachusetts. 

(Vni) Samuel B. Dolliver (recorded at Lynn 
as Samuel Varnum Dolliver), son of John Dolliver 
(7), was born at Lynn, Massachusetts, September 
20, 1810, and died at Grafton, Massachusetts, July 
18. 1880. He followed his father's trade of shoe- 
maker and shoe manufacturer most of his life. For 
a few years late in life he was em.ployed by the 
Worcester Machine Screw Company. He was a 
leading citizen of the town of Grafton. In polities' 
he was a Democrat. He served the town of Graf- 
ton as assessor and selectman. He married (first), 
July 29. 1834, Delia E. Blake, born in Shrewsbury, 
Massachusetts, June 18, 1814. She died at Grafton, 
February 7, 1863. He married (second) Nancy G. 

. who survived him. The children of Samuel 

B. and Delia E. Dolliver were: I. Edward S., born 
in Grafton, June 4, 1835, died March 26, 1840. 2. 
Mary E., born in Grafton, February 12, 1841, died 
July 10, 1849. 3. Maria E., born in Grafton, May 
16. 1843, married A. W. GifTord. of Worcester. 4. 
Edward B., born in Grafton, September i, 1848, see 
forward. 5. Henry W., born in Grafton, Decem- 
ber 29, 1854, see forward. 

(IX) Henry W. Dolliver, son of Samuel B. 
Dolliver (8), was born in Grafton, Massachusetts, 
December 29, 1854. He was educated in the public 
and high schools of his native town. Like his father 
and grandfather he learned the trade of shoemaker, 



and worked in the shoe factory of J. H. Brigham, 
at Worcester, four years, and for his brother-in-law, 
A. W. Gififord, of Worcester. He then took the 
position of clerk of the Quinsigamond Hotel at North 
Grafton. After six months he suffered an accident 
while hunting that nearly cost him his right hand, 
and laid him up for a year. Fie began work again 
as clerk in the market of G. B. Brooks, Grafton. 
In 1879 he removed to Whitinsville, Massachusetts, 
a village in the adjoining town of Northbridgc. He 
was _ assistant postmaster for four years under D. 
P. Gray, at Whitinsville, was bookkeeper three years 
for J. V. Prentice, and again was under Postmaster 
Gray for seven years, or until his death, when Mr. 
Dolliver was appointed to succeed him March I, 
1905, He is a member of the Whitinsville Lodge 
of Odd Fellows. In politics he is a Republican, and 
lias been clerk of the Northbridgc board of select- 
men from i8g6 to 1900. 

He married, October 6, 1876, Clara E. Gray. 
Their children are: i. Maud L., graduate of the 
Whitinsville high school. 2. Jessie' L.. member of 
the class of 1908, Whitinsville hlah sclmol 3 
Harold G. 

EDWARD B. DOLLIVER, one of the success- 
, ful business men of Worcester, was born in Graf- 
ton, Worcester county, Massachusetts, September I, 
1848, son of Samuel B. and Delia E.' (Blake) Dol- 
liver. and grandson of John and Mary or Mercy 
(Barber) Dolliver. who were the parents of five 
children: John. Joseph, Horatio, Samuel B. and 
Martha. John Dolliver (grandfather) was born in 
Marblehead, Massachusetts, was a shoemaker by 
trade, and died in Grafton, .Massachusetts, about 
1860. 

Samuel B. Dolliver (father) was born in Lvnn 
!\LT-sachusetts, September 20, 1810. He followed 
his trade of shoemaker up to about 1873, when he 
entered the einploy of the Worcester Machine Screw 
Company, remaining with them for a number of 
years.__ He was a Democrat in politics, and held 
the offices of selectman and assessor in the town of 
Grafton, Massachusetts. He married Delia E. Blake, 
born in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts. June 18, 1814, 
and their children were: i. Edward S., born in 
Grafton, June 4, 1835, died March 25, 1840. 2. 
Mary A., born in Grafton. February T2.' 1841. died 
July 10, 1849. 3. Maria E.. born in Grafton, May 
16. 1843. wife of A. W. GifTord, of Worcester. 4. 
Edward B. (see forward). S- Henry W., born in 
Grafton, December 29, 1854, postmaster at Whitins- 
ville. Mas.sachusetts: married Clara Gray, and they 
are the parents of three children: ;Maud, Jessie and 
Harold. Samuel B. Dolliver (father) died in Graf- 
ton, July 18, 1880, and his wife also passed away 
in the same town, February 7, 1863. 

Edward B. Dolliver acquired his education in 
the common schools of Grafton, and at the age of 
fourteen, having completed his studies, entered into 
his ^ first regular employment in the shcemaking 
business with his father. He continued along the 
same lines until he was twenty-one years old, and 
then engaged in clerking in the Quinsigamond 
House, in North Grafton, remaining for about two 
years. He then clerked in the Waverly House, in 
Worcester, until the sprin,g of 1872. vi'hen he re- 
moved to Boston, there acting as clerk in the War- 
wick House, where he remained until September, 
1S72. He was then employed in a restaurant, in which 
his father held an interest, and in 1873 he pur- 
chased his father's interest, and conducted the estab- 
lishment until September, 1S76. when he sold out 
to his partners, Messrs, Dolliver and Currier. Two 
tuonths later Mr. Dolliver removed to VV'orcester, 



2-/2 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



where he found employment in the Worcester 
Machine Screw Company, serving about three years 
as a workman in the factory. In the spring of 
1879, when Mr. Gifford purchased the interest of 
his two partners, becoming sole owner of the estab- 
lishment, Mr. Dolliver was placed in charge of the 
office, which position he retained until Aprilj 1900, 
discharging the responsible duties with efficiency 
and credit. In 1900 Mr. Gifford sold his business 
to tJie Standard Screw Company, and Mr. Dolliver 
was elected manager of this branch of the company, 
and is also treasurer and one of the directors of 
the company. His career as a business man has been 
one of success and prosperity, and his is an exainple 
that might well be followed by the rising generation. 
Thrown upon his own resources at the tender age of 
fourteen, with no capital but those success-bringing 
qualities^energy, industry and perseverance — he has 
attained an enviable place in the business world. He 
is a member of the Worcester Continentals, in which 
he has held membership for about twenty years, 
and has held the positions of first lieutenant, quar- 
termaster, sergeant and quartermaster, having been 
appointed by Colonel Hopkins. He is a member of 
the Worcester Mechanics' Association, and was a 
director in the same during the years 1901-02-03. 
He is a member of the board of trade, serving on, 
the membership committee. He is a member of 
Quinsigamond Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, 
joining January 20, 1880, and has served his Iqdge 
as worshipful master from 1887 to 18S9. and is- 
now a trustee of the permanent fund and treasurer 
of the board of trustees of the charity fund. He 
is also a member of Eureka Chapter, Royal Arch 
Masons ; Hiram Council, Royal Select Masters ; 
Worcester County Commandery, Knights Templar ; 
Worcester Lodge of • Perfection; and the Tatassit 
Canoe Club. 

He married, May 6, 1875, Augusta O. Pratt, born 
in Grafton, Massachusetts, July 5, 1852, a graduate 
of the Grafton high school, daughter of Chandler 
M. and Olivia (Fisher) Pratt, who were the parents 
of two other children, as follows : Julius F., born 
in Grafton, Massachusetts, April 15. 1845, died in 
Scotland, July 7, igoo; and Clarence M., born in 
Grafton, Massachusetts, January 28, 1850, died May 
22, 1879. Chandler M. Pratt was born in Thomp- 
son, Connecticut, September 23, 1802, died May 7, 
1864. in Grafton, Massachusetts. His wife, Olivia 
(Fisher) Pratt, was born in Medway, Massachu- 
setts, October 23, 1807, died February 7, 1855, in 
Grafton, Massachusetts. The children born to Mr. 
and Mrs. Dolliver were : Winifred O., born June 
8, 1884, obtained her education in the public and 
high schools of Worcester, graduating from the 
latter in the class of 1903, after which she attended 
Bradford Academy for one year. She is a teacher 
in theSunday school of Old South Congregational 
Church: Clarence E„ born August 21, 1885, died 
December 14, 1904. 

I 
HENRY ALBERT MACGOWAN, of Wor- 
cester, Massachusetts, was born in Greenville, New 
Hampshire. May 2, 1864. On the maternal side he 
is a descendant of William Basset, who came from 
England to Massachusetts between 1620 and 1630. 
Coinncl William Basset, a relative, was a successor 
of Captain INIiles Standish in the office of marshal 
of Plymouth county. Daniel Basset, a great-great- 
granson of William Basset, the pioneer ancestor, 
served as a lieutenant in Colonel Gamaliel Brad- 
ford's Regiment in the Continental army in the war 
of the revolution. Lieutenant Daniel Bassett was 
accompanied in this service by his son, Joseph, who 
was one of the last of the revolutionary pensioners 



of the town of Barnstable, Massachusetts, dying 
July 7, 1835, at the advanced age of ninety-three 
years. He was a sea captain and school master by 
occupation. 

The paternal grandfather of Henry A. Mac- 
gowan, came to this country from Scotland, in 1842. 
Soon after locating here, he superintended the fitting 
out of the first mill at Highbridge, New Hampshire, 
and lived to see five large mills erected along the 
same stream within a distance of three miles, with 
the operation of which he was for many years con- 
nected. His son, Joseph, father of the subject of 
this sketch, succeeded him in his position in con- 
nection with these mills. Li 1872 Joseph removed to 
Clinton, Massachusetts, where for over thirty years 
he has been the proprietor of a large grocery busi- 
ness. For many years he has been a deacon of the 
First Congregational Church of Clinton, Massachu- 
setts. In social, business and church life he has en- 
joyed a merited reputation for absolute integrity, 
sound judgment, business sagacity and public- 
spirited citizenship. He married Clementine Bax- 
ter, daughter of Ansel and Octavia (Bassett) Bax- 
ter, and granddaughter of Joseph Bassett mentiontd 
above. 

As a boy, Henry A. Macgowan attended the 
public schools in Clinton, Massachusetts, graduating 
from the high school of that place as valedictorian 
of the class of 1882. The same year he entered 
Amherst College, became a member of the Chi Phi 
fraternity, and was graduated in 1886 with the de- 
gree of Bachelor of Arts, having been previously 
elected a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Society. 
He afterwards attended Andover Theological Semi- 
nary for one year, but failure of health compelled the 
abandonment of theological study. The follow- 
ing year, having partially regained his health, he 
turned his attention to the vocation of teaching. 
From 1888 to 1890 he served as principal of the 
Sterling (Massachusetts) high school; from 1890 
to 1892 of the Scituate (Massachusetts) high school; 
and from 1892 to 1897 of the Marblehead (Massachu- 
setts) high school and academy. In the spring of 
1897 Mr. Macgowan resigned his position at Mar- 
blehead and engaged with his brother in the insur- 
ance business in Worcester, the firm becoming man- 
aging agents for Central Massachusetts of the Mut- 
ual Benefit Life Insurance Company of Newark, 
New Jersey, and in addition doing a general insur- 
ance business, including surety bonding. 

Mr. Macgowan has always affiliated with the Re- 
publican party in state and national politics. He 
has been a member of the Church of the Unity, in 
Worcester, and has served the same in various ' 
official capacities. He is also actively interested in 1 
the Masonic fraternity, holding membership in a 1 
large number of the bodies. He has served as an 1 
officer of Athelstan Lodge, A. F. and A. M., Wor- 
cester County Commandery of Knights TemplarJJ 
and Aletheia Grotto of M. O. V. P. He is a mem-f 
ber of the Twentieth Century Club, an honorarjl 
member of the Worcester Continentals, and has 
served as president of the Amherst College ClubJJ 
of Central Massachusetts. Mr. Macgowan is thea 
author of "The New Century Outline Maps" whichll| 
are widely used in the public schools. 

June 26, 1889, in Sterling, Massachusetts. Mr.' 
Macgowan was married to Grace R. Butterick,',] 
daughter of James and Mary (Rugg) Butterick. ofll 
Sterling. On both sides of Mrs. Macgowan's familyvj 
the ancestry dates back to the founders of Massa- 
chusetts and to revolutionary soldiers. On theii 
maternal side Mrs. Macgowan is a direct descendant I 
of four founders of colonies, Samuel Hagar. one 
of the founders of Westminster, and John Prescott, ; 



1 




A-M ^^^-^-fC-<^^ 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



273 



riiomas Sawyer, and John Rugg, founders of Lan- 
caster. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Macgowan 
ire ^larjorie Butterick, born May 14, 1890; Mary 
Josephine, born January 25, 1892 ; and Eleanor But- 
terick, born August 30, 1893. 

GEORGE SESSIONS. Samuel Sessions (i), 
the emigrant ancestor of the late George Sessions, 
Df Worcester, came from England to America in 
1630. He had a son Alcxand?r. 

(II) Alexander Sessions, son of Samuel Ses- 
sions (l), was born about 1645. He was living in 
Andover, Massachusetts, in 1669, and died there 
February 26, 1688-9. He married Elizabeth Spof- 
ford, of Rowley, Massachusetts, April 24, 1672. Both 
Mr. and Mrs. Sessions were members of the An- 
dover church in 1686. They had a son Nathaniel. 

(III) Nathaniel Sessions, son of Alexander Ses- 
sions. (2), was born at Andover, Massachusetts, 
\ugust 8, 1681, and died in Pomfret, Connecticut, 
in 1771. He married Johanna Miller. They had a 
son, Amasa, born August 13, 1715. 

(IV) Amasa Sessions, son of Nathaniel Ses- 
sions (3), was born August 13, 1715, and died April 
17. 1799- He married Hannah Miller. He was a 
:aptain in the revolutionary war, in Colonel Backus' 
regiment of Connecticut. He had a son Samuel, 
born November 26, 1746. 

(V) Samuel Sessions, son of Amasa Sessions 
(4), was born November 26, 1746. He resided at 
Union and Westford, Connecticut, and died in 1818. 
He inarried Abi.gail Ruggles. of Pomfret, Connec- 
ticut. October 11, 1767. and settled in Heath, Massa- 
chusetts. He was in the revolutionary war, a lieu- 
tenant in Captain Grant's company. Colonel John- 
son's resiment in 1781. and was at West Point in 
1781 in Colonel Canfield's regiment. He had a son 
George, baptized at Union, Connecticut, in 1771. 

(VI) George Sessions, son of Samuel Sessions 
(s), was born at Union. Connecticut, and baptized 
there in 1771. He married. February 20. 1800, Lu- 
:ina Lumbard. at Brimfield, Massachusetts. She 
was born October 13, 1781, and was the daughter 
Df Joseph, Jr. and Mary Lumbard. (Joseph Lum- 
bard and Joseph, Jr., were both in the revolutionary 
war.) He settled at Heath, Massachusetts, and had 
a son George, born October 23, 1814. 

(VII) George Sessions, son of George Sessions 
(6), was born at Heath, October 23, 1814, and died 
at Worcester. Massachusetts. November 8, 1901. 
He married Mary Groves Mirick, daughter of Tilley 
and Persis (Moore) Mirick. 

George Sessions left his home at the age of 
seventeen to make his own way in the world. He 
came to Worcester and worked first as a farm hand. 
Then for twelve years he was employed at the State 
Lunatic Asylum on Summer street. His first busi- 
ness venture was with a partner named Hlowe, in 
the manufacture of tools for shoemakers. The firm 
was Howe and Sessions, and the business was suc- 
cessfully conducted for ten years, when he sold to 
his partner, who continued for many years under 
the name of John Howe. Mr. Sessions was ap- 
pointed city undertaker in 1850, and immediately 
started in the business, which for nearly fifty years 
he conducted with remarkable success, taking the 
lead in his business, and maintaining his firm far 
in advance of all his competitors. His appointment, 
which gave him the opportunity to make use of his 
natural abilitv for the difficult duties of his voca- 
tion, was from Levi Lincoln, then mayor of Wor- 
cester, afterward governor of Massachusetts. When 
he began he had charge of all the interments in the 
city. During part of the two first years he was 
in partnership with Danforth B. Cummings ; In 1852 
he formed partneTship with Horace G. Mirick, 
18 



which continued for seven years ; subsequently he 
took his sons into partnership with him. As his 
business grew with the city's growth, he increased 
his facilities, and added a wholesale department to 
his undertaking business. He held his position as 
city undertaker until 1886, when he resigned. He 
turned over to his sons, Waldo E. and Frank E., 
who had been in partnership with their father for 
many years, the management of the business. The 
business has been carried on under the firm name 
of George Sessions and Sons. Mr. Sessions lived 
to see his business more than fifty years old. He 
died November 8, 1901, at his home in Worcester. 

During his long career in Worcester Mr. Ses- 
sions had charge of the funerals of many thousands 
of all classes, and of some very prominent men. 
During the civil war he frequently showed his char- 
ity for the widows and orphans of soldiers who 
gave their lives to their country, and many soldiers 
were buried at the expense of George Sessions. 

Mr. Sessions married Mary G. Mirick, of Holden, 
Massachusetts. (See sketch of her family herewith). 
They celebrated their golden wedding anniversary 
in 1888. Three weeks afterward, October 21, i88, 
Mrs. Sessions died. Their children were : Waldo 
E., born at Heath, Massachusetts, February 12, 1843 ! 
Frank E., born at Worcester, Massachusetts, May 
22, 1852; Mary L., born at Worcester, August 23, 
1858. 

(VII) Waldo E. Sessions, son of George Ses- 
sions (7), was born at Heath, Massachusetts, Feb- 
ruary 12, 1843. He married Josephine Ufford, Oc- 
tober 19. iS6q. She was the daughter of Dixon De 
Forest and Harriet (Gould) Ufiford. He has been 
the senior partner of the firm of George Sessions 
and Sons since the retirement of his father in 1886, 
and has been identified with it and active in its 
management for about forty years. He is also a 
member of the wholesale firm of Frank E. Sessions 
and Company. Mr. Sessions is one of the best 
known men in the Masonic fraternity in this vicinity, 
having taken the thirty-two degrees and belonging 
to the lodge, chapter, council, commandery and other 
Masonic bodies. 

The office and w'are-rooms of George Sessions 
and Sons are in a large brick building recently 
erected at Nos. 5 and 9 Trumbull street. The whole- 
sale factory of Frank E. Sessions and Company is 
at Nos. 7 to 18 Eaton place. The firm is still the 
city sexton and undertaker, and manufactures coffins, 
broadcloth caskets, and undertakers' supplies. 

Mr. Sessions had three children : Laura J., bom 
August 24, 1875. married Burton W. Grout, assis- 
tant treasurer of the Worcester Five Cents Savings 
Bank, February i, 1899, at Worcester: he died July 
4. 1905. Mary E.. born March 20, 1877, lives with 
her parents. Waldo E., Jr., born February 3, 1882, 
married Marie G. Webb, daughter of George D. 
Webb, of Worcester. They have two daughters, 
Katharine, born May 6. 1903, at Worcester, and 
Josephine Ufiford, born May 13, 1905. 

(VIII) Frank E. Sessions, son of George Ses- 
sions (7), was born at Worcester. May 22. 1852. 
He married Anna Josephine Scranton, daughter of 
Crawford and Annie (Montgomery) Scranton, April 
22, 1874, at Providence. Rhode Island. He is a 
partner with his brother Waldo in the firm of George 
Sessions and Sons, also with F. E. Sessions and 
Company. His children are : George, born in 1875, 
died in the same year ; Florence, born June 26, 1876, 
married Edmund A. Garland. October 6, 1899, at 
Worcester; Ethel, born December 25. 1880; George, 
born August 12.^ 1886. died in 1888. Mr. Sessions 
has been an active Mason for many years, is past 
master of .Athelstan Lodge, has filled all the chairs, 
and since 18S7 has held the office of treasurer con- 



274 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



tinually, all but the three years when he. was going 
through the chairs. He has taken thirty-two degrees. 

(VIII) Mary L. Sessions, daughter of George 
Sessions (7), was born at Worcester, August 23, 
1858. She married Charles G. Warren, son of Sam- 
uel Warren, October 12; 1879. Their children are : 
George Sessions, born September 21, 1881 at Wor- 
cester; Cliarles G., Jr., born at Worcester, August 
18, 1888; Arthur, born at Worcester, December S, 
1880: Philip, born at Worcester, July 12, 1893. 

THE MIRICK FAMILY (i) John Mirick was 
the emigrant ancestor of Mrs. George Sessions, 
late of Worcester, Massachusetts. He was the son 
of the Rev. William Mirick, of Saint Davids, Wales, 
Pembrokeshire, and was born in England in 1614, 
and settled in Charlestown, Massachusetts, where he 
took the freeman's oath in 1641, and where he pur- 
sued his occupation of cooper and blockmaker. He 

married in Charlestown in 1641, Hopestill . 

They had a son John. 

(II) John Mirick was born at Charlestown, 
Massachusetts, in 1655. He married Elizabeth Trow- 
bridge, February 9, 1682. at Newton, Massachusetts. 
She was the daughter of Deacon James Trowbridge 
(1636-1717), and granddaughter of Thomas Trow- 
bridge, of Taunton, England, who settled in Dor- 
chester about 1634, went to New Haven, Connecticut, 
and back to England, where he died in 1672. John 
Mirick was a tanner by trade. He was admitted 
a freeman of Watertown, July 21. 1685. His will 
is dated April 29, 1706, and he died in July, 1706. 
One report says he was killed by the Indians at 
Groton, Massachusetts, July 21, 1706, another that 
he died July 11. His wife died in 1734 at Newton, 
Massachusetts, aged seventy-four years. One of 
his sons was James, born October 26, 1696, at New- 
ton. 

(III) James Mirick, son of John Mirick (2), 
was born at Newton, Massachusetts, October 26, 
i6g6, and married. October 20, 1725. Mary Woolson. 
She died at Templeton. Massachusetts, September 
13, 1780. James was dismissed from Groton church 
to Weston June 24, 1724, and died in Boston, October 
26, 1774. He had a son Elisha, born September 13, 

1735- 

(IV) Elisha Mirick. son of James Mirick (3), 
was born at Weston. Massachusetts. September 13, 
1735. and married. January 6. 1762, at Rutland, 
Massachusetts, Persis Moore, daughter of Lieuten- 
ant Paul and Hannah (Hubbard) Moore. She was 
born September 16, 1740. at Rutland, and died Jan- 
uary 31, i8ro. Paul Moore was a soldier in the 
revolutionary war. Elisha Mirick was a house- 
wright, and a sergeant in the revolution, in Captain 
Paul Raymond's comnany. First Worcester Regi- 
ment. He had a son Tilley, born May 26, 1772. 

(IV) Tilley Mirick, son of Elisha Mirick (4), 
was born at Holden, Massachusetts, May 26, 1772, 
married, November 12, 1799, at Holden, Polly 
Turner, who died February 22, 1854, Tilley Mirick 
died September 21, 1832. His daughter, Mary 
Groves Mirick, born May 20, 1815, married George 
Sessions (7), of Worcester, Massachusetts. (See 
sketch of Sessions above). 

JAMES A. ATHY. John Athy (i), father of An- 
drew Athy and grandfather of James A. Athy. of 
Worcester, was obliged to leave his native home in 
Galway. Ireland, in 1848, on account of political 
troubles, during which he had rendered himself ob- 
noxious to the British government by his out-spoken 
opposition to the laws then in force, both in public 
speeches and as a leader and agitator among his 
own people. The Athy family was of ancient Irish 
origin. One of the first of the name in Galway 



erected the first castle in the town, where for many 
centuries the family has been conspicuous. William 
de Athy was treasurer of Connaught in 1388, and 
in the charter of Galway given by James II the 
name of Andrew Athy appears. William Athy and 
Edmond Athy were bailiffs in 1512 and 1514, and 
Francis Athy was sheriff in 1631. John Athy came 
to Boston in 1848 with a family of motherless chil- 
dren, his wife having died in Ireland, in 1846. An- 
drew Athy was left in Boston while John Athy and 
his son Philip went west. They did not return until 
many years later, and not long afterward the Boston 
brother with whom Andrew was left also went west. 

(II) Andrew Athy, son of John Athy (i), was 
not only the most prominent man of his race in 
Worcester, but in his day he was the best known 
Irish-American citizen in the state. He was born 
January i, 1832, in Galway, Ireland, and came to 
Boston with his father in 1848. When his uncle 
also went west Andrew Athy was left to look out 
for himself. He went to work first in Westboro, 
where he was employed for a time by the father of 
Captain J. Everts Greene, late postmaster of Wor- 
cester. In 1850 Mr. Athy came to Worcester and 
from that time until his death was a resident of 
that city. He went to work for the firm of J. 
Walker & Co., in which Hon. Joseph H. Walker 
was made a partner in 1851. He learned the trade 
of shoemaker and for many years worked in the 
factory of Congressman Walker, holding the posi- 
tion of foreman during a large part of the time. In 
later years, curiously enough, he twice defeated Mr. 
Walker, his former employer, as candidate for rep- 
resentative to the general court. Although Mr. Athy 
devoted to the shoe business about twenty-five years 
of his life, he is best known and remembered as the 
leading undertaker of this section among the Catholic 
people. He went into business in 1875 as under- 
taker and followed that business the remainder of 
his life. During his later years he took his son 
into partnership and thus was relieved from some 
of the burdens of business, which was located first 
at 16 Green street. 

Mr. Athy never sought public office, yet the in- 
stances are rare in the history of Worcester where ■ 
public office so often sought the man. A friend wrote 
of him: "Public life had no attraction for him, 
as he was a better thinker than speaker, and the plat- 
form and legislative hall were to him almost places 
of torture." Yet he served the city in the common 
council in 1863-66-67-69-70-7.1-72-73-74-73-76-77-78-78- 
78-80. No man was more prominent and influential 
during all those years. He represented the city in- 
the general court in 1874-75, having as colleagues 
Hon. W. W. Rice, Samuel R. Heywood, Colonel J. 
E. Estabrook, Enoch H. Towne and Osgood Brad- 
ley. He had important committee assignments in 
the legislature. He served in the city council as 
an alderman in 1881-82-83-85-86. He was the 
chairman of the street lighting committee when 
electric lights superseded gas in illuminating ther 
city streets. He served on the most important com- 
mittees. Althou,gh usually among the minority Mr. 
Athy's long experience and good iudgment were 
always appreciated in the city government, and par- 
tisanship did not interfere to any extent with his 
work in the city government. He lived to see the 
old prejudices against his race die out, and his good 
example had much to do with the promotion of 
good feeling on the part of his own people. He 
was the candidate for mayor of the Democratic 
party in 1886 at the close of Maypr Samuel Wins- 
low's first term, and although he consented to run 
only two days before the election he received more 
votes than the successful candidate the vear before. 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



-/o 



In a Republican city his sliouing was very creditable 
to his personal popularity. He was chairman of the 
Democratic city committee in 1891-92-9,3. When 
President Cleveland was elected he was prominently 
mentioned for the position of postmaster, but Cap- 
tain Greene was re-appointed. Mr. Athy was a dele- 
gate to the Democratic National Convention in 1896. 
He was appointed one of the three members of the 
commission to supervise the erection of the new 
City Hall and attended to his duties on this board, 
in which he took great interest and satisfaction to 
the last. The very last time he ever left his home 
was to attend a meeting of the commissioners on 
the occasion of the delivery of the keys by the con- 
tractors. 

Tlw Spy said of him at the time of his death: 
"Andrew Athy was an American of Americans and 
yet there has never lived in all America a warmer 
lover of his native Ireland than he was. Every 
movement that was ever started since he reached the 
years of manhood having for its object the restora- 
tion of Ireland's independence or the amelioration 
of the condition of her people commanded always 
his active co-operation and material aid. He was a 
member of the Jackson Guards when that organiza- 
tion was disbanded by Governor Gardner and later 
he took part in the organization of the Emmet 
Guards and went to the front with his company 
immediately after the breaking out of the civil war. 
Such heroes as O'Neill, McConvillc, McCafferty, 
Daly and others whose names are on the soldiers' 
monument were his comrades and personal friends." 
He was a member of Alhambra Council, Knights 
of Columbus. He was chief marshal of the parade 
on several St. Patrick days. Formerly March 17 
was the greatest day of the year for the Irish-Ameri- 
cans. When the Ancient Order of Hibernians was 
organized he became a charter member and held 
every office in the organization. He was a charter 
member of the Irish Catholic Benevolent Society. 
He was head centre of the Fenian Brotherhood from 
the first, when it was in its prime. When the Par- 
nell movement started he was elected president of 
the local branch of the National Land League and 
served as delegate to several of the national con- 
ventions. He was honorary member of the American- 
Irish Historical Society. At the time of his death 
he was president of the Irish Centennial Society of 
'98. He was a member of the Worcester Board of 
Trade, one of the founders of the Bay State Sav- 
ings Bank and trustee of the People's Savings 
Bank. In 1S70 he was one of the state leaders in 
the strike of the Knights of St. Crispin. He went 
from city to city to present the cause of the strikers 
and raise funds. A prominent shoe manufacturer 
of Worcester offered him an interest in his busi- 
ness if he would give up abetting the strikers and 
enter his employ. Needless to say Mr. Athy refused 
the ofifer. 

At the time of his death The Spy said of his 
knowledge of the theatre : "If Andrew Athy had 
one leaning stronger than another in his nature it 
was towards the theatre and the stage. He loved 
the play, but only in its higher forms, for there was 
no more fastidious theatre-goer in Worcester than 
he. He not only loved the play, but he loved to 
talk with his friends about his observations of great 
plavers he had ^'cen. His analysis of the respective 
abilities of both the Booths, of Lawrence Barrett, 
of Barry Sullivan, of Henry Irving, Jefferson, 
Florence and other great actors was at all times in- 
teresting and intelligent, as it was indeed remark- 
able. As has well been said of him : 'He was a 
dictionary of theatrical reminiscences.' " 



Mr. Athy died May 15, 1898. All the newspaper 
comment in obituary and editorial notices was in 
line with the following from the records of the city 
government : "There was not a flaw in his armor 
of principle, integrity and zeal for his fellowmcn. 
There was no blemish to mar, no stain to dim the 
lustre of his character. The life of such a man is 
an inspiration, his death a bereavement to the com- 
munity." One who knew him well said : "For the 
meagre opportunities that he had, he was a won- 
derful man. He was one of the best-read men in 
Worcester ; his library was very extensive. He 
possessed a wonderful memory. Whatever he read 
he never forgot. A mass of dates and statistics 
which would throw the ordinary mind into a chaotic 
state was with him always arranged for practical 
and immediate use." 

He married Jane Duffy, who died July 8, 1894. 
His children were: I. Mary, married John J. Hor- 
gan. 2. Frances, a graduate of the high and normal 
schools in Worcester, and a teacher in the public 
schools. 3. James A., see forward. 4. Nettie, a well 
known singer, married Dr. J. J. Rafiferty. 5. Annie, 
an actress who has been successful in her profession ; 
married Dr. P. W. Heffern, of Boston. 

Mr. Athy's brother, Philip R. Athy, who went 
west with his father was chief of police of Mem- 
phis, Tennessee, during the yellow fever epidemic 
of 1878 ; he was afterwards sheriff of the county. 
He died there in 1882 at the age of forty-four years. 
(Ill) James Andrew Athy. son of Andrew Athy 
(2), was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, January 
15, 1S60. He received his early education in the 
Worcester public schools. After two .years in the 
high school he was appointed a page in the house 
of representatives of Massachusetts, and he held 
this position in the years 1876-77-78-79, gaining by 
this experience in the state house a knowledge of 
men and affairs and a very practical education that 
has served him in good stead all his life. He came 
back to Worcester to give all his time to his father's 
business, and soon relieved his father of many of 
the cares and burdens of the same. He was associ- 
ated with him in partnership during most of his 
business career. Andrew Athy established the busi- 
ness in 1875, and from the first James A. Athy was 
familiar with the details. After his father's death 
James A. Athy bought out the other heirs and since 
May 26, 1900. has been the sole owner. The ofiice 
and ware-rooms were removed from Green street 
to the present location on Trumbull street, July 25, 
1900, when the business had been established twenty- 
fivi? years. Mr. Athy has been successful in busi- 
ness and stands high in the esteem of all his associ- 
ates both in the business and social world. He is 
a member of the Knights of Columbus, Washing- 
ton Club; Division 3, A. O. H. ; Worcester Lodge 
of Elks ; O'Connel Associates ; Court Quinsigamond, 
Order of Forresters: the Frohsinns ; Wachusett Boat 
Club : honorarv member of the Emmet Guards and 
George H. Ward Post, No. 10, G. A. R. ; veteran 
member of the Worcester Light Infantry, in which 
he served in the years 1882-83-84. 

Mr. Athy married (first) in Worcester. July 8, 
1885, Mary Cannon, daughter of Anthony and Mary 
(Grady) Cannon. She was born in Elgin. Illinois, 
and died in Worcester. November 8. l88g. She was 
a sister of Tony Hart, the famous comedian and 
minstrel. They had one child, Anthony Andrew 
Athy. born July 25. 1888, called Tony Hart for his 
great-uncle : he is a student at Holy Cross College, 
class of IQ09. Mr. .Athy married (second), April 
9, 1896, Mary Rosa Lee, daughter of Peter and 
Mary (Carrington) Lee, of Worcester. 



276 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



THE McGAULEY FAMILY of Worcester is 
descended from the McAulcy or Macauley family of 
Scotland and Ireland, having hcen prominent ni 
Scotland before history began and for many genera- 
tions in Ireland. The clan Macauley, according to 
Anderson, belongs to the race MacAlpni of Ros- 
shire and Argyk-shire, a surname held by a branch 
of the Rosshirc of native Gael, and supposed to have 
been adopted from the Albanich, the first known in- 
habitants of Scotland. The general denomination, 
Siel or Cinel (race of), Alpin, includes several clans, 
descendants of the race to which Kenneth McAlpin, 
under whom the Scots and Picts were united, be- 
longed namely, the clan Gregor, the clan Grant, 
the Mackinnons, the MacNabs, the MacDuffies or 
MacFics, the MacQuarries, and the MacAulays. The 
latter family belongs in Dumbartonshire. There was 
a laird there of this name in 1608. About that time 
the family emigrated with thousands of Scotch and 
English to the northern counties of Ireland. There 
were in 1890 some four thousand of the family Mac- 
auley in the two counties' of Antrim and Donegal. 

(I) Thomas Macauley,, the first ancestor of whom 
there is any record in the family from which Thomas 
F. and Walter McGauley, of Worcester, descended, 
lived in the parish and town of Dunleer, county 
Louth. Ireland, and his descendants still live in that 
and adjoining towns. He was a cattle dealer and 
it is believed that the family for some generations 
before had been engaged in raising and dealing in 
cattle. 

(II) Thomas Macauley, son of Thomas Macauley 
(i), the preceding, was born and lived in Dunleer, 
and' followed his father's vocation. He was ap- 
pointed the agent of the cattle raisers and^ all ship- 
ments to the markets were made through him. This 
office has been held in the family for three genera- 
tions. 

(III) Thomas Macauley, the third of the name, 
son of Thomas Macauley (2). was the grandfather 
of the subjects of this sketch. He was born in Drog- 
heda, adjoining Dunleer, county Louth. Ireland, in 
1809 or 1810. He was a cattle dealer and agent for 
the shipping of all the cattle of the section. He 
lived in Dunleer, where his children were born. He 
married, 1828-9, Elizabeth Morgan, born in 1806. 
daughter of C. G. P. Morgan and his wife. Fanny 
Bellow. The children of Thomas and Elizabeth 
(Morgan) Macauley were: Thomas, of whom later: 
succeeded his father in office and was succeeded by 
his son John : Peter, born 1833 : Patrick, T834 ; Mary. 
1836, married Quinn, and died in New Hamp- 
shire: Matthew. TS38. lived in France; Margaret, 
1840. died young: Elizabeth. 1842. married Thomas 
Maney. formerly a grocer of Worcester ; he acquired 
a competence : his family resides on Cambridge 
street : Michael. 1854, resided on Cambridge street, 
where his family now lives; Anne, 1848. married 
Thomas Nolan ; their children reside in Worcester. 

(IV) Tliomas McGauley, son of Thomas Mac- 
auley or McAulay. was the first to adopt the present 
spelling of the surname in this country. He was 
born in Dunleer in 1829-30. He came to America 
when a young man and settled in Uxbridge, Massa- 
chusetts. There he married. May 19, 1853, Sarah 
Gardner, daughter of Walter Gardner, chief of con- 
stabulary of county Limerick. The Gardner family 
came originally from England and were staunch 
Episcopalians or Church of England in religious 
faith, but Mrs. Gardner was a Roman Catholic and 
her daughters followed her while the sons followed 
the father in church affiliations. The McGauley 
family came from stern old Scotch covenanters and 
were largely Presbyterian. Of Walter Gardner's 
sons, James Gardner became a bandmaster in the 



Union army during the civil war ; Patrick was cap- 
tain of a company in the First Minnesota Regiment 
in the civil war, representative and senator in the 
Minnesota legislature and sheriff of the county; 
Michael was chief on the Queen's staff with the rank 
of colonel when General Grant visited Ireland dur- 
ing his tour of the world ; John was a policeman in 
Uxbridge and died there. 

Thomas McGauley followed his trade of shoe- 
maker in Uxbridge in the early fifties. He removed , 
in 1858 to the adjoining town of Hopkinton, Massa- 
chusetts, where he worked in shoe factories, making 
boots and shoes by hand. At that time nearly every 
man in Hopkinton, Uxbridge and other Massachu- 
setts towns known as shoe towns was a skillful shoe- 
maker. In 1863 Mr. McGauley removed to Wor- 
cester. He worked in the boot factory of Walker 
& Brown, and was foreman for Timothy Stone & 
Sons, boot manufacturers. He died in Worcester, 
January 31, 1904. His wife died July 14, 1882. 

The children of Thomas and Sarah (Gardner) 
McGauley were : Elizabeth, born February 19, 1855, 
died young; Thomas Francis, of whom later; Cath- 
erine. May 26, 1859. died young ; Walter John, June 
6. 1861. of whom later; Mary, June 16, 1865, mar- 
ried William B. Gallagher, of Worcester; Sarah, 
December 2r, 1874, unmarried, lives with her brother 
Walter; Michael, August 28, 1878, died young. 

(V) Thomas Francis McGauley, son of Thomas 
McGauley (4), was born in Uxbridge, Massachu- 
setts, November 4, 1856. His early education was 
obtained in the public schools of Worcester, whither 
his parents moved when he was quite young. But 
his school days were brief : he went to work in the 
shoe factory under his father when he was twelve 
years old and continued until twenty-one. Those 
were the palmy days of the shoe business, and when 
a boy of fourteen he earned fifteen dollars a week. 
Compared with the wages in some other trades this 
was large, and it is evidence of the capacity for 
hard work that has always characterized Mr. Mc- 
Gauley. He was employed by the firm for which his 
father had worked, and later was foreman for 
Walker & Brown and H. B. Fay, who were promi- 
nent boot and shoe manufacturers of Worcester. 
When Mr. Fay went out of business in 1886, Mr. 
McGauley determined to make a venture in business- 
on his own account. In December of that year he 
opened a grocery store at the corner of Cambridge 
and Douglas streets. Later he removed to his pres- 
ent location at the corner of Cambridge and Camp 
streets, near the former store. He does business 
under the name of the Cambridge Market Co. Mr. 
McGauley has been successful in his business, which 
has .grown constantly from a modest beginning. 

He was formerly a director in the Equity Co- 
operative Bank of Worcester. He is a member of 
the Worcester Agricultural Society. He was first 
lieutenant in the Emmet Guards just before that 
militia company became a part of the regular state 
militia. Mr. McGauley is best known for his services 
to the Republican party, of which he has been a 
staunch supporter and leader for many years. Since 
1900 he has represented one of the two Worcester 
senatorial districts on the Republican state commit- 
tee and has proved one of the most active, alert and 
faithful representatives that the committee has had 
from Worcester. For some twenty years he has 
served the party as delegate to various conventions. 
He has been on the Republican county and on the 
congressional committees. He is a member of the 
Republican Club. In all these years he has declined 
to run for office himself. He has given freely of 
his time and money to strengthen the party in which 
he believed and to which he belonged. He has the 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



277 



act and good judgment necessary to make a suc- 
:essful political leader, and few men in tlie city have 
I wider influence. Mr, McGauley is free from any 
ibligations tliat money can create in the political 
vorld. He believed in helping friends who have been 
aithful, but in the main his political interests have 
leen centered where he thought the Republican party 
vould be most strengthened. He is absolutely 
rusted by his associates. 

Mr, McGauley and his wife and family attend 
3t. Peter's Roman Catholic Parish since his removal 
o his present residence on Tirrell street. With 
mcestors of Catholic, Presbyterian, Puritan and 
Church of England beliefs, it is not remarkable that 
Vir, McGauley is a man of toleration in religion as 
veW as in politics. He abhors bigotry of all kinds. 

He married, September 23, 1886, Elizabeth T. 
klalone.v, daughter of James and Margaret (De- 
'eney) Maloney, of Worcester. Their children are: 
rhomas Francis, Jr., born October 17, i<S87; James 
^I-. J"ly 31. i88g: Sarah L., April 10, 189 1 : Frank, 
Kpril 26, 1893; Margaret, October 17, 1895; Leo, 
^iarch 6, 1897; Robert, August l.), 1899, died young; 
\.rthur, December I, 1901 ; Edward, November 24, 

905- 

(V) Walter John McGauley. son of Thomas 
lIcGauIey (4), was born in Hopkinton, Massachu- 
etts, June 6, 1861. He followed the boot and shoe 
lusiness like his father and brother. He worked at 
he boot business in shop of Samuel Brown, corner 
)f Front street and Bartlett place, Worcester, for 
ix years, and then he went to West Medway, Massa- 
husetts, and worked for Fogg, Houghton & Cool- 
Ige for six months, and then was engaged by H. 
i. Fay, of Worcester, where he changed the system 
if handling the goods. Instead of handling the 
loots, in course of manufacturing, five times, Mr. 
iIcGauley did the same work by handling the goods 
mly three times, thereby saving time and expense, and 
he boots had a better sale besides. Mr. McGauley 
emained with H. B. Fay for eleven years or until 
le went out of the business. After leaving H. B. 
'ay, he engaged in the grocery business at the corner 
if Cambridge and Douglas streets, Worcester, which 
i-as the beginning of the present business now owned 
I" his brother, Thomas F., and known as the Cam- 
iridge Market. After conducting the business for 
. year he sold out to his brother. Owing to ill 
lealth he was advised by his physician to do out- 
loor work, and in April, 1888, he was appointed a 
etter carrier in the Worcester postoffice, in which 
apacity he is now serving. 

He married Susan A. Littleton, daughter of 
Stephen and Catherine (Hastings') Littleton, who 
rere born in county Clare, Ireland, and who were 
larried in Worcester, Thanksgiving Day, 1853, at 
5t. John's Church by Rev. Father Gibson. W. J. 
IcGauley and Susan A. Littleton were married in 
Worcester, November 28, 1883, by Rev Thomas J. 
"onaty, at the Church of the Sacred Heart. Their 
hildren are: Susan A., born September 17, 1884: 
Sadie H., October 3. 1886 ; Thomas J., September 28, 
887: .Anne C. September t8, 1890: Walter Gard- 
ler, November 13, 1891 ; Robert Morgan, July 3, 
893 : Francis Hastings, June 22, 1897. 

ALONZO RAY WELLS. Thomas Wells (i), 
^ho settled in Ipswich among the pioneers, was 
he emigrant ancestor of Alonzo Ray Wells, of 
Vorcester. He was born in England in 1605 
nd came in the spring of 1635 on the ship 
Susan and Ellen" from London with young 
Uchard Saltonstall. He settled in Ipswich while 
is brother. Deacon Richard Wells, settled at Salis- 
ury, Massachusetts, not far away. Some writers 



think that Nathaniel Wells, of Rhode Island, was 
another brother. Thomas was the founder of the 
Wells family in this country. He married Abigail 
Warner. Ilis house lot was No. 35. He drew 
other land afterward. He was admitted a freeman 
May 17, 1637. He was a husbandman. 

He died October 26, 1666. His will was dated 
July 31. and proved November 15, 1666. His widow 
Abigail died July 22, 1671. Pier will was made 
July 22 and proved September 26, 1671. Their chil- 
dren were all born in Ipswich, Massachusetts, viz. : 
Nathaniel, married, October 29, 1661, Lydia Thur- 
ley ; John, married, 1665, Sarah Littlefield ; Sarah, 
married John Massie ; Abigail, born June 19, 1661, 
married Nathaniel Treadwell; Thomas, see forward; 
Elizabeth, married John Burnham, June 9, 1669; 
Hannah; Lydia, married, March 25, 1669, John 
Ropes. 

(II) Rev. Thomas Wells, fifth child of Deacon 
Thomas Wells (i), was born in Ipswich, Massa- 
chusetts, 1647. Pie married, January 10, 1669-70, 
i\Iary Perkins. When the settlement was made at 
Wells, Maine, 'oy his brother Nathaniel, he bought 
land there and he was living in Wells, in December, 
1669, as a deed states. He was preaching in Kit- 
tery and the Isle of Shoals, however, in 1670. He 
appears to have been a member of the class of 1669, 
and his father left a provision in his will for his 
education at Harvard College, but he did not grad- 
uate. He probably went into the ministry early, as 
he was the first man honored by Harvard College 
with the degree of Jilaster of Arts, honorary. He 
appears as of the class of 1703, when the degree 
was given. In 1672 or 1673 he became the first set- 
tled minister of Atnesbury, Massachusetts. He be- 
came a leading spirit of the town for some fifty 
years. The history of Amesbury reveals much that 
is interesting of this good old Puritan minister. Pie 
died July 10, 1734. His will was dated August 7, 
1728, and proved July 29, 1734. His wife Mary 
died January 26, 1726-7. 

Their children were: Thomas, born October 30, 
1670 ; John, February 2, 1672-3 ; Luke. March 19, 
1673-4; Titus, see forward; a son, who left descend- 
ants: Abigail, married, February 6, 1704, Samuel 
Bartlet, Jr.; Mary, marrried, July 15, 1702, John 
Martin ; Eliezer, June 10, i686 ; Elizabeth, December 
17, 1688; John, October 9, 1692, whose son Thomas 
removed to Chester, New Hampshire, before 1768. 

(III) Titus Wells, fourth child of Rev. Thomas 
Wells (2), was born in Amesbury, Massachusetts, 
March 14, 1675-6. He settled in the West Parish 
in 1726, but always lived in Amesbury. He died 
after 1736. He married Joanna Rowell. The chil- 
dren of Titus and Joanna (Rowell) Wells were: 
Sarah, born July 30, 1698 ; Thomas, see forward ; 
Mary, March 11, 170^; Timothy, April 16. 1704; 
Titus and Hannah (twins), February 5, 1705-6; he 
was for a time in Chester, New Hampshire, with 
his brothers; Philemon, September 3, 1708; Jacob, 
August 28, 1710, went to Chester, New Hampshire ; 
Philip, April 7, 1713, died February 2, 1714-3: Eliza- 
beth. March 11. 1716: Abigail, December 18, 1718. 

(IV) Lieutenant Thomas Wells, second child of 
Titus Wells (3), was born in Amesbury, Massa- 
chusetts, ISIarch 4, 1699-1700. He married (first), 
December 15, 1720, Sarah Hadley, daughter of Sam- 
uel and Jane (Martin) Hadley, and granddaughter 
of the emigrant, George Hadley. He married (sec- 
ond), about 1738, Elizabeth Ingalls, daughter of 
Captain Samuel and IMary (Watts) Ingalls. She 
was his eldest daughter and heir ; he died in 1760. 
Captain Ingalls was from Andover, Massachusetts, 
and was born there May 7, 1683. Elizabeth was 
born September 18, 1709. 



278 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



Lieutenant Wells was in the service in the Indian 
wars. He became a man of note in Chester, New 
Hampshire, where lie moved in 1729, buying his 
farm of Eldad Ingalls, some relative of his second 
wife. The lot was No. 61. Lieutenant Wells died 
March, 1769. His will was allowed May 7, 1683. 
In it he names nine children, all by his second wile 
except Winthrop. 

The children were born at Chester, but are re- 
corded at New Chester, (Bristol) New Hampshire, 
except Winthrop. They were : Winthrop, born prob- 
ably in Chester about 1730, married Dolly, daughter 
of William Healy, settled in Candia and Plymouth, 
New Hampshire; Sarah, December 2, 1739, married 

Carr; Thomas, January ig, 1741, said to have 

been killed by John Tolford, December 27, 1773; 
Henry, March 24, 1743, settled at Sandown ; Reuben, 
see forward ; Samuel, August 24, 1749, revolutionary 
soldier; had homestead at Chester, removed to New 
Chester; Peter, July 26, 1752, soldier in the revo- 
lution; Ebenezer, May 3, 1754, married Sarah Favor; 
settled in Hill, New Hampshire; Phebe, October 14, 
1757; Peter, January 20, 1762, revolutionary soldier; 
Timothy, May 10, 1765. 

(V) Reuben Wells, fifth child of Lieutenant 
Wells (4), was born in Chester, New Hampshire, 

August 28, 1746. He married Molly . He 

went with his father to New Chester, New Hamp- 
shire, now Bristol and Hill. His father owned one 
hundred acres at Chester, one hundred and seventy 
acres at Goffstown and four hundred acres at New 
Chester, when he died. He removed to New Ches- 
ter with his six sons, among whom was Reuben, 
shortly before his death in 1769. Reuben's farm 

■ was lot No. 64. fourth division in what is now Hill, 
New Hampshire. He was living there in 1774. He 
died April 3, 1804, at Hill, aged fifty-seven years, 
seven months, five days, according to the records. 
He was a soldier in 1777 in Captain Samuel Mc- 
Connel's company. Colonel Thomas Stickney, Gen- 
eral John Stark's regiment at Bennington. 

The children of Reuben and Molly Wells, all 
born in New Chester or Hill, New Hampshire, 
were : Reuben, born April 3, 1770, see forward ; 
Thomas, August 14, 1771, married Betty Bean ; Han- 
nah, January 16, 1777, married Ephraim Quimby; 
John, December ig, 1778, married Judith Favor ; 
Samuel, September 29, 1780, married Rebecca Carle- 
ton; Henry, April 22, 1783. died June 26, 1800; 
Molly, November 5, 1784; Ebenezer, February 17, 
1787; Peter, May 17, 1789; Joanna, January 24, 

1792, married Samuel Hoyt ; Sarah, October 27, 

1793, died August 18, 1795. (There is an interesting 
letter from Reuben Wells relating to the enlistment 
of his brother Peter in the revolution on file at the 
state archives. Concord, New Hampshire, and printed 
in the state papers. It refers to Lieutenant Thomas, 
his father and other members of the family. It seems 
that Peter did service for other members of the 
family in the revolution when it was inconvenient 
for them to go. Brother Peter was in charge of 
Reulien after his father's death.) 

(VI) Reuben Wells, eldest son of Reuben Wells 
(s), was born in New Chester, now Hill, New 
Hampshire, April 3, 1770. He married Priscilla 
Sanborn. He was a farmer at Hill, where his chil- 
dren were born. He died August 4, 1808. His wife 
died March 10, 1807. Their children were : Moses, 
see forward; Reuben, born April 22, 1795, married 
Mahala ; died March 22, 1819. in twenty- 
fifth year, leaving one child. Lucy, November 8, 
1797. married Moses Sanborn. Sanborn, October 
12, 1801, lived and died in Londonderry; had no 
children. Sherburn, born July 31, 1805, married, 
September 28, 1828, Martha Washington Chase, who 



was born in Hill, November 15, 1802; located at 
Bristol in 1838, was custom carder and cloth dresser, 
played bass viol in the church, died at Bristol, No- 
vember 16, 1874; wife died July 24, 1889. Their 
daughter, Martha A., born August 10, 1829, married 
William G. Gould, and died September 4, 1857, 
leaving Francis Leroy Gould, now of Chicago ; their 
son, Fletcher Chase, born July 15, 1831, married, 
September 3, 1857, Sarah S. Drake ; he died June 
20, 1872, leaving Frank Fletcher Wells, born at New 
Hampton, May 22, 1858, now of Chicago ; and Martha 
Ann, born at Bristol, July 20, i860, married George P. 
Everleth, a prmter of 18 Gonlding street, Worces- 
ter. They have a daughter, Minnie Sadie, born in 
Bristol, September 19, 1881, married, September 
24, 1902, Albert H. Austin, and they have : Chester 
Eveleth, born in Worcester, March 25, 1884. (The 
Austins reside at 18 Goulding street with the Ever- 
leths.) 

(VII) Moses Wells, eldest child of Reuben 
Wells (6), was born at Bristol, or Hill, New Hamp- 
shire, September 19, 1792. He married Elizabeth 
Ray, daughter of John Ray, of Manchester, New 
Hampshire. She was born in Derryfield, New 
Hampshire, in 1795. Moses lived in Londonderry, 
New Hampshire, and Charlestown, Massachusetts. 
John Ray was a revolutionary soldier and served 
under General Stark at Bunker Hill and Benning- 
ton. He owned a large farm in the northern part 
of Derryfield and was active in the movement to 
change the name to Manchester. He was a prom- 
inent citizen. He was a friend and neighbor of 
General Stark. 

The ciiildren of Moses and Elizabeth (Ray) Wells 
were : Amos, resided in Maiden, Massachusetts, and 
Manchester, New Hampshire, where he kept a store ; 
died there; left sons: Horace and Sherburn: Pris- 
cilla, married Josiah Sawyer; Elizabeth, married 
Josiah Sawyer (husband of sister Priscilla also) ; 
Mary, married John Fosdick ; they resided in Lowell, 
Massachusetts, and Manchester, New Hampshire ; 
their son, Sylvester Fosdick, resides in South 
Boston, Massachusetts ; Alonzo Ray, see forward. 

(VIII) Alonzo Ray Wells, youngest son of Moses 
Wells (7), was born in Charleston, New Hamp- 
shire, May I, 1842. He received a common school 
education. Mr. Wells enlisted .in August, 1862, as 
a wagoner in Company A, Tenth New Hampshire 
Volunteers. He was promoted first as forage mas- 
ter, then assistant wagon master and later wagon 
master, and had charge of the ammunition train in 
Butler's advance up the James in 1864. In 1865, 
after the close of the war, he was stationed in 
Richmond and used his teams in returning the 
refugees to their homes, leaving Richmond every 
Monday morning with sixty wagons and twenty 
ambulances loaded with refugees and their goods. 
It usually took a week to make a trip and Mr. Wells 
had many sad as well as laughable experiences. He 
was discharged in 1865 with his regiment. Soon 
after his discharge he entered the railroad service, 
became a locomotive engineer, and continued till 
1887. He is now living retired at 9 Arbor Vitae 
street, Worcester. 

Mr. Wells is a Free Mason and a member of 
the order of Elks. He belongs to the Frohsinns, a 
social club, the George H. Ward Post, No. 10, G. 
A. R., of Worcester, Worcester Driving Club and 
the Cottage Club and Improvement Society of Fal- 
mouth, Massachusetts, where he has a summer 
residence. He is a Congregationalist in religious 
preferences and Republican in politics. 

He married (first) Emily Harris, daughter of 
C. M. and Emily (Dean) Harris. She was born 
December 6, 1846, died March, 1891, in Worcester. 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



279 



He married (second), March 12, l8g6, Eva Irene 
Bruso, daughter of Charles and Emily J. Bruso, of 
Worcester. She was horn there November 3, 1874. 
She was educated in the Worcester schools, and is a 
graduate of the Worcester high school. The only 
:hild of Mr. Wells was by the first marriage : Ray 
Dean, born in Worcester, April 29, 1890. He is at 
present a student in the Worcester high school. 

ALEXANDER COLE MUNROE, one of the 
most prominent citizens of Worcester, Massachu- 
ietts, and who has been actively identified with the 
steamship, railroad, insurance and musical inter- 
ests of that city, traces his descent to a family that 
las had a distinguished record ever since the days 
jf the pioneer settlers of the state of Massachusetts. 

(I) William Munroe, one of the first settlers 
jf Lexington, Massachusetts, was the ancestor of 
iiost of those bearing this name in New England. 
Some members of the family spell the name Monroe, 
ind hi the early history of the family in this coun- 
ty (and probably the the same practice was observed 
ilsewhere) the first syllable "Mun" was omitted, 
ind the name was variously spelled "Roe," "Row" 
ind "Rowe." William Munroe was born in Scot- 
land, in 1625, and belonged to the famous clan 
jearing that name. He came to America in 1652, 
jrobably a prisoner of war taken by Cromwell at 
;he battle of Worcester, or soon afterward, and sold 
in service to an American proprietor. It is on record 
;hat in 1651 Robert Munroe, Hugh Munroe, John 
Munroe and another of the same family name, were 
imong those consigned to Thomas Kemble, of Bos- 
;on, and obliged to work for a certain period of time 
for those who had bought their services from the gov- 
;rnment. William Munroe worked out his time 
md acquired property in Cambridge as early as 
[657. He settled in Cambridge Farms (now Lex- 
ngton) in 1660, near the Woburn line, his farm 
)eing on Woburn street, on or near the farm now 
)r lately owned by Hugh Graham. His sons lived 
vith him after they had attained manhood, and it is 
•elated by his descendants that he made so many 
idditions to his dwelling house, to accommodate 
he families of his sons, that the place resembled a 
■opewalk, it was so long. He was admitted a free- 
nan in i6go, and subscribed to the building fund 
'or the first meetinghouse. He was married three 
imes, and though he was forty years old at the 
ime of his first marriage, raised a family of thir- 
;een children. He died January 27, 1717, and his 
vill, dated November 14, 1716, mentions sons^John, 
jeorge, Daniel, Joseph and Benjamin — and daugh- 
ers — Eleanor Burgess, Martha Comee, Hannah 
Peirce, Elizabeth Rugg, and Mary Fassett. 

He married (first), 1655, Martha , and 

heir children were : John, of whom later ; Martha, 
)orn November 2, 1667; married, January 21, 1688, 
fohn Comee, of Concord ; resided at Le.xington ; 
iied, April 13, 1729; William, born October 10, 
.669, married Mary Cutler ; George, married Sarah 

. William Munroe married (second), 1672, 

Wary ■ , born in 1651, died August, 1692. 

rheir children were : Daniel, born August 12, 1673, 

narried Dorothy ; Hannah, married, De- 

:ember 21, 1692, Joseph Peirce, and had eight chil- 
Iren. Joseph Peirce's first wife was Ruth Holland, 
ind his third, Beriah Child, widow of Daniel Child ; 
ilizabeth, married Thomas Rugg and had eleven 
:hildren ; Mary, born June 24, 1678, married, about 
700, Joseph Fassett; lived on the Page place in 
Bedford, from thence moved to Lexington ; David, 
)orn October 6, 1680, not mentioned in the will of 
lis father; Eleanor, born February 24, 1683, mar- 
■ied, August 21, 1707, William Burgess, of Charles- 



town ; had four children ; Sarah, born March i8, 
1685, married George Blanchard, about 1707; Jo- 
seph, born August 16, 1687; married Elizabeth 

; Benjamin, born August 16, 1690, married 

twice. William Munroe married (third) Elizabeth 
Wyer, widow of Edward Wyer, of Charlestown; she 
died December 14, 1715, in her eightieth year. 

(II) John Munroe, eldest child of William (i), 
and Martha Munroe, was born May 10, 1666. He 
was admitted to the church, F'ebruary I, 1699, to- 
gether with his father, and his sisters, Martha 
Comee, Elizabeth Rugg, and Hannah Peirce. He 
subscribed to the building fund of the meetinghouse 
in 1692, and was on the tax list of 1693. Fie be- 
came a very prominent citizen, serving the town 
as assessor in 1699, 1714 and I7?0; constable in 1700; 
selectman in 1718-9 and 1726 ; and treasurer of the 
town in 1718-19-20. Fie held many positions of trust 
and honor. He was lieutenant of the militia there. 
He received a grant of nine hundred acres of land 
for his services in the battle with the Indians at 
Lamprey river, June 6, 1690. In addition to his 
many other offices and duties, he was sexton of the 
church and rang the bell for years in the first 
church in Lexington to call the worshipers to ■service. 
His death occurred September 14, 1753. He married 

Hannah , who died April 14, 1716. Their 

children were : John, born in Lexington, baptized 

1699, probably married Rachel ■ — ; Hannah, 

baptized 1699, died April 14, 1716; Constance, bap- 
tized 1699; Jonathan, baptized March 12. 1699, died 
August 20, 1724; William, baptized February i, 
1701, married twice; Elizabeth, baptized March S, 
1703; Susannah, baptized July i, 1705, married, June 
16. 1724, Ebenezer Nichols; Jonas, of whom later; 
Martha, born December 6. 1710; iMarrett. born 
December 6, 1713, married, April 17, 1737, Deliver- 
ance Parker. 

(HI) Jonas Munroe, fourth son and eighth 
child of John (2), and Hannah Munroe, was born 
in Lexington, Massachusetts, November 22, 1707. 
He was a lieutenant of the Lexington Militia Com- 
pany. He married (first), June 3, 1734, Joanna 
Locke, born February 2, 1713, died September 17, 
1748, daughter of Joseph and Mary (Mead) Locke. 
Their children were : Jonas, born November 2, 
I735> died June 3, 1760; John, of whom later; 
Stephen, born October 25, 1739. married, July 8, 
1766, Nancy Perry, of Woburn. Massachusetts ; 
Jonathan, born May 25, 1742, married Abigail Ken- 
dall, of Woburn ; Joanna, born April 12, 1747, mar- 
ried, July 9, 1777, John Adams. Jonas Munroe mar- 
ried (second), 1750, Rebecca Watts, of Chelsea. He 
died November 9, 1765, and his widow married, 
April 19, 1773, John Muzzy, of Lexington, grand- 
son of the first settler and his second wife. The 
children of Jonas and Rebecca (Watts) Munroe 
were : Ebenezer, born April 29, 1752 ; he was a set- 
tler at Ashburnham, where other members of the 
family also located. He was an officer in the revo- 
lutionary war. a prominent citizen, and left many 
descendants. He married. May 10, 1782, Lucy Si- 
monds, of Woburn. Rebecca, born June 17, 1755, 
majried, May 22, 1777. John Muzzv. Jr. Martha, 
born September 12, 1758, died at Ashburnham, 1793, 
unmarried. 

(IV) John Munroe, second son and child of 
Jonas (3) and Joanna (Locke) Munroe, was born 
in Lexington, Massachusetts, February i. \Ty7. He 
was a member of the Lexington Company of 
Militia in the battle of Lexington, and marched to 
Cambridge, June 17. 1775- He probably rendered 
other services to his country. The names of his 
children were obtained from a deed in which his 
heirs assign their rights to his real estate in Prince- 



28o 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



ton to Jonathan Page, of Charlestown. This Page 
married Lydia, a daughter of John Munroe. The 
deed bears date of February 23, 1805. One record 
gives the name of his hrst wife as Anna, and their 
children as: Sarah, baptized July 12, 1767, prob- 
ably died young; Anna, born November 18, 1759, 
baptized July 12, 1767, probably died young. He 
married (second), April 13, 1762, Lydia Bemis, of 
Weston, Massachusetts, daughter of John and Han- 
nah Bemis. Their children were : Lydia, born at 
Lexington, Massachusetts, May 9, 1767, baptized 
May 17, 1767; married, January 16, 1783, Jonathan 
Page, of Lincoln, Massachusetts, later of Charles- 
town, Massachusetts, where he kept a tavern of 
note. He was colonel in the militia, and was sta- 
tioned in Boston l\arbor, in 1812, to superintend 
the erection of some fortifications there. He bought 
out the interests of the other heirs of John Munroe 
at Princeton. Polly (Mary), married Nathaniel 
Brackett (intentions dated December 31, 1805). John. 
Lucy, married John Stone (intentions dated Feb- 
ruary 7, 1802). Sally, born 1782, died June 28, 1836, 
at Princeton, Massachusetts. Nathan, of whom 
sketch follows. 

(V) Nathan Munroe, second son and sixth and 
youngest child of John (4) and Lydia (Bemis) 
Munroe, was born in Lexington or Newton, Massa- 
chusetts, June, 1773. He lived for a time in New- 
ton, and then bought a lot in Rutland, June 3, 1801, 
and settled there. He bought another lot, adjoining 
his farm, two years later. He was living in Rutland 
in 1805 when he deeded his interest in the estate of 
his father, in Princeton, to his brother-in-law, Jon- 
athan Page. He sold a piece of land in Rutland, 
December 3, 1817, a tract of land, to Jesse Fitts, 
of Oakham, Massachusetts. About that time he 
went to Pennsylvania on business ; on his return 
he was taken sick, and died suddenly at Dana 
(Hardwick or Rutland before 1801), in 1818. He 
married Deidamia Wheeler, June 2, 1799, and their 
children were : Charles, of whom later. Isabella, 
born in Rutland, Massachusetts, November 24, 
1802, died August 31, 1844. John, born in Rutland, 
Massachusetts, July 7, 1805, married Mary Epps; 
lived in Concord, New Hampshire ; father of Hon. 
John P. Munroe, of Worcester; died February 21, 
1896. George, born in Rutland, Massachusetts, 
April 3, 1807, died July, 1831. Cyrus, born in Rut- 
land, Massachusetts, December 27, i8n, died De- 
cember 12, 1864. Nathan, born in Rutland, Massa- 
chusetts, August 31, 1814, died February 8, 1839. 
Abigail, born in Rutland, Massachusetts, October 3, 
1817, died June 14, 1818. 

(VI) Charles Munroe, eldest child of 'Nathan 
(5) and Deidamia (Wheeler) Munroe, was born in 
Newton, Massachusetts, March 6, 1800, died June 
S, 1891. He married Mary Cole, of MiUbury, June 
26, 1828. Their children were : Ruby Ann, born 
in Worcester, July 16, 1829; Alexander Cole, of 
whom later ; Lyman Cole, born in Worcester, Octo- 
ber 16, 1838, died September 6, 1904. 

(VII) Alexander Cole Munroe, second child 
and oldest son of Charles (6) and Mary (Cole) 
Munroe, was born in Millbury, Massachusetts, 
August 22, 1831. Shortly afterward he removed 
with his parents to Worcester, where his youth was 
spent. He attended the little wdiite wooden, and the 
brick schoolhouse, formerly on the common, with 
Caroline Corbett as teacher and Sarah Joyce as 
assistant. Many of the boys who attended this 
school have made their mark in the world. Later 
he attended the "English" school at the corner of 
Thomas and Summer streets, under the tuition of 
Warren Lazell. His parents removed to Lowell, 
Massachusetts, in 1846, and he went with them. He 



accepted a position in the Lowell postoffice, in 1850, 
and had charge of the mailing department for three 
years. He was then for si.x years in the employ of 
the Boston & Lowell railroad, in the freight and 
ticket departments, being superintendent of trans- 
portation at Lowell for the two months prior to 
its consolidation with the Nashua and Lowell rail- 
road. While living here Mr. Munroe took an active 
part in the work of the High Street Congregational 
Church, being for several years its treasurer, col- 
lector and librarian of the Sunday school. 

He finally left Lowell to accept a position as 
station agent for the Providence & Worcester Rail- 
road, at Woonsocket, Rhode Island, in 1859, and 
remained there until his appointment, in 1861, as 
general agent for New England of the Providence & 
Worcester Railroad and Providence & New York 
Steamship Company, with headquarters at Worces- 
ter, Massachusetts. The competition at that time 
for New York freight to and from Worcester and 
the north was very strong. The combination be- 
tween the steamship line and the railroad was made 
in 1858, and the monopoly previously enjoyed by the 
Norwich line was seriously disturbed. When jMr. 
Munroe accepted this position, the competition was 
at its height. Mr. Munroe entered eagerly on this 
work, glad also to return to the city in which his 
boyhood had been spent. His work was successful 
and satisfactory to the companies. In spite of 
the fact that there were nine radical changes in the 
management of the companies during the twelve 
years he held this position, he retained his place 
undisturbed. He handled all the freight of both 
corporations and also all freight by the Neptune 
line from Worcester, and points north and east to 
New York, the south and west, amounting in 
through billing to more than two hundred thousand 
dollars annually. 

Having purchased the insurance agency of Gen- 
eral George A. Washburn, of Worcester, in Feb- 
ruar}-, 1873, Mr. Munroe took up with alacrity the 
new line of work with which he has since been 
identified. He retained the management of the 
transportation business, at the request of the rail- 
road and steamship companies interested, until Oc- 
tober I, 1873, when, finding the double duties bur- 
densome, he resigned as general agent. He largely 
extended the business of the fire insurance agency, 
he purchased, and has for many years been in the 
foremost ranks of fire insurance men in the state. 
He has been president of the Worcester board of 
fire underwriters for four years, and at the present 
time (1906) is president of the Worcester protective 
department, of which he has been for thirty years 
a director. On account of the increased scope of the 
business Mr. Munroe decided to take a partner, and 
on January I, 1903, invited Edward P. Ingraham 
to become his business associate, the firm name be- 
ing A. C. Munroe & Ingraham. Mr. Ingraham is 
an expert in fire insurance, having been for four- 
teen years secretary of the board of underwriters 
of Worcester, and an energetic business man. The 
efforts of the new firm have resulted in even greater 
gains than before, Mr. Munroe calculating recently 
that the agency had earned about four hundred 
thousand dollars above the losses during the time 
he had been in the business. The firm now repre- 
sents the following companies : Liverpool and Lon- 
don and Globe Insurance Company ; Atlas Assurance 
Company of London: Franklin Fire Insurance Com- 
pany of Philadelphia ; Spring Garden Insurance 
Company and Philadelphia Underwriters of Phila- 
delphia: Williamsburgh City Fire Insurance Com- 
pany of New York ; Newark Fire Insurance Com- 
pany of Newark, New Jersey; Buffalo German In- 






WORCESTER COUNTY 



28 1 



surance Company and Buffalo Commercial Insur- 
ance Company of Buffalo, New York ; Albany In- 
surance Company of New York; India Insurance 
Company of Boston ; Camden Fire Insurance Asso- 
ciation of New Jersey; Insurance Company of the 
State of Pennsylvania; Worcester Mutual Fire In- 
surance Company ; the Merchants' and Farmers' 
Mutual Fire Insurance Company ; The Abingdon 
Mutual Fire Insurance Company ; The Dorchester 
Mutual Fire Insurance Company; Standard Life 
and Accident Insurance Company of Detroit, and 
the Columbia Insurance Company of New Jersey. 
The A. C. Munroe & Ingraham agency is located in 
the Clark building on Main street, nearly opposite 
City Hall. Mr. Munroe has for many years been 
the leader in his line of business in the city of 
Worcester. His judgincnt in insurance is sought 
by the business men of Worcester and implicitly 
followed. In one case Mr. Munroe had a million 
dollar insurance risk to place in a single day. 

He comes of a musical family, and has been in- 
terested in musical work ever since he took up his 
residence in Worcester. He was at one time chair- 
man of the board of trustees of the Worcester Jilo- 
zart Society; treasurer of the Beethoven Society; 
afterward president of the Worcester Choral Union. 
For thirty-four years he has been a member of the 
Worcester Musical Festival Chorus, and for thirty- 
three years of this time was executive officer of the 
association, having been secretary twenty-three years, 
vice-president eight years and president two years. 
He was basso of the quartette choir of the Union 
Church for four years, and for twenty-three years 
basso and director of the choir of the Old South 
Church. When he resigned from that position in 
188S he was substantially reminded of the good will 
of the congregation. !^Iany believe that the uni- 
formly good music at the Old South Church is due 
to the faithful and constant efforts of Mr. Munroe, 
and that this accounts for the growth and leader- 
ship of that church in music over many other 
churches in the city. 

During his official connection with the festivals, 
they advanced from small and modest efforts until 
they rivalled anything of the kind in this country 
or Europe and have made the name of Worcester 
famous in musical circles the world over. 

He has not lost his interest in the association, 
being still one of the most earnest and persistent 
workers for the success of the annual festivals. 
While he was secretary much of the routine work 
and the burden of correspondence fell upon his 
shoulders. In an article about Mr. Munroe, IVor- 
cester Light says : "Mr. Munroe has requested 
Light not to say much about his services in con- 
nection with the Festivals, claiming that the marked 
success achieved is due to the unselfish devotion 
of a splendid body of choir leaders and teachers 
forming the board of government during his con- 
nection with it — to the location of the Festival in 
a region noted for a century for its love of music — 
to the teaching of music in the public schools — to 
the growth of the city itself — and to the undoubtedly 
high average intelligence of the population. Ad- 
mitting these facts, Light still believes that the work 
of Mr. Munroe has been of so conspicuous a char- 
acter in connection with the Festivals, that the gen- 
eral public will insist upon giving him a larger 
amount of commendation for the results attained, 
than he is at present inclined to receive." 

Mr. Munroe is a member of the Board of Trade ; 
the Worcester Machanics' Association ; the Old 
South Church ; the Congregational Club, of which 
he was formerly treasurer. He is an honorary 
member of the Worcester Continentals. He has been 



a member of the Worcester Society of Antiquity, 
and of the Commonwealth Club. His executive 
ability and remarkable tact have been proven by 
the position he has held in musical circles, requiring 
probably more tact and judgment than any other 
position man is called upon to fill. He has a very 
attractive personality, and all his acquaintances 
are drawn into the circle of his friendship. He is 
quick to perceive and decide, but conciliatory in 
manner and speech, and although respecting the 
opinions of others, is not inclined to yield his own 
convictions. He is one of the best examples of the 
gentleman in business ; of exemplary character ; re- 
fined and considerate of others ; appreciating his 
duty as a citizen; loving art and music; j'et thor- 
oughly enjoying his business career. 

Mr. Munroe married, Octol)er 19, 1859, Helen 
Augusta Hill, born in Whitefield, New Hampshire, 
March 33, 1834, daughter of Peter W. and Hannah 
(Johnson) Hill. At an early age she removed with 
her parents to Lowell, Massachusetts. Mrs. Mun- 
roe has had an unusual musical career. She is an 
artist with much more than a local reputation, hav- 
ing been a leading member of quartette choirs for 
thirty-four years. For twenty-eight years she was 
a member of the same choir as lier husband, sus- 
taining the soprano part for twelve years, and the 
contralto for sixteen years, her voice being of so 
extended a compass (from G below low C, to C 
in alt three octaves and three notes) that she was 
able to sing either part with remarkable success. At 
the age of fourteen years she was engaged as the 
leading alto singer of the Worthen Street Methodist 
Church Choir, in Lowell, and until 1S61, when she 
came to Worcester, sang constantly in Methodist, 
Unitarian, Episcopal and Congregational -choirs in 
Lowell and its vicinity, as well as at public concerts 
of importance and social functions. On coming to 
Worcester she was at once secured as contralto for 
the Union Church Quartette. Mr. B. D. Allen being 
the organist and director. She continued to be the 
leading attraction at concerts for many years, 
notably those given by the "Hamilton," the "Mo- 
zart" and "Beethoven" Societies, and the Worcester 
"Choral Union." For fourteen years prior to 1873 
she was the leading contralto soloist of the Worces- 
ter Music Festivals, and then declined the position. 
During these years Mrs. Munroe filled engagements 
with many associations elsewhere, in concerts, mu- 
sical conventions and festivals, in Boston, Provi- 
dence, Springfield, Greenfield, Fitchburg, Brooklyn, 
New York, Bridgeton, New Jersey; and many other 
cities. She has always been of a retiring disposition, 
modest and diffident, and, while enjoying church 
positions, disliked the notoriety of public concert 
work. Possessed of a remarkable voice, which ren- 
ders her at the present day a highly prized member 
of the "Home Music Club," of which association 
she was a charter member, she was, when quite 
young, ofifered the opportunity to visit Europe and 
study for the operatic field. Great success was 
prophesied for her; competent judges said of her 
voice that it was only equalled by that of the great 
Alboni. Possessed of a fine stage presence, she 
would undoubtedly have been successful, but she 
shrank from publicity, and at the advice of the 
friend whom she afterward married remained in 
America. Mrs. Munroe's grandfather, Asa John- 
son, of Whitefield. New Hampshire, was a teacher 
of music and singing schools, an excellent violin 
player, and well known throughout northern New 
Hampshire. He was also a prosperous farmer. His 
eight children — Simeon, James, David, William, 
Catherine, Joanna, Sarah and Hannah — were all 
musical, and it was said that the Johnson girls 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



could "sing down anything in Coos county." Han- 
nah, the mother of Mrs. Munroe, could sing the "C 
in alt," (or "high C,"J while her husband, Peter 
W. Hill, could as easily sing the "low C;" it would 
thus appear that Mrs. Munroe came very naturally 
by her unusual voice, and her musical ability. The 
Hill family was a large one, and all the members 
were musical ; the choir of the church in Whitetield, 
New Hampshire, was composed entirely of members 
of the Hill and Johnson families, imder the charge 
of Asa Johnson, and was for years a very noted 
one. Mrs. Munroe has always been interested in re- 
ligious and charitable work, having been for four 
years president of the Old South Benevolent So- 
ciety, and for thirteen years president of the Wom- 
en's Au.xiliary to the Young Men's Christian Asso- 
ciation. 

DANIEL AUSTIN HOWE. John How or 
Howe (i), the immigrant ancestor of Daniel Austin 
Howe, of Worcester, Massachusetts, was an early 
settler at Watertown, Massachusetts. He was born 
in Warwickshire, England, it is believed, the son 
of John Howe, who is supposed to be a descendant 
of John Howe, of Hodinhall, connected with Sir 
Charles Howe, of Lancaster, during the reign of 
Charles I. 

John Howe made his home in Sudbury with set- 
tlers from Watertown, then the adjoining town. He 
was there in 1639 or earlier. He was admitted a 
freeman in 1640. In 1642 he was one of the Sud- 
bury selectmen. According to tradition he was the 
first white inhabitant who settled in the Sudbury 
New Grant, as it was called. He built his cabin a 
little to the eastward of the Indian plantation, and 
in this vicinity many of his descendants have lived 
and are living still. His house was about one thou- 
sand rods from the Spring Hill Meeting House, a 
little to the east of the present road from Spring 
Hill to Feltonville, lately owned by Edward Rice. 

Howe was a man of dignity and universally re- 
spected, even by his Indian neighbors. In 1655 he 
was appointed "to see to the restraining of the 
youth on the Lord's Day." Boys were boys even in 
the Puritan town of Sudbury in the days of Crom- 
well. He was brought into contact often with his 
Indian neighbors and he won their confidence and 
good will and often he became an arbiter' in case 
of differences between them. The story is told of a 
pumpkin grown on the land of one Indian, but on 
a vine belonging to another. Both claimed the 
pumpkin. Howe was asked to decide the owner- 
ship of the pumpkin. He cut it in two and gave 
a half to each. From 1657 till his death in 1680 he 
lived in Marlboro, and was the founder of most 
of the families of this surname in Middlesex and 
Worcester counties. 

Descendants of Abraham Howe, another emi- 
grant settler, also settled in Marlboro, however. In 
1662 he and Goodman Rice were appointed to make 
a grant of land to Thomas Danforth, or rather de- 
termine the size of a grant made by the general 
court in payment of services. John Howe opened the 
first public house in Marlboro. He petitioned the 
general court September 30, 1662, to be excused 
from training because he was aged, thick of hearing 
and maintained three soldiers in his family. He 
died in Marlboro, May 28, 1680. His will was dated 
May 24, 1680, and proved June 15, 1680. He made 
bequests to his wife, Mary, and children : Samuel, 
Isaac, Thomas, Eleazer, Sarah Ward, Mary With- 
erby; grandchild, John, son of John. He gave 
Thomas "the horse he troops on." 

His children were : John, born 1640, married, 
January 22, 1662, Elizabeth Woolson, was killed by 



the Indians ; Samuel, October 20, 1642, married 
June 5, 1663, at Sudbury, Martha Bent; Sarah, Sep- 
tember 25, 1644, married, June, 1667, Samuel Ward, 
died young; Mary, August 8, 1648; Isaac, August 
8, 1648, married, June 17, 1671, Frances Wood; 
Josiah, married March 18, 1671, Mary Haynes, of 
Sudbury ; Mary, June 18, 1654, married, September 
18, 1672, John Wetherby ; Thomas, June 12, 1656, 
married Sarah Hosmer ; married (second) Mary 
Barron; Daniel, June 3, 1658, died 1661 ; Alexander, 
December 29, 1661, died Janiiary, 1662; Eleazer, Jan- 
uary 18, 1662, married, 1683, Hannah Howe, daugh- 
ter of Abraham Howe, of Marlboro. 

(II) Colonel Samuel Howe, son of John Howe 
(i), was born October 20, 1642, in Sudbury, Massa- 
chusetts. He married, June 5, 1663, JNlartha Bent, 
daughter of John Bent, of Sudbury, and settled in 
his native town. He was admitted a freeman in 
Sudbury in 1671. He married (second) Sarah 
Clapp, September 18, 1685, and had other children. 
He was an important man in his day. He was 
colonel of the regiment made up of companies from 
the towns in the vicinity. He was a town officer. 

The children of Samuel and Martha (Bent) 
Howe were: John, born July 24, 1664; Mary, March 
2, 1665; Lydia; Samuel, May ig, 1668; Martha, Oc- 
tober 9, 1669; Daniel, November 2, 1674; David, 
November 2, 1674; Hannah, April 6, 1677. The 
children of Colonel Samuel and Sarah (Clapp) 
Howe were: Daniel, February 24, 1089; (probably) 
Moses, about 1695; Micagah, August 22, 1700. 

(III) David Howe, son of Colonel Samuel Howe 
(2), was born in Sudbury, Massachusetts, November 
2, 1674. He married, December 25, 170— (probably 
1702, record torn). He built and conducted the 
Wayside Inn. He received from his father, Samuel 
Howe, in 1702, the farm on which it is located. It ' 
was part of one hundred and thirty acres in the 
New Grant territory, either lot 48 or 49. The tavern 
was built a few years after David Howe acquired 
the land. The Indians were threatening during the 
first decade of the eighteenth century, and the work- 
men engaged in building it had to resort at night 
to the Parmenter garrison half a mile away. It 
was opened as a public house. It was not until 
1746 that it became known as the Red Horse Tav- 
ern. In that year Colonel Ezekiel Howe, David's 
son and successor as tavern keeper, put up as a 
sign a red horse, a time honored custom of the 
early taverns, being to designate for the benefit of 
the unlettered the house by some picture or sign 
by which one who could not read might identify 
the house. In later years it became known as the 
Wayside Inn from the Tales of the Wayside Inn 
written by Longfellow. Of course, the old taverrj 
cannot claim all that Longfellow ascribed to it, but 
no more fitting country tavern could have been 
selected for his purpose. It is a fine specimen of 
early architecture, plain, but spacious and in- 
teresting. 

During the revolutionary War, when it was con- 
ducted by Colonel Ezekiel Howe, the Red Horse 
Inn was the centre of revolutionary activity. After 
the death of the famous old colonel his son, Adam 
Howe, conducted the hotel for forty years. Then 
came the railroads and the paths of travel changed. 
Lyman Howe was the last Howe in the direct line 
to run the hotel. He sold it in 1866. The Wayside 
Inn has been at times since then run as a road 
house. It is much frequented by lovers of Long- 
fellow. At present the old house is an attractive 
spot for automobile owners who are interested in 
colonial history and antiquities. The quiet dignity 
of the old tavern is very charming, much different 
is the scene there today from the bustle and activity 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



283 



of nearly two hundred years ago when the tavern 
was one of the best on the road from Boston to the 
colonies to the westward. It was a stopping place 
for stttlers on their way to their new homes. It was 
a halting place for troops during all the Indian 
wars and the revolution. The farmers on their way 
to and from the market in Boston stopped there. 
The stages to and from Boston passed there. Wash- 
ington and other celebrated men have slept in the 
old inn. It would be of great historic interest even 
if Longfellow had not immortalized it. The region 
round about corresponds well with the character 
of the building. It is on the edge of a plain in 
what is called the Peckham district at the foot of 
Nobscot Hill. Close to the inn runs a little brook 
known as Hop brook. The hotel stands at the side 
of the broad road, looking today much as it di,d 
probably a hundred and seventy-five years ago. 
David Howe died August 3, 1759, at Sudbury. 

The children of David and Hepsibah (Death) 
Howe were: Thankful, born December 15, 1703, 
married Peter Howe, April 9, 1723 ; Hepsibah, Octo- 
ber I, 1706; Eliphalet, June 3, 1710, settled in Rut- 
land; Israel, May 6, 1712, settled in Rutland; 
Ruth, February 23, 1714-5; David, June 13, 1717; 
Ezekiel, April 5, 1720, settled in Sudbury, owned the 
tavern there. 

(IV) Ezekiel Howe, son of David Howe (3), 
was born in Sudbury, Massachusetts, April 5, 1720. 

He married Bathsheba , January 19, 1743-4, 

and about the time of his marriage succeeded his 
father in the ownership of the tavern. It was in 1746 
that he named it the Red Horse Tavern. He was 
chosen lieutenant-colonel of Colonel Henry Gard- 
ner's fourth Middlesex regiment, and commissioned 
February 15, 1776, but he declined to serve. He was 
chosen colonel of the same regiment and commis- 
sioned May 10, 1776. He marched with his regiment 
at the Lexington alarm and served most of the time 
during the revolution until ill health compelled him 
to resign in a letter dated January 26, 1779. The 
resignation was accepted February 4, 1779. He 
was in some of the New York campaigns. 

Colonel Ezekiel Howe was probably the most 
prominent citizen of Sudbury and the vicinity at the 
period of the revolution. He was honored and re- 
spected by his fellow citizen, a man of property 
and influence. He held town offices and various 
positions of honor. 

The children of Colonel Ezekiel and Bathsheba 
Howe were : Ruth, born May 2, 1745 ; Ann, January 
8, 1746-7, (one record gives 1747-8) ; Hepsibah, April 
27, 1749; Bathsheba, January 10, 1752; Molly, August 
13. 1754; Ezekiel, May 19, 1756; Olive, July 19, 
1758; Eliphalet March 23, 1761 ; Adam, May 15, 

1763- 

(V) Eliphalet Howe, son of Colonel Ezekiel 
Howe (4), was bom in Sudbury, Massachusetts, 
March 23, 1761. He married Hannah Henry, June 
19, 1788. She died September 23, 1822. He died 
December 7, 1834. He settled in Barre, near Rut- 
land, where his Uncle Eliphalet was one of the 
early settlers on Walnut Hill. The history of 
Rutland mentions the uncle among the first settlers. 
The name was spelled How in practically all the 
early records of Sudbury and Rutland, while an- 
other family named Howe was living in the same 
towns. The distinction of the families ceased when 
practically all the Howe family added the final "e." 
The Howe family is one of the most prominent and 
numerous of all the early families in Worcester 
county. Eliphalet Howe's place was in Barre and 
there his descendants still live. 

The children of Eliphalet and Hannah Howe 
were: Adam, born April 8, 1789, drowned June 13, 



1806; Hannah, May 5, 1791, married Moses Law- 
rence, Jr., of Hardwick, February 18, 1819; Artemas, 
born July 3, I7y0, married (intentions dated Decem- 
ber 18,) 1822, Sophia M. Wethercll, of Petersham; 
Ascnath, February 24, 1798, married John W. Wes- 
ton, December 29, 1S19; Submit, October 9, 1799; 
Charlotte, June 18, 1802, married Stillman Clark, of 
Hardwick (intentions dated April 22,) 1842; Eli- 
phalet, February iS, 1804. 

(VI) Eliphalet Howe, Jr., son of Eliphalet 
Howe (,5), was born in Barre, Massachusetts, Feb- 
ruary 18, 1804. He married Keziah Kinsman, June 
-8, 1833. She was born January I, 1802. He was 
a farmer living in Barre where all his children were 
born. The children of Eliphalet and Keziah Howe 
were: Samuel Austin, born May 6, 1834; Mercy. 
iiUen, December 25, 1836, married Franklin Babbitt, 
died August I, 1885 ; Augustus Elliott, born in 
Barre, October 23, 1837; Maria, October 23, 1839; 
Christina, May 4, 1843 ; Mary Elizabeth, November 
J. 1847. died January 17, 1848; Frank. 

(VII) Samuel Austin Howe, son of Eliphalet 
Howe (6), was born in Barre, Massachusetts, May 

6, 1834. He died in Barre, February 12, 1905. He 
married, December 29, 1858, Lucy Jane Warner, who 
was born June 15, 1835, at Hardwick, Massachu- 
setts, of the well known Warner family. She died 
October 18, 1887. They lived in Barre and West- 
boro, where JNIr. Howe carried on a farm and con- 
ducted a large milk route. 

The children of Samuel A. and Lucy J. Howe 
were : Ella J., born December 19, 1859, married 
William A. Reed, June 18, 1879; has two children: 
William C, born April 4, 1880, and Vera, August 

7, 1889; Daniel Austin, January 17, 1862, married 
Florence G.- Tenney, December 5, 1899; Walter 
Eliphalet, W^estboro, January 15, 1808, married Mary 
Ballou Upton, and had : Maud, Daniel W. ; James 
Weston, Westboro, June 20, 1873, married Carrie 
Delano, and had one child, Madeline. 

(VIII) Daniel Austin Howe, son of Samuel 
Austin Howe (7), was born in Barre, Massachu- 
setts, January 17, 1862. His father moved from 
Barre to Westboro when he was six years old, and 
he attended the public schools of Westboro, work- 
ing on his father's farm in the summers until he was 
seventeen years of age. He attended Bryan & 
Stratton's Commercial College in Boston. At the 
age of seventeen he went to work as bookkeeper 
for Chickering & Boynton, of Westboro. Four 
years later he bought the store, but sold it immedi- 
ately and came to Worcester to locate. With 
George E. Stearns he bought the tea and coffee 
business of Alfred Holden, of Worcester. This busi- 
ness had been established in 1857 by Mr. Holden 
and had been in successful operation for twenty- 
seven years. The firm of Stearns & Howe began 
business in 1883. After a short time Mr. Howe 
bought out his partner and has since that time been 
in business alone at the same location next the Bay 
State House on Main street, Worcester. When he 
bought the business it was retail and later he added 
the wholesale department. Now two-thirds of the 
business is wholesale. Mr. Howe deals in spices, 
canned goods and groceries. The house is known 
all over New England and Mr. Howe's salesmen 
cover most of New England in their regular trips. 
Mr. Howe has been a successful business man, and 
at the same time he has found time to own and con- 
duct a stock farm at Barre, the home of his an- 
cestors. The farm is Mr. Howe's summer home. 

Mr. Howe was formerly a member of Anchoria 
Lodge of Odd Fellows; the Hancock Club; Utopia 
Rebckah Lodge, No. 107 ; Worcester Grange, Patrons 
of Husbandry. He is a member of the Worcester 



284 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



Board of Trade; Worcester Agricultural Society and 
the Worcester County Horticultural Society. He is 
a Republican in politics. He is an active member 
of Central Congregational Church and Sunday 
school, and has been auditor of the church. 

He married, December 5, 1899. Florence Gray 
Tcnney. She was born at Auburndale, Massachu- 
setts, August 5, 1877. the daughter of Arthur Bur- 
ton and Harriet Elizabeth (Gray) Tenney. Her 
father was born at Newport, New Hampshire, May, 
1846. Her mother was born at Waterford, Con- 
necticut, September, 1844. She attended the Wor- 
cester schools and was graduated from the Wor- 
cester high school in the class of 1896. They re- 
side at 8 Burncoat street, Worcester. The children 
.of Daniel Austin and Florence Gray (Tenney) 
Howe are : Mildred Gray, born February 24, 1901 ; 
Frank Warner, October 27, 1902 ; Daniel Austin, Jr., 
November 24, 1903; Florence Ella, September i, 
1905. 

THE TENNEY FAMILY. Thomas Tennev, the 
emigrant ancestor of Mrs. Daniel Austin Howe, 
(Florence Gray Tenney) was a member of Rev. 
Ezekiel Rogers's company of colonists from York- 
shire, England. They arrived in Salem, Massachu- 
setts, December i, 1638, and settled at Rowley, 
Massachusetts, in April, 1639. He was one of the 
proprietors in 1643. He testified that he was sixty- 
six years old May 4, 1680, hence he was born in 
1614. He was twenty-four years old when with his 
wife Ann he came to this country. She died and 
was buried September 26, 1657. He married (sec- 
ond), 1658, Elizabeth Parratt. of Rowley. She re- 
ceived a bequest of ten pounds from Rev. Ezekiel 
Rogers when he died, in 1660- 1. Thomas Tenney's 
home lot is now or was lately owned and occupied 
by the Prime family, next south of house of George 
B. Blodget, now or formerly. Tenney had grants 
of land in 1661-67-70-73-74. He was ensign in the 
militia company. He was town marshal in 1653-4 
to t666. He gave the official warning of town 
meetings in 1650-53-60-61-66. He was overseer of 
the poor in 1656-64-71. He was selectman in 1660- 
61-70. He was viewer of fences, highways and 
chimneys in 1669, constable in 1656, tithingman in 
1680. His services were evidently in constant de- 
mand by his fellow citizens. 

The children of Thomas and Ann Tenney were : 
John, born December 11. 16.10: Hannah. March 15, 
1642; Mary, June 17, 1644: Thomas. July 16. 1648: 
James, August 15, 1650; Sarah, April 15, 1652, died 
April 10, 1653 ; Daniel. July 6, 1653. 

(II) Deacon John Tenney, son of Thomas Ten- 
ney (i), was born in Rowley, Massachusetts. De- 
cember 14, 1640. He married, in Rowley. December 
14, 1663, Mercy Parrat, daughter of Francis and 
Elizabeth Parrat, of Rowley. She was born July 
23, 1646, and died November 27. 1667. He married 
(second), in Merrimac. now Bradford, Massachu- 
setts, December 2, 1668, Susannah Woodbury, daugh- 
ter of Humphrey and Elizabeth Woodbmry, of 
Beverly, Massachusetts. 

John Tenney settled at Rowley, later at Brad- 
ford. Susannah, his wife, was born February 4, 
164S She wns dismissed from the Beverly church 
to the First Church at Bradford in 1682-3. She 
died April 9, 1716. He bought one hundred acres 
of land of Edward Hazen, of Rowley, May 20, 
1664. He was moderator of the first town meeting 
ever held in the town of Bradford, Massachusetts, 
February 2, 1668. In 1668 he was clerk of writs 
and in 1669 selectman. He was on the school com- 
mittee and on the first list of deacons of the church, 
dated December 13, 1702. He was one of a commit- 



tee to hire the_ minister June 28. 1705, and on an im- 
portant committee appointed to heal differences in 
the church, showing that he must have been a per- 
son of tact and discretion. He was one of the com- 
mittee that invited Rev. Thomas Symmes to becoine 
the Bradford pastor, June 14, 1708. John Tenney 
made a large number of real estate deals at Row- 
ley. He died April 13, 1722. Of his children there 
are records only of two : Sarah, born October 17, 
1665, baptized January 8, 1666; Samuel, November 
20, 1667, baptized November 23, 1687. 

(III) Deacon Samuel Tenney, son of John Ten- 
ney (2). was born in Bradford, Massachusetts, No- 
vember 20, 1667. He married Abigail Bailey, daugh- 
ter of Deacon Joseph Bailey. She died at Brad- 
ford, November 2, 1689. He married (second), in 
Bradford, December 18, 1690, Sarah Boynton, daugh- 
ter of Captain Joseph and Sarah (Swan) Boynton, 
of Bradford. She was born January 11, 1671-2, and 
joined the church in full communion August 4, 
1691, at Bradford. She died April 3, 1709. He 
married (third) Hannah Moody, of Newbury, Jan- 
uary 26, 1710-11. She joined the church July I, 
1716. She died October 29, 1745, at Bradford, now 
Groveland, Massachusetts. 

His home lot was near or at the place of T. H. ' 
Finney, now or formerly, (1891). He joined the 
church January 23, 1687. He was chosen elder 
March 28, 1718. He was a shorthand writer, then 
a rare accomplishment, and used to take down 
the sermons for practice. He was a gifted singer and 
led the church service for twenty-five years. He 
was altogether one of the most distinguished men of 
his time. He repeatedly held most of the offices of 
trust and honor within the gift of his fellow citi- 
zens. He was a lieutenant in the provincial troops 
and member of the colonial assembly of 1725. He 
was one of the few who voted against the King's 
charter in the assembly. He died February 3, 
1747-8, in his eighty-first year. A stone suitably 
inscribed marks his grave in the Groveland burying 
ground. His will was dated October 23, 1735. 

The child of Samuel and Abigail (Bailey) Ten- 
ney was : Abigail, born November 22, 1689. The 
children of Samuel and Sarah Boynton (Tenney) 
were : Mercy, October 23, 1691 ; John, December 8, 
1692; Susanna, February 5, 1694-5, married John 
Bailey ; Sarah, March 29, 1696 ; Samuel, December 
17, 1697; Joseph, March 16, 1698; Ann, September 
24, 1700: Daniel, February 14, 1702; Jonathan, De- 
cember 8, 1703; Dorothy, December 20, 1704; Philip, 
December 16, 1706. 

(IV) Daniel Tenney, son of Samuel Tenney 
(3), was born in Bradford, Massachusetts, now 
Groveland, February 14, 1702. He married Sarah 
Kimball, who died August 31, 1732, aged twenty- 
seven years. He married (second), May 18, 1733, 
Ann Coleman, of Newburyport, Massachusetts. He 
settled in Bradford, where he joined the church 
June 26, 1720. He died May 7, 1751, and his son 
Thomas was appointed administrator of his estate. 
His widow died June 28, 1768, aged sixty-eight 
years, and was buried in the Groveland graveyard. 

The children of Daniel and Sarah (Kimball) 
Tenney were: Deborah, born June 30, 1726; Daniel, 
(twin) July 26, 1730, died young; Thomas (twin), 
July 26, 1730. The children of Daniel and Ann 
(Coleman) Tenney were: Daniel, March 16, 1734; 
Jonathan, January 29, 1735-6; Sarah, July 29, 1737; 
Shubael, January 5, 1739-40. 

(V) Daniel Tenney, son of Daniel Tenney (4), 
was born in Bradford, Massachusetts, March 16, 
1734. He married, June 25. 1761, Joanna Cheney. 
They settled in Bradford. The children of Daniel 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



285 



id Ann (Coleman) Tenney were: Daniel, born 
pril 4, 1762; Eldad, April 20, 1764; Rhoda, August 
, 1766; Moses, April 16, 1769; Thomas, September 
, 1771; Aaron, July 11, 1774; Joanna, March 8, 
76; Paul, September 12, or 24, 1781, M. D., was 
aduated at Dartmouth College in 1803 with A. M. 
;gree; married, August 12, 1804, Anna Hoyt, 
.ughter of Samuel Hoyt, of Poplni, New Hamp- 
ire; resided at Bedford Hills, VVilmot, New Hanip- 
ire, removed to Williamsburg, Ohio ; died Septem- 
r 29, 1844. 

(VT) ihomas Tenney, son of Daniel Tenney 
1), was born at Bradford, Massachusetts, Scptem- 
r 21, 1771. He married Hannah Long, of Hop- 
nton, New Hampshire. He married (second) 
isan Cheney. In 1796 he removed to Newport, 
ew Hampshire, and occupied first the Hiall Call 
rm ; later and for many years he lived on the 
ace now or formerly of H. F. Pike. He was a 
rpenter by trade. He died in Newport, 1841. 

The children of Thomas Tenney were : Joshua, 
irn December 2, 1795; Mary, December 3, 179S; 
annah, September o, 1800; Temperance, July 20, 
I08; Susan, June 10, 1807; Abijah W., November 
, 1810; Isaac C, July II, 1814; Daniel W., October 
, 1816. 

(VII) Abijah W. Tenney, son of Thomas Ten- 
:y (6), was born in Newport, New Hampshire, 
oveniber 25, 1810. He married, A;.igust 9, 1840, 
annah Stevens Jenks, daughter of Captain Bcla 
'. and Mary (Stevens) Jenks. She was born No- 
inber 26, 1816, and died September 12, 1848. He 
arried (second), June 15, 1849, Emily Baker, 
lUghter of James and Sophia (Chapin) Baker, 
le was born April 22, 1823. He lived at Southville 

Newport, New Hampshire. He was a man of 
;ry genial nature, yet just to all with whom he 
•alt, and exacting justice and honesty in return. 
,ving an earnest, Christian life, trusted and hon- 
•ed by all who knew him, he exemplified the 
olden Rule from day to day. He had very strict 
eas in regard to temperance and his entire family 
as brought up in accordance with them. In politics 
; was a stanch Republican. Although very much 
terested in town as well as national affairs, and 
ijoying the esteem of his fellow-townsmen, yet he 
ould never hold any public office as he disliked 
;arlily the many disputes and controversies in 
hich a man of public affairs must be concerned, 
esides the farm which he alwa}'s carried on, he 
as for many years engaged at his trade as a mill- 
right. He was always considered a very good 
echanic and was skilled at various trades. 

The children of Abijah W. and Hannah Stevens 
Fenks) Tenney were: Abijah Wallace, born Sep- 
;nibcr 9, 1841, died September 22, 1844 ; Mary 
;nks. May 18, 1845, married Thomas Adelbert Mon- 
igue: Arthur Burton. May 22, 1846; George Hub- 
ird, July 26, 1848, died December 11, 1866. 

(VIII) Arthur Burton Tenney, son of Abijah 
I. Tenney, (7), was born at Newport, New Hamp- 
lire. May 22, 1846. He received his education here 
; the district schools and until nineteen years old 
orkcd with his father. Then wishing to follow. the 
irpenter's trade he left Newport, finally coming 
I Worcester. He returned to Newport where for a 
lort time he was engaged in building. Soon he 
lOved to Auburndale, Massachusetts, and there he 
K)k up the building business in company with Mr. 
oule. He took his family next to Holyoke, Massa- 
lusctts, where they were settled for several years 
hile he was engaged in New York and many of 
le nearer cities and towns until he finally came to 
Worcester, where he was connected with the erec- 



tion of many of the large buildings of the city, the 
Knowles Loom Works being the last one. While 
living in Worcester he superintended the construc- 
tion of several large buildings in Providence, Rhode 
Island, among them being that of the Rhode island 
Plospital Trust Co., and the B. H. Gladding Co. 
Atier the death of his wife, which occurred in 1893, 
he settled in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, where he 
lived until 1900. Then, owing to poor health, he 
went to Los Angeles, California, where he is at 
present successfully engaged in architecture and 
building. 

^ He married (first), at Worcester, September 17, 
186S, Harriet Elizabeth Gray, who was born at 
Waterford, Connecticut, September 25, 1844. 

The children of Arthur Burton and Harriet 
Elizabeth (Gray) Tenney were: Louis Burton, born 
December 18, 1872, married Mary Gould, of Paw- 
tucket, July 3, 1900, has one child. Florence G. ; Flor- 
ence Gray, .-^.ugust 5, 1877; Estelle Palmer, October 
I, 1882, died in Providence, Rhode Island, March 
18, 1892. Mr. Tenney married (second), 1897, Mar- 
tha A. Sheldon, of Pawtucket, Rhode Island. 

(IX) Florence Gray Tenney, daughter of Ar- 
thur Burton Tenney (8), was born August 5, 1877, 
at Auburndale, Massachusetts. She married Daniel 
Austin Howe, December 5, 1899, at Worcester, 
Massachusetts. (See sketch of Daniel A. Howe and 
family.) 

FRED WENDELL WHITE. Thomas White 
(l), of Weymouth, was the pioneer ancestor of 
Fred Wendell White, city treasurer of Worcester, 
Massachusetts. 

He came from his home in England in 1624 or 
soon after, and settled in Weymouth. He was ad- 
mitted a freeman March 3, 1636, and was a deputy 
to the general court in 1636 and 1637, 1657 and 
1670. He was a proprietor of the town as early as 
1643. According to the deposition to the will of 
Anne Looman, made October 21, 1659, he was born 
in England in 1599 or 1600. He was a carpenter 
by trade. He died August, 1679. His will was dated 
July 5, 1679, and proved August 28, of that year. 
He mentioned the children named below, grandchil- 
> dren Lydia, Mary and Ebenezer White, Pastor Sam- 
uel Torrey and Elder Edward Bates. Thomas Dyer, 
who witnessed the will, was of Mendon later. 

The children of Thomas White were: Joseph, 
se,e forward; Samuel, born 1642, admitted a free- 
man 1666, married Mary Dyer, son of Thomas 
Dyer, named above; Thomas, admitted a freeman 
1681, married Mary Pratt, of Braintree; Hannah, 
married, June 24. 1660, John Baxter; Ebenezer, 
(Lieutenant), married Hannah Phillips, daughter of 
Nicholas, settled in Weymouth. 

(II) Captain Joseph White, son of Thomas 
White (i). was born about 1640 in Weymouth. He 
married, September 9, 1660, Lydia Rogers, daughter 
of John Rogers, of Weymouth, one of the pioneers 
there. Captain White died March 23. 1706, his wife 
Lydia died IMay 8, 1727. He seUled in Nipmuc 
or Mendon in 1663, and was forrnally accepted on 
the list of ten men from Weymouth, and thirteen 
' from Braintree who constituted the first settlers 
of the town. His was one of the first fifteen families 
located in Mendon in 1662 and 1663. He was the 
largest taxpayer in the town for many years. He 
held many offices and served on special committees 
for the new town. Several of his children were born 
in Weymouth before he went to Mendon, several of 
them were born while the family was away from 
Mendon during King Philip's war. Savage gives 
eleven children. The Mendon records seem" to give 



286 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



four children to Caiatain Joseph and Lydia, not 
mentioned by Savage, possibly belonging to Jo- 
seph, Jr. 

The children of Joseph and Lydia were: Joseph, 
born at Weymouth, December i6, 1662; Samuel, 
February 14, 1667, at Mendon; John; Ebenezer ; 
Thomas; Ann, married a Mr. Trask; Mary, married 
a Mr. Hill ; Kxperience, born in Mendon, December 

5, 16.S0; Hannah, November 29, 1681, at Mendon; Jo- 
seph, October 19, 1683, see forward; Lydia, May 
10, 1686, married a Mr. Cook; Hannah, December 
9, 1691 ; Abigail, November 10, 1693 ; William ; and 
Benjamin, March 28, 1701. 

(HI) Joseph White, son of Joseph White (2), 
was born in Mendon, Massachusetts, October 19, 
1683, and died there October 28, 1757. He married, 

about 171 1, Prudence . Their children, all 

born at Mendon, were: Joseph, Jr., born September 
23, 1712, see forward; Peter, December 6, 1714; 
Aaron, May 22, 1717; Moses, August 31, 1721. 

(IV) Joseph White, Jr., son of Joseph White 
(3), was born in Mendon, September 22, 1712, and 
settled in that part of Mendon, later U-xbridge, 
Massachusetts. He married, December 4, 1734, 
Judith Clark, of U.xbridge, Rev. Nathan Webb of- 
ficiating. They had thirteen children : Sarah, born 
September 4, 1735, died September, 1747; Lyral, May 
8, 1737, married, November 25, 1756, Abner Taft, 
at Uxbridge ; Lois, August 25, 1739, married, January 

6, I7S7, Edward Seagraves, at Uxbridge; Eunice, 
November i, 1741 ; Joseph, May 4, 1744, died Sep- 
tember 8, 1747; Judith, December i, 1746, died Sep- 
tember, 1747: Amos, October 26, 1748, married. May 
17, 1770. Azubah Taft, at Uxbridge ; he died in the 
Revolutionary army. Joel, October 4, 1751, died at 
Northbridge, Massachusetts, July 22, 1835; Jesse, 
see forward ; Obadiah, September 8, 1753 ; Edward, 
June 5, 1756, died June 14, 1756; Abner, April 5, 
1758, died April 5, 1758; Moses, August 3, 1759, died 
August 8, 1759. 

(V) Jesse White, ninth child of Joseph White 
(4), was born in Uxbridge, Massachusetts, June 
12, 1754; married, March 28, 1777, in Uxbridge, 
Anna Mason, of Uxbridge (published March 10, 
1777, in Northbridge). He was educated and learned 
his trade as blacksmith at Uxbridge. He was a 
farmer as well as a blacksmith. He settled in 
Northbridge. From him the elder Paul Whitney 
learned his trade. 

He was deacon in the Baptist church of some 
neighboring town, perhaps Grafton. He held various 
town offices. He was a revolutionary soldier, en- 
listing as a private in Captain Josiah Wood's com- 
pany which marched from Northbridge to Rox- 
bury April 19, 1775, on the Lexington alarm. He 
was sergeant in Captain David Batcheller's company. 
Lieutenant Colonel Nathan Tyler's regiment which 
marched December 8, 1776, on the alarm to Provi- 
dence. He was sergeant in Captain David Batchel- 
ler's company, Colonel Nathan Tyler's regiment, 
which marched on the alarm to Rhode Island July 
28, 1780. He was chosen by the town of North- 
bridge, July 29, 1779, one of a committee to hire 
men to enlist in the Continental army, and was 
rated to pay for that service, six pounds, March i, 
1780, and one hundred and twenty pounds in old 
currency, March 12, 1781. 

He married Anna Mason, as stated above, and 
had eleven children: Lucy, born May 5, 1778, mar- 
ried Dr. Artemas Bullard; Noah, February 21, 
1780; Amos, see forward; Jesse, June 13, 1783; 
Alden, March 21, 1785; Anna, January 4, 17S7, died 
February 14, 1795; Joel, January s, 1789; Eunice, 
March 4, 1791 ; Sally, May 6, 1793. died May ig, 
1793; Mason, May 14, 1794; Washington, May 19, 



1796. Jesse White, father of these children, died 
at Northbridge, March 2, 1830, and is buried there 
in what is known as the Cooper graveyard. 

(VI) Amos White, third child of Jesse White 
(S), was born in Northbridge, Massachusetts, Sep- 
tember 19, 1781. He followed his father's trade of 
blacksmith, and had a blacksmith shop of his own 
later. He manufactured edge tools, chiefly for boot 
and shoe makers, also axes. 

Mr. White was a Methodist and was connected 
with that denomination until late in life when he 
attended the Congregational church. He was captain 
of the Northbridge Militia Company, and was always 
known afterward as Captain White. 

He married, September l, 1803, Hepzibath .41d- 
rich, of Northbridge, who was born May 21, 1780, 
and died October 27, 1865. Both are buried in the 
Cooper graveyard. Their children were : Lowell, 
see forward; Jefferson, born June 18, 1805; Otis, 
October 12, 1806; Amos, June 3, 1809; Lydia, i\Iay 
I5> 1813; Lucy Bullard, September 30, 1814; Laura, 
November 24, 1817; Perry, August 29, 1820, died 
April 28, 1821 ; Luke, January 7, 1822, died July 16, 
1882. Amos White, father of these children, died 
March 11, 1853. 

(VII) Lowell White, son of Amos White (6), 
was born in West Sutton, Massachusetts, May 20, 
1804. At an early age he moved to Northbridge 
with his parents. He received his early education 
in the common schools of Northbridge, working 
on his father's farm up to the age of fourteen years, 
when he was apprenticed to Cheney Taft, a grocer, 
with whom he remained for about three years. He 
helped his father for a time on the home farm and 
then went to work in Levi Fuller's shoe shop and 
later in Warren Adams' shoe shop, some three years 
in all, and then for Deacon Joel Batcheller, manu- 
facturing shoes until October, 1847, when he moved 
to Grafton and accepted a position in Captain John 
W. Slocumb's shop. He continued in the shoe 
business until within a year of his death. He worked 
in Westboro for some time while living in Grafton. 

He was prominent in town affairs at Grafton, 
and served on the board of selectmen. He was a 
Republican. He was a member of the Congrega- 
tional church and of the Grafton Lodge of Odd Fel- 
lows. 

He married, October 5, 1828, at Northbridge, 
(by Rev. John Crane) Miranda Dodge, who was 
born February 19, 1808. the daughter of Abner and 
Rhoda (Adams) Dodge, of Northbridge. Mr. 
Dodge was prominent in military affairs and had the 
rank of captain in the militia. 

The children of Lowell and Miranda White 
were: Catherine Augusta, born February 6, 1830; 
Merrick Dodge (see forward) ; Sarah Frances, born 
October. 1835, died October 9, 1836; Ann Maria 
(twin) born July 23, 1840; Jane Sophia (twin), 
born July 23, 1840. Lowell White, father of these 
children, died February 12, 1875. 

(VIII) Merrick Dodge White, second child of 
Lowell VVhite and father of Fred W. White, was born 1 
in Northbridge, Massachusetts, September 16, i834.|| 
He attended the Northbridge public schools until ■ 
he was thirteen years of age and helped his father 
make shoes. When the family moved to Grafton 

. in October, 1847, he went to work in the shoe factory 
of Captain John W. Slocumb. He worked there 
until December 25, 1858, when he took a position 
as cutter in the shoe shop of John Hayes, at Dover, 
New Hampshire. He returned in 1861 and worked 
for a year in Worcester for J. W. Brigham, South- 
bridge street ; and for two years at South Framing- 
ham in the Charles Prentice shop ; and for a year 
in the shops of Augustus Forbush and H. C. Green- 




I 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



z87 



rood, in Grafton. He was clerk in the Sherman 
iouse, Natick, two years and a half, and later was 
ngaged in the restaurant business in Westboro and 
irafton, conducting a business in the last named 
own on his own account. After more experience in 
he hotel business he returned to shoe making for 
I. H. Tilton, Ashland, where he worked for five 
ears. In 1889 he began work for his brother-in- 
iw, Samuel A. Prescott, in the manufacture of 
hoddy. He was in this business for eleven years 
fhen he lost his arm in an accident and had to re- 
ire. He is at present living with his sister, Mrs. 
^rescott. In politics he is a Democrat, and while 
n Natick was delegate to various party conven- 
iens. He attends the Congregational church. He 
erved five years in the Grafton jNlilitary Company, 
ie married Emma Adelaide Wendell (mtentions 
lated August 18, i860), at Dover, New Hamp- 
hire. She was a daughter of George Washington 
.nd Prudence Cjenness) Wendell, of Dover New 
rlampshire. She died August 18, 1889. Their 
hildren were : Harry Lowell, born at Dover, New 
iampshire, January 24, 1861 ; Fred Wendell, see 
orward; Clmton Sutton, born at Grafton, June 2, 
864. 

(IX) Fred Wendell White, son of Merrick 
Dodge White (8), was born at Dover, New Hamp- 
ihire, March 16, 1862. In the fall of 1866 he moved 
vith his parents to Grafton, Massachusetts, where he 
:ntered the common schools of that town. After 
:ompleting two terms in the high school he went 
o Worcester to take a position, April 7, 1879, as 
issistant cashier at the store of Barnard & Sum- 
ter. He remained in that position until Jilareh 8, 
:88o, when he entered the employ of W. H. Morse 
k Company, bankers, as assistant cashier. He be- 
:ame assistant bookkeeper at the First National 
Bank October 11, 1880, of the same year, and con- 
inued in various positions, advancing to the posi- 
:ions of paying and receiving teller, in all some 
;eventeen years, when he resigned to accept a posi- 
;ion with Mr. Barton. He was appointed assistant 
:ity treasurer by William S. Barton, then the city 
xeasurer, September 24, 1897. Upon the retirement 
Df Mr. Barton owing to failing health, January 2, 
[899, he was elected treasurer of the city and has 
seen re-elected to the position at every election since, 
rhe position is one of great responsibility. The 
;ity treasurer receives all of the taxes and assess- 
nents and disburses all the money of the city. Mil- 
ieus of dollars are handled every year in his office. 
Mr. White has given the utmost satisfaction to 
;he city officers and the taxpayers. 

He is a member of the Adams Square Congrega- 
lional church, is its treasurer, and member of the 
music committee. In politics he is a Republican. 
He is a prominent Free Mason, member of Monta- 
:ute Lodge, of Worcester Royal Arch Chapter and 
Df Hiram Council. He is a member of Worcester 
Lodge, No. 56, Odd Fellows ; of the Hancock Club ; 
Df the Worcester Automobile Club ; of the Wor- 
:ester County Mechanics' Association ; of the Sons 
Df the American Revolution ; Worcester Congrega- 
tional Club ; the Economic Club ; and Worcester 
County Horticultural Society. He was formerly a 
member of Company G, Sixth Regiment, Massa- 
chusetts Volunteer Militia, from 1880 to 1884 in- 
clusive, and belongs to the Veteran Association. 

He married, April 22, 1886, Mabel Josephine 
Boyd, who was born october 19, 1864, the daughter 
of John T. and Elizabeth W. (Butts) Boyd, of Bos- 
ton. Mr. Boyd was a sailmaker at Charlestown 
Navy Yard, a veteran and lieutenant colonel in the 
Fifth Massachusetts Infantry ii^ the civil war. 

The children of Fred Wendell and Mabel Jose- 



phine (Boyd) White were: Marion Winter, born 
April 17, 1889; Frances Lowell, born January 31, 
1892; died September 9, 1903; Eloise Boyd, born 
August 16, 1900. 

EMERSON WARNER, M. D. (I) William 
Warner, the emigrant ancestor of the Warner family 
of Barre, and of Dr. Emerson Warner, of Worcester, 
is believed to be a son of Samuel Warner, of 
Boxted, Essex, England, and was doubtless born in 
England about 1590. William Warner was one of 
the pioneers at Ipswich, Massachusetts, was one of 
the proprietors as early as 1635, and his name ap- 
pears on a list of proprietors dated 1637. He was 
admitted a freeman. May 2, 1638. The date of his 
death is unknown, but he was living October 29, 
1654. Records exist in this country of three of his 
children, namely : Daniel ; John, born about 1616 
in England; and a daughter, born in England, be- 
came the wife of Thomas Wells, and died July, 1671. 

.(II) John Warner, son of William Warner, was 
born in England about the year 1616. He was reared 
in his native land and came to the Ipswich Colony, 
Massachusetts Bay, cither shortly before or after 
the remainder of tlae family. He was a passenger 
from London on the ship "Increase" in 1635, when 
he gave his age of twenty years. He removed from 
Ipswich to Brookfield in 1670, was one of three men 
there who took the Indian deed for the town of 
Brookfield, December 19, 1673, and was one of the 
principal inhabitants there. When the town was 
destroyed by the Indians in 1675 he retreated with 
his younger children to Hadley, Massachusetts, 
whither Mark Warner, an elder son, and other chil- 
dren had gone to settle. He probably died at the 
home of some of his children, 1692. 

John Warner married (first) . 

He married (second) Pricilla Symonds, daughter 
of Mark Symonds, about 1655. The children of John 
Warner and his first wife were: Samuel, born about 
1640; John, born about 1643, died at Springfield, 
Ma<;sachusetts, January 21, 1724; Mark, born 1646, 
died at Northampton, Massachusetts, May 31, 1738, 
aged ninety-two years ; Nathaniel, born about 1650, 
was a resident of Brookfield in 1673, died in Hadley, 
Massachusetts, January 15, 1714; Daniel, born about 
1653, died in Ipswich, Massachusetts, June 8, 1659. 
The children of John and Priscilla (Symonds) War- 
ner were: Joseph, born August 15, 1657, died June 
18, 1658: Mehitable, born April 16, 1659, died at 
Hadley, Massachusetts, June 12, 1678 ; Daniel, born 
April 16, 1661. died 1688; Eleazer, born November 
13, 1662, died at Hadley, Massachusetts, May 8, 
1729; Priscilla, born 1664, married Thomas Cum- 
mings, of Dunstable, Massachusetts, December 19, 
1688. 

(HI) Samuel Warner, son of John Warner, was 
born in Ipswich, Massachusetts, about 1640. He 
was in Brookfield in 1673, but his family was not 
with him. He was one of the petitioners for the in- 
corporation of the town of Brookfield, and possibly 
was there two years later when the town was de- 
stroyed. He testified March 26, 1678. describing him- 
self as thirty-eight years old and that he formerly 
owned land in Brookfield. He became one of the 
pioneers in Dunstable, Massachusetts, now Nashua, 
New Hampshire, was one of the fourteen proprietors 
residin,g there November 30, 1682. and was one of 
the seven male members of the first church which 
was organized. December 16. i68.'5. He purchased a 
farm in Groton. Massachusetts, the adjoining town, 
October 14, 1689, and probably died there about 

1703. 

He married (first) in Ipswich. Massachusetts, 
October 21, 1662, Mercy Swan, who died in Dun- 



288 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



stable, Massachusetts, April 3, 1683. Their children 
were: Priscilla, born September 25, 1666, died 
young; Samuel, born July 5, 1668, settled at Pom- 
fret, Connecticut; John, born August 2, 1670, died 
July 14, 1671; Dorothy, burn June 2, 1672; Sarah, 
born May 28, 1674; Richard, born August 13, 1676, 
at Groton, died 1767, aged ninety-one years; his 
will dated June 10, 1763, was proved October 15, 
1767. Samuel Warner married (second), May 4, 
1684. Mary Swallow, and their children were: 
Eleazer, born January 27, 1686; Priscilla. The chil- 
dren of his first wife were probably all born in 
Ipswich, and the children of his second wife were 
born in Dunstable. 

(IV) Eleazer Warner, son of Samuel Warner, 
was born in Dunstable, Massachusetts, January 27, 
1686. When a young man he devoted several years 
to the military service. He was assigned to duty on 
the frontier and for many years was stationed with 
the military company at Brookfield, the scene of 
his grandfather's disaster in King Philip's war. -He 
enlisted as a private and rose in rank from time to 
time through the grades of sergeant, ensign and lieu- 
tenant of the company commanded by Captain Sam- 
uel Wright, of Rutland. Later he became captain 
of the military company at Hardwick and New 
Braintree and retained the office until 1756, when he 
was seventy years old. He evidently liked the mili- 
tary service and enjoyed a vigorous old age. He 
is the hero of the only Indian tale related of Hard- 
wick settlers. In 1830, while he was in the military 
service, he removed his family from their residence 
in Groton or Dunstable to Hardwick, now New 
Braintree. His land was near Ditch meadow, and 
his farm included part of the old Indian fort at 
Winnimisset. Shortly afterward he had to go to 
Canada to effect an exchange of prisoners, and while 
he was there an Indian became offended at him and 
followed him home. 

According to family tradition the Indian lurked 
about for several days for a chance to take a shot 
at Warner. One day Captain Warner went into the 
forest with his musket and came across his enemy. 
The Indian jumped behind a tree, and Warner 
dropped behind a log. Placing his hat on a stick 
Warner raised it above the edge of the log, and the 
Indian was deceived by the old trick and let fire 
at the empty hat. The captain sprang up and the 
Indian rushed forward with his scalping knife only 
to meet the contents of the white man's gun. His 
body was thrown in the lily pond between the road 
and river, half a mile east of Old Furnace. After 
his marriage Captain Warner went to live on the 
west side of the road from New Braintree to War- 
ren, on the south side of the brook, at the head of 
Ditch mea/low. then Brookfield, now New Brain- 
tree. About 1730 he removed to a farm which he 
sold to Perez Cobb, May 4. 1764, and which was for 
many years known as the Perez Cobb farm. It was 
located on the road to Rutland, about a mile east 
of Furnace village, already mentioned. Mr. Warner 
became one of the most active and honored citizens 
of the new town of New Braintree, was selectman 
for six years, assessor for a similar period of time, 
was often chosen moderator of the town meetings, 
and was one of twelve man who formed the first 
church there. 

Captain Eleazer Warner married, December 4, 
1722, when thirty-six years old. Prudence Barnes, 
daughter of Thomas Barnes, of Brookfield. Their 
children were : Mary, born April 21, 1724, married 
Thomas Robinson, November 23, 1744, died August 
7, 1812; Phineas, born October II, 1726, married 
Martha Nash : Warham, born November i. 1730, 
(November 2 in New Braintree records) resided at 



New Braintree and died there December 4, 1817, 
leaving a large family ; Eleazer, born February 26, 
1733-34, was a soldier in the French war, died in 
the service November 20, 1755; Martin, born Sep- 
tember 2, 1735, settled in Norwich; Silas, born May 
21, 1737, died of wounds received in French war, 
August 24, 1760; Samuel, born October 7, 1739, lived 
at New Braintree, married Unity Ware, April 19, 
1769; Noah, born February 9, 1741-42, killed in battle 
in the French war, 1760; Prudence, born June 14, 
1744, married Daniel Eldridge, February 10. 1767, 
Eleazer Warner, father of these children, died in 
New Braintree, February 28, 1776, aged ninety years. 
He survived his wife several years, she passing 
away in New Braintree, February 25, 1770, aged 
sixty-six years. Seven sons of this old warrior, 
Captain Warner, entered the military service during 
the French war, and three lost their lives. 

(V) Phineas Warner, son of Captain Eleazer 
Warner, was born October II, 1726, at New Brain- 
tree, then Brookfield, Massachusetts. He was deacon 
of the church in New Braintree, and a man of dis- 
tinction. Fie married Martha Nash, of Hatfield, 
Massachusetts, February 11, 1752, and their children 
were: Eleazer, born 1756, died November 17, 1758, 
aged seventeen months ; Phineas, born 1759. died 
May 6, 1762, aged two years, eight months ; Martha, 
born 1767, died September 4, 1778, aged seventeen 
years; Phineas, born November 2, 1763. died at New 
Braintree, July 24, 1841 ; and perhaps others. Deacon 
Phineas Warner died March 25, 1795, at New Brain- 
tree, and his wife passed away at the same place 
October 23, 181 r. 

(VI) Phineas Warner, son of Phineas Warner, 
was born in New Braintree, Massachusetts, Novem- 
ber 2, 1763, and died there July 24, 1841. He was 
an ensign in the army. He married Mary Pollard. 
She died 1841. Their children were: Patty, born 
November 7, 1784; Daniel, born August 28, 1786; 
Eli, born June 22, 1788; Betse)', born April 8, 1790; 
Amory P., born July 9, 1805, died April 28, 1880. 

(VII) Amory P. Warner, son of Phineas War- 
ner, was born in New Braintree, Massachusetts, 
July 9. 1805. died at Worcester. Massachusetts, April 
28, 1S80. He was reared on a farm in New Brain- 
tree, educated in the public schools of his native 
town, and was a farmer by occupation. He was a 
member of the Methodist church. He was a Repub- 
lican in politics. He married, March 12, 1829, 
Cemira C. Haskins, born in Prescott, Massachusetts, 
September 13, 1811, died- February 6, 1881. They 
were the parents of one child, Emerson, born April 
30, 1831. at New Braintree, Massachusetts. 

(VIII) Emerson Warner, son of Amory P. 
Warner, was born in New Braintree, Massachusetts, 
April 30. 1831. He attended the district schools of 
New Braintree, Wilbraham Academy, Wesleyan Uni- 
versity at Middletown, Connecticut, which he en- 
tered in 1852, graduated therefrom in 1856, and 
received the degree of Master of Arts in 1859. For 
a few years thereafter he taught in Wilbraham Acad- 
emy. He received his degree of Doctor of Medi- 
cine from Harvard Medical School in 1863, began 
to practice in Shrewsbury, but removed to Worcester, 
January i, 1866, and led a very busy professional 
life there for twenty years. In 1872 and 1873 he 
visited many of the leading medical institutions in 
Europe. Since 1886, when his career was interrupted 
by illness, he has not been in active practice, but has 
traveled extensively in Asia, Africa, South America, 
North America and Europe, accompanied by Mrs. 
Warner. They have passed several winters in the 
Azores and the south because of the modified cli- 
mate. Dr. Warner, has been across the country 
many times in every direction, visiting most of the 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



289 



tates and important cities in the United States and 
>nada, and he has been around the world twice 
y dififerent routes. In these nineteen years Dr. 
Varner has acquired a cosmopolitan knowledge of 
he world, its geography and its people such as few 
:ien are fortunate enough to possess. 

When Dr. Warner came to Worcester he took 
ossession of the house on Main street erected in 
793 by the Rev. Dr. Austin, then pastor of the Old 
jouth Church. A portion of that landmark is still 
landing near the Crompton & Knowles loom works, 
I'hither it was moved in order to make room for the 
irescnt Warner block, a four story building, ex- 
ending from 570 to 576 Main street, where he now 
esidcs. Dr. Warner was in regular attendance at 
he opening of the Worcester Dispensary, and for 
eventeen years was on the staflf at the Worcester 
;ity Hospital. He has been consulting surgeon at 
he Memorial Hospital since it was established, was 
iresident of the Worcester District Medical Society, 
nd for many years was a councillor of the Massa- 
husetts Medical Society. In politics he is a Repub- 
ican. He was a member of school boards in the 
ities in which he resided prior to taking up his 
esidence in Worcester, and was a member of the 
Vorcester school board for twenty years. He rep- 
esented Worcester in the general court in 1S84 and 
885. and as chairman of the committee on public 
lealth did important work in sanitary legislation. 
ie is an active member of the Methodist Episcopal 
hurch, and was delegate to the general conference 
n 1880. He has been interested in the Worcester 
Associated Charities, and belongs to the Worcester 
\rt Museum Corporation. 

Dr. Warner married (first), July 18, 1851, L. 
Angeline Cleveland, of Hardwick, Massachusetts, 
ind the tw'O children born of this union died young. 
Urs. Warner died September 20. 1854. Dr. Warner 
narried (second). May 24, 1856, Isabelle H. An- 
Irevvs, of Glastonbury, Connecticut, daughter of 
3avid and Honoria (Sparks) Andrews, and grand- 
laughter of David and Rebecca (Stratton) An- 
Irews. Her father was born July 3, 1791, was a 
'armer in Glastonbury, and represented that town 
n the Connecticut legislature in 1842 and 1S43. He 
narried, December 25, 1819, Honoria Sparks, born 
fune 3, 1802, died September 14. 1879, and his death 
occurred March 23, 1858. The children of Dr. 
imerson and Isabelle H. (Andrews) Warner were: 
Effie L., born September 7, 1865, died September 
io, 1884. Isabel, -born November 20. i860, educated 
n the Worcester schools, married, October 30, 1887, 
Dean S. Ellis, M. D., born in Vermontville, Frank- 
in county. New York. August 28, 1856, son of Sam- 
jel and Emily M. (Towne) Ellis. Dr. Ellis ch- 
ained his preliminary education in the public schools 
jf Worcester and at New Salem Academy, where 
le pursued a four years course. He then entered 
feffcrson Medical College, graduating in the class 
)f 1883, and immediately thereafter began practice 
n Worcester, where he at once became popular with 
til classes. He is skilled as a general practitioner, 
■anks well among his fellow-physicians, and is recog- 
lized as one of the leading practicing physicians of 
Worcester. He is medical examiner for eight -in- 
jurance companies, surgeon to eleven local societies, 
md a fellow of the Massachusetts Medical Society, 
A.merican Medical Association, and the Worcester 
Medical Association. In 1904 Dr. Ellis purchased 
:he granite block, 578 and 580 Main street, remodeled 
he entire building, and at the present time it is one 
3f the best in the city He is a lover of fine horses, 
ind always drives animals of splendid breed and fine 
nettle. Dr. and Mrs. Ellis have traveled quite ex- 
tensively both in this country and abroad. Their 
19 



children are: Ruth, born December 17, 1889: Ralph 
Warner, born November 16, 1891 ; Ethel, born July 
29, 1894; Myrtle I.sabel, born August 8, iSg6, died 
September 7,, 1901 ; and Dean Emerson, born July 
5. 1903. 

STEPHEN P. STREETER. Stephen Streeter 
(i), first of Gloucester, Massachusetts, in 1642, was 
the emigrant ancestor of Stephen P. Streeter, of Wor- 
cester. He is believed to have come to New England 
before 1640. He may have preceded the settlers of 
1642 in Gloucester, as Blynman's grant as that time 
included a lot primarily given to Streeter. He had 
a house in Gloucester, but did not remain long there 
after its permanent settlement. In 1644 he was in 
Charlestown, recorded as a householder, and he took 
the freeman's oath there May 29, 1644. He and his 
wife Ursula joined the church there March 21, 1652. 
The family genealogists think the proof conclusive 
that Stephen Streeter came from the Streeter family 
in Goudherst, England. The tradition in some 
branches of the American family is that the emigrant 
came from Surrey while Goudherst is in Kent, but 
there are representatives in both counties now and 
have been for centuries. 

Stephen Streeter's will was made June 10, 1652. 
He was a shoemaker by trade. His wife Ursula is 
said to have been the daughter of Henry Adams, 
of Braintree, but the relationship is not proved. 
After Streeter's death his widow married, October 
13, 1656 or 7, in Charlestown, Massachusetts, Sam- 
uel Hosier, of Watertown. He died July 29, 1665. 
His widow married, about 1666, William Robinson, 
of Dorchester, whose name first appears in Dor- 
chester records in 1636. He was killed July 6, 
1668, being caught in the wheel of his mill and torn 
in pieces. His widow married Griffin Crafts, of 
Roxbury. She died before 1690. The children of 
.'Stephen and Ursula Streeter were: Stephen; 
Sarah, who was under eighteen when her father's 
will was made in 16.S2: Samuel: John, a soldier in 
King Philip's war, . 1675 ; Hannah, born November 
10, 1644; Rebecca; Mary, (posthumous) born about 
1652. 

(II) Stephen Streeter, son of Stephen Streeter 
(I), was probably born in England and died in 
Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1689. He lived • in 
Charlestown, Watertown, Brookline and Cambridge, 
Massachusetts. He sold half of the homestead in 
Charlestown, inherited from his father, in 1679, and 
other land in 1681. His wife Deborah was ad- 
mitted to the church at Cambridge in full com- 
munion July 13, 1701, and after her husband's death 
she married, August 10, 1704, Samuel Sears, of 
Wrentham, Massachusetts. 

The children of Stephen and Deborah Streeter 
were': Stephen, born June 20, 1667, at Watertown ; 
Sarali, lirrn Octolier 2, 1669, in Watertown : Samuel ; 
John, born probably at Brookline; Rebecca, born 
September 3, 1683, at Cambridge ; Deborah, born 
September 25, 1685, died April 7, 1689. at Cambridge : 
Joseph, born Septetnber- 18, 1687: Benjamin, born 
November 25, 1689, died April 23, 1690. 

(III) Samuel Streeter, son of Stephen Streeter 
(2), was born probably at Brookline, Massachusetts, 
and died at Framingham, Massachusetts, 1752. He 
probably removed from Cambridge to Attleboro, 
Massachusetts, about 1706, where he bought land 
on several occasions, but later he was again in 
Framingham, Massachusetts. His will is dated April 
23, 1751, and probated September 16, following. 

He married (first). Deborah , who died 

November 13, 1708, and (second) Mercy , 

who was probably a widow Howe. The children 
of Samuel and Deborah Streeter were : Marv, 



290 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



baptized February 2, 1696-7; Sarah, baptized Febru- 
ary 2, 1696-7; Stephen, baptized in 1698, died in 
Douglas, Massachusetts, September 22, 175(3; Samuel, 
baptized January 7, 1699-1700, died m Charlton, 
Massachusetts, June 7, 1763; Mercy, 'baptized May 
14, 1704; Susanna, baptized April 28, 1705, in Cam- 
bridge; Joseph, born May 10, 1708; Deborah, mar- 
ried Jedediah Belknap, of Framingham; Elizabeth, 
married Ebenezer i-nzzell, of Framingham. 

([\' ) Stephen Streeter, son of Samuel Streeter 
(3), was baptized September 4, 1698. He settled in 
Framingham and removed to Douglas, Massachu- 
setts, where he died September 22, 1756. Fie was 
a yeoman. He bought a one hundred and sixty acre 
farm at Douglas, December 14, 1744. He married 
Catherine Adams, and they joined the church in 
full communion at Framingham, February 7, 1725. 
Seven of their children were born in Framingham. 
The children of Stephen and Catherine (.Adams) 
Streeter were: Esther, born January 13, 1724-5, 
married Josiah Haven, of Framingham; Stephen, 
born February 14, 1726-7; Abigail, born January 15, 
1728-9; Elizabeth, born January 9, 1729-30; John, 
born February 14, 1731-2; Ursula, born November 9, 
1733; Adams, born December 31, 1735; Zebulon, 
born March 24, 1739; Naphtali, born March 6, 1741, 
in Douglas, owned land in Royalston, Massachu- 
setts; Samuel, born January 16, 1743, in Douglas; 
Mary, born April I, 1747, probably married Benja- 
min Green, of Spencer, Massachusetts. 

(V) Zebulon Streeter, son of Stephen Streeter 
(4), was born in Douglas, Massachusetts, March 

24, 1739- He settled in Surrey, New Hampshire, 
where he died October 14, 180S. He and his brother, 
Adams Streeter, were two of the leading ministers of 
the Universalist denomination in their day. His 
will was made December 3, 1807, and proved Octo- 
ber 26, 1808. 

He married, July 16, 1760, at Oxford, Massa- 
chusetts, Tabitha Harvey, who was born 1736 and 
died in Surrey, New Hampshire, January 25, 1813, 
aged seventy-six years. Their first three children 
were born in Douglas, the others in Winchester, 
New Hampshire. The children of Rev. Zebulon and 
Tabitha (Harvey) Streeter were: Benjamin, born 
April 21, 1762; Daniel, born June 23, 1764; Benoni, 
born June 22, 1766; Hannah, married Samuel Hud- 
son; Lucy, born January, 1771; Jesse, born October 

25, 1773; Elijah, born July 3, 1775; David; Tabitha, 

married Smith, of Grafton, Vermont; Eliab, 

born 1774, died 1806, unmarried. 

(VI) David Streeter, son of Zebulon Stretter 
(S), was born in Winchester, New Hampshire, 
December 2, 1777. He removed early to Concord, 
Vermont, where he took the freeman's oath, March 
4, 1799, and was on the tax list as a voter and prop- 
erty owner in 1802. He married, July 18, 1803, at 
Concord, Vermont, Anna Winslow, of Wendell, 
Massachusetts. 

The children of David and Anna (Winslow) 
Streeter, all born in Concord, Vermont, were : 
Phebe, born May 23, 1806; David, born January 14, 
1808; ZebuloH. born October 19, 1809, died March 
15, 1810; Anna or Nancy, born December 25, 1810, 

married Howard ; Susanna, born September 

14, 1812. 

(VH) David Streeter, son of David Streeter 
(6), was born in Concern, Vermont, January 14, 
1808, and died there. He married, December 6, 1832, 
Mercy Row, at Concord, Massachusetts. All their 
children were born at Concord, viz. : Jane W., 
born September 8, 1833; Anna L., born February 23. 
183s; Chester P., born May 12, 1837, died February 
25, 1882, married, March 28, 1858, Eliza Boutwell ; 
Prescott B. 



(VHI) Prescott B. Streeter, son of David 
Streeter (7), was born in Concord, Vermont, May 12, 
1837. He married, February 8, 1865, Georgianna 
Boutwell. They settled in Concord, Vermont, where 
their children were born, viz. : Adelbert D., born 
April 18, 1866; William P., born May 27, 1868; 
Elmira E., born May 11, 1870; Stephen P., born 
April 13, 1872; Dene F., born March 19, 1874; Alice 
M., born -April 27, 1877; Henry P., born June 8, 
1882 ; Carrie E., born February 1, 1885. 

(IX) Stephen Streeter, son of Prescott B. 
Streeter (8), is the subject of this sketch. 

Stephen P. Streeter was born in Concord, Ver- 
mont, April 13, 1872. The public and high schools 
of his native town gave him the foundation of his 
education. He took a course in the State Normal 
School of Vermont and at Oberlin College, Oberlin, 
Ohio. After graduating from college Mr. Streeter 
taught for a year and a half in the Vermont Indus- 
trial School, where he learned by experience the 
excellencies and defects of the various systems of 
teaching boy's schools. He taught in the public 
schools also. He is a natural teacher and from the 
first showed himself able to transfer his thoughts 
to his pupils and also to inspire in them self-con- 
fidence and self-reliance, characteristics that are 
essential in any attempt to educate. In 1896 Mr. 
Streeter accepted the position of teacher and assistant 
superintendent of the Worcester County Truant 
School at Oakdale. He remained there for about 
two years, the results being unusually good, and 
won the esteem and praise of the olficers of that 
institution. In 1898 he became the master of the 
congregate department of the Boston Parential 
School. 

When Edwin F. Northrup resigned as superin- 
tendent of the Worcester Boys' Club in April, 1900, 
the executive committee selected Mr. Streeter to 
fill tlie position and neither Mr. Streeter nor the man- 
agers of the club have ever had any occasion to re- 
gret the choice. His experience and natural ability 
made him especially adapted to the peculiar .work 
demanded of the administrative officer of an insti- 
tution of this kind. To the technical and industrial 
side of the Boys' Club Mr. Streeter brought a mind 
richly stored with facts of value to him in his work. 
He had kept closely in touch with scientifiec and 
technical education in school and in private study. 
When Superintendent Streeter commenced his 
duties in Worcester there were no organized classes ; 
no systematic way of visiting the house; the dor- 
mitory was unfurnished; there was no reading room 
and the manual training department was not in ex- 
istence. He made provision for all these needs and 
deficiencies and provided a library and reading room. 
He organized the business classes also, and estab- 
lished the gymnasium. 

The Boys' Club was established in 1889, although 
the real beginning of its usefulness was in 1893, when 
it was incorporated. The chief departments of the 
club in past years have been the savings bank, where- 
in small sums several hundred dollars are on de- 
posit with the club; the manual training classes; 
the civil government and business classes. In the 
manual training department there are classes in 
carpentry, carving and printing. The boys show 
great interest of course in the gymnasium where 
they are given some instruction and encouraged to 
take systematic exercises. There are classes in 
music and in basketry. There are of course various 
games for recreation and the reading room is well 
patronized. The police court is one of the newer 
departments of the club. Some of thhe rougher 
members are turned over to a lady probation officer, 
who gets them to join the classes, visits them in 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



291 



their homes and tries to get them interested in 
study or useful occupations. It is the purpose of 
:he club to prevent crime among boys by getting 
.hem away from evil companionship and idleness and 
ceep them usefully employed or interested in harm- 
ess play and sports. 

The membership fee is one cent. In previous 
fears it has been free. Each member when he pays 
lis dues is presented with a membership ticket, and 
f he loses it he has to pay two cents for a dupli- 
:ate. The money is, used to buy games for the 
:lub. Superintendent Streeter reserves the right to 
ake up a boy's ticket, but that is seldom necessary, 
.f a member violates the rules he is fined a nickel, 
.n 1905 there were classes m manual training, print- 
ng, pyrography, and they had an orchestra, Sun- 
ihuie Club, Checker Club, Ping Pong Club, Athletic 
Zlub, Dramatic Club, Music Club and Glee Club. 
\.bout fifteen hundred boys are enrolled as mcm- 
)ers and there is an average nightly attendance of 
wo hundred and twenty. The club is supported by 
oluntary subscriptions. Enrolled on the list of con- 
ributors are the names of a majority of the mer- 
hants, manufacturers, bankers, capitalists and citi- 
ens, who realize the importance of organized action 
n educating the boys. The present officers of the 
;lub arc: President, George T. Dewey; vice-presi- 
lent, W. S. B. Hopkins; secretary, Florence A. 
lider; executive committee, Henry L. Miller, James 
'aylor, Jr., Lewis C. Muzzy, Mrs. David F. O'Con- 
.ell, U. Waldo Cutler and M. Adelaide Mellen. 

The secret of Suoerintendent Streeter's success 
i in his character, his intense earnestness and en- 
liusiasm for his work, his appreciation of its mean- 
ig and vast importance to the boys themselves as 
,'ell as the community, and above all his personal 
lagnetism, which is always in evidence notwith- 
tanding his quiet manners and unobtrusive ways, 
lis work is not confined to the limits of the club, 
le was the author of the bill introduced in the last 
;gislature by Representative Arthur M.Taft, of Wor- 
ester, and passed, providing for indeterminate sen- 
;nces up to sixteen years of age for boys com- 
litted to truant schools, instead of the old sentence 
f from forty days to two years at the discretion of 
le court. 

Mr. Streeter is a member of the Piedmont Con- 
regational Church and is superintendent of its Sun- 
ay school and member of the standing committee, 
[e is a member of Boylston Lodge, A. F. and A. M. 
f West Boylston ; U. S. Grant Lodge, Knights of 
lalta ; Beulah Sisterhood of Daughters of Malta ; 
le National Association of Charities and Correc- 
ons ; the Massachusetts Civic League ; the National 
bnference of Boys Clubs' Superinendents ; treas- 
rer of the Knights of Malta ; member of the Twen- 
eth Century Club ; the Worcester Sportsmen's Club ; 
le National Conference on Education of Backward, 
ruant and Delinquent Children. Mr. Streeter is 
nmarried. 

JAMES MILES. James Miles (i), was the 
ither of James Miles, a prominent builder and con- 
actor of Worcester. He married Jane French, 
hey lived in Oxfordshire, England. He died when 
.comparatively young man. The children of James 
nd Jane (Franch) Miles were: I. Eliza, married in 
ngland Thomas Larke ; they are now living in 
r^oonsocket, Rhode Island; have no children. 2. 
/illiam, came to America and settled in Blackstone, 
[assachusetts, and became associated with his 
■other James in business. In 1885 he settled in 
outh Dakota, where he and his children are living, 
iz. : William, Millie, Albert, Arthur. 3. Emma, 



married James Collect; they are living in Black- 
stone, Massachusetts. 4. James. 

(II) James Miles, son of James Miles (i), was 
born in Oxfordshire, England, May 24, 1847. His 
father died when he was a young boy. He left 
school to learn the mason's trade in London. He 
worked there at his trade until lS5g. His brother 
and one sister were already in America. He came 
over in 18O9 and his mother and other sister soon 
followed. He worked at his trade in Woonsocket, 
Rhode Island, for three months, coming then to 
Worcester, where he worked for several years. He 
returned to Woonsocket to enter into partnership 
with his brother, William Miles, as masons and 
contractors under the firm name of Miles Brothers. 
They soon developed a large business. Among other 
large buildings erected by this firm were the mills 
of the Woonsocket Rubber Co., one of the first 
large brick buildings in that city; the Conant thread 
works. No. 5 mill at Pawtucket, Rhode Island, and 
numerous other mills in Rhode Island cities. He 
retired from business on account of his wife's health 
and from 1881 to 1886 conducted a farm, which he 
bought at Grafton, Massachusetts. 

Mr. Miles started in business again in 1886 in 
Worcester under his own name. Besides taking 
large contracts he has built and sold buildings in 
Worcester to the value of $250,000 or more. He has 
been one of the leading builders of brick buildings in . 
Worcester. Among the buildings he has erected 
are : The hotel building on Main street now 
occupied by the Worcester market; Hotel Adams 
at the corner of Pleasant and High streets, owned 
by Dr. Wesley Davis; the Forrest building, corner 
of Main and Austin streets for R. C. Taylor. At 
this time his son became associated with him and 
they built a factory for Lafayette Robbins on La- 
grange street; The Buckingham and The Kensing- 
ton, apartment houses on Murray avenue ; The Vic- 
toria, an apartment house on Orange street; a large 
shop for the Crompton & Thayer loom works, Cam- 
bridge street; the Abbott street school house for the 
city; a repair shop for the school department; two 
large shops for Abraham Israel on Water street. In 
late years the business has been conducted under the 
name of James Miles & Son, his son having been 
admitted to partnership. 

Mr. Miles married, in Blackstone, Massachusetts, 
April 14, 1872, Ella Elizabeth Boyden, daughter of 
William Wesley Boyden. Mr. Boyden was a car- 
penter by trade, born in Mendon, Massachusetts, in 
what is now Blackstone, September 7, 1835. Wil- 
liam Wesley Boyden was son of Joel and Mercy 
(Briggs) Boyden and grandson of Amos and Sally 
(Benson) Boyden. Joel Boyden was born July 7, 
1803, in old Mendon. He married, November 28, 
1833, Mercy Briggs. Amos Boyden was the son 
of David and Abigail (Carrol) Boyden. He was 
born May 31, 1766. He married Sally Benson, 
September 30, 1790. The children of James and 
Elizabeth (Boyden) Miles were: Walter James; 
Grace Ella, born in Grafton, Massachusetts. 

(Ill) Walter James Miles, son of James Miles 
(2), was born in Northbridge, Massachusetts. He 
married, March 15, 1898, Phoebe A. Blanchard, 
daughter of Daniel Blanchard, of Adams, Massa- 
chusetts. He was educated in the Worcester schools. 
He learned his father's trade and since leaving school 
has been associated with him. He is now a member 
of the firm of James Miles & Son. He resides at the 
corner of Pleasant street and Richmond avenue on 
Richmond Heights. The children of Walter J. and 
Phoebe A. (Blanchard) Miles are: Dorothy; Mar- 
jorie, born July 29, 1902; Priscilla, born June 19, 
1905- 



292 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



SAMUEL GUSTAVUS CURTIS. Henry Cur- 
tis (l) was the immigrant ancestor of the Curtis 
family of Worcester, prominent from the first set- 
tler to the present day. One of his most prominent 
and' best known descendants of the present genera- 
tion is Samuel Gustavus Curtis, of Worcester. 

Henry Curtis came from England at the age of 
twenty-seven, in the ship "Elizabeth and Ann," in 
the year 1635, and settled in Watertown, New Eng- 
land. He was a proprietor of that town in 163O. 
Soon afterward he removed to the adjoining town 
of Sudbury, of which he was, in 1639, a proprietor. 
His house and barn were burned during King 
Philip's war just before his death. He died May 8, 
1678, and the estate was administered by his son 
Joseph. His homestead was on the north street 
of the settlement, probably where the old Curtis 
house stood. His sister, Joan Parker, of St. 
Saviour's parish, Southwark, England, bequeathed 
to Henry Curtis of Sudbury, a silver tankard and 
si.x silver spoons, and to his wife and three sons, 
Ephraim, John and Joseph, with him, twenty 
shillings apiece. 

He married Mary Guy, daughter of Nicholas 
Guy, who died in Sudbury. She died there Decem- 
ber 3, 1682. Their children were: i. Ephraim, born 
in Sudbury, mentioned below. 2. John, born 1644. 
3. Joseph, born 1647 ; married at Sudbury, February 
5, 1678, Abigail C. Grout of Sudbury, daughter of 
Captam John Grout; settled in Shrewsbury. 

(H) Ephraim Curtis, son of Henry Curtis (i). 
born in Sudbury, Massachusetts, March 31, 1642; 
was the first white settler of the present city of 
Worcester. In the fall of 1673, according to the 
judgment of Caleb A. Wall, as nearly as he could 
fix the date, Ephraim Curtis left his home in Sud- 
bury with a pack on his back, a long, light Spanish 
gun and his axe. Two days later he camped on the 
very spot which was owned and occupied by him 
and his descendants for many generations. The 
principal reason tor his selecting this locality to 
settle was his belief that there was mineral wealth in 
the soil, from the report that a valuable lead mine 
had been discovered by the Indians, who had a sort 
of rendezvous on Wigwam hill while on hunting and 
fishing excursions. He settled down to clear the 
land and make a home in the wilderness, and for two 
years remained there, working alone. He used to 
confess in later years that when he sat down and 
turned his face toward old Sudbury, where his fam- 
ily was, he could not always restrain his tears. But 
he persisted. Such was the self-denial and per- 
tinacity of the pioneers. For a time Curtis laid 
claim to the whole township of Worcester, but he 
had to be content with about two hundred acres near 
upper Plantation street, and another lot near Graf- 
ton gore, granted by the general court as his share 
of the town. 

The Indian war drove him away from his for- 
est home in 1675. He was a brave soldier and 
served on the committee to confer with the Indian 
sachems before the war broke out. He was a lieu- 
tenant in the militia company. He was at Brook- 
field at the time of the massacre. It was he who crept 
from the garison house, under cover of the night, 
eluded the Indians, intercepted the Lancaster com- 
pany of forty-six men, under Major Willard and 
Captain Parker, who were going in another direction, 
and brought relief to Brookfield. He was of a 
sturdy, ventersome nature, a frontiersman, soldier 
and scout, used to the customs of his Indian adver- 
saries, and familiar with the camp fire and the am- 
buscade. 

His two sons were. i. John, born 1707, was a cap- 
tain ; inherited the homestead ; commanded a com- 



pany in the French and Indian war in 1757 ; died 
June 29, 1797, aged ninety years; married Elizabeth 
Prentice, daughter of Rev. John Prentice, of Lan- 
caster. 2. Ephraim, mentioned below. 

(.111) Ephraim Curtis, Jr., son of Ephraim Cur- 
tic (2), was born about 1710. He inherited from 
his father a farm of two hundred and fifty acres near 
the line between Auburn, Millbury and Worcester. 
He married Mary Rice, of Sudbury, Massachusetts, 
December 23, 1729. Their children, born in or near 
Worcester, were: i. Samuel, (see forward). 2. 
Judith, born September 6 (.or 26) (twin) 1730. 
3. Mary, born March 5, 1732. 4. Abigail, born June 
21, 1734. 5. Ephraim, born September 6, 1736. 6. 
Oliver, born January 29, 1740; resided on that part 
of his father's farm lying near the present location 
of Holy Cross College. 

(IV) Samuel Curtis, son of Ephraim Curtis 
(3), born in Worcester, Massachusetts, September 
26, 1730; died at Auburn, Massachusetts, October 18, 
1814, aged eighty-four years. He resided on the 
Auburn homestead of this branch of the family. 
During the revolution he was one of the most prom- 
inent patriots of the town. He served on various 
committees. One wdio knew him wrote of him: 
"His patriotism and valuable qualities always insured 
the confidence and esteem of his townsmen. Gifted 
by nature with a strong mind he cultivated and im-. 
proved it by observation and reflection, and as a re- 
ward of his merit he was repeatedly promoted to the 
highest offices of the town. As selectman, repre- 
sentative to the general court, his integrity was al- 
ways conspicuous and his usefulness always ap- 
parent." 

He married, March 3, 1757, Mary Ward, daughter 
of Major Daniel Ward; she was born in 1736, and 
died June 3, 1830, aged ninety-four years. Their 
children were all born in Worcester, viz. : i. Sam- 
uel, born 1759, baptized January 21, 1759, died young. 

2. Mary, born February 10, 1760. 3. Samuel, born 
October 11, 1761, mentioned below. 4. Ephraim, born 
1763, baptized April 3, 1763, had the homestead, left 
no children. 5. Sarah, baptized June 23, 1765. 6. 
Levi, baptized October 4, 1767. 7. Lecretia, baptized 
May 27, 1770. 8. Lydia, born July 26, 1772. 9. Azu- 
bah, baptized January 22, 1775. 10. Lydia, born Aug- 
ust 13, 1780. 

(V) Samuel Curtis, Jr., son of Samutl Curtis 
(4), was born in Worcester and baptiz_ed there April 

3, 1763. He resided on the Curtis farm on Plantation 
street on the estate adjoining Colonel Benjamin 
Flagg's, afterwards owned by his son Benjamin F. 
Curtis, and later by E. B. and G. Dana. He was 
captain of the Worcester Artillery company. 

He married (first), August 20, 1785, Eunice 
Flagg, of Uxbridge. He married (second) Eunice 
(Taft) Stowell, daughter of Josiah Taft and widow 
of Stowell. She was a member of the Old South 
Congregational Church. She died in 1861. He died 
before his father, January 29, 1811. Children of 
Samuel and Eunice (Flagg) Curtis were: i. Sarah, 
born November 25, 1785; married Ebenezer Reed; 
their daughter was Mrs. Sumner Pratt. 2. Abigail, 
born February 23, 1788. 3. Aaron, born March S, 
1790, father of Charles F. Curtis, of Auburn. 4. 
Samuel, born April, 1792. 5. Ephraim, born April 
8, 1794. 6. Lydia, born ISIarch 22, 1796. 7. John, 
born April 29, 1798. 8. Benjamin F., mentioned 
below. 9. Albert, born July 13, 1807, died July 18, 
1898, aged ninety-one years; founder oif Curtis & 
Marble and other large manufacturing concerns of 
Worcester ; one of the most successful of the pio- 
neer manufacturers to whom the city of Worcester 
ow-es much ; married Sarah K. G. Houghton. 10. 
William, born 1809, married Caroline Tompkins, of 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



293 



e\v York. 11. Eunice, baptized October 21, 1810; 
larried Charles P. Bancroft; died 1893 at Brook- 
ne, Massachuestts. 

(.VU Benjamin Franklin Curtis, eighth child 
t Samuel Curtis (5), born in Worcester, September 
1800; bought the Plantation street homestead and 
as a farmer; died there in 1858. He married, 
pril 4, 1831, at Auburn, ^Massachusetts, Hannah S. 
/akefield, who was born in Vermont, the daughter 
E Plenry Stone Wakefield, of Montpelier, VLrmont. 
hildren were: i. Sarah Maria, born January 25, 
)32, died young. 2. Ellen Olivia, born August 21, 
ii-, ; unmarried. 3. Samuel Gustavus, mentioned be- 
■w. 4. Charles P., enlisted in Company H, Twenty- 
:th Massachusetts Regiment, and died in the service 
1 1864, at Newbtrn, North Carolina. 5. Albert W., 
entioned below. 

(.VII) Samuel Gustavus Curtis, third child of 
enjamin Franklin Curtis (6), born in Worcester 
ane 10, 1838, on the old Plantation street home- 
ead in Worcester, which is situated about a quar- 
;r of a mile from Belmont street and is near the 
isane hospital. Pie married, April 15, 1873, Mary 
Elizabeth Harrington, daughter of Benjamin Har- 
ngton, of Worcester, an uncle of ex-Mayor Francis 
.. Harrington, of Worcester. She was born January 
3, 1836. He lives at 370 Plantation street on the ' 
Dmestead which he has carried on for many years, 
nd is one of the most prosperous farmers of the city, 
le is a member of the Union Congregational 
'hurch. He has never cared for public office nor 
een interested in fraternal societies. Their only 
liild is Mabel, who resides with her parents at the 
omestead. They had a daughter, Sarah Edith, 
'ho died young. 

(VII) Albert W. Curtis, fifth and youngest 
lild of Benjamin F'ranklin Curtis (6), was born in 
k'orcester. May 26, 1848. He was educated there 
1 the public and liigh schools and at Yale College, 
■om which he was graduated in 1871. He studied 
iw under Judge Thomas L. Nelson, of Worcester, 
nd at the Harvard law school, and was admitted 
) the bar in 1874. Two years later he opened an 
ffice in Spencer, where he has made his home since. 
iS local magistrate he is generally known as Judge 
lurtis. He is a trustee of the public library and the 
pencer Savings Bank. He has been town clerk 
ince 1877, and member of the board of selectmen 
Dr a number of years. He is a prominent Republi- 
m, and a man of considerable influence in the com- 
lunity. He a Past Grand Master of Good Will 
.edge of Odd Fellows. 

He married Mary R. Morse, of Spencer. They 
ad five children : Anna S. ; L. Edith ; Alice W. ; 
iharles Samuel ; Helen M. 

HENRY MELLEN. Richard Mellen (i), the 
nmigrant ancestor of Henry Mellen, was one of the 
arly settlers of Charlestown, Massachusetts. He 
lis admitted a freeman September 7, 1639, and had 
doubtless been in the colony for several years be- 
ore that. He removed to Weymouth in 1642 or 1643, 
nd probably did not live long afterward. Savage 
alls attention to the difficulty of tracing tlie name 
lecause of the great variety of spelling found in the 
ecords. It is found spelled Mellins, MuUins. Mal- 
ins, Melling, Melen, and even Meles. He had a 
and grant in Weymouth in 1642 and 1644 on the 
lack side of Kingoak Hill, but removed from there 
ir died soon after, as his name does not appear again 
in the records. Some of his children were : James, 
lorn in Charlestown, June 3, 1642; Sarah, born April 
[, 1643, at Weymouth; Marj', married at Charlts- 
own, 1662, Daniel Whittemore. Simon, perhaps 
lorn in England, mentioned below. 



(II) Simon Mellen, son of Richard Mellen (l), 
born about 1644, in New England, or before 1639 in 

Old England, married Mary and settled in 

the southern part of Framingham, Massachusetts, 
in 1687. He had civil privileges in Sherborn, and 
left descendants there. He died December 19, 1694, 
and when his estate was settled in 1695 all his 
children were mentioned. His widow died in Fram- 
ingham, Massachusetts, June 1, 1709, aged seventy 
years. Their children : Simon, born at Wincmesit, 
Boston, September 25, 1665; (and at Maiden); 
Thomas, mentioned below ; Richard, born January 2, 
1671-2; married, December 6, 1695, _ iSlary 
Gleason, daughter of Thomas Gleason, of FVaming- 
ham; James, born 168 1 ; John, born January 29, 
1685-6. 

(III) Thomas Mellen, second child of Simon 
iSIellen (2), was born in Maiden, Massachusetts, 

August, 1668. He married Elizabeth and 

they settled in Framingham. He was elected tything- 
man there in 1704. The children of Thomas and 
Elizabeth Mellen were : Henry, born August 12, 
1691, mentioned below ;, Thomas, born August 12, 
1693, at Sherborn, died February 4, 1711-2; Lydia, 
born at Sherborn, April 12, 1695. Sarah, born March 
22, 1697, at Framingham ; Mary, born October 16, 
1699; Richard, born November 10, 1701; Tabitha, 
born January 4, 1703-4, married Mark Whitney, of 
Hopkinton, 1727. 

(IV) Henry Mellen, eldest son of Thomas 
Mellen, (3), was born August 12, 1691 ; married, 
March 24, 171 1-2, Abigail Pratt. He lived at Fram- 
ingham until 1725, when he removed to Hopkinton. 
About that time a colony of Scotch-Irish settled in 
Hopkinton and a number of Henry Mellen's chil- 
dren married into these families. Henry Mellen with 
his wife was admitted to the Framingham church, 
March 11, 1720; they were dismissed to the Hop- 
kinton church, December 27, 1724, and received there 
January 3d, following. He was deacon of the Hop- 
kinton church in 1732. He died there May 3, 1767, 
aged seventy-five years. His widow Abigail died 
July 30, 1781, aged eighty-eight years. Their chil- 
dren, born in Framingham were : Thomas, mentioned 
below; Daniel, born March 6, 1714-5; Sybilla, born 
July 20, 1717; Abigail, born November 20, 1719; 
John, baptized June 3, 1722; graduate of Harvard 
College, 1741 ; teacher at Sudbury; ordained as min- 
ister at Sterling, December 19, 1744; later at Han- 
over; was a distinguished man; Mary, baptized June 
26. 1724, married John Jones, of Hopkinton. 1749. 
The children born at Hopkinton, were as follows: 
Lydia, born April 20, 1726, married, 1747, Jacob 
Chamberlain; Joseph, born May 20, 1728. married 
Ruhamah Butler, 1747; Elizabeth (twin), born July 
I. 1730. married James Nutt, 1747, at Hopkinton; 
Martha (twin), born July i, 173°, married Samuel 
Chamberlain; James, baptized 1732. 

(V) Thomas iSIellen, eldest son of Henry Jvlel- 
len (4), was born at Framingham. May 15, 1713. He 
married Elizabeth • and they had_ nine chil- 
dren. He married (second) Widow Wilson. He 
died in Hopkinton in 1782. The children of Thomas 
and Elizabeth were: Henry, baptized 1735. died 
1813; Elizabeth, born May 25, 1737; James, born 
June ID, 1739, mentioned below ;' Mary, born 1742; 
Sarah, born 1744; Lucy, born September 11, 1746, 
married Abner Stone ; removed to Fitzwilliam, New 
Hampshire; Sarah, born May 25, 1749; Mehitable, 
born September 7, 1751 ; Thomas, born February 25, 
1754; major in the revolution, died 1805. The only 
child of Thomas and his second wife was. Joseph, 
settled in Milford, Massachusetts. 

(VI) Colonel James Mellen, third child of 
Thomas Mellen (5), was born in Hopkinton, Massa- 



294 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



chusetts, June lo, 1739. lie married Elizabeth Rus- 
sell, daughter of James Russell, of Holliston, a man 
of distinction. licr brother, Jonathan, was a noted 
man, ambassador to Sweden, and holding other im- 
portant positions. Colonel Mellen went into the 
revolutionary war a private and was mustered out 
a colonel. He marched in Captain Jesse Eames' 
company from Framingham to Lexington and fought 
during the day, April 19, 1775. He was captain of 
a company in Colonel Ward's regiment at the bat- 
tle of Bunker Hill. He soon afterward entered the 
Continental line and was major, commanding the 
Twenty-first Regiment in 1776. He was promoted 
lieutenant-colonel in Colonel James Wesson's reg- 
iment in January, 1777, and was stationed at Hud- 
son river, New York, and served faithfully in 
various responsible positions as lieutenant-colonel 
for four years. He was discharged January i, 
1781. He served on Washington's staff and be- 
came a friend, dining often with the general. He 
was officer of the day October 2, 1780, when 
Andre was hanged for a spy. He carried Andre's 
message to Washington, asking that he be shot in- 
stead of hanged. Washington's reply "The laws 
of War forbid it," must have been taken to the 
condemned man by Colonel Mellen. Another im- 
portant service was in taking two hundred men 
and supplies safely to Fort Schuyler previous to 
the attack of Burgoyne. 

Like most of the Continental officers Colonel 
Mellen returned home worn out in health, poor in 
property and cheered only by wordy honors and 
promises of compensation never fulfilled. It is hard 
to realize the truth in some of these cases. He 
finally lost heart and broke down completely dur- 
ing the last years of his life, mentally as well as 
physically. He lived fourteen years at Milford and 
fourteen at Mendon, where he died September 27, 
1812, aged seventy-three years. His widow Eliza- 
beth died June 19, 1830, aged ninety years. They 
are both buried at Mendon and their graves are 
suitably marked. Their children, all born at Hop- 
kinton, were : David, born August 17, 1763, settled 
at Nassau. New YorK ; William, born May 20, 1766, 
married Lucretia Marsh ; Mary, born January 10, 
1768, married Samuel Warren, Jr., 1797; Betsey, 
born April 14, 1770, married Rev. John Fiske; 
Abigail, born June 12, 1775, married Samuel Pen- 
niman, 1804 ; James, mentioned below. 

(VII) James Mellen, son and youngest child 
of Colonel James Mellen (6), was born in Hopkin- 
ton, October 28, 1780. Married (first), February 
12, 1801, Submit Wheelock, daughter of Jesse and 
Phebe Wheelock. She was born January 18, 1782. 
James Mellen was a farmer and traveling merchant. 
His homestead was at the north end of Caleb's 
Hill or Inman's Hill in Mendon. His wife Sub- 
mit died January 29, 1823, and he removed to Spof- 
ford. New York, where he married (second) 
Maria McKnight, of Spofford, and they had one 
child. Mr. Mellen died at Orange, Massachuestts, 
at the home of his son Nathaniel. The children of 
James and Submit Mellen all born in Mendon, 
were : Nathaniel R., born August 19, 1801 ; mar- 
ried Ruth C. Wales ; resided at North Orange, 
February 14, 1S24; David, born July I, 1803, died 
young; Leonard, born April 10, 1806, married Eliza- 
beth S. Iilayo, March, 1834; William, born Decem- 
ber 12, 181 1, married (first) Elizabeth Odell, (sec- 
ond) Charlotte Jackson ; Mary W., born Novem- 
ber s, 1813, married Robert B. Shepard. of New 
Orleans; a child born December 30, 1815, died 
young; James, born November 23, 181 7, died young. 

(VIII) Leonard Mellen, third child of James 
Mellen, Jr., (7), was born in Mendon, April 10, 



1806. He received a common school education there 
and became a farmer. In 1840 he removed to Hard- 
wick, Massachusetts, where he bought a farm. In 
early life he was a Whig, later a Republican. He 
was an active member of the Congregational church 
and very strict in his views. In early life he was 
connected with the Mendon Light Infantry. He 
died January 20, 1873. He married Elizabeth S. 
Mayo, twin daughter of Captain Peter Mayo, a 
sea captain, of Harwich. She was born October 24, 
1810, died February 22, 1897. Their children : Ed- 
ward, born 1830, was a farmer in Rutland, married 
Abigail Bemis (see sketch of Dr. Bemis and fam- 
ily) ; Mary Warren, lives at Hardwick, unmarried; 
Henry, died young; Henry, mentioned below; Han- 
nah, lives at Hardwick, unmarried ; James Frank- 
lin, born January 31, 1845, unmarried. 

(IX) Henry Mellen, fourth child of Leonard 
Mellen (8), was born in Hardwick, Massachusetts, 
February 4, 1840. He attended the district schools 
there until he was sixteen. He came to Worcester 
August 29, 1856, as an apprentice for Alvin T. 
Burgess, mason and builder. He served four years, 
for which he received his board and $40 the first 
year, $50 the second year, $60 the third year and $70 
the fourth year. He remained with Mr. Burgess 
for several years and was his foreman the last year 
he worked for him at the then generous wages of 
five dollars a day. He learned all kinds of mason's 
work, brick, stone and plaster. When he left Mr. 
Burgess he began in business for himself in a small 
way, but met with uniform success, and in a few 
years was reckoned among the leading masons of 
the city. He began in business in partnership with 
Sylvester W. Dearborn under the firm name of 
Dearborn & Mellen. After three years he sold his 
interests to his partenr and was alone until he 
admitted his son, Walter L. Mellen, to partnership 
in 1890, when the firm name was changed to Henry- 
Mellen & Son. Mr. Mellen was the mason and 
contractor for all of the buildings of Jonas G. 
Clark, except the stone work on his residence. He 
built the Clark blocks on Main and Front streets, 
and the buildings at Clark University erected, by 
Mr. Clark. He had the contract for building the 
Worcester City Hospital. He built the Chadwick 
building ; the Armsby, Main street ; the residences 
of Dr. Workman, Elm street ; William H. Sawyer, 
66 Lincoln street; Charles E. ThwHng, Elm street; 
and many other of the fine residences of the city. 
For the city he built school houses at Adams square, 1 
New Worcester, Union Hill, Adams street. He has 1 
constructed the mills and other buildings for F. 
E. Reed ; a tack shop on Lagrange street for D. 
E. Somers and a large addition to the Bowler 
brewery. He built the Quincy high school house; 
the Brookfield Town Hall, and many other build- 
ings in the country. He went to New Bedford in 
1877 on a contract and remained three years on 
that and other work offered him. He built there 
Robeson's block with nine stores; the Masonic 
block; Waite's building; the Thayer & Judd candle 
works and the first factory of the famous Pierpont 
Manufacturing Co., silver-smiths. 

Mr. Mellen was in Company A, of the City 
Guards, Captain A. B. R. Sprague company. Major 
Charles Devens's regiment. He enlisted in 1861. 
In the following year he re-enlisted in Company E, 
Forty-second Regiment, and was detailed as orderly 
at brigade headciuarters with the rank of first cor- 
poral. He was mustered out in 1863. He was a 
member of the common council from ward eight 
in 1885 and 1886, and has always taken an active 
part in public affairs. He is a Republican. He 
was formerly a member of the Board of Trade; 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



295 



: is a member and was for three years a trustee 
the Worcester County Mechanics' Association. 
e is a member of the Plymouth (Congregational) 
rish. 

He married, August 29, 1862, Mary Adelaide 
:It, daughter of Elijah and Hannah (Lawrence) 
:lt. She was born at Templeton, Massachusetts, July 

1S43. Their children are : Walter Leslie, mcn- 
med below. Bessie Frances, born March's, 1S76, 
;d April 3, 1891. 

Elijah Felt was born November 11, 1799, died 
irch ig, 1849. Married Hannah Lawrence, daugh- 

■ of Josiah and Tabitha Lawrence, born February 
, 1807. Elijah was the son of Samuel Felt, who 
IS born March 17, 1788, died June 26, 1S26; was 

private in Captain John Bacheller's company, 
ilonel Ebenezer Bridge's regiment on the Lex- 
jton Alarm, April 19, 1775. Later he served in 
:ptain Jonathan Brooking's company, Colonel 
loch Hale's regiment. Samuel married Naomi 
oods. Samuel Felt's father was Aaron Felt, who 
irried Mary Wyatt. Moses, the father of Aaron 
It, was born in 1651, married Lydia Felt. His 
:her, George Felt, was the immigrant, and was 
rn in England in 1601. The name was also 
;lled Felch. George Felt was a mason by trade 
d came to Charlestown, in New England, as early 

1633; he resided on the Maiden side in 1640; he 
noved to Casco Bay, but returned to Maiden. 
; married Elizabeth Wilkinson, daughter of 
idow Prudence Wilkinson. He died in 1693 ; 
; widow in 1694. Mrs. Mellen is a member of 
; Worcester Woman's Club and of Colonel 
mothy Bigelow Chapter, Daughters of the Ameri- 

I Revolution. 

(X) Walter Leslie iSIellen, only son of Henry 
;llen (9), was born in Worcester, January lo, 
)8. He attended the public schools there and 
iduated in 1S87 from the Classical high school. 
: went to work for his father and in 1890 was 
Tiitted to partnership in the business under the 

II name of Henry Mellen & Son. Some of the 
rk done since he became connected with the 
iiness is mentioned above in the account of the 
jiness. He is a prominent Free Mason, a mem- 

■ of the Morning Star Lodge, Hiram Council, 
:reka Chapter and the Worcester County Com- 
ndery of Worcester ; he has taken the eighteenth 
;ree in the Scottish Rite and belongs to Aleppo 
mple in Boston. Mr. Mellen is a member of the 
mmonwealth Club. He is a Republican in poli- 
; and a Congregationalist in religion, being a 
mber of Plymouth Church. 

He married Carrie E. Fisher, of Fisherville, 
issachusetts, a village of Grafton named for her 
mdfather, who established a mill there. His 
lie was Erastus Fisher. Her parents were Albert 
ban and Ellen Agnes (Hill) Fisher. Her father 
i a grocery store at Fisherville for many years. 
e children of Walter and Carrie E. (Fisher) 
;l!en are : Albert Fisher, born July 29, 1893 ; 
irothy, born December 29. 1894. They reside at 
Queen street, in a double house, with Mr. Mel- 
.'s parents. 

JAMES HUNT, well known throughout Wor- 
ter county as deputy sheriff and for his promi- 
ice in political life, was born January 27, 1833, 
Gloucestershire, England. He was the son of 
lliam and Harriet (Hodges) Hunt. 
He attended private schools in his native place. 
1850, at the age of seventeen, he came to Amer- 
He learned the trade of boot and shoe manu- 
turing and worked at his trade in New Braintree, 
.ssachusetts, and Stafford, Connecticut. In 1861 



he moved to Rockville, Connecticut, and learned the 
trade of wool dyer at the Leeds mill. He became 
boss dyer later at the Windermere mill at Elling- 
ton, Connecticut, and the Thomas Lewis mill at 
Naugaiuck, Connecticut. In 1865 he went to Mcri- 
den, Comitcticut, and engaged in the retail boot 
and shoe business, where he remained until 1873, when 
he removed to Worcester. He worked at his trade 
of shoemaker for a number of years. First he 
worked for D. G. Rawson & Co., shoe manufact- 
urers, afterwards the firm of Goddard, Fay & Stone. 
He worked also for S. R. Heywood. He was ap- 
pointed for one year on the police force by Mayor 
Samuel E. Hildrcth, but at the end of the year 
took up his trade again. He worked in the shoe 
factory of C. C. Houghton. In 1886 he was ap- 
pointed a constable for civil cases by Mayor Francis 
A. Harrington. He has since then devoted his 
time to the duties of that office and of deputy sheriff 
combined with the real estate business. He 
was appointed deputy sheriff first in Feb- 
ruary, 1893, by Sheriff Robert A. Cham- 
the vicinity of Webster square, Worcester, and on 
Union Hill. For the past twenty years Mr. Hunt 
has been occupied chiefly with the business of 
constable and deputy sheriff. His office is in the 
Walker building. In a position requiring the ut- 
most tact and descretion, has has been uniformly suc- 
cessful. 

Mr. Hunt has always been a Republican and 
taken his part in the work of the organization. He 
has shown his interest by constant activity. He 
served the city in the common council in 1897-98-99. 
He was on the committees on police, public build- 
ings, education, legislative matters and bills in the 
second ijeading. He represented ward si.x. In 1899 
and 1900 he was elected representative to the general 
court from ward six. He was on the committees 
on cities, and on parishes and religious societies. 
He was elected an overseer of the poor in 1899 foi" 
a three-year term, and in igoi was re-elected. He 
has been favorably mentioned as candidate for sen- 
ator in his district. 

He has the unique distinction of being the senior 
member of the order of Knights of Pythias in Wor- 
cester. He took the degrees of this order in 1868 
at Meriden, Connecticut, in Myrtle Lodge, No. 4. 
The order was at that time enjoying a period of 
very rapid growth. In 1885 Mr. Hunt transferred 
his membership to Regulus Lodge of Worcester, 
nnd since that time has been one of the most active 
<ind prominent members of the order in Worcester. 
Mr. Hunt has seen the order grow from nothing 
to a membership of about a thousand in thirty 
years in Worcester. He is a member of Monta- 
cute Lodge of Free Masons. He is a member of 
U. S. Grant Commandery, Knights of Malta, and 
of Prince Consort Lodge, Sons of St. George. He 
belongs to the Webster Square Methodist Episco- 
pal Church and is one of the trustees. He is a 
trustee and president of the board of trustees of the 
Sterling Methodist Camp Meeting Association, 
.vhich owns the grounds at Sterling Junction. 

He married (first) Sarah L. Russell. She was 
born in Stafford, Connecticut. January 21, 1838, died 
May 28, 1894. He married (second) Mrs. Annie 
Turner, widow of William C. Turner, born in St. 
John, New Brunswick. He lias no children. 

THE GARY FAMILY in England is one of 
the oldest as it is one of the most illustrious and 
honored in the kingdom of Great Britain. The name 
existed in England before the Conquest and must 
have been as old as the time of the Saxons. 

(I) Adam de Kari (Gary) w-as lord of the 



296 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



Castle Kari in 119S according to Sir William Pole. 
He was born about 1 170 and married Ann, daughter 
of Sir William Trevctt, Knight. The castle no longer 
exists, but the town is called Castle Car>^ still. It 
is in Somersetshire. During the reign of King 
Stephen the Lord of Cari was opposed to hirn; the 
king assaulted and took the castle; in 1153 it was 
again besieged and nearly ruined. The site of the 
old castle is very interesting to antiquarians. 

(II) John dc Karj', son of Adam (i), was born 
about 1200; married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir 
Richard Stapleton, Knight. 

(III) William de Kary or Karry, son of Sir 
John (2), was born about 12,30; married Alice, 
daughter of Sir William Beaumont, Knight. 

(IV) John de Karry, of Castle Karry, son of 
William (3), was born about 1270; married Phillippa, 
daughter of Sir Warren Archdeacon, Knight. Some 
times the "de" was used, sometimes not. 

(V) Sir John Cary, son of John (4), was born 
about 1300: married Margaret Bozon or Bozume, 
of Clovelly in Devon. 

(VI) Sir John Cary, Knight, son of William 
(5), was born about 1325; married Agnes, daugh- 
ter of Lord Stafford, and (second) Jane, daughter . 
of Sir Guy de Bryen, Knight. Since the reign of 
Edward II the spelling has been Cary. 

(VII) Sir John Cary. Knight, son of John (6), 
was born in -1350 at Hoi way in northwest Devon; 
married Margaret Holway; was very noted, chief 
Baron of the Exchequer, judge. After the king 
(Richard II) was put to death by Henry IV, Sir 
John was banished and all his goods. and lands con- 
fiscated to the crown. He died in Waterford, Ire- 
land, four years later, 1404. 

(VIII) Sir Robert Cary. son of Sir John (7), 
was born about 1375. He married Elizabeth, daugh- 
ter of Philip Courtenay, Knight. He married (sec- 
ond) Jane, daughter of Sir William Hanchford, 
Knight. He defeated in single combat a Knight 
of Arragon, for which Henry V restored unto him a 
good part of his father's lands, and at the same 
time Robert took the coat of arms of his opponent, 
which he and his successors have since borne: 
Argent, on bend sable three roses argent. Before 
that the arms were : "Gules, chevron entre three 
swans argent." The motto is: Virtute E-xcerptae. 

(IX) Sir Philip Cary, son of Sir Robert (8), was 
born about 1400. He married Christian Orchard. 
He died 1437. 

(X) Sir William Cary, Knight, son of Philip (g), 
was born in 1437. He married Elizabeth Paulett. He 
was known as the Knight of Cockington. He took 
part in the War of the Roses on the Lancaster side. 
His side suffered defeat at the Battle of Tcwks- 
bury. May 4. 1471, and Cary with others took refuge 
in the Abbey Church, a sanctuary where, according 
to the custom of the times, they could not be 
molested. They were enticed out on promise of par- 
don and two days later were beheaded. His prop- 
erty was confiscated, but Henry VII restored it to 
his son later. William left two sons : Robert, born 
1460: Thomas, born 1465. 

(XI) Robert Cary, son of William (10). was 
born about 1460. He inherited Clovelly from his 
father. He married (first) Jane Carew, daughter 
of Nicholas Carew. and they had two sons. John de 
Cary, born about 148';. and Thomas de Cary. born 
about 1495. Robert Cary married (second) .'\gnes, 
daughter of Sir William Hody, and they had one 
son, William, born about 1500. He married (third) 
Margaret Fulkeram, who bore him a son Robert, 
about 1510. Robert Cary died in 1540 and has a 
monument in the Clovelly Church. 

(XII) William Cary, son of Robert (11) and 



Agnes (Hody) Cary, was born about 1500. He was 
sheriff of Somersetshire in 1532, residing at Bristol. 
He was mayor of that city in 1546. He died March 
28, 1572. 

(XIII) Robert Cary, eldest son of William Cary 
(12). was born in Bristol in 1525 and died 1570. 

(XIV) William Cary, eldest son of Robert Cary 
(13), was born October 3, 1560. He was sheriff 
of Bristol in 1599 and mayor 1611. He had eight 
sons, three of whom came to America in 1634, 
163s and 1640 respectively. 

THE AMERICAN LINE. 

(XV) John Cary, son of William Cary (14), 
was born in Bristol, Somersetshire, England. He 
came to New England about 1634. His brother 
James settled in Charlestown and his brother Miles 
near Jamestown, Virginia. A family record made 
by one of his grandsons states that when a youth 
the immigrant, John Cary, was sent by his father 
to France to perfect his education and that while 
he was absent his father died. On returning home 
to Somersetshire he differed with his brothers in 
the settlement of their father's estate, finally com- 
promising by taking one hundred pounds as his 
share and immediately sailed for America. John 
Cary was among the original settlers of Duxbury 
and Bridgewater. and his name is in the original 
grant as well as in the subsequent Indian deed. He 
was elected constable of Bridgewater in 1656, the 
first and only officer elected in the town that year, 
the first after its incorporation. He was elected 
the first town clerk and held the office until 1681. 
In 1656 he was one of the ten freemen of the town. 
In 1677 Deacon Willis and John Cary were ap- 
pointed "to take in all the charges of the late war 
(King Philip's) since last June and the expenses 
of the scouts before and since June." 

He married, 1644,. Elizabeth Godfrey, daughter 
of Francis Godfrey, one of the first settlers of 
Bridgewater. He died in i68r. The children of John 
and Elizabeth Cary were : John, born 1645 ; Francis, 
1647 ; Elizabeth. 1649. married William Britt : James, 
1652; Mary, 1654; Jonathan. 1656, see forward; 
David. 1658: Hannah. 1661, died unmarried; Joseph, 
1663 ; Rebecca, 1665, married Samuel Allen : Sarah, 
1667. 

(XVI) Jonathan Cary, son of John Cary, immi- 
grant (15), was born in Bridgewater, Massachu- 
setts. 1656. He married Sarah Allen, daughter of 
Samuel Allen. He died before middle life, 1695, 
at Bridgewater. Their children : Recompence, born 
about 1688. see forward; John, born about 1690; 
Jonathan, born about 1692. 

(XVII) Recompence Cary, son of Jonathan Cary i 
(16). was born in Bridgewater. Massachusetts, 1688.' 
He married Mary Grossman, in Bridgewater. 1711, 
and resided there during his whole life, a man 
of influence and character. He died 1719. Their 
children: Seth, born 1714, died unmarried 1742; 
Ichabod, 171S; Ebenezer. 1717, died unmarried; 
Saran, 1718, married Benjamin Haywood. 1742. and 
had a large family: Simeon, 1719; Zebulon. 1721; 
Jonathan. 1723; Josiah, 1724. died unmarried 1743 : 
Mary, 1726. married Joseph Grossman, of Fasten: 
Abigail. 1729. 

(XVIII) Jonathan Cary. son of Recompence Cary 
(17). w-as born in Bridgewater, Massachusett?. 1723. 
He "was remarkable for his probity and Christian 
character." He was a member of the Congrega- 
tional church in Bridgewater for seventy years, dea- 
con for sixty years. He lived with the wife of his 
youth for a period of sixty-five years, and died Feb- 
ruarv 2. 1S13. aged ninety years. He married Mary 
Curtis, daughter of Captain Joseph Curtis, of Stough- 
ton. in 1747. She died at the age of ninety-five years. 



^ 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



297 



leir children were : Moses, born November 20, 
j8; Mary, born 1750, died 1768: Dorothy, born 
icember 17, 1752, died unmarried: Jonathan, born 
bruary 14, 1757; Huldah, born 1759, died 1763; 
pheus, born April 21, 1761 ; Huldah, born August 
1763. died 1775: Sarah, married (first) Daniel 
den, 1786, (second) L. A. Beal, 1809; James, born 
56. 

(XIX) Jonathan Cary, son of Jonathan Cary 
8), was born in Bridgewater, Massachusetts, Feb- 
jry 14, 1757. He was a soldier in the revolution 
d during his declining years drew a pension. He 
;d December 25, 1852, aged ninety-five years. He 
irried. 1784. Abigail Perkins, daughter of Jona- 
\n Perkins. Their children were : Huldah, born 

35, married Darius Howard ; Caleb, 1788 ; Jona- 
m, 1791 ; Luther. 1794; Martin, 1795; Abigail, 
rn about 1797. married Isaac Dunham; Sally, born 
out 1799. married Zibot Keith ; Mary, born about 
X), married James Littlefield ; Aurelia, born about 
32. died in infancy; Nancy. 1804, died in infancy. 

(XX) Luther Cary, son of Jonathan Cary (19), 
IS born in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. 1794. He 
noved when young to East Machias, Maine, and 
:tled finally in Cooper, Maine. He died there, 
e was a farmer. He married, 1818, Eliza W. 
)Ster. Their children were : James Webber, born 
igust. 1819; Eliza A., born .'Vpril, 1822, died May, 
27; George Williams, August, 1824; Mary L., 
ivember, 1826. died July, 1827; Delia F., June, 
28, married Stephen J. Getchel, of Cooper. Octo- 
r. 1853. and had three children ; Charlotte A., De- 
mber, 1830. married Henry L. Foster, 1S58, and 
sided in Providence. Rhode Island ; Mary E., 
arch, 1834. married Charles Cary, of East Machias, 
aine, and had two children ; Martin L., September, 

36, was a soldier in civil war ; Martha E., April, 
38, lived at Providence; Hiram Foster, August, 
42, see forward. 

(XXI) Hiram Foster Cary. son of Luther Cary 
10), was born at Cooper, Maine, August, 1842. 
e received a common school education and worked 
iring his youth on his father's farm. He en- 
ted. 1862, in the civil war in the Ninth Rhode 
land Cavalry, and served with credit throughout 
e war. 

He left Maine when sixteen years old, went to 
rovidence, Rhode Island, and was apprenticed in 
e stucco business. After the war he want to 
Dston and engaged in the manufacturing of paper 
liars and cuffs. About 1876 went to Ballston 
ia, New York, and engaged in some business, 
bout six years later went to Saratoga, New York, 
id engaged in the spring mattress business. He 
ft there and returned to his wife's old home, Mill- 
iry, Massachusetts, twelve years later, where he 
ill resides. 

He married Frances J. Harrington at Jamaica 
lain. Massachusetts, now Boston. She was born 
ay 24. 1843, the daughter of Thomas J. Harring- 
n, (born at Worcester, January 26, 1804. and 
liza J. (Waters) Harrington, who was born May 
. 1798. and died December 22, 1876. The chil- 
■en of Thomas J. and Eliza J. Harrington were: 

Fidelia, born June 5, 1838: died November 19, 
'48: 2. Sophia, born March 3. 1841. unmarried. 

Frances J., born May 24. 1843, mentioned above, 
oah Harrington was the father of Thomas J. 
Harrington. 

The only child of Hiram Foster and Frances 
ary was: Foster Harrington, born August 3, 1874, 
lentioned above. 

(XXII) Dr. Foster Harrington Cary. son of 
[iram Foster Cary (21), was born at Jamaica 
Iain. Boston. Massachusetts, August 3, 1874. His 



parents removed to Ballston Spa, New York, when 
lie was quite young, and he attended the i)ublic 
schools there. He attended the Saratoga high school, 
at Saratoga, New York, and the Worcester Academy, 
Worcester, Massachusetts, where he was graduated 
in 1894. He was active in athletics and won dis- 
tinction on the relay team and other field events. 
At graduation he was the class historian. From 
1894 to 1898 he was a student at Harvard Medical 
School. He received his degree of M. D. in 1898 
and received a house appointtnent in the Boston 
City Hospital, serving there until July, 1900, when 
he took a place on the staff of the Boston Lying-in- 
Hospital. In 1902 he began to practice his profes- 
sion in Worcester with his office at 130 Main street, 
removing after a few years to 11 Elm street. He is 
a member of the Massachusetts Medical Society, 
the Worcester District Society, the American Medi- 
cal Association. He is a Free Mason, a member 
of Olive Branch Lodge. Since coming to Wor- 
cester, he has been appointed visiting obstetrician 
at the Worcester City Plospital, visiting gynecologist 
at the City and Memorial Hospitals, out-patient de- 
partments. He is a member of the Quinsigamond 
Boat Club and of the Winter Club. 

PEVEY FAMILY. George Abbot (i) was the 
pioneer ancestor of the Pevey family of Worcester. 
His identity has been established by record dis- 
covered since the genealogy was published. He 
may have come with his adult sons. He was a pro- 
prietor of Rowley in 1643. The general court re- 
ferred his will to the Salem court, November 11, 
1647. The inventory was taken August 30. 1649, 
showing houses and lands, some of which were at 
Newbury, thirty books, household effects. 

We learn of his family from the will of his son 
Thomas, of Rowley. This will, made September 5. 
1659, and proved September 27, bequeathed to wife 
Dorothy, father-in-law Richard Swan ; brothers 
George, Nehemiah and Thomas (sic) Abbot. The 
three brothers, George of Andover. mentioned be- 
low. Nehemiah of Ipswich, and Thomas of Con- 
cord, sold November 25, 1659, land at Rowley, form- 
erly belonging to their father. George Abbot, de- 
ceased, subject to the life interest of the widow, 
Dorothy Abbot. The children of George and Dorothy 
Abbot were : George, mentioned below ; Nehemiah, 
mentioned above ; Thomas, mentioned above. 

(II) George Abbot, son of George Abbot (i), the 
pioneer ancestor of the Pevey family of Worcester, 
emigrated from Yorkshire to New England in 1640 
in the same vessel with Hannah Chandler, whom he 
afterward married. He w^as one of the first settlers 
of the town of .\ndover. Massachusetts, in 1643, 
and was one of the proprietors. He lived and died 
on a farm in Andover, that is now or was recently 
in the possession of his descendants. His hous2 
before his death and long afterward was used as 
a garrison house. He married Hannah Chandler, 
who was the daughter of William and Annis Chand- 
ler. Her brother, Thomas Chandler, was among 
the first settlers. 

George Abbot died December 24, 1681, aged sixty- 
six years. His widow married Rev. Francis Dani>, 
who died February, 1697, aged eighty-one years, and 
his widow died July 11. 1711. aged eighty-two years. 
The children of George and Hannah Abbot were: 
John, born March 2. 1648. died March 19. 1721 ; 
Joseph, born March it. 1649. died June 24, 1650 
(the first death record in the town) ; Hannah, born 
June 9, 1650, died March 2, 1740; Joseph, born 
March 30. 1652. died April 8, T676. killed ; first of 
the Andover victims of King Philip's war ; George, 
born June 7, 1655, died February 27, 1736; William, 



298 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



born November iS, 1657, died October 24, 1713; 
Sarah, born November 14, 1659, died June 28, 1711; 
Benjamin, mentioned below; Timothy, born Novem- 
ber 17, 1663, died September 9, 1730; Tliomas, born 
May 6, 1666, died April 28, 1728; Edward, died 
young; Nathaniel, born July 4, 1671, died December, 
1749; Elizabeth, born February 9, 1673, died May 
4. 1750. 

(III) Benjamin Abbot, son of George Abbot (2), 
was born in Andovcr, Massachusetts, December 20, 
1661, and died there March 30, 1703. He married, 

1685, Sarah Farnum, daughter of Ralph Farnum; 
cleared a farm near Shawshene river, where his de- 
scendants now or lately lived on the same place. 
He was an active, enterprising and respectable citi- 
zen. The children of Benjamin and Sarah (Farnum) 
Abbot were: Benjamin, mentioned below; Jonathan, 
born September, 1687; David, January 29, 1689; 
Samuel, May 19, 1694. 

(IV) Benjamin Abbot, son of Benjamin Abbot 
(3), was born in Andover, Massachusetts, July 11, 

1686, and died December 8, 1748. He assisted his 
brothers in clearing their farms and was an active, 
upright man. He married Elizabeth Abbot, daughter 
of George Abbot. She died 1718 and he married 
(second), 1722, Mary Carlton, who died January, 
1726. He married (third), 1729, Abigail Abbot, 
daughter of Deacon Nehemiah Abbot. She died De- 
cember 8, 1753, aged fifty-four years. The Abbot 
family is one of the most distinguished as a family 
in New England. It has produced many note^ 
clergymen, authors and public men. Many of the 
descendants of other surnames were equally promi- 
nent. In this family of Benjamin four of his daugh- 
ters had eleven sons graduate at college and eighteen 
grandsons. The child of Benjamin and Elizabeth 
Abbot was : Sarah, born August 13, 1718. The chil- 
dren of Benjamin and Mary were: Benjamin, born 
November l, 1723; Daniel, January 9, 1726. The 
children of Benjamin and Abigail were: Abigail, 
April 8, 1730; Mary, August I, 1731 ; Abigail, Janu- 
ary 24, 1734; Abiel, August 4, 1735; Jacob, Febru- 
ary 13, 1737, died in the army at Albany, February, 
1760; Elizabeth, mentioned below; Anna, October 23, 
1739; Joel, November 6, 1742; Dorcas, August 12, 
1744- 

(V) Elizabeth Abbot, daughter of Benjamin 
Abbot (4), was born in North Andover, Massa- 
chusetts. November 8, 1738. and died October 12, 
1789- He married, 1758, Ebenezer Cummings, of 
Hollis, and (second) Thomas Merrill, of Conway, 
New Hampshire. She died in 1788, aged sixty-six 
years. The children of Ebenezer and Elizabeth 
(Abbot) Cummings were : Elizabeth, born Novem- 
ber 23, 1759; Ebenezer, September 15, 1761 ; Abigail, 
July I, 1763; Bridget, July 15, 1765; Lucy, July 9, 
1767; mentioned below; Mary, October 22, 1770; 
Jacob Abbot, November 2, 1772 ; Sarah, January 28, 
1775. The children of Thomas and Elizabeth (Abbot) 
(Cummings) Merrill were: John, March 2, 1782; 
Benjamin. March 15. 1784 (H. U. 1804. LL. D.). 

(V) Lucy Cummings, daughter of Elizabeth 
(Abbot) Cummings (4), was born in Hollis, Massa- 
chusetts, July 9, 1767. She married, April 8, 1787, 
Peter Pevey, mentioned below. 

The first records discovered of the Pevey fam- 
ily in America are at Hampton, New Hampshire. 
About 1720 three of this name appeared in the 
vicinit}'. probably from England. Peter settled in 
Hampton ; Edward in Dover ; Joseph in Dover. The 
name seems to be correctly spelled Pevey, although 
.several generations and some of the present genera- 
tion spell the name Peavey. Edward Pcvev was 
baptized in the Dover. New Hampshire, church, Jan- 
uary 12, 1724. Mary, wife of Edward Pevey, was 



dismissed to the Berwick church, August 11, 1727, 
from the Dover church. Joseph Pevey and child 
Esther were baptized in the Dover church, April 
7, 17^8. 

(I) Peter Pevey, the first ancestor of this sur- 
name of the Worcester family of the same name, 
was born in 1697, presumably in England ; he died 
November 23, 1756, in Andover, Massachusetts. He 
married, July 15, 1720, at Andover, Esther Barker, 
of that town. They settled in Hampton, New Hamp- 
shire, after their marriage and lived there until 1724 
or 1725. The two eldest children were born there 
and the four eldest w'ere baptized there. The chil- 
dren of Peter and Esther (Barker) Pevey were: 
Hannah, born in Hampton, July 14, 1721, married, 
March 28, 1758, William Benit; Mary, born in Hamp- 
ton, March 22, 1723 married. May 5, 1748, Eliakim 
Wardwell. Rachel, born in Andover, Massachusetts, 
February 18, 1726, baptized at Hampton May 23, 
1726 ; Esther, born at Andover, April 23, 1728, bap- 
tized June 2, at Hampton ; Peter, born in Andover, 
October 17, 1731, died there unmarried August 3, 
1754; Thomas, mentioned below. 

(H) Thomas Pevey, youngest child of Peter 
Pevey (l), was born in Andover, Massachusetts, 
March 14, 1736. He married, March 22, 1758, Dor- 
cas Holt. They settled in Andover. Their chil- 
dren: Peter, born April 14, 1762, mentioned below; 
Hannah, born at Andover, married there Peter 
Johnson, September 10, 1795. Probably other chil- 
dren.' 

(Ill) Major Peter Pevey, son of Thomas Pevey 
(2), ancestor of the Pevey family of Worcester, 
was born April 14, 1762. During the revolutionary 
war he was living in Andover. Massachusetts. At 
the age of fifteen, in fact just before he was fifteen, 
he enlisted April 7. 1777, as a private in Captain 
Abbot's company. Colonel Tupper's regiment and 
served in the army until December 31. 1779. He is 
also reported as of Captain Benjamin Farnum's com- 
pany. Colonel Ebenezer Francis's regiment in 1777 
and 1778. He was with the army at the surrender 
of General Burgoyne. Soon after the revolution 
he went to Wilton. New Hampshire, and conducted 
the mills at the French place. He began the settle- 
ment in the south part of Greenfield and built him- 
self a log house there. In the spring of 1789 he 
started with a yoke of oxen to take his furniture 
to his cabin. His wife, whom he married two 
years before, rode horseback with a bundle lashed 
to the saddle and her baby in her arms. She was first 
to arrive at the new home. Mr. Pevey was prominent . 
in military affairs and was major of the Twenty- • 
sixth New Flampshire regiment. He was one of f 
the founders of Greenfield. He married, April 8, 
1787, Lucy Cummings, who was born July 9, 1767, 
and died October 15, 1854. Her brother, J. A. 
Cummings, was the author of a spelling book and 
geography used extensively in the early part of the 
nineteenth century. The children of Peter and 
Lucy Pevey were : Peter, born July 29. 1788, resided 
in Greenfield, deacon of the church there, married 
at Wilton, New Hampshire, June 22, 1819. Dorcas 
Holt; married (second), April 9, 1857, Tamazin 
Holt; Sally, born July II, 1790. married, June 2, 
1855, William Wright ; Lucy Cummings, born July 
3. 1792, married, July 11. 1816, Farnham Holt; Ben- 
jamin Abbot, mentioned below; Jacob, born Decem- 
ber 1796, married, November 2, 1824. Susan Camp- 
bell; married (second), March 26, 1840, Sarah 
Marsh; Abiel, born March 27. 1790. died Novem- 
ber 29, 1799; Dorcas, born October 8, 1801, mar- 
ried. March 2, 1824. Edward Pratt: married (sec- 
ond\ .•\pril 27. 1847, William Slieldon : Elizabeth, 
born April 6, 1803. died November 5, 1803; Eliza- 




S /^. 



yu^ 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



299 



th, born August 30. 1804, married, June 4, 1833, 
ehemiah Lowe ; Abiel, born January 17, 1807, 
irried, December 4, 1832. Louisa Stone ; John Mer- 
1, born November 30, 1809, died December 2, 1809; 
errill Cummings, born August 7, 1812, married, 
ne 3, 1841, Elizabeth Stone. 

(VII) Benjamin Abbott Pevey, son of Peter 
:vey and grandson of Elizabeth Abbott (Abbot) 
), was born in Greenfield, New Hampshire, Sep- 
Tiber 25, 1794. died November 16, 1864. He re- 
led in Greenfield and Bennington, New Hamp- 
ire, and Schaghticoke, New York. In the fall of 
S3 one of his sons bought of John A. Putnam 
e mill that was built by Philip Putnam and car- 
id it on for several years. 

Benjamin Abbott Pevey married. May 13, 1820, 
arissa Whitteraore, daughter of Amos Whitte- 
ore. who was born December 11, 1799, died May 
, 1871. Their children were: Amos Whittemore, 
irn April 6, 1821, died September 27, 1821 ; Clarissa 
vonia. born January 28. 1823, unmarried, resided 
ith Dr. Benjamin Pevey at 80 Pleasant street, 
'orcester. until her death, January 21, 1903; Lucy 
jmmings, born March 18, 1825, married. 185 1, 
jorge S. Russell; they are living (1906) in Welles- 
Y. Massachusetts ; Amos Abbot, born July 6. 1827, 
entioned below; Benjamin Merrill, born March 26, 
I31, died September 17, 1832 ; Franklin Merrill, 
irn at Bennington, New Hampshire, May 2, 1833, 
entioned below : Edward Payson, mentioned be- 
w; Benjamin Merrill, born in Schaghticoke, June 

1838. mentioned below ; Mary Elizabeth, born in 
;haghticoke, February 7, 1844, married, October 17, 
'66. Simeon Thompson; married (second), July 

1S71. Richard Henry French, who died in 1903; 
harles Kimball, born in Schaghticoke, January 25, 
i44, mentioned below. The first four of the pre- 
ding were born in Greenfield, the next three in 
ancock. New Hampshire, and the last three in 
:haghticoke, New York. 

(VIII) Amos Abbot Pevey, fourth child of Ben- 
min .'\bbot Pevey (7), was born in Greenfield, 
ew Hampshire. He received a common school 
lucation and then studied dentistry with a well- 
lown and able practitioner. Diligent and pains- 
king, he soon acquired proficiency in his profession 
id, when ready to open an ofiice of his own, lo- 
tted in Clinton. Massachusetts. He soon proved 
s skill as a dentist and developed a large practice, 
fter some years he decided to remove to Woon- 
)cket, Rhode Island, where he was even more suc- 
^ssful. For many years he was recognized as one 
f the most prominent men of his profession in 
le state. 

He helped to establish three of his brothers in 
le same profession. They learned the business 
1 his office in Clinton and at one time all four 
ere dentists at the same time in Clinton. His 
rather Frank practiced for many years in Boston, 
lit the two other brothers subsequently located 
nd practiced in Worcester. Each built up a sub- 
:antial business. Dr. Pevey was a prominent mem- 
er of the Rhode Island Dental Association. 

Dr. Pevey married, October 9, 1854, Ellen F. Judd, 
aughter of Lucian Judd, who removed from Water- 
ury, Connecticut, to Clinton, Massachusetts. Mr. 
itdd was a soldier in the war of 1812 and his father 
'as in the revolution. He is a descendant of Thomas 
udd. who was in Cambridge in 1634 or 1635, and 
emoved thence to Farmington, Connecticut, and 
lence to Northampton, Massachusetts. Of his six 
ons, Thomas, Jr. and Philip, settled in Waterbury, 
Connecticut. Dr. Pevey's widow resides at 13 Ham- 
lond street, Worcester. Their children : Edward, 
cm November 10, 1857, died September 20, 1861 ; 



Helen Augusta, born October, 1864, now Mrs. Fred 
Ashley; married (first) George Lyford Gould, one 
son, George Lyford Gould, Jr.; they reside at 13 
Hammond street, Worcester. Dr. Amos Abbot Pevey 
died March 6, 1S89, in Worcester. 

(VIII) Franklin Merrill Pevey, si.xth child of 
Benjamin Abbot Pevey (7), was born in Benning- 
ton, New Hampshire, May 2, 1833. When he was 
three years old his parents removed to New York 
state, where he lived until he was eighteen years 
old. He then went to Clinton, Massachusetts, to 
study dentistry in his brother's office. From 1854 
to i8,s7 he had an ofBcc in New Ipswich, New Hamp- 
shire. Since his marriage he has lived in Wilton, 
New Hampshire, and practiced his profession. He 
was interested extensively in real estate. He was 
one of the committee in charge of the building of 
the town house, and the bell was a gift to the town 
from him. He died in Wilton. May I, 1901. Dr. 
Pevey married, December 26, 1858, Nancy B. Shel- 
don, daughter of Uzziel and Eliza (Barrett) Shel- 
don. They had no children. She died September 
27, 1903. 

(VlII) Edward Payson Pevey, seventh cliild of 
Benjamin Abbot Pevey (7), was born in Green- 
field, New Hampshire, February 27, 1836, died De- 
cember 20, 1903, at Richmond, Virginia. He was a 
young boy when the family removed to Schaghticoke, 
New York, a small town situated a few miles above 
Troy, where his father had a saw mill. He re- 
ceived a common school education in the district 
schools of New Hampshire and New York, his op- 
portunities for school being limited. When he was 
a young man he returned to Wilton, New Hampshire, 
where he worked in his father's saw mill. From 
there he went to Lowell, to work for his uncle, 
Abiel Pevey, whose son. Giftert A. A. Pevey, be- 
came a distinguished lawyer in Boston. He removed 
in a short time to Boston, where he conducted a 
restaurant and later was the proprietor of a stall 
in the famous old Faneuil Hall Market. From there 
he removed to Marlboro, Massachusetts, and was 
there proprietor of a restaurant. 

Mr. Pevey came to Worcester following the civil 
war and established a meat market at 39 Exchange 
street. He built up a large business there. He 
was the firsf of the family to locate in Worcester. 
\ few years later Dr. B. M. Pevey and Dr. Charles 
K. Pevey started in business as Pevey Brothers, den- 
tists, at 244 Main street. Mr. Pevey removed his 
market to Southbridge street, but about 1870 became 
connected with the firm of White, Houghton & Co., 
t6 Front street. In 1874 the firm of White, Pevey 
& Dexter, pork packers, was organized, the original 
members being Rollin G. White, Mr. Pevey, and 
Edwain C. Dexter, now the only survivor. A sketch 
of Mr. White appears elsewhere in this work. The 
firm was very successful in business and their trade 
extended all' over New England. The first store 
was on Front street opposite the old city hall_ and 
the abbatoir was on the Grafton road. The business 
was afterward moved further down Front street to 
.•\. B. Hall's block, now the Commonwealth Hotel, 
where the company was located for a number of 
years. In 1890 they moved to the present location 
on Bridge street. The abbatoir at present is located 
on Putnam lane and is one of the largest and best 
of the kind in New England. The company was in- 
corporated in iSoo, and a few years later sold to 
the firm of Swift & Co., of Chicago. Mr. Pevey 
retired from active business at the time of the sale, 
and made his home at the Bay State Hotel. His 
wife died February 3, 1886. He died of heart trouble 
when in the south on a pleasure trip with his daugh- 
ter Mr?. Charles M. Booth. 



300 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



Mr. Pevey's business ability and common sense, 
integrity and good nature won for him a leading 
position among the business men of the city. He 
was universally liked and esteemed. He was an 
active Mason and well known in the Masonic fra- 
ternity of the state. He was a member of Montacute 
Lodge, Eureka Royal Arch Chapter, the Worcester 
County Conimandery, Knights Templar, of which for 
twenty-six years he was the standard bearer. He was 
a charter member of the Worcester Continentals 
and was on the colonel's staff as commissary ser- 
geant. He belonged to the Commonwealth Club. 
He attended Piedmont Congregational Church. In 
politics he was an active and earnest Republican. 
He enlisted, September 6, 1862, and served until 
September 2, 1863, in Company I, Fifty-third Regi- 
ment, Massachusetts Volunteer Militia. He was a 
member of Post No. 10, G. A. R. 

He married, September 25, 1858, Martha Jane 
Buell, daughter of Daniel and Abigail (Holden) 
Buell, of Newport, New Hampshire. Their chil- 
dren were : Nellie Florence, born November 20, 1859, 
mentioned below; Frank B., born July 21, 1873, died 
January 22, 1874. 

(IX) Nellie Florence Pevey, daughter of Ed- 
ward Payson Pevey (8), was born in Wilton, New 
Hampshire, November 20, 1859. She married in 
Worcester, November 16, 1881, Charles Matthew 
Booth, who was born January 28, 1859. the son of 
Benjamin and Betsey (Charnley) Booth, both natives 
of England. Mr. Booth was for forty years super- 
intendent of the Quinsigamond wire mill of Wash- 
burn & Moen. He retired a few years before his 
death. Benjamin Booth died May 19, 1901 ; his 
wife died November 14, 1905. Their children were: 
George Jones, born April i, 1855, died April 5, 1882; 
Olina Elizabeth, born 1657, at Lowell, married Will- 
iam H. McClure, superintendent of the Worcester 
fire alarm system, resides at 26 Kingsbury street, 
Worcester ; Charles Matthew, mentioned above. 

Charles M. Booth was educated in the public 
and high schools of Worcester. He began in busi- 
ness as clerk in Kinnicutt's hardware store. In 
August, 1884, he entered Washburn & Moen's of- 
fices and rose through various positions to sales 
agent and head of the flat wire and specialty depart- 
ment_ of the American Steel and Wiie Company. 
He is a member of Montacute Lodge of Free 
Masons, Hiram Council, Eureka Chapter and Wor- 
cester County Commandery, the Tatassit Canoe 
Club, the Automobile Club. He is a Republican. 
He resides at 284 Highland street. Worcester. The 
children of Charles M. and Nellie Florence fPevey) 
Booth are : Edith Florence, born in Worcester, De- 
cember 12, 1884, died August 2, 1885; Martha Pevey, 
born in Worcester, December 23, 1890, a student 
in the Worcester high school. 

(VIII) Benjamin Merrill Pevey, eighth child 
of Benjamin Abbot Pevey (7), was born in 
Shagticoke, New York, June 6, 1838. He studied 
dentistry in the office of his brother. Dr. Amos A. 
Pevey, at Clinton. He practiced first at CHnton, 
then removed to Worcester witli his brother, Dr. 
Charles K. Pevey. In recent years his office has 
been at his residence, 80 Pleasant street. He is 
a prominent Free Mason, a member of Worcester 
County Commandery, Kniglits Templar. He at- 
tends Union Church. He married. November ig, 
■ 1870. Ella Fisk, who died in 1873. Their only child, 
Frank Fisk, died in infancy. 

(VIII) Mary Elizabeth Pevey, daughter of Ben- 
jamin .\bbot Pevey (7), was born in Schaghticoke, 
New York, February 7, 1841. She married (first), 
October 17, 1866, Simeon Thompson, and had one 
son, Simeon E., who has a livery stable at Corona, 
California; is married and has two sons and two 



daughters. She married (second), July 4, 1871, 
Richard Henry French, and had three children : 
Sanger Eames and Edith Bradford (twins), born 
July 6, 1872; Henry, born June 8, 1874, of whom 
Sanger E. French alone survives. He is a stable 
keeper, is married but has no children. Mrs. French 
resides with her son, Simeon E. Thompson, at 
Corona. 

(VIII) Dr. Charles Kimball Pevey, youngest 
child of Benjamin A. Pevey (7), was born in 
Schaghticoke, New York, June 6, 1848. He studied 
dentist. He also learned his profession with his 
brother, Dr. Amos A. Pevey, at Clinton, and was 
formerly in partnership with his brother, Dr. Ben- 
jamin M. Pevey, in Worcester. His present offices 
are at 438 Main street. He is a Knight Templar 
and prominent in the Masonic fraternity. He is un- 
married. 

(VIII) Lucy Cummings Pevey, third child of 
Benjamin Abbot Pevey (7), was born in Green- 
field, New Hampshire, March 18, 1825, and mar- 
ried, 185 1, George S. Russell, a farmer. They 
are now living at Wellesley, Massachusetts. Their 
children are : George, born 1852, died 1852 ; William 
Tolman, born September 20, 1854; Mary Claretta, . 
born December 19, 1857; George Amey, born De- 
cember 24, 1859, died July 22, 1906. 

EBENEZER BUTTERICK, inventor of the cele- 
brated and useful "Butterick Patterns," was born in 
Sterling, Worcester county, Massachusetts, May 29, 
1826. He was the son of Francis and Ruhamah 
(Buss) Butterick, grandson of Jonathan and Han- 
nah (Sawyer) Buttrick, great-grandson of Francis 
and Hannah (Gilson) Buttrick, great-great-grandson 
of John and Elizabeth (Falkner) Buttrick. great- 
great-great-grandson of John and Mary (Blood) 
Buttrick. The father of the last name John was 
a son of William and Sarah (Bateman) Buttrick, 
and grandson of Williatn Buttrick, who was born 
in England in 1616, came to America from Kingston- 
on-Thames in 1635, and died in Concord, Massachu- 
setts, June 30, 1698. Ebenezer Butterick's father 
was a farmer and carpenter, an active and leading 
citizen, and the principal founder of a Universalist 
Society in Sterling, a proof of the intellectual 1 
courage which he never lacked, and which his son 1 
inherited and enlarged. 

The son was educated in the common schools I 
of Sterling and in the Leicester Academy, an ancient 1 
and still flourishing school in Leicester, Massachu- ■ 
setts. The best business habits of his life he 1 
credited to his clerkship in his brother's village i 
store, the firm. Butterick and Bartlett. Still a youth, 1 
he began the business of tailoring as an apprentice 
in Worcester, Massachusetts. Careful application 
soon made him expert and enabled him to establish 
himself as a merchant tailor of taste and skill i/i 
Sterling, Leominster, and finally in Fitchburg, Massa- 
chusetts. In 1850 he married Ellen Augusta Pollard, 
of his native town, who died in 1879. leaving a 
daughter, Mary Ellen Butterick, a son having died 
in infancy. 

In the conduct of his business, Mr. Butterick 
was much annoyed by the waste of time in cutting 
children's garments, and conceived the idea that a 
set of graded patterns would be a great advantage 
to him and to other tailors, and especially to mothers 
making clothes for their own children. It was dur- 
ing a period of recuperation from disabling sick- 
ness and anxiety that his meditative mind con- 
ceived this idea. It was highly characteristic that a 
benevolent impulse and an interest in little children 
were fundamental to the invention which is now so 
intimately and honorably associated with his name. 
In June, 1863, he astonished his wife by telling her 





•-^^^^ 




■£-f^ 



■'""7 '^° 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



301 



Ihat he was going to set about the making of pat- 
terns as a new business, and her deterrent caution 
rlid not avail to check his enthusiastic confidence 
Ihat he was on the track of a useful and profitable 
invention. Having made convincing experiments m 
Sterling, he cut the first salable patterns on an 
extension table in the sitting room of his Fitch- 
burg house, 41 Grove street. They were patterns 
for boys' clothing, and the boy who furnished the 
irst measurements was Clarence Buttrick, a 
nephew of Mr. E. Butterick, then four years old 
and now, as then, living in Sterling, Massachu- 
setts. The first positive success was with the 
"Butterick Shirt Pattern," but an equal success 
with patterns for boys' and girls' clothing soon 
followed. The first patterns were folded by mem- 
bers of the family, his own and his wife's rela- 
tives. They were packed in boxes containing each 
one hundred patterns, and were sold at a whole- 
sale price of $10 for each box; $25 retail. 'The 
first small purchases were made in Shirley, Massa- 
chusetts, and the purchasers of the first box were 
James Tuttle & Co., of South Acton. Mr. But- 
terick never spent the ten dollar bill which he 
personally got for this box of patterns, hut kept it 
as an interesting reminder of the day of small things. 
In September following the start in June, rooms 
were taken in a house near Mr. Butterick's, and five 
girls and women were employed to do the fold- 
ing under the direction of Mrs. Butterick's sister. 
A Mr. Curtis, of Fitchburg, did the first printing, 
and Mr. A. L. Howard of Fitchburg was the first 
traveling salesman. Another salesman. John Roach, 
traveling through New Hampshire, Maine and Nova 
Scotia m the fall of 1863, was successful to a de- 
gree that was decidedly encour,-iging. A device for 
"trimmed patterns" answered a good purpose till 
the introduction of cuts and drawings on the pat- 
tern labels superseded it. In the spring of 1864 
the work was taken to the old Academy building 
in Fitchburg, and during the same season Mr. But- 
terick issued his first fashion-plate, a small one, 
showing what he could do in the line of children's 
garments. Later in the year he began publishing 
gentlemen's fashion plates, accompanied by cut pat- 
terns, which did away with the labor of tracing 
and cutting out patterns from diagrams as had l)ecn 
previously necessary. 

Some months in advance of these improvements, 
Mr. Butterick had introduced his patterns in New 
York. In or about October, 1863, he had_ taken 
two upper rooms at 192 Broadway. Almost literally 
he "took up his bed and walked," for he brought 
a bedstead of his own invention from Sterling for 
the back room where, using it by night, by day it 
could be folded back against the wall. His inventive 
genius was always seeking and finding new avenues 
of expression. Shortly Mr. Abner W. Pollard, later 
for a long time a partner in the business, came 
to New York to assist Mr. Butterick. his brother- 
in-law, and he also lodged in the back room, which 
b" day was store-room and work-shop, in the front 
room Mr. Butterick meeting his customers. Factory 
and home were removed to Brooklyn in 1S65, De- 
cember 7th, a day of national thanksgiving for the 
return of peace. The home gathered in seven per- 
sons who had assisted in the work in Fitchburg, 
while for the factory a -second story in a dwelling 
house was at first sufficient room. From time to 
time a room was added, then a larger building was 
taken, and finally a commodious building on the 
corner of Throop and Lafayette avenues, which has 
until now (1904") been equal to the manufacturing 
requirements of the business. It was Mr. Butterick's 
habit to go to the manufactory in its humble stage 



every morning before breakfast and sweep the rooms 
and make the fires, after breakfast going to the New 
\ork office. In 1867 Mr. Butterick associated with 
hnnself J. W. Wilder, his general agent, and A W 
Pollard, his secretary, in the firm of E. Butterick 
& Co., and the business throve apace until 1875, 
when particular circumstances conspired with the 
financial depression of the time to cripple it 
seriously. It soon rallied in response to the heroic 
efforts put forth by Mr. Butterick. his partners 
assistmg to maintain an enterprise in which he had 
unfailmg confidence and pride. The Butterick Pub- 
hshmg Company was organized in 1881. In the 
meantmie subsidiary offices had been established 
m all miportant centres in this country and abroad, 
and the praise of the Butterick patterns was every- 
where heard, especially as, since 1866, their most 
significant appeal has been to women, whose con- 
venience and economy and taste they had pre- 
eminently served. 

In 1S83 Mr. Butterick's health suffered a serious 
collapse. It rallied slowly, but never completely, 
during the remainder of his life, during which, still 
interested and influential in the conduct of the 
busmess, he lived in a quiet meditative fashion, 
spending nearly or quite half the year in the town 
where he was born, and where he made himself a 
commodious but simple home on a large farm, 
and endeared himself to all the neighborhood by 
his _ cordial friendliness. His participation in the 
business ceased in 1899, but never his interest in 
this creation of his mind and heart. Of his physical 
disabilities he made mental opportunities. His liberal 
means took nothing from the simplicity of his char- 
acter and tastes. To gentle manners he united an 
inflexible will and a sense of justice that w-as an 
immovable rock. Of a deeply religious nature, he 
cherished a most comfortable faith in the openness 
to each other of this life and the life beyond. 
He was formally associated with the Metropolitan 
Art Museum, the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and 
Sciences, the Brooklyn Guild, and the American 
Unitarian Association. In the welfare of poor chil- 
dren he had special interest, and a generous ap- 
preciation of their needs. No man was ever less 
injured by good fortune or less convinced that 
mere money-getting is the chief end of life. .After 
a short illness, he died March 31. 1903, and was 
buried in Leomister. Massachusetts,' a town adjoin- 
ing the pleasant town where he was born. 

DANIEL EDWARD DENNY. Robert Denny 
(i), to whom the line of Daniel Edward Denny, of 
Worcester, Massachusetts, has been traced, was 
living in England in 1590. His children were: 
Edmund, born probably at Combs, Suffolk county, 

England, married Johan ; he was buried at 

Combs, May 11, i6og; Robert, married IMar.garet 

: he was buried at Combs, February i, 1624; 

she was buried there February 7, 1609. 

(in Edmund Denny, son of Robert Denny 

(i). married Johan . He was buried at Combs, 

May It. 1609. The children of Edmund and Johan 
Denny were: Edmund, born at Combs, baptized 
there 1575: Johan, married Wade. 

(III) Edmund Denny, son of Edmund Denny 
(2), was baptized at Combs. 1575. He married 
.Vgncs Castard, of Battysford, May, 1601. Among 
their children was a son. Edmund, born March ^i, 
1681. 

(IV) Edmund Denny, son of Edmund Denny 
(3), was buried March 31. 1681. He married 
Dorothea Moore, of Rattlesden, 1627. She died 
October, 1637. He married (second) Su.san Syer 
(Sawyer). His child by first wife was Edmund, 



302 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



died 1707. His children by second wife were: 
Thomas, buried November 22, 1717; John, died un- 
married 16S4 or s; Samuel, buried October 7, 1727, 
married Amy , who died in 1733; Susannah, mar- 
ried Ralph Weclcr; Deborah, married Thomas 
Granger, of Ipswich, died about 1C85. 

(V) Thomas Denny, son of Edmund Denny 
(4), was born in England and died there November, 
(buried November 22,) I7I7- He married Grace 
Cook, about 1686. She was born in iVIarch, 1655, 
and was buried December 19, 1741. See sketch 
of Denny family of Leicester for further details. 
The children of Thomas and Grace (Cook) Denny 
were: Edmund, died December 18, 1731 ; Thomas, 
born at Combs, buried there February 17, 1772; 
Samuel, born 1689, landed in America, July 20, 
1717, died June 2, 1772; Daniel, born November 30, 
1694, died April 16, 1760; Sarah, married William 
Green, of Battisford, married (second) Pier- 
son; Deborah, born 1699, died June i, 1766. 

(VI) Daniel Denny, son of Thomas Denny (s), 
was born at Combs, England, November 30, 1694, 
died April 16, 1760. He was the emigrant ances- 
tor. He left England in June, 1715, and arrived 
at Boston, September 12, 1715. He settled in 
Leicester, March, 1717. He married Rebecca 
Jones, of Worcester, December, 1722. She died 
December 20, 1740, aged forty years. For a more 
extended account of the pioneer in Leicester see 
sketch of the Denny Family of Leicester in this 
work. The children of Daniel and Rebecca (Jones) 
l3enny were: I. A child who died young. 2. Thomas, 
born March 19, I7-'S, died October 2^, 1774; he 
married Tabitha Cutler, of Grafton, June 25, 1752; 
she died August 8, 1753, and he married (second), 
October 21, 1755, Mary (Chaplin) Storrs, widow, 
of Pomfret, Connecticut; he was a member of the 
first Provincial congress in 1774; he has been 
called "most active and zealous of those who in 
1770 were in opposition to parliament; he died while 
a member of the Provincial congress. 3. Mary, 
born April 22, 1727, died August 8, 1822; married 
Nathan Sargent. 4. Rebecca, born April 10, 1729, 
married John Lynde; married (second) Asa Stow- 
ers. 5. Samuel, born May 20, 1731. 6. Sarah, born 
January, 1778, married (first) Thomas Sargent, 
married (second) Hon. Seth Washburn. 7. Daniel, 
born October, 1736, died November 17, 1742. 8. 
Isaac, born August, 1739, died 1743. 

(VII) Colonel Samuel Denny, son of Daniel 
Denny (6), was born in Leicester, Massachusetts, 
May 20, 1731. He died September 20, 1817. He 
married Elizabeth Henshaw, September 29, 1757. 
She was born September 29, 1737, died December 
7, 1787. She was a descendant of Joshua Henshaw. 
John Alden, the Pilgrim of Plymouth, was an- 
other ancestor. See Henshaw family elsewhere in 
this work. Samuel Denny was lieutenant-colonel 
of Colonel William Henshaw's regiment of minute- 
men which marched upon the Lexington alarm 
April 19, 1775. February 21, 1776, he was elected 
colonel of the first regiment in the county of Wor- 
cester, and in November he was stationed with the 
army at Tarrytown, New York. He was colonel 
of the Second Regiment, which was engaged Octo- 
ber 21. 1779. He was a representative in the gen- 
eral court in 1778, and was a member of the con- 
vention called to act upon the ratification of the Con- 
stitution of the United States in January, 1788. 
He lived on Moose Hill in the northwest part of the 
town. 

The children of Colonel Samuel and Elizabeth 
(Henshaw) Denny were: Daniel, born August 6, 
1758, died in Worcester, April, 1822; married Nancy 
Watson; Elizabeth, born March i, 1760, died No- 



vember 18, 1846; married Thomas Walter Ward, of 
Shrewsbury: Samuel, born April 21, 1762, mar- 
ried Desire Boyden, June 2, 1812; David, born Jan- 
uary 7, 1764, married Betsey Spooner; Isaac, born 
November 27, 1765, married Grace Tidd; William, 
born Septemlier 17, 1767, married Patty Smith; Sarah, 
born May 23, 1769, married Stephen Harris ; 
Thomas (afterwards Nathaniel Paine), born July 
22, 1771, married Sally Swan; married (second) 
Mary Denny, of Worcester; Harvard, 1797, studied 
law under Hon. Nathaniel Paine and by act of the 
legislature took his name; was seven years a rep- 
resentative in the general Court, and in 1823 and 
1824 was in the senate; he was president of the 
Leicester Bank; Polly, born August 21, 1773, died 
October, 1852; married. May i, 1798, Rev John 
Miles, of Grafton; Joseph, born April 2, 1777, mar- 
ried (first) Phebe Henshaw; married (second) 
Lucinda Henshaw, sister of his first wife, and his 
cousin. 

(VIII) Isaac Denny, son of Colonel Samuel 
Denny (7), was born in Leicester, Massachusetts, 
November 27, 1765. He was a soldier in the revolu- 
tion at the age of sixteen. He married May 16, 1703, 
Grace Tidd, descended from an old Lexington fam- 
ily. The emigrant John Tidd was a tailor. He came 
early and was settled in Charlestown, Massachu- 
setts, and proprietor of the town in 1637. He re- 
moved to Woburn, the adjoining town, in 1640. He 
was a town officer there. Isaac Denny died at 
Hardwick, Vermont, March 19, 1813. His widow, 
Grace (Tidd) Denny, married in 1818, John Sar- 
gent, and died in Leicester, Massachusetts, April 16, 
1859, aged eighty-five years. Isaac Denny was a 
farmer. He removed to Hardwick, Vermont, after 
the revolution and settled there. Washburn's His- 
tory of Leicester says of his millitary record: "In 
July 1781, seven men from Leicester enlisted into 
the Continental service for the term of three months, 
viz.: Jothani Smith, Isaac Denny, Ebenezer Upham, 
Asa Green, Marshall Newton, John Hapgood Howe. 
Some of these were not quite sixteen years of 
age." 

The children of Isaac and Grace (Tidd) Denny 
were : Harriet, born February 14, 1794, died June 
29, 1870; married, April 16, 1816, Elisha P. Mathews, 
who died March 10, 1861 ; Gratia, born October l8,' 
1795, died October 22, i860; married, March 31,1 
1829, Ebenezer Williams, of Brimfield, Massachu- 
setts, where Mrs. Williams died ; Maria, born De- 
cember 3, 1797, married, November 22, 1826; Eliza-. 
beth Henshaw, born January 29, 1801, lived in New-.' 
buryport, Massachusetts, unmarried, died Septem-i 
ber 25, i88<5: Isaac, born March 8, 1805, died No-i 
vember 24, 1831, unmarried; Laura Amelia, born 
September 3, 1807, married, June 17, 1834, Johni 
Balch, of Newburyport, who died July II, 1871 ; sher 
died July I7. t886: Edwards Whinnle, born June 9, 
1810, died February II, 1865, at Worcester, Massa- 
chusetts. 

(IX) Edwards Whipple Denny, son of Isaac 
Denny (8). was born in Hardwick, Vermont. He wa; 
a deaf mute, but notwithstanding this handicap wa; 
entirely successful in business. He was educated ai 
the American Asylum at Hartford. Connecticut. H( 
married. May 4, 1837, Elizabeth D. Stone, who wa; 
also a deaf mute. She was born in Eden, Vermont 
but both were pupils at Hartford among the firs' 
of the pupils of Rev. Thomas Gallaudet, the prin- 
cipal, who accomplished so much for the deaf anc 
dumb during his lifetime. Dr. Gallaudet's own wif( 
■was a deaf mute and he went to Europe to lean 
the methods of teaching the deaf mutes and t( 
learn how to talk with his fingers. Mr. Dcnn} 
learned the carpenter's trade and was a skilled wooi 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



303 



orkcr. He came to Worcester when it was a small 
llage and bought a large estate on Highland 
tatc, which has become very valuable during the 
ist thirty years. The residence of Daniel E. Uenny 
I West street stands on a portion of the old place, 
he children of Edwards Whipple and Elizabeth D. 
stone) Denny, both born in Worcester, were: 
nn Elizabeth, February 4, 1841, died December 
), 1857; Daniel Edward, born July 14, 1845. 

(X) Daniel Edward Denny, son of Edwardsj 
^hippie Denny (9), was born in Worcester, Massa- 
lusetts, July 14, 1845. He attended the public 
hools of Worcester and Worcester Academy. He 
arned the trade of machinist in the shops of Lu- 
lls W. Pond and worked for twenty years at his 
ade, principally for Mr. Pond and at the Wash- 
irn shops of the Worcester Polytechnic Institute. 
e was a skillful mechanic, and perhaps should be 
ted in a history of Worcester county as a fine ex- 
nple of the combination of brains and mechan- 
al skill in the workshops of Worcester that have 
lilt up the city and attracted new enterprises 
;re. After twenty years of labor at the lathe 
id drill Mr. Denny accepted a position in the 
ilway mail service. He was promoted step by 
ep till he was "clerk-in-charge." He retired at 
e end of twenty years to enter the real estate and 
e and accident insurance business. Since 1902, 
hen Mr. Denny went into business for himself, he 
IS. been in public life and has served the city 
editably in several capacities. 

He served the city in the common council in 1904 
id 1905. He was eltcted from ward one for a 
10 years term. In his second year he was elected 
•esident of the board, one of the highest honors 

the city government. Some matters of great 
iblic importance have been acted upon since Mr. 
enny has been in the city council. He has been 
1 the committees on streets, sewers and on military 
fairs. The making of a boulevard out of Shrews- 
iry street from the railroad station to Lake Quin- 
janiond has been carried into effect. The Green- 
ood Street Park has been acquired and the mag- 
ficent Green Hill estate has been acquired at a 
)minal figure from the heirs. The water works 
ive been extended along the Asnebumskit brook 

Paxton. The city has been redistricted, making 
n wards instead of eight. He was a member of 
;districting committee. Mr. Denny has been an 
:tive and efficient councilman. His good record in 
e city government was recognized by his constit- 
L-nts. and by a flattering vote he was elected to the 
meral court for 1906, from ward one, the fifteenth 
strict. 

Mr. Denny is known best from his brilliant ca- 
:er at the head of George H. Ward Post, No. 
), G. A. R., of Worcester. Mr. Denny entered the 
rvice at the age of nineteen in Company E, Forty- 
:cond Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteer Mili- 
1. He joined the Worcester Grand Army Post 
. 1869, and has since then been an active member 
id held various offices from time to time. He has 
:en the commander in 1904 and 1905. During 
lose two years this post made a remarkable gain in 
iBmbership. Forty years after the civil war and 
/er forty after the military service of most of the 
len began, this post added to its membership one 
undred and twenty-six members, bringing the 
ital membership to seven hundred and sixty-eight, 
nd putting the post in the first place in the coun- 
y in point of numbers. Those who know the men 
elieve that this post stands at the head also in 
le character and standing of the members, in their 
scords as soldiers and as citizens. The auxiliary 
ssociates of this post number nearly four hundred, 



and that also is the largest auxiliary of any post. 
I'he head of the post deserves some share of the 
credit for the strength and gains made in the mem- 
bership. His earnestness and executive ability have 
helped materially in putting the post at the head 
and maintaining the lead. 

Mr. Denny is known all over the state among 
the Knights of Pythias. Pie was a charter member 
of Regulus Lodge of Worcester, No. 71, K. P. and 
was first master-at-arms of that body. He served 
through the various offices and was elected chan- 
cellor commander in 1887. He was admitted to the 
grand lodge the year following under the admin- 
istration of P. G. C. Charles B. Newton and was 
appointed grand master-at-arms; in 1891 he was 
elected grand prelate by a handsome vote. The 
year following he was chosen grand vice-chancel- 
lor, and in 1893 was given a unanimous election as 
the twenty-second grand chancellor of the Grand 
Lodge of Massachusetts. When the parade and 
field day sports of the Knights of Pythias of the 
state were held in Worcester he was grand mar- 
shal, a position for which his military training and 
physique admirably fitted him. Mr. Denny is a 
Free Mason of high standing. He belongs to Morn- 
ing Star Lodge, Eureka Royal Arch Chapter, Hiram 
Council and to Worcester County Commandery, 
Knights Templar. He is also a member of the 
Worcester County Mechanics Association and has 
recently been elected a trustee. He was formerly 
a member of the Royal Arcanum. He has attended 
Central church since a young boy. 

lie married, April 17, 1867, Martha Alice Fisher, 
daughter 'of Robert D. and Alice (Russell) Fisher. 
She was born in Northbridge, Massachusetts, Octo- 
ber 8, 1844. They were married in Worcester. 
Their children are : I. Frank Edward, born Sep- 
tember 9, 1869, died May 16, 1872. 2. Alice Eliza- 
beth, born March 27, 1871, a graduate of the Wor- 
cester Classical high school, 1890, and afterwards 
a teacher in the same school for four years ; married 
Peter Robinson Culbert, who is a newsdealer at 
334 Main street, Worcester, January 11, 1900; they 
have one child. Janet Denny Culbert, born December 
7, 1904. 3. Edward Arthur, born in Worcester, 
December 16, 1872, graduate of the Worcester Clas- 
sical high school, 1892; married Bertha J. Griswold, 
September 17, 1901, at Worcester; he has been with 
the State Mutual Life Assurance Company for 
ten years and is at present assistant cashier. 4. 
Florence Isabel, born November 11, 1881, graduate 
of the Worcester Classical high school, class of 1900. 
now employed at the Worcester County Registry of 
Deeds. 

WARREN CARLTON JEWETT. Edward 
Jew^ett (l), of Bradford, England, father of the 
emigrants of the name, Maximilian and Joseph 
Jcwett, was ancestor of Warren Carlton Jewett, 
of Worcester. Edward Jewett was a clothier in 
Bradford in the West Riding of Yorkshire, Eng- 
land. He was descended from Henry de Juatt, a 
knight of the First Crusade. Edward Jewett mar- 
ried. October l, 1604. Mary Taylor, daughter of 
William Taylor. He lived and died at Bradford. 
His will was dated February 2, 1614, and proved 
July 12, 161S, his wife Mary being executor. The 
will mentions sons: William, Joseph and Maximilian, 
daughter Sarah, and father-in-law William Taylor. 
His children, baptized at Bradford, were: William, 
September 15, 1605; Maximilian, October 4, 1607; 
Joseph, December 31. 1609. came with Maximilian 
to Rowley and became a prominent man there, pro- 
prietor, deputy to the general court ; died February, 
1660; Sarah, and perhaps others. 



304 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



(II) Maximilian Jewett, son of Edward Jewett 
(l), was born in Bradford, England, and was bap- 
tized there October 4. 1607. He came to this coun- 
try with Rev. Ezekicl Rogers in 1639. He settled 
at Rowley, Massachusetts, and was admitted a free- 
man May 13, 1640. He was very early a deacon of 
the church and always known as Deacon Jewett, 
even on the town records. He was for many years 
selectman and a deputy to the general court. His 
wife Ann, whom he married in England, died No- 
vember, 1667, buried November 9. He died Octo- 
ber 19, 1684. He drew his home lot at Rowley, Jan- 
uary 10, 1643-4, on Bradford street, named for his 
home in England. It consisted of two acres and 
was alongside the home lot of his brother Joseph, 
part west and part east of the street. He drew 
many lots of laud in later years. In 1652 he and 
Thomas Dickerman, the two largest taxpayers of 
Rowley, each had six cows, but Dickerman's stock 
was valued by the assessors at a slightly larger 
amount. Jew-ett's assessed property was valued at 
one hundred and five pounds, eight shillings, four 
pence. He married (second), August 30, 1671, Ellen 
Boyntori, widow of John Boynton. His widow mar- 
ried (third), in Ipswich, June I, 1686, Daniel Warner, 
Sr., of Ipsvv-ich. She died August 5, 1689. 

The children of Maximilian and Ann Jewett 
were: Ezekiel, born March 5. 1643, married Faith 
Parrat ; Anna, born February 26, 1644-5. married, 
December 5, 1666, Barzilla Barker: Hilary, born Feb- 
ruary 18, 1646-7, married, in Merrimac Village, now 
Bradford, named from the birthplace of the Jewetts 
in England, November 26, 1668. David Haseltine; 
Elizabeth, born May 22, 1650, married, in Bradford, 
July 21, 1680, Robert Haseltine : Faith, born October 
8, 1652, married Samuel Dowse, of Charlestown ; 
Joseph, born about 1655, married Rebecca Law ; 
Sarah, born March 17, 1658-9, buried June 19, 1660; 
Sarah, born about 1660, married, JVIay 13, i68g, 
Jeremiah Ellsworth : Priscilla, born May 19, 1664, 
buried September 4. 1664. 

(III) Ezekiel Jewett, son of Maximilian Jewett 
(2), was born in Rowley, Massachusetts, March 5, 
1643-4. He was chosen to succeed his father as 
deacon of the church at Rowley and ordained there 
October 24, 1686. He married, February 26, 1663-4, 
Faith Parrat, daughter of Francis Parrat. She died 
October 15, 1715, in her seventh-fourth year. He 
married (second), October 23. 1716; Elizabeth Jewett, 
widow of John Jewett. Ezekiel died September 2, 
1723, in his eighty-first year. His will was dated 
February 16, 1722-3, and was proved November 4, 
1723. He left land at Boxford to his sons Ezekiel 
and Thomas : in Bradford to his son Francis. His 
widow married (fourth). December 2. 1723, Ensign 
Andrew Stickney. son of William Stickney. 

The children of Ezekiel and Faith Jewett were: 
Francis, born March 15, 1664-5, married Sarah 
Hardy; Thomas, born September 20. baptized Octo- 
ber 28. 1666, married Hannah Swan : Ezekiel, Jr.. 
born July 24. baptized September 6, 1668, died 
young : Ezekiel, Jr.. born October 25. 1669, 
was in the expedition against Canada in 1690; 
settled at Boxford and had a lar.ge family 

there; married Martha ; Maximilian, born 

February 5, baptized October 11, 1671-2, mar- 
ried Sarah ■: Ann. born September 29. 1673, died 

Seotember 11. 1689: Sarah, born November 24. 1675, 
married, January 30, 1707-8. Jonathan Bailey; Eliza- • 
beth, born March 29. 1678. married, November 30, 
1704, Isaac Platts : married (second), June 6, 1716, 
Francis Nelson; Nathaniel, born February 12, 1681, 
married Mary Gage : Stephen, born February 23, 
1682-3. married Priscilla Jewett. 

(IV) Francis Jewett, son of Ezekiel Jewett (3), 



was born in Rowley, Massachusetts, March 15, 1664-5. 
He married, in Bradford, Massachusetts, June 20, 
1693, Sarah Hardy, daughter of John Hardy, of 
Bradford. She was born there March 25, 1672, 
died there February 3, 1744, in her seventy-second 
year. Her grave is in Groveland. as that part of 
Bradford in which they lived. East Bradford, is 
now known. He died at Bradford. September ig, 
1751, in his eighty-seventh year, and was buried in 
the graveyard at Groveland. His will was dated 
September 18, 1751, and proved December 9, 1751. 
The children of Francis and Mary (Hardy) Jewett 
were ; Samuel, born April 26, 1694, married, in Brad- 
ford, October 23. 1718. Ruth Hardy, of Bradford; 
James, born April 16, 1696, died young; Ann, born 
September 24, 1698, married, at Bradford, April 16, 
17.^7. Ephraim Pemberton, of Amesbury, Massachu- 
setts ; Mary, born July 6, 1702, died young; Ezekiel, 
born April, 1704, died October 4, 1727, buried in 
Groveland ; Mar/, born October 20, 1706 ; Sarah, 
born October 5, 1708; Nathaniel, born November 
20, 1710, baptized December 3, 1710, married, in 
Bradford, December 25, 1734, Susanna Gooden 
(Gooding), of Bradford; James, born April 26, 
1713, not mentioned in father's will, 1751 ; Esther, 
born December 9. 1719, died July 13, 1720. 

(V) Deacon Nathaniel Jewett, son of Francis 
Jewett (4), was born in Rowley, Massachusetts, 
November 20, 1710, baptized December lo, 1710. He 
married, in Bradford, Massachusetts, December 25, 
17,34, Susan Gooden, of Bradford, Massachusetts. 
He was a soldier in the revolution at the age of 
sixty-six. He was at Ticonderoga. He removed to 
Hollis, New Hampshire, where he died October 5, 
1791, at the age of eighty-one years. The children 
of Deacon Nathaniel and Susan (Gooding) Jewett 
were; Mary, born 1740, died December 12, 1747; 
Lieutenant Ebenezer, born 1743; and others born at 
Hollis. New Hampshire. 

(VI) Ebenezer Jewett, son of Deacon Nathaniel 
Jewett (5), was born in Rowley probably, possibly 
Bradford, in 1743. He enlisted in June, 1777, in 
Captain Emerson's company on the Ticonderoga 
Alarm and again in 1780 he was lieutenant in Captain 
Barron's company. Colonel Nichols' regiment, at the 
defence of West Point. He was selectman of Hollis, 
New Hampshire, in 1782. He married Mary Rideout, 
March 15. 1792, and settled at Hollis, New Hamp- 
shire. He died October 6, 1826, at the age of eighty- 
three years. The children of Lieutenant Ebenezer 
and ]\Iary (Rideout) Jewett were; Ebenezer, born 
February 13, 1793; Polly, born September, 1794; 
Nathaniel, born July 21, 1796; James, born March 
29, 1799; Francis, born May 26,^1801; Susannah, born 1 
December 16, 1803 ; Lydia, born April 26, 1806. 

(VII) Ebenezer Jewett, son of Ebenezer Jewett 
(6), was born in Hollis, New Hampshire, February 
13. 1793. and spent his early life there. He lived 
for some years in Quincy and his children were all 
born there. He came to Worcester, where he died 
April, 1870. He married Elizabeth Walker. His 
estate was administered by his son, Eben Jewett. 
The children of Ebenezer Jewett were: Eben; 
Elizabeth, married Edward A. Spear, of Quincy, 
Massachusetts; Joseph, lived in Hubbardston : Mary, 
married Joseph W. Carlton, of Boston. 

(VIII) Eben Jewett. son of Ebenezer Jewett, 
Jr. (7), was born in Quincy, New Hampshire. He 
came to Worcester with his father and settled on 
the farm on the corner of Holden and Chester streets, 
where he has since lived. He was a successful 
farmer. He married Emily Jane Knowlton, daugh- 
ter of Jeremiah and Emily Knowlton, born June 
24. 1836. The children of Eben and Emily Jane 
(Knowlton) Jewett were: Warren Carlton, bom 



I 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



305 



fanuary 28, 1.S55 ; J. Henry, born in Worcester, No- 
vember 10, 1857. 

(IX) Warren Carlton Jevvett, son of Eben 
fewett {&), was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, 
fanuary 28, 1855. He was born and brought up on 
he Jevvett farm at the corner of Holden road and 
!^hester street, Worcester. He attended the Wor- 
:ester common and high schools. He worked with 
lis father after leaving schgol and has remained there 
;ince, ow-ning and running the farm in late years, 
-le has developed the property until he has one 
)f the most productive and profitable farms in this 
ection. 

He was elected to the common council from w'ard 
)ne in 1887 and served three years. In the city 
ilection of 1890 he was elected a member of the 
loard of aldermen and served four years. He was 
iresident of the board in 1894, when the new city 
barter went into effect. He established a reputa- 
ion for thorough and faithful work in the interests 
)f the city w'hen in the city council. He has also 
erved the city for the past four years in the gen- 
:ral court. He w-as on the committees on cities 
nd on agriculture. 

He has been prominent in the Grange. He was 
ecretary of the Massachusetts State Grange for 
i.x years, and was master for four years. He was 
or two years president of the Worcester AgriculturaT^t 
Society. He is a member of the State Board of" 
Agriculture by appointment of the governor, and is 
erving his second term of three years. He is 
inquestionably one of the best known farmers in 
he state. He has held offices of honor and trust 
or the past twenty years and invariably filled them 
atisfactorily. He has been prominently mentioned 
;S a Republican candidate for the senate in his 
listrict. Mr. Jewett in his capacity of master of 
he State Grange and on the State Board of Agri- 
ulture has been in great demand as a speaker and 
s considered an authority on agricultural matters 
n New England. He has a wide acquaintance among 
he leading farmers and public men of the country. 

He married Mary Elizabeth Vaughan, of Thet- 
ord, Vermont. They have one daughter, Jennie 
^'arren, born April 5, 1884. 

BROWN FAMILY. Nicholas Brown (i), the 
lioneer ancestor in America of the late William O. 
?rown. county commissioner for a number of years, 
ind Edward -Augustus Brown, treasurer of Wor- 
:ester county, Massachusetts, was the son of Ed- 
vard Brown and Jane Side, daughter of Thomas 
jide^ TITe father lived and died in the parish of 
nkbarrow, Worcestershire, England, and the son, 
>Iicholas, was doubtless born there. 

Nicholas Brown was in Lynn in New England 
)efore 1638. His son John's name appears in the 
ndian deed of Lynn as "ye Worshipful Mr. Brown." 
■Je sent this son John to England in 1660 to look 
ifter the property of his father-in-law, which, as 
le.xt heir to the Side estate, he had inherited. 
■iJicholas Brown was a mariner in his early days. 
4e settled in Lynn at the northwest of Saddlers' 
lock, in what is now Saugus. He had two hundred 
md ten acres of land there, granted by the town, 
ituated on the river. His neighbors were Boniface 
Buxton on the south. Lieutenant Thomas Marshall 
ind Jeremiah Swain on the west. North of his land 
vas the Wigwams meadow. He owned two hun- 
Ired acres in Reading and three hundred and twenty- 
;even acres on the north side of Ipswich river. He 
vas admitted a freeman September 7, 1638. and 
vas a deputy to the general court from Lynn in 
641. Mr. Brown was a leading citizen in the town 
)f Reading, where he lived after the town was in- 
20 



corporated from Lynn in 1644. He was appointed 
commissioner to hear small causes in 1640, the title 
of the local magistrate at that time. He was deputy 
to the general court in 1655-56-61, and was also 
selectman during those years. 

Nicholas Brown, his wife and children were dis- 
missed from the Lynn church to the Reading church 
February 6, 1663. She died November I, 1674. He 
died April 5, i67.3- His will was dated March. 9, 
1673, and proved June 17, 1673. He bequeathed to 
children: John, Josiah, Edward, Joseph, Cornelius 
and Elizabeth, and to wife Elizabeth. The children 
of Nicholas and Elizabeth Brown were: John; 
Josiah, both born in England probably; Edward, 
born August 15, 1640 ; Joseph, December 10, 1647; 
Cornelius; Sarah, June 6, 1650; Elizabeth. 

(II) Joseph Brown, son of Nicholas Brown (1), 
was born in Reading, Massachusetts, December 10, 
1647. He married. May 26, 1674, Elizabeth Ban- 
croft. She was the daughter of Lieutenant Thomas 
and Elizabeth (Metcalf) Bancroft, and was born in 
Reading, December 7. 1653. Lieutenant_Thomas 

V^:^»«=n was born in England in 1622, perhaps at 
'.Cheadle, Staft'ord county, where a Thomas Bancroft 
.^was baptized February 10, 1622. The first wife 
^.of Thomas Bancroft, Alice Bacon, had one child 
,>i who died young. (For further details of Thomas 
"■ Bancroft, see Bancroft family elsewhere in this 
" work.) Joseph Brown died at Reading, October 16, 
1723, and Elizabeth Brown, who died there Decem- 
ber 31, 1732, may have been his widow. 

Michael Metcalf. father of Thomas Bancroft's 
second wife, Elizabeth, was born in Tatterford, 
county of Norfolk, England, in 1586. He was a 
Dornix weaver, that is weaver of a kind of stufif 
used for carpets and curtains. He lived in Norwich 
in Norfolk county. He tuarried Sarah EUwyn, who 
was born June 17, 1593. in the adjoining town of. 
Waynham of Wymondham, where they were mar- 
ried October 13, 1616. Their seven eldest children 
were born in St. Benedict's, Norwich, and four 
younger at St. Edmondsbury. 

On his way to .America Michael Metcalf wrote 
a letter to "All the true professors of Christ's Gos- 
pel within the city of Norwich," saying, "I was perse- 
cuted in the land of my father's sepulchres, for not 
bowing at the name of Jesus, and observing other 
ceremonies in religion, forced upon me at the in- 
stance of Bishop Wren of Norwich and his chan- 
cellor. Dr. Corbett, whose violent measures troubled 
me in the Bishop's court, and returned me into the 
High Commissioners Court. Suffering many times 
for the cause of religion. I was forced for the sake 
of the liberty of my conscience to flee from my 
wife and my children, to go into New England, tak- 
ing ship for the voyage at London Sept. 17, 1636; 
being by tempests tossed up and down the seas till 
the Christmas following, then veering about to Plym- 
outh in Old England in which time I met with many 
sore afflictions. Leaving the ship I went down to 
Yarmouth in Norfolk County, whence I shipped 
myself and family to come to New England anci 
sailed April 15. 1637." Michael Metcalf settled at 
Dedham. where he was admitted a freeman 5Iay 13, 
1640. He was town officer and schoolmaster. He 
died December 27. 1664, and his wnll dated Decem- 
ber 27. 1664. mentions his wife and children. 

(III) Nicholas Brown, son of Joseph Brown (2), 
was born in Reading. Massachusetts. Septemlier 22, 
1677. He married. May 28. 1700, Rebecca Nichols, 
who was born August 10. 1684. daughter of Captain 
Thomas and Rebecca (Eaton) Nichols. After the 
death of Nicholas Brown, his widow married (sec- 
ond) Deacon Jonathan Barrett, as his second wife^ 
Her father. Captain William Nichols, married. De- 



3o6 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



ccniber T, 1680, in Reading. Rebecca, daughter of 
John and Elizabeth (Kendall) Eaton. John Eaton 
was born in Staple, connty Kent, December 20, 
1635; his father, William Eaton, was born about 
1604-5; they settled in Watertown, Massachusetts, 
and Reading, where William died May 13, 1673, and 
Martha, his widow, November 14, 1680. John Eaton 
died in i6gi in Reading also. Elizabeth Kendall, 
who married John Eaton, was daughter of Thomas 
Kendall, of Reading, brother of Francis Kendall, 
of Wob'urn (See sketch of Kendall family in this 
work.) Rebecca Kendall, widow of Deacon Thomas 
Kendall, died July 17. 1703, aged eighty-five years. 
Her ejjitaph is famous : "Here lyeth the mother of 
ten who had 175 grand and great grand children." 
But her descendants were all by her daughters; 
those of the name Kendall are as a rule descended 
from Francis Kendall. Nicholas Brown, clerk, died 
September 2, 171,3, aged thirty-six years, at Reading, 
where he had lived. He was buried in the old 
graveyard at South Reading, as was also his wife 
Bebecca, widow of Deacon Barrett. She died March 
18. 1765, aged eighty-five years. 

(IV) Deacon Benjamin Brown, son of Nicholas 
Brown (3), was born at Reading, Massachusetts, 
February '21, 1702. died at Reading, x\pril I, 1768. 
He married Susannah . 

(V) General BAijamin Brown, son of Deacon 
Benjamin Brown (4), was born in Reading, Massa- 
chusetts, March 22, 1728, died there January 4, 
1801, aged seventy-three years. He married (first), 
June 20, 1749. in Reading. Hannah Swain, who vyas 
born .Vugust 2(j, 1731. in Reading. He married 
(second) Elizabeth Wiley. February 20, 1772. 

Hannah Swain was the daughter of Thomas 
Swain, whose father was Lieutenant Benjamin Swain, 
a doctor, whose father was Jeremiah Swain. Major 
Jeremiah Swain, the last mentioned, was son of 
Jeremiah, who was born in England, and settled at 
Charlestovvn, Massachusetts, in 1638, probably the 
year in which he emigrated: settled in 1640 in Read- 
ing : married Mary : died 1658. 

^Iajor and Doctor Jeremiah Swain (2) fought 
in King Philip's war and was wounded at Ft. Narra- 
gansett. He was captain in 1676; in 1689 he was 
in command of the forces sent against the Indians ; 
he was selectman of Reading eight years ; repre- 
sentative to the general court ten years and gov- 
ernor's assistant in 1690 and 1696; he married. 1664, 
Marv Smith, daughter of Francis Smith, one of the 
pioneer settlers. 

Benjamin Swain, son of Major Jeremiah Swain, 
was also a physician. He was for many years select- 
man of Reading and died in 1747; he married (first) 

Margaret . by whom he had nine children ; in 

1 714 he married Elizabeth Bout well, widow of James 
Boutwell, by whom he had one child ; his son. 
Thomas Swain, was the father of Hannah Swain, 
who married General Benjamin Brown as stated 
above. 

Hannah (Swain) Brown died June 12, 1771, 
aged forty years. Thomas Swain was a private 
in (Taptain John Walton's company. Colonel David 
Green's regiment, and marched with the company 
on the Lexington call. He was appointed by the 
general court lieutenant-colonel in Colonel Jonathan 
Fox's regiment of Middlesex county, and was com- 
missioned in council February 12, 1776. In 1777 
he was lieutenant-colonel in Colonel Samuel Bul- 
lard's Massachusetts regiment. He was present at 
the surrender of Burgoyne. He was at Ticonderoga 
with General Gates in 1776, and an interesting letter 
-written to his w-ife is printed in Eaton's History of 
Reading. Massachusetts. He was a general of the 
militia after the war. 



(VI) William Brown, son of General Benjamir 
Brown (5), was born in Reading. Massachusetts 
April I, 1758. He married Martha Richardson, whc 
was probably born in Lynnfield, Massachusetts. Sh( 
used to talk of that place and of Lynn, Saugus anc 
Reading to her grandchildren. He was a soldier ii 
the revolution and marched with his father on thi 
Lexington call in the Reading company. He was 
also in the Train Band, under John Walton, cap- 
tain, May 13, 1775. He settled in Royalston. Massa- 
chusetts, on the Prouty place as it is now called. FI< 
was a tanner by trade and he built a tannery ir 
Royalston. He then bought of Elder Whilmar 
Jacobs the farm south of and adjoining Newton's 
where as is supposed Abel Whitney first settled 
In several purchases he annexed to his farm the 
Thomas Heminway place farther south and became 
a large landed proprietor. In his later years he set- 
tled his son. Colonel Benjamin Brown, with liim 

Colonel Brown commanded the Royalston Gren- 
adiers when they marched for the defence of Bos- 
ton in the last war with Great Britain. It should 
be added here that the farm passed to Colonel 
Benjamin Brown's son, Lieutenant Benjamin H. 
Brown, and the farm has remained in the possession 
of his descendants to the present time. 

William Brown died in Royalston, December 23, 
1830. His widow died there January 16, 1851, aged 
ninety years, nine months, seven days. The chil- 
dren of William and Martha (Richardson) Brown, 
of Reading and Royalston, were: William, born 
April 15, 1784, died aged nineteen years; Benjamin, 
of whom later: Otis, born September 11, 1793, died 
August 19, 1796: Hannah, born December 13, 1795, 
died July 12. 1886. 

CV'II) Col. Benjamin Brown, second child of 
William Brown (6), was born at Reading, Massa- 
chusetts, May 16, 1787, and came to Royalston with 
his parents. He was captain of a company which 
went from Royalston in the war of 1812. He mar- 
ried Betsy Reed, daughter of Nathan Reed, of Rut- 
land, Massachusetts. later of Royalston. Betsey's 
sister, Lois Reed, married W. R. Sargent, and lived 
to an advanced age in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts 
Nathan Reed was born in Rutland. Massachusetts^ 
May 31, 1761. He married Lois Maynard and settlec 
in Royalston. "He married (second), September 14 
^7^3, Lois Maynard, who was born December 20 
1764, the daughter of Moses and Tabitha (Moore) 
Maynard, of Rutland. At the age of sixty-sev€^ 
Moses Maynard tipped the scales at four hundred 
and fifty-one pounds. He died December, 1796 
His ancestry was: Moses Maynard, born about 169;^ 
died March 26, 1782: Zachery Maynard. born ii 
Sudbury. June 7, 1647, died 1724; John Maj'narc 
the emigrant, was of Sudbury 1639, married. Jun 
14, 1646. Mary Axtell, daughter of Comfort Stan 
(See sketch of Comfort Starr elsewhere in thi 
work.) 

Lois (Maynard) Reed died December 24. 184' 
and Nathan Reed died May 6, 1850. He was 
brother of Deacon Jonas Reed, who wrote the hi' 
tory of Rutland. Their father. Deacon Jonas Reei 
of Littleton, w'as born June 7, 1722, and marrie 
Elizabeth Wright, of Concord. April 17. 1746. Tl 
father of Deacon Jonas Reed was Major Benjami 
Reed, who removed from Lexington, Massachi 
setts, where he was born October 22. 1696, to Littl' 
ton. He married Rebecca Stone, sister of Deacc 
John Stone. Benjamin died July 13, T780. agt 
ninety-three years, and his first wife died Noven 
her. i7iS. aged fifty-two years. 

The father of Benjamin Reed was William Ree 
captain, wdio was born September 22. 1662, at 
who married Abigail Kendall, his father's cousi 




/^"H^u' 



i^>7t''-^^-^^' 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



307 



May 24, 1686. She had the Kendall peculiarity that 
has been noted for centuries of extra toes and fin- 
gers. Captain Reed settled in Cambridge Farms, now 
Lexington, and was a great landholder in Cam- 
bridge Farms, Woburn and Billerica. He was just- 
ice of the peace and captain of the military com- 
jpany. He was one of the first board of selectmen 
chosen after the incorporation of Lexington in 1713, 
and died there May 12, 1718. His widow died Octo- 
ber 12, 1734. and both were buritd in Lexington. 

The father of Captain William Reed was George 
Reed, who was born in England, in 1629, and 
bought a farm in Woburn, November 7, 1651, from 
Rebecca Terrace. He married Elizabeth Jennings 
or Jennison, of Watertown, Massachusetts, August 
4. 1651, and he bought land in Weymouth, April 
16. 1665. He married (second) Hannah Rockwell, 
of Charlestown, November 9, 1665, having eight 
children by the first marriage and five by the sec- 
ond. The farm of George Reed is now or was 
Jately owned by Nathan Blanchard, and it is within 
the limits of the town of Burlington. He was 
wtaltliy and influential and deacon of the Woburn 
•church. He died February 21, 1706, aged seventy- 
seven years. 

The father of George Reed was the emigrant, 
"William Reed, of Woburn. William Reed or Reade 
is believed to be the son of Thomas and Mary 
Reade, of Brocket Hall, Hertfordshire. England, 
and was born in 1587. He sailed from London in 
the ship "Defence" in July, 1635, and arrived at 
Boston, October 6, 1635, with his wife, who was 
j\Iabel Kendall, born in 1605. (See Reade family 
for further details.) 

Elizabeth J. Jennison, who married George Reed, 
as stated above, born April 12, 1637, in Woburn, 
Massachusetts, was the daughter of Robert Jenni- 
son, of Watertown, and her birth is the earliest 
record we have of the family. Robert Jennison 
was admitted a freeman in May, 1645. His wife, 
Ehzabeth Jennison, died October 30, 1638, aged 

thirty, and he married (second) Grace , who 

died November 26, 1686; he died July 4, i6go. His 
■will mentions his son-in-law, George Reed. 

The first wife of Benjamin Reed, mentioned 
above was Rebecca Stone, who was born Novem- 
ber 19, 1696, died November 30, 1748 ; they mar- 
ried about 1718, and they lived at Lexington, 
Massachusetts. She was the daughter of Samuel 
and Dorcas (Jones) Stone. Samuel Stone was 
born October i, 1656, and died June 17, 1743, aged 
■eighty-seven. They were married June 12, 1679, 
and lived in Lexington where he and his father 
before were deacons of the church. Dorcas Stone 
died September 24. 1746. aged eighty-seven. 

Samuel Stone was the son of Samuel and Sarah 
(Stearns) Stone, of Cambridge Farms, born 1635, 
and was a prominent man, town officer and deacon. 
He died September 27, 1715, aged eighty years, 
seven months. His wife, Sarah Stone, died Octo- 
ber 4, 1700, and he married (second) Abigail , 

who died in Woburn, 1728, aged seventy-one. 

The father of Samuel Stone, Sr., was the emi- 
grant, Gregory Stone, who came in 1635 ^nd set- 
tled in Cambridge. He was deacon of the first 
church. I-fe married Lydia Cooper, widow, who 
had two children by her first marriage and six by 
the second. He was a deputy to the general court. 
He died November 30, 1672, aged eighty-two, and 
Lydia Vlied June 24, 1674. His father was a dis- 
senting minister in Sudbury, Suffolk county, Eng- 
lind, where Gregory was born about 1590. The 
father. Rev. Samuel Stone, allowed four sons to 
emigrate in order to enjoy religious freedom. The 
wife of Samuel Stone, Sr., was Sarah Stearns. 



wife of Isaac Stearns, the emigrant. (See sketch 
of Stearns family.) The wife of Sanniel Stone, 
2d., Dorcas Jones, is believed to have been daugh- 
ter of John and Dorcas Jones, of Concord. 

Betsey Reed's father, Nathan Reed, was the son 
of Jonas and Elizabeth (Wright) Rted. Elizabeth 
Wright was the daughter of Joseph and Elizabeth 
Wright. Samuel Wright, his father, settled in Sud- 
bury, Massachusetts, where he was born April 9, 
1670. He removed to Rutland and was prominent 
in town and military affairs. He died January 15, 
1740, and his wife, Mary, daughter of Cyprian 
Stevens, died May 18, 1739. (See Stevens Family.) 

Samuel Wright was the son' of Edward Wright, 
captain and pioneer in Sudbury, who died there 
August 7, 1703. Captain Edward married, June 18, 
1659, Hannah Axtell, who died May 18, 1708. He 
was probably the son of Dorothy Wright, widow, 
an early settler in Sudbury, who married (second) 
John Blandford. Hannah Axtell was the daughter 
of Thoinas Axtell. He was buried in Sudbury, 
March 8, 1646, leaving a widow Mary, who mar- 
ried (second) John Goodnow. 

Colonel Benjamin Brown (VH), was prominent 
among the early settlers in Royalston. He became 
a colonel in the militia, and served two terms in the 
general court, served in the town in all the im- 
potant offices, and was many years selectman. He 
was a prosperous farmer. His two brothers. Will- 
iam and Otis, died young. His sister Hannah 
married William Pierce, of Royalston, and (second) 
Samuel Dadmun. of Fitchburg, and lived in Fitch- 
burg. The children of Benjamin and Betsey (Reed) 
Brown were : William Otis, born March 30, 1815, 
died January 29, 1890, of whom later; Isabella R., 
May 3. 1818, married John Forrester Brooks, the 
well known proprietor of the Massasoit House, 
Barre ; Eliza ^lorse, October 18, 1820, unmarried, 
resides in Royalston and Fitchburg ; Mary Richard- 
son, December ly, 1822, died January 10. 1823; 
Benjamin Hammond, July 31. 1824. farmer at Ray- 
alston, Massachusetts, married Nancy L. Wood, he 
was a soldier in the civil war ; Edward .Augustus, 
August 7, 1827, married Bessie Maria Harding; 
served his regiment in the civil war as cjuarter- 
master; has for many years been treasurer of the 
county of Worcester, resides in Worcester; Moses 
Reed, born April i, 1830, died January 2-, 1864, 
unmarried; Elizabeth Reed, March 22, 1833, resides 
in Chicago. Illinois, where she was a school teacher 
about forty years and is now enjoying a teachers* 
pension for length of service. 

(VIII) William Otis Brown, eldest child of 
Benjamin Brown (7), was born in Royalston, Massa- 
chusetts, March 30, 1815, died January 30, 1890. 
He was brought up in Royalston and received his 
early education in the district schools there. He 
worked at mechanical trades when a young man 
in his native town. In 1854 he removed to Fitch- 
burg, a neighboring town, and started in business 
as a dealer in grain and flour with his brother, Ed- 
ward A. Brown, the present county treasurer, and 
W. A. Crehore under the firm name of Brown, 
Crehore & Co. In 1857 he fonned a partnership 
with ex-Mayor H. A. Blood. Their grain store 
was in the building on Water street opposite the 
LInion Station until 1861. He enlisted as quarter- 
master in the Twenty-fifth Massachusetts Regiment, 
and was mustered into the service with the rank 
of first lieutenant September 20, 1864. Soon after 
the capture of Newbern. North Carolina, he was 
appointed first commissary at that important point. 

The historian of the Twentv-fifth Regiment. Cap- 
tain J. W. Denny, wrote, wrote of him : "Lieutenant 
William O. Brown was esteemed by all as a most 



3o8 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



capable and efficient officer. Indeed, it was often 
remarked tliat his department was the best managed 
one in the service." Near the close of his time of 
service yellow fever broke out at Newbern, and one 
of the lirst victims was a clerk in his department. 
The disease was not at first recognized by the army 
surgeons who were not familiar with it. iMr. Brown 
had a severe attack which nearly proved fatal and 
doubtless left its mark on his naturally vigorous 
constitution. After the close of the war he held a 
responsible position at the construction of the 
Hoosac tunnel, which was then being excavated 
under state management, and remained in that po- 
sition until the contract for the completion of the 
tunnel was let to the Shankys in 1869. 

Mr. Brown had a long record of faithful service 
in town and county, and was highly esteemed as a 
discreet, conservative and thoroughly honest official. 
He was selectman of Fitchburg from 1857 until 
1861, and after his return from the service in 1865- 
66-70. He represented ward three in the board of 
aldermen in 1888, and served on the committees on 
police, highways, city property and buildings. He 
was elected county commissioner of Worcester 
county in 1868 and re-elected six times. He com- 
pleted his twenty-first year of continuous service 
at the close of 18S9, only a few months before his 
death, when failing health obliged him to decline a 
re-election. In January, 1877, he succeeded J. War- 
ren Bigelow as chairman of the board, a position 
which he held during the remainder of his term 
of service. He had had the direct oversight of the 
erection of the court house, of that part of the jail 
built after the fire in Fitchburg, and the extension 
of the jail in 1888. His successive elections were 
proof of his ability and fidelity to the duties of his 
position. 

He was one of the incorporators of the Wachu- 
sett National Bank of Fitchburg, Massachusetts, 
which began business June i, 1875, and was a director 
to the time of his death and vice-president since 
January 9, 1877. For several years he was treasurer 
of the Walter Heywood Chair Manufacturing Com- 
pany. He was director of the F^itchburg Mutual 
Fire Insurance Company from 1865 to 1868, and 
from July 7, 1870, until his death. 

He was an entertaining companion and during 
his long and varied experience had acquired a large 
fund of anecdotes which he could efifectively re- 
late. He had a deep love for children and was 
often seen leading or entertaining them, and no citi- 
zen had more friends among the little folks. 

He married Hannah G. Heywood, of Royalston, 
Massachusetts. She died October, 1868. She bore 
him two sons, George and Charles, who died at the 
ages of thirteen and nine years, respectively. Mr. 
Brown married (second), October 4, 1870, Rosa 
Heywood, daughter of Walter and Nancy (Foster) 
Heywood, of Gardner, Massachusetts. They had 
no children. Mrs. Brown resides at the homestead 
on Alain street, Fitchburg, where she is highly es- 
teemed. She is active in church and charitable 
work. 

(VIII) Edward Augustus Brown, son of Colonel 
Benjamin Brown (7), was born at Royalston, Massa- 
chusetts. August 7, 1827. He was educated in the 
public schools of Royalston and at the Westminster 
Academy in a neighboring town. After leaving home 
he was employed first by Captain Ephraim Mur- 
dock, of Winchendon, in his wooden ware estab- 
lishment for two years or more. In 1854 he went 
to Fitchburg and worked as clerk in the store of 
Brown, Crehore & Company, dealers in groceries, 
butter, etc. In the year follow'ing he went west and 
located in Beloit, Wisconsin, as a dealer in furni- 



ture, and remained there until the fall of 1859, 
when he returned to Fitchburg and was employed 
in the flour and grain store of Blood & Brown, for 
whom he worked until he enlisted. 

Although he lost the sight of one eye through 
an accident in childhood and could not have been 
drafted as a soldier, he was accepted when he volun- 
teered having demonstrated that he had an excellent 
vision, nothwithstanding the defect. When President 
Lincoln called for volunteers in the spring of 1861 
Mr. Brown w-as a member of the Fitchburg Fusiliers,, 
then commanded by General John W. Kimball, and 
the company was offered as a whole, but was not 
accepted. He joined the Twenty-fifth Massachusetts. 
Regiment wheij it organized and was made quarter- 
master-sergeant. The regiment went into camp Sep- 
tember 20, 1861. It was in the Burnside expedition 
to Roanoke Island and Newbern, North Carolina; 
in the fall of 1862, he was appointed first lieutenant 
and quartermaster of the Fifty-third Massachusetts 
Volunteers, and he went with the regiment to 
Louisiana, where he was stationed during the re- 
mainder of his service with that regiment. After 
the nine months of his enlistment had expired and 
he was mustered out, he returned to Newbern and 
worked in the commissary department until the 
summer of 1864, when he received from President 
Lincoln a commission as commissary of subsistence 
with the rank of captain, and remained in the serv- 
ice until the surrender at Appomattox Court House 
and the close of the war. He was also breveted 
major by President A. Johnson and discharged as. 
such. He was mustered out October 2, 1865, after 
more than four years of service. 

He returned to his father's home at Royalston 
and assisted him until his father died in February^ 
1866. On the first of May following he was ap- 
pointed general passenger and ticket agent of the- 
Boston, Clinton & Fitchburg Railroad, with central 
offices in Fitchburg, a position that he filled with 
credit. He resigned January 20, 1876, to accept the- 
appointment of county treasurer to fill an unexpired 
term of Charles A. Chase, resigned. He has been 
re-elected at the expiration of each of his three year 
terms of office, and has (1906) already served con- 
tinuouslv over thirty years. Mr. Brown has the- 
honor of serving for the longest period of any 
treasurer of Worcester county. In the meantime the 
duties of the office have greatly multiplied ; the- 
population of the county has become vastly greater 
and amount of money and the number of accounts- 
handled by the treasurer greatly increased. Yet the- 
administration of Mr. Brown's office has been above- 
criticism. The expense, compared with some other 
counties in New York and New England, is re- 
markably small. Mr. Brown has been a most useful 
public servant. As he served the government and 
the railroad company, so he ha« served the county, 
with the same regard for economy and scrupulous 
regard for the treasury. He could not be more con- 
scientious and painstaking in any business, private 
or public. 

' Mr. Brown removed from Fitchburg to Wor- 
cester in 1877 to be nearer the office of the county 
treasurer. He has resided for many years at 31 
Harvard street. In politics he is a Republican: 
in 1875 he was a memlier of the common council 
of Fitchburg, but he has never cared for party 
politics or for political contests. He attends Plym- 
outh Congregational Church, to which his family 
belongs. . He is a member of E. B. Sumner Post, 
Grand Army, of Fitchburg. 

He married. September 13, 1869, Bessie Maria 
Harding, daughter of Theodore and Nancy (Clark) 
Harding, of East Medway, Massachusetts. Her 




'^o^-^'^t^tc^c^^.^ <C^ //0( 




WORCESTER COUNTY 



309 



■ father was a farmer there. She was born April 14, 
i 1841, and died at Worcester, August 15, 1903. The 
i .children of Edward Augustus and Bessie Maria 
i Brown are: i. Anna Grace, born at Fitchburg, Feb- 
' ruary 5, 187J, married, December 25, 1899, Clitford 

Raymond Harris, graduate of the Worcester Poly- 
technic Institute, 1897, manager at present of the 
Standard Plunger Elevator Company of Worcester; 
residing at 61 Beachmont street; they have two chil- 
i -dren': Edward Augustus Harris, born March 8, 1902 ; 
I Joseph Harris, born April 26, 1905. 2. Sarah Abbie, 
' born February 22, 1875, resides at home with her 
'1 father. . 3. Mary Alice, born August 30, 1879, re- 
sides at home with her father. 

, BALDWIN FAMILY. Richard Baldwin (i), 
I ancestor of John S. Baldwin and Charles C. Bald- 
-win, of Worcester, held the Manor of Dunbridge, 
in Aston-CIinton, Buckinghamshire, England, early 
in the sixteenth century. His will was proved in 
1552-53. His heir was Henry Baldwin. 

(II) Henry Baldwin, son of Richard Baldwin 
■(l). was heir to the Manor at Aston-Clinton, which 
is in the Hundred of Aylesbury and Deanery of 
Wendover, four miles from Aylesbury east on the 
Toad from London through Tring. Dundridge and 
the Chapel farm of the Baldwins were in tliat part 
•of Aston-Clinton called St. Leonards. Dundridge 

; remained in the Baldwin family until 1748 when it 
was sold by the heir of J. M. Baldwin, Esq, to Ed- 

■ ward Darrell, Esq. 

Henry Baldwin married Alice King and had eight 

children, four sons and four daughters. His will, 

' <lated January 2, 1599, mentions his children as fol- 

■ .lows: Agnes; Jane, married James Bonus; Mary, 
.married Richard Salter ; Richard, who inherited the 
Manor: John: Robert: and Sylvester (see forward). 

(III) Sylvester Baldwin, son of Henry Baldwin 
j (2), was born at the Manor of Dundridge about 
I 1765. He married Jane Welles in 1590. He died 

■previous to 1632. His children were: Harry, buried 

[in 1594; John, not living in 1632; Henry, inherited 
Dundridge; Richard; William; Sylvester, married 

, Sarah Bryan in 1620. These sons were born be- 

1 ''tween 1590 and 1600. 

I' (IV) Sylvester Baldwin, son of Sylvester Bald- 
win (3), was born about 1600 at Aston-Clinton. He 
lived at St. Leonards in Aston-Clinton near Dund- 
ridge, where he owned the Chapel farm. He was 
the executor of the will of his uncle, Richard Bald- 
-win, who died without issue in 1636, leaving the 
Manor to Henry Baldwin, son of Sylvester Bald- 
■win (3) and brother of Sylvester Baldwin (4), who 
was the residuary legatee, as well as the executor. 

Sylvester Baldwin was the emigrant ancestor. In 
July, 1638, w'ith his wife Sarah and six children, 
he sailed for America in the ship "Martin." They 
Tielonged to the New Haven Company. 

Sylvester Baldwin died in mid-ocean July 21, 
1638. When the ship arrived in Boston Mrs. Bald- 
"win and her son Richard were appointed executors 
■of the will by the Court of Assistants. He left a 
large estate. The widow and six children decided 
to remain in Americri and settled as they had in- 
tended at New Haven. In 1643 the Mrs. Baldwin 
was rated as one of the wealthiest proprietors. After 
1643 she married (second) Captain ^Astwood and 
■removed to Milford, Connecticut, where she died in 
1669. Captain Astwood died in London in 1654. 

Sylvester Baldwin married Sarah Bryan in 1620. 
Their children, all born and baptized at Aston-Clin- 
ton, were: i. Sarah, baptized April 22, 1621, mar- 
ried. 1638, Benjamin Fenn, of Milford. Connecticut. 
2. Richard, baptized August 25, 1622, married, 1642, 
Elizabeth Alsop, of New Haven; he lived at Derby 



and Milford, wa5 town clerk of Milford and deputy 
to the general court ; he has many descendants. 3. 
Mary, baptized February 28, 1624, died in 1624. 4. 
Mary, baptized February 19, 1625, married, 1640, 
Robert Plum, of Milford. 5. Martha, baptized April 
20, 1628. 6. Ruth, born in 1630. 7. Samuel, bap- 
tized January, 1632, died in 1632. 8. Elizabeth, bap- 
tized January 25, 1633, died 1633. 9. John, born in 
ifi35. (.sec forward). 

(V) John Baldwin, son of Sylvester Baldwin (4), 
was born in Aston-Clinton, England, in 1635, and 
died .\ugust 19, 1683. The maiden name of his first 
wife is unknown. It is conjectured that she was a 
dauglitcr of Captain John Astwood, his step-father. 
They were married in 1656 and a house lot was as- 
signed to them in Milford. Connecticut, and later 
he received other grants of land in that town. His 
wife died in 1657 soon after the birth of her only 
child, John. In 1664 John Baldwin settled in New 
London. Connecticut. He married (second), July 
24, 1672. Rebecca Palmer, widow of Elisha Chese- 
hro, and daughter of Walter Palmer (I) of Ston- 
ington, Connecticut. They settled permanently in 
Stonington where she owned an extensive tract of 
land. She died May 2, 1713. 

The children of John Baldwin were: i. John, 
born April 13, 1657, died in 1676, in England. 2. 
Rebecca, May 20, 1673, married Elnathan, son of 
Deacon Manasseh Minor, town clerk of Stonington. 
3. Mary, February 24, 1675, married John Randall, 
of Stonington. 4. Sylvester, March 4, 1677, received 
a bequest in 1702 from the estate of his grandmother, 
Sarah (Bryan) (Baldwin) Astwood; he married 
Lydia Minor and Elizabeth Avery. 5. Sarah. 1680, 
died unmarried. 6. Jane, 1681, died before 1692. 7. 
Theophilus, 1683, married Priscilla Mason, (see for- 
ward). 

(VI) Theophilus Baldwin, son of John Baldwin 
(5), was born in Stonington, Connecticut, June, 1683. 
He'settled there. He married (first) Priscilla Ma- 
son, daughter of Daniel Mason, May 25, 1710. She 
was the granddaughter of Captain John Mason, the 
Indian fighter, and of Rev. Peter Hobart, of Hing- 
ham, Massachusetts, whose daughter Rebecca was 
Daniel Mason's second wife. 

The children were born by the first wife. He 
married (second). May i, 1724, Jemima Powers, who 
died in 1733, and he married (third) Elizabeth Has- 
call, widow, of Norwich. He was the first deacon 
of the church organized in 1727 in what is now 
North Stonington. In many ways he was a man 
of mark in the town, having character, ability, wealth 
and a remarkably sunny temper. 

The children of Theophilus and Priscilla 
(Mason) Baldwin were: I. John, born July 12, 
171 1, (see forw^ard). 2. Priscilla, November 17, 
1713! married Daniel Caulkins. 3. Theophilus, Oc- 
tober 23. 1716. married (first), February 5, 1738, 
Sarah Lamb, and (second), January 20, 1764. Eliza- 
beth Billings, of Stonington. 4. Sylvester, March, 

1719, married (first) Anna — and (second) 

Bridget Chcsebro, of Stonington, and had ten chil- 
dren. 

(VII) Captain John Baldwin, son of Theophilus 
Baldwin (6), was born July 12, 1711, at Stonington, 
Connecticut. He married, February 6, 1736, Mary 
Clarke. She died January 24, I737, four weeks after 
the birth of her son, John. He married (second) 
Eunice Spaulding, of Plainfield, Connecticut, twin 
daughter of Thomas Spaulding. She was born July 
28, 1720. He died in 1762. He held a commission 
as captain in the militia. His widow married (sec- 
ont), November I. 1764, Isaac Williams, who died 
September 22, T788. She died January, 1819, aged 
ninety-eight years and six months. 



310 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



The children of John Baldwin were: I. John, 
born December 27, 1736, died January 8,' 1737. 2. 
Marv, Fel'rnary 9, 1741, married Stcplien FrinU. 3. 
Priscilla, May 20, 1743, married Hubbard Borrougbs, 
Jr., and died in 1771. 4. Elizabeth, June 23, 1745, 
married, November 24, 1765, Jei-sc Swan, of Ston- 
ington. '5. Eunice , October 25, 1747, died August 23, 
1761. 6. Thomas, April 6. 1751, died April 10, 1751. 
7. John. May 12, 1752, (see forward). 8. Ziba, Feb- 
ruary 16, 1/55, married, July 20, 1775. Amy Brown, 
of Preston, Connecticut, died September 27, 1803. 

(VIII) Major John Baldwin, son of John Bald- 
win (7). was born May 12, 1752. in Stonington, 
Connecticut. He was a thrifty, forcible and influen- 
tial man. He married, January 23, 1772. Sarah Deni- 
son, of Stonington. She was the daughter of John 
and' the granddaughter of Daniel Denison, who was 
the son of Colonel George Denison. the emigrant 
ancestor. She was born May 3, 1752. 

Major Baldwin settled on the homestead in Ston- 
ington. Mrs. Baldwin died June 19, 1813 ; he died 
August 3, 1814. Their children were: i. John, born 
October 28, 1772, married, January 31, 1796, Abigail 
Boardman, of Griswold. and (second) in 1825, An- 
ner Rose, a widow; he died in 1858. 2. Eunice, 
March 16, 1775, married, January 17, 1793, Stephen 
Tucker, of Griswold, Connecticut. 3. Denison. March 
25, 1778, died unmarried. 4. Andrew, December 15, 
1780, married, November 22, 1801, Mary Boardman. 
5. Daniel, May 21, 1783, married (first) Eunice 
Frink, (second) Lucy Boardman, and (third) Han- 
nah Stanton, by whom he had nine children. 6. 
Polly, February I, 1786. married Stephen Frink. 7. 
George Washington, July 21, 1788, married, Novem- 
ber 16, 1809, Mary C. Kinney, of Griswold ; died in 
St. Louis in 1846. 8. Sarah, in 1790, married, 1815, 
Thomas Holmes ; died in Fall River, 1853. 9. Nancy, 
in' 1793, died in 1834, unmarried. 

(IX) Daniel Baldwin, son of John Bald,win 
(8), was born May 21, 1783. He married (first) 
April 22, 1804, Eunice Frink, who died childless, 
May I, 1805. He married (second), January 22. 
1806. Lucy Boardman. who died childless. August 
17, 1806. He married (third) April 21. 1808, Han- 
nah Stanton, who bore him nine children. She 
was the daughter of Captain Nathaniel Stanton, of 
Groton, Connecticut, whose descent was : Nathaniel 
(4) his father; Joseph (3); Captain John (2); 
Thomas (l), the first settler. Her mother was a 
lineal descendant of the first James Avery, of Gro- 
ton, Massachusetts, through his son, Captain James 
Avery. 

Daniel Baldwin settled first in North Stonington, 
Connecticut, where their first four children were 
born, .\fter 1816 they lived seven years in Chenango 
county. New York, where their next four children 
were born. Then they returned to North Stoning- 
ton where their youngest child was born. 

Daniel Baldwin died October 28, 1855. His 
vvfidow. who was born March 11, 1786, died March 
19. 1877, at the age of ninety-one. Their children 
are: i. John Denison. born September 28, 1809, 
(see forward). 2. Daniel Avery, July 2, 1811, mar- 
ried (first), May 23, 1835, Betsey Rogers, of Lyme. 
Connecticut, who died April 17. 1851 : he married 
(second). May 22. 1853. Amanda Colgrove, of 
Voluntown, Connecticut ; he was a shipmaster of 
New- London, Connecticut. He had ten children. 
3. Sally Adaline. July 17, 1813, died young. 4. Nancy 
Adaline, April 27, 1815, married, December 3. 1839. 
Frederick P. Frink, of Salisbury, Connecticut, and 
died childless in New London, October 31, 1S69. 
.=;. Andrew, born and died April, 1817. 6. Mary Ann, 
May 8, tSiS. married, November I, 1837, Charles 
D. Smith, of Woodstock; resided at Worcester and 



had two children : Ebenezer Smith, November 7 
1839 ; Hannah Amelia, September 16, 1845. marriec 
Samuel Woodward, wdio did business in Quincj 
Market, Boston. They have one child : Charlei 
Smith Woodward, born September 16, 1868. 7. Han- 
nah, October 9, 1820, died young. 8. Robert Stan- 
ton, August 21, 1822, drowned June 3. 1838, in Nor- 
wich. 9. Amy Avery, September 9, 1825, married 
October 4, T847, James Boardman, of Norwich,, anc 
died childless July .30, 1866. 

(X) John Denison Baldwin, son of Daniel Bald- 
win (9). was born in North Stonington, Connecticut 
September 28. 1809. He died at Worcester, Massa- 
chusetts, July 8, 1883, aged seventy-three years, nin< 
months and ten days. 

When he was seven years old the family movec 
from his native town to Chenango county, New 
York, which at that time was wilderness, and foi 
seven years the son labored with his father anc 
other members of the family to subdue the soil 
as iheir ancestors had done in New England nearh 
two hundred years before. He learned to shoo 
straight and to love nature. Those years in thi 
New York forests strengthened his character as wel 
as his muscles and developed the poetical side of hi: 
nature. When the family returned to live in Stoning 
ton, he was fourteen years old. He attended schoo 
and studied diligently during the next three years 
At the age of seventeen he began to teach school 
He entered Yale College and pursued his coursi 
from time to time, as his other duties permitted 
He did not graduate in regular course. He begai 
the study of law, but soon abandoned it for theology 
He preached for a short time to a Methodist con 
gregation, but later entered the Divinity School a 
Yale College and was graduated in 1834. In l83( 
he received his degree of Master of Arts out 
regular course. 

He was ordained September 3, 1834. and wa 
pastor of the Congregational church at West Wood 
stock, Connecticut, until July 25, 1837. From Janu 
arv 17, 1838. to May, 1845, he was pastor of th 
church at North Brandford, Connecticut, and a 
North Killingly from April 29, 1846, to Septembe 
17, 1849. He made his mark as a preacher and a 
a man of sagacity and public spirit. He took hi 
part in public affairs. He was elected to the Con 
necticut legislature from North Killingly by th< 
Free Soil party. As chairman of the committei 
on education he reported a bill for the establishmen 
of normal schools, and in 1850 his bill was passed 
He w-as on the board of' trustees upon whom hi 
devolved the selection of a site. The normal schoo 
was built at New Britain. At that time the norma 
school was an innovation in the educational systen 
and it required no little agitation and earnest effort 
to establish in Connecticut the schools for the prope 
training of public school teachers now deemed es 
sential to the public school system everywhere. A 
a member of the legislature he became more that 
ever interested in the Free Soil party and the anti 
slavery movement. He sought a larger field of use 
fulness in order to advance the reforms in which h' 
was interested. He turned from preaching to journal 
ism. He became editor of the Free Soil newspaper 
the Charter Oak. published weekly at Hartford 
later called the Ref'ubliemi. Editorial work he founc 
to his liking and his pen became recognized as on( 
of the political forces to be reckoned with. Ii 
1852 he went to the larger field in Boston as ioin 
owner of the Daily ConimomvcaltJi with Willian 
Cl-'flin, John B. Alley. Dr. Samuel G. Howe. an( 
William Spooner. Mr. Baldw-in was the editor anc 
manager. He established close connections with thi 
leaders of the Free Soil and Republican party anc 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



311 



..gave substantial aid through his paper to the organi- 
zation of the Republican party. Charles Sumner, 
■ Henry Wilson and Theodore Parker were almost 
• daily visitors at his office and the friendships formed 
then were continued through life. The Common- 
' wealth became the Daily Tclcgralth later and was 
; consolidated with the Traveler eventually, 
j Mr. Baldwin bought the Cambridge Chronicle 
and edited it for a few months only. In 1859 he 
'came to Worcester. With his two sons, John Stan- 
j, ton Baldwin and Charles Clinton Baldwin, he bought 
;the Worcester Spy. The Spy was founded in Bos- 
ton by Isaiah Thomas in 1770, and removed to Wor- 
' caster in 1775 where the first issue was printed May 
(3, 1775, just after the Battle of Lexington. The 
daily edition was established in 1845. When Mr. 
i Baldwin took charge of The Spy the paper had had 
' some lean years though it was fairly prosperous. 
[ The memorable election of i860 and the subsequent 
1 events that culniinated in the Civil war made new de- 
mands on the publishers of daily newspapers. Mr. 
I Baldwin and his sons took advantage of the oppor- 
; tunity. Better facilities were secured. The tele- 
graphic news came into use and the editorial page 
.'of the newspaper was looked upon as the political 
'guide of the Republicans, The friends of The Spy 
' used to call it the "Worcester County Bible" ; its 
political opponents expressed their dissent from the 
.editorial opinions of the paper by calling it "The 
-Lying Spy." 

As the newspaper grew in circulation and pres- 
tige it became a very profitable business enterprise. 
[ Mr. Baldwin and his sons acquired competences. 
' A brick building was built on Main street opposite 
' the City Ha'l for a home for the newspaper. Mr. 
'Baldwin had not only the efficient help of his sons, 
' whose knowledge of the printing business and con- 
duct of the counting room relieved him of a large 
[ share of detail to devote his attention to editorial 
(work and his literary and political interests, but he 
I surrounded himself with capable newspaper men. 
1 The late Captain J. Everts Greene was perhaps the 
best known among his assistants. 
( Mr. Baldwin was the head of his paper until 
I: his death, though he was not able to do office work 
: during the last few years. He was a thorough news- 
paper man of the old school. He was a shrewd busi- 
[ ness man as well as a clear and forcible writer, far- 
l sighted and uncompromising. 

f He entered political life to further the principles 
' that he advocated in his newspapers. His leader- 

■ ship w'as recognized by his Republican associates in 
I Worcester county when he was selected the year 

after he came to Worcester as a delegate to the 
Republican National Convention of i860. His in- 
I fluence at the convention was felt and it was at 
^ his suggestion that Hannibal Hamlin, of Maine, was 
J nominated for vice-president. At the ne.xt Congres- 
t sional election in 1862, Mr. Baldwin was elected a 
representative by a large majority. He was re- 

■ elected in 1864 and 1868 by even greater majorities. 
His successor was George Frisbie Hoar, late United 

,' States Senator. 

I: In Congress he served on the Committees on E.x- 
' penditures, on Public Buildings, on the District of 
Columbia, on Printing and on the Library. He was 
, not a frequent speaker, but many of his speeches 
' were notable efforts. He spoke March 5, 1864, on 

■ state sovereignty and treason, the House being in 
I' Committee of the Whole. He made a brilliant speech 

April 7, 1866, on congress and reconstruction in the 
house, and again January 11, 1868. in reply to Hon. 
' James Brooks, of New York, on the negro race, he 
made a memorable speech. Some of his speeches 
were published. He was active and influential in 



committee work. He made an effort to secure an 
international copyright act during his last term, and 
his speeches and reports entitle him to stand among 
the benefactors of .American literature. 

Mr. Baldwin w-ill be remembered not only for his 
achievements in the political world and as a con- 
gressman, not only as one of the great editors of 
the civil war period of Massachusetts, but as an 
author and student. .\t the close of his life he wrote 
in his autobiography that he had been a close student 
all his life and he had never known a time when it 
was not a pleasure for him to study. This auto- 
biography, which, with his portrait painted by the late 
William Willard, was left to his grandson, Robert S. 
Baldwin, is an important contribution to the history 
of the eventful period in which he lived. It gives 
his political and religious views as w'ell as his part 
in the activities of life. 

.-Vftcr he was a preacher he acquired the French 
and German languages. He made a special study 
of archeology. He was interested in science and 
was one of the first to take up the process of mak- 
ing portraits by the daguerreotype process and some 
pictures of his family and others that he took have 
been preserved. While in congress he had an op- 
portunity for archeological research. His book on 
Prehistoric Nations was published by Harpers in 
1869. In 1S72 he published .\ncient .•\merica, which 
had a large sale and attracted much attention. In 

1880 he published his genealogy of the Descendants 
of John Baldwin, of Stonington, Connecticut. In 

1881 in collaboration with Rev, William Clift he 
published a Record of the Descendants of Captain 
George Denison. of Stonington. In 1882 he pub- 
lished a partial genealogy of the descendants of 
Thomas Stanton, of Stonington. In 1847 he pub- 
lished a collection of his poems entitled : "The Story 
(;f Raymond Hill and Other Poems." The book 
reveals both the poetical temperament of the author 
and skillful use of English in verse as well as prose. 
The last time Mr. Baldwin appeared in a public 
assembly as a speaker was in Mechanics' Hall, June 
24. 1878, at the exercises attending the re-interment 
of the remains of Isaiah Thomas, when he read a 
very interesting account of the labors of Mr. Thomas 
in the revolution. 

Mr. Baldwin was a member of the .American 
Oriental Society of New Haven, established in 1843. 
He was elected a member of the New England His- 
toric-Genealogical Society April 22. 1868 ; of the 
American Antiquarian Society, October 21, 1869, and 
an honorary member of the Worcester Society of 
Antiquity. January 2, 1877. 

One who knew him intimately w-rote the fol- 
lowing at the time of his death : "Mr. Baldwin was ' 
a man of imposing stature, much exceedmg six 
feet in height, of large frame and great muscular 
strength. In his early manhood, his massive head, 
erect figure and stalwart proportions, indicative of 
activity and power, gave an aspect of uncommorj 
force and dignity. His mind like his body was large 
and vigorous. His political sagacity was highly 
.esteemed by those who had long been associated 
with him. Though so much of a recluse, especially 
in later years, he knew human nature well and could 
foresee with great accuracy the political efltect of 
any measure or event. His election forecasts were 
in general singularly near the truth, and his judg- 
ment of men, their chaiacter, capabilities and popu- 
larity, was rarely at fault. His advice in political 
matters was often sought and highly valued. It was 
delivered confidently but without arrogance and more 
than once those who had refused to be guided by 
it at an important juncture had cause to regret that 
it had been rejected. As a writer Mr. Baldwin was 



7,12 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



direct, clear and forcible. His style had no ornament. 
It wa,^ sometimes rugged, but always strong and 
sincere. His wide range of reading and retentive 
mcmorv gave liim a vast store of facts, and his 
knowledge of political history was especially large 
and accurate. But though his profession of journal- 
ism kept his mind occupied much with such sub- 
jects, his favorite pursuit was the study of antiquity, 
both the dim past of which authentic history gives 
only hints and suggestions, and the less remote but 
almost as difficult, field of family genealogy to which 
most of his later years, while his health allowed, 
was devoted." 

Mr. Baldwin married, April 3, 1832, Lemira Hath- 
away, daughter of Captain Ebenezer and Betsey 
(Crime) Hathaway, of Dighton, Massachusetts. 
Captain Hathaway, born in 1779, was the son of 
Stei)hen Hathaway, born in 1745, and the grandson 
of Nicholas Hathaway, born in 1722. His mother's 
maiden name was Hope Pierce. Lemira Hathaway 
was born March 6, 1813, and died April 2, 1904. 

The children of John Denison and Lemira (Hath- 
away) Baldwin were: I. Ellen Frances, born in 
Dightnn, Massachusetts, January 79, 1S53, died in 
New Orleans, March, 1854. ("She had made it cer- 
tain," her father wrote of her, "that, if she had lived, 
she would have won a brilliant reputation in litera- 
ture.") 2. John Stanton, born in New Haven, 
Connecticut, January 6, 1834, (see forward). 3. 
Charles Clinton, born in Woodstock, Connecticut, 
May 4, 1835, (see forward). 4. Mary Jane, born in 
Woodstock, Connecticut, May 6, 1836, died in Hart- 
ford, Connecticut, December 29, 1850. ("She was 
bright, vigorous and promising." her father wrote 
of her, "and had seemed sure of a long life.") 

(XI) John Stanton Baldwin, son of John Deni- 
son Baldwin (10), was born in New Haven. Connec- 
ticut, January 6, 1834. He was educated in the public 
schools and his was one of the first classes graduated 
from the State Normal School of Connecticut at 
New Britain. He learned the art of printing in 
the newspaper offices with which his father was 
connected in Hartford and Boston. At Hartford the 
Republican office had a job printing department. 
Mr. Baldwin learned the printing business thorough- 
ly in all departments, and when he came to Wor- 
cester with his father was well equipped to conduct 
the mechanical and business departments of the 
newspaper as well as the editorial department. Dur- 
ing the larger part of the time that The Spy was 
owned by the Baldwin family, from 1859 until 1898, 
he was the active and responsible head of the paper. 
After his father's death in 1883 the firm of John 
D. Baldwin & Sons continued for five years to run 
the paper with Mr. Baldwin at the head. The Spy 
Publishing Company was organized April 23, 1887, 
under the corporation law of Massachusetts. John 
S. Baldwin was president; Charles C. Baldwin, his 
brother, treasurer, and Robert S. Baldwin, his son, 
secretary. In 1892 when Charles C. Baldwin with- 
drew from the company John S. Baldwin became 
president and treasurer, and his son, John D. Bald- 
win, became a director. 

Mr. Baldwin served in the Civil war as captain 
of Company F, Fifty-first Massachusetts Regiment. 
He is a member of Post to, G. A. R., and of the 
Loyal Legion. He was a representative to the gen- 
eral court in 1871. and he has served the city of 
Worcester as a member of the board of license 
commissioners, the school board and the common 
council. Since Mr. Baldwin retired from the news- 
paper business in 1898 he has devoted a large part 
of his time to liis summer place at Marion, Massa- 
chusetts, on Buzzards Bay. 

He married, October 19, 1863, Emily Brown, of 



Worcester, daughter of Albert and Mary (Eaton) 
Brown. (See sketch of Edwin Brown and the 
Brown Family). The children of John Stanton and 
Emily (Brown) Baldwin were: I. Mary Eleanor, 
born November 25. 1864, was a teacher in the Wor- 
cester high school, married Professor Frederick 
Dunlap, teacher of chemistry at University of Mich- 
igan. She has a daughter Roselee, born 1903. z. 
Robert Stanton, December 17, 1865, graduated at 
Harvard University in 1891, was one of the editors and 
directors of Tlic Worcester Spy until 1898; has been 
teacher since then in the Worcester Normal School; 
3. Alice Hathaway, November 26, 1867, married, 
1807, Miron L. Foster, lumber merchant of Wor- 
cester; their children were: Marcella, December 21, 
1898; Alicia, December 8, 1899; Ellen F.. born Au- 
gust 9. 1900. 4. John Denison, May 26, 1871, gradu- 
ated at Harvard University in 1893; was director 
and business manager of The Worcester Spy until i 
1898: has since been in the life insurance business - 
in Worcester ; married, 1898, Mary, daughter of 1 
Thomas B. • Eaton, of Worcester ; they have two 1 
children : Charlotte, born March 20, 1899, and John 1 
Denison, born in 1903. 5. Emily Brown, March 27, ; 
1873, died May 24, 1874. 6. Rosamond, September ■ 
24. 1874, died September 2, 1876. 7. Henry Brown, -, 
August 9, 1877, lives with parents. 8. Emily Clin- 1 
ton, January 28, 1884. 

(XI) Charles Clinton Baldwin, son of John Deni- i 
son Baldwin (10), was born in Woodstock, Connec- : 
ticut. May 4, 1835. He was educated in the public i 
schools and in the course of newspaper work. He ( 
learned the business from typesetting to bookkeep- ; 
ing on the newspapers edited at Hartford and Bos- ■ 
ton by his father. When he came to Worcester he 1 
had charge of the counting room and for more than 
thirty years he performed the duties of treasurer 
of The IVorcester Spy. He resigned as treasurer of 
The Spy Publishing Company in November, 1892, 
and retired from active business. 

Mr. Baldwin is highly esteemed among all his . 
acquaintances. He has no taste for public life. He ' 
prefers his study and home life. He is a member ' 
of the Worcester Club. He has a decided taste for 
genealogy, and is a member of the Worcester Society 1 
of Antiquity. He belongs to the Worcester Horti- 
cultural Society. He and his wife are members of 
All Saints Episcopal Church. They reside at a beau- 
tiful home at II Cedar street. He is a Republican. 

Mr. Baldwin married, October I, 1868, Ella L. 
T. Peckham, daughter of Dr. F. H. Peckham, of 
Providence. (See sketch of the Peckham Family- 
for her ancestry.) 

Their children are: l. Katherine Torrey, born 
July 17, 1869, married April 29, 1887, Lynde Sulli- 
van, son of Dr. John Langdon Sullivan, of Maiden; 
he is a lawyer : graduate of Harvard Colle.ge arid 
Law School, living at Maiden, practicing law in 
Boston ; has one child : John Langdon Sullivan, 
born March 12, 1903. 2. Edith Ella, November 19, 
1870. 3. Grace Peckham. May 16, 1874. 4- Rose 
Danielson, October 22, 1882, died November 8, 1893.1 

(I) John Peckham was the emigrant ancestor 
of Mrs. Charles C. Baldwin, of Worcester, of hen 
sister Dr. Grace Peckham Murray, of New York,' 
and of the widow of George Whitman Danielson, 
late editor of Providence, Rhode Island, another 
sister. 

John Peckham was admitted an inhabitant of the 
island of Aquidneck, (Rhode Island) March 20, 
1618. He was made a freeman of Newport. l\Iarch 
16. 1641. He was one of the ten male members in 
full communion of the First Baptist Church in 1648 
and one of its founders in T6i4. He was a resident 
of that' part of Newport which became Middletown, 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



313 



Avliere he was made a freeman in 1655. He married 
'(first) Mary ClarUe, who died in 1648. He married 

(second) Eleanor . His children were: John, 

jWilHam, Stephen, (see forward) ; Thomas, James, 
Clement, Sarah, Rebecca, Deborah, Phebe, EUza- 
beth, and Susannah. 

i (II) Stephen Peckliam, son of John Peckham 
S(l), was one of the earliest settlers of Dartmouth, 
jMassachusetts. He had a grant of land in Narra- 
gansett in 1679, but probably never went there to 
live. He also purchased land in Dartmouth in 1679, 
and was a .substantial farmer in that part of Dart- 
mouth now included in the city limits of New Bed- 
ford. He died April 2,-?, 1724. His estate in round 
lumbers amounted to i,8co pounds. His wife's name 
nvas Mary and their children were: Stephen, born 
(February 2.3, 1683: Samuel, August 17, 1684; Elea- 
inr, January 12, 16S6; William, October 27, 1688; 
Mary, August 17, 1690; Hannah, January 28, 1692; 
ijohti, January 15, 1697; Deborah, June, 1699, mar- 
ried, January 19, 1727, Thomas Nye; Joseph, Feb- 
I'uary 2, 1701 ; Jean, January 23, 1703, married. April 
H, 1729, Thomas Delano; Isaiah, September 14, 1705,- 
narried April 19, 1736, Ruth Morton. 

(III) Stephen Peckham. son of Stephen Peck- 
iiam (2), was born in Middleton, Massachusetts, 
February 23, 1683, and died June, 1764, leaving an 
;state valued at 512 pounds. His father left himin 
:iis will the northerly part of the homestead which 
■le had divided into four parts for his four sons. 
iThe children of Stephen and Content Peckham were : 
if. James, born October 4, 1716. 2. Stephen, Septem- 
ber 14, 1718. 3. Seth, November 29, 1723, probably 
ilied young. The children of Stephen and Keturah 
i( Arthur) Peckham were: 4. Elizabeth, July 5, 1741. 
?. Eunice, December 6, 1742. 6. Richard, December 

i6, 1744- 

(IV) Stephen Peckham, son of Stephen Peck- 
Jiam (3), was born September 14, 1718. He married 
(first) about 17,^9, Sarah Boss, who was born July 
%, 1724. and died December 12, 1768. He married 
f(second) Elizabeth White, who was born December 
E2, 1740. He bought and inherited from his father, 
bortions of the old homestead, so that he finally 
Siwned half of the entire farm, his brother Richard 
:nheriting the other half. His wife Elizabeth died 
April 12, 1791. 

f The children of Stephen and Sarah (Boss) Peck- 
liam were: Elizabeth, born December 22, 1740; 
Peleg, September 27, 1744; Mercy, February 23, 
(746; Stephen, April 6, 1748: Seth, October 31, 1750, 
(see forward) ; Jonathan, February 8, 1753, married 
Hannah Soule, widow, daughter of Peleg White; 
Fames, May 11, 1756; Sarah, June 9, 1758; Lydia, 
fanuary 9, 1761 ; Amy, February 18, 1763 : Joseph, 
January 27. 1766. Of these Stephen and Seth moved 
!0 the town of Gloucester, Providence county, Rhode 
[island. 

r (V) Seth Peckham, son of Stephen Peckham (4), 
ivas born in Dartmouth, Massachusetts, October 31, 
iiyso. He married, January 26, 1775, Mercy Smith, 
'laughter of Captain John and Sarah (Hopkins) 
pmith. Sarah Hopkins was the daughter of the 
"aTnous Thomas Hopkins, of Rhode Island. Mr. 
sPeckham lived on a farm in Gloucester, and was 
)robabIy a farmer. During the revolution he was 
n Captain Joseph Kimball's company in -which his 
prother-in-law was a lieutenant. He died in 1826. 
His children were: i. Hazael, born November 16, 
''777. (see forward). 2. Thomas, January 10, 1780, 
)narried Anna Sweet. 3. Sarah, June 20, 1782, mar- 
("ied Chad Taylor. 4. Seth, October, 1784. married 
iOeborah Keach, and lived in Gloucester. 5. Mercy, 
'1787, married in 1807, Josiah Wescott. of Scituate, 
■^hode Island. 6. John, 1793, married in 1820, Han- 



nah Smith, daughter of Gideon Smith, of Scituate. 

(VI) Dr. Hazael Peckham, son of Seth Peck- 
ham (5), was born in Gloucester, November 16, 
^777, married in 1797, Susannah Thornton, who was 
born October 8, 1776, daughter of Jeremiah Thorn- 
ton, of Burrillville, and his wife, Esther Wright, 
of Providence. Their children were: I. Paris, born 
in 1798. 2. Smith, 1800, died in 1878. 3. .-^mey, 1801, 
married William Day: 4. Susan, 1809, married Dr. 
Justin Hammond. 5. Hazael, 1810, died in 1888. 6. 
Pamelia, 1816, married Rhodes Hopkins, and died in 
1886. 7. Fenner Harris, 1817, (see forward). 

(VII) Dr. Fenner Harris Peckham, son of Dr. 
Hazael Peckham (6), was born in Killingly, Con- 
necticut, January 27, 1817. He studied medicine in 
the office of Dr. Justin Hammond, a physician of 
Windham county, (Connecticut, and Professors Knight 
and Hooker, of New Haven. He was graduated 
from the Yale ^ledica! College in 1842. He prac- 
ticed first at East Killingly, but soon removed to 
what is now known as Putnam Heights, where he 
continued until 1852, having an extensive practice. 
In 1852 he removed to Providence where he lived 
and practiced the rest of his life. He was one of 
the best known physicians in the state. While in 
Connecticut he was a member of the State Medical 
Society, and when he removed to Rhode Island he 
became a member of the Rhode Island Medical So- 
ciety, and was twice its president. He was for many 
years physician and surgeon of the Marine Hospital 
at Providence, and was a member of the medical 
board of the Economical Life Insurance Company. 
He wrote a monograph on Hydrophobia, and another 
on the Topographical Geological Condition of the 
Second District of Rhode Island. 

When the civil war broke out Dr. Peckham 
volunteered his services, and was commissioned sur- 
geon of the Third Rhode Island Heavy Artillery, 
August 15, 1861. He had first been assigned to duty 
with the Second Rhode Island Volunteers at Wash- 
ington, and had charge of the medical department 
of Camp Sprague after the first Battle of Bull Run. 
He joined the Third Regiment after the command 
had reached and taken possession of Port Royal, 
South Carolina, but ill health caused by the climate 
caused hiin to resign in February, 1862. In April, 
1863, he was appointed surgeon for the board of en- 
rollment of the second district of Rhode Island, and 
at the request of Gen. J. Y. Smith, officially visited' 
Fortress Monroe, continuing his efficient services 
with the board to the end of the war. He died Feb- 
ruarv 17, 1887, and was buried in Swan Point Ceme- 
tery. 

He married Catherine Davis, daughter of Captain 
W'illiam Torrey. Their children were: i. Kath- 
erine Fenner, born February, 1841, graduate of 
Mount Holyoke : and Woman's Medical College, 
Philadelphia, with the degree of M. D.. resides at 
Putnam Heights, Connecticut, practiced her profes- 
sion in Boston; is life member of Colonel Timothy 
Bigelow Chapter, D. A. R. of Worcester. 2. Rosa 
Frances. October 28, 1842, (see forward). 3. Dr. 
Fenner H., February II, 1844. 4. Ella Lois Torrey, 
September 12, 1846. 5. Grace. October 16, 1848. 6. 
Mary Davis, February 10, i8s3, died February 10, 

iSs.r 

(VIII) Rosa Frances Peckham, daughter of Dr. 
Fenner Harris Peckham (7\ was born October 28, 
1842. She graduated in 1862 from the Providence 
high school. She studied art and painting for ten 
years in Paris. She has pictures exhibited in the 
Salon at Paris. In later years she has painted minia- 
tures and has done some excellent work. 

She married. January 25. 1881, George Whitman 
Daniel.son, of Providence. He was a former pub- 



314 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



lishcr and editor of the Providence Journal. He died 
March 25, 1884. She is one of tlic founders and 
charter members of the Providence Art Club. She 
is a hfe member of Colonel Timothy Bigelow Chap- 
ter, D. A. R. of Worcester. Her children are : 
Whitman, born December 17, 1881, a graduate at 
Harvard ; and Rosamond, born November 6, 1884, 
graduate of Bryn Mawr College, Pennsylvania, class 
of 1004. 

(Vni) Dr. Fcnner Harris Peckham. son of Dr. 
Fenner H. Peckham (7), was born in East Killingly, 
Connecticut. February 11, 1844. He graduated from 
Yale Medical School in 1866, and became associated 
with his father, after wdiose death he continued the 
practice alone. He has now virtually retired, and 
has been succeeded by his son. Dr. Charles F. Peck- 
ham. He served in the Civil war as lieutenant in the 
Twelfth Rhode Island Volunteers. 

He married, October 29, 1867, in Providence, 
Mary H. Olney, daughter of Elam and Helen (Ful- 
ler) Olncy. Their children are: I. Charles Fenner, 
graduated at Columbia in 1890 with the degree of 
M. D. ; he was surgeon to the Rhode Island Naval 
Reserves in the Spanish American war with the rank 
of lieutenant. 2. .A.Iice, lives at home. ,3. William 
Torrey. graduated at Brown in 1897, married Alice 
Hetherington Dike. October 22, 1901. 

Dr. Fenner H. Peckham is a Free Mason, a mem- 
ber of Whatcheer Lodge. He is also a member of 
the Massachusetts Commandery, Loyal Legion ; Rod- 
man Post, G. A. R. ; the Squantum Club ; the Uni- 
versity Club : the West Side Club ; the Central Club ; 
the Agawam Hunt Club, and the Long Meadow 
Golf Club. He is .State Commissioner of Birds. He 
is a member of the Rhode Island Medical Society, 
and the American Medical Association, and is United 
States pension examing surgeon. He is president 
of the Hope Webbing Company ; vice-president of 
the Providence Telephone Company : director of the 
Narragansett Electric Lighting Company ; Mechanics 
National Bank; Free Masons Hall Company: Provi- 
dence & .Springfield Railroad Company, and Wood 
River Branch Railroad Company. He is trustee of 
the Mechanics' Savings Bank. 

(VIID Dr. Grace Peckham Murray, daughter 
of Dr. Fenner Harris Peckham (7), graduated from 
Mount Holyoke College in 1867. She graduated in 
1882 from the Woman's Medical College of the 
New York Infirmary. After having obtained her 
degree she was interne and resident physician of the 
New York Infirmary for Women and Children for 
three years, after which she commenced her private 
practice in New York city, in which she has since 
been engaged. For many years she was attending 
phy.^ician to the hospital, and was engaged in the 
college and dispensary of that institution. In 1902 
she was appointed professor of women's diseases at 
the New York Post Graduate School, which posi- 
tion she now holds. 

For three years she was sent as a delegate to 
the New York State Medical Society by the New 
York County Medical Society, of which she is a 
member. She also belongs to the New York Acad- 
emy of Medicine : the New York Neurological and 
the Women's Medical Association of New York, 
of which she was president four years. She is vice- 
president of the National Social Science Association. 
She has been on the editorial staflF of the Nczv York 
Medical Record, and has contributed many medical 
articles to the current medical literature of the day. 
She is associate editor of the Women's Medical 
Journal. She is a frequent and regular contributor 
to The Delineator and other magazines. She is a 
member of the National Arts Club ; the Wednesday 
Afternoon Club; the Barnard Club; the New Eng- 



land Society; and the Manhattan Chapter, D. A. R. 
She married, 1893. Hon. Charles H. Murray, who 
is a prominent Republican and lawyer. 

(VIII) Ella Lois Torrey Peckham, daughter of 
Dr. Fenner H. Peckham (7), was educated in the 
public schools of Providence and in Mount Holyoke 
College, South Hadley, Massachusetts, where she 
was graduated in 1867. She organized the Worces- 
ter County Mount Holyoke Alumni Association, and 
filled the ofiice of president for twelve years. She 
founded the Fortnightly Club of Worcester. She 
is a very active member of the Worcester Woman's 
Club, and was president in 1896, 1897 and i8g8. She 
is a member of the building committee of the club 
house, and director of its corporation. She has been 
an active member and vice-president of the Massa- 
chusetts State Federation of Women's Clubs. She 
belongs also to the Worcester -Art Society and Public 
School Art League. She is a charter member of 
Colonel Timothy Bigelow Chapter, D. .A. R. She 
was married to Charles C. Baldwin in 1868. (See. 
sketch of Baldwin family). Her daughter. Kalh-I 
erine Torrey, studied art in Paris, and has exhibited, 
her work in the Paris Salon. Edith Ella Baldwin 
was also educated in Paris in art. Her work has: 
been exhibited in the Champs de Mars Salon of 
Paris, and at the Society of .American Artists in 
New York. Grace Peckham Baldwin was educatcdi 
at. Bryn Mawr College and at the Drexel Institute 
Librarv School. Philadelphia. 

TORREY .ANCESTRY OF MRS. BALDWIN! 
William Torrey (i). who settled in Weymouthi 
Massachusetts, in 1640, was the emigrant ancestoi 
of Mrs. Charles C. Baldwin through her mother':; 
line. He was born in Combe, St. Nicholas, Somer- 
setshire, England, in 1608. son of Philip Torrey (2). 
and his wife Alice, a lineal descendant in the fiftl 
generation of William Torrey. who died at Combe 
St. Nicholas, in 1657. leaving a wife Thomasine, ane 
two sons. The line in England was: William (l) 
Philip (2). William (.3), Philip (4). and Willian 
(5), the emigrant, designated above as William Tor 
rey (i). His brothers James, Philip and JosepI 
also came to New England in 1640. 

William Torrey (i) served many years as clerl 
of the general court and was captain of the militir 

(II) Captain William Torrey, son of Williar 
Torrey (l), commanded the Weymouth Company i 
King Philip's war. He married Deborah Green. 

(III) Joseph Torrey, son of Captain Williar 
Torrey (2), was a merchant at Weymouth. H 
married Elizabeth .Symmes. 

(IV) Rev. Joseph Torrey, son of Joseph Torre 
(3), settled at South Kingston, Rhode Island. H 
married Elizabeth Fiske. 

(V) Captain William Torrey, son of Rev. Josep 
Torrey (4). settled at Killingly. Connecticut. H 
married Zilpah Davison, daughter of Daniel an 
Catherine (Davis) Davison. He was born in 176 
and died in 1847. His children were. i. Zilpa 
married William Harris, of Scituate. Massachusett 
and one of her eight children is Dr. William 
Harris, United States Commissioner of Educatio 
2. Catherine Davis Torrey, born in 1819, marrie 
Dr. Fenner Harris Peckham. 

(VI) Catherine Davis Torrey. daughter of Ca 
tain Willinm Torrey (5), married Dr. Fenner 1 
Peckham. Thev had one son and five daughtei 
(See Peckham Family sketch). 

(VII) Ella Lois Torrey Peckham. daughter 
Dr. Fenner H. Peckham, married Charles C. Bai 
win. 

ANDREW HILL HAMMOND was born 
Alton, New Hampshire, August 3, 1830. Duri 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



315 



lis infancy his parents removed to Gilmanton, New 
iampshire, where his early years were spent on a 
arm. His father was a Baptist minister, but coni- 
pined with his pastoral duties the occupation of a 
armer, after the custom of the early days. He at- 
ended the district school in Gilmanton. At the age 
if nine he went to live with his grandparents in the 
iore district of his native town, and while there was 
or several years under the tuition of his maternal 
incle, Jonathan Prescott Hill, who was a surveyor, 
natheniatician and school teacher of note in that 
tgion. Air. Hill was grandson of Dr. Jonathan Hill, 
yho married Mercy Prescott. 

Mr. Hammond's experience as a pupil of Mr. Hill 
Vas of great benefit in after years, as it gave him a 
love of books and study that attended him through 
'ife, and gave him a place among the stlf-educated 
Is well as the self-made men of his day and genera- 
ion. After he returned to Gilmanton to his father's 
lome, he attended the academy there, and also 
vorked on the farm. At the age of eighteen he 
v-ent to Manchester, New Hampshire, and learned 
he trade of an iron moulder, and was employed in 
-aconia. New Hampshire, at that occupation until 
851, when he came to Worcester and found a posi- 
ion in the malleable iron works of Waite, Chadsey 
end Company. Later he was employed in the 
oundries of Goddard Rice and Company, and Will- 
'im A. Wheeler. 

He had musical gifts which he cultivated while 
vorking in the foundries, studying under such well 
:iiown instructors as S. R. Leland, founder of the 
,irm that still bears his name, Albert S. Allen and 
i. S. Nason, and became a proficient teacher of 
inging. One of his early experiences was a trip 
k'est to teach singing schools, travelling down the 
)hio valley and up the Mississippi, returning through 
he town of Chicago, then a small but growing vil- 
age. He continued to study music and obtained a 
losition in the organ reed factory owned by Augus- 
us Rice and Edwin Harrington, beginning on wages 
•f seventy-five cents a day, but his mechanical skill, 
lis inventive genius and musical ability soon made 
lim a force in the business. He originated new 
nethods and appliances which increased the quantity 
nd improved the quality of the product, and was 
oon in charge of the manufacturing department, 
lubsequently the firm became Redding and Harring- 
on, and they made a contract with Mr. Hammond 
^0 give him the benefit of all inventions and improve- 
nents that he should introduce, that would be of 
lenefit to the firm. In a short time they found it ad- 
isable to give him a third interest in the business, 
^ter he purchased their interest and became the 
ole owner, and continued in business under his own 
lame. 

In 1868 Mr. Hammond built his first factory 
jHi the present location on May street, and added to 
t from time to time until it was the largest organ 
eed factory in the world, a position it held for a 
lumber of years. It is equipped with special ma- 
hinery devised by Mr. Hammond for the purposes of 
he business. The Hammond organ reeds are known 
s a standard product all over the world. The mak- 
,ng of organ reeds is a distinct business from the 
nanufacture of organs, and is confined practically to 
;actories in Chicago and Worcester. The great 
uccess of his business has been due not only to the 
nachinery that he has devised, and the excellent 
;oods that he has been able to produce, but to the 
act and judgment he has shown in business deal- 
iigs. Although Mr. Hammond has had few inter- 
sts outside of his business, he has always been a 
eader and student, and has a very large and valued 
ibrary in his beautiful home on Claremont street. 



Worcester. After his son. Richard Hill Hammond, 
left school he was taken into business by his father, 
and later became its manager. Under his direction 
the affairs of the business have continued to grow 
and prosper. In 1892 the Hammond Reed Company 
was incorporated. Since then Andrew Hill Ham- 
mond has been president and treasurer ; Richard 
Hill Hammond has been general manager and assist- 
ant treasurer ajid Alice B. Hammond and Mabel h'. 
Hammond, two daughters of Mf. Hammond, di- 
rectors. 

Andrew H. Hammond married, i860, R. Maria 
Barber, daughter of Benjamin Barber, of Worces- 
ter. She was a woman of rare accomplishments 
and ability. To her Mr. Hammond attributes much 
of his material success. She died !May 21, 1891. 
Their children were : Charles Warren, died in in- 
fancy ; Nellie Prescott, born April 26, 1866. a grad- 
uate of O.xford University, England, and teacher of 
Chicago University ; Alice Barber, born January 
16, 1868, married Clarence B. Shirley, of Boston ; 
Robert, died young; Richard Hill, born January 6, 
1871, the business manager; Mabel Florence, student 
at Radcliffe College, Cambridge, Massachusetts. 

Mr. Hammond was a strong anti-slavery man. 
He joined the Free Soil party when it was formed, 
and later became a Republican, with which party 
he has since acted politically, giving it his hearty 
support. He never cared for public ofiice, although 
always ready to do his duty as a Republican and 
citizen. But to his business he devoted the energy 
of his life, and made it a success. He died at his 
home in Worcester, March I, 1906. 

(VIII) Richard Hill Hammond, son of Andrew 
Hill Hammond (7), was born in VVorccster, Alassa- 
chusetts. He attended the Worcester schools in- 
cluding the high school and the Worcester Poly- 
technic Institute, and went from the college into his 
father's business, where he soon became manager, 
and for several years the entire care and manage- 
ment of the concern has been on his shoulders, and 
it is to his credit to say that the business has in na 
way suffered at his hands; but on the contrary there 
has been a steady improvement, and since the death 
of his father Mr. Hammond has devoted himself 
entirely to business, thus early displaying the same 
characteristics and aptitude that made his father 
successful. He has never been in politics, and is 
unmarried. 

Andrew Hill Hammond, mentioned at the head 
of this sketch, is a direct descendant from William 
Ham (i), an emigrant from England to Exeter, 
New Hampshire, in 1646, Andrew Hill Hammond 
having when a young man legally changed his name 
fram Ham to Hammond. William Ham removed 
from Exeter to Portsmouth, New Hamoshire, in 
1652, having there a grant of fifty acres of land on 
Freeman's point, just above Portsmouth bridge. He 
had at least two children : Matthew, who had one 
grant of land from the town in 1654 and another in 
1660; Elizabeth, wdio married Cotton. Will- 
iam Ham died in 1672, and his will is at Concord, 
New Hampshire, originally proved at Exeter. His 
son Matthew w'as dead, and he bequeathed his 
property to his daughter Elizabeth (Cotton) and 
grandsons, William, John and Thomas Ham. 

(II) John Ham, grandson of William Ham (i), 
the emigrant, was born in 1649, and was on the tax 
list of Cocheco (Dover) in 1665. He married Mary 
Heart, daughter of John Heart, of Dover, i66g. His 
first homestead was at "Tolend" near the second 
falls of the Cocheco. Later he removed to a farm 
on Garrison hill, at Dover, was a juryman in 1688, 
and a lieutenant, was town clerk in 1694. His wife 
died in 1706, and he died in 1727. His will, proved 



3i6 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



at Exeter, named the following children : Mary, 
born October 2, 1668, married John Waldron; John, 
1671; Samuel; Joseph, born June 3, 1678; Eliza- 
beth, born January 2, 1781, married Jeremiah Rol- 
lins; Priphena, married John Tucker, who was 
captured by the Indians in 1696, but soon found his 
way back to Dover, New Hampshire; he had a grant 
of land from the town of Dover at Scatterwit ; 
Sarah, married Thomas Downes; Mercy, married 
Richard Nason ; Benjamin, born 169,?. 

(III) Benjamin Ham, son of John Ham (2), 
was born in Dover, New Hampshire, 1O93. He 
married Patience Hartford, daughter of Nicholas 
Hartford, in 1720. He inherited his father's farm 
near Garrison's hill, where the last days of John 
Ham, his father, were spent. He was constable 
in 1731, and had one full share in the common 
lands in 1732. His wife joined the First Church in 
1737. He was surveyor of highways in 1738, and 
voted in 1757 with twelve others against building 
the new meeting house at Pine Hill, Dover. He 
died in 1781. The farm on which he lived was pur- 
chased of Peter Cotfin in i6go. The original deed 
and part of the farm are now, or were lately, owned 
by John T. W. Ham, a descendant. His children 
were: William, born November 25, 1722; Mary, 
■October 8, 1723, baptized October 23, 1737, married 
• Young; John, 1736; Patience, 1737, baptized 

March 25, 1739; Elizabeth, 1739, baptized December 
10, 1749, married Jenness . 

(IV) William Ham, son of Benjamin Ham (3), 
was born at Dover, New Hampshire, November 25, 
1722 and joined the First Church of Dover, January 

3, 1742 ; removed to Rochester, New Hampshire, 
and died there in 1800. His children were : Charity, 
married Job Allard; Benjamin, born 1753, married 
Mary Waldron, removed to Farmington, New 
Hampshire, where he died 1846; William, May 8, 
1757; Francis, ]May 3, 1763, married Experience 
Knowles, removed to Albany, New Hampshire ; 
Ephraim, died unmarried; Eleanor, married Samuel 
Twombley. 

(V) William Ham, son of William Ham (4), 
was born in Dover, New Hampshire, May 8, I7S7- 
He was a soldier in the revolutionary war. He 
settled at Gilmanton, New Hampshire. He mar- 
ried Anne Meader. He died in 1843. His children 
were : Miriam, married Francis Elliot ; Sarah, mar- 
ried Ezekiel Hayes; Eli; Ezra. 

CVI) Rev. Ezra Ham, son of William Ham 
(S), was born in Gilmanton, New Hampshire. He 
married Mercy Prescott Hill, daughter of Andrew 
W. and Mary P. (Ham) Hill, in 1824, and grand- 
daughter of Dr. Jonathan and Mary (Prescott) 
Hill. He became a Free Will Baptist clergyman, 
and farmer in Lower Gilmanton, New Hampshire. 
The children of Ezra Ham and Mercy (Prescott) 
Hill were: George Edward, resides on Silver 
street, Worcester, works for Grompton and Knowles 
loom works ; James C, Lemuel iNI., Mercy Eliza- 
beth, Mary A., Enos H., Otis F., William. Andrew 
Hill, born at Alton, New Hampshire, August 3, 
1830, changed his name to Hammond. 

HENRY A. DESPER, of Worcester, is de- 
scended on his father's side from French stock. The 
immigrant, who was his great-great-grandfather, in 
coming to this country was shipwrecked somewhere 
on the coast of Massachusetts. It is known that he 
was born in France, but the family records are lost 
and the writer cannot give any details of his an- 
cestry, even to his given name, further than to state 
that he settled here in Massachusetts, and a son of 
his was named Edward Dispeaux, which surname 
has since been changed to Despeaux and Dispeau 



and is generally spelled Desper by the present get ; 
eration. Mr. Desper comes of Pilgrim stock on hi 
mother's side and is descended from several of th 
"Mayflower" passengers, John Alden, Priscilla Mc 
lines and her parents, James and Susannah Chi', 
ton, Francis Cook, besides a number of the Purita 
fathers of Massachusetts Bay colony, as given belov 

(II) Edward Dispeaux, son of the immigrar 
ancester, referred to above, settled in Massachusett: 
but his wife's name is unknown. His descendant 
are scattered up and down the Blackstone Valle 
from Grafton to Providence, Rhode Island, as we 
as in other sections and states. He had ninetee 
children, it is said. He gave all the sons name 
commencing with "J." 

(III) James Desper, son of the preceding Ed, 
ward Dispeaux (2), was born May 25, 1789. Hl| 
married, August 25, 181 1, Anna Cheney, who wa'l 
born in Auburn, Massachusetts, June 11, 1790, an' 
died January 29, 1842. He died November, 187;;' 
They had nine children, only five of whom lived t; 
grow up, viz. : James H., Jason, Miranda, Willian' 
E., mentioned below ; Mary Ann. 

(IV) William E. Desper, son of the precedini; 
James Desper (3), was born in Auburn, Massachuj 
setts, April 20, 1824, and died October 3, 1902, age,, 
seventy-eight years, five months, thirteen days. HI 
married, March 29, 1847, Elvira Orcutt, who wa 
born in Stafford, Connecticut, March 4, 1823. die 
August 4, 1897, aged seventy-four years, five monthi 
Mr. Desper was a machinist by trade and a manu 
facturer of water meters in Worcester, Massachu 
setts. He was a Republican in politics, and was 
member of the Second Adventist Church. Williar 
E. and Alvira (Orcutt) Desper had five childrei 
three of whom lived to grow up, viz. : Henry A 
Wilton H., Ernest W. Desper. 

ANCESTRY OF ELVIRA (ORCUTT) DESPEF 
William Molines and John Alden, both of whor 
came to Plymouth on the "Mayflower," were ances 
tors of Elvira (Orcutt) Desper, of Worcester. Bot 
signed the Mayflower compact at Provincetown, No 
vember 15. 1620. William and Alice Molines wer 
of the Walloon Huguenot contingent. 

(I) John Alden was born in England, 1599; h 
married in Plymouth, New England, Priscilla Mo 
lines, daughter of William and Alice Molines, men 
tioned above. Her parents and brother Joseph die^ 
during the "first sickness." Longfellow has mad 
John Alden and his bride the best known of th 
younger Pilgrims. They lived at Plymouth a fev' 
years and then removed to Duxbury. John Aide* 
was also one of the original proprietors of Bridge 
water, Massachusetts. He died at Duxbury, Sep 
tember 19, 1687. His wife died February 5, i6Si 
They had ten children. 

(II) Joseph Alden, son of John Alden (i), wa 
born in 1627. He married Mary Simmons. 

(III) Joseph Alden, son of Joseph Alden (2) 
was born in 1667. He was deacon of the church 
He married in 1690, Hannah Dunham, daughter o 
Daniel Dunham. He died December 22, 1747, am 
his wife died January 13, 1748. 

(IV) Mary Alden, daughter of Deacon Josepl 
Alden (3), was born in Bridgewater, Massachusetts 
April 10, 1699. She married, 1719, Timothy Edson 
son of Joseph Edson, and she died at Stafford, Con 
necticut, 1782. Timothy was born in 1689; they hai 
six children; they resided at Staff'ord, Connecticut 

(V) Timothy Edson, son of Timothy and ^Mar 
(Alden) Edson (4), was born in 1722; he marrie( 
Lvdia Joy, of Hinghani. who was born October S', 
1725, and died at Randolph, Vermont, August 23, 
1S06. They had eleven children. 

(V) Mary Edson, daughter of Timothy an( 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



317 



Lydia (Joy) Edsoii (4). was born June 22, 1767. 
She married Ebenezer Johnson. 

(VI) Sclenda Johnson, daughter of Ebenezer 
and Mary (Edson) Johnson (5), nuirritd, 1S16, 
Warren Orcutt. They had nine children, all daugh- 
ters, and all except one lived to be seventy ytars of 
age or more except the youngest, who is now (1906) 
sixty-five years old. 

(VII) Elvira Orcutt, daughter of Warren and 
Selenda (Johnson) Orcutt (6), was born JNIarch 4, 
1823, married William E. Desper, March 29, 1847. 

(VIII) Henry A. Desper, son of William E. 
and Elvira (Orcutt) Desper (S), is the subject of 
this sketch, mentioned below. 

(I) James Chilton, another Mayflower ancestor 
of Henry A. Desper, mentioned above, aLso signed 
the compact. He brought with him his wife !Mary, 
who died within a few months after the landing. He 
died December 6, 1620. 

(II) Mary Chilton, daughter of James Chilton 
(l), married John Winslow, in 1627. 

John Winslow, brother of Governor Edward 
Winslow, and son of Edward Winslow, of Droit- 
wich, Worcestershire, England, was baptized there 
April 18, 1597. He came to Plymouth in the "For- 
tune" in 1621 and in 1655 removed to Boston, where 
he bought the mansion of the late Antipas Boice, 
September 19, 1671. His wife Mary came with him 
to Plymouth. He married Mary Chilton before 
1627. She is said to have been the first woman to 
land from the "Mayflower." His will was dated 
March 12, 1673, and proved May 21, 1674. He be- 
queathed to wife Mary; sons Benjamin, Edward, and 
John ; to William Payne, son of his daughter Sarah 
iMeddlecott, and numerous other relatives. His 
wife died about 1676. Their daughter Sarah mar- 
ried in Boston, July 19, 1660, Myles Standish, Jr. 

(III) Susannah Winslow, daughter of John and 
Mary (Chilton) Winslow (2), married Robtrt 
Latham, son of William Latham, the emigrant, in 
1649, and settled in East Bridgewater before 1667. 
Their children were. JNIercy, born 1650, at Plym- 
outh ; James Chilton, Joseph, Elizabeth, Hannah, 
Sarah. 

(IV) Mercy Latham, daughter of Robert and 
Susannah (Winslow) Latham (3), was born in 
1650; married Isaac Harris, son of Arthur and Mar- 
tha Harris. (He married (second) Mary Dunbar, 
daughter of Robert Dunbar, of Hingham and sister 
of Peter Dunbar. He and his wife both died in 
1707.) The children of Isaac and Mercy (Latham) 
Harris were : Arthur, Isaac, Samuel, Desire, Jane, 
Susana, Mary, Mercy, born 1680. 

(V) Mary Harris, daughter of Isaac and jMercy 
(Latham) Harris (4), married, 1713. Daniel Pack- 
ard, son of Samuel and Elizabeth (Lathrop) Pack- 
ard. Their children were: Sarah, born 1714; jSIary, 
1716; Susanna, 1718; Martha, 1720; Daniel, 1722; 
Isaac, 1724; Nehemiah, 1727. 

(VI) Susannah Packard, daughter of Daniel 
and Mary (Harris) Packard (5), was born 1718, 
married, 1734. David Orcutt, and had three sons : 
Daniel, mentioned below ; Stephen, David, Jr. 

(VII) Daniel Orcutt, son of David and Susan- 
nah (Packard) Orcutt (6), was born 1734; married 
(first) Lydia Cushman. who was mother of his chil- 
dren, and (second) Mary Hurlburt. His children 
were : Lydia, born 1756, married Edward Bixby ; 
Stephen, May 13, 1757, mentioned below; Mary, 
1759, married Uriah Clough ; Susie, married Tim- 
othy Clough ; Betsey, married Pember Howard; 
Sally, married John Clough ; Daniel, Jr., married 
Betsey Wood ; Joseph O., born 1772, married Polly 
Clough and Ruth Gould ; Abigail. 

(VII) Stephen Orcutt, son of Daniel and 



Lydia (Cushman) Orcutt (7), was born May 13,. 
1757; married, 17S2, Molly Washburn, and had: 
James, born April 28, 1783, married Polly Hitch- 
cock, January, 1805; Horace, jNIay 14, 1785, married,. 
May 14, 1807, Polly Howe; Stephtn, Jr., August 
14, 1787, married, May 30, 1813 ; Phillip, January 22, 
1790, married November 25, 1813, Persis Talmadge ; 
Warren, mentioned below; John, October 16, 1795, 
married, 1821, Minerva Bradley; married, 1857, 
Fidelia Case; Julia, March 12, 1798, married, Marcli 
6, 1817, William Rogers; Laura, September 23, 
1801, married Abraham Francis, August 28, 1823 ; 
Polly, March 12, 1804, died May 8, 1877. 

Polly Clough, sister of Stephen Orcutt (8), who 
married Uriah Clough as stated above, had nine chil- 
dren, one of whom, Mordecai Clough, married Lucy 
Case and had six children. Of the latter, Sarah 
Clough married Naaman Grant, and one of their 
three children is Rev. Roland D. Grant, the noted 
lecturer. 

(IX) Warren Orcutt, fifth child of Stephen Or- 
cutt (8), was born October 6, 1792; married, 1816, 
Selenda Johnson, mentioned above. Their children 
were: Marietta, born F'ebruary zy, 1817, married 
Austin Warren, 1842; Delina Augusta, July 12, 
1819, died January 12, 1822; Elvira, mentioned be- 
low; Charlotte, January 2, 1826; Amelia Miranda, 
February 16, 1828, married Isaiah Merrit Babcock 
in 1852, and Miner Fenton in 1858; Laura Emeline 
February 22, 1830, married, 1853, Ashbel Burnhani 
Studley; Elizabeth Cornelia, July i, 1833, married 
Josiah Converse, in 1862; Maria Celenda, October 
5. 1837, married Charles Franklin Pasco, in 1859, 
and Orrin Lincoln Fletcher in 1865; Aurelia Fran- 
ces, July 20, 1841, married Julius Perry ^Maine, in 
1865. ^ 

(X) Elvira Orcutt, daughter of Warren Orcutt 
(9), was born March 4, 1823, married William E. 
Desper, March 29, 1847. 

(XI) Henry A. Desper, son of William E. and 
Elvira (Orcutt) Desper (10), is the subject of this 
sketch. 

(I) Francis Cook, another Mayflower ancestor 
of Mr. Desper, also signed the compact. He brought 
with him his son John. His wife Hester, a Walloon, 
a member of the church, came in the "Anne" in 1623 
with other of his children. He settled in Plvmouth 
where he was admitted a freeman in 1633. He died 
April 7, 1663. His will was dated December 7, 1659, 
and proved June 5, 1633. His children were: John, 
Jacob, James. Hester, Mary, Jane, mentioned below. 

(II) Jane Cook, daughter of Francis Cook (i), 
married Experience Mitchell. 

(III) Elizabeth Mitchell, daughter of Experi- 
ence and Jane (Cook) Mitchell (,2), married, 1645, 
John Washburn, Jr. 

(IV) Jane Washburn, daughter of John, Jr., 
and Elizabeth (Mitchell) Washburn, married Will- 
iam Orcutt, Jr. 

(V) Martha Orcutt, daughter of William, Jr., 
and Jane (Washburn) Orcutt, married Solomon 
Washburn, 1732. 

(VI) Molly Washburn, daughter of Solomon 
and Martha (Orcutt) Washburn (5), married 
Stephen Orcutt, 1782, as stated above. 

(VII) Warren Orcutt, son of the preceding, 
married Selenda Johnson, 181S. 

(VIII) Elvira Orcutt, daughter of the preced- 
ing, married, 1847, William E. Desper. 

(IX) Henry A. Desper, son of the preceding, 
is the subject of this sketch. 

(I) Thomas Joy, one of the Puritan progenitors 
of Henry A. Desper, was a carpenter by trade. He 
was a proprietor of the town of Boston in 1636. He 
and Bartholomew Bernard, August i, 16". were 



3i8 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



awarded tlic contract to buiUI the first town house 
of Boston, which marks him as the master builder 
of the colony and links his name forever with an 
interesting and historic edilice. This was the first 
capitol or state house of JMassachusetts and it 
stood until l/li, when it was destrojed by fire, and 
on its site was erected the present building known 
as the old state house at the corner of Washington 
and State streets, one of the most venerated monu- 
ments of colonial Boston. Thomas Joy was arrested 
in 1646 for helping to get signers to tiie petition for 
enlarged franchise, and for questioning the general 
court's authority in arresting him. He was soon re- 
leased. He removed to Hingham, where in 1653 
he owned a tide-mill and other property. He mar- 
ried Joan Gallop, daughter of John Gallop and his 
wife Christabel ; she was born m England and died 
in Hingham, March 20, 1690; he died in Hingham, 
October 21, 16/8, in the sixty-ninth year of his age. 

(H) Ensign Joseph Joy, son of Thomas Joy 
(l), was born April i, 1645, married Mary Prince. 

(.111) Joseph Joy, son of Ensign Joseph Joy 
(2), was born July 30, 1668, and married, May 22. 
i6go, Elizabeth Andrews, daughter of Thomas and 
J<uth Andrews. He died in Hingham, April 29, 
1716, and his gravestone with the inscription still 
legible in the Hingham graveyard is the oldest 
gravestone of the Joy family in America. 

(IV) John Joy, son of Joseph Joy (3), was 
born February 7, 1695, married Lydia Lincoln, De- 
cember 19, 1724. 

(V) Lydia Joy, daughter of John Joy (4), was 
born October 5, 1725, married Timothy Edson, as 
mentioned above. 

(VT) -Mary Edson, daughter of the preceding, 
born June 22, 1767, married Ebenezer Johnson. 

(VII) Selenda Johnson, daughter of Ebenezer 
and Mary (Edson) Johnson (6), married Warren 
Orcutt, as stated above. 

(VIII) Elvira Orcutt, daughter of Warren Or- 
cutt (7), married William E. Desper. 

(IX) Henry A. Desper, son of the preceding, is 
the subject of this sketch. 

(I) Deacon Samuel Edson, emigrant ancestor of 
Mr. Desper, was born in 1612 in England. He was 
living in Salem in New England in 1639 and later 
removed to Bridgewater, one of the first settlers 
there. He built and owned the first mill ; was a 
member of the council of war. He married, about 
1637, Susanna Orcutt and they had nine children : 
Samuel, Joseph, Josiah, Susanna, Elizabeth, Mary. 
Sarah, Bethiah, Benjamin. 

(II) Joseph Edson, son of Deacon Samuel Ed- 
son (l), was born in 1649; married (first) Experi- 
ence Field and (second) Mary Turner. He had 
seven children. 

(III) Timothy Edson, son of Joseph Edson (2), 
was born in 1689; married Mary Alden, February 10, 
1719, and had five children. 

(IV) Timothy Edson, son of Timothy Edson 
(3), was born in 1722, married Lydia Joy. He was 
an ancestor of Admiral George Dewey and of Calvin 
Edson. the famous "living skeleton." His daughter, 
Mary Edson, born 1767, married Ebenezer Johnson, 
as stated above. Their daughter, Selenda Johnson, 
married Waren Orcutt, father of Mrs. William E. 
and grandfather of -j.enry A. Desper. 

(IV) Henry A. Desper, son of William E. 
Desper (3). and Elvira Orcutt (X), his wife, was 
born in Worcester, Massachusetts, at n Shelby 
street, July 14, 1851. He has always lived either 
at 37 or 40 Shelby street. He attended the public 
schools of Worcester until he was fifteen years old, 
when he went to Worcester Academy for a year. He 
then went to work for Marcus Moore", builder, to 



learn the carpenter's trade. He followed this trade 
for five years in Worcester, Martha's Vineyard and 
other places. He made patterns for his father and 
assisted him in the manufacture and sale of water J 
meters. In 1873 he invented a new kind of water J 
meter and began to manufacture it. In 1875, for 
about six inonths, he was engaged on a line of 
plumbing work in Boston. He returned and entered 
into partnership with his father in the water meter 
business, also doing some plumbing business. In 
1892 he bought out his father and has since carried 
on the business under his own name. At one time he 
carried on an extensive plumbing business. The 
Desper business was located for twenty-five years 
at 22 Cypress street and while there was burned 
out six times, having a serious loss three times. In 
1900 Mr. Desper moved his business to 194 Union 
street, his present location. He is at present manu- 
facturing elevator registers, plumbing specialties,, 
hydraulic valves and water meters. He makes a 
specialty of large hydraulic valves for water works, 
etc. In 1857-8 he was superintendent of a small 1 
water works and he can fairly claim to be one ofi, 
the oldest superintendents of water works in the 
country. 

Mr. Desper is a Republican, but has had no timei 
for public office. He has been a member of thei 
Worcester County Mechanics' Association since 
l858; is a member of the National Association of 
i\iasier Plumbers, the Massachusetts State Associa-j 
tion of ]Master Plumbers ; the New England Water' 
Works Association, and has been a member of thei 
order of American Mechanics and also the Good' 
Templars. 

He married, March 13, 1876, in Chelsea, Mary 
Abby Frances Drawbridge, daughter of George D. 
and Abby (Littlefield) Drawbridge. She was for 
several years engaged with some • of the large de- 
partment stores in Boston. Her father was foreman 
of the paper hanging and decorating department of 
the Clark Sawyer Company from 1870 to 1874. Sub- 
sequently he removed to New Hampshire, where he 
held the office of selectman, postmaster, etc. George 
D. Drawbridge was the son of David Drawbridge,' 
who came to America in 1846 from England, where 
he was an upholsterer and decorator. He was col- 
lector of taxes in the old country. He married Eliza- 
beth Doebell, in England, and their oldest son,i 
George, was born there in 1835. David Drawbridge 
settled first in Chelsea, later in Wells and Kenne- 
bunk, Maine, where some of his descendants still 
live. The Drawbridge family came to England fromi 
Holland with William of Orange. There are. 
branches of the family in Maryland and Delaware 
descended, it is said, from one of four brothers in:, 
England. The immigrant returned to England tc 
claim his inheritance after fighting with the colonists; 
against the British, and found his share confiscated.. 

George Doebell Drawbridge married, in Kenne- 
bunk, Maine, Abby Littlefield. daughter of Robert 
and Rebecca (Houston) Littlefield. The Littlefields 
were among the original settlers of Kennebunk. ther 
a part of Wells, and the father of Robert Little-i 
held, who owned two hundred acres of land at th« 
"old falls" on the Mousam river where the poweii 
house of the Sanford & Cape Porpoise railroad now 
stands. One of the women was scalped by the In-- 
dians and left for dead at the "Old Falls," but she 
recovered and lived to be an old wotnan, always 
wearing a cap to hide the disfigurement. 

The children of Henry A. and Mary Abby Fran- 
ces ( Drawbridge) Desper are : Arthur Merrit, borr 
January 6, 1877, died December i. 1884; Flora Wini- 
fred, October 25, 1881, bookkeeper in her father's 
office; Alice Genevieve, April 30, 1889; student irj 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



319 



; the English high school, Worcester; Mabd Irene, 
i December 23, 1S92; Charles Warren, March 14, 
i 1895; Myrtice Vivian, April 10, 1S99. 

i DAVIS FAMILY. Dolor Davis (i), who was 
I the immigrant ancestor of the larger part of the 
I Worcester county branches of the Davis families, 
' was the progenitor of John W. Davis, of Worcester, 
i Dolor Davis came from England and settled in 
'■ Cambridge before August 4, 1634, when he received 
f a grant of land in that town. He lived later in Con- 
' cord and Barnstable, ^Massachusetts. He was a car- 
penter and builder. He was born in England and 
! aicd at Barnstable, Massachusetts, June, 1673. H'^ 

• wife and children came over in 1635 with his broth- 
' er-in-law, Simon Willard, of Horsemonden, Kent 
f 'county, who was one of the founders of Concord. 

' Dolor Davis was admitted a freeman at Dux- 
Iniry, August 5, 1638-9, and had a grant of land thtre 
in 1640. He was admitted a freeman at Barnstable, 
June 2, 1646, after living there three years. He and 
his wife were dismissed from the Du.xbury church 
' to Barnstable, August 27, 1648. He was surveyor 
', of highways, constable and on various committees 
of Barnstable. In 1655 he left Plymouth colony 
and returned to Massachusetts, where he bought at 

■ Concord one hundred and tifty acres and a house. 
In 1666 he went back to Barnstable and died there. 

He married (first), March 29, 1624. Margery 

■ Willard, who was baptized at Horsemonden, Kent, 

• November 7, 1602, and died prior to 1667. She was 

■ the daughter of Richard Willard, yeoman, and 

' sister of the famous Major Simon Willard, men- 

■ tioned above. The children of Dolor Davis were ; 
; John, born in England about 1626. inherited the 

Concord homestead ; Mary, born in England about 
> 1631 ; Elizabeth, born in England ; Lieutenant Simon, 

■ born in Concord, mentioned in sketch of Samuel E. 
Davis family ; Samuel, mentioned below ; Ruth, born 
in Barnstable, JNlarch 24, 1645. 

(II) Samuel Davis, son of Dolor Davis (l), 

' was born probably in Concord ; married, at Lynn, 

'. January 11, 1665-6, Mary Mead or Meddowes, who 

' died at Concord, October 3, 1710. He married 

r (second), October 18, t7ii, Ruth Taylor, who died 

I August 6, 1720. Samuel was admitted a freeman 

■ March 21, 1689-go. He settled in Concord, Massa- 
' chusetts, in that part which became Bedford, and 
' his homestead is now or was lately still owned by his 

■ descendants. It was on the road from Concord to 
' Bedford, on the edge of the river meadow, and the 

old well which is still in use is believed to have 
been dug by Samuel. He was a farmer. He was 
living in 1714; the date of his death is not recorded. 
The children of Samuel and Mary were : Mary, 
born October 27, 1666, died December 18, 1667; 
' Samuel, June 21, i66g, married at Concord, March 
; Law, resided at Bedford ; Daniel, March 16 or 26, 
1673, resided at Bedford; ^lary, August 12. 1677; 
2, 1697-8, Abigail Read, married (second) Mary. 
Eleazer, July 26, 1680, resided at Bedford: Simon, 
lieutenant, mentioned below ; Stephen, March 30, 

■ 1686, resided at Bedford. 

f (III) Lieutenant Simon Davis, son of Samuel 

■ Davis (2), was born at Concord, August 9, 1683, 
died 1763. He married Dorothy Hale in 1713. He 
removed to Rutland, Massachusetts, about 1720. to 

f what has been known lately as the "Old King 
f Farm" containing seventy-six acres on Muscho- 
pauge pond. He became one of the most prominent 
citizens. He was one of the first board of select- 
f men. When he cleared his farm there was no road 
i and he had to carry his plow on his shoulder to 
reach his fields before the road was built. He es- 
caped from the Indians at the tiiue Rev. Mr. Willard 



and the sons of Deacon Stevens were killed, as he 
happened to return home by a different route and 
earlier than usual. The Indians were lying m wait 
for him. His wife Dorothy died July 21, 1776, in 
her eighty-fourth year; both are buried in lot 6, in 
the Holden burying ground. Their last days were 
spent in Holden with their son Eleazer. 

The children of Lieutenant Simon and Dorothy 
Davis were: 1. Simon, born May 17, 1714, died April 
9, 1754; married Hannah Gates, settled in Rutland; 
his son Isaac, born February 27, 1749, was the 
father of Governor John Davis, born January 13, 
1787. 2. Israel, born August 31, 1717, died 1791, 
married Mary Hurlburt, resided at Holden and had 
ten children. 3. Rev. Joseph, born July 16, 1720 (H. C. 
1740), minister at Holden, 1742-1773, died March 4, 
1799- 4- Eleazer, mentioned below. The preceding 
were born in Concord or Bedford, the following in 
Rutland: 5. Martha, baptized July 27, 1729, mar- 
ried Smith and resided in Holden. 6. 

Oliver, baptized April 16, 1732, married Mary Read, 
resided in Princeton. 7. Azybah, baptized December 

2, 1739. 8. Dolly, married Brown, settled 

in Maine. 

(IV) Eleazer Davis, fourth child of Lieutenant 
Simon Davis (3), was born in Concord or Bedford 
about 1725; married Sarah Ward, July 27, 1748, 
at Holden, Massachusetts, and settled there. There 
is no record of service, but he enlisted in the revo- 
lutionary army, 1775, in Captain David Hawes' com- 
pany. Colonel Samuel Holden's tenth regiment. The 
children of Eleazer and Sarah Davis were : Asahel, 
born March 5, 1749; Eleazer, Jr., March 22, 1751 ; 
Bela, April 12, 1753, a son; Lucretia, June 4. 1758; 
Sarah, May 10. 1760; Dorothy, October 7, 1762, 
Molly, August II, 1764: Jonathan, April 22, 1707; 
Lydia, August 28, 1769; James, see forward; Lucy, 
March 18, 1777. 

(V) James Davis (2d), son of Eleazer Davis 
(4), was born in Holden, Massachusetts, June 22, 
1772. He married Ruhamah Smith, of Worcester, 
in that town, November 26, 1801. She was the 
daughter of Elisha, Jr.. and Persis Smith, and was 
born March i, 1779. James Davis was a farmer at 
Holden. The children of James and Ruhamah, all 
born at Holden, were; Vv alter Hull, see forward; 
Charlotte Threcy (Theresa), May 17, 1804; Jane 
Catherine, March 13, 1807; James Sullivan Aladison, 
June 30, 1810; Ruhamah Lusanna, January 16, 1815; 
Persis Smith. May 7, 1818. 

(VI) Walter Hull Davis, eldest child of James 
Davis (5), was born on the old homestead at Hol- 
den, now the town larm, originally six hundred 
acres in extent. At the age of twenty he removed 
to Worcester and tor thirty or forty years engaged 
in farming. He invested his savings in tenement 
buildings, and at length devoted all his time to 
building and caring for his property. At the time 
of his death he owned sixty tenements in Worces- 
ter. He died February 28, 1882. 

He married Roxanna Adams, of Harvard, Massa- 
chusetts. Their children were: i. John Walter, see 
forward. 2. Francis A., born March 11, 1827, a 
carpenter and builder, married Harriet D. Boyden, 
of Holden, and had two sons : Walter, who resides 
in Providence, and Charles, who resides in Con- 
necticut. 3. Sarah, born January, 1831, married 
Samuel L. Mitchell, a farmer on Long Island, New 
York ; both are deceased ; they had children : Jane 
E. Mitchell, unmarried, resides in Worcester; Ma- 
rion E. Mitchell, married A. Q. Thayer, a baker, of 
Worcester, formerly for twenty-five years a police- 
man of Worcester, and their children are : Jennie E. 
Thayer, Clifton Thayer, and Lottie M. Thayer. 

(VII) John Walter Davis, son of Walter Howe 



320 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



Davis (6), was born in Worcester, JMassachusetts, 
August 21, 1S29, died August 17, 1906. Married, 
November 29, 1849, iMyra VV. Kilburn, of Holden, 
daughter of William and Nancy Kilburn. The latter 
died at the age of one hundred and three at the 
residence of her son-in-law, William Kilburn, a car- 
penter and builder. J. Waller Davis, as he was 
generally known, came to Worcester and started in 
the manufacture of refrigerators, a business he fol- 
lowed successfully for twenty-tive years. lie was 
a builder and contractor also for many years. He 
was a member of the Masonic fraternity. The chil- 
dren of John Walter and Myra W. Davis were : 
William L., of whom later; Mary A., born March 
II, 1850, married John A. Sears, son of Alden Sears, 
president of the Walker Ice Company, had one son 
who died in infancy; Harry. 

(VHl) William L. Davis, son of John Walter 
Davis (7), was born in Worcester. He was edu- 
cated ill the public schools of Worcester. He went 
to work as clerk in the drug store of Fairbanks, 
Harlan & Co., then located on Southbridge street 
at the corner of Myrtle street. He started in busi- 
ness for himself on the present site of the Federal 
building, between Southbridge and Main streets, in 
1880. When the building was sold by the owner. 
Ransom C. Taylor, for the postoffice, the present 
store at 602 Main street was built for him. Mr. 
Davis is a member of Athelstan Lodge of Free 
Masons ; Eureka Chapter, Royal ^-Vrch Masons ; 
Hiram Council and Worcester County Command- 
ery. Knights Templar; Worcester Lodge of Per- 
fection ; Goddard Council ; Lawrence Chapter of 
Rose Croix. He has been at the head of the last 
four bodies as presiding officer. He is a member 
of the Massachusetts Consistory and of other JMa- 
sonic bodies. 

He married Annette Steadman, of Bristol, Ver- 
mont, daughter of Oliver C. and Maria Steadman. 
Her father was a farmer at Bristol. The children 
of William L. and Annette Davis are : Herbert E., 
born February 17, 1878; Florence M. (twin), born 
May 20, 1889; Grace M. (.twin), born Alay 20, 
1889. 

CHAMBERLAIN FAMILY. William (i). 
Count Tankerville, of i'ankerville Castle in Nor- 
mandy, who came to England with William, the 
Conqueror, was the progenitor of the Chamberlain 
family in England. He himself returned to Nor- 
mandy, but his descendants remained in England 
on the land granted to him. 

(II) John De Tankerville, son of the former 
carl, was lord chamberlain to King Henry I, and 
assumed his title as a surname. (Ill) Richard, son 
of John (2), was also chamberlain to King Stephen, 
and the surname Chamberlain has since his day 
been that of his family. (IV) William Chamber- 
lain, son of Richard (3). (V) Robert Chamber- 
lain was son of William (4). (VI) Sir Richard 
Chamberlain was son of Robert (5). (VII) Sir 
Robert Chamberlain, was son of Robert (6). The 
line continues: Sir Richard (IX), John (X), 
Thomas (XI), John (XII), William Chamberlain 
(XIII). The American family, of which William 
Chamberlain was the immigrant ancestor, doubtless 
belongs to this family, though the line of ancestry 
is not traced. The Chamberlain coat of arms : 
Gules, an in escutcheon, argent, between eight mul- 
lers in orle, or. Quartering : Gules, a chevron be- 
tween three escallops, or. Motto : Virtuti Nihil 
Invium. Seat ; Duns-Tew in Oxfordshire, England, 

(I) William Chamberlain, the immigrant ances- 
tor of General Robert Horace Chamberlain, of 
Worcester, was born in England about 1620. His 



brother, Thomas Chamberlain, was one of the three 
original purchasers of the Dudley farm at Billenca, 
but he settled at Chelmsford, iMassachusetts. An- 
other brother, Edmund, settled first in Woburn, 
then removed to Chelmsford before 1656, when he 
sold land at Billenca. Savage says tUat Edmund 
finally settled in Woodstock. 

VV illiam Chamberlain was admitted an inhabitant 
of Woburn, January 6, 1648, and permitted to buy 
land there. He removed to Billerica in 1654, about 
the time his brothers left that town, and spent the 
remainder of his i.fe there. He died May 31, 1706, 
aged eighty-six years. His house in Snawshui 
(Billerica) was on the farm, probably near the 
Woburn road, in the southwest part of the village. 
His name appears first on the records October, 1654, 
on a petition to enlarge the bounds of the town and' 
to change the name to Billerica. (BiUerikey in the 
original paper). A little later, when the committee :i 
on militia ordered sergeant Hills' house to be a 
garrison, William Chamberlain's family was one oi 
those assigned to it. He married Rebecca 



I 

11 



who died September 26, 1692, in the prison at Cani4 
bridge, where she was held on .the preposterous! 
charge of witchcraft. The children of VVilliam andf 
Rebecca Chamberlain were : Timothy, born at Con- 
cord, Massachusetts, August 13, 1649-50; Isaac, bora 
at (joncord, October i, 1650, died July 20, 1681; 
John, died March 3, 1652; Sarah, born at Billerica, 
May 20, 1655-56, married John Shedd; Jacob, born 
January 18, 1O57-58, see forward. And the^e also at i 
Billerica: Thomas, born February 20, 1659; Ed-; 
mund, born July 15, 1660, married Mary Abbott; 
Rebecca, born February 25, 1662, married Thomas : 
Stearns ; Abraham, born January 6, 1664 ; Ann, bom 1 
March 3, 1665-66; Clement, born May 30, 1669; 
Daniel, born September 27, 1671 ; Isaac, born Jan- 
uary 20, 1681. 

(II) Jacob Chamberlain, son of William Cham- t 
berlain (l), was born at Billerica, Massachusetts, 1 
January 18, 1657-58. He resided at Roxbury and 1 
Brookline (Muddy River, part of Boston). He ( 
should not be confused with Jacob Chamberlain, who i 
married Experience, and lived in Newton and vicin- i' 
ity, for both Jacob and Experience belonged to a 
generation earlier; nor with Jacob Chamberlain, of. 
Boston and Newton, whose wife's name was also i 
Susanna. The latter Jacob may have been a son of ! 
Edmund Chamberlain, mentioned above. Jacob, son I 
of William Chamberlain, was admitted a freeman in i 
1690. He removed to Newton in 1700 or shortly I 
before that date, but died at Brookline. His will 1 
mentions the names of his four children. He mar- i^ 
ried, January 24, 1685, Mary Child, daughter of (? 
Benjamin Child. Their children were: Jacob, born rj 
March 7, 1686, see forward ; John, born at Roxbury, 
August I, 1687; Mary, married Samuel Davis; 
Elizabeth, married Joseph Weld. 
, (HI) Jacob Chamberlain, Jr., son of Jacob 
.Chamberlain (2), was born March 7, 1686, and died 
at Newton, Alassachusetts, July 28, 1771. He came 
to Newton with his father from Brookline about 1700. 
His name is among those on a protest dated May 
20, 1720, against having but one school house in the' 
town. He was selectman in 1746. He married, about ' 
1718, Susannah Stone, who was born at Groton, 
(October 23, 1694, the daughter of Deacon Simon 
and Sarah Stone, of Groton. Their children, all 
born at Newton, were : Jacob, Jr., born November 
28, 1719, see forward; Josiah, born November 13, 
1721, died in French war about 1755; Susanna, born 
September 27, 1724, died February 22, 1748-49; 
Isaac, born April 6, 1728 ; William, born September 
22, 1730, died December 9, 1760, of smallpox; mar- 
ried, June 20, 1754, Ann Hyde; Sarah, born Septem- 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



321 



ber 19, 1733, died September 5, 1796; Margaret, 
born September 20, 1736; Simon, born August 10, 
J739, married, 1763, Rebecca Cleveland. 

(IV) Jacob Chamberlain, eldest son of Jacob 
Chamberlam (3), was born at Oak Hill, Newton, 
Massachusetts, November 28, 1719. Early m 1742 
^e removed to Worcester, where he bought a tract 
jf land of Richard Flagg on Salisbury street, Feb- 
-uary 28, 1742. (See Worcester Registry of Deeds.) 
This land was handed down to his son John and 
From him seventy-two acres were handed down to 
lis son Thomas, since inherited by his sons Robert 
H. and Thomas, Jr., who are the present owners 
'jf the property. Jacob Chamberlain was a farmer 
jy occupation. He held the office of selectman m 
Worcester in 1761. In 1774 he was a Tory pro- 
:estor, numbered among "the internal enemies" by 
he committee of correspondence in 1775, and dis- 
irmed by that committee. Again, June 16, 1777, he 
vas reported among others that the selectmen deemed 
inemies to the "Common Cause." (See Worcester 
Book, No. 354.) He was deacon of the old first 
:hurch on the common from 1775 to 1790. He left 
he church August 8, 1779, on account of the inno- 
.•ation in singing. (See Lincoln's history of Wor- 
:ester by Franklm P. Rice, page 153.) 

He died March 17, 1790, and was buried on the 
.:ommon and his headstone with the others there 
vas taken down and placed under the sod. The 
tone bears the following inscription: "Sacred to 
he memory of Deacon Chamberlain who departed 
his life March 17, 1790, in the 71st year of his 
,ge. Who fulfilled the otfice of deacon in the 
;hurch of Christ in Worcester for about 28 years 
»-ith satisfaction to the church and honor to him- 
elf. He was possessed of good natural abilities 
seful in society of which he was a member. In- 
tructive and entertaining in conversation. Com- 
assionate to the afflicted. Given to hospitality, sound 
,T faith. And now, we trust, has entered into his 
ternal rest." 

I After coming to Worcester he married, at New- 
on, June 7, 1744, Lydia Stone, born May 4, 1724, 
le daughter of John and Abigail (Stratton) Stone, 
,f Newton. Their children were : John, born July 
p, 174s, see forward. Sarah, born January 26, 
746-47, died December 5, 1833 ; married Joseph 
loward, of Holden, September 13, 1770. Thad- 
eus, born November 17, 1748, married Judith Barn- 
,rd, January 27, 1774. Susannah, born June 10, 
751, died young. Jacob, born September 19, 1753, 
larried (first) Lydia Buck, of Sutton, March 18, 
784; (second) Mrs. Esther Kingsbury, February 3. 
S24. Lydia, born October 8, 1755, died October 5, 
841 ; married Tyler Curtis, September 5. 1776. Su- 
aimah, born November 22, 1757, died December 16, 
845; married Benjamin Butman, October 22, 1786. 
ibigail, born September 16, 1760, died February 2, 
829; married Abel Heyward Jr., April 27, 1780. 
,Iary, born July 13, 1763, died November 21, 1802; 
larried Nathan Heywood, of Shrewsbury, July I, 
1793. William, born July 25, 1767, died May 6, 1853 ; 
arried (first) Betsey Lurtis, January 10, 1791 ; 
second) Dolly Chadwick, October II, 1810. The 
lild of Jacob and his second wife, Mrs. Anna Hey- 
ood, whom he married June 3, 1769, was Anna, 
)rn July 21, 1770, died February I, 1838. Anna 
•eywood was born at Brookline, Massachusetts, 
idow of Abel Heywood, Sr.. son of Major Daniel 
.ieywood, of Worcester, of Indian war fame. 

(V) John Chamberlain, eldest son of Jacob 
hamberlain (4), was born at Worcester, July 22, 
45. He received the education common to the 
rmer boy of those days and worked with his 
ther on the farm, which later came to him. He 
21 



dealt extensively in real estate and owned consid- 
erable propery. Seventy-two acres of the old home- 
stead was handed down to his son Thomas by will 
dated June 5, 1S06. In May, 1775, he was disarmed 
by the committee of safety and correspondence, he 
being in accord with his father's principles of loy- 
alty to the Crown. He was a selectman during the 
years 1785 to 1795, inclusive, 1797, 1798, 1801, 1802. 
He was deacon 01 the First Parish Church twenty- 
two years, succeeding his father in 1791. He died 
in 1813 . 

He married, at Worcester, June 27, 1771, Mary 
Curtis, born October 14, 1747, daughter of Captain 
John and Elizabeth (Prentice) Curtis, of Worcester. 
The children of John and Mary Chamberlain were: 
John Curtis, born June 5, 1772, died December 8, 
1834; a lawyer of note in Charlestown, New Hamp- 
shire, was member of congress from his district. 
Elizabeth Prentice, born November 8, 1774. Henry 
V'assall, born January 11, 1777, a lawyer of some 
note who settled m Mobile, Alabama, and became 
a judge. Mary, born April 8, 1779, married Daniel 
Greenleaf, April 3, 1800. Thomas, see forward. 
Elizabeth, born May 25, 1785, died young, Levi, 
born May 14, 1788, a lawyer of Keene, New Hamp- 
shire, where he died. Dolly, born January 16, 1792, 
died unmarried. 

(VI) Thomas Chamberlain, son of John Cham- 
berlain (5), was born at Worcester, March 6, 1783. 
He received his education in the common schools 
of this town. In early life and also after he was 
married he taught school. Among others in his 
charge were the schools at Tatnuck and Quinsiga- 
mond. He conducted the farm formerly owned by 
his father and grandfather in what was known as 
the Chamberlain district. His purpose of advancing 
tlie science and encouraging and improving the art 
of horticulture was widened by the fact that he 
was one of the founders and first trustees of the 
Worcester Horticultural Society in 1840. His 
portrait may be seen on the wall of Horti- 
cultural Hall, Front street, Worcester. He was 
crier of the Worcester court for seventeen 
years. He was a member and first president of 
the common council of the city of Worcester 
after incorporation, and all of his public duties he 
discharged with ability and faithfulness. He filled 
most of the offices of the state militia, from cor- 
poral to brigadier-general, with highest honor to 
himself and satisfaction to those under his com- 
mand. He was originally a Whig in politics, later a 
Republican. He attended the Old South Church. 

He married (first). May 30, iSio, Nancy Woods, 
of Groton, born February 19, 1718, the daughter of 
Colonel Sampson Woods. She died July 25, 1831. 
He married (second), October 30, 1832, Hannah 
Blair, born February 19, 1793. died August 23, 1873, 
daughter of Robert and Elizabeth (Harrington) 
Blair, of Worcester. He died September 5, 1855. 
Children of Thomas and Nancy Chamberlain were: 
Charles Thomas, born May 30, 181 1, died July 4, 
1867 ; married Sarah E. Hathaway, September 21, 
1841. Nancy Woods, born June 16, 1813, died May 
20, 1891; married, June 3, 1839, A. Watson Grant. 
George Alexander, born September 24, 1815, died 
July 22, 1866; married Martha W. Barnes, May 8, 
1858. John Curtis, born October 7, 1817, died July 
23, 1884; married, at Mobile, Alabama, Hannah 
Elizabeth Chamberlain. Mary Elizabeth, born July 
25, 1819, died July 25, 1886; married (first) Andrew 
Kettell Hunt, December 7, 1843; married (second) 
Herbert Curtis. Francis Henry, born September 5, 
1821, died August 10, 1888; married Lucy Parker. 
Sarah Jane, born July i, 1824. died December 4, 
1891 ; married Massena Parker, of Mobile, Alabama. 



322 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



Caroline Maria, born October 26, 1826, died April 
27, 1854; married James P. Lowe, of Washington, 
D. C. The children of Thomas and Hannah (Blair) 
Chamberlain were: Dolly Curtis, born February 
10, 1834, died October 4, 1872. Thomas, Jr., born 
June 4, 1835, married Augusta Hovey, August 31, 
1858. Robert Horace, see forward. 

(Vn) General Robert Horace Chamberlain, 
youngest son of Thomas Chamberlain (6), was born 
at Worcester, Massachusetts, June 16, 1838. He 
was educated in the public schools of Worcester, 
followed by a course in Worcester Academy. At 
the age of eighteen he began an apprenticeship with 
Ball & Ballard, machinists. School street, where he 
remained until the civil war. He enlisted in Com- 
pany A, Fifty-first Regiment, Massachusetts Volun- 
teer Militia, September 25, 1862, for nine months, 
and was appointed a sergeant of his company. He 
was in the campaign in North Carolina, taking part 
in the engagements of Goldsboro, Whitehall and 
Kingston, and was afterwards at Fortress Monroe, 
White House, Baltimore, Harper's Ferry and with 
the Army of the Potomac after Gettysburg in pur- 
suit of Lee. He was mustered out July 27, 1863. 
He enlisted again July 20, 1S64, in Company F, 
Sixtieth Regiment, and received a lieutenant's com- 
mission. He was subsequently promoted a captain. 
The regiment was assigned to Indianapolis, Incjiana, 
on special guard duty at a camp of five thousand 
Confederate prisoners. He was mustered out No- 
vember 30, 1864. Fie then returned to Worcester 
and worked at his trade of machinist until 1870, 
when he was appointed bv Mayor Blake superintend- 
ent of sewers. He held this position for eighteen 
years, from 1870 to 1888, during which time the sys- 
tem was developed and widely extended. In 1888 he 
was appointed master of the House of Correction, 
and in 1892 was elected to his present position of 
high sheriff of Worcester county. 

For tvVelve years after the war he was active 
in the state militia. In 1865 he re-organized the 
Worcester City Guards and was the first captain of 
that company for two years. He also re-organized 
a battery of artillery in Worcester and it was called 
the Chamberlain Light Battery. Fle received the 
commission of major and afterwards of colonel of 
the Tenth Regiment and was made brigadier-gen- 
eral of the Third Brigade, December 31, 1868. He 
.resigned and retired from the service in 1876. Be- 
fore he was superintendent of sewers. General 
Chamberlain had served from 1867 to 1870 in the 
<:ommon council of the city. He is a Republican in 
politics. He is a member of Union Congregational 
Church. General Chamberlain is a prominent Free 
Mason. He became a member of Montacute Lodge, 
A. F. and A. M., September 9, 1862; of Worcester 
Chapter of Royal Arch Masons, May 6, 1864; of 
Hiram Council of Royal and Select Masters, March 
23, 1865. He received the Templar degrees in Wor- 
cester County Commandery, Knights Templar, De- 
cember I, 1865. In 1892 he was elected grand com- 
mander of the Grand Commandery of Massachu- 
setts and Rhode Island. He is a member of Massa- 
chusetts Consistory, Thirty-second degree, of Scot- 
tich Rite Masonry. He is at present treasurer of the 
board of trustees of the Masonic fraternity and has 
been for twenty years; also of the Masonic Mutual 
Relief Association. He is a charter member of 
George H. Ward Post, No. 10, Grand Army of the 
Republic, and a member of the Loyal Legion, Bos- 
ton. He is a member of the Hancock Club and of 
the Worcester Board of Trade. 

He married, January 10, 1865, Esther Browning, 
born July 12, 1841, daughter of Joshua and Lavinia 
<Morse) Browning, of Hubbardston, Massachu- 



setts. Her father was a carpenter and captain of a 
company of artillery. The children of Robert Horace 
and Esther Browning Chamberlain are: Flora 
Browning, born August 16, 1868, married Charles B. 
Weatherby, June 12, 1894, and their children are- 
Esther Sherman Weatherby, born July 16, 1898; 
Olive Benedict Weatherby, born August 21, 1902;. 
Jean Chamberlain Weatherby, born December 31,1 
1904. Mabel Susan, born at Worcester, March 15,] 
1872, resides with her parents. 

GEORGE H. RICE. Edmund Rice (i), thai 
immigrant ancestor of George H. Rice, of WorcesH 
ter, and of all the Rice families, in fact, of that! 
vicinity, was one of the principal settlers of thfl 
old town of Sudbury, Massachusetts. He was bora 
in England in 1594 and settled in Sudbury before 
1639, when he was proprietor and selectman thery 
He was admitted a freeman May 13, 1642, and wa 
deputy to the general court in 1643. He was a metn 
ber of the committee to convey lands at Whip Suf 
ferage in 1657. He was deacon of the church ii 
1648. He became a proprietor of Marlborougt 
Massachusetts, and moved thee. Thomas, Samus 
and Joseph Rice, his sons, and he were among th 
petitioner.^ for church privileges in Marlborough 
He sold land to his sons, Edward and Henry Rice 
February 20, 1654. He died May, 1663. The petition 
for the division of his estate was signed June 16; 
1663, by the widow, Mercy, eight elder and tw4 
younger children. While there were five othe; 
immigrants in Massachusetts from England of thil 
surname before 1650 most of the name can trac 
their ancestry to Edmund, of Sudbury. 

He married, in England, Tamazin , wh« 

died in Sudbury, June 13, 1654. He married (sea 
ond) Mercy (Heard) Brigham, widow of Thomai 
Brigham, jNIarch l, 1655. The children of Edmuni 
and Tamazin Rice were : Henry, born in Englana 
1616, of whom later ; Edward, born in Englana 

1618, married Anna ; Thomas, marriei 

Mary ; Mathew, married Martha Lamsoni 

Samuel, married Elizabeth King; Jacob, born 163;' 
married Mercy King; Lydia, married Hugh Drury 
Daniel Edmund, Jr.; Benjamin, born May 31, 1641 
The children of Edmund and Mercy Rice wero 
Ruth, born September 29, 1659; Ann, born Noveiv 
ber ig, 1661 ; Alary. These are probably not in tl 
correct order of birth. 

(II) Henry Rice, eldest child of Edmund Rii | 
(i), was born in England in 1616 and came 
America with his father. He married at Sudbun 
February I, 1643, Elizabeth Moore, daughter <■ 
another of the Sudbury pioneers, John Moore. (S' 
sketch of Moore family in this work.) Henry Ri ' 
took the oath of fidelity July 9, 1645. His first grai 
of land was in 1643 on the southern part of W 
Dunster's farm. He was admitted a freeman 
1658. He received from his father in 1659 the de ; 
of a tract of land in the wilderness at what w , 
called "New Trouble" and also about the same tii, 
land south of the Cochituate brook confirmed lat 
by Indian deeds dated March 10, 1672-3. In 1679 1' 
brother, Benjamin Rice, conveyed to him land ne 
his house. Henry lived at what was called Ric 
End in the adjoining town of Framingham, and 
bequeathed his house there to his son Jonath; 
Henry died February 10, 1710, and being older th 
his brother Edward, must have been about nine 
three years of age. His will was proved in Midd 
sex county. His wife Elizabeth died at Framir 
ham, August 3, 1705. Their children were: Ma 
born September 9, 1646; Elizabeth, August 4, 16 
married John Brewer; Jonathan, July 3, 1654; A 
gail, June 17, 1657, married Thomas Smith; Dav 




R0P.1-:KT II. eUAMHKkl.AIN 



i 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



. December 27, 1659; Tamasin, February 2, i65i, niiir- 

! ried Benjamin Parmenter; Rachel, May 10, 1664; 

i Lydia, June 4, 1668; jNlercy, January I, 1670; 

' Hannah. 

I (III) David Rice, son of Henry Rice (2), was 

. born in Sudbury, iMassachusctts, December 27, 1659. 
He was one of the original members and one of llie 
first deacons of the Framingham Church. He was 
selectman of Framingham four years, town treas- 
urer two years, and was a leading citizen. His 

' homestead was probably near that of the late Deacon 
Luther Havens. He died October 16, 172J, at Fram- 

1 ingham. His heirs divided the property by mutual 
agreement. He married, April 7, 1687, Hannah 
Walker, who died December 18, 1704. Their chil- 
dren were : Elizabeth, born September 8, 1689, mar- 
ried Samuel Frost, February i, 1710-11; Haimah, 
January 5, 1691-2, married John Bent ; Bezalecl, of 
whom later; Josiah, August ig, 1701. 

(IV) Bezaleel Rice, third child of David Rice 
I (3), was born in Framingham, Massachusetts. He 

married Sarah Buckminster, June 23, 1720, and 
: owned the covenant with his wife February ig, 1721. 
She was admitted to the church May 5, 1722. He 
was a physican. His homestead was in the old red 
house near the late Elisha Belknap's house. He was 
a selectman in 1742. He was a soldier in the revolu- 
tion, being a private in Captain Clark's company 

■ from Framingham. Their children were : Bezaleel, 
' of whom later; David, September 17, 1723; Sarah, 
I September 21, 1725, married David Stone; died at 

Petersham, October 22, 1815, aged ninety years; 
Zerviah, February 14, 1727-8, died March 4, i73g- 

■ 40; Josiah, November 23, 1734; Martha, July g, 

■ 1737; married Drury, and lived in Shrews- 
bury. 

(V) Bezaleel Rice, eldest child of Bezaleel 
Rice (4), was born in Framingham, May ig, 1721. 
He married (first) Susanna Jennings, daughter 

• of Stephen and Susanna (Bigelow) Jennings and 
granddaughter of Stephen and Hannah (Stanhope) 
Jennings, of Sudbury. His wife Susannah died 
September 15, 1750. He married (second) Sarah 

, Bent, March 13, 1751, and she was admitted to 
the Framingham church, January 13, 1754. She 
was the daughter of David and i\Iary (Drury) Bent. 
He lived in the house at Framingham lately owned 
by Joseph Goodnow. He died March 13, 1806, aged 
eighty-five years. He spent his last years with his 
son Samuel. The children of Bezaleel and Susannah 
Rice were: Bezaleel, born April 11, 1744, died 
August 10, 1748; Hezekiah, of whom later; Su- 
sanna, July 6, 1748. married Ezra Twitchell ; Sarah, 
September 5, 1750. The children of Bezaleel and 
Sarah Rice were: Bezaleel, December 5. 1751, 
died unmarried; John, February g, 1754; Nathan, 
August I, 1756; Mary, baptized March 28, 1762; 

■ Samuel, born 1764, baptized September 23, 1764. 

(VI) Hezekiah Rice, second child of Bezaleel 
Rice (s), was born in Framingham, October 2, 1745. 
He married Abigail Fames, of Hopkinton, in 1773. 
Both owned the covenant April 10, 1774- He mar- 
ried (second) Elizabeth Eames, of Hopkinton, Mass- 
achusetts, 1775. He removed to Dublin, New Hamp- 
shire, but returned to Framingham. He was a sol- 
dier in the revolution. He removed to Hopkinton, 
an adjoining town, in August, 1793, and was re- 
ceived in the church there. He was sometimes called 
Hezekiah Rice, Jr., because there was another 
Hezekiah Rice older than he in the same town. He 
lo.st three children i,n an epidemic of canker rash. 
The children surviving were : Ruth, baptized April 
17, 1774; John, of whorh later; Hannah, born about 
1778. 

(VIII) Dexter Rice, son of John Rice (7), was 



Dexter, the grandfather of George H. Rice, of 
born in Framingham, Massachusetts, about 1780. lie 
settled in Hopkinton. Among his children was 
Worcester. 

(VH) John Rice, son of Hezekiah Rice (6), was 
born in Hopkinton, iMassachusctts, about 1800. He 
married Mary Ann Adams, daughter of John Adams, 
of Hopkinton. She was a descendant of Henry 
Adams, of Braintrcc, the ancestor of President 
John Adams and most of that surname in this 
county. He was a carpenter and builder. He also 
conducted a farm and during part of his life was a 
shoe manufacturer. The twelve children of De.xter 
and i\Iary Ann (Adams) Rice were: John A., re- 
sides at 5 Gates street, Worcester, is a carpenter by 
trade; Alfred D. ; iSIarie Annie; George H., of whom 
later; Lewis W., of whom lattr; Marilla; .Alice B. ; 
Abbott B. ; Henry W. ; Minnie, died young ; Sarah 
B. ; Wilbur C. All living but Minnie and Henry W. 

(IX) George H. Rice, son of Dexter Rice (8), 
was born in Hopkinton, Massachusetts, August 10, 
1S54. He was educated there, in the public schools. 
He began his business career as a clerk in a grocery 
store, where he worked for a year. He worked an- 
other year in the ice business, then learned the 
trade of carpenter in Hopkinton. He began busi- 
ness there as carpenter and builder in 1876 and was 
a general contractor and builder in Hopkinton for 
about thirteen years. In June, 1889, he removed to 
Worcester, where he carried on the same business. 
He has built many residences and business blocks 
since coming to Worcester. Fle built the James 
A. Colvin machine shop on Lagrange street ; the 
Beaver block on i\Iain street ; James Kindred's 
apartment house on Oread street; the Smith block 
in South Framingham, the largest building in that 
town, containing stores, offices and the Masonic 
Hall. He superintended the erection of a $100,000 
building for T. M. Walker in Springfield, Massa- 
chufttts. His own contracts in Worcester amounted 
to over $300,000. In 1894 he began to build tenement 
houses for investment in Worcester in partnership 
with his brother, Louis W. Rice, under the firm 
name of George H. and L. W. Rice. They have at 
present seven large, modern brick buildings, contain- 
ing ap.irtments. i\Ir. Rice is a Free Mason. In 
politics he is a Republican and is at present serving 
his second term on the school board of Worcester. 

jNlr. Rice married Frances Delia Clapp, daughter 
of Emory Pierce and Cynthia Jane (Woods) Clapp, 
August 29, 1877. Mrs. Rice was born Octobec ig, 
1856. in Barrington, Illinois, where her father was 
a contractor in the oil well supply business. He 
removed later to Michigan and later to the oil 
regions in Pennsylvania. He returned to his old 
home in Hopkinton and manufactured shoes. He 
enlisted in Company C, in the Fortieth New York 
Regiment, in 1861, being one of the first men to en- 
list from Hopkinton. He died in Westboro, Octo- 
ber 28, 1899. Mr. Rice's home is at 4 Lowell street 
and his office is there also. The children of George 
H. Rice are: Florence Pearl, born July to, 1879; 
Bertha C, January l.=. 1882; Freda F., April 3, 1894. 

(IX) Lewis W. Rice, son of Dexter Rice (8), 
was born in Hopkinton, Massachusetts, .^pril 2, 1856. 
He was educated in his native town in the public 
schools. He worked on a farm after leaving school 
and later engaged in the meat business with Frank 
Chandler under the firm name of Rice and Chandler, 
on Main street, Westboro, Massachusetts, for sev- 
eral years. Later he sold out his meat business 
and worked in a boot factory at Hopkinton, Massa- 
chusetts, for several years. He learned the carpen- 
ter's trade, and worked at it in Hopkinton and vicin- 
ity. In 1894 he went into partnership with his 



3-24 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



brother, George H. Rice, in building and renting 
tenements in Worcester. He married, September 
22, 1880, Annie Amelia Stebbiiis, daughter of George 
H. and Caroline Antoinette (Knowlton) Stebbins. 
Their children are: Edward Dexter born July 8, 
1881 ; Nettie M., October 21, 1S82; Blanche Maria, 
October 26, 1886. 

EDWARD M. DODGE. Richard Dodge (i), 
the emigrant ancestor of Edward M. Dodge, of 
Worcester, Massachusetts, came to Salem, Massa- 
chusetts, in 1638. He was the son of Richard Dodge, 
of East Cokcr, Somersetshire, England. After he 
came to America he lived for a short time with his 
brother William Dodge, who had already established 
his home at Salem. Richard settled in what is now 
North Beverly, and the locality is called Dodge Row. 
It is near Wenham Lake. He and his wife Edith 
were members of the Wenham church before 1648. 
His name was first on a list of twenty-one subscrib- 
ers to Harvard College and he gave the largest 
amount. He was probably born in 1602. He died 
late in 1670, or early in 1671. His widow died 
probably in 1677. 

Their children were: John, baptized December 
29, 1631, in England, lived in North Beverly, died 
October 11, 171 1. Mary, born 1632, married, 1653, 
Zachary Herrick ; died August 18. 1710. Sarah, bap- 
tized 1644 ; died 1726 ; married Peter Woodbury, 
who was born 1640, and died 1704; Richard, born 
1643, lived at Wenham, Massachusetts ; died April 
13, 1705: Samuel, born 1645. died December 4, 1705; 
Edward, born at North Beverly, died February 13, 
1721 ; Joseph, born 1651, at North Beverly, died 
August 10, 1716. 

(H) Samuel Dodge, son of Richard Dodge (i), 
was born at Beverly 1645; died December 4, 1705; 
he married Mary, daughter of Thomas Parker, of 
Reading. His wife died August 6, 1717. He was 
a farmer at Ipswich, and was well-to-do. In his 
will, proved December 24, 1705, he left property 
valued at one thousand and fifty-one pounds. The 
house he lived in was left to his son Antipas. The 
graves of both Samuel and his wife are marked by 
stones in the burying ground at Dodge Row. Their 
children were : Samuel, born January 22, 1668, at 
Ipswich, died young; Joseph, February 14, 1670, 
married Martha White, of Wenham ; Annaniah, born 
January 9, 1672, was a tailor in Boston ; Ann, born 
December 20, 1674, married John Edwards ; Antipas, 
(see forward) ; Mary, born June 6, 1680, married 
Rice Knowlton: Amy, born August 27, 1682, died 
1719; Deborah, born April, 1685; Jabez, born March 
22, 1686, married Margery Knowlton, lived at Ips- 
wich, Manchester, and Shrewsbury, Massachusetts : 
died October, 1774. at Shrewsbury; Parker, married 
Mary Choate, lived at Ipswich, died September, 1742 ; 
Samuel, born December 11, 1692, married Susannah 
Bishop. 

(III) Antipas Dodge, son of Samuel Dodge (2), 
born September 7, 1677 ; married Joanna Low in 
1699. and settled in Ipswich on the old homestead, 
of which he inherited a fifth in 1705. He died soon 
afterward. In May, 1707, his wife was appointed 
his administratrix. The estate was valued at two 
hundred and five pounds. The widow married Joseph 
Hale, of Boxford, published September 19, 1708, and 
he was appointed guardian of Joshua Dodge, her 
minor son. The children of Antipas Dodge were : 
Joshua, born February I, 1701; Joanna, born July 15, 
1702, married Ambrose Hale, of Boxford, who was 
born February 10. 1698-9, son of Joseph and Mary 
(Watson) Hale; David, born 1704, married Martha 
Esgate, in Haverhill. 

(IV) Joshua Dodge, son of Antipas Dodge (3), 
was born Fcbn;ary i, 1701, in Ipswich, Massachu- 



setts. He was brought up by his step-father who was 
appointed his guardian. He went to Boston and 
worked at his trade of cordwainer. He was elected 
sealer of leather in Boston 1729 and 1735. Joshua 
Dodge bought of Timothy Brown, of Brookfield, 
seventy-five acres of land on the west side of the 
township of Brookfield, August 12, 1734. He bought 
land extensively. He gave half the homestead to 
his son Josiah, June 24, 1760, and willed the other 
half to him. His will was dated November 13, 1706, 
and proved July 2, 1793. His children were: Joshua, 
Jr., born probably at Boston ; Caleb, born probably 
at Boston ; Josiah, born probably at Boston ; Eliza- 
beth ; Sarah, married • Peabody ; Samuel, of 

Londonderry, New Hampshire. 

(V) Joshua Dodge, son of Joshua Dodge (4), 
was born in Boston, 1723-7. His father removed 
from Boston about 1740, and was a cordwainer at 
Marlborough, Massachusetts, in 1742. In 1743 the 
family was living at Brookfield, Massachusetts. He 
married Thankful Morse. She died November I, 
1797. He died at West Brookfield, Massachusetts, 
February 24, 1796. His will dated February 22, 
1796, and proved April 26, 1796, mentions his wife 
Thankful, five sons and other heirs. All the children 
w-ere probably born at Brookfield. They were: 
Lydia, born July 9, 1749, married, June 5, 1775, 
David Smith, of Brookfield ; Moses, born (Dctober 
23, 1750, married Betsey Parker, of Shrewsbury, 
1773; Jonas, born August 27, 1752; Nathaniel lived 
on the old Dexter Forbes place ; Rufus ; Thaddeus, 
born June 18, 1758, married Susan Holloway, of 
Ipswich, published December 10, 1781 ; Artemas, 
born July, 1765, died March 9, 1845; Eunice, married 
Joshua Dodge, of New London, (Connecticut. 

(VI) Thaddeus Dodge, son of Joshua Dodge (5), 
born at Brookfield, Massachusetts, June 18, 1758; 
married (published December 10, 1781), Susan Hol- 
loway, of Ipswich ; she died May 20, 1812 ; married 
(second). May 21, 1815, Esther Tyler, of West 
Brookfield. He died February 18, 1837. She mar- 
ried t second). May 12, 1840, Ephraim Dewing. The 
children of Thaddeus Dodge were: Lewis, born 1782; 
Darius, born March 18, 1784, died September 8, 1854; 
Rebecca, married Wright ; Susan, married 

Sly; Pliny (see forw-ard) ; Fanny, born Sep- 



tember 30, 1794; married. December 30, 1813, Reu- 
ben Stoddard, of North Brookfield ; she died Novem- 
ber 24, 1871 ; Harriet ; Betsey. 

(VII) Pliny Dodge, son of Thaddeus Dodge (6), 
born June 11, 1791, in Brookfield. He married De- 
cember 9, 1821, Cynthia Converse, of North Brook- 
field. She was born in Spencer, Massachusetts, 1799, 
and died in Warren August 15, 1883. He died June 
II, 18G9. Their children were: Luke Converse, 
born April 23, 1S22. married Minerva Adams, daugh- 
ter of .-Xnios and Eliza (Sanborn) Adams, of Lowell, 
Massachusetts; Henry H., born August 11. 1823, 
married Elvira M. Pratt and Jane Chambers ; Ed- 
win L., born April 10, 1825, married Lucy A. Haven, 
of Worcester ; Charles, born April 29, 1826, married 
July 8, 1849, Lauretta E. Ainsworth, of Sturbridge, 
Massachusetts; died March 10, 1883, at Worcester; 
Warren F., born May 9, 1827, married, March 7, 
1867. Rebecca A. Stout, of Topsham, Maine, died at 
Earlville. Illinois, October S, 1884; Thomas W., born 
September 10, 1829, at Spencer, Massachusetts ; John 
Q., born July 28, 1832 ; Pamelia C, born May 26, 
1836, at Warren. Massachusetts married, July 21, 
l86,:t, Cclia M. Wheeler, of West Brookfield, who 
died at Fitzwilliam, New Hampshire, December 22, 
1877; Anna E., born September 22, 1840; Theodore 
O., horn May 24, 1843. 

(VIII) Henry H. Dodge, .son of Pliny Dodge 
(7), born August II, 1823; died at Bureau county. 




■ 



I 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



325 



Illinois, about June 6. 1887; married Elvira M. Pratt, 
of Worcester, September 22, 1844. Divorced. He 
married (second), June 29. 1859, Jane Cliambers. 

i Elvira married (second) Dr. J. Marcus Rice, sur- 

' geon for the Twenty-fifth Massachusetts Regiment 
in the civil war. She accompanied him and acted 
as a nurse with the Twenty-fifth Massachusetts Regi- 
ment. She died January 28, 1893. Henry H. and 
Elvira Dodge had Edward H. Dodge, born Novem- 
ber 26, 1845. 

(IX) Edward H. Dodge, son of Henry H. Dodge 
(8), born in Worcester, November 26, 1845; married 
June 19, 1872, Ella A. Hubbard. He served in the 
commissary department of the Twenty-fifth Regi- 
ment, Massachusetts Volunteer Militia, during tlie 
civil war. He was an expert accountant and book- 
keeper by profession. He died at Worcester, May 
II, 1897. They had but one child: Edward M., 

I born at Worcester, July 20, 1873. 

I (X) Edward M. Dodge, son of Edward H. 

Dodge (9), was born at Worcester, July 20, 1873. 
He attended the Worcester public schools, and grad- 
uated from the English high school in 1893. He was 
a member of the Sumner Club and treasurer of the 
class of '93. He was with George H. Clemence, the 
architect, at his office in the Walker building, for 
five years. 'He then formed a partnership with Wil- 
liam" Estabrook to carry on the business of fire 
insurance. January I. 1906, Mr. Estabrook with- 
drew from the firm and Mr. Dodge is still in busi- 
ness. He has been an active member of the Church 
of the Unity in Worcester. He was secretary and 
assistant superintendent of the Sunday school for 
six years, resigning in 1903. He is well known in 
Unitarian circles, in the city and county. He is a 
member of the Worcester County Mechanics' As- 
sociation, of the Worcester Board of Underwriters, 
the Commercial Travellers' Association, the Wor- 

j cester Grange. Patrons of Husbandry. 

' He married. September 23, 1903, Helen Esther 

Fletcher, daughter of Charles A. Fletcher, of Wor- 
cester. She was born in Fitchburg. Massachusetts, 
May 21, 1876. She was educated in the Worcester 
schools and at Miss E. A. Kimball's School for 
Girls, Worcester. 

JONATHAN PRESCOTT GROSVENOR. 
John Grosvenor (l), was the emigrant ancestor of 
Jonathan Prescott Grosvenor, of Worcester. He 
was born in England, and came to America prob- 
ably when a young man. The family tradition 
makes him a nobleman's son and a relative of 
Queen Elizabeth. At any rate he brought the 
Grosvenor coat-of-arms and used it, and it is in- 
scribed on his gravestone at Roxbury. Massachu- 
setts. He married Esther Clark, born in 1651, died 
at Pomfret. Connecticut, June 15, 1738. He died 
at Roxbury, September 27, 1691. Among their chil- 
dren was Ebenezer Grosvenor. 

(II) Ebenezer Grosvenor, son of John Grosvenor 
j (l), was born in Roxbury, Massachusetts, October 
I Q. 1684. He married at Pomfret, Connecticut, Ann 

Marcy, born 1687, died July 30, 1743. He died 
September 20, 1730. Among their children was 
Ebenezer, Jr., born at Pomfret, where they settled. 

(III) Ebenezer Grosvenor. son of Ebenezer 
Grosvenor (2), was born at Pomfret, Connecticut, 
December, 1713. He married Lucy Cheney, and 
among their children was Daniel. 

(IV) Rev. Daniel Grosvenor, son oi Ebenezer 
Grosvenor (3), was born at Pomfret, Connecticut, 
1749. He was graduated from Yale College, 1769, 
was ordained at Grafton, Massachusetts, October 
IQ, 1774, and dismissed January i, 1788, on account 
of failure of health. He was installed at Paxton, 



November 5, 1794, and dismissed November 17, 
1802. He was a trustee of Leicester Aca<lemy from 
July 4, 1785, to 1 81 5, when he resigned. At the 
Lexington alarm, April 19, 1775, he shouldered his 
musket and marched with the minutemen to Cam- 
bridge. He was an affable and able pastor, but 
gave up preaching because of bronchial trouble, and 
removed to Petersham, Massachusetts, where he 
died July 22, 1834. 

He married in Sutton, May 9, 1776, Deborah 
Hall, born in Sutton, Massachusetts, March 5, 1756, 
daughter of Rev. David Hall, of Sutton, who was 
the pastor of a church in Sutton for nearly sixty 
years, and who died May 8, 1789. Rev. David Hall 
was the son of Joseph and Hannah (Miller) Hall, 
the latter named having been a daughter of Rev. 
John Miller. Rev. David Hall married, June 24, 
1731, Elizabeth, daughter of Dr. Jonathan Prescott, 
of Concord, who was a son of Jonathan and Eliza- 
beth (Hoar) Prescott, the latter named having been 
a daughter of Hon. John Hoar of Concord. Jona- 
than Prescott was descended from John Prescott, 
first settler of Worcestfer county at Lancaster, Mas- 
sachusetts, to whom the wife of the late Governor 
Roger Wolcott has erected a memorial stone, he 
being an ancestor of hers. Dr. Jonathan Prescott 
married Rebecca, daughter of Hon. Peter Bulkeley, 
Jr., born in Concord, 1642, was graduated from Har- 
vard 1660. He married Rebecca Wheeler, April 
16. "1667. His father. Rev. Peter Bulkeley, first 
minister of Concord, was born at Woodhill, Bed- 
fordshire, England, January 31, 1583. He was the 
tenth generation in direct line of descent from 
Robert' Bulkeley, one of the barons at the time of 
the death of King John, 1216. The names of lineal 
descendants: i. Robert. 2. William. 3. Robert. 
4. Peter, married Nicholsus Biard, of Haughton. 5. 
John, married Andryne. daughter and heir of John 
Collev, of Ward, and died X450. 6. Hugh, mar- 
ried Helen Wilbraham, of Woodley. 7. Humphrey, 
married Cyle, daughter and heir of John Mutten. 
8. William,' married Beatryce, daughter and heir of 
William of Bulansdale. 9. Thomas, married Eliza- 
beth, dau.ghter of Randelle Grosvenor. 10. Edward, 
D. D., of Woodhill, married Olive Irlby, of Lin- 
colnshire. II. Peter, of Corcord. 

The Bulkeleys and Grosvenors intermarried in 
England and America. The Rev. Peter Bulkeley, 
father of the Rev. Edward Bulkeley, who was a 
cousin of Queen Elizabeth, was a faithful minister 
of the gospel, under whose directions his son re- 
ceived a learned and religious education, suited to 
his distinguished rank. About the age of sixteen 
he was admitted a member of St. John's College at 
Cambridge, of which he was afterwards chosen 
fellow, and from which he received the degree of 
Bachelor of Divinity. He succeeded his father in 
the ministry of his native town, where he was a 
zealous preacher of evangelical truth about twenty 
years, and for the most part of the time lived an 
unmolested nonconformist. At length, his preach- 
ing meeting with distinguished success, and his 
church being verv much increased, complaints were 
entered against him by Archbishop Laud, and he 
was silenced for his nonconformitv to the require- 
ments of the English church. This circum-tance 
induced him to emigrate to New England, where 
he might enjoy liberty of conscience. He arrived 
in Cambridge, 1634. and was the^ leader of those 
resolute men and self-denying Christians, who soon 
after went further up into the woods and settled 
Concord. Mr. Bulkeley was remarkable for his 
benevolence, and here he expended most of his es- 
tate for the benefit of his people. He was a thorough 
scholar, an elevated, devotional Christian, laborious 



326 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



in his profession and as a preacher, evangelical, 
faithful, and of remarkably energetic, powerful and 
persuasive eloquence. Two of Mr. Bulkeley's manu- 
scripts are preserved in the library of the American 
Antiquarian Society. He gave a part of his library 
and some other donations to Harvard College. After 
a laborious and useful life, he died March g, 1659, 
in his seventy-seventh year. He married for his 
first wife Jane, daughter of Sir Thomas Allen, of 
Goldington, whose nephew was Lord Mayor of 
London. By her he had nine sons and two daugh- 
ters. Eight years after her death he married Grace, 
daughter of Sir Richard Chitwood, by whom he 
had three sons and one daughter. From his son. 
Rev. Edward Bulkeley, who succeeded his father 
in the ministry at Concord, is descended Ralph 
Waldo Emerson. 

(V) Jonathan Prescott Grosvenor, son of Rev. 
Daniel Grosvenor (4), was born at Grafton, Massa- 
chusetts, November 30, 1779. He married, April 
23, 1804, Bethia, born at Holden, Massachusetts, 
October 13, 1781, daughter of Rev. Joseph and Mary 
(Allen) Avery. Rev. Joseph Avery was born at 
Dedham, Massachusetts, October 14, 1751, son of 
Deacon William and Bethia (Metcalf) Avery. Dr. 
William very, who came to Dedham, 1650, was 
the emigrant ancestor. He built his house almost 
under the boughs of the Avery oak. History says 
that this tree was an ancient tree more than two 
hundred and fifty years ago, when the town was 
settled. The top has been much twisted and torn 
by the storms of centuries, but the tree shows all 
signs of life and vigor, apparently sufficient to 
weather storms for centuries to come. It measures 
sixteen feet in circumference five feet from the 
ground. It is owned by the Historical Society. The 
Fairbanks house, where some of his ancestors lived, 
is still there : it was built in 1636. Rev. Joseph 
Avery entered Harvard before the close of his six- 
teenth year. During the four years of his college 
life he was an uncommonly exemplary and con- 
scientious student. He has been heard to remark 
that one time he was the only undergraduate of the 
university not addicted to the use of tobacco. He 
was graduated in the class of 1771 with much honor. 
He was ordained and settled over the church in 
Holden, December, 1774. He married Mary Allen, 
an aunt of Judge Charles Allen, of Worcester. Her 
mother was Mary Adams, a sister of Hon. Samuel 
Adams, "Father of the American Revolution," gov- 
ernor of the commonwealth, and cousin to Presi- 
dent John Adams. Mary Allen was born in Bos- 
ton, February 8, 1755, died April i, 1842. Rev. 
Joseph Avery died in Holden, March 5, 1824, hav- 
ing been pastor there about fifty years. 

(VI) Charles William Grosvenor, son of Jona- 
than Prescott Grosvenor (5), born at Paxton, Feb- 
ruary 14, 1827, married, at Holden, March 21, 1848, 
Nancy, daughter of David and Nancy (Davis) 
Clapp, the latter named having been born June I, 
1828, died at Leicester, May 10, 1888. Thomas 
Clapp, son of Richard Clapp, was the emigrant 
ancestor. The line of descent was Thomas i, 
Thomas 2, Joshua 3, Seth 4, Seth 5, David 6. Mrs. 
Clapp's emigrant ancestor was Dolar Davis, who 
married Margery, sister of Simon Willard, emi- 
grant ancestor of Frances E. Willard. The line of 
descent was Dolar (i), Simon (2), James (3), 
Thomas (4), Captain E. James (5), captain of com- 
pany of state militia in the revolutionary war; 
Edmond (6), a revolutionary soldier; Nancy (7), 
Nancv (8). 

Children of Charles William and Nancy (Clapp) 
Grosvenor were: i. Ella Elizabeth, born Decem- 
ber 27, 184R, at Paxton, married. December 21, 1880, 



Henry H. Kingsbury, of Spencer. 2. Samuel Avery, 
born at Leicester, November 30, 1S50, married, 
March 4, 1S75, Eva L. Mclntire. 3. Jonathan Pres- 
cott, born April 24, 1853. 4. Clarence William, born 
in Paxton, September 11, 1855, married (first), De- 
cember, 1880, H. Maria Bottomly; (second), Octo- 
ber 20, 1898, Cora E. Bancroft, of Worcester. 5. 
David Clapp, born in Paxton, March i, 1858, mar- 
ried, August 27, 1885, Anna M. Wilson. 6. Adeline 
Maria, born in Leicester, September I, i860. 7, 
Herbert Wright, born in Leicester, December 16, 
1863, died June 6, 1872. 8. Edith Marion, born Feb- 
ruary 9, 1868, died May 30, 1872. 

(VII) Jonathan Prescott Grosvenor, son of 
Charles William Grosvenor (6), born at Paxton, 
April 24, 1853, attended the public schools of his 
native town, completing his education at Leicester 
Academy, one of the leading educational institu- 
tions for preparing students for college. After 
graduating he entered the office of Childs & Man- 
ning Bros., jobbers of boots and shoes in Wor- 
cester, and learned the business. He became trav- 
eling salesman for the firm, covering the state of 
New York. In 1884 he went into business for him- 
self, establishing the Worcester Slipper Company, 
which proved a success from the first and has grown 
steadily. For twelve years the business was lo- 
cated at 13 Mechanic street ; in August, 1898. he 
removed the factory to Park avenue, occupying a 
spacious four-story brick building, one hundred and 
twenty by forty-five feet, three hundred feet in 
length, formerly occupied by the E. H. Stark Com- 
pany shoe manufactory. The building is well 
equipped with the latest devices for fire protection. 
He gives employment to two hundred and fifty 
hands. To the business of ladies' slippers Mr. 
Grosvenor then added the manufacture of ladies' 
shoes, and the innovation again proved profitable. 
The Grosvenor factory is well built and arranged 
for its purposes, and is one of the best equipped 
in the state. The latest tools and machinery are in- 
stalled and the business kept right up-to-date. The 
product of the factory is sold direct to jobbers, and 
the reputation of the Worcester Slipper Company is 
said to be unsurpassed for reliable and stylish goods. 
The name of the company is a synonym for Mr. 
Grosvenor, who has made it from the start his per- 
sonal business and built it up step by step to its 
present proportions, giving employment to a couple 
of hundred hands and producing every week goods 
worth many thousand dollars. In politics Mr. 
Grosvenor is a Republican. He is a member of 
Plymouth Church. 

He married, August 25, 1881, Delia S. Gardner, 
of Richville, St. Lawrence county. New York. Their 
children : Pauline Le Ro?e, born March 21, 1891, 
died March 9, 1892; Evelvn C, born September 4, 
1894. 

ALBERT WILLARD ANDREWS. Robert 
Andrews (i), the emigrant ancestor of Albert Wil- 
lard Andrews, of Boylston and Worcester, Massa- 
chusetts, was a native of Boxford, England. He 
may have been a relative of Robert Andrews, of 
Ipswich, but the relationship is not known. 

Robert Andrews or Andros (l), as the name was 
commonly spelled by the first generation, emigrated 
from Boxford, England, to New England about 
1656 with six children and settled in Boxford, Mass- 
achusetts. He bought two hundred acres of land of 
John Lambert, of Rowley. The sale was confirmed 
by the government in July. 1661. The farm was 
situated on the west side of Pye brook in the vicinity 
of the farm now or lately owned by Joseph H. 
Janes. He erected his house on the land and cleared 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



5^7 



part of it. He bought several other tracts of land in 
lioxford and in the neighboring village of -Tops- 
lield. He bought of Zaccheus Gould a lot on Fish 
brook. His house was in some vifay destroyed be- 
fore 1668, when this lot was called the cellar lot 
and he erected a new house. The second house, 
built in 1668, was probably the old Andrews house 
which was below the lot of Nathaniel Smith on the 
same road. He left this house and the homestead 
lot to his son Thomas, the eldest, and the ancestor 
of the Worcester family. It had been supposed 
until lately that the Worcester branch was descended 
from John, another son. 

Robert Andrews was an extensive cultivator of 
the soil. When he died in May, 1668, he had twenty- 
tive acres of corn planted. Among the thmgs men- 
tioned in the inventory of his estate were a ship saw 
and other carpenter's tools, indicating that he was a 
mechanic and carpenter as well as a farmer. He 
died May 29, 1608. His will was dated May 16, 
1068, and proved July I, 1668. 

He married in England Grace . She 

died December 25, i/OO, at Boxford. Her will was 
dated September 4, ibpp, and was proved January 4, 
1702-3. Both were probably buried at Topsfield. 
Their children were : Mary, born about 1638 in 
England, married Isaac Cummings, of Topsheld, 
November 27, 1659 ; Hannah, born about 1642 in 
i England, married Captain John Peabody, one of the 
pioneer settlers of Boxford ; Elizabeth, born in Eng- 
land about 1643, married Samuel Symonds, a pio- 
neer settler of Boxford: Thomas, born about 1646 in 
[England; John, born 1648, married Sarah Dickin- 
' son, daughter of James and Rebecca Dickinson, of 
Rowley, April 18, 1683-4 ; admitted a freeman Octo- 
ber, 1O90; settled in Boxford; had eight children: 
James, Hannah, John, Joshua, Lydia, Josiah, Oliver 
and Rebecca. There is no evidence that he had a 
son Robert as indicated by the Shrewsbury his- 
tory. Robert, born about 1651, probably died un- 
married ; will dated December 6, 1675 ; Rebecca, born 
about 1654, married Samuel Marble ; Joseph, born 
September 18, 1657, married (hrstj Sarah Perlev, 
February i, 1681 ; she died January 15, 1693-4, and 
he married (second) Mary Dickinson, of Rowley, 
Alassachusetts, March 29, 1695 ; she died February 
25, 1700 ; resided at Boxford. He was the great-great- 
grandfather of John A. Andrew, famous as "the 
'' War Governor" of Massachusetts. Sarah, born 1658, 
! married Daniel Wood ; Ruth, born jNIay 27, 1664, 
I married Edward Phelps, son of Edward and Eliza- 
beth Phelps, of Andover, May 19, 1683. 

(II) Thomas Andrews, son of Robert Andrews 
(l), was born about 1645 in England. He in- 
herited the Andrews homestead and settled in Box- 
ford. He was admitted a freeman May 2, 1689-90. 
He was a prominent man in his day. He was select- 
man in 1688-91-96-97-1704 and held other positions 
of honor and trust. 

He married (first) Martha Antrum, of Ipswich, 
widow of Obadiah Antrum, June 22, 1670. He 
married (second) iNIary Belcher, February 9, 1681 ; 

married (third) Rebecca . The children of 

Thomas and Martha Andrews were : Elizabeth, 
born January 16, 1671, married William Wilson, of 
Ipswich, April 19, 1693 ; Martha, born December 25, 
1673. The children of Thomas and Mary (Belcher) 
Andrews were: Rebecca, born April 14, 1686; 

, born October I, 1688; Patience, born March 

29, 1689-90; Esther, born February 16, 1692-3, mar- 
ried John Bixby, of Boxford, May 8, 1722 ; Thomas, 
born December 18, 1694, married, March i, 1722, 
Ruth Bixby ; had eight children, resided at Box- 
ford : Robert, born May 16, (about 1696). 



(III) Robert Andrews, son of Thomas An- 
drews (2), was born in Boxford, Massachusetts, on 
the old homestead, about 1696, on May 16. He 
inherited the homestead of his father and grandfather 
in Boxford. He married, March 10, 1719-20, De- 
borah Fries, at Andover, Massachusetts. He died 
at Boxford, April 14, I7=;i. 

The history of Boxford, page 26, shows that this 
Robert Andrews, undoubtedly father of Robert An- 
drews, who settled in Shrewsbury, was son of 
Thomas, not of John Andrews, as stated in Ward's 
History of Shrewsbury, while there is no record 
that John Andrews ever had a son Robert. The 
homestead went to Robert's son, Nathan Andrews. 
Robert was selectman in Boxford in 1726-32-38-39-41- 
42-43-44. 

The children of Robert Andrews were : Lieu- 
tenant James, born March 19, 1721, married Ruth 
Wood, F'ebruary 18, 1747-8; she died August 7, 
1764, and he married (second) Elizabeth Bryant, 
April 16, 1765, resided at Boxford, died there 1794, 
aged seventy-tive years. Robert, November 8, 1722 ; 
Nathan, May 25, 1726, married Mehitable Foster, of 
Andover, April 23, 1751 ; married (second) Sarah 
Symonds, widow, February 6, 1764; Samuel, 1731. 

(IV) Robert Andrews, son of Robert Andrews 
(3). was born in Boxford, Massachusetts, Novem- 
ber 8, 1722. He married Lucy Bradstrect, of Tops- 
field, May 19, 1746-7. She was a daughter of Simon, 
who was grandson of Governor Simon Bradstreet, 
for many years governor of the Massachusetts Bay 
colony. Lucy Bradstreet was also great-great- 
granddaughter of Governor Dudley. Soon after his 
marriage he removed to Brooktield, but in 1747 or 
1748 settled in the north parish of Shrewsbury, now 
Boylston. He bought several small farms, about 
three hundred acres in all, which remained the fam- 
ily homestead for one hundred and fifty years ; the 
greater part of this land is now beneath the waters 
of the Metropolitan Water Basin. 

He was captain of the Shrewsbury Second Pre- 
cinct Militia Company and served in the revolution 
in 1775. He was a selectman of Shrewsbury in 1774- 
75-76-79. He was accidentally killed at Boylston, 
November 11, 1789, aged sixty-seven years. His 
widow died December 22, 1815, aged ninety-one 
years. 

Their children were : Robert, born January 8, 
1748, married Dorothy Goodenow, of Princeton ; died 
Jul\' 13, 1835. aged eighty-seven; of their seven 
children, one was Dr. John Andrews, born March 
3i> 1793- Samuel, September 14. 1750, married Judith 
Flagg, daughter of Stephen Flagg, July 10, 1777; 
married (second) xAnnis Morse, daughter of Rev. 
Ebenezer Jilorse. Daniel, July 22, 1752, married 
Dinah Bigelow, daughter of Joseph Bigelow, Jr., 
1781 ; he died March 12, 1826, aged seventy-four, 
killed by an unruly bull. Elizabeth, February 17, 
1755, died September 29, 1757. John. March 29, 
1757. married Margaret Parker, of Holden, De- 
cemtser 4, 1794; died February 13, 1822, aged sixty- 
five. Lucy, married Jonathan Bond, Jr. Asa, May 
II, 1762, graduate of Harvard, 1783; settled in Ips- 
wich; appointed by President George Washington 
collector of the port of Ipswich in 1796 and held the 
office thirty years; he married, October 12, 1788, 
Joanna Heard, daughter of Hon. John Heard, of 
Ipswich; she died July 12, 1797; he married (sec- 
ond) Hannah Farley, October 25, 1798; she died 
January 9, 1807, aged thirty-six; he married (third) 
Sarah Farley, July 3, 1807. The son of Robert and 
Joanna Heard, John Dudley, graduated at Harvard 
in 1810; Edward also in iSio; daughter Elizabeth 
married Hon. Sidney Willard, professor at Har- 



328 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



vard. Jotham, December i8, 1/66, died young. 
Theodore and Charlotte were the children of the 
second wife. 

(V) John Andrews, son of Robert Andrews 
(4), was born in Shrewsbury now Boylston, Mass- 
achusetts, May 29, I7.S7- He married Margaret 
Parker, of Holden, December 4, 1794, and settled 
upon the homestead. He was selectman in Boylston 
in 1798-1801-03-04-05-12-13. He was a prominent 
man in town affairs for many years. He died Feb- 
ruary 13, 1822, aged sixty-five years. 

Their children were: Mary Parker, born June 
26, 179s, married Jonathan Flagg, March 27, 1817; 
Robert, March 22, 1797. died 1798; WiUard. Octo- 
ber 6, 1798; Lucy Bradstreet, March 6, 1800, died 
1801 ; John, March 2, 1802, married Mary E. Dunton, 
November 3, 1831 ; Robert, January 2, 1805. Alar- 
ried Caroline Wilder; Thomas Deruiy, September 
29, 1806, died October I, 1833. 

(VI) WiUard Andrews, son of John Andrews 
(5), was born in Boylston, Massachusetts, October 
6, 1798. He married, Dolly Houghton, June 18, 
1829. He had the homestead. WiUard Andrews 
was a prominent man in town affairs ; he was assessor 
for nine years. He died April 23, 1874; his widow 
died December, 1888. 

The children, all born in Boylston, were : Al- 
bert Willard, born July 19, 1831 ; Theodore, Janu- 
ary II. 1833; town treasurer, 1865; died March I, 
1888; Julia A., May 30, 1835, married Samuel I. Rice, 
of Northboro; Ferdniand, December 13, 1838; served 
three years in the civil war, corporal of Company D, 
Twenty-fifth Regiment, JNlassachusetts Volunteers ; 
died November 24, 1864; William, November 20, 
1840; died 1841 ; Emma E., March 13, 1846; mar- 
ried John A. Ware. 

(VH) Albert Willard Andrews, son of Willard 
Andrews (6), was born in Boylston, Massachusetts, 
July 19, 1831. 1-le was brought up on , the old 
homstead where the family had lived for several 
generations. He attended the public schools of his 
native town, the West Boylston high school and the 
Worcester Academy. He remained at home on the 
farm, teaching school during the winter seasons six 
or seven years, until he married, January 12, i860, 
Elizabeth Wright Bond, daughter of Thomas and 
Harriet (Slocomb) Bond, of Boylston. She was 
born in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, September 12, 
1837, and also comes from a prominent and patriotic 
ancestry. 

His grandfather. Captain John Bond, who was 
born in Westboro, Massachusetts, was in the sixth 
generation from William Bond, who came from 
Bury St. Edmunds, England, to Watertown, Massa- 
chusetts, when a mere lad, apparently only six years 
old, in company witli relatives. He was the third 
son of Thomas Bond of Bury St. Edmunds, a 
maltster. William was in Watertown as early as 
1631. He married, I-'ebruary 7, 1649-50, Sarah, 
daughter of Nathaniel Bisco, (see Bisco Family 
sketch in this work) "the rich tanner," and became 
one of the leading citizens of the colony and the 
province, filling various positions of public trust. 
Lieutenant Bond, father of Captain John, was first 
lieutenant in Captain Edmund Brigham's company 
that marched for Lexington on the alarm, April 19, 
I7'75, and was commissioned lieutenant April 5, 1776, 
and marched to re-enforce the northern army under 
General Gates. Lieutenant Thomas Bond's father, 
Jonathan, was a soldier in the French and Indian 
war, serving as lieutenant in Captain Benjamni 
Woods' company in 1755, and in Captain Benjamm 
Flagg's company in 1756. 

After his marriage Albert Willard Andrews 
owned a farm and saw mill in Boylston for a few 



years. Then he removed to Worcester, where he 
lived for over twenty years on Catherine street, en- 
gaged in the business of carpenter and builder. 
He is still a member of the Congregational church 
at Boylston. He was the town treasurer there in 
1859-60-61. He was assessor there in 1863-64 and 
for six years a member of the school committee. 
He is a Republican. He is well known in the build- 
ing trades as a carpenter and contractor of high rep- 
utation for good and honest work. He built a large 
number of houses in Worcester and the vicinity, and 
for the past twelve years has resided on Lmcohi 
street. 

The children of Albert and Elizabeth Wright 
(Bond) Andrews were: Harriet Bond, born March 
4, 1862, attended Worcester high school, graduate of 
Normal School at Worcester, i88l, Normal Art 
School, Boston, 1893, studied at Worcester Art 
Museum; formerly teacher of drawing in Worces- 
ter public schools, now teacher of drawing in Hoi- I 
den high school and Bancroft school, Worcester; 
lives at home with her parents; Ferdinand, born 
June 30, 1867, graduate of the Worcester high 
school, 1885, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, 1889, 
was for five years assistant chemist in lead works at 1 
Carnegie, Pennsylvania ; now head chemist in Rari- 1 
tan Copper Works at Perth Aniboy, New Jersey; 
married. June 17, 1896, Esther Garbart, daughter of 
John Garbart, Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, lives at 
Perth Amboy ; has son, John Willard, born Febru- , 
ary 13, 1899. Arthur Willard, born May 9, 1869, : 
attended the Worcester high school and the Wor- ■: 
cester Polytechnic Institute; formerly draughtsman 
for N. E. Telephone & Telegraph Company, Boston, 
now inspector of the American Telephone & Tele- 
graph Company in New York City ; married, Aug- 
ust, 1899, Margaret Bingham, daughter of John 
Bingham,' of Boston; they have one child, Grace, 
born June 30, 1902. 

ALBERT A. SPAULDING. Edward Spaulding 
(l), the emigrant ancestor of Albert A. Spaulding 
of Worcester, was a pioneer settler in Braintree, 
Massachusetts. It is believed that he came from 
England about 1630. He was a proprietor of Brain- 
tree in 1640; was admitted a freeman May 13, 164D, > 
and was a juryman in 1648. He removed first to . 
Wenham and later to Chelmsford, Massachusetts, 
where he was one of the proprietors in 1655. He 
sold his house and lands in Wenham, August 18, 
1648, his wife Rachel, consenting. He was a town 
officer of Chelmsford. He married (first) Mar- i 
garet; she died in 1640. He married (second) 
Rachel. He died February 26, 1670. His will was ■■ 
dated February 13, 1666, and proved April 5. 1670. 
He made bequests to his wife, to sons Edward, John, ; 
and Andrew, and daughter, Dinah. 

Children of Edward and Margaret Spaulding 
were: i. John, born about 1633; died 1721 ; mar- 
ried Hannah Hale ; freeman at Chelmsford, 1690. 
2. Lieutenant Edward, born about 1635; died January, 
1708; married (first) Priscilla Underwood; married 
(second) Margaret Barrett, November 22, 1681 ; she 1 
died May 25, 1748. 3. Grace, died May, 1641. Chil- ■ 
dren of Edward and Rachel were: 4. Benjamin, ■ 
born April 7, 1643. in Braintree; died before May 
25, 1708; married Olive Farwell, October 30, 1668; : 
daughter of Henry and Olive Farwell. 5. Joseph, 
born October 25. '1646; died April 3, 1740. aged 
ninety-six, at Plainfield, Connecticut ; married ISIercy 
Jewell, December 9, 1670. 6. Dinah, born March 
14, 1649. 7. Andrew, born November 19, 1652; died 
^lay 5, 1713; married Hannah Jefes. daughter of 
Henry Jefes, of Billerica, April 30, 1674. 

(II) Benjamin Spaulding, son of Edward 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



329 



Spaulding (l), born in Braintree. Massachusetts, 
April 7, 1643; died before 1708; married Olive Far- 
well, daughter of Henry and Olive Farvvell, first of 
Concord, then of Chelmsford, Massachusetts, Octo- 
ber 30, 1668. Benjamin was admitted a freeman in 
1689. He was mentioned in his father's will, having 
previously received his portion of the estate. He 
purchased a large tract of land in the north part of 
Canterbury, Windham county, Connecticut, now the 
town of Brooklyn. His homestead there descended 
to his son, Edward, and grandson Ebenezer, son of 
Edward. 

Children of Benjainin and Olive (Farwell) 
Spaulding were: I. Sarah, bom January 4, 1669; 
married John Merriam. 2. Edward, (.see forward). 
3, Benjamin, born July 6, 1685, in Chelmsford; died 
September 17, 1712; married Sarah Hall, daughter 
of Stephen Hall; she married (second) William 
Blodgett, August 18, 1714. 4. Elizabeth, married 
Ephraim Wheeler. 5. Mary, married Isaac Morgan. 

(Ill) Edward Spaulding, son of Benjamin 
Spaulding (2), born in Chelmsford, Massachusetts, 
June 18, 1672; died November 29, 1740, aged si.xty- 
seven years. The Canterbury record gives the date 
1739. He married Mary Adams, who died Septem- 
ber 20, 1754, aged seventy-eight years. They be- 
longed to the First church in' Chelmsford and to the 
Canterbury church. They settled in Canterbury, 
Connecticut, on the Spaulding homestead, and he 
died there. He was the third settler within the 
present limits of Brooklyn, Connecticut. He bought 
land north of Canterbury bounds, at the foot of 
Tadwich, in 1707. He was with Joseph Adams and 

■ Henry Smith on the first committee of the Religious 
Society organized in 1731. 

Children were: I. Benjamin, born July 20, 1696. 
2. Elizabeth, born August 15, 1698; inarriijd William 

■ Darbe. 3. Ephraim, (see forward). 4. Jonathan, 
born April 15, 1704. 5. Ezekiel, born September 8, 
1706. 6. Ruth, born September 28, 1710; married 

I John Bacon. 7. Abigail, born March 10, 1713; mar- 
ried Banajah Douglass. 8. Ebenezer, born August 
7, 1719. 9. John, born December i, 1721. 

(I"V) Ephraim Spaulding, son of Edward 
Spaulding (3), born in Canterbury, Connecticut, 
April 3, 1700; married Abigail Bullard, of Plain- 
field, Connecticut, and settled there. His children 
were: i. John, born August 8, 1724; died May 29, 
1768; removed to Plaintield, New Hampshire. 2. 
'■Phineas. born March 25, 1726; died August 31, 1785. 
■3. Reuben, born February 26, 1728. 4. Josiah, born 
Deceinber 7, 1729. 5. Ezekiel, born September 30, 
1731. 6. Palatiah, born March 19, 1734; died Octo- 
ber 3, 1750. 7. Abigail, born March 16, 1736; mar- 
Tied Captain Samuel Hall, May 19, 1756. 8. Oliver, 
iborn September 30, 1739. 9. Mary, born May 16, 
1744; married John Larrabee, December 16, 1662. 
10. Ephraim, (see forward). 

(V) Ephraim Spaulding, son of Ephraim 
Spaulding (4), born in Plainfield, Connecticut, May 
124, 1747; died in 181 1. He married (first) Esther 
Snow, !^Iay 20, 1773. She died July 17, i8o<5, in her 
'sixty-tirst year; married (second) Hannah Stowell, 
September i, 1808. She died March 9, 1823, in her 
|sixty-fifth year. They resided at Ashford, Connecti- 
cut. He was a soldier in the revolution and served 
fin Captain Jonathan Parker's company, Colonel 
iComfort Sage's regiment, in 1776. His company was 
■in the campaign in New York and Long Island, and 
the battle of White Plains. He was in the same com- 
jpany, in Colonel Webb's regiment, in 1780, and ap- 
jparently served during the war. 

I Children of Ephraiin and Ether (Snow) Spauld- 
ing were: l. Alva, born May 30, 1773; died April 
'27. 1796. unmarried. 2. Betsey, born September 2, 



1775; married Nicholas Aldrich in 1800; they settled 
in Tolland, Connecticut; he died at Maltonville, New 
'York. 3. Lena, born September 29, 1780; married 
Edward Holton or Houghton, and lived at Antwerp, 
New York. 4. Dua, (sec forward). 5. Edmund, 
born September 27, 1784. 

CVI) Dua Spaulding, son of Ephraim Spauld- 
ing (5), born September 26, 1782; died January 23, 
1863, at Eastford, Connecticut; married Mercy War- 
ren, April 30, 1807. She was born February 29, 
1788. Children were: l. Warner, born March 18, 
1808; died March, 1828. 2. Erastus, born April 23, 
1809. 3.' John "VVarren, born May 25, 1811. 4. Eliza, 
born April 12, 1813; married Nelson Whitford ; re- 
sided in Wilmington, Connecticut. 5. Lyman, born 
March 25, 1815. 6. Nelson, born February, 1817. 
7. Augustus, (see forward). 8. Gilbert, born July 
3, 1821. 9. Ephraim. born December 26, 1822. 10. 
Edmund, born October 18, 1824. 11. Mary Ann, 
born April 8, 1827 ; died unmarried. 

("VII) Augustus Spaulding, son of Dua Spauld- 
ing (6), was born in Eastford, Connecticut; set- 
tled in Eastford ; married Abigail Catherine Rich- 
ards, November 7, 1843. She was the daughter of 
Ebenezer and Catherine (Newell) Richards, of 
Dedham, born November 12, 1824; died July 25, 
1905. He died August 17, 1898. Children were : 
I. Albert Augustus, (see forward). 2. George Rich- 
ards, born April 2, 1857. 3. Carrie Newell, born 
September 23, 1862. 

CVIII) Albert Augustus Spaulding, son of 
Augustus Spaulding (7), born in Ashford, Connec- 
ticut. October 14, 1853. He w-as educated in the 
public schools of his native town and came to Wor- 
cester, Massachusetts, September 19, 1870, when 
seventeen years of age, his capital then consisting of 
seven dollars. He accepted a position as clerk for 
Charles B. Eaton, a dealer in dry goods, whose 
store stood where the State Mutual building now 
stands, and served in that capacity three years. The 
following seven years he was an employe of Den- 
holm & McKay in the Boston store, a department 
store located then on the corner of Main and Me- 
chanic streets. In 1881 he became associated with 
John C. Maclnnes. a dry goods dealer, whose busi- 
ness was established in 1873, at No. 462 Main street, 
Worcester, in the Gross & Strauss building. The 
business increased rapidly both in volume and im- 
portance, and is now (1906) one of the three largest 
department stores in Worcester, occupying several 
blocks on Main street, opposite the common. The 
present corporation was formed in 1892, when Mr. 
Spaulding was elected vice president. The other 
officers of the company are : President, John C. 
Maclnnes. the founder of the business; clerk, 
Charles A. Homer ; and director, with the other 
officers, Alexander T. Moir. The capital stock is 
$100,000. Mr. Spaulding has been very active in the 
development of the business, possessing a thorough 
knowledge of the details of the same, and deserves 
a full share of the credit for the prosperity of the 
house. 

Mr. Spaulding is in every respect what is termed 
a self-made man. Beginning life humbly, without 
capital, and unaided by influential friends, he at- 
tained a position of honor and usefulness solely 
through his own ability, and the exercise of energy 
a.nd unconquerable determination. At every stage 
of his effort he faithfully met every requirement 
wdth entire loyalty and trustworthy devotion, and his 
advancement from time to time came to him as the 
fruit of his own conduct. In all his business rela- 
tions he is integrity personified, and in his personal 
character is an earnest, christian man. He is a 
Republican in politics, but has never sought or held 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



office, preferring to devote his leisure time to his 
home and family, in which he takes great pride. 
He is a consistent member of the Adams Square 
Congregational Church, takes an active part in the 
vifork thereof, serving as a member of the standing 
committee since 1898. He is a member of the Inde- 
pendent Order of Odd Fellows, Worcester Board 
of Trade, and the Worcester Automobile Club. 
A man of pleasing personality, genial in disposition, 
a good entertainer, and a lover of out-door sports. 
He married, June I, 1880, Helen Fraser, born Feb- 
ruary 22, 1856, daughter of James and Mary (Mc- 
Pherson) Fraser. 

James Fraser was born in Wigtown, Scotland, 
1823. died in Worcester, Massachusetts, 1885. When 
a young man he came to America, and later located 
and lived for a time at Halifax, Nova Scotia, where 
he was united in marriage to Mary McPherson, of 
Scotch descent, born 1822, died in Worcester, Mass- 
achusetts, 1879. They were the parents of six 
children; Bessie, deceased; Hannah, deceased; 
Susan, Mary Ann, deceased; Helen, wife of Albert 
A. Spaulding; Cora, deceased. James Fraser was a 
carpenter and cabinet maker by trade, a Master 
Mason, and a member of Plymouth Church, Wor- 
cester, Massachusetts. 

The children of Albert A. and Helen (Fraser) 
Spaulding are : l. Cora Fraser, born January 18, 
1881 ; graduate of Worcester high school ; married, 
June 26, 1905, Harry C. Rose, of Worcester; re- 
sides at No. 299 Lincoln street. 2. Edith M., born 
December 25, 1885 ; graduate of the Worcester high 
school ; a student in Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, New 
York. 3. Paul W., born September 14, 1893 ; at- 
tending city school. 

Mr. Spaulding has been an extensive traveler and 
in this way has broadened his views and ideas of 
men and places. In 1900 accompanied by his eld- 
est daughter, Cora Fraser Spaulding, he took a trip 
to Europe, visiting many of the principal cities of 
the old world, and in 1904 he and his wife spent the 
winter in California, and also visited all of the im- 
portant points in the West ; places of interest and 
note. The family reside in a beautiful colonial 
home on Marie avenue, Worcester, and enjoy the 
acquaintance of a wide circle of friends. 

ROLLIN G. WHITE, for many years an enter- 
prising and prominent business man of Worcester, 
Massachusetts, and a well-known philanthropic citi- 
zen of that town, born December 17, 1823, in New- 
fane, Windham county, Vermont, son of Phineas 
and Susan (Tyler) White, died November 19, 1905. 

Phineas White (father) was born in Southbridge, 
Massachusetts, June 27, 1781, son of Cyrus White, 
also a native of Southbridge, ]\Iassachusetts. 
Phineas White was in his early days a merchant 
in Boston, and later moved to Vermont, where he 
followed farming. He married in Charlestown, 
Massachusetts, May 19, 1809, Susan Tyler, born 
April 20, 1790, in Woburn, Massachusetts. The 
following named children were born to them: 
Susan Putnam, born in Boston, July 18, 181 1, de- 
ceased; James Lawrence, born August 23, 1813, in 
Boston, died in Warren, Massachusetts, June 11, 
1900; Thomas Cyrus, born December 8, 1815, in 
Boston, died in Minnesota, about 1895; George 
Tyler, born August I, 1817, in Dover, Vermont, died 
in Baltimore, June 14, 1903; Charles Augustus, 
born November 8, 1818, in Dover, died about 1890 in 
Baltimore; Catherine Lewis, born in Dover, May i, 
1820, died in Boston, January 10, 1900; Sallie Tyler, 
born in Newfane, Vermont, April 11, 1822, died 
in Troy, October 12, 1857; Rollin G., of whom later; 
Cordelia E., born June 23, 1825, in Newfane, Ver- 



mont, died in West Wardsboro, Vermont, June 12, 
1861 ; Mary A., born November 19, 1827, in 
Newfane, Vermont, died in Leroy, New York, 
March 19, 1897; Artemisia, born May 13, 1829, 
in Newfane, died in Brattleboro, Vermont; Rhoda 
Ann, born June 26, 1832, resides at Auburn- 
dale, Middlesex county, Massachusetts, in the 
Woodland Park Hotel, and has a son Frederick 
M. Gooding. The father of these children died 
January 2, 1864, at Wardsboro, Vermont, and Mrs. 
White died in West Wardsboro, January 4, 1874. 

Rollin G. White, eighth child and fifth son of 
Phineas and Susan (Tyler) White, obtained his 
education at Wardsboro, Vermont. At the age of 
twenty-one he removed to Worcester, Massa hu- 
setts, and entered into his first regular employment 
in a livery stable with G. S. Switzer and remained 
some five years, receiving for his services twelve 
dollars a month. He then went into the retail 
meat business with Stowell Maynard, under the firm 
name of Maynard & White. In 1857 he engaged 
in the wholesale meat business in the Agricultural 
buildmg on Front street. He conducted this busi- 
ness with considerable success for about ten years, 
when he established himself in the pork packing 
business, associated with a Mr. Pevey and Mr. 
Dexter, and conducting business under the firm 
name of White, Pevey & Dexter. This firm carried 
on a most extensive and profitable business, and in 
1893 sold their plant to the firm of Swift & Company, 
Chicago, Illinois. From the outset Mr. White's 
business career was successful and prosperous, ow- 
ing in a great part to the straightforward methods 
and general fair dealing that always characterized 
his business transactions. 

Politically Mr. White was a stanch Republican, 
and while Ije never aspired to public office was un- 
tiring in his efforts to promote the welfare of that 
organization. He attended the Old South Church 
for a number of years, and later became a member 
of the Union Church of Worcester, contributing 
five thousand dollars to the building fund and five 
thousand dollars to help pay off the debt of this 
church. 

Rollin G. White was married three times : First 
to Sarah B. Mann, daughter of Jason and Sarah 
(Bond) Mann, of Holden, Massachusetts. She 
died about five years after her marriage, and Mr. 
White married for his second wife Lusanna T. 
Spear, daughter of Luther and Hanna (Conant) 
Spear, of Oakham, Massachusetts., Of this union 
the following named children were born : Alice 
and Susan, both deceased ; Lucy A., wife of Ralph 
H. Brigham, of Southbridge, Massachusetts, and 
has one son, Rollin White Brigham, born August 
II, 1893. Mr. White married for his third wife, 
November 5, 1896, Mary E. (Parker) Reed, who 
was born in Rutland, Massachusetts, December 13, 
1837, the daughter of Emory and Sarah (Estey) 
Parker, and widow of James G. Reed, of Rutland, 
Massachusetts, a farmer, who died in June, 1885. 

CHARLES STEARNS HALL. John Hall, the 
grandfather of Charles S. Hall, deceased, for many 
years a citizen of Worcester, ^Massachusetts, was 
ijorn 1779, died 1857. He married Nancy Moore, 
who was born in Leicester, Massachusetts, 1780, 
died i860. Following are the children of John and 
Nancy Hall ; Lucy, John, Fidelia, John, Elbridge 
Gerry, Nancy, William Gray, Willard Moore, 
Nancy Hall. 

Elbridge Gerry Hall, father of Charles S. Hall, 
married Elizabeth T., daughter of Stephen and 
Deborah Putnam Stearns, of Worcester. She was 
born April 19, 1814. Stephen Stearns was one of 




ig/iAAAy^ 0, cMiiMjj 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



331 



Jie largest real estate owners in Worcester and a 
'lan of prominence. His farm included Columbus 
'ark and extended south to Hope cemetery. JJeb- 
rah Putnam Stearns was a niece of General Israel 
'utnara. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Hall were : 
inn Elizabeth, born August 7, 1843. died March 
, 1896; Charles Stearns Hall, born April 26, 1847, 
ied June 18, 1905. 

Charles Stearns Hall spent his j-outh in Wor- 
ester, attending the public schools, and after grad- 
ating from the high school pursued his studies 
t Howe's Business College. He then entered the 
mploy of the Washburn & Moen Manufacturing 
'ompany, at the South Worcester plant, as ship- 
ing clerk. When this branch was destroyed by 
re Mr. Hall was transferred to the main works 
t Grove street, where he became assistant quarter- 
naster and then quarter-master. His next position 
vas assistant to Superintendent Charles H. Morgan, 
I'ith the title of assistant manufacturer, the super- 
itendent looking out for the construction and main- 
enance of buildings and machinery, and Mr. Hall 
eing charged with the inanufacture and development 
.f the wire making art. After a connection of thirty- 
our years with this company, Mr. Hall resigned on 
uly I, ipor, and engaged in business for himself 
s a manufacturer at North Brookfield. This busi- 
ess he conducted successfully for four years, or 
;p to the time of his death. He was also a 
lember of a real estate company, conducting bus- 
icss under the firm name of Davis & Hall. Mr. 
lall was a Republican in politics, but never held 
fiice, having no taste for public life. He was a 
lember of the Second Advent Church, and served 
n the official board and as teacher in the Sunday 
:hool. He was a life member of the Worcester 
lechanics' Association, and for a time a director of 
le Worcester Co-Operative Bank. Mr. Hall was 
f a retiring nature, devoted to his home and 
"lends. His sympathies were broad and tender, 
ad almost every unfortunate who came to him 
3und a friend. 

' Mr. Hall married, June 17, 1880, Emma God- 
ard, born November 25, 1859, daughter of Dor- 
ince S. Goddard. Their children, born in Wor- 
dstar, Massachusetts, were as follows : Winthrop 
lOddard, born April i. 1881 ; Raymond Stearns, 
orn December 12, 1884; Annie Gertrude, born 
une 29, 1888; Marjorie Williams, born February 2, 
^l ; Roderick Chesley, born April 13, 1893: Eliza- 
eth Putnam, born June 17, 1896. Mr. Hall died 
I his home in Worcester, Massachusetts, June 18, 
305. 

GEORGE H. MILLS. Samuel Mills (i), the 
ioneer ancestor ef George H. Mills, of Worcester, 
believed to have come from Lancashire, England. 
[le came to New England before 1640, and was at 
Veymouth, working for Henry Waltham March 11, 
540. He deposed then that he was twenty-one 
ears old, making his date of birth 1619. He re- 
lieved to Dedham, where he settled and spent the 
i;mainder of his days. He was a townsman there 
January i, 1644-5, and a member of the Dedham 
[lurch before 1646. He married (first) Frances 

i — and (second) Mary . The latter died 

i)ctober 30, 1694. He died January 16, 1695. 
'^ Children were: i. Samuel, baptized March 29, 
546; died April, 1646. 2. Samuel, died December 
5, 1649. 3. Benjamin, (see forward). 4. Eliza- 
eth, born December 5. 1652. 5. Stephen, died 
:iecember 3, 1653. 6. Sarah, born November S, 
554. 7. Rebecca, born April 10, 1657. 

(II) Benjamin Mills, son of Samuel Mills (i), 
Drn in Dedham, Massachusetts, April 13, 1651; 



married Mary , and settled in Dedham. His 

children as recorded at Dedham, were: i. Benja- 
min, born June 7, 1675. 2. Mary, April 25, 1677. 
3. Samuel, March 7, 1677-8. 4. William, (see for- 
ward). 

(Ill) William Mills, youngest child of Benja- 
min Mills (2), born in Dedham, Massachusetts, 
May 2, 1C82. He removed to the adjoining town of 
Needham, or was living in that part of Dedham 
when it was set off. He was one of the original 
members of the First church at Needham. He died 
at Needham July 9, 1759. His wife died October 

3. 1759- Among their children, was William Mills, 
Jr., probably the eldest son. 

(I\') William Mills, Jr., probably the eldest son 
of William Mills, Sr., born in Needham, Massa- 
chusetts, about 1725; married (first) Hannah , 

who died at Needham, February 23, 1758; second 
; and (third) Eunice Eddy, at Oxford, March 

4, 1772. He seems to have had a distinguished 
record as soldier and officer in the revolutionary 
war. Children of William and Hannah Mills were : 
I. James (see forward). 2. Esther, December 10, 
1751. Children by the second wife were: 3. Enoch, 
born May 27, 1759. 4. Rhoda, born January 2, 1761. 

(V) James Mills, eldest child of William Mills, 
Jr. (4), born in Needham, Massachusetts, January 
30, 1750. He served in the revolutionary war in 
Captain Nathaniel Heath's company, Colonel Jona- 
than Reed's detachment of guards, in 1778. He 
served in 1779 with the guards at Cambridge and 
elsewhere about Boston. Nehemiah Mills, of Need- 
ham, supposed to be a relative, was in the same 
company. Philip Mills who was with James Mills, 
later at Dublin, New Hampshire, served in a Need- 
ham company also, under Captain Robert Smith and 
Colonel William Heath in 1775. James Mills set- 
tled before the war was over at Dublin, New Hamp- 
shire, where Philip Mills went the year before. (See 
history of Dublin, New Hampshire, and Bethel, 
Maine). He married a Dublin girl and lived there 
about four years, when with others from Dublin, 
including relatives of his wife, he removed to Bethel, 
Maine. Philip and his wife Anna remained in Dub- 
lin until 1797. It should be mentioned that Philip 
and his wife were dismissed to the Dublin church, 
although just after they arrived they had been 
warned, after the ancient custom of New England 
(January, 1780). 

James Mills married February 7, 1782, Hannah 
Mason, daughter of Moses Mason. They removed 
to Bethel in 1785, and settled on a farm on Grove 
Hill. In 1790 he was killed by a falling tree while 
cutting w-ood. He left a widow and five young chil- 
dren. The widow married (second) September 10, 
1792. Elijah Grover. He died in 1805. _ 

Hannah Mason was the sixth child of Moses 
Mason, born in Dublin, New Hampshire, May 4, 
1762. Moses Mason was a great-grandson of Cap- 
tain Hugh and Esther Mason. (See sketch of Mason 
family). Captain Hugh Mason was a settler at 
Watertown ; a tanner by trade ; captain of the Water- 
town company ; Indian fighter ; magistrate, and 
deputy to the general court : born in England in 
1606. sailed April 30. 16,34, with wife Esther in ship 
"Francis of Ipswich." The line is through Captain 
Hugh (i): John (2), Daniel (3). Moses Mason 
(4), was the youngest son of Daniel (3) and Ex- 
perience. He married Lydia Knapp, daughter of 
Jesse and Mary Knapp, of Boston, who settled in 
Dublin, New Hampshire. The Mason family re- 
, moved to Bethel, Maine, in 1799. 

The Grover family was closely allied by mar- 
riage with the Mills family. They are very numerous 
and highly respectable. They are descended from 



?3^ 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



Thomas Grover (i), the emigrant, who came from 
England and settled in Charlestown, Massachu- 
setts, in 1642. He removed to Maiden later. 

Thomas Grover, son of the emigrant, mar- 
ried Sarah Chadwick, daughter of John Chad- 
wick, and had three sons: Thomas (3) ; Andrew (3) ; 
and Ephraim (3). In 1702 he settled in that pari 
of Norton, Massachusetts, known as the Taunton 
West Purchase, afterwards incorporated as Norton, 
later as Mansfield (1770). Andrew Grover (3), 
and Mary, had Jonas, born September 7, 1699. He 
married Sarah Austin. Their son, James, Jr. (5), 
born August 15, 1729, married April 8, 1754, Sarah 
Wellman. James Grover (5), moved from Mans- 
field, Massachusetts, to Peckersfield, now Nelson, 
New Hampshire, and later went to Bethel, Maine. 
His son Elijah married Mrs. Hannah (Mason) 
Mills. 

Children of James and Hannah (Mason) Mills 
were: I. John, born July 31, 17S3, at Dublin. New 
Hampshire ; married Asenath Cummings. 2. James. 
3. Hannah, born in Dublin, January 9, 1786. 4. 
Deborah, born at Bethel, January 27, 1786. 5. Cyrus 
(see forward). 

(VI) Cyrus Mills, youngest child of James 
Mills (5), born in Bethel, Maine, April 28, 1790; 
settled in Bethel, Maine ; later removed to the Frye- 
burg Academy grant, now Mason, Maine, adjoin- 
ing Bethel. In 1816 he and his brother John were 
living in Bethel, and a road was laid out by the 
town from their houses to that of their mother, 
Widow Grover. Cyrus married Abiah Bean, daugh- 
ter of Daniel and Margaret (Shaw) Bean, born 
December 31, 1792. Margaret Shaw was the daugh- 
ter of Ebenezer and Anna (Philbrick) Shaw, of 
Standish, Maine. Daniel Bean was a revolutionary 
soldier and late in life drew a pension. He was 
the son of Jonathan Bean, of Kingston, or the 
adjacent town of Brentwood, New Hampshire, who 
with his wife Abigail removed to Sudbury. Canada; 
he died in 1800, aged forty-three; married in 1780 
and had thirteen children. He was born in Kings- 
tonton. or Brentwood. New Hampshire ; resided at 
Chester. New Hampshire, and was a descendant of 
John Bean, a native of Scotland, who settled in 
Exeter, New Hampshire. He removed to Standish, 
Maine, and later to Bethel, where he bought a farm 
near that of his brother-in-law, Eleazer Twichell. 

Children of Cyrus and Abiah (Bean) Mills were: 
I. William Dexter, born September 18, 1816, in 
Bethel. 2. Daniel, born April 10, 1818, Bethel. 3. 
Nelson, September 20, 1819, in Bethel. 4. Mary Bean, 
born April 5, 1822, in Mason, Maine. 5. Charlotte, 
born 1823. 6. Nathan Grover, born February 20, 
1824. 7. Cyrus, Jr., born 1826. 8. O'Neal R., born 
1828. 9. Betsey S., born 1830. 10. J. Mason, born 
1832. II. George H. (see forward). 12. Elijah G., 
born January 9, 1835. 13. Stephen, died when one 
and a half years of age. 

(VII) George Horace Mills, son of Cyrus Mills 
(6), next to the youngest of the children, was born 
March 31, 1833, in Fryeburg .A-cademy grant, now 
the town of Mason, Maine. He received a common 
school education in the schools of his native town. 
He removed to Charlestown. Massachusetts, when 
a young man, and there learned his trade of carpen- 
ter. He came to Worcester to take the position of 
foreman for Henry W. Eddy, the contractor and 
builder, with whom he has been associated during 
most of his residence in Worcester. One of the 
early triumphs of building in Worcester was the 
freight house of the Boston & Maine Railroad, the 
roof of which. 65x400 feet, was the largest in 
the country, built up to that time without supports 
or pillars. Mr. Mills had a notable career in the 



civil war. He enlisted in Company C, Thirty-si.xth 
Regiment, a company raised by P. Emory Aldrich, 
later justice of the superior court, within si.x days 
from the beginning, until one hundred and ten men 
were secured. A. A. Goodell was the captain. He 
served from August 8, 1862, until June 8, 1865. 
He was in the first battle of Fredericksburg. The 
story of his service is that of his regiment, until 
he was taken prisoner. From Virginia the regi- 
ment went to Jamestown, Kentucky, and thence to 
Vicksburg, Mississippi. The next move was to 
Jackson, whence they returned to Kentucky. They 
served at Campello Station and at the siege of 
Knoxville ; at Blaine's Crossroads, in East Ten- 
nessee, and at Strawberry Plain in the same sec- 
tion. In 1864 the regiment left Tennessee, in ."Xpril, 
and in May took part in the battle of the Wilder- 
ness, and Spottsylvania Court House, where they 
suffered heavy losses. May 21, they marched to North 
Anna river, continually skirmishing. At Cold Har- 
bor. Mr. Mills was made first corporal of the com- 
pany for his services in taking a line of rifle pits 
from the enemy. The march from this point to 
White House Landing, was made in forty-eight suc- 
cessive hours, a distance of sixty miles. The regi- 
ment arrived at Harrison Landing June 15. : 
1864. The regiment made a gallant record at 
Petersburg, taking two forts, four stands of 
colors and five hundred and sixteen prisoners, and ' 
then settled dow-n to besiege Petersburg. Mr. Mills 
was taken prisoner at Dr. Basan's house, and taken 1 
to the prison first in Petersburg, then to Libby prison, , 
in Richmond, where he was kept from October 5 to 1 
9, when he was taken to the parole camp and 
detained until May, 1865. Although he was mustered 
out at Alexandria, Virginia, June 8, the regiment 
proceeded to Readville, Massachusetts, to be paid 
off and discharged, and he was the last to do guard 
duty, being detailed to guard the arms to be turned 
over to the United States government there. He 
is a member of George H. Ward Post 10, Grand 
Army of the Republic, of Worcester. In politics 
he is a Republican. He is a member of the Methodist 
Episcopal church. He married Mary Jane Prescott, 
daughter of Harvey and Mary (Stuart) Prescott, 
of West Boylston, Massachusetts. They were mar- 
ried at Clinton, Massachusetts, February 14, 1857. 
Mrs. Mills numbers among her ancestors Colonel 
Jonathan Prescott, of revolutionary fame. In the 
Grover family her great-grandfather, also, was a 
soldier in the revolution. 

Children of George Horace and Mary Jane (Pres- 
cott) Mills were: i. George Lyman, born Decern- 1 
her 15. 1S57. married Emma Viola Ryan; no children. 
2. Arthur Goodell, born January 23, 1863 ; was a mem- 
ber of the city guards : served through the Spanish 
war in Company A, Second Massachusetts Volun- 
teers; married Myrtie Merriam; they have a son, 
Harold Leroy, born November 29. 1903. 3. Harvey 
Prescott, born August 10. 1867, died October 16. 1899, 
unmarried. 4. Grace Mabel, born September 29, 
1869; married James Henry Burke of Prince Ed- I 
wards Island, November 23, 1903: they' have one 
daughter, .-Xda Mills Burke, born October i. 1904: 
he is an expert solderer for the Hamblen & Russell 
Manufacturing Company. Worcester. 5. John Stuart, 
born October 17, 1878, died January 18, 1892. 

B.ANCROFT FAMILY. John Bancroft (i), was 
the pioneer ancestor of the Bancroft families, of 
.Auburn and Worcester. He was the progenitor of 
Bertram A. Bancroft, of Worcester. John and his 
wife. Jane Bancroft, came to New England on the 
ship "James." sailing from London in 1632. They 
settled at Lynn where John died in 1637. In 1638 



\? 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



333 



Cthe widow received a grant of land in Lynn. Her 
'ison, John, went to Connecticut early, and is the 
founder of the Connecticut branch of the family. 
There is a family tradition that she went to live 
with him, and died in Connecticut. Children of John 
and Jane Bancroft, all born in England, were: 
-'Amos; John, settled in Connecticut : fhomas (see 
[forward) ; Samuel ; and probably William. 

(.11) Thomas Bancroft, son of John Bancroft 
i(l), was born in England in 1622. He became a 
townsman of Dedham in 164S. In 1653 or earlier he 
removed to Reading, Massachusetts, and settled there. 
■He had land at Lynnfield and lived there for a 
itime, and perhaps in West Reading. He married 
ttirst) March 31, 1647, Alice Bacon, daughter of' 
J^Iichael Bacon, of Dedham. She died March 29, 
164S. He married (second) July 15, 1648, Elizabeth 
Metcalf, daughter of Michael and Sarah Metcalf. 
She was admitted to the Dedham church December 
14. 1651, and dismissed to the Reading church No- 
vember 22, 1669. He was in the service with the rank 
of lieutenant. He died at Lynn, August 19, 1691. 
His widow died May i, 1711. Children of Thomas 
Bancroft were : Thomas, born and died in 1648 ; 
Thomas (see forward) ; Elizabeth, born 1653, mar- 
ried Joseph Brown; John, born 1658: Sarah, born 
1660, died 1661 ; Raham, born 1662, died 1683 ; Sarah, 
born 1665, married John Woodward; Ebenezer, 
.1667; Mary, 1670. 

(IH) Deacon Thomas Bancroft, son of Lieutenant 
Thomas Bancroft (2), born in Dedham, Massachu- 
isetts, in 1649; married in 1673, Sarah Poole. He was 
lan officer in King Philip's war; and was selectman 
!of Reading for several years. He built the fourth 
iliouse in the west parish, near the Abraham Temple 
:house, generally know-n as the ancient Bancroft 
ihomestead. Children of Deacon Thomas and Sarah 
(Poole) Bancroft, all born in Reading, Massachu- 
setts, were Thomas, born' in 1673 ; Jonathan, born 
iind died 1675 ; Sarah, born 1676, married 
i.\braham Bryant (2), of Reading and Sud- 
oury, Massachusetts ; MeJiitable, born 1678, 

married Parker; Jonathan, born 1681, 

.married Sarah : Raham or Rayham (see for- 

iward) ; Judith, born 1688, married ■ Parker; 

Samuel, born 1691, died 1692 ; Samuel, born 1693 ; 
iElizabeth, born 1698, married, 1713, John Lampson. 
' (IV) Deacon Rayham Bancroft, sixth child of 
'Deacon Thomas Bancroft (3), born in Reading, 
Massachusetts, in 1684; married (first) Abigail 
Eaton, of a prominent Reading family, daughter of 
Jonas and Hannah (Mason) Eaton. She died 1728, 
laged forty years. He married (second), 1730, Ruth 
Kendall, daughter of Samuel and Mary Kendall. 
She died 175S. aged fifty-six years. He died 1758, 
■aged seventy-four years. Rev. Mr. Hobby called 
him : 'That good man, my friend Deacon Ban- 
croft." Children of Deacon Rayham and Abigail 
(Eaton) Bancroft were: Joshua, born 1712; Abigail, 
born 1716; David (see forward) ; James, born 1729, 
:died young; Ruth, born 173 1 ; Abigail, born 1733, 
'died 1750; Judith, born 1735; James, born 1739, 
married (first), 1757, Sarah Pearson, (second) Sarah 
1 Parker; revolutionary soldier; selectman; -repre- 
■sentative to general court ; died 1831, aged ninety- 
itwo years. 

(V) David Bancroft, third child of Deacon Ray- 
ham Bancroft (4), born in Reading, Massachusetts, 
.August 2. 1718 : removed to Worcester and settled 
in the southern part of the town in what was later 
Ward, now Auburn, Massachusetts. The births 
lof his children are recorded in Worcester, except 
the eldest. Eunice. He came to Worcester about 
[742. His first wife was Eunice. She died Octo- 
lier 15. 1777, aged fifty-nine years, and is buried 



in Auburn. He married (second) Ruth Stone, 
widow, at Ward, October 14, 1779. She died August 
2, 1809, aged ninety-four years. David died at Au- 
burn, April 16, 1782, aged sixty-three years. His will 
dated Dtcember 15, 1781, and allowed May 6, 1782, 
mentioned land at Auburn (Ward) and Winchen- 
don, church, pew, books, etc. His grave at Auburn 
is marked by a stone suitably inscribed. Children 
of David and Eunice Bancroft were : Eunice, born, 
probably at Reading, 1742; David, born at Worces- 
ter May 6, 1743; Jonas, October 26, 1744; John, De- 
cember 10. 1745-6; Ebenezer, September ig, 1748; 
Jonathan, May 25, 1750; Mary, JVIay 4, 1752; Ruth, 
March 24, 1754; Hannah, March I, 1756; Nathaniel, 
March 18, 1758; Timothy, December i, 1760 (see 
forward). 

(VI) Timothy Bancroft, youngest child and son 
of David Bancroft (5), born in that part of Wor- 
cester, now Auburn, December i, 1760; married 
Mary Rice, June 13, 1782; died March, 1834, aged 
seventy-three years. He was a farmer and settled 
in Auburn, where all the children were born. Chil- 
dren were: Comfort (daughter), born January 11, 

1786; married Chapin and had children: Lucy, 

Mary, Elizabeth, Benjamin; Peter, died October 
26, 1786; Peter M. ; Timothy Rice, May 19, 1794, 
died March 21, 1795; Harvey, November 11, 1796, 
inherited the homestead in Auburn; Timothy, Jr., 
May 26, 1798 (see forward) ; Rominah, July 24, 
rSoi. Mary, widow of Timothy, died October 10, 
1844, aged eighty- four years. 

(VII) Timothy Bancroft, Jr., son of Timothy 
Bancroft (6), born in Auburn, Massachusetts, May 
26, 1798; married Mary Clark, June 6, 1820, at 
.Auburn, and settled there on a farm. Their children, 
born in Auburn, were : Mary Smith, born June 3, 
1821, died January 3, 1823; Samuel Clark, Deceiti- 
ber 9, 1822; died December 21, 1S38; Mary S., mar- 
ried Elliott; Almira Salina, April 

16, 1826, married Burrill ; Laura, 

March 25, 1828, died February ig, 1846; Nel- 
son T., June -14, 1830; Malissa, April 23, 1832, 

married Walker; Erastus, July 16, 1834; Eliza 

J., married Pond; Martha J., tuarried J. Love- 

lin; Enoch (see forward); Roswell S. Nine of the 
children were named in the will. Timothy Ban- 
croft was evidently a man of property and educa- 
tion. He bequeathed a desk, books and bookcases 
to his son Enoch, the residuary legatee. 

(VIII) Enoch Bancroft, son of Timothy Ban- 
croft, Jr. (7), was born in Auburn, Massachusetts. 
His father left him his farm and all his real estate 
in Auburn; land bought of George W. Rugg; wood 
lot in Leicester : wood lots in Shrewsbury ; his 
desk, Bible, books, bookcases, family effects and 
heirlooms, and he had to pay some $4,500 in cash 
bequests to the other heirs. He sold the farm in 
Auburn and bought one on Lincoln street in Wor- 
cester, where he died in 1875, in the prime of life. 
He married Mary Prime. His children were : W. 
E. ; A. P.; Bertram A. (see forward) ; two who died 
young; Mary L., married A. L. Haven, of Worcester. 

(IX) Bertram A. Bancroft, son of Enoch Ban- 
croft (8), born in Worcester, Massachusetts, Jan- 
uary 15. 1867. His father died when he was a 
young boy. He attended the Worcester schools 
and has always lived in his native city. The growth 
of the city has brought the Bancroft farm within 
the suburbs, and recently it has been placed on the 
market in building lots, under the title of the Ban- 
croft Investment Company. Since he discontinued 
running the farm, he -has been in the teaming 
business, and is a successful business man. His 
integrity and many attractive qualities have made 
for him a host of friends. He stands as well socially 



334 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



as in tlic business world. He married Susan A. 
(Mason) Rice, widow of William Rice, of lloldeii; 
born in West Boylston, Massachusetts, November 12, 
1858, and had one child by her first marriage, 
Andrew Jackson Rice, born May 8, 18S1. 

Mrs. Bancroft is the daughter of William H. 
and Alary (Howe) Mason. William 11. Mason 
was born March 3, 1833. Mary S. Howe was born 
January 11, 1.S3S, and died January 11, 1905. They 
had eight children, of whom six are living (1905;. 
]\lrs. Bancroft's great-grandfather was Samuel 
Mason, and his wife, her great-grandmother, was 
Hannah Whitney, daughter of William Whitney, 
said to be the first settler in what is now the town 
of West Boylston, Massachuestts. He was a des- 
cendant of John Whitney, of Watertown, the emi- 
grant. (See Whitney family.) Their son, Will- 
iam Mason, married Relief Henry, and they had : 
Hannah, Esther, Samuel, Sarah A., jNlary A., Will- 
iam, H., (see forward). Children of William H. 
and Mary S. (Howe) Mason were: Susan, born 
November 12, 1858; D. Waldo, October 27, i860; 
Julia L., 1862, married William E. Bancroft, of Wor- 
cester, farmer and milk dealer ; Willie H., born 
1864; Mary E., born 1866; Lucy E., born 1868, 
died July 29, 1903; Samuel F., born 1873; George 
G., born 1875. 

The only child of Bertram E. and Susan A. 
(Mason) Bancroft is: Ralph Enoch Bancroft, born 
at Worcester, November 11, 1893; student in the 
public schools of Worcester. He is the fourth gen- 
eration of Bancrofts who have lived in this home. 
Mr. Bancroft's home is on the old homestead, 334 
Lincoln street, Worcester. 

Samuel Mason, born in Lexington, Massachusetts, 
great-grandfather of Mrs. Bancroft, mentioned 
above, was in Captain Solomon Stuart's company. 
Colonel Josiah Whitney's regiment, in 1777, and 
marched on the Bennington call. 

DR. FELIX D. FONTAINE has practiced in 
Worcester, largely among the French speaking citi- 
zens, for nearly thirty years. He was born in St. 
Ungues, Quebec, Canada, December 14, 1832. He 
comes from early French stock that came from old 
France to New France early in the eighteenth cen- 
tury. His great-grandfather Fontaine, who lived 
to the remarkable age of one hundred and thirteen 
years, settled at Vercheres, near Montreal, and his 
grandfather Fcli.x, for whom he was named, was 
born there and died there at the age of ninety 
years, nine months, about 1855. His father, Louis 
Fontaine, was also born at Vercheres, but settled 
at St. Hugues. 

Felix D. Fontaine spent his boyhood on his 
father's farm and attended the parish schools of his 
native place. In 1846 he was sent to the college at 
St. Hyacinthe, and here he took the seven year 
course, graduating with the degree of A. B., in 
1853. He then took up the study of medicine at 
Montreal in what was then known as the Medical 
School of Canada, now Victoria University Med- 
ical School. He received his degree of ]M. D. from 
the Ontario University. He had hospital practice 
in Montreal. He began the practice of medicine at 
St. Jude, near St. Hyacinthe, where he remained 
until i860. March, i860, he settled at St. Barnaby, 
Yamachiche, near Three Rivers, Quebec, where be 
was engaged in general practice for sixteen years. 
In 1876 he removed to Nicolet, Quebec, but after 
eighteen months there removed to Worcester, where 
he has practiced ever since. He came to Worcester, 
October 15, 1877, and opened an office in Primeau's 
drug store, 54 Front street. Four years later he 
moved his office to Salem square, and finally in July, 



1885, to 16 Portland street, having purchased the 
property there. Excepting Dr. Napoleon Jacques 
he was the first F'rench physician to build up a 
practice in Worcester, and, excepting Dr. Jacques, 
is the oldest practicing physician among the French 
speaking population in and about Worcester. He 
is a member of the Massachusetts Medical Society; 
of Union St. Jean Baptiste d'Amerique ; and of 
St. Joseph's Union of Worcester. In politics he 
is a Democrat. He is a member of Notre Dame 
Koman Catholic Church. 

Fie married (first) May 23, i860, Emma Regnault 
of St. Pierre, Canada. She was born in France. 
She had seven children, only one of whom sur- 
vived. She died October 20, 1867. He married 
(second) May 24, 1874, iMary Cresse, of Nicolet, 
who bore him children ; all but one of whom are 
living. She died in Worcester, October 10, 1898. 
Among his children were : Albert, born at St. ■ 
Barnaby, Canada, 1867 ; Joseph Didyme Steven, 
born at St. Barnaby, June 4, 1875; Marie Flora i 
Albertine, born at St. Barnaby, May 4, 1876; Marie 
Laura Camelia, born at Nicolet, Canada, July 21, 
1877; Marie Ida, born August 8, 1879, in Wor- 
cester; Marie Hortense Eva, born in Worcester, ■ 
October 18, 1881 ; Marie Rose Eveline, born March, 
1883 ; Joseph Arthur Steven, born in Worcester, 
May 25, 1884; Joseph Robert Emil, born in Wor- 
cester, September 2, 1886; Joseph Dona Rudolph, 
born in Worcester, December 11, 1887; Marie 
Blanche Rebecca Alexandrine, born April 7, 1890; 
Joseph Arthur Henry, born in Worcester, Novem- , 
ber II, 1891 ; Joseph Philip Auguste, born in Wor- 
cester, January 15, 1893; Joseph Anatole Oscar, 
born April 11, 1895; died December 23, 1895. Six 
of the elder children died in infancy or in early 
life. 

CHARLES A. HOMER. Homer is an old 
Saxon surname, derived it is said from the Manor 
Homere, now called Hummer, in Somerset county. 
England. The earliest records containing the sur- 
name in England are the Inquisitiones Post Mortem 
in the reign of Richard II, 1381-2. In these ancient 
books the name is spelled invariably Homere and it 
occurs repeatedly. The old Manor House in Som- 
erset is gone ; it was built of wood, and was very 
ancient when it was torn down. 

The first nobleman of the name was Thomas de 
Homere, Lord of the Manor of Homere, to whom 
lands in the neighboring county of Dorset were 
granted in 1338 by Lord Maltravers. A family 
tradition holds that the Homer family in StaiTord- 
shire left this manor in Dorset on account of a 
duel, in which presumably his adversary got the 
worst of the encounter, and settled at Ettingshall, 
where the family has been located since the four- 
teenth century. The old Manor Hall at Ettings- 
hall was taken down in 1868; it dated back to Eliza- 
liethian limes. A pew is still preserved that was built 
in the church attended by the Homers of Ettingshall 
in 1C26, built as the inscription states by Edward 
Homer. The church is in the parish of Sedgley. 
The name appears first in the Sedgley parish regis- 
ter in 1560, but some of the family removed to 
Worcester, England, in 1552. The records at Et- 
tingshall give Richard Homer, married October, 
1565, Margaret Wright, and was buried in 1606 at 
Ettingshall. He was probably grandfather of the 
following Edward Homer, from whom the line is 
traced with apparent correctness to the Worcester 
(England) family. 

(I) Edward Homer, progenitor of Charles A. 
Homer, of Worcester, Massachusetts, lived at Et- 
tingshall, England, He married, July 8, 1628, Eliza- 




^^Ji/^S XiX^a^iT^tAi^s^^^^i^ 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



335 



eth Wilkes. He was buried December ig, i68i, 
bnder tbe name of "Old Edward Homer" of Et- 
fingshall. His wife Elizabeth was buried February 
22, 1685. Their children were: Edward, baptized 
November 5, 1634, see forward ; Thomas, baptized 
June 15, 1637, buried July 2, 1637; Simon, baptized 
March 10, 1039; Richard, baptized January 23, 1O4J. 
(H) Edward Homer, son of the preceding Ed- 
\vard Homer (.1), and probably great-grandson of 
Richard, named above, was born in Ettingshall and 
oaptized there July 8, 1628. He married, July 16 
1656, Anne Gibbins. She was buried May 12, 1675, 

uid he married (second) Jane . His children 

born at Ettingshall were : Joseph, died young, 
niried February 9, 1660; Anne, baptized January 
?, 1661 ; Edward, baptized November 8, 1664, proba- 
)ly died young; Captain John, baptized March 20, 
1665, see forward ; Edward, baptized February 9, 
[668; Mary, buried July 25, 1672; Francis, baptized 
September 11, 1673; Rebecca; Benjamin, baptized 
l^ovember 2S, 1682, married Alary Palmer. 

(HI) Captain John Homer, the immigrant, son 
)f the precedmg Edward Homer (2), was baptized 
it Ettingshall, England, March 20, 1665. He ap- 
jears to have resigned his rights to the succession 
o a younger brother and was perhaps well paid 
'or doing so, as he was owner of the vessel of 
vhich he was the captain. He came to New Eng- 
land to live about i6go. He settled at Yarmouth, 
hough he lived in Boston for a time. He mar- 
■ied, July 13, 1693, jMargery Stevens. He died 
^Jovember i, 1717, aged fifty-two years. She died 
it Yarmouth, 1762, aged ninety-six or ninety-eight 
"ears. The children of Captain John and Margery 
■ Stevens) Homer were: John, born August 8, 
694, administrator of his father's estate; Mary, 
)orn 1696, died young; Benjamin, born May 8, 
698, see forward; William, born June 29, 1701 ; 
dichael, born September 26, 1703 ; Robert, born 
day 29, 1706, merchant in Honduras, Central Amer- 
;a, sent his sons to Boston to be educated; sold 
)ut his goods and started with part of his gold on 
me ship while his wife took the rest of it by another, 
ut both were lost, probably victims of pirates ; 
'homas, born 1707; Mary, born 1708. 

(IV) Benjamin Homer, son of Captain John 
lomer (3), was born in Boston, Massachusetts, 
lay 8, 1698. He removed to Yarmouth and budt 
house, which is or was lately standing. He died 
t Yarmouth, October 24, 1776, aged seventy-eight 
iears. He married Elizabeth Crowe or Crowell, 
aughter of John and Bethia (Sears) Crowell and 
randdaughter of John Crowell, one the three orig- 
lal grantees of 'V'armouth, Massachusetts. Benja- 
lin Homer was a prominent citizen, a magistrate 
nd deputy to the general court. The children of 
enjamin and Elizabeth (Crowell) Homer were: 
sethia, born March 18, 1722, married Benjannn 
bbbs, of Boston; John, born September 28, 1724, 
larried September 28, 1749, Abigail Osborn, of Xan- 
icket; removed to Boston and became a ship owner 
id merchant, was one of the fifteen who organized 
le famous patriotic society — the Sons of Liberty — 
.It later when the break came he remained loyal 
I England, and removed to Nova Scotia, where his 
;;scendants have been prominent ; Margery, born 
rne 13, 1727, married, January 3, 1765, William 
ears, of Harwich; William, born July 14, 1729, was 
loyalist, removed to Barrington, Nova Scotia, and 
ed on a voyage from Barbadoes to Boston ; Ben- 
min, born August 5, 1731, removed to Boston; 
;ephen, born April 15, 1734, married Elizabeth 
hapman, of Yarmouth ; Thomas, see forward ; 
lizabeth, born November 18, 1738, married David 
nowles, of Eastham; Robert, born January 28, 



1742, married (first) Jerusha Sears, married (sec- 
ond) widow of John Thatcher. 

(V) Thomas Homer, seventh child of Benja- 
min Homer (4), was born in Yarmouth, Massacliu- 
setts, March 21, 1736. He settled there and prob- 
ably his children were born there. He married, 
November 21, 1765, Elizabeth Sears. One record 
states that he went to Vermont, but a deed in the 
Worcester county records shows that Thomas 
Homer, of Barnstable, bought a homestead at Rut- 
land, Massachuestts, of William Caldwell, of Rut- 
land, July 20, 1789. The land was south side of 
John Rice's meadow and there were other lots 
besides the home lot. He lived in Rutland about 
twenty years, and several generations have lived 
on the old homestead since his death. He died 
at Rutland, November 21. 1812, aged seventy-six 
years. His widow Elizabeth died August 19 or 20, 
1819, aged seventy-two years. She was a lineal 
descendant of Richard Sears. (See the Sears family 
sketch in this work.) The will of Thomas Homer 
was made October 17, 1807, and filed November 
24, 1812. It names the six children as given ber 
low and wife Elizabeth. He left the real estate to 
his three sons, Thomas, Benjamin and William. 
Thomas settleei in Virgil, Cortland county. New 
York; Benjamin in Spofford, Onondaga county, 
and their shares in the property were purchased 
by William, who remained on the old homestead in 
Rutland, for one hundred and forty dollars. The 
deed is dated September 9, 1813. 'fhe children of 
Thomas and Elizabeth (Sears) Homer were: iVlary, 

married Stewart ; Bethiah, married Almond 

Coleman; Desire, married Smith and had a 

son FVancis, mentioned in the will of Thomas 
Homer, Sr. ; Thomas, married Lydia Glazier, of 
New Braintree, in 1800 and they had: Edmund, 
born May 9, x8oi ; Benjamin, born March 8, 1804; 
Thomas Stacy, born July i, 1802, and probably 
others after he removed to Virgil, Courtland county, 
New York; Benjamin, settled in Spoft'ord, Onandaga 
county, New York; William, see forward. 

(VI) William Homer, son of Thomas Homer 
(5), was born in Barnstable, in 1784, and came to 
Rutland when very young. He died at Rutland, 
March 3, 1841, aged fifty-seven years. He married 
Experience Reed, October 24, 1813. They had 
eleven children born in Rutland, viz : Lyman 
Homer, see forward ; Cyrus, born December 2, 
1816, married in 1849, Julia K. Lackey; he died 
July 24, 1881 ; Samuel Read, born July 22, 1818, 
died J\lay 26, 1852 ; William Sears, born September 
16, 1820, died September 5 or 6, 1847; Elizabeth, 
born January 16, 1822, married in 1842, Amos Hos- 
mer, of Sterling, she died July 2, 1905; George 
Washington, born January 16, 1824, married Elsie 
Holden Rogers, April, 1863, died May 10, 1899; 
Soplironia Relief, born March 11, 1826, married 
William Green, of Hubbardston, April 13, 1847; 
.\masa Craft, born July 30, 1S28, married Myra 
Holden, of Rutland, and died February 4, 1906; 
Mary, born December 9, 1830, died October 14, 
1901 ; she married Addison Green of Hubbardston ; 
Eunice Phylinda, born September 20, 1833, died 
December 21, 1893; she married Theodore Cook, 
of Leominster; Sarah Eveline, born March 24, 1838, 
died j\lay 9, 1897; she married Henry Cook, of 
Leominster, Massachusetts. 

(VH) Lyman Homer, eldest child of William 
Homer (6), was born in Rutland, Massachusetts, 
March 13, 1814, and died in Worcester, August 6, 
1879, aged si.xty-five years. He married Adeline 
Russell, April 29, 184.0, at Rutland. The children 
of Lyman and Adeline (Russell) Homer were: 
Agnes M., and Charles A., see forward. 



336 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



(VJII) Charles A. Homer, only son of Lyman 
Homer (7), of Rutland, was born in Rutland. He 
went to school in Rutland and Syracuse, New York, 
and attended VVilbraham Academy. After leaving 
school he went to work in the store of Walter E. 
Forbes & Co., dealers in fancy goods, 204 Mam 
street, Worcester. He learned the business thor- 
oughly and remained with this concern about eight 
years. He formed the hrm of Homer &. Freeman, 
which purchased the busmess of Rufus L. Smith, 
dealer in fancy goods, at 180 Main street, Wor- 
cester. After three years the partnership was dis- 
solved. Since 1889 he has been connected with the 
John C. Maclnnes Company department store, first 
as one of the heads of departments and since the 
incorporation as a director and secretary of the 
company. Since his connection with this business 
it has become one of the largest and most prosper- 
ous stores of the kind in this section. The busi- 
ness was established by Mr. Maclnnes in 1873 at 
462 Main street. The company was formed in 
1892 with the same officers that are in charge at 
present : John C. Maclnnes, president and treasurer ; 
Albert A. Spaulding, vice-president ; Charles A. 
Homer, secretary; Alexander J. Moir and the other 
officers and directors. The store has been enlarged 
by adding new departments and more room until 
at present they have an entire four story building 
at 462 Main street with a large frontage, opposite the 
City flail, and the Gorman block on the north and 
the Buttrick and Whipple building on the south are 
used by the company. Mr. Homer has paid especial 
attention to the gloves, hosiery and underwear de- 
partments. In addition to his other duties he is 
assistant treasurer of the corporation. Mr. Homer 
has always devoted himself to business and especi- 
ally for the past twenty years. He enjoys travel and 
has made a number trips across the continent, spend- 
ing several winters in California. In politics he is 
a Republican. He is a member of the First Uni- 
versalist parish. He is a member of the Worcester 
Board of Trade, the Worcester County Mechanics' 
Association, the Worcester Antiquarian Society, 
the Worcester Grange, the Quinsigamond Lodge and 
Wachusett Encampment of Odd Fellows. He 
has recently built a residence on Richmond Heights. 

Mr. Homer married. May 30, 1886, Susie H. 
Ham, of San Francisco, California, daughter of 
Israel Hayes Ham, descendant of the the Ham 
family of Dover, New Hampshire, a sketch of 
which has been written for this work. They have 
one child : Adeline Grace, born in Worcester, 
September 19, 1889, a student in the Classical high 
school, Worcester, class of 1907. 

ALEXANDER MAXWELL. David Maxwell 
(l), the immigrant ancestor of Alexander Maxwell, 
of Worcester, and of the Maxwell families of Wells, 
Maine, Industry, Maine, and other towns in that 
vicinity, is said to have come from Scotland and 
settled about 1690 at Wenham, Massachusetts. He 
drew land there in 1705. but little is known of him. 
One of his daughters married Luke Morgan and 
resided in New Gloucester. Another married a 
Mr. Pulsifer and settled in Poland, Maine. One 
son settled in Nantucket and another in New Jersey. 

Another branch of the family descended from 
Hugh Maxwell, a Scotch-Irish settler in western 
Massachusetts, and has many distinguished men 
among its numbers. Another well known family 
in New Jersey is possibly related to the Wenham set- 
tler. John Maxwell, son of John, settled in Green- 
wich, Sussex county. New Jersey, when a young 
man. He was born in county Tyrone, Ireland, of 
Scotch parents, in 1701, and died in Greenwich, 



August 19, 1786. He was a descendant of Thomas 
Maxwell, who at the capitulation of Limerick, Ire- 
land, 1601, settled in Tyrone. 

(IIj Gershom Maxwell, son of David Maxwell 
(l), was born at Wenham in 1696. He was bap- 
tized March 13, 1720, on profession of faith at 
Wells, Maine, where he settled, and with eight others 
of his family was received in full communion Janu- 
ary 10, 1742, during a great revival season. His 
children were: Abigail, born March, 1720, died un- 
married ; John, born March, 1722, baptized March 
18, 1722; David, born June 24, 1724, of whom later; 
Miriam, born March, 1729, baptized March 2, 1729; 
married Abel Gatchell ; Barak, born January, 1732, 
baptized April 9, 1732; Susanna, born March, 1734,, 

baptized March 2, 1734; married Littlefield; 

Martha, born April, 173O, baptized April 18, 1736; 
married Benjamin Brown; Gershom, born March, 
1740. baptized March 30, 1740. 

(III) David Maxwell, third child of Gershoro 
Maxwell (2), was born in Wells, Maine, June, 1724^ 
and baptized there June 17, 1724. He married Abigail 
Morrison and settled in Wells, where their childreni 
were born, viz.: Daniel, born May, 1747, died young;; 
Alexander, December 5, 1748; David, December,! 
1750, married Abigail Gilkey, no children (David 
Maxwell was a settler in Industry, Maine, October 
I, 1802, on Lot No. 3, a near neighbor of Jamea 
Thompson) ; Abigail, December, 1750, twin of David.i 
married James Rankin; Mary, November, 1753, mar-i 
ried Theodore Rounds, and resided at Shapleighj 
Maine ; Sarah, November, I7,=;7, married Elisha Little-1 
field ; Susannah, December, 1760, married Nathaniel 
Edwards ; Eleanor, August 17, 1762, married Joseplii 
Maxwell, son of Barak Maxwell (III), resided ir 
Gorham, Maine; Gershom, of whom later; Benja- 
min, March, 1766, married Weed; Martha, June 

1768, married Nathaniel Kimball, and lived in Kenne- 
bunk, Maine. 

(IV) Gershom Maxwell, ninth child of Davie 
Maxwell (3), was born in Wells, Maine, August 
1764. He settled in Industry, Maine, where hi; 
children were born. He married Eunice Sawyer 
Their children : Gershom, of whom later ; David 
Alexander, Mary. 

(V) Gershom Maxwell, son of Gershom Max-i 
well (4), was born in Industry, Maine, about 17901 
He married Sally Taylor, who was born in Stark 
Maine. He was a farmer at Industry. Among theii 
children was Roswell, the father of Alexander Max- 
well, of Worcester. 

(VI) Roswell Maxwell, son of Gershom Max- 
well (s), was born about 1810 at Industry. Maine 
He was a farmer at Industry. He married Sail; 
Fish. He lived most of his life in Industry, bu 
late in life removed to Mercer, where he died. Thei 
children : Rosina, married Philip Welsh, and re 
sided at New Portland, Maine ; Lydia, married Setl 
Fletcher, and resided at Skowhegan, Maine ; Howard 
married Euphrata Merrow, and resided in Lewis 
ton, Maine; Alexander, married Mary R. Curtis 
of whom later ; Sarah, married Samuel Blethen, anc 
resided at Madison, Maine ; Hannah, married Mar 
cellus Ward, and resided at Madison, Maine 
Lorenzo, married, resides in St. Paul, Minnesota 

(VII) Alexander Maxwell, fourth child of Ros 
well Maxwell (6), was born in Industry, Maint 
August 22, 1838. He received a common schoc 
education there. He learned the butcher's trade ani 
when a young man went into business for him 
self, having a slaughter house at Mercer, Maine. H 
bought cattle and shipped beef to Boston market; 
He conducted a successful business until he retire 
in 189T. He removed to Worcester in Septem 
ber. 1891, in order to live nearer his son who wa 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



337 



located in that city. He has invested extensively 
:in real estate in that city, and is occupied in the 
care of his tenements. He resided several years 
at 9 Elizabeth street;, for the last eleven years he 
'has lived at 55 Orchard street. Mr. Maxwell is 
la member of no fraternal or religious organiza- 
tions. 

He married, August 27, 18(15, Margaret Curtis. 
She was born in Mercer, Maine, the daughter of 
Stephen and Elmira (Works) Curtis. Her father 
was born December 5, 1800, and died August 12, 
I.S82. Her mother was born December 6, 1806, and 
died July 22, 1865 ; she was the daughter of Joel 
and Hannah (Partridge) Works, whose children 
were: Selden, Joel, Almon, Elmira, mentioned above; 
iSabra. 

I The children of Stephen and Elmira (Works) 
Curtis were: Mary, born at Mercer, 1829, died 
1841 : Sabra, born at Mercer, May 20, 1833, died 
;L)ecember 23, 1881, at Mercer ; Margaret, mentioned 
^above, married Alexander Maxwell. The father 
pf Stephen" Curtis was John Curtis, who came from 
an old Massachusetts family of this name, removing 
ifrom Bradford, Massachusetts, to Mercer when a 
ivoung man. His wife was Margaret Robinson. Their 
.children were: Eliza, Betsey, Sally, Reuben, Mar- 
garet, Jolni, Stephen Curtis, mentioned above. Both 
John Curtis and his wife lived to the advanced age 
of ninety-two years. 

; The two children of Alexander and Margaret 
i( Curtis) Maxwell are: Arthur Leroy, born July 
(4, 1867, of whom later; and Mabel Vester, born Jan- 
lUary 6, 1S75, died at the age of two years and a 
half. Mrs. Maxwell was a member of the Con- 
gregational church at Mercer. Maine, but has not 
joined any church since removing to Worcester. 
(VHI) Arthur Leroy Maxwell, only living child 
of Alexander Maxwell (7), was born in Mercer, 
Maine, July 14, 1867. He was educated in the 
jublic schools of his native town. When twenty- 
3ne years old he came to Worcester and went to 
.vork for the G. Henry Whitcomb Envelope Com- 
pany, where he remained for nine years. Since 
February, 1899. he has been with the Sherman En- 
,-eIope Company,^ one of the office staff. He is a 
Republican. He resides at 55 Orchard street in the 
jame house with his parents. 

- He married Cora (Dakin) Vaughn, a widow, who 
lias a daughter by her first marriage, Florence B. 
s'aughn. born July 2, 1882. The child of Arthur 
ind Cora Maxwell is : Arthur Leroy, Jr., born Feb- 
uary 3, 1892. 

THE CUTHBERTSON FAMILY, from which 
ivlrs. Jane (Cuthbertson) Pike, of Worcester, de- 
icends. is of Scotch origin. Her father, Alexander 
'uthbertson, lived in Glasgow, Scotland. He mar- 
jied Annie Robertson, of Glasgow. She had a 
'irother James and a sister Agnes (Robertson) Davi- 
on, who died in Lawrence, Massachusetts. The 
vuthbertsons came to America in 1S48 and set- 
led first in Phenix, Rhode Island, later in Farn- 
.amville, Massachusetts, and later in Holden, where 
he mother died March 14, 1885, and the father died 
.'larch 4. 1887, in Worcester, where he had made his 
ome with Mrs. Pike, after the death of his wife. 
[ The children of Alexander and Anne Cuthbertson 
I'ere: Jane, bori^ in Glasgow, Scotland, November 
'2. 1841, see forward; Alexander, born 1843, in 
:Ohnston, Scotland, see forward; Jeanette, born at 
Glasgow. Scotland, 1846; Edward, born at Jack- 
ni. Rhode Island, died June, 1905 ; Mary Ann, 
iru at Burrillville. Rhode Island, died June, 1902; 
Hzabeth. born at Worcester, see forward. 



(II) Jane Cuthbertson, born in Glasgow, Scot- 
land, November 12, 1841. She came to America in 
1848 with her parents and was educated in the pub- 
lic schools here. She married Cyril Pike, of Wor- 
cester, who was a well known grocer and provision 
dealer of that city, whose place of business for many 
years was at. 33 Liberty street. He was a very suc- 
cessful business man and was in every respect self- 
made and highly respected. . He was born in St. 
liyacinthc, Canada, and died in Worcester, March 
14, i8go. He was a Baptist in religion and a Demo- 
crat in politics. He was for some years a member 
of the Worcester Democratic city committee. Mrs. 
Pike is an active member of the home and foreign 
missionary societies of the Lincoln Square Baptist 
Church, to which she belongs and of which she is 
a generous supporter. She was for ten years pre- 
viously a member of the Church of Christ, Wor- 
cester. She resides at 5 Carroll street. 

(II) Alexander Cuthbertson, Jr., son of Alex- 
ander Cuthbertson (l), was born in Johnston, Scot- 
land, 1843, and died January 6, 1906. He came to 
America with his parents when a young boy and was 
educated here. He married Addie Thompson, and 
their children are : Lola M., bookkeeper ; Effie Maud, 
born at Fitchburg, graduate of the public and high 
schools there and of the Worcester Normal School, 
now teaching in Fitchburg; Jeanette, married An- 
drew Keogh, of Holden, and their children are.: 
James Alexander Keogh, salesman, married Edith 
Eames : Mary Jane Keogh. married Augustus Fer- 
rier, salesman ; Charlotte, married Randall M. Whit- 
ne}-, commercial traveler ; Jennie Keogh, deceased. 

(II). Mary Ann Cuthbertson, daughter of Alex- 
ander Cuthbertson (l), was born in Burrillville, 
Rhode Island, about 1850. She married John Craw- 
shaw, and their children were: Lillie Maud, born at 
Holden, married Russell Foote, November 29. 1904, 
and have one child. Veara Maud ; John Edward, born 
in Worcester, April 19, 1880, graduate of the Wor- 
cester high school, attended Colby College, Maine,, 
graduated at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, in 
1902, making a specialty of chemistry; now with' the 
Dupont Powder Company in its great eastern labora- 
tory. New Jersey; Cyril Pike, born July 16, i88g, 
graduate of the Classical high school, Worcester, 
1906. 

(II) Elizabeth Cuthbertson, daughter of Alex- 
ander Cuthbertson ( I ), was born in Worcester and 
died there March 28, 1901. Was bookkeeper for 
Cyril Pike. She was an active member of Lincoln 
Square Baptist Church and teacher in the Sunday 
school. 

PUTNAM FAMILY. In the history of the early 
settlement of Sutton are found the names of seven 
persons by the name of Putnam, whose immediate 
relationsliip cannot be traced, but it is confidently 
believed that they are descended from John Put- 
nam, who came from Buckinghamshire, England, in 
1634, and settled in Salem. He was admitted as a 
freeman in 1647, and died in 1663. Three sons came 
with him — Thomas, Nathaniel, and John. Hence, in 
tracing the genealogy of this family, John Putnam 
is taken as the ancestor of the family in America. 

(II) Thomas Putnam, son of John (r), was 
admitted as a freeman in 1642, and to the church in 
Salem in 1643. In August of the same year he mar- 
ried Prudence Holyoke. from Tamworth; England, 
the daughter of Edward Holyoke, who settled in 
Lynn in 1630. Their children were three sons and 

.five dau.ghters. The names of the sons only can 
be traced — Thomas. Joseph and Edward. 

(III) Thomas Putnam, eldest son of Thomas (2), 



338 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



married Ann Carr, September 25, 1678. They had 
one son and four daughters, whose names are not 
given in the records. 

(III) Edward Putnam, youngest son of Thomas 
(2), married Mary Hale in 1681. Their children 
were: Edward, born 1682; Holyoke, 1683, killed 
by tlie Indians: Elisha, 1685. settled in Sutton; Jo- 
seph, 1687; Nehemiah, 1694; Ezra, 1696; Isaac, 
1698, settled in Sutton. 

(IV) Edward Putnam, eldest son of Edward 
{3), was married, and his children were: Holyoke, 
born 1705, settled in Sutton; Edward, 171 1, died 
February, 1800; Miles, 1725. 

(V) Holyoke Putnam, eldest son of Edward (4), 

first married Eunice , and (second) Esther 

Lovell, in 1742. Their children were: Sarah, born 
1735. married E. Bateman ; Ebenezer, 1738, mar- 
ried Hannah Dike, January. 1766; Hannah, 1741 ; 
Martha. 1743; Eunice. 1745; Susanna, 1747; Joseph, 
1749; Ezra, 1751: Thomas, 1754; Mary, 1758. 

(VI) Ezra Putnam, eighth child and third son 
of Holyoke (s), married Rebekah Dike, Decem- 
ber, 1780. Their children were: Daniel, born 1781 ; 
Charlotte, June, 1783. 

(V) Edward Putnam, second son of Edward 
(4). came to Sutton in 1737, and lived and died 
where Peter H, Putnam lived later on. He mar- 
ried Ruth Fuller, of Middleton, and their children 
were: John, born August, 1735, died 1809: Stephen, 
1739, died in the French and Indian war; Ruth, June, 
1741, married Samuel Rich. Jr., March. 1761 ; Arche- 
laus. February, 1743. died i8og; Phoebe, November, 
1715. married Nathaniel, son of Elisha Rich; Sarah, 
March. 1747. married Paul, son of Jonathan Sibley, 
December, 1766; Molly, baptized 1750, married 
Bartholomew Putnam ; David, July, 1752, married 
Phoebe Woodbury, July. 1776: (3aleb, October, 1754, 
married Judith Sibley ; Peter, 1757 ; Lucy, 1760, 
married Henry Phelps, Jr.. August. 1777; Asa, 1763. 

(VI) John Putnam, eldest son of F.dward (5), 
was a captain in the revolutionary war. and a colonel 
in the militia. He married Mary, daughter of Rev. 
David Hall, D. D., in 1758. Their children were: 
Joseph, born 1758, died in the revolution: Stephen, 
1761. removed to Vermont; Elizabeth, 1763, mar- 
ried Thomas Eddy. 1784: John, 1766, was a phy- 
sician; Charles, 1768; Mary, 1771, married Aaron 
Putnam. 1790; Deborah. 1773. died 1789; Rebekah 
Hall, baptized 1776, died young; Sarah, 1778. mar- 
ried Rufus Marble. 1798: Joseph Hall. 1780; Rebekah 
Prescott. 1783. married Solomon Putnam, 1805. 

(VII) Charles Putnam, fifth child and fourth 
son of John (6), married Rhoda Stone, and their 
children were: Polly, born 1794, married Captain 
Charles Chase; Sally, 1796; Matilda, 1798: Rhoda, 
1801, died same year; Betsy, 1802, married Otis 
Pratt, 1828; Charles Prescott, 1804, married Mary E. 
Marble. 1843: Sumner; twins, June 26. 1807. 

(VII) JiDseph Hall Putnam, tenth child and fifth 
son of John (6), married Nancy Blandon, in 1805, 
and (second) Waity Black. Their children were: 
Brooksey, born 1806; Sullivan, 1808; Sunnier. 1809, 
died 1876; Pearley, 1815; Nancy, 1824. married Jo- 
seph Jones, 1846; Eineline, 1828, married Joshua 
Lackey. 

(VIII) Sullivan Putnam, second child of Joseph 
(7). married Millia R. Draper, and their children 
were: Alfred, born 1842. married Abbie M. Putnam, 
1867 ; Joseph Hall, February. 1849. 

(IX) Joseph Hall Putnam, youngest child of 
Sullivan (8), married Anna L. Whipple, by whom 
one child was born — Millia, who died when a mere 
child. 

(VIII) Sumner Putnam, third child of Joseph 
(7), married Susan Dudley, in 1840. Their children: 



Louisa, born 1846, married E. Everett Burdon, Octo- 
ber, 1867, and died August, 1869; Joseph Edward, 
December 19, 1848, died June 7, 1862. 

(VIII) Pearley Putnam, fourth child of Joseph 
(7), married Julia A. Walker, in 1841, and their 
children were: Clarence D., born 1846; an infant 
daughter, born July 22, 1850, died September 13, 
same year; Mary E. W., August 13, i860, married 
Lovell W. Putnam, October g, 1878, 

(VI). Archelaus Putnam, son of Edward (5), 
married Sarah Putnam, 1765. Their children were: 
Aaron, born July 13, 1766; Archelaus, August 17, 
176S, died February 9, 1854; Sarah, December 26, 
1770, married Isaac King, November 27, 1788; An- 
drew, September 24, 1773; Ruth, March 22, 1776, 
married Adonijah Bartlett, wdio died in the army; 
she then married Abner Putnam, March 13, 1799; 
Betsy, September 14, 1781, married Captain Cyrus 
Carpenter. 

(VII) Aaron Putnam, eldest child of Archelaus 
(6), married Mary Putnam, May 18, 1790. Their; 
children were: Polly, born 1790, married Jason 
Morse, 1812; Caleb, (jctober 18, 1792, unmarried; 
Charles. December 12, 1794; Willard, March 29, 
1798: Rebekah, October 13, 1802, married Samuel 
Waters; Betsey, August 15, 1804; Jason, September 
4, 1807; Palmer, October 10, 1814. 

(VII) Archelaus, second of the sons and chil- 
dren of Archelaus (6), married Phoebe Hicks, March 
14, 1792. Their children were: Silence, born May 
22. 1793; Tyler, November 8, 1795. died September 
9, 1S49; Julia. May 30, 1798, married John Leland, 
April. 1821 : Nancy, February 17, 1805, married 
(first) Simon Tenney, February 6, 1828; (second) 
Dr. David Hall. 

(VIII) Tyler Putnam, second son of Archelaus 
(7). in 1820 married Phoebe Woodbury. Their 
children were : Mary Ann, born November 17. 1821, 
married Andrew W. Pierce; Alvan, October 18. 1824; 
John E., married Nancy A. Merriam ; he removed 
to Big Lake, Minnesota ; Julia L, September 3, 1828, 
died March 26, 1851 ; Emily Jane, December 9. 1830) 
married John B. Pratt, of Oxford ; Henry Tyler, 
November 18, 1832, married Caroline P. Newton; 
Susan E., October 8, 1834, died April 6, 1836. 

(IX) Alvan Woodbury Putnam, second child and 
eldest son of Tyler (8), married Mary Lovell 
Knight, by whom ten children were born, as follows: 
Elwin Tyler, April 29, 1849; Edgar Eugene, March 
6. 1852; Irving Wilbur, December, 1853; Lovell 
\Voodbury. November. 1856, married Mary E. W;. 
Putnam. October 9, 1878: Milton Knight, May 20/ 
1859; Jennie Frances, July 14, 1862, died February 
8, 1863; Elmer Julius, May 27, 1864; Edward Pratt 
and Edward Pierce, twins. May 13, 1867, died same 
day : Emma Carrie. November 14, 1868. 

(IV) Elisha Putnam, son of Edward (3), lived 
on and near the place known as the James Freeland 
farm. He probably came to Sutton as early as 1725; 
was admitted to the church in 1730, and chosen 3 
deacon in 1731. He was- town clerk for many yearsj 
and also town treasurer. His children were: Elishaj 
born December, 1775, died in 1758: Nehemiah, March 
22. 1719, died November 27. 1791; Jonathan, July 
19, 1721 ; Hannah, married Jonathan Dudley. Esq. 
Susannah, married (first) Timothy Holton, Fein 11 
ary 24, 1742, and (second) John' Whipple : Mai\ 
June 12, 1725. died April 22. 17,"; Stephen. April 
1728; Amos. July 22, 1730, died September 17, 1811 
Eunice. July 6, 1732. died at Windham, unmarried 
Huldah. May 25, 1734, married a Matthews; Rufus 
April 7. 17,^8. 

(V) Elisha, eldest son and child of Elisha (4) 
was a soldier in the French and Indian war, anc 
died at or near Crown Point about 1758. He mar- 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



339 



ried, March 3, 17+2, 



Their childrc-n 



were : Andrew, born May 2, 1742, married Lucy 
Park, January 10, 1764; Elisha, December 4, 1745, 
died May 25, 1784; Antipas, July 24, 1747; Jokton, 
May I, 1750. removed to Sutton, Vermont ; Luke, 
October 5, 1755, was a revolutionary soldier; Will- 
iam, January 7, 1758. 

(,VD Elisha Putnam, second son of Elisha (5), 
married Abigail Chamberlain, April 2, 1765. Their 
children were: Molly, born February 23, 1766, mar- 
ried Moses Sibley; Vashti, January 28, 1768, married 
a Wheelock ; Hannah and Deborah, twins, January 
20, 1770; Deborah, died February 6, 1770; Elisha, 
August, 1772, married Levina Ellis; Abraham, Janu- 
ary 19, 1775, died April 14, 1777; Abner, March 
•28, 1777, married a Stearns; Lucy, November 16, 
1779, married Oliver Sibley. 

(VI) Luke Putnam, son of Elisha (5), married 
Mary Putnam, November 23, 1786, and their only 
child was Tyler, born September 11. 1791. 

(V) Nehemiah Putnam, second son of Elisha (4), 
married Sarah Manning, October 5, 1742. Their chil- 
dren were : Aaron, born March 23, 1744 ; Sarah, 
March 10. 1746; Hannah, July 26, 1748, married 
Jonathan Willard. November 25, 1773; Rachel, April 
17- 1750; Susanna, January 19, 1752, married John 
Fuller. March 26, 1771 ; Eunice, December 4, 1753, 
-married Benjamin Shumway. April 4, 1773; Reuben, 
April 9. 1757: Joseph and Benjamin, twins, Septem- 
ber 20, 1760. Benjamin married Patty Mason. 

{VI) Aaron Putnam, son of Nehemiah (3), mar- 
ried, and his children were : Calvin. Franklin, and 
Luther, the last named of whom died young. 

(Vn) Calvin Putnam, eldest son of Aaron (6), 
married Abigail Davidson, December 3, 1799. Two 
children were born to them : Samuel and Hannah. 

(VI) Reuben Putnam, son of Nehemiah (5), 
married Elizabeth Mason. Their children were : 
Aaron, born .August 29, 1781, died February, 1S54; 
iJonas. March 5. 1783: Mason. December 20. 1784; 

Manning, .^pril T2, 1787; Rufus Austin, November 
l8, 1791 ; Polycarp (afterward changed to John Mil- 
ton), February 26. 1794; John O., July 26, 1796. 

(VI) Joseph Putnam, son of Nehemiah (5), 
married Tamar Towne, and their children were : 
|Tamar. born July 8, 1786; John Towne, September 
24. 1787: Daniel, August 30, 1789. 

(V) Jonathan Putnam, son of Elisha (4), mar- 
ried Mrs. Anne (Chase) Stockwell, November 8, 
1743. Their children were: Adonijah. born Octo- 
ber 9. 1744. married Mary Wilkins. November. 1766: 
Mary. December 25, 1755, married Luke Putnam, 
November 2;^, 1786; Francis, September 24. 1758: 
Jonathan Follansbee. May 9. 1763, died October 30, 
1858. 

(VI) Francis Putnam, son of Jonathan (5). mar- 
!'■ d Joanna Leland. December II. 1783. Their chil- 
• ' '.n were: Nancy, born February 8. 1784, married 

; Charles Rich. April 9. 1809; Phebe, February 7. 1786; 
'Silas. October 15. 17S8; Royal. April 16. 1791. mar- 
fried Mary .^nn Seaver ; Olive. May 27, 1794: Maria, 
June 28. 1796. married Aaron Elliot. Prudy. Feb- 
.ruary 28. 1799, married Simon L, Marble. June 
I 16, 1822; Pliny. February 15, 1801, married Olive 
i Ersy : Fannv. May 28, 1804. 

(VII) Silas Putnam, son of Francis (6). mar- 
;■; d Sarah, daughter of Captain Levi Ludden. a 
descendant of George Soule. one of the J'il.grims 
who came from England in the "Mayflower." Their 
children were : Syra Leland. horn Sentember iS. 
1S24 : -Annette Soule. .April 24. 1826 : William Pitt. 
March 10, 1828: Walter Tell. .August it, 1829; 
Rosetta Aseneth, Julv 24. 1831 : Ada Freeman, May 
II. i8?3. 

(\T) Jonathan Follansbee Putnam, son of Jona- 



than (5), married Philana Leland, July 6, 17S6. Their 
children were: Jonathan F., born May 6, 1787; 
Philana, November i, 1789, married Major' Rufus 

Burdon; , born July 11, 1795, died June 13, 

1855- 

(VII) Jonathan Follansbee Putnam, son of Jona- 
than (6), married Harriet Hall. Their children were: 
Dennev Sunnier, born March 13. 1817; Harriet Ward. 

(VII) Jin] Putnam, son of Jonathan (6), mar- 
ried Ro.xana Burdon, Their children were: Estes, 
born December 2, 1819; Roxana, July 5, 1821. 

(VIII) Estes Putnam, son of Jim (7), married 
Sarah P. King in 1840. Their children were: 
Sarah R., married Joseph Bodo; Hannah E„ born 
January 30, 1848, married Artemas Pickermg; Al- 
bert F., January 19, i860. 

(VIII) Sumner Putnam, son of Jim (7), mar- 
ried Laura E. Lowe. Their children were : Sarah 
Elizabeth, born March 14, 1857, married Frank 
Walden; James Selah, October 17, 1858; Jennie 
Josephine, February 24, 1861 ; George Decatur, 
November 21, 1862; Hattie Estella, September 5, 
1866; John E. L. B., October l, 1870; Fred Thurs- 
ton, October 7, 1872. 

(V) Stephen Putnam, son of Elisha (4), mar- 
ried Mary Gibbs, March 14, 1755. Their children 
were : Solomon, born July 17, 1755 ; Mary, June 
8, 1757; Rhoda. July 2, 1759. This family moved to 
Hampshire county. 

(V) Amos Putnam, son of Elisha (4), mar- 
ried Sarah Swift, June 26, 1700. Their children 
were: Eliphal, born July 8, 1762, died September 
25, 1845; Lucretia, September 6, 1764. died January, 
1852; Rebekah, February 18, 1767, died December 
29, 1854; Paul, March 4, 1769. died 1779; Su.san- 
nah, died in childhood. Elizabeth. October 22, 
1772, married Ebenezer Newton; Pollv. 1775. died 
1851: Martha, October 25, 1781. died 185 1 ; Martha, 
Octolier 25, 1781; married Silas Livermore ; died 
October 3, 1852. 

(V) Rufus Putnam, son of Elisha (4). mar- 
ried (first) Persis Rice. Their children were: Eliza- 
beth, born November ig, 1765; Persis, June 6, 
1767; Susamiah. August. 1768; Abigail. .August 7, 
1770; William Rufus, December 12, 1771 ; Franklin, 
:\Iay 27, 1774 died April, 1776; Edwin, January ig, 
1776; Patty, November 25, 1777; Catherine, Octo- 
ber 17, 1780; Agnes. 

(IV) Isaac Putnam, the fourth in line of de- 
scent from John Putnam, the American ancestor, 
settled in Sutton about 1722 on the farm which 
in later years was owned by Oliver Hall- and Robert 
Luther. He was admitted to the church in Feb- 
ruary, 1730. His name is not found on the records 
after 1740. He died in the fifty-ninth year of his 
age. No one of his posterity is known to be liv- 
ing in Sutton at the pre.sent time. Deacon Palmer 
Marble. Mrs. James Freeland and the children of 
John Waters, decea.sed, are his great-grand children. 
His children: Phineas, born October i. 1722; 
-Asaph. September 11, 1724; Ann. July 27. 1726; 
Susannah, .August 20, 1728, married John Saddler, 
of L'pton, January. 1746: Nathan, October 24. 1730; 
Edward, February 5, 1733; Isaac, November 4, 
1734; Lydia, October 20, 1736; Daniel, March 28, 
1739. married -Ann. daughter of Hon. Samuel Chase, 
removed to Corinth, New Hampshire. 

(V) Phineas Putnain, son of Isaac (4). mar- 
ried and his children weie: Levi, who settled at 
W'b'fiinsrh^m. Vermont; Enoch; Daniel: Betty; 
Huldah ; Eunice. 

(VI) Daniel Putnam, son of Phineas (5), mar- 
ried Phebe Walker, of Upton. Their child was: 
Austin, born March 16, 1796. 

(V) Asaph Putnam, son of Isaac (4), mar- 



340 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



w 



Tied Sarah Park, in 1743. The church records show 
that they had the following family: Abijah, bap- 
tized October 21, 1744; Asaph, baptized June iS, 
1749; Jonas, baptized August 16, 1752; Ephraim, 
baptized July 7, 1756; Park, baptized July 7, 
1756. 

(V) Nathan Putnam, son of Isaac (4), mar- 
ried' Betty — '■ — . Their children were: Zadock, 
born December 29. 1752; married Abigail Elliot; 
Micah, April 8, I7S4; James, November 26, 1755, 
married Betsey Willard; settled in Grafton; Betty, 
January 12, 1758, married Lieutenant Stephen iNlar- 
ble, November 14, 1776; Lydia, December 31, I759, 
married Stephen Fuller, November 7, 1777; Nathan, 
May 16, 1761 ; Hannah, March 13, 1763, married 
John Waters, Jr., December 15, 1796; Abner, March 
17. 1765, married Abigail Waters; Sally, February 
27, 1767, married Jesse Marble, February 26, 1790; 
Tamar, October 23, 1768, married John King, Jr., 
March 17, 1785; Polly April l, 1770, married Amos 
Waters, July 4, 1791 ; Jo'™. September 3, 1771; 
Oliver, July 9, 1773, married Betsey Newton, De- 
cember IS, 1796; George W., died without issue; 
Abigail, married a I^Ir. Rawson. 

{11} Nathaniel Putnam, son of John (i), mar- 
ried and was the father of five children: Samuel, 
John, Joseph, Nathaniel, Benjamin, born July 11, 

(.III) Benjamin Putnam, grandson of the an- 
cestor in America, married Sarah Holton, August 
25, 1686. They had- seven sons and one daughter. 
Among the sons were: Tarrant, born April 12, 
1688; Cornelius, September 3, 1702. 

(IV) Tarrant Putnam, son of Benjamni (3), 
married , and their children were : Tar- 
rant, born April 3, 1716; Israel, Samuel, Gideon. 

(V) Tarrant Putnam, son of Tarrant (4), mar- 
ried Priscilla Baker, December 9. 1742- Their chil- 
dren were: Tarrant, born April 24, 1744. died 
December 7, 1770 ; Elijah, January 23, 1747, gradu- 
ated at Harvard College in 1766; Elizabeth, May 
30, 1749, married Abraham Brown, March 2, 1773; 
Priscilla, August 22, 1751, married Adam Brown, 
December 3, 177^; Sarah, August 4, 1753. mar- 
ried Timothy Merriam, June 21, 1775; Martha, July 
IS. 1775, married David Copeland, September I, 
1778; Rebekah, May 5, 1759, married Aaron Mar- 
ble, November 16, 1784; Lydia, July 27, 1761 ; Molly, 
November 15, 1763; Israel May 22, 1767. 

(VI) Israel Putnam, son of Tarrant (s), mar- 
ried Hannah Woodbury, January 30, 1795. She died 
September, 1795. He married, (second) Hannah 
Le Baron, April 24, 1796. Their children were: 
Hannah Le Baron, born March 10, 1797, married 
Jabez Hull, October 22, 1821 ; Le Baron, August 
19, 1799; Tarrant, May 18, 1801 ; Mary Le Baron, 
November 7, 1803, married Dr. Leonard Pierce, 
November 15, 183 1; Israel, December 25. 1805: 
Edwin, January 9, 1808; Frederick William, August 
3, 1810; Frederick Augustus. May 30, 1813; Theo- 
dore Elijah, September 12, 1815; Caroline Pri-icilla, 
August 3, 1818, married, (first) Dr. N. C. Sibley, 
November 29, 1838. 

(VII) Le Baron Putnam, son of Israel (6), 
married Ann Braman, daughter of Dr. Araasa Bra- 
man, of Millbury. Their children., were : Henry, 
born January 3. 1824; George Frederick, .-Xugust 
29, 1826; Edward Francis, December 28, 1828. 

■ (VII) Tarrant Putnam, son of Israel (6), mar- 
ried Cornelia Titus Van Nortwick, of New York. 
October 4, 1828. Their children were: William 
Bruce, born July 29, 1829; Emma Le Baron, March 
27, 1831 ; Caroline Monroe, October 7, 1832. 

' (VII) Israel Putnam, son of Israel (6). mar- 
ried Sarah Frost, of Maine. He graduated at Brown 



LTniversity ; he was a physician and practiced h 
profession in Wales and afterwards at Bath, Maini 
One child was born of this union : William L 
Baron, 1835. 

(IV) Cornelius Putnam, son of Benjamin (3^ 

married Sarah ■ . She died June 9, 1741. Hi 

second marriage was to Elizabeth Perkins, of Salerr 
November 12, 1741. His children were: Sarah 
born January 3, 1726, died May 30, 1738; Bertha 
December 18, 1728; Cornelius, May 23, 1730; mar 
ried Elizabeth Perkins, August 1753; Benjamin 
May 13, 1732; Nathaniel, May 3, 1734; Tarrant 
March 28, 1736; Bartholomew, April 19, 1739, diec 
young; David and Sarah (twins). May 31, 1741 
Sarah, March 18, 1743, married Captain Archelau; 
Putnam, October 16, 176s ; Bartholomew, April 21; 
1745; David, May 14, 1747; Elizabeth, September 28-' 
1749; Anna. November 21 1754. 

- (V) Nathaniel Putnam, son of Cornelius (4), 
married Deborah Towne, November 23, 1756. Their 
children were: Moses, born January 23, 1758? 
Molly, February 23, 1759, married Jennison, Jan-i 
uary 29, 1778; Hannah, May 11, 1761, married Tar-i 
rant Dibley, April 22, 1779; Stephen, January 17,; 
1764, died July, 1779. 

(VI) INIoses Putnam, son of Nathaniel (5), mar-i 
ried Mary Allen, June 24, 1779. Their children 
were: Deborah, born June 26, 1780; Polly, Sep-; 
tember 25, 1781 ; Stephen, December 24, 17S2; Na-i 
thaniel, February 13, 1785; Elijah, October 9, 1786,' 
died December 31, 1788; Moses, August 17, 1788;; 
Elijah, July 16, 1790; Sally, July 14, 1792, marriedi 
Abraham Howard, April 3, 181 1; Stillman, January; 
15, 1797, died August 17, 1798; Suky, June 13, 1799^. 
died August 22, 1803. 

(VII) Stephen Putnam, son of Moses (6), 
married Mrs. Betsey Goddard, June 27, 1810. Their 
children were: Fayette, born March 24, 181 1, died 
August, 1813; Eliza, April 13, 1813; Mary Alleiv 
April 18, 1816; Fayette, July 29, 1819; Marsilla, 
October 11, 1820; Eniila Sarah, July 22, 1824. 

(VII) Stephen Putnam, son of Moses (6), 
married Charlotte, daughter of Joshua Morse. Their 
children were: Susan, November 18, 1805; Still- 
man, July 13, 1807; Emily R., October 5, 1810, died 
July 13, 1813; Hannah W'., March 7, 1820. 

(V) Bartholomew Putnam, son of Corneliuj 
(4), married (first) Mary Putnam, and (second) 
Hannah Axtell. Their children were : Barthol- 
omew, born July 13, 1774; Lucy, July 18, 1779; 
Edward, January 26, 1782; Prudence. November 
13, 1784, married Daniel Hathaway; Phebe, Octo- ■ 
ber 10, 1787, married Captain Elijah Bigelow;.: 
Lewis, July IS, 1796; Cynthia, August 27, 1804. 

(VI) Bartholomew, son of Bartholomew (s), 
married Hannah Tarrant Sibley, September 4, t8oi. 
Their children were : Russell, born February 3,. 
1802 ; Polly. April 4, 1804, married Bethel Leonard, 
August 8, 1826; Clark, February 18, 1806; Prudence,. 
February 19, 1808; Leonard, April 26, l8lo; Zilpba,. 
April 8. 1812. 

(VII) Russell Putnam, son of Bartholomew (6),. 

married Adeline . Their children werer 

Russell Bartholomew, born April 4, 1825; Lucien, . 
July 24, 1827; Silas, July 19, 1830; Leonard, ]March 

27, 1833- 

(V) David Putnam, son of Cornelius (4), marj- 
ried Elizabeth Woodbury, April 12, 1770. Their- 
children were: David, born April 30, 1771, died' 
young; Betty, April 14. T773, married Aaron Elliot; 
Abner, May 14, 1775, died June 25, 1859; Cyrus,.. 
-•\u.gu-t 21, 1777: Jerusha. December 13, 1779, mar- 
ried Thomas Bigelow, August 28, 1803; Cornelius,. 
January 2S, 1782; Sally, July 28, 17S4. married Sam- 
uel Bigelow, December 27, 1806; Lucy, September- 






WORCESTER COUNTY 



341 



I 



>, 17S7, married, June I, 1805, Simeon, son of Deacon 
\aron Elliott; Joseph, February 2^, 1790. 

(VI) Abner Putnam, son of David (5), mar- 
■ied Amy, daughter of Captain Archelaus i'utnam, 
March 13, 1799. Their children were : Ruth, born 
lune 12, 1800; Sally, April 29, 1802, married (first) 
Darius Putnam (second) Tourtellott Inman; Harvey, 
November 29, 1804; Anna, November 3, 1S06, mar- 
ried Charles H. Newton, October 23, 1831 ; Arche- 
■aus, December 3, 1808; Willard, February 7, 181 1; 
Dexter, November li. 1813, married Ruby T. Torrey, 
March 16, 1840; Louisa, October 14, i8i6; Lawson, 
September iS, 1820. 

(VII) Harvey Putnam, son of Abner (5), mar- 
ried Rebekah Lee, January 7, 1829. Their children 
were: Elias Alerriam, born October 7, 1829; Susan 
Ann, November 7, 1830, married Salem J. Shaw, 
February 18, 1S51; Ann Janette. 

i (VII) Archelaus Putnam, son of Abner (6), 
married Laura Nichols. • Their children were : 
Francis, born February 16, 1833; Gilbert, Willard, 
'Addison, Laura. 

(VII) Lawson Putnam, son of Abner (6), first 
married Martha il. Inman, March i, 1847. She 
died July II, 1858. He married for his second wife 
■Sarah R. S. Johnson, F'ebruary 29, i860. Their 
cliildren were : Milo Herbert, born December 19, 
■1849, died May 30, 1853 ; VVilmet S., September 26, 
1852; Arthur L., April 18, 1862; Sarah E., August 
7, 1864; Effie R., September 2y, 1866; Amasa S., De- 
cember s, 1870. 

(VI) Cyrus Putnam, son of David (5), married 
Lucinda Hathaway, May 17, 1800. Their children 
were: Salmon, born December 29, 1800; David, Feb- 
ruary 6, 1803 ; Prudence, December 20, 1804, died 
December 28, 1804; Lucinda, October 5, 1806, mar- 
ried Merritt Cook, died January 14, 1845 ; Horace, 
February 16, 1809; iMary Reid, October 2, 181 1, 

'died January 15, 1812; Philander and Leander 
(twins), March 10, 1815. 

(VII) Salmon Putnam, son of Cyrus (6), mar- 
ried Tryphena Bigelow, F'ebruary 24, 1824. Their 
children were : Henry, Otis E., Samuel, Mary Lu- 
cinda, Persis Jane. 

(VII) David Putnam, son of Cyrus (6), mar- 
ried (first) Polly Titus, 1825 ; she died 1829. In the 
latter named year he married Almy Hicks; she died 
in 1842. In the same year he married Susan Will- 
liams, who died in 1846. The following year he mar- 
•ried Rebekah Church. His children were : Water- 
man born October, 1826, died February, 1828; Mary, 
[December 13, 1828; Serentha, June 21, 1832, died 
(July 19, 1842 ; Philander, December 30, 1S33 ; Cyrus, 
October 5, 1844; Albra, July 28, 1846. 

(VII) Horace Putnam, son of Cyrus (6), mar- 
*ied Clarinda Boyce. Their children were : Maria, 
Jane, Silas, William, Ann, Julia, Emma. 

(VII) Philander Putnam, son of Cyrus (6), mar- 
ried Harriet Prentice, October, 1838. The children 
by this union were : Marcus, born November 10, 
1839; Wheelock, September 9, 1841 ; Edward, July 
14, 1843; Emma Jane, June 28, 1847. 

(VII) Leander Putnam, son of Cyrus (6), mar- 
ried Eunice Lackey, June I, 1837. She died March, 
1852. He married (secondly) Mrs. Martha A. Bower, 
March 28, 1853. His children were: Dorcas Ann 
Xackey, born December 29, 1838, married Reuben 
A. Usher; Emerlaide, February 6, 1843, married 
Franklin Howard ; Jerome, died March 26, 1852; 
Franklin L., born March 28, 1853. 

(VI) Cornelius Putnam, son of David (5), mar- 
ried Abigail Bigelow, by whom the following chil- 
dren were born: Polly, June i, 1804; Darius, Sep- 
tember 30, 1806; Lucv, September 3, 1808; Alver 
Abigail, January 18, 181 1, married Nathan Waters, 



December 2, 1832 ; Harrison Bigelow, April iS, 
1813. . 

(\ I) Joseph Putnam, son of David (5), mar- 
ried Polly Putnam, December 26, 1813; he married 
for his second wife, Fanny Whittemore. His chil- 
dren were: Maria Louisa, born January 4, 1815; 
Palmer, May i, 1817; Mary Elizabeth, July 3, 1819; 
Simeon, November 17, 1821; Alexander, June 29, 
1824; George Whittemore, August 11, 1827; Charles 
Vernon, July 6, 1829; Porter Franklin, July 21, 
1S31. 

(II) John Putnam, son of John (i), the an- 
cestor, born about 1630, was a military officer, a rep- 
resentative of Salem during the years 1680-86-90-91. 
He was admitted as a freeman in 1665. He married 
Rebekah Prince, by whom four sons and four daugh- 
ters were born. The name of only one is given in 
the records, Ebenezer, born 1OO5. 

(HI) Ebenezer Putnam, son of John Putnam 
(2), married Hannah Brown. They had three sons 
and two daughters. Among the sons was Jeptha, 
born August 24, 1699. 

(IV) Jeptha Putnam, son of Ebenezer (3), mar- 
ried (first) Ruth Ray; (second) Mrs. Ruth Hay- 
ward, of Beverley, January 8, 1746. Their children 
were: Benjamin, born August 27, 1725; Samuel, 
May 10, 1727; Hannah, August 13, 1728, married 
Benjamin Woodbury, May, 1746; Ebeneser, Feb- 
ruary 22, 1730, died March S, 1730; .F'uller, January 
13. 1731 ; Ruth, October 18, 1732, married Stephen 
Halman, November 5, 1751; John, July 27, 1738; 
Mary, October 23, 1741 ; Benajah, September 7, 
1747; Gideon. 

(V) Samuel Putnam, son of Jeptha (4), mar- 
ried Kezia Hayward, September 22, 1757. They had 
one son who enlisted in the army of the revolution 
and was killed in battle. 

(V) F'uller Putnam, son of Jeptha (4), mar- 
ried (first) Mary Cummings, December, 1752; (sec- 
ond) Eunice Haywood, November 23, 1756. Their 
children were : David, born January 26, 1753 ; Eli, 
September 27, 1754; Ruth, December 4, 1757; John, 
July 8, 1760; Jeptha, September 24, 1762; Sarah, 
July 20, 1765, married Nathan Putnam, Jr., March 
31, 1785; Lucy, February 16, 1768, married Tyler 
Marsh, May 9, 1781 ; Ruby, September 20, 1770; 
Prudy, July 20, 1774, married Caleb Dibley, Janu- 
ary I, 1794. 

(VI) David Putnam, son of Fuller (6), married 
Martha Waters, January 15, 1781. There is no rec- 
ord of their children, but their names were : Rufus, 
who married Sally Sibley. 1805; Patty, who married 
Captain Peter Putnam ; Eli, who married Elizabeth 
Harback. 

(VI) John Putnam, son of Fuller (5), married 
(first) Huldah Waters, August 22, 1781. He mar- 
ried (second) Anne Powers. He married (third) 
Dorcas Sylvanus. His children were : John, Syl- 
vanus, Harry, Ruth, born March, 1820; Esther, 
born October 28, 1822, married Freeman Sibley. 

(VII) John Putnam, son of John (6), married 
Nancy, daughter of Abner Cummings. Their chil- 
dren were : Dulceva, born December 12, 1813, died 
July 20, 1816; Harriet, March 20, 1815, died July 
20, 1816; Jane, November i, 1816, married Waters 
Putnam; John Perry, March 27, 1818; Ira, Novem- 
ber IS, 1819, died May 12, 1821 ; Ephraim Lughton, 
April 30, 1821, died December 3, 1822. 

(VIII) John Perry Putnam, son of John (7), 
married Harriett M. Ward. January 26, 1850. Their 
children were: John Walter, born September 13, 
1852; Emma Jane, born March 19, 1854. 

(IX) John W. Putnam, son of John P. (8), 
married Adora L. Putnam. One child was born to 
them, Lucy Harriet, February 12, 1876. 



342 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



(VH) Sylvamis Putnam, son of John (6), mar- 
ried (first) Betsey Elliott; (.second) Persia Har- 
back, July 31, 1839. Their children were: Ira Syl- 
vamis, born August 14, 1827; Wary Elizabeth, June 
8, 1829, died July 26, 1S44; Julia Ann, January 12, 
1833, married the Rev. Joseph Barber ; Sarah 
Maria, March 24, 1835, married Franklin Sibley. 

(V) John Putnam, son of Jeptha (4), married 
Mary Cumming, April 9, 1761. Their children were: 
Rebekah, born September 13, 1763; Jacob, November 
20, 1764; John, March 8, 1766; Olive, August 28, 
1767 ; Simeon, August 10, 1769, married Martha 
Batchellor. 

(V) Benajah Putnam, son of Jeptha (4), in 
1770, married Mrs. Sarah P'itts. Their chddren 
were: Sarah, born July 5, 1771, married Peter 
Stockwell, September 30, 1803; Phebe, November 
26, 1773, married Samuel Dudley, February 15, 
1795; Mehilable, April 25, 1775, married Captam 
Samuel Marble; Anne, May 11, 1777; Abijah, July 
30, 1779; Eunice, June 17, 1782; Molly, May 2, 
1784, married Andrew Sibley; James, November 
2, 1786; Sylvester. 

(VT) Abijah Putnam, son of Benajah (5), mar- 
ried Betsey Burdon, May IS, 1803. Their children 
were : Sally, born 1803 ; Melona, June 4, 1805, mar- 
ried Nicholas Woodward; Vilota, June 26, 1807; 
Luther, February i5, 1809 : Jason, February 14, 
181 1; Lyman, January 28, 1813 ; James, February 7, 
1816; Emory, July 16, 1818; Sylvester, September 
12, 1821, married Ann M. Lynch, JNIarch, 1820; 
Sally, November 26, 1823; Rufus, November 19, 
1827. 

(VII) Lyman Putnam son of Abijah (6), mar- 
ried Eliza J. Brigham. Their children were: Sarah 
J., born January 4, 1840; Julia M., December 31, 
1846; Laura D., April 12, 1848; Orason L., Decem- 
ber 17, 1850, died September 19, 1870; Emma A., 
November 27, 1859. 

(VII) James Putnam, son of Abijah (6), mar- 
ried Phebe P. Sloan, November 9, 1836. Their 
children were: Jane Elizabeth, born November 11, 
1837; Henry Clinton. July 6, 1839; George Emory, 
January 9, 1841 ; Abbie Melissa, December 3, 1844, 
married Alfred A, Putnam, December 3, 1867. 

(VIII) Henry Clinton Putnam, son of James 
(7), married Harriet M. Fuller. Their children 
were: Flora L., born July 20, i860; George Henry, 
February 11, 1865. 

(VII) Emory Putnam, son of Abijah (6), mar- 
ried (hrst) Alartha E. Muller; (stcond) Jane Mi- 
randa Miller. He was the father of one child, Mar- 
tha Jane, born June 13, 1852, married Lewis Pratt. 

(VII) Rufus Putnam, son of Abijah (6), mar- 
ried Hannah J. Graver. Two children were born 
to them: Ella Frances, born May 22, 187 1 ; Walter 
Edwin. 

(V) Gideon Putnam, son of Jeptha (4), married 
Abigail Holton, November 28, 1775. Their chil- 
dren were: Gideon, born 1776; Nabby, April 23, 
1778; Artemas, May 31, 1780. He removed with 
his family to Calais. Vermont. 

(VIII) Otis Earle Putnam, son of Salmon and 
Trvphena (Bigelow) Putnam (7), was born in 
Leicester, Massachusetts, February 20, 1831. After 
a residence in Boston of some seven years his par- 
ents came to Worcester, Massachusett, and since 
he was fourteen years old Mr. Putnam's home has 
been in that city. He received his education in the 
common and high schools of Worcester, and in 1847, 
at the age of si.xteen years, began his career as clerk 
in the store of John B. Wyman. who in 1850 sold 
his business to H. H. Chamberlain. Mr. Putnam 
remained in the etnploy of H. H. Chamberlain & 
Company and the succeeding firm. Chamberlain, 



Barnard & Company, until 1857. when he was ad- 
mitted to the firm, then Barnard & Sumner, and Mater 
Barnard, Sumner & Putnam. In 1892 the business 
was transferred to a corporation under the laws of 
Massachusetts. Mr. Putnam was successively treas- 
urer and vice-president of the company and finally 
president, the position he still holds. In short, Mr. 
Putnam has risen from the position of a junior 
clerk to the head of one of the best known and most 
prosperous and thoroughly reliable department stores 
in New England. The business of the Barnard, 
Sumner & Putnam Company has shown a steady and 
healthful growth from the beginning, when Wor- 
cester was a mere village. In 1891 the facilities of 
the company were enormously increased by the erec- 
tion of a six story addition to the spacious Main 
street building, extending to Waldo street in the 
rear. Many new departments were added to the 
store. 

Mr. Putnam is connected with various social and 
financial institutions of the city. He is a director 
of the Worcester Electric Light Company, the Sher- 
man Envelope Company, the Eastern Bridge and 
Structural Company, the Worcester & Holden Street 
Railway Company, and trustee of the Worcester 
Five (Tent Savings Bank, and of the Worcester 
Music Hall -Association. He was a director of the- 
City National Bank and of the Worcester and 
Marlboro Street Railway Company before the con- 
solidation. He is a member of the Worcester Club, 
the Commonwealth Club, the Board of Trade, and 
honorary member of the Worcester Light Infantry, 
Battery B, and the Worcester Continentals. Mr. 
Putnam has been in the front ranks of the mer- 
cantile men of Worcester. He has always affiliated 
with the Republican party in politics, but his interest 
in municipal affairs particularly has not been nar- 
rowed by partisanship. He has always declined to 
accept public office. 

Mr. Putnam married (first) Harriet E. Waite, 
of Worcester, who died in 1863. He married (sec- 
ond) in 1866, Louisa Davis, of Lowell, who died 
March 25, 1892. They had one son. Arthur Davis; 
mentioned hereinafter. Mr. Putnam married (third) 
Florence Mace, of Baltimore, Maryland. 

(IX) Davis Putnam, son of Otis Earle and Louisa 
(Davis) Putnam (8). was born at Worcester, Massa- 
chusetts. February 16, 1868. He attended the com- 
mon schools of the city, and for a short period of 
time prior to attaining his twentieth year was a 
student in the high school of that city. He then en- 
tered the employ of Barnard & Sumner, beginning 
in the position of clerk behind the counter, and 
learning the business thoroughly in each and every 
department. Finally, through the exercise of energy 
and determination, he advanced to the position of 
assistant treasurer, in which capacity he served the 
firm until the severance of his connection there- 
with in 1903. From that time until the early part 
of 1905 he took no active interest in business, then 
becoming connected with the Peppercll Card & Paper 
Company, from which he retired after serving a 
few months. Mr. Putnam was formerly a director of 
the Barnard. Sumner & Putnam Company. He is an 
attendant of Plymouth Congregational Church of 
Worcester, and served as its assessor for a period 
of six years. His political inclinations are strongly 
Republican. He is not affiliated with any orders, 
but is a strong spirit of good fellowship at the 
Commonwealth Club where he takes a great in- 
terest, having served on several committees. 

Mr. Putnam married, May 21, iSqo. Lou Frances 
Sartelle, daughter of Francis K. and Deborah (March) 
Sartelle, of" Worcester. Francis K. Sartelle was 
master mechanic of Washburn & Moen Manufac- 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



343 



turing Company for years and their Canadian rcprc- 
' sentative until his death. Their children are: Ethel 
Davis, born April i8, 1891 ; Otis Francis, January 
18, 1893; Arthur Davis, June 21, 1898, died Au- 
gust 25, 1899 ; and Louise Davis, May 20, 1903. 

PAINE FAMILY. Stephen Paine, tlie founder 
of the Paine family in New England, came from 
Great Ellingham, county Norfolk, England, 1638, 
with a large company of emigrants from the neigh- 
borhood of Hingham, bringing his wife, three chil- 
dren and four servants, in the ship "Diligent," of 
Ipswich. He settled first in Hingham, Massachu- 
I setts, but about 1643 removed to Rehoboth, of 
which town he was the founder. He possessed large 
estates in that and adjoining towns, was prominent 
in the affairs of the church and colony, and was 
representative to the general court for many suc- 
cessive years and until his death in August. 1679. 
{ His wife, "Neele," died at Rehoboth, January 20. 
l6(5o, after which he ■ married Alice, widow of 
William Parker, of Taunton ; she died December 5, 
1682. Of his children, authentic records have been 
preserved of the sons, Stephen and Nathaniel. The 
third child mentioned as coming w^ith the family 
'■ from England probably died young. The first son, 
Stephen, had a very large family. Nathaniel, the 
second son, was the progenitor of the Worcester 
Paines. 

(II) Nathaniel Paine, son of Stephen Paine (i), 

( settled in Rehoboth, Massachusetts, where he be- 

' came a man of much influence and importance. He 

died in Boston. 1678, leaving a wife. Elizabeth, and 

; one son Nathaniel. 

I (III) Nathaniel Paine, son of Nathaniel Paine 
I (2), born at Rehobotli. October 18. 1661. married 
Dorothy, daughter of Jonathan Rainford, of Bos- 
ton. He was a judge of the court of common 
pleas, judge of probate, and a councillor of Massa- 
chusetts Bay. He died February 28. 1723. He had 
eleven children, Nathaniel, the fourth, being the pro- 
genitor of the Worcester Paines. There seems but 
little doubt that this was the Nathaniel Paine w'ho 
in 1706 was appointed by the council of Massachu- 
setts Bay as one of a cominittee to consider the 
expediency of resettling the town of Worcester, and 
the building of the fort there, in accordance with 
the request of owners of land in that settlement. 
The request was not granted by the general court, 
as the disturbed condition of the times rendered the 
enterprise too dangerous to be sanctioned by the 
legislature. The children of Nathaniel Paine and 
Dorothy, his wife. were. I. Elizabeth, born Novem- 
ber 6, 1681, married Samuel Vernon. 2. Mary, born 
June 8. 1682, married Simeon Drown. 3. Hannah, 
born April 20, 1685. married Lieut. Charles Church. 
4. Nathaniel, born March 9. 1688. married Sarah 
. Clark. He was the immediate progenitor of the 
Worcester Paines. 5. Edward, born October 7, 1690, 
died young. 6. Jonathan, born April 18, 169S, died 
young. 7. Alathea, born August 28. 1697, married 
Timothy Fales. 8. Sarah, born May 5. 1699. died 
in August same year. 9. Stephen, born 1701, gradu- 
ated at Harvard College in 1721. He was register 
of probate for Bristol county in 1721-49, judge of 
inferior court of common pleas for Bristol county, 
1743. and until his death in 1749. 10 and 11. 
Dorothy and Sarah, tw-ins. born March 19. 1706; 
Dorothy married John Williams of Boston. October 
13. 172(5. and died in 1774: Sarah married Joseph 
Russell, of Barnstable, and died in 1764. Mr. Paine 
died at Bristol. Rhode Island, February 28. 1723, 
and his wife, Dorothy (Rainsford) Paine, in Jan- 
uary. 1755. 

(IV) Nathaniel Paine, the fourth child of Na- 



thaniel. (3), of Bristol. Massachusetts, (now Rhode 
l^^land) and his wife Dorothy, was born in Bristol, 
March 9. 1688. He was an active man, holding many 
town offices, and was also representative for five 
years. In 1723 he was a member of a court of 
admiralty, specially commissioned for the trial of 
pirates, of which William Drummer was president. 
In 1724 he w-as appointed judge of the inferior court 
of connnon pleas for Bristol county, and remained 
in office until his death. He married, June 25. 1713, 
Sarah, daughter of Timothy Clark, of Boston, by 
whom he had seven children: !. Edward, born in 
Boston, April 18, 1714. married. February, 1739, 
Mary Bosworth. daughter of Benjamin Bosworth, 
of Bristol. 2. Sarah, born August 17. 1716. married 
Thomas Drowne, March 24, 1736. They had a son, 
Nathaniel Paine Drowne, graduated at Harvard 
College in 1764. 3. Nathaniel, born June 17. 1719. 
4. Dorothy, born January 20, 1723, married Hon. 
John Chandler, of Worcester, who was a loyalist, 
and one of six citizens of Worcester who in 177S 
were banished from the country for giving aid and 
comfort to the enemy. 5. Samuel, born September 3, 
1725, died young. 6. Samuel Clark, born February 
II. 1727; he was a captain of a company at the re- 
duction of Ticonderoga and Crown Point. 7. Tim- 
othy, born July 8, 1730, at Bristol. Nathaniel Paine 
died at Bristol, 1729. His widow married John 
Chandler and removed to Worcester, where she died, 
17S0. 

(V) Timothy Paine, son of Nathaniel (4). of 
Bristol, and Sarah Clark, his wife, was born at 
Bristol. July 8. 1730, a short time after the death 
of his father. He lived in Bristol until the mar- 
ria.ge of his mother, in 1739, to John Chandler, of 
Worcester, wdien he removed there and remained 
a citizen of that place until his death. He stood 
fifth in his class at Harvard College when^he gradu- 
ated in 1748. After his college days he returned to 
Worcester and became one of the most active and 
influential citizens. In 1751 he w-as appointed clerk 
of the court for Worcester county, remaining in that 
office until 1774. He w-as register of probate from 
April. 1757. to 1767; register of deeds, 1761-77; 
special justice of the supreme court in 1771, and 
one of His Majesty's council from 1763-68. He was 
town clerk 1754-64; one of the selectmen of Wor- 
cester 1754-64, and 1766-75; and representative of 
the general court I755-S7, 1759-62, 1788-89. In 1789 
he was a candidate for congress, but his opponents 
made use of the fact that he had been appointed 
one of the mandamus councillors before the revo- 
lutionary war. and this, with the general charge of 
loyalty to the English government, was pres.sed with 
such force by the newspapers that he lost his elec- 
tion, although a man of recognized ability and un- 
blemished character. He was a real estate owner 
at Worcester as early as 175 1, and by 1767 became 
owner of a large tract of land on the "great road 
to Boston." now Lincoln street. He was prominent 
in forming the second Congregational parish in Wor- 
cester (Unitarian), in 1785. under the pastorate 
of the Rev. Aaron Bancroft, father of George Ban- 
croft, the historian. 

In 1749 Timothy Paine married Sarah, daughter 
of Hon. John Chandler and Hannah Gardner, his 
wife. Madame Paine was a most zealous loyalist. 
The Timothy Paine house is still standing (1905) 
on the west side of Lincoln street, a short distance 
from Lincoln square. She died at Worcester. 181 1, 
aged eighty-five years. He died July 17, 1793. and 
was buried in the old burying ground on Mechanic 
street. Worcester, but later the remains were re- 
moved to Rural Cemetery. The children of Timothy 
and Sarah Paine were: I. William, born June 5, 



344 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



1750. 2, Timothy, born January 3, 1752, at Wor- 
cester, died December 29, 1775, unmarried. 3. Sam- 
uel, born at Worcester, August 23, 1753, graduated 
Harvard College, 1721, and like his father and 
brother was a warm supporter of the Royal govern- 
ment. The Paines and Chandlers had long held 
office under the Crown and therefore felt in duty 
bound to do so. 4. Hannah, born July 22, 1755, 
married, 1772, Ebenezer Bradish. of Cambridge, 
Massachusetts. 5. Nathaniel, born July 22, 1755, 
died December 25, 1757. 6. Nathaniel, born 
January 5. 1759. died October 7, 1840. 7. 
Anthony, born November 13, 1760, died July 

8, 178S, was in the apothecary business at the 
corner of Main and Elm streets. 8. John, born 
July 25, 1762, died unmarried, December 23, 1835. 

9. Sarah, born March 28, 1764, married, January, 
1786, James Perkins. Jr., of Boston, and died in that 
city, December. 1841. 10. Elizabeth, born January 
12, 1756, married, February, 1786, Dr. Joseph Trum- 
bull: she died in Worcester, July 10, 1832, leavmg 
one son, George Augustus. 

(VI) William Paine, the first child of Timothy 
(S) and Sarah Paine, was born June S, 1750, at 
Worcester, Massachusetts. He graduated at Har- 
vard College in the class of 1768, his name standing 
second in the catalogue, according to the dignity 
of families. He studied medicine with Dr. Edward 
A. Holyoke, a physician of Salem. One of his in- 
structors, before entering college, was John Adams, 
afterward president of the United States, who taught 
in the Worcester school while studying law with 
Hon. James Putnam, a lawyer of great ability. He 
commenced his practice in Worcester in 1771, in 
connection with the business of an apothecary. In 
1772. with Dr. Levi Shepard and Ebenezer Hunt, 
of Northampton, he opened the first apothecary 
store in Worcester county. Like his father and 
brother Samuel he was very friendly to the Crown, 
and took an active part in the politics of his day. 
In the spring of 1774 there was great excitment in 
Worcester owing to the objectionable acts of parlia- 
ment then lately passed, especially at the report of 
an effort to have the general court offer indemnity 
for the tea destroyed in Boston harbor. The loyal- 
ists of the town were much excited at what they 
considered the treasonable action of the Whigs in 
opposing the acts of parliament, and finally a. pro- 
test signed by over fifty of them was presented at 
a town meeting held in June, 1774. This protest, 
which was the joint production of Hon. James Put- 
nam and Dr. Paine, was quite lengthy, and com- 
plained bitterly of the outrages perpetrated by 
the Whigs, alluding especially to "the teas 
of immense value lately belonging to the East 
India Co. not long since scandalously destroyed 
in Boston," and also protesting against the 
committee of correspondence then being formed 
and ending thus : "It is by these committees also, 
that papers have been lately published and are now 
circulating through the province, inviting, and 
wickedly tempting all persons. These and all 
such enormities we detest and abhor; and the 
authors of them we esteem enemies to our King 
and country, violaters of all law and civil liberty, 
the malevolent disturbers of the peace of society, 
subscribers of the established constitution, and ene- 
mies of mankind." These resolutions were spread 
upon the town records of Worcester, and 
when the opposition found it out trouble en- 
sued, they demanding of the selectmen that the clerk 
be ordered to strike and erase the same from the 
public records. The selectmen voted to so order the 
record erased, and thereupon the clerk, in open town 
meeting, with his pen defaced the pages on which 



the obnoxious record was made, but this not provir! 
satisfactory to the patriotic voters there assemble 
he was made to dip his fingers into the ink and dra 
them across the records, so effectually accomplis) 
ing the object that the words have been utter 
illegible, as may be seen by inspection of the voluni 
in the hands of the city clerk of Worcester, at th' 
late date. 

Soon after this Dr. Paine went to England, whei' 
he remained until the spring of 1775, but as the wi 
came on he was denounced as a loyalist, and, as 1 
could not return to his family and home, he : 
once sailed for Liverpool, deigning to avail himse' 
of the advantages and means of improvement a 
forded by foreign institutions, until the war shoul' 
terminate. After a year's attendance in hospital 
and having received the degree of M. D. from Mari 
chal College, at Aberdeen, he was appointed to tl 
oflice of apothecary to the English forces in Americ 
Later he was admitted to the Royal College of Phj 
sicians of London. He returned to America in 178S 
landing in New York in March, and in Octobd 
of the same year was appointed by Sir Guy Carld 
ton physician of the army. He was ordered to Hali 
fax and remained there on duty until the trooj' 
were reduced in 1783, when he was discharged 01 
half pay. All of this is found in Lincoln's "Histor 
of Worcester." In the summer of 1784 Dr. Willian 
Paine took possession of La Tete, an island in Pasi 
samaquoddy Bay,- granted him by the English gov 
ernment for his "service in war." He wrote to h: 
brother Nathaniel, in June, 1784: "I am going t 
move, bag and baggage, to Passamaquoddy. I haM 
already erected a house on the island, which is thi 
spot upon which I intend to reside." But on ac 
count of poor society, lack of schools, etc., he re 
moved from that point in 1785 to St. John, wher 
he began to practice his chosen profession again 
He was appointed by Governor Thomas Carleto 
one of the first board of aldermen of St. John, am 
in 1786 was unanimously elected alderman from Sid 
ney ward. He was elected to a seat in the assembl 
of New Brunswick, and was appointed clerk of thl 
house. He was afterward chosen speaker of the as 
sembly, but as he soon after left the province re 
tained the office but a short time. In October, 178.H 
he was appointed "Surveyor-General of Woods i 
the Province of Nova Scotia, all other His Majes 
ties Territories in America," by Sir John WentwortJ,' 
with orders to "carefully survey and diligently mak'y 
and register such white pine trees as may now o\ 
hereafter be fit for the use of the Royal Navy.'l 
He retained this position until the summer of 178/^f 
when, the act of banishment having been repealecl 
he, by permission of the war office, went to Salemp 
Massachusetts. After the death of his father, ii 
7793, he returned to Worcester and occupied th \ 
paternal estate until his death. Until 1812 he wa't 
on half pay as a British officer, when he was calleit 
unon by the British government for service, bu:' 
rather than act against his countrymen he resigne(- 
his commission. In June of the last named yea: 
he petitioned the legislature of Massachusetts fo: 
consent to his being naturalized as a citizen of thi 
Lbiited States. Dr. Paine was one of the founder: 
of the American Antiquarian Society, and its firs 
vice-president. He died in Worcester, April 19, 1833 
the anniversary of the fight at Lexington. 

Dr. Paine was married September 22, 1773, bj 
Paine Wingate. to Lois Orne, of Salem, by license 
of his friend. Sir John Wentworth. Their childrer 
were: i. Esther Orne. born August 18, 1774. 2 
Harriet, born November 13, 1778, died Decembei 
20. 177S. 3. Harriet, born November 21, 1779. 4 
William, born November 2, 1783, died, immarried. 



I. 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



345 



July 21, 1834, at Batavia. 5. Elizabeth Putnam, 
iorn at St. John, New Brunswick, June 26, 1786, 
^ied at Worcester, Massachusetts. 6. Frederick Wil- 
liam, born at Salem. Massachusetts, May 23, 1788. 
• (VI) Nathaniel Paine, si.xth son of Timothy (5) 
.and Sarah (Chandler) Paine, was born in Worcester, 
August S, 1759. He graduated at Harvard College 
iii I775i read law with Hon. John Sprague, of Lan- 
caster, Massachusetts, and was admitted to the bar 
of Worcester county in 1781. After five years prac- 
tice in Groton, Massachusetts, he returned to Wor- 
cester. He was a representative of the general 
■court 1798-1800; county attorney for a similar period 
•of time; and was appointed judge of probate, Janu- 
ary 24. 1804, holding the office thirty-five years, re- 
signing in 1836 on account of failing health. He was 
One of the founders and a councillor of the Ameri- 
•can Antiquarian Society. The late Governor Levi 
Efncoln in a paper read before the Worcester Fire 
Society, of which Mr. Paine was one of the founders 
in 1793. says of him: "He was of bland and 
courteous manners, an inquiring and observant 
habit, rare colloquial powers and a memory so 
singularly retentive as to become a perfect store- 
louse of 'historic fact and personal anecdote ; he 
was a most instructive and delightful companion." 

He married, December 18, 17S3. Elizabeth, daugh- 
ter of Gardiner Chandler, of Worcester. Judge 
Paine died at Worcester, October 7, 1840. Their 
children were : i. Nancy Leonard, born November 
25, 1786, died January 8, 1802. 2. (Charlotte, born in 
•old Paine house in Worcester, August 9, 1788. 3. 
Nathaniel Anthony, born November 19. 1791. died 
February 9, 1819, unmarried. 4. Sarah Chandler, 
born November 29, 1794, died Worcester, October 
IS, 1840. 5. Gardiner, born May 23, 1799. 6. Henry, 
Tjorn August 12, 1804. entered" Yale College, 1820, 
but left on account of failing health. 7. Charles, 
■born August 12, 1804. 

(VII) Frederick William Paine, the sixth child 
of Dr. William Paine, removed to Worcester with 
his father in 1793. He entered Harvard College in 
1803, but left after a stay of nine months to engage 
in commercial pursuits. In 1806 and again in 1809 
lie made a voyage around the world, visiting China 
and the northwest coast of ,\inerica. In 1818 he 
went to Europe, remaining there about four years, 
during which time he was connected with the com- 
mercial house of James and Thomas H. Perkins. 
He finally became a permanent resident of Wor- 
cester about 1816, and for the remainder of his life 
was actively interested in the local affairs of the 
place. He was a member of the General Court of 
Massachusetts in 1829, one of the selectmen of Wor- 
cester 1827-31. and most of the time from 1838 to 
1849, at which time the town was chartered as 
a ci;y. He was an assessor of taxes for the town 
most of the time from 1829 to 1848, and his judg- 
ment as to the value of real estate was much es- 
teemed. He early manifested an interest in horti- 
culture, his garden on Lincoln street being noted 
for its flowers and fruit. For many years he was 
an active and influential member of the Worcester 
County Horticultural Society, serving most of the 
time as treasurer. He was a valuable member of 
the American Antiquarian Society, contributing 
largely to its library, also serving as one of its 
councillors. Mr. Paine was a man of literary tastes, 
spending much of his time in reading. Flis library, 
at the titne of his death, was considered as among 
the largest private collections in the state, number- 
ing several thousand volumes, representing every 
branch of literature. When but fourteen years of 
age he was employed to correct the proofsheets of 
the first Greek Testament published in North Amer- 



ica, and issued from the pen of Isaiah Thomas, "the 
patriot i)rinter of the Revolution." Mr. Paine died 
at Worcester. September 16, 1869. He was mar- 
ried May 5. 1822, to Ann Gushing; Sturgis, daughter, 
of Hon. Russell Sturgis. Their children were: 
I. William Russell, born January 26, 1823. 2. Eliza- 
beth Orne, born March 27, 1826. 3. James Per- 
kins, born Worcester, December 16, 1827. 4. Mary 
Pickard, born March 13, 1830. 5. George Sturgis, 
born June 4, 1833. 6. Annie Gushing Sturgis, born 
March 5, 1836, died November 19, 1873. 

(VII) Esther Orne Paine, born August 28, 1774, 
married (first) Joseph Cabot, of Salem, September, 
1795; married (second) Ichabod Tucker, of Wor- 
cester, November 5, 181 1. Two children were born 
to them : Joseph S. and William Paine Cabot. 

(VID Harriet Paine, born at Newport. Rhode 
Island, November 21. 1779, married, March 7, i&)2. 
Joseph Warner Rose, and died June 29, i860. They 
had nine children, among whom were : Harriet, 
born February 5, 1S04, married John C. Lee, of 
Salem; Josephine, born February 13, 1815, married, 
Mav 4, 1842, George Chandler. 

(VII) Charlotte Paine, second child of Nathaniel 
and Elizabeth Paine, was born August 9. 1788. She 
married. September 25. 1818, Timothy Paine Brad- 
ish. of Natchez, Mississippi. She died at Worcester, 
December 3, 1866. They _ had one child, Walter 
Burling, who died without issue. 

(VII) Gardiner Paine, fifth child of Nathaniel 
and Elizabeth Paine, was born May 23, 1799- He 
married, October 11, 1831. Emily Baker, of Dedham, 
Massachusetts. Two children were born to them 
Nathaniel and Anne Elizabeth. In 1826 Mr. Paine 
was maior of the Sixth Regiment, First Brigade, 
Massachusetts Militia, under Col. Samuel Ward, of 
Worcester, and was in command of a regiment at 
the laying of the corner stone of Bunker Hill mon- 
ument. He was in business for several years 
in partnership with Daniel Heywood, in a dry goods 
and general store located on the west side of Main 
street, about halfway between Pearl and Pleasant 
streets. Worcester. He died January 27. 1854. 

(VIII) George Chandler and Josephine (Rose) 
Paine had two daughters that attained years of 
womanhood. I. Mary, born at Concord. New Hamp- 
shire, February 17. 1845 ; she married. October 4, 
1S71. A.- George Bullock, of Worcester, and had 
issue: Chandler, born August 24, 1872; Alexander 
Hamilton, born November 7. 1874: Augustus G., 
born April 20. 18S0. died April 29. 18S0; Rockwood, 
born . 2. Fanny, born Worcester. Massa- 
chusetts, January 5, 1852: she married Waldo Lin- 
coln of Worcester, and had issue: Merrick, born 
Mav 25. 1875; and Josephine Rqse, born February 
28. '1878. 

(VIII) William Russell was born July 26. 1823. 
He married, April 12. i8=;s, Frances Thomas Choeker, 
of Taunton.' Thev had five children— four daughters 
and one son, Frederick William, born February 22, 
1866. 

(VIII) James Perkins was born in Worcester, 
December 16, 1827. He married. May 11. 1865, 
Sarah Turner, of Boston. Thev had four children 
—three daughters and one son, Russell Sturgis, born 
June 6. 1874. 

(VIII) Marv Pickard was born March 13. 1830. 
She married, Mav 3, 1851. Allyn Weston, of Dux- 
burv. One child, a daughter, was born to them. 

(VIII) Nathaniel Paine, son of Gardiner and 
Emilv (Baker) Paine, was born at Worcester, 
Massachusetts. August 6. 1832. He was educatedin 
the public schools and academy of his native city. 
By the above family history it will be observed that 
he catne of ancestors of prominence in revolutionary 



34<3 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



days in town affairs, and that his grandfather was 
many years judge of probate in Worcester county. 
When seventeen years of age. having clerked for a 
time in a leather store, he entered the Mechanics' 
Bank as a clerk. In 1854 he was made the assistant 
cashier of the City Bank, and three years later was 
promoted to cashier, which office he held until De- 
cemher 12, l8g8, when he was elected president. 
When the hanks w^re merged into the Worcester 
Trust Company, a Siiort time since, he became vice- 
president and still holds the position. He has been 
connected with many of the financial concerns of 
Worcester. He was vice-president of the Wor- 
cester Five Cent Savings Bank, and chairman of the 
Clearing Association. The honorary degree of 
Master of Arts was conferred upon him by Harvard 
College in 1898. He was from young manhood pos- 
sessed of a literary taste, and is especially fond of 
history and art. He has written much of local his- 
tory, and many articles from his pen have appeared 
in different publications. Among the papers pre- 
pared by Mr. Paine were '"Early Paper Currency of 
Massachusetts." "Historical Notes on the Town of 
Worcester," "The Drama in Worcester," and "Early 
American Imprints in the Library of the Ameri- 
can Antiquarian Society." He also edited with notes 
the "Diary of Christopher Columbus Baldwin, Li- 
brarian of the Antiquarian Society." He is also con- 
nected with inany other societies. He was one of 
the founders of the Worcester Art Society and has 
been its president, and is director of the Art Mu- 
seum Corporation, also was a director of the Free 
Public Library for eighteen years. He served in the 
common council one term. He is a great Itiver of 
good books, and possesses a fine library. The follow- 
ing list will explain his prominence in society mat- 
ters : Treasurer American Antiquarian Society ; 
treasurer Worcester County Horticultural Society ; 
treasurer Home for Aged Men ; treasurer Devens 
Monument Association ; president Worcester Ly- 
ceum ; president Worcester Natural History Associa- 
tion ; director Free Library, and secretary for more 
than a dozen years ; and director of the Worcester 
Art Museum. He holds membership in the Massa- 
chusetts Historical Society, New England Historic 
and Genealogical Society, American Society of Ad- 
vancement of Science, Colonial Society of Massa- 
chusetts, American Historical Association, Folk- 
Lore Society of Massachusetts, Bunker Hill Monu- 
ment Association, Worcester Society of Antiquity, 
Worcester Art Society, honorary member of the 
Pennsylvania Historical Society. He is also a 
corresponding member of the Long Island Histori- 
cal Society. Numismatic and Antiquarian Society 
of Philadelphia, La Societie Numismatipue of Mon- 
treal. Canada, Numismatic and Antiquarian Society 
of Melrose, Scotland, and the Georgia Historical 
Society. He was one of the original members of 
the Club of Odd Volumes of Boston. His has 
been a busy life, and many public institutions have 
felt the touch of his literary influence. 

Mr. Paine was married June 14, 1865, to Susan 
M. Barnes. 

JUDGE HENRY CHAPIN. son of Elisha and 
Sarah (Wood) Chapin, was born in Upton, Massa- 
chusetts, May 1,3, 1811. Soon after entering his 
teens his father died and the boy Henry was forced 
thus early to care for himself. Having improved 
the opportunities granted by the public schools of 
his native village, he liegan to learn the trade of 
a carpenter, but a brief trial at that occupation proved 
to his own mind he was not intended for a carpenter. 
He then turned his attention to study, and fitting for 
college entered Brown University and graduated 
from that institution in 1835, 



."^fter teaching school for a time in Upton he 
began the study of law with the late Emery Wash- 
burn, and also at Cambridge. He was admitted to 
the bar in 1838. and at once began the practice of 
his profession in the town of Uxbridge. Eight years 
later he removed to Worcester and became a part- ' 
ner of the late Rejoice Newton. In that city he 
grew rapidly into popularity, and his legal practice 
became extensive. He was industrious, faithful and 
efficient, consequently highly successful in his pro- 
fessional undertakings, and within three years of 
his coming to Worcester the people felt such confi- 
dence in his integrity and ability that they elected 
him to the office of chief magistrate of the city, re- 
electing him in 1850, but he declined a third nomi- 
nation. In 1858 the courts of probate and insol- 
vency, hitherto distinct, were united, and Air. Chapin 
was appointed to preside over the new court, a posi- 
tion which he held at the time of his death. It has- 
been said that during the twenty years he held the. 
office of judge of probate and insolvency more than ■, 
half the estates in Worcester county passed under his- 
jurisdiction in one or the other side of his court, and 1 
that he was brought into official relations with a ; 
larger number of persons in all conditions of life: 
than any other public officer of the county. His- 
patience, fidelity and impartialty have been univer- 
sally admitted, and his kindly nature, courteous ■ 
manner and keen preception of justice to all parties 
gained for him the confidence and respect of the : 
people of the county. 

Judge Chapin was not an aspirant for political 1, 
office, and although entertaining firm political con- - 
victions was not an ofifensive partisan. He repre- - 
sented the town of Uxbridge in the general court in 
1845. and received the nomination for congress in 
1856 by the Republican convention, but declined the 
honor. In 1870. although he had served as inayor 
of the city of Worcester two terms, he accepted the 
office again when chosen by the council to fill a 
vacancy caused by the death of Mayor James B. 
Blake, but retired after serving a few months, as 
soon as a successor could be provided by a popular 
election. In 1848 he was appointed by Governor 
Briggs commissioner of insolvency, and in 1855 by 
Governor Gardner commissioner under the "personal 
liberty law" of Massachusetts, designed for the pro- 
tection of persons charged with being fugitive slaves. 
For many years he was a member of the state board 
of education, and for fifteen years one of the trus- 
tees of .the Worcester Lunatic Hospital, ^e was for 1 
manv years president of the People's Fire Insurance : 
Company, a director of the City National Bank, 
vice-president of the Worcester County Institution 
for Savings, and for thirty years served as a director 
of the Providence- and Worcester Railroad. Judge 
Chapin was possessed of a kindly and highly sym- 
pathetic nature, always ready to do a benevolent 
act. and was active in helping to organize institu- 
tions through which charity could be wisely dis- 
pensed to the unfortunate and the needy. The Old 
Men's Home of Worcester was one of the institu- 
tions conceived and aided by him. 

In reli.gious belief Judge Chapin was a conserva- 
tive Unitarian, and was an active, influential member 
of the Church of the Unity in Worcester, in which 
for many years he served as superintendent of the 
Sabbath school. After resigning the office of super- 
intendent, he joined the Bible class and thus con- 
tinued his connection with the school until failing 
health prevented his attendance. He was an active, 
strong man in the LTnitarian denomination and for 
many years took a prominent position in it. He 
was twice elected president of the American Uni- 
tarian Association, and for four years was a mem- 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



347 



ber of the council of the national conference of 
Unitarian churches. Judge Chapin was a man of 
varied gifts that made him successful : he was a 
good business man, an able lawyer, an upright judge, 
an honored and respected citizen, a man of the 
people, for with all his accomplishments and the 
great esteem in which he was held by those who 
came in contact with him, he never displayed any 
taint of egotism. As a speaker on public occasions 
he was in great demand. His wholesome wit and 
characteristic presentation of anecdotes, interspersed 
with Hashes of oratory, gave him a reputation as 
a good after dinner speaker, and the people of Wor- 
cester county were always pleased and instructed 
as they listened to the voice of Judge Chapin at 
their annual gatherings given under the auspices 
of the various agricultural .societies. Although he 
claimed no right to be classed as a poet, yet many 
of his productions are highly prized by his friends. 
During the days of the anti-slavery agitation he 
spoke frequently and effectively in behalf of the 
Free Soil and Republican parties, but after his ac- 
ceptance of a judicial office he though it unbecom- 
ing to take a conspicuous part in political contro- 
versies. He was interested in historical research 
and a prominent member of the American Antiquar- 
ian Society, serving as its treasurer for many years. 
Mr. Chapin was twice married. First on October 

8, iiS.^g, to Sarah, daughter of Joseph Thayer, Esq., 
of Uxbridge. She died April 30, 1869, and their only 
child, a son, died at the age of seven years and ten 
months. He married (second), May 23, 1871, Louisa 
Thayer, a sister of his former wife, by whom he 
had one child, Margaret, born 1874, married William 
Bazeley, two children : Louisa Thayer, born 1900 ; 
Margaret Ley, born 1905; they reside in Uxbridge, 
Massachusetts. 

The progenitor of« this Chapin family was : 
(I) Samuel Chapin, who came from England with 
his wife Cicely and several children in the year 
1636, and first settled in Roxbury, Massachusetts, 
but later removed to Springfield. 

(H) Josiah Chapin, a- son of Samuel Chapin, 
settled in Braintree, was an active, enterprising man 
and a land surveyor. He removed to Mendon about 
the year 1682 and became quite a distinguished man 
He was representative to the general court, and 
gained the prominent title then of esquire. He had 
sixteen children. 

(III) Captain Seth Chapin, son of Josiah Chapin, 
Esq., was born in Braintree, Massachusetts, August 
4, 1668, and was the seventh child in his father's 
family. He married (first) Mary Read: married 
(second) Bethiah Thurston. He is said to have 
been a man of talent and of considerable wealth. 
He had fourteen children. He died in 1746, aged 
seventy-eight years. 

(IV) Seth Chapin, son of Captain Seth Chapin, 
born in Medfield, July 2, 1692, was the eldest of 
fourteen children. He married, February 5, 1713, 
Abigail Adams, aunt of John Adams, second presi- 
dent of the United States. His home place was in 
that part of Mendon now Hopedale, where he was 
a large land holder. He died April i, 1737, leaving 
ten children. 

(V') Moses Chapin, the youngest child, of Seth 
Chapin, was born in 17,36. He married, December 

9. 1756, Lydia Atwood. daughter of Eldad and 
Martha Atwood. They lived in what is now Hope- 
dale. He died June 9, 1802. She died February 8, 
1813. Their children were : David, born 1757 ; 
Jerusha, born 1760; Elizabeth, born 1762; Nathan, 
born 1765; Henry, born 1767. died young; Lydia, 
born 1770: Olive, born 1772; Anna. 

(VI) David Chapin, son of Moses Chapin, mar- 
ried (first) July 4, 1777, Judith Thayer, daughter 



of Seth and Judith Thayer. She died and he mar- 
ried (second), February 12, 1784, Martha Bates, 
of Mendon, and settled in the territory now known 
as LIpton. He was a farmer. He died February 6, 
1814, aged fifty-six. She died May 3, 1S46, aged 
eightv-one. Their children were: Elisha, born 
April TO, 1778, by first wife; Judith, born March 21, 
1785 ; Sarah, born October 14, 1788 ; Lydia, born 
February 17, 1791 ; Joseph Bates, born April 25, 1.793; 
David, born July 2, 1795. 

(VII) Elisha Chapin, son of David Chapin, born 
April ID, 1778, married Sarah Wood, July 8, 1802, 
in LIpton, where they lived and died. He died June 
13, 1826. Their children were: Experience, born 
September 24, 1803; Sarah Ann, born May 11, 1807. 
Henry, born May 13, 1811, subject of this sketch. 

JOHN FRED HUMES. Nothwithstanding the 
handicap of poor health for several years John Fred 
Humes, or as he is better known J. Fred Humes, 
has made in recent years rapid progress in his pro- 
fession. He is in touch with important litigation, 
especially in the office of the city solicitor to whom 
he is assistant. Mr. Humes was born in Sutton, 
where his family has been prominent for several 
generations. He is the son of John R. and Sarah 
(Putnam) Humes, of Sutton. His youth was spent 
in his native town and he graduated from the high 
school in 1883. He attended Worcester Academy 
the. following year and graduated with the class 
of 1884. He matriculated at Brown LIniversity and 
studied there for three years and a half, but owing 
to a long illness in his junior year and poor health 
following he abandoned college without his degree. 
He undertook first the study of law in the office 
of Frank B. Goulding. After si.x months his health 
again gave out, and it was six years before he was 
fully restored to health. Then he entered the offices 
of Henry F. Harris and Charles M. Thayer. After 
two years and a half he was admitted to the bar. 
In June, 1897, he began his career as an attorney. 
He remained with Mr. Harris and Mr. Thayer for 
three years. In 1900 he opened an office at 532 
State Mutual building. In August, 1904. he moved 
to his present offices in the building of the Five 
Cents Savings Bank. In November, 1903, he was 
appointed assistant city solicitor to succeed Ernest 
I. Morgan, and is the second incumbent of the office. 
Mr. Morgan was appointed in 1899, when the posi- 
tion was created. Mr. Humes is secretary and 
treasurer of the Bar Association of Worcester 
County. 

Until his marriage Mr. Humes resided at Sutton 
with his parents. He has since made his home in 
Worcester. He married, June 22, 1898, Susan A, 
Main, daughter of John and Ella (Reed) Main, 
of Gloucester. She was born in Gloucester, August 
4, 1869. The Main family is one of the old families 
of Gloucester. Their children are : Warren Main, 
born July 5, 1899; Raymond Putnam, born April 4, 
igor. 

(I) Amos Humes settled at Douglas, Massachu- 
setts, where his son Warren was born July, 1802. 

(II) Warren Humes, son of Amos Humes (i), 
was born probably in Douglas, July, 1802. The 
history of Douglas says that he possessed in a great 
degree the ability that characterized his father, who 
was evidently a man of mark in Douglas. Warren 
had limited opportunity for an education, but was 
self-educated to an unusual degree and exerted all 
his life a powerful influence in local affairs. He 
was endowed with a remarkable memory, being 
able, the Douglas history says, to retain and cor- 
rectly impart a vast amount of general information. 
He began the practice of his profession of civil 



348 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



engineer and surveyor at the age of twenty-five, 
and was later acknowledged to be one of the best 
in the southern part of the county. He became 
an authority on real estate law. He had a large 
share of the business of conveyancing in his locality. 
He was a justice of the peace. He was intensely 
interested in politics. For thirty years he was at 
the head of the Democratic party in Douglas, and 
controlled the town on all important matters. His 
one great failure to control is the exception that 
proves the rule. He opposed the purchase of a 
town poor farm, and after a bitter contest was de- 
feated in town meeting, whereat the joy of the public 
was expressed by a sort of Fourth of July celebra- 
tion. The wife of Warren Humes was Phebe Rich, 
<laughtcr of Samuel Rich, Jr., of Sutton. Samuel 

Rich, Sr., of Douglas, married Elizabeth , 

who died March 20, 1803. Their children were : 
Samuel, born July 30, 173S; Benjamin, born July 
20, 1737, married Rebekah Daggett, July 15. 1762; 
Hannah, born April 16, 1738; Elizabeth, born July 
29, 1741 ; Sarah, born April 3, 1743; David, born 
March 7, 1744; Jonathan, born July 20, 1747; Reu- 
ben, born May 10, 1752; Amos, born September 4, 

1757. 

Samuel Rich, Jr., son of Samuel Rich, was born 
July 30, 1735. He married Ruth Putnam, Novem- 
ber iS, 1761. She died December 28, 1811. Their 
children were: Stephen, born January 3, 1762; 
Elijah, born April 4, 1764; Ruth, born July 31, 1766; 
Samuel, born February 26, 1769; Elizabeth, born 
January 23, 1772 ; Phebe, married Warren Humes. 
The children of Warren and Phebe Humes were : 
John R., born February 22, 1834; Amos A., born 
April 14, 1835; Milton, born April 13, 1840; Maria, 
L., born June 13, 1846; George W., born February 
17, 1837, died October 28, 1863; Juliet A., born Jan- 
uary 19. 1850. 

(HI) John R. Humes, son of Warren (2) and 
Phebe (Rich) Humes, was born in Douglas, Febru- 
ary 22, 1834. He resides in Sutton, where he runs 
a farm and deals in lumber. He has held the offices 
of selectman and assessor in Sutton. He married 
Sarah M. Putnam. Their children are : George M., 
born May 30, i860, married Lottie E. Wheeler, and 
resides in Auburn; John Fred, born October 10, 
1866 (see sketch) ; Nancy Evelyn, born December 
24, 1868, married James Cranska, of Sutton, book- 
keeper at Manchaug, and has two daughters and 
a son; Frank Edwin, born September 14, 1872, re- 
sides with parents at Sutton. 

BARNARD FAMILY. The late Dr. Rebecca 
Barnard, of Worcester, Massachusetts, was a de- 
scendant in the eighth generation from Robert Barn- 
nard, of Andover, Massachusetts. The line is as 
follows : 

(I) Robert Barnard, called of Andover, Massa- 
chusetts. He was in Salisbury in 1642, Andover 
1644. and Nantucket 1663. He was one of the 
founders of the church in Andover, and several of 
his descendants were ministers and physicians. He 
died about 1682. Administration on his estate was 
granted his grandson, Robert Barnard, February I, 
1714-15, more than thirty years after the senior 

Robert's death, who by wife Joanna , who 

died March 31, 1705, had the following children: 
John. Stephen, born 1648-49. 

(H) Stephen Barnard, second son of Robert and 
Joanna Barnard, married, in Andover, Rebecca How, 
May I, 1671, and resided in that town. Had sons: 
Nathaniel. James, Robert and Stephen. 

(HI) Robert Barnard, third son of Stephen and 
Rebecca (How) Piarnard, born in Andover, March 
28, l68g, married (first) Rebecca Osgood, at An- 



dover, September 14, 1710, and she died July 29, 
1727. He married (second) Elizabeth Bailey, May 
IS, 1729. In 1723 he purchased of Jeremiah Barst- 
tow, of Marlboro, three hundred and fifty acres of 
land on which there was a mill and other buildings, 
and removed from Andover to Marlboro where ha 
was known as a miller and also kept a public house. 
Their children were: Robert, born August 30, 1714; 
Benjamin, born February 14, 1715-16; Martha; Re- 
becca; Elizabeth; born June 3, 1730; Joel, born July 
14, 1732; Abigail, born April 28, 1734; Solomon, 
born December 27, 1735; Martha, born April 26, 1740; 
John, born May 19, 1743. This John was a physi- 
cian and settled in Sterling, Massachusetts. 

(IV) Benjamin Barnard, second son of Robert 
and Rebecca (Osgood) Barnard, born February 14, 
1715-16, married (first) Lucy Bush, of Marlboro. 
She died and he married (second), in Harvard,. 
Mary Hunt, February 22, 1759. Mr. Barnard lived! 
in Marlboro until 1743, when he purchased the 
home place of Stephen Houghton in Harvard and 
removed there, where he died October 24, 1794. He 
was prominent in the church, and held the office 
of selectman. His children were: Benjamin, born 
August 13, 1738; Jonathan, born June 18, 1740, died 
1742; Lucy, born November 13, 1742, died January 
24, .1752; Jonathan, born February 24, 1745; Eph- 
raim. born May 3, 1747; Moses, born ]\Iay 7, 1749; 
Jonathan, born September 22, 1751, died September 
27, 1756; David, born January 18, 1754. At least 
three of the above sons of Benjamin and Lucy 
(Bush) Barnard served in the war of the revolu- 
tion. Benjamin, the eldest, served in Isaac Gates 
company, the Fourth, Colonel Asa Whitcomb's regi- 
ment, April 19, 1775. eight and a half days at Cam- 
bridge. He also was paid mileage from Harvard to 
Danbury, December 17, 1776. He also marched in 
Captain Samuel Hill's compjny. Colonel Josiah 
Whitney's regiment, on alarm at Bennington, Au- 
gust 19, 1777, and again in October of the same year. 
Moses, the sixth child, was a graduate of Harvard 
College, 1773, a physician, served as surgeon's mate 
to Dr. Dinsmore, Colonel Asa Whitcomb's regiment, 
service two months and fourteen days. Also in 
Captain Fuller's company. Colonel Whitcomb's 
Worcester county regiment, in August and Septem- 
ber, 1775. Again as surgeon on sloop "Republic" 
commanded by Captain John F. Williams, engaged 
August 20, 1776, and discharged November 18, 1776. 
(See Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors in Revo- 
lutionary War, Vol. I.) 

(V) Jonathan Barnard, third son of Benjamin 
and Lucy (Bush) Barnard, born February 24, 1745, 

married Lucy . He served in Captain James 

Burt's company. Colonel Asa Whitcomb's regiment, 
in response to the alarm, April 19, 1775. He settled 
in Harvard on the home place, which at present 
writing still remains in the Barnard family. A 
fact worth recording is that for sixty years there 
was not a death in this family. His children were: 
Jacob, born April 16, 1769; Jonathan, January 27, 
1771 ; Lucy. September 26, 1774; Benjamin, June 
12, 1777; Sabra, July 24, 1779; Calvin, JuPy 25, 1781; 
Sarah, February 3, 1784; Esther, June_ I. 17S6; 
Levi, April 20, 1789; Joel and Joab (twins). May 
12, 1703. 

(VI) Benjamin Barnard, third son of Jonathan 
and Lucy Barnard, born June 12, 1777, married 
(first) Rebecca Keep. He married (second) Jemima 
Whitcomb. of Boxboro. His children were: Frank- 
lin, born May 17, 1809; Granville, born January I, 
1812, died September 15, 1895; Rebecca, born May 
8, 1814, died November 5. 1817; Josiah, born ^L■^y i, 
1816, died June 20, 1858; Benjamin K., born Decem- 
ber 17, 1818, died January 14, 1900; Levi, born 





(Ta/vv^ f 





?^ 




WORCESTER COUNTY 



349 



March 22. 1822, died December 25, 1886; Abner, 
born February 14, 1832. 

(VII) Dr. Franklin Barnard, eldest son of Ben- 
jamin and Jemima (VVliitcomb) Barnard, born May 
17, 1809, married, March ,3. 1833. Maria Aim Plnm- 
mer, of Andover, Massachusetts, daughter of Heze- 
kiah Smith Plummcr and his wife Betsey Slimpson 
Poor, who were married April 3, 1806. Her great- 
grandmother, Lovejoy Poor, purchased in Salem, 
Massachusetts, a negro child whom shccalled Salem 
Poor. It is related in the history of Essex county 
that Dr. Barnard displayed unusual courage as a 
soldier, and on one occasion shot an English gen- 
eral. He studied with Dr. Samuel Thompson in 
Boston. He died in Worcester. November 29, 1889, 
and his wife died March I, 1885. Their children 
were : Anna M., born in Andover, May 13, 1835 ; 
Dr. Rebecca, born April 29, 1837; Esther, born in 
Harvard, August 24, 1839; Caroline, born in Wor- 
cester, November 19, 1842. 

(¥111) Dr. Rebecca Barnard, second daughter 
of Dr. Franklin and Maria Ann (Plummer) Barn- 
ard, was born in Andover, April 29, 1837. She 
came to Worcester, Massachusetts, a child in her 
father's family in the year 1840. Her early educa- 
tion was attained in the public schools of Worcester 
and at the Baptist Academy, after which for more 
than fifteen years she was a teacher in the city 
schools, during which engagement she was not ab- 
sent from her duties in her school room a single 
day. As a teacher she gave most excellent satis- 
faction, the personal interest she took in her pupils 
and the kindly assistance rendered them was the 
means of creating many lasting attachments between 
teacher and scholar which was only terminated by 
her death. Her medical studies were pursued at 
the College of the New York Infirmary, New York 
city. After serving as an interne at the hospital 
connected with that institution, she began the prac- 
tice of her chosen profession in Worcester. In the 
city directory for 1879 her name appears as physician 
with office at 49 Pearl street. As she was very 
generally and favorably known throughout the city, 
she found a fertile field in which to locate, and a 
large and lucrative practice was soon obtained and 
attended with remarkable success professionally. As 
the years came and went her practice increased, 
severely taxing her physical strength, yet her in- 
terest in educational institutions led her to accept 
a position on the school board, to which she was 
elected, serving six years. Her practical knowledge 
on educational matters proved of considerable as- 
sistance to the board. She was a member of various 
medical societies, among them the Boston, New Eng- 
land Hospital, and the Worcester District Medical 
Society. For many years her residence and of late 
her office was at the northerly end of Main street, 
in what has been known as the Baldwin Eaton house, 
one of the old time landmarks, built in 1760, and 
purchased by Dr. Rebecca Barnard in 1879. Miss 
Sarah Eaton, from whom the purchase was made, 
remained in the house until her death in 1887, in 
the same room in which she was born, July 3, 1800. 
Dr. Rebecca Barnard died unmarried September 
9, 1905. 

HJALMAR S. ANDERSON. Erik Anderson, 
the father of Hjalmar S. Anderson, of Worcester, 
of the firm of Robinson & Anderson, jewelers, was 
born October 10, 1841, in Smedjebaken Dalarne, 
Sweden. He was the son of Anders and' Greta 
(Carlson) Anderson. He married Charlotte E. Hall- 
vorson. who died in Worcester, November 6, 1901. 
He removed to Worcester. Massachusetts, November 
20, 1881. Their children are: Hjalmar M., see 



forward ; Knut H., Arthur E., Gustav E., Ernst, 
Alinnie E., Francis. Two children died in infancy. 

Hjalmar Anderson, son of Erik Ander.son, was 
born in Ramnas, Westmanland, Sweden, December 
i^, 1870, and came to this country when quite young 
with his parents. Me was educated in the Worcester 
public schools. When he was twelve years old he 
went to work as ofiicc boy in the Palmer wire mill. 
He returned to school for a time, then became a 
weigher in the wire mill at Palmer, where the family 
was then living. They moved to Worcester and he 
entered the employ of the Taber Organ Company. 
He worked for a time also for the Washburn & 
Moen Company in the wire mill. At the age of 
seventeen he began to learn the jewelry trade of 
A. L. Burbank & Company. He remained with the 
firm and its successors, and since the recent death 
of William H. Robinson, is the head and sole 
owner of the business. The present name of the 
firm under which he is doing business is Robinson 
& Anderson, and the store is at 375 Main street. 
He is a Republican in politics, and member of Thule 
Lodge. No. 239, I. O. O. F., Worcester, Massa- 
chusetts. 

He married, December 3, 1892, Elizabeth Fisk, 
who was born in Rotneros, Wermland. Sweden, Jan- 
uary 30, 1869, and educated in Sweden. She came 
to America in 1887. Their children are: Hjalmar 
S., Jr., born August 18. 1893; Irving E. L., born 
March 30, 1900; Wendall, born October 21, 1903. 

JOHN RICHARD BACK. Jacob Back (i), 
the grandfather of John R. Back, of Worcester, set- 
tled in Twerton, a village in Somersetshire, Eng- 
land, half way between Bristol and Bath. He mar- 
ried Sophia Frances, by whom he had two sons, 
Arthur and William. He died when a comparatively 
young man. His widow married again and had a 
daughter, Mary Francis. The latter came to America 
some years ago, but returned to her native place 
and married John Hill. 

While the English ancestry of Jacob Back is not 
traced it is known that the surname belongs to an 
old English family. One branch of the Back family 
came early to Connecticut but the connection, if 
any, with the Worcester family is not known. Judah 
Back, to whom the Connecticut family trace their 
ancestry, was born September 21, 1765, in that por- 
tion of Windham, Connecticut, now the town of 
Chaplin. He died Sentember 21, 1828, in Holland,' 
Massachusetts. It is likely that the father of Judah 
Back was the emigrant from England. No othei; 
branch of this family is known in this country. 

The children of Jacob and Sophia (Francis). 
Back were: l. William, of whom later. 2. Arthur, 
who came to Worcester, Massachusetts, about 1840, 
and was interested in business before 1850 with L. 
W. Pond ; later he moved to Susquehanna. Penn- 
sylvania, where he spent the remainder of his days 
and where his children settled ; he was master me- 
chanic there in the railroad shops of the Erie Rail- 
road; the children of Arthur Back were: I. Ar- 
thur; 2. Mary, resided at Binghaniton, New York, 
3. Sarah. 4. Charlotte. 5. Josephine. 

(II) William Back, son of Jacob Back (i), was 
born in Twerton, England, August 22. 1818. He 
was educated in his native; town and learned his 
trade there. He became- a very expert finisher of 
woolen goods. In fact, the goods that took the 
prize at the Crystal Palace Fair in England in 1850 
were made in the mill where he was employed as 
the finisher. But when in 1851 he came to Worcester 
with his wife and child he made a change in his 
occupation because he wished to give his two sons 



350 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



a mechanical education. He came to Worcester be- 
cause his brother was located here, and he went 
to work in the Pond machine shop. A number 
of other English families came to Worcester at the 
same time that Mr. Back came. There was an urgent 
call at that lime for skilled mechanics. The in- 
dustries of the state of Massachusetts were at an 
important stage of their development, especially the 
woolen mills. Some of the best mechanics in the 
English woolen mills were induced to come to New 
England. These English families came from the 
prosperous middle classes. They were ambitious, 
skillful in their trades. God-fearing and worthy 
people. A group of these English families settled 
m Worcester in what was then called "Oregon" on 
the west side. Neighbors in the old country they 
remained neighbors in Worcester. 

He married in England Sarah Silcox, who died in 
Worcester at the age of eighty-two. He died there 
in 1893 at the age of seventy-five. Their children 
were: i. Arthur John, born in 1843 in Twerton, 
England, was brought up in Worcester ; he was 
killed in 1864 on the Erie Railroad in a wreck at 
Callicoon. 2. William Thomas, born May 24, 1846, 
in Twerton, England, came to Worcester with his 
■parents when five years old; was educated in Wor- 
cester public schools and learned the machinist's 
trade; for twenty-two years, since 1883, he has 
been a foreman for F. E. Reed, manufacturer of ma- 
chine tools in Worcester; he is a prominent Odd 
Fellow; he married Ella Russell, of Worcester, and 
they have two sons : Arthur John, clerk at the F. E. 
Reed Company shop, married, and resides on Ma>^- 
wood street; William Russell, inspector at the F. E. 
Reed Company shop, resides with his parents at 52 
Florence street. 3. John Richard, of whom later. 
(HI) John Richard Back, son of William 
Back (2), was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, 
April 24, 1851, about a month after his father and 
mother came to Worcester to live. He received in 
the public schools of that city his early education. 
At the age of thirteen, however, he went to work 
in George Crompton's loom works. Green street, 
and remained there for two years. He tried mer- 
cantile business for a time and worked as clerk in 
several stores. He returned to manufacturing and 
served a regular three year apprenticeship with 
Wood & Light, makers of machine tools. He was 
promoted to a forenianship, and remained thirteen 
years with the firm, working, in fact, until the firm 
went out of business. About 1886 he began to work 
as a contractor for F. E. Reed. Two years later 
the contract system was done away with and the 
Reed shop reorganized. Mr. Back became the super- 
intendent, a position that he has held ever since. 
Meanwhile, of course, the Reed business has greatly 
increased. At first he had but fifteen men under 
him. and now he has three hundred. The F. E. 
Reed Company is described at some length in the 
sketch of Mr. Reed. It is the largest co.ncern in its 
line of work in Worcester and in its special field 
of engine lathes produces more than any other shop 
in the country. The Reed lathes are known all over 
the world. The company has a large export trade. 
The business has grown constantly. Mr. Reed and 
Mr. Back have worked together in the development 
of this industry, Mr. Reed in charge of the selling 
and Mr. Back in charge of the manufacturing end. 
Since the corporation was formed in 1894 Mr. Back 
has been a stockholder and director of the company, 
and has been granted several patents on engine 
lathes. 

■ Mr. Back is a member of the board of trade 
and served one term as a director. He is serving 
his second three-year term as director of the Wor- 



fcester County Mechanics' Association, and he served 
two terms as director of the Young Men's Chris- 
tian Association of Worcester. He is a Republican 
in politics. He served the city of Worcester in the 
common council from ward six in 1896-97-98. He 
was an alderman in 1899 and 1900. In 1896 he was 
on the committees on education, legislative matters ; 
in 1897 on public buildings, education and legislative 
matters; in 1898 on education, legislative matters 
and public buildings ; in 1899 and 1900 on finance, 
police, education, public claims and public buildings, 
and chairman of the last two. He devoted himself 
particularly to the work of the committee on educa- 
tion and claims. In 1898 he was a member of the 
grade crossing commission appointed to solve the 
problem of abolishing the crossings at grade of high- 
ways and steam railroads. Mr. Back retired from 
the city council in 1900 at the end of his term. He 
was appointed license commissioner by Mayor W. 
H. Blodget with James F. Carberry and Captain 
John S. Baldwin for the year 1904. He was elected 
chairman of the board. He was reappointed and 
again served in 1905 as commissioner. Under the 
present charter of the city of Worcester the chief 
duty of the three license commissioners consists in 
deciding between the various applicants for licenses 
to sell intoxicating liquors and to grant the licenses 
to the number permitted by law. The purpose of the 
license commission is to eliminate the influence of the 
saloons in municipal politics by taking tlie granting 
of licenses out of the hands of the aldermen. 

In every public position in which Mr. Back has 
served he has completely won and held the public 
confidence; he has devoted himself unreservedly to 
the duties of- the office. Few men having the heavy 
business responsibilities of Mr. Back can be found 
with the public spirit necessary to fill municipal 
offices properly, if they are willing to take them at 
all. Although still a young man Mr. Back is to be 
reckoned among the founders of the great industries 
of Worcester. Surely the men who create industries 
and develop machinery for which a demand exi>ts 
is entitled to a large measure of public gratitude. 
An establishment like the Reed shop benefits not 
only the three hundred employees and their families, 
but every ta.xpayer in the city, every merchant and 
many other manufacturing industries. Mr. Back is 
a member of the South Baptist Church and has 
been on the board of trustees since 1897. He is a 
member of no fraternal or secret order. 

He married, November 15, 1877. Frances Lorena 1 
Parker, born in Boston, daughter of Charles Parker, 
of Worcester. Their home is at 24 Oread street. 
Their children are: Sadie May, born in Worcester, . 
April 23. 1881, married Herbert Sumner Ramsdell, 
of Worcester,' a clerk of the Duncan-Goodell Com- 
pany hardware store, Worcester ; they have a son, 
Herbert Francis, born January, 1904. Lorena Fran- 
ces, born January 12, 1890, a student in the Worces- 
ter high school. 

WILLIAM HENRY GOULDING. Peter 
Goulding (i), emigrant ancestor of the Goulding : 
family of Worcester, was the progenitor of William 
Henry Goulding of Worcester. There were a num- 
ber of emigrants to New England in the middle of 
the seventeenth century, but none of them appear to 
have left descendants by the name of Goulding ex- 
cept Peter. He came from England, probably from 
Shipdam. si.x miles from Norwich. He was a de- 
scendant of Rev. Thomas Goulding. who was co- 
executor to the Bishop of Norwich. He was a 
saddler by trade, but seems to have been an attorney 
at law with a considerable practice in the courts. 
He was not a Puritan, never took the oath of fidelity. 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



351 



nor joined the church. He was a man of morahty, 
as his Puritan critics described his virtues, of talent 
and rare enterprise and courage. By marriage he 
was connected with the aristocratic families of the 
culony. He was in Virginia in 1667. He is said to 
have become one of the earliest anti-slavery men of 
Massachusetts, after visiting his brother in the south. 
He was in 1670 attorney for Joseph Deakin, of 
Boston, in a suit against Thomas Jenner, mariner, 
for the recovery of a negro slave, to the sale of 
whom three years before in Virginia he testitied. 
His writing is mentioned as beautiful, and as inore 
than a generation in advance of his New England 
contemporaries. He had a serious difference with 
the Suffolk county court and was prosecuted and 
fined "for charges that he divulged against the 
court and clerk of Suffolk county." In consequence, 
October 18, 1681, he addressed a complaint and pe- 
tition to the general court, but instead of sustain- 
ing his appeal the general court sentenced him to 
make public acknowledgment of his fault, to satisfy 
the court, or pay a fine of twenty pounds to the 
treasurer of the colony. But the general court ac- 
cepted a very ambiguous and dubious acknowledg- 
ment, and the fine was remitted. He bought of 
Kaac Negus, April 11, 1682, two hundred acres of 
land north of the Merrimac river, on Beaver Brook 
creek. He was also interested in the second attempt 
to settle Worcester in 1683, and bought the town 
rights of Thomas Hall. He probably took up his 
residence there until the settlement was the second 
time broken up. He had several grants of land 
in Worcester, and his son Palmer revived his claim 
to one hundred and fifty-seven acres when the third 
settlement was made in 1713, and the claim was 
allowed. The family has been prominent in Wor- 
cester ever since. Goulding was the owner also of 
three thousand and twenty acres in Hassanamesset 
(Grafton), which at that time was included in the 
south part of Worcester. In 1694. when he left 
Worcester at the time the settlement was abandoned, 
he went to Sudbury, where he died in 1703, eleven 
years before the successful settlement of Worcester. 
He was only a sojourner in Sudbury, expecting to 
return some time to Worcester. He was a cord- 
wainer as well as a farmer. Peter Goulding married 

Jane , who was the mother of three and 

probably five of his children. He inarried (second) 
Sarah Palmer, sister of Hon. Thomas Palmer, of 
Boston, and in succeeding generations Palmer was 
a common naine for the sons. His children: i. 
Peter, recorded in Boston in list 166;. died young. 
2. I^Iary, born January 21, 1665-6, died young. 3. 
Francis, born February 22, 1667-8, probably died 
young. 4. Martha, born probably in Virginia, mar- 
ried John Smith, of Hadley. 5. Elizabeth, born Oc- 
tober 6, 1773, inarried William Jenison, of Charles- 
town, settled in Sudbury and Worcester. 6. Winsor, 
born March 3, 1674-5. 7- Thomas, born January 2, 
1677. 8. Sarah, born August 19, 1679. 9. John (cap- 
tain), born probably near Merrimac, Massachusetts, 
1682, married, 1705, Abigail Curtis. 10. Jane, born 
at Boston, January 16, 1683-4. H- Mercy, born at 
Boston, September 8, 1786. 12. Peter, born prob- 
ably at Worcester. 13. Abigail, born probably at 
Worcester. 14. Arabella, born at Sudbury or Wor- 
cester. 15. Captain Palmer, see forward. 

(H) Captain Palmer Goulding, son of Peter 
Goulding (i), probably born in Sudbury, 1695; 
died February 11, 1777; married, at Concord, Massa- 
chusetts, December 4, 1722, Abigail Rice, who died 
at Holden, February 17, 1722, aged seventy. 
He is buried on the Worcester common, then the 
burying ground of the town. He removed from 
Sudbury to Worcester in 1728. He sold some land 



here in 1722, and October i, 1723, bought twelve 
hundred and six acres in the southern jjart of Wor- 
cester. He built his house where the Fourth Con- 
gregational Church stood later, near Front street, 
and carried on a varied and extensive business as 
tanner, shoemaker, curer of hams, maltster, etc. His 
house was used in 1732 as a school, Richard Rogers, 
teacher. He was on the committee to seat the 
meeting, an important duty then. He was constable 
1726-27-28-29; selectman i7,?o-3i-37; treasurer 1738; 
assessor 1732-33-34. ne dealt in land extensively in 
Worcester. He had a line military record. He was 
at the capture of Louisburg, June 17, 1745, in com- 
mand of a company. February 24, 1750, he and 
William Johnson bought one hundred and thirty- 
seven acres on the shore of Lake Quinsigamond. 
Children of Captain Palmer Goulding: i. Palmer, 
born February 18, 1722-3, died January ,30, 1792; 
married Abigail Haywood. 2. Abigail, born Sep- 
tember 24, 1724, died May 17, 1736. 3. Colonel John, 
born October 3, 1726, died November 22. 1791 : mar- 
ried Lucy Brooks. 4. ^lillicent, born November 12 
or 25, 1728, died unmarried August 9, 1813; talented 
teacher, once a Shaker. 5. Zurvilla (or Trovilla), 
born December 25, 1730, married Cornelius Stowell. 
6. Winsor, born December 4, 1732, married Eliza- 
beth Rice. 7. Ignatius, born September 6, 1734, died 
November 5, 1814 ; married Elizabeth Goodwin. 8. 
Peter, see forward. 9. Abel, born iNlarCh 4, 1738, 
died December 6, 1817; married Keziah Johnson, of 
Shrewsbury. 10. Elizabeth, born May i, 1741, died 
unmarried. 11. Patty, married John Miller. 

(HI) Peter Goulding, son of Captain Palmer 
Goulding (2), born in Worcester, December 30, 
1736, died July 17, 1790; married Lucy Brewer. He 
was a carpenter by trade, and was killed by a fall, 
July 17, 1790. His children: i. Levi, born March 
15- 1767, died June 8, 1767. 2. Clark, see forward. 

3. Lucy, born April 10, 1770, married Nathan Gates. 

4. Patty, born ^larch 11, 1772; married, 1791, Charles 
Johnson. 5. Lucinda, born February 23, 1774, mar- 
ried Timothy Johnson, 1792 ; resided in Worcester. 

6. Peter, born May 15, 1776. 7. Sally, born April 
28. 1778. died June 27, 1778. 8. Sally, born April 18, 
1780; married Reuben Scott. 9. Zervilla, born Sep- 
teinber 21, 1781. 10. Nabby, born December 23, 
1783, died February 25, 1799. 11. Levi, born Sep- 
tember u, 1787; married, April 18, 1809, Sally Har- 
rington. 

(IV) Clark Goulding, son of Peter Goulding 
(3), born September 2.1. 1768, in Worcester, died 
there August 14, 1829; married Prudence Rice, born 
April 9, 1776, married 1795, and died April 13, 1849. 
Their children: I. Mary, born October 23, 1795, 
died 1837; married, 1834, Arthur Keyes, of Boyls- 
ton. 2. Lewis, born August 18, 1797, died May 8, 
1847; inarried, 1825, Luvy Adams; resided at Gard- 
iner, Maine. 3. Abigail, born June 21, 1799; married, 
1823, Elisha Chaffin, of Worcester. 4. Harriet, born 
February 22, 1801 ; married, 1841, Ebenezer Dana. 

5. Henry, see forward. 6. Eli, born August 12, 
1804; married ^Martha Alexander, of Deerfield, 1833. 

7. Clark, born ?ilarch 31, 1806, died at De Kalb 
Junction. New Hampshire. January 29, 1894. 8. 
Lucy, born October 15, 1807; married, 1844, Jason 
Chapin. 9. Peter, born March 30, 1810. died \Iarch, 
1896: married Malinda Hubbard. 10. Emelia, born 
]\Iarch 15. 1812, died April 17, 1812. ii. Frederick, 
born December 12, 1813, died February 8, 1814. 12. 
Hannah, born June 15. 1815: married 1S32. H. P. 
Dunham. 13. Fanny, born ."Xugust 2, 1816: married, 
1837, Gardner Childs. 14. Frederic, born July 19, 
1823, married. 1852, Calista Perkins; he died 1893. 

(V) Henry Goulding, son of Clark Goulding 
(4), born December 13, 1802, died January 30, 



352 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



1866, in Worcester. He married, 1829, Sarah Rice, 
and lived in Worcester. He was a man of consid- 
erable property. He built the mansion at 26 Harvard 
street m which his son, William H. Goulding, has 
lived for many years, lie was a manufacturer of 
woolen machinery; one of the first, and retired from 
business in 1851. He served as selectman; was one 
of the founders and president of the Mechanics' 
Bank ; a member of the fire department in 1840. In 
politics he was originally a Whig, and afterward a 
Republican. His children: I. Sarah Rice, born 
January 1, 1830; married Henry O. Clark; lived in 
Worcester. 2. William Henry, see forward. 3. Sew- 
all Foster, born July 17, 1836, died June 3, 1840. 

(VI) William Henry Goulding, son of Henry 
Goulding (5), was born in Worcester, Massachu- 
setts, May 23, 1833. He attended the public schools 
of his native town, and in 1850: was graduated from 
the high school. He took a course also at Leicester 
Academy. He went to work in Boston as salesman 
first for the wholesale firm of Pierce, Howe & Co. 
After a year in their store he went into partnership 
in the tailoring business with Henry Chaffin, under 
the firm name of Chaffin & Goulding. After a period 
of eight years, Mr. Goulding sold his interests to 
his partner and returned to Worcester. Here he 
decided to make his home, and founded the drug 
store at present known as Buffington's, in 1859. The 
store has always been on the spot now occupied, ex- 
cept during the time the present building was be- 
ing constructed after the fire. He carried on the 
drug store for eight years, and in 1866 sold it to 
Elisha D. Buffington, whose estate still owns the 
business, as the Buffington Pharmacy Company. At 
that time the large property interests of Mr. Gould- 
ing kept him busy, and since then he has had no 
other business than the management of his real 
estate and other property interests. He enjoys 
travel, and spends only a part of the year at his 
home, 26 Harvard street. He has a cottage in 
Cottage City at the sea shore, and in winter prefers 
the climate of Florida to that of New England. He 
is a member of the Commonwealth Club, and at- 
tends Plymouth Church. He married first, October 
6, 1862, Florence Berry, daughter of Scotto and 
Mary (Lovett) Berry, of Douglas and Worcester. 
She died April 25, 1870. He married (second), No- 
vember 18, 1891, Rose T. Ford, daughter of Joseph 
T. and Henrietta W. (Womrath) Ford, of Phila- 
delphia, where they were married. Three children 
were born of the first marriage, all in Worcester ; 
I. Mary Sarah, born December 13, 1865, married 
Charles H. Curtis, of Boston; their children: Her- 
man Goulding Curtis, born October 26, 1890; Philip 
Goulding Curtis, born July 8, 1893 ; Amy Goulding 
Curtis, born May I, 1898; Charles Goulding Curtis, 
born July 26, 1902. 2. Harry Scotto, born June 16, 

1867, lives with his parents at home. 3. Louis Rice, 
born April 7, 1870, married Minnie Whitney, and 
resides in Boston, where he has a store. Beacon 
street, and conducts a business of interior decorat- 
ing. To Mr. Goulding was born, of his second 
marriage, a son, William Ford, September 4, 1893, 
a student in the Bancroft School. 

THE HORNE FAMILY was an early one in 
Maine and many of them were engaged in the lum- 
bering business, and were sturdy, thrifty people. Of 
the branch of this family represented in Worcester 
county Ichabod Home (i), who was engaged in 
lumber cutting and rafting throughout his active 
life, was indeed very successful. He married and 
among his children, who were born at his home place, 
near where he was, at Bingham, Maine, was one 
named Ichabod, Jr., who became the father of the 



gentleman for whom this personal memoir is 
written. 

(II) Ichabod Home was borne October 7, 1S29. 
He was educated at the common schools of his 
native county and upon ending his school days lie- 
gan farming, but later in life saw greater possibilitus 
in the business of his ancestors and began lumii r- 
ing, in which he was eminently successful. He <1ilJ 
in 1902. He was a stanch Democrat in political 
views, but never aspired to oflice and belonged to no 
secret society. He married Olive, Gleason, who dr. J 
in 1873. She was the daughter of Bryant and Eli 1- 
beth (Corson) Gleason, of Maine, and becamL- tie 
mother of the following children: Frederick J., b' .11 
October lo, 1856; Florence E., jNIarch 31, 1858, <li'J 
November, 1887; Charles F., August 15, 1S59; Sh. r- 
man, January, 1862; Thomas, of whom later; Finra 
M., July 19, 1866, died July, 1883. 

(III) Thomas Home was born on the old home- 
stead at Bingham, Maine, August 22, 1864. He was 
educated in the common schools in Clinton, Pitts- 
field and Canaan, Maine, which had greatly improved 
since the days of his father's and grandfather's school 
days, and after obtaining the average education came 
to Worcester, where he held a clerical position 1 jr 
one year. He then went to Wisconsin, where fur a 
time he embarked in the lumbering business. iJut 
the old Pine Tree State still had charms for hiiii, 
and we next find him in his native state, where for 
three years he was engaged in buying hay. It was 
in 1887 that he again came to Worcester, accepting 
a position with the Washburn-Moen Wire Com- 
pany, where he remained seventeen years. He v.as 
faithful to every duty imposed upon him and r^-e 
to the position of assistant superintendent of tluir 
great works. In 1903 he was elected by the c;ty 
council to the office of assessor, and has held the 
position ever since, filling it with much credit to 
himself and satisfaction to the tax payers. He was 
re-elected in 1906 for three years. 

He is a thoroughgoing, genial business man and 
willing to do his share in any project for the general 
advancement of his adopted city and county. Like 
many another enterprising modern business character, 
he is identified with the Odd Fellows and Masonic 
fraternities. He belongs to the Blue Lodge of Free 
and Accepted Masons. 

He married, May 15, 1888, Georgia A. Drew, a 
daughter of Albert and Helen Maine Drew. The 
father w^as a merchant of Pittsfield, Maine. By this 
union two sons were born : Roland D., March 14, 
189s, and Evart J., January 26, 1903, both still living, 
at home. 

. HON. WILLIAM TROWBRIDGE FORBES. 
Daniel Forbes (l), the immigrant ancestor of Will- 
iam Trowbridge Forbes, judge of probate of Wor- 
cester county, was probably born at Kinellar, Scot- 
land, about 1620. It is thought that he wa< one 
of the Scotch prisoners of war taken at the battle 
of Dunbar, September 3, 1650, eight thousand of 
whom were sent to the English colonies. In the 
early town records his name and that of his. de- 
scendants is spelled variously : Forbes, Farrabas, 
Farrowbush. Forbush, Furbish, Farebush, etc., and 
the name Forbes is still pronounced in Scotland 
with two syllables. In Burke's Heraldry it is 
stated that the surname of Forbes was' assumed 
from the lands of Forbes, county; Aberdeen, Scot- 
land, granted by Alexander II in '1249 to the pro- 
genitor of this' noble family. Daniel Forbes was 
in the employ of Edmund Angler, to whom he 
conveyed land granted him by the town of Cam- 
bridge, Massachusetts. He removed from Cam- 
bridge to Concord and thence to Marlboro, where 




S.^ ^j/-^- 



-p. 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



353 



he died October, 1687. lie married at Cambridge, 
March 26 or 27, 1660, Rebecca Perriman, supposed 
to have been a sister of Tliomas Perriman, of VVey- 
niouth, and of Frances Perriman, who married, 1654, 
Isaac Andrew, of Cambridge. His lirsl wife died 
May 3, 1677, and he married (second), May 23, 
1679, ijeborab, of Concord, born 1652, daughter of 
John and Ann Rediat of Sudbury. She married 
(second) Alexander Stewart. He had tight chil- 
Jren ; Daniel, Thomas, EHzabelh, Rebecca, Sanuiel, 
John, Isaac, Jonathan. 

(II) Deacon Jonathan Forbes, son of Daniel 
(l), born in iMarlborough, Massachusetts, March 12, 
1684, died at Westborough, an adjoining town, 
March 24, 1768. He was prosperous, owning a saw- 
nill and large tracts of land ; was constable, mod- 
.'rator of town meetings and selectman of the town, 
nid deacon of Westboro church. He married, 
lanuary 2, 1706, Hannah Holloway, daughter of 
\dam and Hannah (Hay ward) (Farrar) Hollo- 
vay, of Marlboro. Their children: Mary; Dinah; 
Janiel ; Thankful ; Jonathan, mentioned below ; Abi- 
';ail ; Patience ; Phinehas ; Eli. 

(III) Deacon Jonathan Forbes, Jr., son of 
Deacon Jonathan Forbes (2), born F'ebruary 3. 
715, in that part of Marlboro subsequently incor- 
)orated as Westboro,. died November, 1756. He 
narried, in Westboro, November 2S, 1738, Joanna 
fainter; their children: John; Jonathan, mentioned 
'lelow ; Phinehas; Mehitable; Joanna, died young; 

oanna, died young; Sarah, died young; Hannah, 
lied young. 

, (IV) Deacon Jonathan Forbes, son of Deacon 
Jonathan Forbes (3), born in Westboro, March i, 
746. died there June 5, 1805. He married, July 
, 1772, Sarah Brigham, born April 18. 1751, died 
Uigust 20, 1827, bequeathing to each of her forty- 
ive grandchildren a Bible. Their children : Moses ; 
onathan, mentioned below; Holland; Ephraim ; 
iarah ; Elias ; Nancy; Achsah ; all these children 
ttained maturity and married. 

(V) Captain Jonathan Forbes, son of Deacon 
onathan Forbes (4), born December 6, 1775, at the 
•"orbes homestead, West IMain street, Westboro, 
/here he always resided, and where he died, Jan- 
ary 5, 1861. He taught school when a young man. 
le was captain in the militia as early as 1813, and 
1 that year was also elected deacon of the Evan- 
elical church, holding the latter office forty-eight 
ears, the fourth of the name in direct line holding 
he office of deacon in the Westboro church. He 
eld most of the town offices and was a leader in 
3\vn affairs ; it is said that he was chairman of 
very committee on which he served. He married, 
anuary 17, 1802, Esther, daughter of Ebenezer and 
■-sther Chamberlain, a niece of Judge Edmund 
"rowbridge. Their children: i. Sarah Brigham, 
lOrn April 16, 1803; married Rev. Charles Forbusli, 
}f Upton, and died August 22, 1851; he died 1838. 
:. Julia Miranda, born June 25, 1804; married Rev. 
ohn Wilde, wdio died in Alexandria, Virginia, 1868. 
. Jonathan, born November 26, 1806; died Jan- 
ary 24, 1820. 4. Daniel H., born Septeinber 13, 
iog; married Jane Jemima Baker; second, Mary 
.very White. 5. Esther Louise, born June 22, 
:^io; died October 3, 1812. 6. Moses, born Sep- 
•mber 25, 1812; married Eliza L. Southwick. 7. 
.phraini, mentioned below. 8. Sophia, born January 

1821, died unmarried, August 14, 1881. 

(VT) Deacon Ephraim Trowbridge Forbes, son 
f Captain Jonathan Forbes (5), and father of 
iidge Forbes, was born at Westboro, March 25, 
^15- He received his education in the common 
:hools and at Phillips Academy, Andover, Massa- 
lusetts. Me taught school in Westboro and South- 
23 



boro, and for many years was on the Westboro 
school committee, lie was active in the Evangelical 
church, and for many years deacon. He resided on 
the farm formerly owned by his father and grand- 
father, at the junction of West Main street and the 
road to North Grafton. He died August 2, iHbi. 
He married, 1842, Catharine White, born July 25, 
1815, daughter of William and Nancy (Avery) 
White, of Westboro, formerly of Roxbury, Massa- 
chusetts, and great-great-granddaughter of Captain 
Samuel Adams, father of Governor Samuel Adams, 
of Massachusetts, descendant of Henry Adams, ot 
Braintree, the immigrant. Children of Deacon 
Ephraim T. and Catherine Forbes: i. Cathraine 
Salome, born September 12, 1845; married, March 
12, 1867, Charles Brigham Kittridge; resides at 
Seattle, Washington. 2. Esther Louise, born June 
17, 1847; resides in Westboro. 3. William 'l\, men- 
tioned below. 4. Francis White, born May I, 1852; 
married first, Jane A. Nason, (second) Fannie E. 
Hooker. 5. Susan Eliza, born September 20, 1854; 
died December 30, i860. 

(VII) Hon. William Trowbridge Forbes, third 
child of Deacon Ephraim Trowbridge I-'orbcs (6), 
was born in Westboro, on the old homestead. May 
24, 1850. He fitted for college in the public schools, 
the .-Vllcn Classical School at West Newton, Massa- 
chusetts, and under the private instr-uction of Rev. 
James Tufts, of Monson, Massachusetts. At Am- 
herst College, where he was graduated in the class 
of 1871, he received first prize in mathematics in his 
second year, and a German scholarship in his third 
year. He was historian of his class, and one of the 
editors of The Amherst Student. He rowed in his 
class crew in the regatta of 1870 on the Connecticut 
river. On leaving college he went to Constantinople, 
Turkey, and for three years was instructor of mathe- 
matics in Robert College there. He made a geo- 
logical survey of the vicinity of Constantinople w'ith 
Dr. George Washburn, president of the college, col- 
lecting about two thousand specimens of fossils, 
many of them new varieties which were exhibited 
at the Vienna E.xposition. 

He returned to Worcester to study law in the 
office of Hopkins & Bacon, and for three years was 
standing justice of the First district court of East- 
ern Worcester. He resigned in 1879, and practiced 
law in Westboro until he was appointed in 1888 to 
his present position as judge of the courts of pro- 
bate and insolvency for Worcester county. Judge 
Forbes held many of the town offices of Westboro. 
He was representative to general court 1881-82, and 
state senator from his district 1886-87. He served 
on the committees on liquor law, being house chair- 
man, and on the judiciary, probate insolvency, and 
election laws. In 1887 he prepared and carried 
through the legislature laws abolishing ta.xation for 
church purposes, and providing for the incorpora- 
tion of churches without a parish or religious so- 
ciety. He has taken much interest in local his- 
tory, and wrote the history of Westboro in Lewis's 
"History of Worcester County," and co-operated in 
the preparation of the town history published in 
1891. He is a Congregationalist in religion, and 
has been president of the Worcester Congregational 
Club. 

He married, February 5, 1884, in Worcester, Har- 
riette Merrifield, daughter of William T. and Maria 
C. (Brigham) Merrifield, of Worcester. (See Trow- 
bridge and Merrifield families). Their children: 1. 
William Trowbridge Merrifield, born April 2,]. 1885, 
graduate of Amherst College, and instructor in 
Robert College, Constantinople. 2. ."Xllan White, born 
June 20. 1886, a junior in Amherst College. 3. Cor- 
nelia Brigham, born July 14, 1888, a sophomore in 



354 



^^■ORCESTER COUNTY 



Vassar College. 4. Katherine Maria, born Septem- 
ber 23, 1889. 5. Esther Louise, born June 28, 1891. 
6. JMalcolm Stuart, born November 22, 1892, died 
February 4, 189J. 

MERRIFIELD FAMILY. Thomas Merrificld 
was an ancestor of Harriette (Merrilield) Forbes, 
wife of Hon. William Trowbridge Forbes, of Wor- 
cester, Massachusetts. His ancestry is not fully 
proved. It is possible that he was that Thomas 
born in Boston August 8, 1708, son of Joseph and 
Margaret (Warden) Merrifield. Joseph, born June 
8, 1675, was son of John and Sarah (Goad) Merri- 
field, John being the eldest son of Henry Merrificld, 
of Dorchester, and his wife Margaret, the original 
immigrants in this country. 

The name of Merrilield has always been common 
in the' south of England, especially in Devon, from 
which county Henry Merrifield is supposed to have 
come. As far as is known he was the only one of 
the name to come to New England until the eight- 
eenth century, and probably all of the name who 
figure in the early New England records descended 
from him. Thomas was a popular name in the 
family, and possibly some other Thomas may have 
been the one who was in Dedham, rather than this 
son of Joseph. 

Thomas Merrifield lived in Dedham certainly 
from 1736 to 1752, the dates of birth of the first 
and last of his children recorded on the town rec- 
ords. No record of his death has been found. He 
married, in Groton, Massachusetts, July 12, 1732, 
Mary, born in Watertown August 29, 171 1, daugh- 
ter of John and Rebecca (Waight) Anderson. Her 
father was a Scotchman; her mother a daughter of 
John and INIary (Woodward) Waight, descended 
respectively from Richard Waite (i) and George 
Woodward (Richard i), both of Watertown. Among 
the children of Thomas and Mary (Anderson) Jvler- 
ritield was Timothy, mentioned below. 

(II) Timothy "Merriheld, son of Thomas ISIerri- 
field (4), born in Dedham, Jilassachusetts, January 
4, 1739. He owned land there in 1765, when he 
deeded four acres to Ephraim Bacon, which bounded 
southerly on his own land. There is, however, no 
recorded deed showing when he bought his Ded- 
ham farm. In Sherborn he purchased a hundred- 
acre farm on the road leading from Morse's farm 
to Daniel Whitney's, in 1778, and a few months aft- 
erward deeded one-half of it to his brother Asaph, 
and probably they lived here together until 1784, 
when they bought of Jonathan Amory, of Boston, 
one hundred and twenty-seven acres in what was 
then the easterly part of Holden, now West Boyls- 
ton. Their old house is still standing, now occu- 
pied by J. Lambert, and is evidently very old, prob- 
ably built about 1739, when the land was purchased 
by Joseph WooHey from Benjamin Flagg. Jr. It 
is very low-studded, with heavy timbers, wide floor 
boards, and large square bricks in the hearths. It 
had at the time of his purchase been recently the 
home of Paul Raymond. Asaph Merrifield lived 
here the rest of his life, and after his death the 
house acquired the curious reputation that old houses 
in the country sometimes did, of being haunted. 
Queer things happened to the passersby; wheels came 
off their carts, etc., and thirty cats were known to 
be kept in one of the front rooms. It has, how- 
ever, outlived these superstitions and looks strong 
and solid for another century of existence. In 1786 
Timothy Merrifield sold his half of the Holden 
farm to Joseph Dwelly, and bought of him the 
farm on the old turnpike, now Mountain street, 
Worcester, afterward known as the Merrifield farm, 
where he lived the rest of his life, dying in 1806. 



His life was uneventful, with the exception of his 
serving as a private in the revolution. He married, 
1766, Lydia Cheney, died in 1770. Her two children 
also died. He married (second), June ic, 1772, in 
Sherborn, Mercy Perry, who was mother of all his 
children that grew to maturity. She was daughter 
of John and jNIercy (Nelson) Perry, and was born m 
Sherborn, 1742. Her father was descended from 
John Perry of Roxbury, through John (3), and 
Samuel (2). Mercy Nelson was the daughter of 
Francis Nelson of Rowley, and granddaughter of 
Thomas Nelson (i). Children of Timothy and 
2ilerey Merrifield: Alpheus, mentioned below; Caro- 
line ; Chloe. 

(HI) Alpheus Merrifield, son of Timothy Merri- 
field (2), was born in Sherborn, Massachusetts, 
November 19, 1779. At the age of twenty-five he 
commenced his public career by holding that curious 
ofiice, hog-reeve, to which it was the custom of the 
time to elect young men immediately after their 
marriage. In 1810 he was town constable and col- 
lector of public taxes, serving for six years. In 
1812 and afterward he served on the school com- 
mittee of Worcester; he was also highway surveyor, 
assessor, overseer of the poor many years, and sekc;- 
man five years, also a member of many important tou 11 
committees, and was prominent in the First Uni- 
tarian Church, being deacon for twenty years. The 
early part of his married life was spent on the 
Mountain street farm, inherited from his father. 
He became a contractor and builder, carrying un 
business not only at home but in South Carolina. 
He moved to Summer street, where he died Jan- 
uary 3, 1852. He married, November 12, 1804, 
iMary Trowbridge, daughter of William and Sarah 
(Rice) Trowbridge. They had eight children. 

(IV) William Trowbridge Merrifield, eldest son 
of Alpheus Merrifield (3), was born at the Moun- 
tain street farm, April 10, 1807. At fifteen he com- 
menced to learn the carpenter's trade and served a 
seven year apprenticeship with his father. At 
twenty-one he entered into business for himself as 
contractor and builder, and built many of the im- 
portant buildings in Worcester, including the main 
structure of Worcester Academy, the Lancaster 
jNIills, and many houses. In 1839 he purchased thie 
lot on Union and Exchange streets, where he erected 
for renting purposes brick buildings, four stories 
high, covering about two acres. These were burned 
in 1854 and the present i\Ierrifield buildings took 
their place. They were designed to furnish room 
and power to small manufacturers, and here Deacon 
Washburn laid the foundation of the wire industry; 
Knowles and Crompton founded the loom works, 
and hundreds of other successful manufacturers 
were attracted to Worcester because it was possible 
to begin in a small way with little outlay of capital. 
These were the first buildings in Worcester of this 
nature, and they gave an impetus to the mechanical 
growth of the city which did much to determine 
her future. Mr. Merrifield was one of the founders 
of Union Church. He was always active in the 
agricultural and horticultural societies. Although 
not caring for public life, he served in the city 
government, being a member of the first city couii- 
cil, was also in the state legislature, for ten years 
was trustee of the State Lunatic Hospital, and was 
president for a number of years of the Worcester 
County Mechanics' Association. He died December 
26, 1895, aged eighty-eight. He had had only one 
illness in his life. When in town, as he almost al- 
ways was, he never failed to go to his office. He 
stayed at home the day before his death because it 
was Christmas Day, and not because he was ready 
to give up his work. He was twice married; first. 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



003 



April 27, 1S30, to Margaret, daughter of Jabez and 
Nancy (Kingsbury) Brighani. Two children of 
this marriage survive: I. William Frederic, born 
in Worcester, August 30, 1837; resides in Brook- 
line, Massachusetts. 2. Henry Kingsbury, born July 
21, 1840, resides in Worcester. A grandson of his 
.daughter Catherine, Guy Mcrriticld French, is liv- 
ing in Ottawa, Canada. He married (second), 
March 9, 1847, Alaria („aroline, daughter of Charles 
and Su.-annah (Baylies) Brigham, of Grafton. One 
of their children is living: Harriette, wife of Will- 
iam Trowbridge Forbes, judge of probate for Wor- 
ci-^tcr county, mentioned above. Mrs. Forbes was 
<,(lucated at the Oread Institute. She is interested 
in local history and genealogy, and has written many 
papers on historical subjects. She wrote "The Hun- 
dredth Town," sketches of the town of Wcstbor- 
ough, and edited the "Journal of the Rev. Eben- 
«zer Parkman." She has been regent of Colonel 
Timothy Bigelow Chapter, D. A. R., and is now a 
member of the State Council of the Massachusetts 
J). A. R. 

TROWBRIDGE FAMILY. Thomas Trowbridge 

I I I, of Taunton, England, the immigrant ancestor 

It both Judge and Mrs. Forbes, is the progenitor of 

all of the name in New England. He married 

Elizabeth Marshall. 

(II) James Trowbridge, youngest son of Thomas 
I'rowbridge (l), was an early settler in Charles- 
' \vn ; was lieutenant, selectman, clerk of writs, 

liuty to general court, commissioner, and deacon. 

(III) William Trowbridge, son of Lieutenant 
James Trowbridge (2), born November 19, 1684, 
married Sarah Ward. 

(IV) James Trowbridge, son of William Trow- 
bridge (3), born at Newton, Massachusetts, April 
.21. 1717, married, 1740, Jerusha, daughter of Rich- 
ard and Sarah (Fuller) Park. He was the first set- 
tler of the name in Worcester. He was a turner 
hy trade. He came to Worcester in 1739 and bought 
'•'i Matthew Clark his farm of si-xty acres and his 
l.iiuse on Tatnuck Hill. This farm is now the 
jjroperty of the Tatnuck Country Club. He lived 
there until 1747, when he sold it to Richard Flagg 
and bought near the Auburn line the farm which 
was for many years in the possession of himself 
.-ind his son, the central part of which is now called 

I niwbridgeville. His old house stood until a few 
,\ :irs ago. He also owned the mill privilege where 
he had a corn and a saw mill. He died July 21, 
i8't6. Of his nine children only one seems to have 
remained in Worcester, William. 

(V) William Trowbridge, son of James Trow- 
bridge (4), was born in the Trowbridgeville home- 

:cad, Worcester, March 20, 1751. He served as 
c M-poral in the early days of the revolution, and also 
"U the committees of correspondence. He was 
ikacon of the First Unitarian Church for twenty 
>>ar5. He held nuinerous town offices, being con- 
-lable, warden, collector of highway taxes, serv- 
1)1^' on the school committee and on various other 
tiivvn committees. His mansion house, still stand- 
ing at Trowbridgeville, was built 1798-9, and was 
then considered one of the handsomest in Worces- 
t r. This reputation was owing, perhaps, to the 
wainscoting and interior finish, rather than to any 
special features of the exterior. William Trow;- 
tiridge died in the home of his daughter, Mrs. Lewis 
Chapin, just over the line in Auburn, September 
.V\ 1838. He was buried in the i\Iechanics street 
liiirying ground, Worcester, and when Foster street 
■A a- contmued to the Union Station and the bodies 
rrinoved from that ground, his body and those of 
his familv were taken back to his old farm and re- 



interred in that part of it which is now Hope Cem- 
etery. He married, Decemjjer 12, 1776, Sarah, 
daughter of Thomas and Judith (Stearns) Rice. 
They were the parents of Mary, wdio married 
Alpheus i\Ierrifield, mentioned above. 

HON. ALFRED S. PINKERTON. A citizen 
of Worcester since early youth, self-educated and 
self-made and prominent as a member of the Wor- 
cester bar, a former president of the Massachusetts 
senate and one of the honored councillors of the 
Republican state organization, a national figure in 
the Odd Fellows brotherhood, a gifted orator. Hon. 
Alfred S. Pinkerton stands high in the estimation 
of his fellow citizens not only of Worcester but to 
an unusual degree to others, near and far. He is 
one of the men that high honors make modest and 
retiring. 

Mr. Pinkerton's father was a merchant at Lan- 
caster, Pennsylvania, dealing in hardware, iron and 
steel. Fie died when Alfred was a boy of fourteen 
and his mother came to Worcester to live, bringing 
her two children, a son and a daughter. His school 
days were short. He had to become a bread winner 
when a mere child. He gathered his education as 
many good Americans have done without the aid of 
the school teacher. He was clerk in several Wor- 
cester stores and manufacturing enterprises, thus 
acquiring: a thorough mercantile training. But he 
turned his attention to the law and decided to make 
it his profession. He studied in the office of the 
late Peter C. Bacon, of W'orcester, was admitted to 
the bar in 1881, when he was twenty-five, and has 
ever since been engaged in the active practice of his 
profession. 

He was a member of the Massachusetts house 
of representatives, representing ward two, in 1887- 
88-89. Upon his first entrance to the house in 1887 
he was appointed by Speaker Charles J. Noyes 
chairman of the committee on towns, a position 
which that year was a particularly conspicuous one 
by reason of several vigorous and hotly contested 
town division cases involving questions of unusual 
legal popular interest. These contests were heard 
in the first instance by this committee and later by 
the legislature ; he was the spokesman of his com- 
mittee on the floor and successful in maintaining its 
contention. This was the year of the famous Bev- 
erly division contest and the spirited debates that 
marked this long struggle, as well as the Medford 
division issue that followed, which are memorable 
in the annals of the legislature and of the literature 
of town divisions. 

In 1888 he was a member of the committee on 
the judiciary and of that on constitutional amend- 
ments, and was also a member of a special committee 
to represent the state in connection with the cele- 
brations commemorative of the settlement of the 
Xortliwest Territory. In 1890 he was elected to rep- 
resent the fourth Worcester district, which included 
the wards of Worcester, the city of Fitchburg and a 
number of towns, in the senate, and was that year 
chairman of the committee on constitutional amend- 
ments, and member of the committee on the judiciary, 
probate and insolvency, and of the special commit- 
tee to which was referred the first contested election 
arising under the new Australian ballot law. The 
report of the last named committee has been followed 
as a precedent in cases involving the construction 
of the law. In 1891 he W'as chairman of the com- 
mittee on the judiciary and by virtue of that posi- 
tion leader of the senate. He was also member of 
the committee on probate and insolvency and chair- 
man of a joint special committee to consider state 
commissions and their relation to state governments. 



356 



WORCESTER C(3UXTY 



The last named committee was one of great import- 
ance under tine circumstances. The then Democratic 
governor, William E. Russell, had made in his 
inaugural address a violent attack upon the system 
of state commissions and contended for a greater 
degree of executive authority. In consequence of his 
inaugural address the general subject of state com- 
missions, their powers, duties, authority and relation 
to the state government, were referred to this special 
committee, of wliich jNlr. Finkerton was chairman 
and of which Josiah Quincy, late mayor of Boston, 
was a member. The connnittee held numerous hear- 
ings, and was allowed to sit in recess, and made an 
elaborate report prepared by Mr. Finkerton to the 
legislature the following year. The Democratic 
members made minority report upon certain phases 
of the situation. This report, following a campaign 
in which commissions were freely discussed, formed 
the basis of future legislation on the subject of 
connnissions. Its suggestions and recommendations 
are worth the attention and study of those interested 
in the uses of commissions as an auxiliary of state 
administration. 

The senate of 1891 was tied politically betvyeen 
the Republican and Democratic members. Mr. Fink- 
erton was chairman of the Republican steering com- 
mittee and spokesman of the Republican side, a po- 
sition requiring much tact and parliamentary skill, 
but so well was the work done that in 1892 he was 
elected president of the senate by the unanimous 
vote of both Republican and Democratic members, 
and the same compliment was given him the year 
following. During his occupancy of the chair he 
was made chairman of a special committee to sit 
during the recess and consider the laws relative to 
corporations other than municipal ; the report of this 
committee drafted largely by him is exhaustive and 
comprehensive. It has been the basis of much 
subsequent legislation to prevent the watering of 
stock and otherwise to guard the interests of the 
stockholders. As a result of this investigation and 
report, the private investor is protected by law, 
probably as much as the law can protect him, from 
loss and depreciation of stocks while by later legis- 
lation great progress has been made in regulating 
the public service corporations. 

In 1895 he was chairman of the committee to re- 
vise the rules of the legislature. He declined a re- 
nomination in the following year and has since been 
engaged in the practice of law, giving freely of his 
time to party interests and public affairs. As a pre- 
siding officer he won an enviable reputation as a 
parliamentarian and for impartiality. While he was 
the president of the senate a number of close par- 
liamentary questions came to him for decision, and 
his rulings have since been followed as precedents. 
He seldom reserved his decision on points of order 
and questions to be decided, but almost invariably 
decided them forthwith. It is a proof of his knowl- 
edge of parliamentary law and practice as well as 
of his judicial mind to note that in every instance his 
rulings were sustained. He is and for several years 
has been the chairman of the executive committee 
of tlie Republican state committee, and has de- 
clined election as chairman of the committee. He 
has been secretary and is now chairman of the Re- 
publican county committee of Worcester county. He 
is vice-president of the Middlesex Club, a famous 
organization of men prominent in business and 
politics. He has been one of the prominent cam- 
paign speakers of the Republican party for many 
years, and has been the orator on many occasions 
of public interest. He was for several years di- 
rector of the Public Library. 

He is also known for his leadership and honors 



in fraternal and secret orders. He is past master 
of Althelstan Lodge of Alasons, a member of Eureka 
Royal Arch Chapter, Hiram Council and Worcester 
County Commandery of Knights Templar. 

He became a member of the Worcester 
Lodge of Odd Fellows in 1878, and was, 
noble grand of the lodge in 1881. He was 
elected grand master of Massachusetts for 
the year beginning August, 188S, and was the j'Oung- 
est man ever chosen to fill the position. He was 
elected to the sovereign grand lodge the following 
year, but resigned before taking his seat, entering 
that body as representative in 1890 and was con- 
tinued as a member until his election as deputy 
grand sire at Dallas, Texas, and as grand sire in 
l8g8 at Boston. During his service as grand sire, 
at the head of the Odd Fellows of the United States 
and of the world, he devoted a large part of his-;, 
time to the order. The good results of his labor 
are apparent in the prosperity that is attending thei 
organization. He had the satisfaction of having all 
his acts and one hundred and sixty-four decisions 1 
approved. As an attorney Colonel Finkerton, to use ■; 
the title by which he is generally known, has had. 
to do with some very important and noted cases. ; 
At present his time is almost exclusively given to-l 
the practice of his profession. 

Mr. Finkerton was born at Lancaster, Pennsyl- 
vania, the son of William Cooper and Maria (Fiske) 
Finkerton, March 19, 1856. His mother was a daugh- 
ter of Samuel Fiske, of Le.xington, Massachusetts, 
a lineal descendant of one of the emigrants who 1 
founded the commonwealth of Massachusetts in 
1630-40. His paternal grandfather was Henry Pink- , 
erton, of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, who married into- 
the well known Atlee family of Pennsylvania. The 
Pinkertons were early settlers of Pennsylvania, com- • 
ing from England. His father died at Scranton, 
Pennsylvania, December 28, 1871 ; his mother died 
while visiting her sister at Cambridge, Massachu- 
setts, in 1886. The children of William C. and 
Maria Finkerton were: i. Alfred S., born March 
19, 1856, married, August 18, 1904, Betsy Howe 
Chapin. daughter of Willard and Lydia Chapin. of 
Maiden. Massachusetts 2. Ella, born June 28, 1858, ■ 
married A. M. Weeks, of Princeton, Massachusetts, 
in 1877, and has two children : Alice E. Weeks, born 
December 7. 1877, married Harry Alexander, of 
Upton, Massachusetts ; William J. Weeks, of Prince- 
ton, born July 26, 1882. 

Maria Fiske, mother of Colonel Finkerton, was 
born at Lexington. Massachusetts. Her father's 
family follows. Samuel Fiske came to Lexington 
when a child and lived with John Chandler, who had 
him baptized at Lexington. May 29, 1803. He was 
born at Salem, Massachusetts. September 30, 1789. 
He married, January 25, 1818, Cordelia L. Tufts, 
of Charlestown, who was born January 7, 1795. She , 
died April 15. 1833. He removed from Lexington 
to Shirley and later to Worcester, wdiere he died 
October 25, 1844. He was a representative in the , 
general court from Lexington in 1828-29-30. Their 
children were: i. Lucy Ann, born at Kinderhook,. . 
New York, May 7, 1819. married, October 12, 1841, 1 
Joseph P. Hale, of Bernardston. 2. Amnii R., born ' 
at Charlestown (now Boston), Massachusetts, Sep- 
tember 28, 1820, married, December 28, 1846, Fhebe 
James, of Newburyport, Massachusetts. 3. Augusta, 
born at Lexington, December 31, 1822, married, 
September 3, 1848, Timothy W. Wellington, moved 
to Shirley, Massachusetts, thence to Worcester. 4. 
Lucretia. born July 12, 1825. married, October 19, 
1845. William Hudson, of Lexington, who was a 
soldier in the civil war, was in the signal corps in 
Burnside's expedition to North Carolina, died of 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



357 



Idisease, August 20, 1862, leaving John A. Hudson, 
Iborn December 26, 1846, and William F. Hudson, 
'born October ,3, 1848. 5. Ardelia L., born April 20, 
1827, married, April 20, 1847, Lucius \V. Pond, who 
'became one of the most prominent manufacturers 
of his day in Worcester. 6. Maria, liorn December 
'20, 1828, married. April 21, 1853, William C. PinUer- 
ton, of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. (.See parents of 
Hon. A. S. Pinkerton.) 7. Lydia, born July r], 
1830. 8. Samuel, born March 23, 1833, went to 
Lancaster, Pennsylvania, married Amanda Stod- 
Jdard, of Philadelphia. 
I 

■ HARRINGTON FAMILY. Chaunccy Good- 
rich Harrington was born in Worcester, June 30, 
1826, in a house that stood on the west corner of 
Park and Salem streets, which at that time was 
occupied as a public house, his father, William Har- 
rington, being the landlord. His early education 
was obtained in the public schools of his native town, 
and after passing through the various grades he 
found employment with a maker of spectacles, then 
a Worcester industry. He later worked in a fac- 
i-tory in Millbury, where carpenters' and gardeners' 
[tools were made. 

I In the fall of 1850, the Harrington block, corner 
iof Main and Front streets, was built by his father, 
and Chauncey G. Harrington, in company with Ed- 
iward Bemis, opened here a store for the sale of 
ooots and shoes, the style of the firm being Bemis 
*t Co., the location No. 2 Harrington corner. Al- 
■:hough the firm name was subsequently changed to 
pemis & Company, Mr. Harrington continued a 
•nember of the firm until the spring of 1873. During 
,-he summer of that year he, accompanied by his 
Wife, made a trip to Niagara Falls, Toronto, and 
lown the River St. Lawrence to Montreal, thence 
'o the White Mountains, where on June II, while 
'iiaking a tour by coach from the Crawford House, 
uid on the way from Bethlehem to the Profile 
House, a most thrilling accident occurred in which 
Mr. Harrington met with a narrow escape from 
'leath. Two coaches each drawn by six horses left 
he Crawford House in the morning, both well 
■aden with passengers and their baggage. The ride 
'o the town of Bethlehem was one of special pleas- 
ire. Here a short stop was made to allow the 
lassengers to partake of light refreshments and 
•tretch their limbs. At the appointed time, when the 
iiignal was given, each one of the jolly party clam- 
lered into their proper places and the two coaches 
vith their precious human freight started from the 
Sinclair House at a rapid clip amid the waving of 
iandkerchiefs and cheers from the patrons of the 
lotel. responded to by the passengers with songs of 
nusic, the swinging of hats and waving adieus as 
hey whirled along over the smooth road in the di- 
■ection of the Profile House. The second coach 
arried eighteen passengers, nine including Mr. Har- 
ington on the top and nine including Mrs. Har- 
,ington on the inside. There were also upon the 
bp of the coach several heavy trunks, making the 
'ehicle rather topheavy. For some distance the 
wo coaches traveled within easy communication of 
ach other, but on reaching a certain house the 
iriver of the rear coach halted for a few minutes, 
''hen on again mounting the box the forward coach 
i'as out of sight. The driver as well as the horses 
eing apparently eager to overtake their leader, and 
le road for a considerable distance being descend- 
|ig, the coach was soon proceeding at a fearful 
beed, and as the attempt was made to pass a curve 
1 the road near the foot of Whitcomb hill, was 
verturned throwing the nine persons and the trunks 
lat were on top of the coach in a heap by the road 



side. Three of the passengers who were sitting near 
Mr. Harrington when the coach went over were 
killed and all of the others were more or less injured. 
Air. Harrington's injuries confined him in tlie house 
in Bethlehem to which he was removed from the 
scene of the accident for about three weeks. Mrs. 
Harrington came from the wreck unharmed, al- 
though her lady companion in the coach received a 
broken arm. Of late years iNlr. Harrington has 
occupied his time in caring for a valuable property, 
the accumulation of many years. Harrington block 
at the corner of Main and Front streets is con- 
sidered one of the best locations for business pur- 
poses in the city of Worcester. He attends the Main 
Street Baptist Church, and is a member of the 
Commonwealth Club, and also of the Worcester 
Society of Antiquity. 

He married (first) Lois Ann Harrington, of 
Millbury. She died, and he married (second) Har- 
riet Elizabeth Bemis, "June 20, 1867. She was 
daughter of William and Catherine (Eveleth) 
Bemis, of Spencer, where she was born October 8, 
1831. During her childhood her parents removed 
to Worcester, where she received her early educa- 
tion in the public schools and the Oread Collegiate 
Institute, later becoming a teacher of music in that 
institution, continuing from 1854 to 1857. 

Mrs. Harrington is a lineal descendant of John 
Bemis, who was born in Dedham. Essc.^c county, 
England, as early as 1550, and at his death left a 
will proved June 28, 1604, by which we learn that 
he had by wife Anne the following children : Isaac, 
Luke, Neary, James, Susan, Abraham, and Joseph. 
This last named Joseph Bemis married, lived and 
died in England, leaving a son Joseph, born in Eng- 
land. i6ig, who came to New England and settled in 
Watertown, Massachusetts, as early as 1640. where 
he died August 7, 1684, having had by wife Sarah, 
nine children. The widow Sarah died about 1712. 

John, born 1657, the youngest son of this Jo- 
sepli, the farmer and blacksmith, married Mary 
Harrington in 1680; lived in Watertown and had 
fourteen children. Their sixth child, Samuel, born 
1690, married, April 12, 1715. Sarah Barnard, and 
had eight children. William, the third child born 
in Sudbury, November i, 1722, married Rebecca 
White, July 5, 1750; and had Jesse, 1751 ; Sarah, 
1753; David, 1755; Sibbilah. 1758; Rebecca, 1761; 
Persis, 1764; William, August 18. 1766; Silas. 1770. 
He died March 23, 1801, and his widow Rebecca 
died JNIarch 17, i8ig. William Bemis, born August 
18. 1766, married Lucretia Mirick, of Princeton; the 
intention of marriage is dated February 3, 1802. She 
died January 5, 1814. He married (second) Cath- 
erine Eveleth, also of Princeton. June i. 1814. Chil- 
dren were ; Charles, born July 6, 1805 ; De.xter, 
August 5, 1806; Jesse. March 12, 1808; Elizabeth, 
March 17, 1811; David, August 3, 1812; Lucretia 
Mirick, May 12, 1815; William, December 14, 1816; 
George, July 25. 1818; Horace, June 25, 1821 ; Ed- 
ward, Julv 27, 1824; and Harriet Elizabeth, October 
8, 1826. 

(I) The ancestral line of Chauncey Goodrich 
Harrington has been traced from Robert, who w-as 
born in England in 1616. He embarked from there 
in the ship "Elizabeth." April 10, 1634, and on arriv- 
ing in Massachusetts settled in Watertown, where 
his name appears among the list of proprietors in 
1642 and 1644. He married, October I, 1648, Susanna 
George, daughter of John George, of Watertown. 
then deceased as was also her mother, the widow of 
Henry Goldstone being her guardian. Robert was 
admitted freeman March 27, 1663, and died May 
II, 1707, aged ninety-one years: His will, dated 
January I, 1704-03, mentions sons John, Daniel, 



358 



\\'ORCESTER COUNTY 



Benjamin, Samuel, Thomas, and Edward. To the 
latter he gave his homestead. His will also men- 
tions daughters, Susanna Beers, Sarah Winship, 
and jMary Bcmis, showing thus early a union be- 
tween the Harrington family in New England with 
the Bemis family. The inventory of Robert's estate 
mentioned six hundred and forty-seven and one- 
half acres of land and included a house and null 
all appraised at seven hundred and seventeen pounds. 

(II) Edward Harrington, born March 2, 1668- 
69, the youngest son to grow to manhood of Robert 
and Susanna (George) Harrington, married (first), 
March 30, 1692, Mary Occington. She died and he 
married (second) Anna, widow of Jonathan Bullard, 
of Weston, Massachusetts. He was selectman of 
Watertown 1716-30-31. Their children were: Alary, 
born 1692; William, 1694; Mindwell, 1697; Joanna, 
1699; Edward, 1702; Samuel, August 3, 1704.; Na- 
thaniel, June 25, 1706, was a graduate of Harvard 
College 1728, and known as "Master Harrington" ; 
Francis, June 11, 1709; Susanna, September 9, 1711. 

(HI) Samuel Harrington, born August 3, 1704, 
married, October 19, 1725, Sarah Warren. He was 
called of Waltham. They had Samuel, baptized May 
ig, 1728; Mary, baptized same day. 

(IV) Samuel Harrington, baptized May 19, 
1728, was called of Worcester in 1776, at which 
time his daughter Hannah married Daniel Maynard, 
of Shrewsburj-, and may have been in Worcester 
prior to April 19, 1775, when his son Samuel marched 
from Worcester in Captain Timothy Bigelow's com- 
pany for Lexington. His children were: Samutl, 
born 1754, married Silance Robinson ; he died 1838, 
aged eighty-four years; Hannah, born 1757, married 
Daniel Maynard, and lived in Shrewsbury ; Noah, 
born February 2, 1760, married Lois Kingsley; 
Joshua; and Jubal. 

(V) Noah Harrington, born February 2, 1760, 
was matross in Colonel Thomas Craft's artillery 
regiment, 1775; William Todd's eighth iMassachu- 
setts company, February I to May 8, 1776, three 
months and seven days in service. He may also 
have served in Captain Sibley's company. Colonel 

Keyes' regiment, mustered August 18, , and in 

Captain Joseph Sibley's company. Colonel Dan- 
forth Keyes' regiment, enlisted July 20, 1777, and 
again from December I, 1777, to January 2, 1778, 
and under Captain Dex for Rutland, afterward en- 
listing for three years. 

He married, July 27, 1784, Lois, daughter of 
Enoch Kingsley. She was born September 12, 
1760, and died October 11, 1820. Their first home 
was in Shrewsbury where three of their children 
were born. They removed to Worcester about 
1792, and lived on the road to Grafton where it 
passes quite near the Boston & Albany Railroad 
tracks. He, with his brother Samuel, kept a tavern 
in Boston on the site of the present Adams House. 
His children were: Lydia, born December 25, 1784; 
William, 17S6, died in infancy; Hannah, Septem- 
ber 23, 1792, died young; Samuel, died young; Will- 
iam, February 25, 1788; Luke, September 12, 1789, 
died November, 1855 ; Samuel, 1797, died April 4, 
1855 ; Eliza, i8oa, married a Mr. Shay, died July 
17, 1869; Thomas J., January 27, 1804, died July 5, 
1888; Hannah, July 17, 1809, married Henry Tower, 
and died March 23, 1853. 

(VI) William Harrington, born February 25, 
17S8, married Abigail Adaline, daughter of Peter 
and Elizabeth Stowell. She was born March 15, 
1799. Her father and his brother Ebenezer, in com- 
pany with their father, Cornelius Stowell, were man- 
ufacturers of W'Oolen goods, making a specialty of 
weaving carpets, dyeing and dressing woolen goods. 



and printing calicoes. They made the first carpe 
used in the present state house in Boston. 

Mr. Ha'rrington passed his boyhood days upo 
his father's farm and attending the common school 
when a young man sought to learn the trade of 
mason and bricklayer, and during the constructin 
of the old Exchange building on jNIain street, nea 
Exchange, when the brick walls were nearing thei 
full height, the staging on which jNIr. Harringto 
and others were at work gave way, and the work 
men with their bricks and mortar fell to the grount 
several of the men being severely injured. Mr. Har 
rington was taken up for dead and carried to th 
opposite side of Main street near the corner of Wal 
nut street, and laid in Mr. Hamilton's yard. Mr; 
Hamilton detected some signs of life and effort 
were made to revive him, which proved successful 
In the fall his knee had been crushed. That will 
his other light injuries confined him to the housi 
nearly five years, when the limb was amputated b) 
Dr. John Green. As soon as he recovered from thd 
operation he attended the Leicester Academy where 
he fitted for a teacher, and taught school in thi 
Central Worcester district. He later kept a store 
on Main street on the site now occupied by th«i 
Piper block, and also was engaged in keeping a' 
tavern at corner ot Salem and Park streets. Hd; 
died February 12, 1871, aged eighty-two years,- 
eleven months and seventeen days. His children: 
were : Frances A., born October 4. 1821 ; Williami 
Henry, April 29, 1824; Chauncey Goodrich, June 
30, 1826. 

HILTON FAMILY. The immigrant ancestor: 
of most of the New England family of Hilton was/ 
William Hilton, who came from England to America' 
in the ship "Fortune" to Plymouth, November, 1621. 
His wife and children came in 1623 in the ship 
"Anne." Land was assigned to the family at Plym- 
outh in 1623. He removed to Newbury, Massa- 
chusetts, where he was living in 1635. He was ad- 
mitted a freeman May 19. 1642. He was a deputy 
to the general court in 1642 and 1643. He removed 
again to New Hampshire. His children were : Sarah, 
born June, 1641, evidently of a second marriage; 
Charles, July, 1643; Ann, February 12, 1648; Eliza- 
beth, November 6, 1650 ; William, June 28, 1663. 

Page Hilton, a descendant of William Hilton, 
mentioned above, was born in Maine and died in 
Bath, Maine. He married Mary Ann Caton. He 
was the father of Charles Fowle Hilton and grand- 
father of Charles Eugene Hilton, of Worcester. 

William Hilton, brother of Page Hilton, was 
born in Salisbury. Massachusetts, November 28, ■ 
1813, and died at Hotel Brunswick, Boston, Decem- 
ber 25, 1887. He started in business as a country 
storekeeper at Frye village, Andover, Massachusetts. 
His education was limited in his early years but he 
was eventually a well-educated man with a bright, 
open and inquiring mind and wide experience in 
public affairs. He began buying wool of the farm- 
ers who then kept sheep generally. About 1843 he 
removed to Boston to extend his operations in the 
wool market and produce. In the successive firms 
of Hilton & Gore, Williams, Hilton & Company and 
in Hilton, Weston & Company this energetic man 
rose to the rank of the greatest wool merchant in 
Boston, well known in all the markets of that staple 
throughout the world. Every year, in the interests 
of his house, he spent considerable time in London. 
Eminently successful as a merchant, public-spirited, 
just and sagacious, he enjoyed the esteem of the best 
people of the city. Mr. Hilton was rated as a 
millionaire. 




/ 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



359 



He married Esther A. , and they liave 

one daughter — Mrs. Catherine (Hilton) Fislce, who 
survived him. In his will JNIr. Hilton provided for 
the eventual distribution of $540,000 among fifteen 
; religious societies, colleges and charities. 

Charles Fowle Hilton, son of Page Hilton and 
nephew of William Hilton, was a resident of White- 
field, Maine. He married Charlotte Roc Chapman, 
daughter of Benjamin and Lydia Ann (.Turnbull) 
s Chapman. He died in Frceport, Maine. Charlej 
i Fowle Flilton was a lumberman by occupation, also 
j a farmer. He married (second) Eliza Spratt, ot 
Lewiston, Maine, by whom he had eight children, 
five of whom are living.. Charles F. Hilton was a 
leading citizen of Castle Hill Plantation, in Aroos- 
took county, Maine. The children of Charlts Fowle 
: and Charlotte Roe (Chapman) Hilton were: Frances 
Caroline, Charles Eugene, of whom later ; Mary 
I Enez, Lydia Ann, Frank Ellsworth. The children 
! of Charles Fowle and Eliza (Spratt) Hilton were: 
! Laban Page, Mary, Abigail, William, and several 
i others. 

1 Charles Eugene Hilton, son of Charles Fowle 
Hilton, was born in VVhitelield, Maine. He attended 
the public schools at Castle Hill, jMaine, and later 
in Worcester, I\Iassachusetts. He worked at farm- 
ing, having charge of the Heywood farm, Worces- 
ter, for ten years. He then bought his present es- 
tate, the old Allen place, and opened a stone quarry. 
■ His farm on both sides of Grafton street, the 
buildings on Woodland place. Mr. Hilton has been 
very successful in contract work, excavating cellars 
and furnishing stone for foundations, building high- 
ways, driveways, etc. He is a Free JNIason, a mera- 
'' ber of Athelstan Lodge of Worcester ; of Worces- 
: ter Royal Arch Chapter; of the Republican Club 
and other organizations. The former owner of 
the Hilton place was Major Allen, who sold it to 
Edward L Bliss, of the New York banking firm of 
Bliss, Morton & Company. Mr. Hilton bought the 
farm of Mr. Bliss's widow. 

Mr. Hilton married Rose May Rich, daughter of 
Henry V. Rich, of Worcester. Her mother w'as 
Deborah Sprague, of Rhode Island, a descendant of 
the well-known Sprague family of that section. 
Their children are: Benjamin Charles, born April 
13, 1891 ; Irving Henry, February 27, 1893. 

GEORGE CONVERSE BIGELOW. John Bige- 
lovv (i), the ancestor of the late George Converse 
Bigelow, of Worcester, was an early settler in Water- 
town, being a descendant, according to the pedigree 
of Bigelow by the late H. G. Somerby, who spent 
! considerable time in searching the English records, 
iviz. : the Herald's visitations, deeds, charters, wills, 
j parish registers and other original documents, of 
j Richard de Baguley, Lord of Baguley, in the county 
of Chester, England, 1243, since whose time the 
' name has had many variations of spelling, the pres- 
ent one having been accepted by nearly all the later 
generations. Some of the descendants spell the 
name Bagley, however. Not to occupy too much 
space, we will take the direct line of descent to John 
Bigelow, of Watertown, from Richard de Baguley, 
Lord of Baguley, above mentioned, who mari^ied 
Alice, daughter of Ralph de Vernon, and had a son. 
(II) Ralph de Baguley, who married, a daughter 
of Hamon Massey. Baron of Dunham Massey. He 
had lands in Baguley and Ollerton in the parish of 
Knutsfnrd. He had three sons. 

(IH) Hamon de Baguley, third son of Ralph, and 
Lord of the Manor of Ollerton Hall in the parish 
of Knutsford in the county of Chester, left many 
descendants in Ollerton. 

(IV) Ralph de Baguley, of Ollerton Hall, a de- 



scendant of Hamon de Baguley, made his will and 
died in 1540, and left two sons: Randall and Nicho- 
las. 

(V) Randall de Baguley, of Ollerton Hall, mar- 
ried Eleanor '■ , and died 1556; he left two sons: 

Philip and Robert. , 

{\'l) Robert de Baguley, of Ollerton, was buried 
at Knutsford, November 4, 1582, leaving two sons: 
Randall and John. 

(VII) Randall Baguley, son of Robert, of Oller- 
ton. married Jane , died at Wrentham, county 

of Suffolk, and was buried May 17, 1626. They had 
:it Wrentham Persis, Susan, \Villiani, Margaret, 
John. 

(VIII) John, above named, is said by Mr. 
Somerby to be the John Biglo or Bigelow, of Water- 
town. He was a proprietor there as early as 1642. 
He bought a house and land there in 1649, and 
took the oath of fidelity at Walertown in 1652, and 
was admitted a freeman April 18, 1690. lie was a 
blacksmith and planter in the colony, was chosen 
a surveyor of highways, 1652 and 1660, a constable, 
1663, and one of "the seven men" (selectmen) in 
1665-70-71. His homestead was bounded north by 
Richard Ambler and William Parker, east by Thomas 
Straight, south by the highway and on the west by 
Miles Ives. He married (first), August 30, 1642, 
Mary Warren, a daughter of John and Margaret 
Warren, and theirs was the first marriage recorded 
in Watertow-n. She died October 19, 1691. He 
married (second), October 2, 1694, Sarah Bemis. 
daughter of Joseph Bemis, of Watertown. He died 
July 14, 1703, at the age of eighty-six. His will 
dated January 4, 1703, was proved July 23, 1703. 
The children of John and Mary (Warren) Bigelow 
w-ere: John, born March 14, 1643; Jonathan, born 
December ir, 1646: Mary, born March 14, 1648, 
married Michael Flagg, ancestor of the Worcester 
county Flaggs : Daniel, born December I, 1650, re- 
sided in Framingham ; Samuel, born October 28, 

* 1653 ; Joshua, born November 5, 1655. resided in 
Watertown and Weston, married Elizabeth Flagg; 
he was a soldier in King Philip's war in Captain 
Ling's company, was wounded, and in consideration 
of his service the general court gave him a grant 
of land in Narragansett : Elizabeth, born June 15, 
1657, married Lieutenant John Stearns; Sarah, born 
.September 29, 1659. married Isaac Learned, of Sher- 
born. near Framingham : James, lived in Watertown ; 
Martha, born April i, 1662; Abigail, born February 
4. 1664. married Benjamin Harrington; Hannah, 
born March 4, 1666, died young ; a son born and died 
December 18, 1667. 

By his first marriage with Mary Warrert the 
Bigelows are connected by descent with the Warren 
family. Mary Warren's father, John Warren, was 
on the list of one hundred and eighteen freeman at 
Watertown, May 18, 1631. He was selected as 
one to lay out the highw'ays and see that they be 
sufficiently repaired, and was selectman from 1636 
to 1640. In a very elaborate genealogy of the War- 
ren family. Professor John C. Warren traced the 
descent of John Warren from William the Con- 
queror, and gives the direct line as extended back 
to the Saxon incursion into England in A. D., 495, 
as also back through the royal lines of France, Ger- 
many and Italy. It will be seen from tables given 
that the blood of the royal lines of England, France, 
Germany and Italy flows in the veins of the Bige- 
lows and Warrens. William de Warren, the first 
of the name, was one of the Norman barons who 
fought at the battle of Hastin.gs. 

Samuel Bigelow. fifth child nf John Bigelow, was 
born in Watertown. ISIassachusetts. October 28, 1653. 
He married Mary Flagg, daughter of Thomas and 



36o 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



r&Q f^^\ "''"" "'^' ^^"'■" }^""^'y M. 1658, and 

f^l? V\atcrtown. He was an innholder from 
ZJ '^'•^- "S ""epresented the town in the gen- 
Z :-T\'" ,'7°S-?9.-'o. His will, <lated September 
30, 1/20. men ions his clnldrcn, as given below, and 
also some of his grandchildren: John, born May 9 
1075; Alary, born September 12, 1677; Samuel born 
Septenrber 18 1679; Sarah, born October i, X 
married Josiah Howe; Thomas, of whom latVr • 
Mercy, born April 4. 1686, (also given Martha) mar- 
ried Lieutenant Thomas Garfield, son of Captain 
Benjamin Garfield; Abigail, born May 7, 1687 mar- 
ried. August I ]7,o. Jonathan Cutler, of Killin-lv 
Connecticut; Hannah, born May 24, 17. 1, married 
Daniel Warren, a soldier in the French war taken 
prisoner by the Indians and carried to Canada 
Isa.w. bon, May 19. 1691. married Mary Bond and 
hved a Colchester, Connecticut; Deliverance born 
Sternes '"' ''^'' "'''""'■ ^"S"^' '«' '7'S: Sn 
Thomas Bigelow. fifth child of Samuel Bigelow 

Julv r2''Vo-^\f'"7-"' ^''^^'^ ^-^' '683: nifrried; 
Juiy 12 i/Oj Mary Livermore, of VVatertown He 

removed to Marlboro. Massachusetts, where he re- 
sided until 1720. when he removed to Waltham 

S7u %-':' ?h'°'", '?:. ''''■ "'^ -'f*^ d''d Au: 

gust 14 I/33. Their children: Thomas born Anril 

fT'ro-'- C^^V"" '^^P^'^^°= ^'^''■- bon. Seplemrer 
Julv 1- i-rr' '^""^/^''"'^■-y 7. 1709; Uriah, born 
Mnrrb ■^' i ' '' •'". ^". ^'^'^^"' ^^ Marlboro, 

JMarch o. 1/34, unmarried; Abraham, born March s 

- 6 'Tn''nh f ^^"='°"= ^f^^^' l'"^" September 1, 
Mav'i--^ ^,A '^°''". September. 17,7; Sarah, born 
-May I;. 1720, married Lieutenant Elisha Livermore 
prominent in Waltham; Josiah. born Julv ^o 730 
Lieutenant Josiah Bigelow, youngest" clnld of 
Thomas Bigelow was born in Waltham. July 30 
1730; married, July 27, 1749. Mary Harrington' 
daughter of Jonas and Abigail (Stearns) Herring: 

acob and^Al ""T ^^S''^' ^- '"^°- Lil<e his brothers 
fair. .nH ■^'''■.t.'f m he was prominent in town af- 

the We to',', "I /-r 'V'- ^' ''■''' 'ieutenant of 
tlie VNeston Artillery Company on the Lexington 
alarm Apnl ig ,775. He died at W^altham. j\ ly^ i " 
1810, aged eighty years. His children, all born in 
t^b'*r;\-rr^ l. WiHiam. bom in Weston, Oc- 
totier II. 1/49, was the original character described 
by Harriet Beecher Stovve in the story of "Old 
.lo«-n 1-olks as "Deacon Badger." his wife Hepsfbah 
IS described as "Grandmother Badger" and those 
who remember them say their characters vvere most 
accurately depicted. William, the eldest son is de- 

ProfefsorVV'"'V^'c'" ^'^'"'''^' '^e mmher of 
whilfi? ^^T ^- Stowe, was known as "Susy " 

as • Au^t"^"^^"''?^ 'f "-^""^ L°'^" a"d Abigail 
of man th'". '■■ ,^'''^?'°' Stowe was the author 
of many theological vvorks. 2. Anna, born August 
f3, l/ji. 3. Uriah, born November 10 17^^ a 
. Converse, bortj January 20. 1755, of whom later' t 

V ember r'^-^""'^' f?' '"*^- ^- "^'P'^"'-'- ^orn No^ 
T t ^i ^^^- 7- Eunice, married April 24 178S 

set'f anH°F%'"'^ v'"''!-'", Templeton, Mas'sachu-' 
8 Urinh Sn*°"AT^?' ^°'^' ^""^ ^'Sht children. 
AuJ^ist 'r ,-S ^^'"""'c '^u 'J^- 9- Thomas, born 
• It ."'o'^'^- '°- Sarah, born July 31 177, m,r 
ried July 8, 1790. Hezekiah Morse '^73. mar 

Toskh"S ^'«^'°^; f°"^'h child of Lieutenant 
Josiah Bigelow was born at Waltham. January 20 
l75o. married October 8. 1778. Anna Parks who was 
born m Brighton, Massachusetts Februar -T 17^6 
and died at Sherborn. September 9 184I' [ifd 
eighty-seven years He removed earlv o Ttmpleton 

ShlrK ''' f""'' !'''^" ^'"''^'"<^" were born, then to 
Sherborn where he lived the remainder of hi. davs 



and died April 23, ,829. He served in the revolu 
nonary war from Weston in Captain Sa tiel La w 
herWb"T'""' -^P"' '9. ^775. also in Captain AsL 
egin«it i"%TPf"^' Colonel, John Robinfon's 
regiment, ni 1776 also corporal in Captain Charles 
Miles company. Colonel Jonathan Reed's regiment 
at r conderoga in 1777. Their children were Bet 
sey, born July 31, 1779, married, May 27 1^6 John 
Goulding, of Sherborn, had six children Anne 

8-r t^' "'• '"^'' '^''^ ""married December "e' 
18/ r, aged ninety years; John, born Tanuarv^fi 
1783, married Hannah Partridge and sett ed in Sher' 
born: died December 8, 1839; she died August 27" 
1?'A9""'''^^f?' J""-' ''°'"" November 20 1784 mar 
ried Mary Viles; Elijah, born Augu t 31 ?786 
married Rebecca Fish; Calvin, born June 30 700 
married Elizabeth Adams; Sukey. born .April^?7' 
r/9^, married Josiah Battelle; Sally, born Februarv 
4. 1794. married Nathaniel Stearns, resided i„ 3 

Snwti'. a"'" k'^'^'U "■ '796, married Harr^ei 

Sawin; Amos, born .March 17. 1798 died Tulv T-ri<. 

Moses, born June 29, ,801, l'{ vvhom later " ' '^' 
Amos Bigelow. youngest child of Converse Bi^e- 

ow was born in Sherborn, Massachusetts, June 4 

Stow ZIV'"\- ^l'^ f-, '^^7, Lucy Stowe. born k 
."iugus. 29 8S3. He was a farmer and for manv 

ears carried on the Bigelow homestead there bul 
!, "^< ''f';/«''-'-"fl- bought a place in the village and 

o d the old farm. He was interested in tie family 
^C^rf-'^'l'-?}"'''^ """^h to the Bigelow gei "^ 
alogy. Their children were: i. George Converse of 
whom later. 2. Amos Elbridge. born May o 18,0 
married Mary Pratt Green. April 4. i86o^and he°; 
children are: Irving Elbridge. Grace Haw ey and 
Mary Eleanor. 3. Henry, born November 2; ' 1833 

Aorl''^- 9«fi m''"' r^' \^~,T' l'^ "^^^'■■'^d (second)! 

eester in rlfi^' '/^ ^°'''' ' •• """^^ ""^'^ t° Wor- 
cester in 1864 and engaged m the retail boot and 
shoe business, and about 1873 engaged in the real 
estate business and appraising prSp?rty for banks 

D'cemrr TXT'' '^'^ 4^ Ed'miL Lov^-se. btn' 
uecember 5. 1S38. married Alziiia E. Jenkins born 
in Nantucket, and settled in Baltimore MarVland 
where he resided many years in ship chandler? busi- 
ness, afterwards removing to Kansas City, where he 

Z "^rf' • vT '^"^T'' ^°'" ■" Baltimore. Mary! 
FW' % Edmund Sprague. Lucy Stowe. and 

c^n et''l; "' ?^%'^ '".',^*^ Forty-second Massa- 
ntAulTI"'"^- .^.'r' "^'btary services consisted 
of dutv in defense of Washington, D. C. until April 
186,,; expedition to Mills Cross Roads V rginia 
after Stuarts Cavalry. December 28-29, 862 • duty 
on Co umbia Pike, February ,2, to March 30 i86r 

fhelice ,o"^"'ff r"l^--^P"' "• '"^^-^^ to Norfolk-; 
Uience to Suffolk. Virgima. April 15-16; siege of 
Sufl^olk .Apnl ,7-May 4; Nansemond River. mIiv 3 
Maf - H^"^°'^' '^-''f ^'^^-^4; moved to West Piint 
to^^ K r'l '^ ^°^'^-'°^™. May 31; raid to James- 
u r J ''."f J""'^ '°-.'-^; Di^'s Peninsula Campaign, 
J lie 2-JuIy 10; action at Baltimore Cross Roads ' 
Jn!> 2; moved to W^ashmgton, D. C, Julv lo-rr- 
march m pursuit of Lee to Berlin, Maryland, Jui; 

to F ll™TT''i''c^''^^"^"='- '^"S"^f 6. thence sailed 
to Folly Island, South Carolina. August 7-1 v siege 
operations on Morris Island. sSuth Carolina, 
against Forts Wagner and Gregg, and on 
Morris aiid Folly Islands against Fort • 
Sumter and Charleston, August 15 to Novem- 
iJer 13; expedition to Seabrook Island, 
November 13-15; resigned and honorably discharged 
Irom service on surgeon's certificate of disability, 
December 12, 1863. 5. Lucy Ann. born Mav 7 1840 
died June 29, 1S74. unmarried. 6, W^eslev, born No- 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



361 



veniber 16, 1847. manufacturer of decorative furni- 
] turc in New York, unnrarried. 

George Converse Bigelow, eldest child of Amos 
; and Lucy (Stowe) Bigelow. was born in Sherborn, 
i Massachusetts, March 11. 1828. where his boyhood 
was passed acquiring a good public school and prac- 
tical education. After a short residence in Dover, 
where he learned the trade of carpenter and builder, 
, building the residence of Hon. Henry Wilson in 
.Natick, he removed to Worcester, the city of his 
adoption, in 185 1. and there spent the remainder of 
his life. He had much native ability and push and 
. soon became a well known contractor and builder, 
and enjoyed the esteem and confidence of his fellow 
citizens. The first important work on his own ac- 
count was the direction of the construction of the 
Congregational Church in his native town. In i860 
he formed a partnership with his brother, Amos E. 
Bigelow, which continued until about 1886 under 
the firm name of G. C. and A. E. Bigelow, car- 
penters and builders. During this period they erected 
a large number of buildings in Worcester and vicin- 
ity. In partnership with Silas E. Batchelder, Beacon 
.street, the firm built Piedmont Congregational 
Church, corner of Main and Piedmont streets. 
Among other buildings constructed by the Bigelow 
■firm were St. John's Episcopal Church, Lincoln 
street : the .Armenian Church, Laurel street ; Baptist 
Church. Lutheran Church. Mulberry street ; shops 
■for F. E. Reed; various additions to the Taylor and 
Farley organ factory, Hanover street : most of the 
residences on Mt. Pleasant street ; a block of resi- 
dences on Oread street ; a residence on Main street ; 
:all the blocks of residences on Oread place; three 
residences on Benefit street; one on Benefit terrace; 
a block of two houses on Austin street ; a business 
block on Front street ; stores on ^lain street. &c., 
were built for the senior partner. Many 
handsome buildings were built by them in 
different sections of the city. The firm al- 
ways enjoyed the highest reputation for 
business integrity and thorough work, and never 
met with a failure. After Mr. Bigelow retired from 
, the firm he took the contract for the Knowles build- 
mg. corner of Main and Chatham streets, one of the 
finest office buildings in the city at the time of its 
■erection. He w-as never active in politics, though 
interested, and did not aspire to public office, but 
was essentially a home man, where there ■was shown 
the radiance of love in his heart for those who were 
mear and dear to him. Mr. Bigelow was an active 
member of Piedmont Church for seventeen or 
eighteen years. After a long and painful illness, 
which he fought bravely, without a murmur he sub- 
mitted to the inevitable, April 13. 1892, leaving wife 
and daughter, .\lice J., born August 8. 1856. educated 
at Oread Collegiate Institute, married, October 2, 
1879, Frank P. Knowles, of the Crompton & Knowles 
loom works. They have children : George Francis, 
born in Worcester, October 19, 1881 ; .Alice Marian, 
born in Worcester. February 2, 1886 ; and Lillian, 
born in Worcester, August 26, 1888. 

George Converse Bigelow married, at Worcester, 
November 29, 1855, Eleanor J. Doane. born in 
Spencer, June 8, 1834, daughter of Cheney and 
Lorinda (Green) Doane. After finishing her edu- 
cation at Wesleyan Academy. Wilbraham, Massa- 
chusetts, and the Oread Collegiate Institute, Wor- 
cester, she became a teacher in the public schools 
of Worcester, where she has been a resident for 
■nore than fifty years. She has been an active mem- 
ber of Piedmont Church since its first organization, 
interested and helpful in all charitable and edu- 
cational work, liberal and fair-minded, kind and free 
to help others even at the expense of her own in- 



terests, cheerful and appreciative of kindness, enter- 
prising and energetic, with a nature suscejjtible and 
responsive to noble influences, and thus thought and 
life were strengthened with her years. She was also 
a member of the Woman's Club of Worcester. 

History tells us • that Deacon John Done, or 
Doane as the name is now spelled, the progenitor of 
the Doane family in all its branches in this country, 
came from England with his wife about 1629, when 
history also informs us that thirty-five of the Ley- 
den Company with their families arrived at Plym- 
outh. He no doubt was one of these and a member 
of Mr. Robinson's church. While it is not definitely 
known from what part of the kingdom originally 
came the founder of the Doane family in America, 
we are fortunate in having our notes on the English 
family from the pen of Mrs. Sarah Cash, of Dela- 
mere, Cheshire, England, a writer well known to 
the genealogical magazines of her country. Mrs. 
Cash's home is within the limits of the ancient 
Delamere Forest, of which for many years the Dones 
were Chief Foresters, and during the past few years 
she has contributed to "Chester Notes and Queries" 
a series of highly interesting articles on the Dones 
of Utkinton. It is supposed the earliest settlernent 
of Dones at Utkinton was in King John's reign, 
1199-1216, as in the old histories at a very early 
period is given a marriage between a Done and a 
Kingsley. formerly spelled Kyngslie, and when, as 
appeared, the ancient Manor of that name had just 
passed from a ' Saxon ownership. The office of 
forestship. or Rangers of the Forest, by any noble- 
man holding such post, the same is held, figuratively 
speaking, by the "tenure of a horn." which particular 
horn in this case had been held by the Dones through 
transcending generations. Frequent intermarriages 
of the Dones with other great families in Cheshire 
took place as a natural consequence to their relative 
associations and possessions. This family is allied 
to one of the notably older families of the county, 
the Venables of Utkinton, a race spoken of as a race 
of warriors. 

The first and chief residence of the Done family 
appears to have been at the old Hall of LTtkinton, 
county Chester. Tradition still speaks of the hospital- 
ities of Utkinton Hall during the occupancy of Sir 
John Doane. the last possessor of the ancient line. 
His lady. Dorothy Doane. was possessed of such 
amiableness of temper and excellency of character, 
that when a Cheshire man would express excellency 
in the fair se.x, he will say, "as fair as Lady Done," 
or "there's a Lady Done for you." both of which are 
well known proverbs to this day in Cheshire. The 
Dones' monuments still to be seen in Tarporley 
church are very striking examples of fine arts ; 
sculptured in marble they retain in a great degree 
their purity and whiteness, while in the evident 
care and truthfulness of execution they show ex- 
cellent workmanship and artistic skill. The medallion 
' wall piece of Sir John Doane in Tarporley Church 
represents him in the costume of the reign of King 
James I. his left hand resting upon the hilt of his 
sword, and with the Done motto. "Ommia Mei Dona 
Dei." The portrait reproduction of Sir John and 
Lady Done has been photographed from an ancient 
painting now hanging in Maple Hall, near Stock- 
port. There is a similar portrait of Sir John Done 
at Arderne Hall, the property of the Earl of Had- 
dington. The picture is well preserved, though dark 
in tone, and the figure appears to have been depicted 
as wearing the Bugle Horn. This Sir John Doane, 
Knight, born 1576. knighted by James I. at Utkinton, 
1617. died April 13. 1629. and was buried at Tar- 
porley, 1629. He married Dorothy, daughter of 
Thomas Wilbraham, Esq., of Woodhcy, and with 



362 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



his youthful bride went to reside for some time, ac- 
cording to the desire of his father-in-law, in the 
house of the celebrated John Bruen, of Stapleford, in 
order to be schooled in the principles and habits of 
Puritanism. It is very probable that Deacon John 
Doane, of Plymouth, was a descendant of Sir John 
Done. Knight, in England. 

John Doane must have been known to the Pil- 
grims previous to his coming to Plymouth. He 
was a strong man. The Pilgrims were very careful 
to give no titles where they were not due. The 
late Amos Otis, genealogist of "Early Barnstable 
Families," says: In the Plymouth Colony the gov- 
ernor, deputy governor, magistrates and assistants, 
ministers of the church, schoolmasters, officers in 
the militia, men of great wealth or connected with 
the gentry or nobility, were entitled to be called 
"Mister" and their wives "Mistress." This rule 
was rigidly enforced in earlier Colonial times, and 
in all lists of names it was almost the universal cus- 
tom to commence with those who stood highest in 
rank and to follow that order to the end. His 
associates and the offices he was bidden to under- 
take by the governor, the court, and by the suf- 
frages of his townsmen show him to have been 
a man of superior qualities. The names of the 
Freemen of the incorporation of Plymouth in New 
England in 1633 were : Edward Wynslow, governor ; 
Captain Miles Standish, William Bradford, John 
Howland. John Alden. John Done, Stephen Hop- 
kins, William Gilson ; Plymouth Colony Record, vol. 
I, page 3, council. January 2, 1633-34, at this court 
Mr. John Doane being formally chosen to the office 
of a deacon in the church, rather than an assistant 
to the governor in the affairs of the colony, resigned. 
His position would suggest that he deemed the offices 
inconsistent one with the other. The question of the 
day was " Separation and Independence." Hence we 
can slightly appreciate his course of thought ip 
deciding. Nevertheless Mr. Doane henceforth was 
frequently summoned to act upon committees for 
the welfare of the coinmunity. 

In 1636 Elder Brewster, Pastor Smith and Dea- 
cons Doane and Jenney, of Plymouth. Jonathan 
Brewster and Christopher Wadsworth, of Duxbury, 
James and Anthony Annable. of Scituate, were joined 
to the .governor and council for the preparation of 
a regular system of laws. They began with the 
declaration of the Mayflower Compact. &c. Until 
now, 1636, there was no law establishing the offices 
of governor, councillors or constables. By general 
consent for fifteen years they were chosen annually. 
Goodwin's "Pilgrim Republic." page 401. They as- 
sembled according to the order and having read the 
combination made at Cape Cod, the nth of No- 
vember, 1620. on board the "Mayflower," they per- 
formed the important work for which they were 
appointed. This was the first revision of the laws 
of the colony, and to be appointed one of the com- 
mittee for this work was a mark of distinction, show- 
ing that Deacon Doane was respected for his wis- 
dom and integrity. Pratt's History of Eastham, 
page 16, March 3, 1644-45. It is ordered that 
Mr. Miles Standish, Mr. John Doane and John 
Dunham shall take the accounts of Mr. Thomas 
Prence for his treasurership. of its receipts and 
payments, and certifye the Court thereof; Plym- 
outh Colony Record, vol. II, page 82. 

In 1644 there was a movement toward a new 
settlement at Nausct, but the final removal was 
in 1645. The leaders in the enterprise were ex- 
Governor Thomas Prence, Deacon John Doane, 
Nicholas Snow. Josiah Cook, Richard Higgins, John 
Smalley and Edward Ban.gs. It is noted in Plym- 
outh Colony Record, vol. XII, that Mr. John Doane 



sold his home in Plymouth in 1645 to Mr. Willian 
Hanbury. The territory of Nauset, purchased by th< 
Indians, embraced the greater part of the presen 
town of Orleans, Eastham and Wellfleet. Our fore- 
father gave the name of Nauset to the whole pur- 
chase and it was so called until 1651, when tht 
court of Plymouth promulgated an order that hence- 
forth Nauset should be called Eastham. Dcacor 
Doane had about two hundred acres of land; al 
various times having land granted him by court as 
well as by the town, afterwards. In Eastham town 
affairs Mr. John Doane was an important man. He 
was appointed by the court, June i, 1663. to solem- 
nize marriages and to administer oaths to witnesses. 
He was a deacon of the First Church there, and 
served the town as selectman for many years. In 
1649-50-51-53-59 he .was a deputy to the colony court 
for Eastliam, as he had been in 1642-43 for the 
town of Plymouth. He died February 21, 1685, 
aged about ninety-five. In his will his wife's name 
appears as Abigail. His children were : 

I. John. 2. Lydia, who was probably born 
l)efore her parents came to Plymouth ; she mar- 
ried Samuel Hicks, who came to Plymouth with his 
mother, yoimger brother, and sisters in the ".\nn" 
in 1623. His father. Robert Hicks, came over in 
the "Fortune" in 1621, and was one of the fore- 
most of the Pilgrim fathers. Abigail 2 (John I) 
born January 13, 1631, in Plymouth, married, 1690, 
Samuel Lothrop, born in England, second son of 
Rev. John Lothrop, died at Norwich, Connecticut, 
January 23, 1734-35. John 2, born at Plymouth. 1635, 
died at Eastham. March 15, 1708; married (first), 
April 30, 1662, Hannah, daughter of Edward Bangs, 
who came over to Plymouth in the "Ann" in July, 
1623; married (second), January 14, 1694. Rebecca 
Pettee, whom he outlived. He went with his father's 
family to Eastham, where he was a man of promi- 
nence and was for many years in public service. He 
was a large landholder and was quite extensively 
engaged in farming. He was a member of the First 
Church of Eastham. His children were : John 3, 
born March 20, 1663, died May 15, 1663; John, born 
May 29, 1664; Ann. born July 25, 1666, died at 
Orleans. July 12, 1745; Rebecca, born May 12, 
1668; Hannah, born May 12, 1669, died June 6, 
1765, married, February 12, 1701-02, John Collins, 
born at Eastham, December 18, 1674. died May 24, 
1765, son of Joseph Collins. From them descended 
the Hon. Enos Collins, a distinguished merchant of 
Liverpool, Nova Scotia, who married a daughter 
of Sir Brenton Halliburton, chief justice of Nova 
Scotia, and who died at Liverpool, in 1871, aged 
ninety-seven j'ears. Isaac, born June 2, 1670: Sam- 
uel, born March 2, 1673; David, born about 1674, 
died November 18. 1748, of whom later. Daniel 
2. born about 1-636, died December 20, 1712. He 
was an extensive landholder and a prominent man 
in Eastham. Ephraim 2. born at Plymouth, re- 
' moved to Eastham. died 1700. He married (first) 
Mercy Knowles, the daughter of Richard and Ruth 
(Bower) Knowles; married (second), after 1692, 
Mary Snow, who was born in Barnstable. Decem- 
ber II. 1647. died at Eastham, 1703. 

David Doane 3. youn.gest son of John Doane, 
Jr. 2, born at Eastham. about 1674, died November 
18. 1748. Married, September 30, 1701, Dorothy 
Horton, and in his will in 1738 names his wife 
Sarah. He was a juryman 1708-09-13-14-15-19-20- 
28-30, and a constable 1711-12. Beside? being a 
farmer it is understood that he was a physician, and 
that he had a lucrative practice is evident. He 
had seven sons, viz. : Jonathan, John, Nathan, Eleazer, 
Joshua, David and Enoch. Daughters : Hannah, 
married Samuel .\twood, married (second) ■ 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



365 



j Higgins ; Keziah, married Isaac Bacon ; married 

I (second) Dr. John Duncain; Abigail, married Prince 

' Collins; Rachel, married Higgins. 

Jonathan Doane 4, born July 7, 1703, at Easlham, 
died January 24, i7<3o; married, August 8, 1723, 
Martha Higgins, and settled in Eastham. He was a 
representative to the general court, a justice of the 
peace, town assessor, &c. 

; Elisha Doane 5, eldest child of Jonathan Doane, 

■ born November 24, 1724, at Eastham, Massachusetts, 

' died at Spencer, Massachusetts, about 1810. He 
was commissioned captain of Sixth (Second East- 
ham) Company, Second Barnstable Regiment of 
Massachusetts Militia, April 20, 1776. His widow 
Martha drew a pension for his revolutionary serv- 

' ices and spent her last days at the home of her 
grandson in Spencer; she died November 10, 1837, 
aged eighty-eight years. Their children were : Oliver, 
born at Eastham, about 1754; Amos, born at East- 
ham. 1758; Nathan, born Eastham: Elisha, born 
Eastham, January 7, 1770; Martha; Lucy, married 
Samuel Flagg. 

Nathan Doane 6, born Eastham, died at Brook- 

' field, about 1840; married. May 21, 1785, Betsey 

'. Smalley, who died August 7, 1834. He was a soldier 

'in the war of 1812. His children were: eight sons 
and two daughters, the youngest, John, born De- 
cember 12, 1803, was drowned December 7, 1816. 

' Cheney Doane 7, youngest living son of Nathan 

' Doane, born at Brookfield, Massachusetts, April 15, 
1802, died April 2. 1866. Married Lorinda Green, 
of Spencer, born May 7, 1812, died June 9, 1890. 
Children : Eleanor J., born at Spencer, June 8, 
1S34. married G. C. Bigelow ; Elbridge, born Feb- 

' ruarv 2, 1840, was a soldier in the war of the 
rebellion, enlisting in the Fifteenth Massachusetts 

' Regiment Infantry, Company F, the last of June 
i86t, was mustered into the United States army 
July 12, 1861, and was discharged at Worcester, 
Massachusetts. July 28, 1864. He was engaged in 
the battles of Balls' Bluff, Fredericksburg and Gettys- 
burg. He was taken prisoner in the first battle in 
which he fought and was wounded in the battle of 
Gettysburg, which caused his absence from his regi- 

' nient for several months, and in consequence of which 
his health w-as so depleted that he was put on the 
list of pensioners. He married Julia Barber, of 

' Esmond. South Dakota, had one daughter. Alma, 
born February 28. 1892. Lorenzo F., born August 
13. 1842. died" at St. Louis. Missouri. He enlisted 
in the Twenty-fourth Regiment Massachusetts In- 
fantry, Company I, and was promoted to corporal. 
He was in all the battles fought by the Twenty- 

_ fourth Regiment during his term of service and was 
duly discharged. He married. July 26, 1903, Mary 
R. Jones, born at Falmouth, Massachusetts, March 
10, 1856, daughter of Captain Silas and Harriet B. 
(Robinson) Jones. Children: Bertha Leigh, born at 
Pawtucket, Rhode Island, July 29, 1878 ; Joseph Rob- 
inson, born Kansas City, Missouri, October 2, 1882; 
Mary Dorothy, born at Clear Lake, Iowa, July 22, 
1886; Paul, born at Denver, Colorado. October 12, 
1887. Anna Izette, born October 2, 1847, married 
Rimmon Colton Fay. of Brookfield, February 22, 
1870. Children : Walter Chapman, born Hartford, 

. Connecticut, April 28, 1872. died April 29. 1872 ; 

; Ralph Warren, born Lincoln, Rhode Island, July 
28. 1873. died Septeinber 7, 1874; Elsie Florence, born 
Brookfield. Massachusetts. March 21, 1875, teacher 
in Friends' School. Frankford. Philadelphia, Penn- 
sylvania ; .\rthur Colton. born Pawtucket. Rhode 
Island, April 18, 1877: George Lucius, born Lincoln, 
Rhode Island. August 15, 1879 : Rimmon Wesley, 
born Milford, Massachusetts, November 22, 1881 ; 
Frank Homer, born Milford, Massachysetts, Febru- 



ary 14, 1883 : Alice Eleanor, born Milford, Massa- 
chusetts, September I, 1884, died January 10, 1885; 
Pauline Ruby, born Hopedale, Massachusetts, Sep- 
tember 7, 1887 ; Dorothy Izette, born Ilion, New 
York. January 12, 1892. 

Thomas Doane, a descendant of Deacon John 
Doane, of Plymouth, in a direct line from Samuel 
Doane, brother of David, sons of John, Jr., who was 
born at Orleans, Massachusetts, September 20, 1821. 
died October 22, 1879, was one of the first civil 
engineers of his time, having done very extensive 
and important work from Massachusetts to Dakota. 
He was an active member of the Boston Society of 
Civil Engineers, and was elected president shortly 
after its organization in 1879. and was nine times 
re-elected to that position. He became a member 
of the American Society of Civil Engineers in 1882. 
F"rom l86g to 1873, while a resident of Ncl)raska, 
he was instrumental in founding "Doane College" 
situated in Crete, on the "Big Blue" river, twenty 
miles west of Lincoln, and one of the leading educa- 
tional institutions of that state, and of which David 
Brainard Perry, son of Deacon Samuel Perry, of 
Worcester, is president, and who married Mr. 
Doane's eldest daughter, Helen, July 3, 1876. Mr. 
Doane resided for many years at No. 8 Pearl street, 
in one of the oldest houses in Charlestown. It was 
at one time owned by Oliver Holden. the composer 
of the famous hymn "Coronation," who lived there 
for many years and died in one of the upper rooms. 

In 1S63 Mr. Doane was appointed chief en- 
gineer of the Hoosac tunnel, and located the line 
of the tunnel, built the dam in the Deerfield river 
to furnish water power, and in this work intro- 
duced nitroglycerine and electric blasting for the first 
time in this country. He also introduced com- 
pressed air, and invented the machinery for it, 
and had a large share in inventing the pneumatic 
drills used there. On the opening of the tunnel 
in 1875 hs '■n" the first engine, the "N. C. Munson'' 
through it. In i86g he went to Nebraska and built 
two hundred and forty miles of railroad on the ex- 
tension of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Rail- 
road, and located and named nearly all the tojvns 
on the extension. Completing his work in Nebraska 
in 1873 he returned to Charlestown, and soon after- 
wards was appointed consulting engineer of the 
Hoosac tunnel and had charge of the reconstruc- 
tion of the Troy and Greenfield Railway and of the 
tunnel. He finished his duties in this direction in 
1877. and two years later was appointed consulting 
and actin.g chief engineer of the Northern Pacific 
Railroad for one year. During that time he lo- 
cated the Pend d' Oreille division across the Colum- 
bia Plains in Washington Territory, and parts of 
the Missouri division in Dakota. Mr. -Doane was at 
one time employed as consulting engineer of the 
West End Street Railway, Boston, and in the winter 
of 1877-78, in company with other officials of the 
railway, visited a number of western cities for the 
purpose of examining cable systems. A large part 
of the engineering for the city of Charlestown was 
done by Mr. Doane previous to that city becoming 
a part of Boston in 1874. Mr. Doane has at one time 
or another been connected with all the railroads 
running out of Boston, but particularly with the 
Boston & Maine. In company with his brother, 
John Doane. Jr., he opened an office at No. 21 City 
Square under the firm name of T. and J. Doane, Jr., 
for the general practice of civil engineering and 
surveying, an office which was maintained until his 
death in 1897. 

WILLIAM HOWE BLISS, son of Harrison 
and Sarah (Howe) Bliss, was born September 23, 



364 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



1850, at Worcester, Massacliiisctts. His mother was 
the daughter of William and Sarah (Hayden) Howe, 
of Worcester. He attended the public schools and 
Highland Military Academy. He entered Worcester 
Academy but did not complete his course. He be- 
gan his business life in the jewelry business in 1870. 
Later he was superintendent of the Boston, Clinton 
& Fitchburg Railroad at New Bedford, a position 
he filled for two years. For a year he was at Tif- 
fin, Ohio, engaged in the manufacture of staves for 
oil and llour barrels. Since the death of his father 
his time has been occupied in the care of the real 
estate and property. He was formerly a member 
of the Tatnuck Country Club and of the Hancock 
Club. He is a member of the Worcester Society 
of Antiquity. He married (first) May 31, 1883, 
Nellie J. Winch, daughter of Martin VVinch. He 
married (second), April 15, 1891. Florence E. W. 
Weston, daughter of David and Almira Weston, of 
Fort Fairfield, Maine. Almira Weston was the 
daughter of Rev. Amos and Mary (Watson) Par- 
mer an English clergyman who came to New Bruns- 
wick as a missionary. Mrs. Bliss was born at Fort 
Fairfield, Aroostook county, jNIaine. The children 
of these two marriages were : Elizabeth Howe, born 
January 11, 1886, now at Smith College, class of 
1908; Sarah, June 7, 1893, died August 22. 1894; 
Florence, ^May 22, 1895 ; and Dorothea, November 
17, 1898. 

(I) Thomas Bliss, was the last English ances- 
tor of the Bliss family of Worcester. He resided 
at Belstone and was a man of property. He was 
a Puritan and his wealth and prominence perhaps 
invited the persecution he suffered and through 
which he lost both his wealth and his health. He 
was imprisoned for his religious and political views. 
His children, of whom Thomas and George emi- 
grated to America to escape persecution, were : 
Jonathan, died 1635-36; Thomas, died in 1640; 
Elizabeth, married Sir John Calcliffe, of Belstone; 
George, born 1591, died August 31, 1667; and Mary 
(Polly). 

(H) Jonathan Bliss, son of Thomas Bliss (i), 
of Belstone, was born about 1580 at Belstone. On 
account of his non-conformist views he was per- 
secuted and virtually driven out of England, suf- 
fering heavy fines and eventualy dying at an early 
age from a fever contracted in prison. Four chil- 
dren are said to have died in infancy, two grew up. 
They were: Thomas, died in 1649; and Mary. 

(HI) Thomas Bliss, of Rehoboth, Massachu- 
setts, son of Jonathan Bliss, of Belstone, England, 
was born in Belstone, and on the death of his father 
in 1636 he removed to Boston, thence to Braintree, 
thence to Hartford, Connecticut, thence back to 
Weymouth, Massachusetts, and in 1643, with others 
he helped make the settlement at Rehoboth. He 
was a freeman at Cambridge, May 18, 1642, and in 
Plymouth colony January 4, 1645. In June, 1645, 
of that year he drew a lot of land at the Great 
Plain, Seekonk. In 1646 he was fence viewer, in 
1647 the surveyor of highways, two important of- 
fices in the colonial days. He died at Rehoboth, 
June, 1649, and is buried in the graveyard at See- 
konk, Massachusetts, now Rumford, East Provi- 
dence, Rhode Island. His will was proved June 8, 
1649. Their children were : Jonathan, born about 

1625, died about 1687; , married Thomas 

Williams; ^lary, married Nathaniel Harmon, of 
Braintree ; Nathaniel, possibly of Springfield, seems 
to have left no descendants in male line. (See 
Chapin Genealogy.) 

(IV) Jonathan Bliss, son of Thomas (3) and 
Mistress Ide Bliss, born in England about 1625, was 
made a freeman of the Plymouth colony 1655. He 



was "way warden" at the town meeting in K i 
hoboth ^lay 24, 1652, and May 17, 1655, was on tl 
grand jury. He was a blacksmith. He was ma | 
a freeman in Rehoboth, February 22, 1658, and dre 
land June 22, 1658. He was one of the eighty wl 
made what is called the North Purchase. i 
married, 1647-48, Miriam Harmon (probably a si 
ter of his sister's husband). He died 1687. TI 
inventory of his estate was sworn to May 23, 168!: 
The magistrate was the famous governor, Sir Ei , 
mund Andros. Their children were : I. Ephraii 
born 1649. 2. Rachel, December i, 1651, marrie 
October 28, 1674, Thomas Manning, of Swanse . 
i\Iassachusetts. 3. Jonathan, March 4, 1653, die: 
1653. 4. Mary, September 31 (sic), 1655. 5. Elizt; 
beth, Janviary 29, 1657, married June 25, 1684, Jame 
Thurber. 6. Samuel, June 24, 1660, died Auguj; 
28, 1720. 7. Martha, April, 1663. 8. Jonathai; 
(sometimes recorded Timothy) September 17, i66('' 
died October 16, 1719. 9. Dorothy, January 27, l66if' 
married, June 26, 1690, James Carpenter. 10 
Bethia, August 1671, married, April 15, 1695, Danie 
Carpenter, died February 27, 1702-03. Her husi, 
band was son of William Carpenter and Miriam 
Searles, of Rehoboth, born October 8, 1669. ; 

(V) Ephraim Bliss, son of Jonathan 1 4) anc 
Miriam Bliss, was born at Rehoboth, February 5 
1649. He resided at Braintree, Quincy, Scituatet 
Rehoboth and Providence, Rhode Island. Their 
children were; Jonathan, born at Braintree aboui 
1672-73 ; Mary ; Thomas ; Ephraim, married Marji, 

• , resided at Rehoboth (she was born 1702, died: 

November 14, 1730) ; and Daniel. 

(VI) Jonathan Bliss, son of Ephraim (5) and 

Bliss, was born at Rehoboth. 1672-73. All. 

his children died young without issue except John.: 
They were : Hannah, Thomas, Mary, John, born! 
171 1, died June, 1752; Nathaniel, and Ephraim. 

(VII) John Bliss, son of Jonathan (6), was 
born at Rehoboth, 171 1. He married on Thanks- 
giving Day, 1735, Rebecca , a very capable 

and energetic manager, history tells us, who with 
great prudence and thrift cared for her property 
after the death of her husband. He died 1752. 
Their children were ; Nathan, born December 19, 
1736, died December 3, 1820; Elizabeth, April 5,1738; 
Anne, April i, 1740; William, June 6, 1742, died 1822; 
Rebecca, December 20, 1744; John, August 21, 1747, 
died March 12, 1825; Abigail, April 28, 1750; Ke- 
ziah, born November 26, 1752, died 1793-94. 

(VIII) Nathan Bliss, son of John (7) and Re- 
becca Bliss, was born at Rehoboth. December 19, 
1736. He was a farmer at Rehoboth. He married, 
December 26, 1760, Joanna Bowen, who died March 
10, 1823. He died December 3, 1820. Their children 
were: i. Nathan, born December 19, 1761, died Janu- 
ary 31, 1852. 2. Abel, December 22, 1763. was a farmer 
at Rehoboth, captain in the militia, married Olive 
Briggs, of Dighton, who died jNIay 17, 1823; he 
married (second) Hannah Horton, died without 
issue, November 13, 1843, (she died Alarch 7, 1859, 
aged sixty-six years). 3. Olive, October 2, 1765, 
married, January 4, 1786, Samuel Goff. 4. Joanna, 
July 25, 1767, married, January 18, 1787, Shubael 

Horton and Payne. 5. Sylvanus, July 9, 1709, 

died June 23, 1859. 6. Rebecca, July 12, 1771, 
married May 23, 1793, Sylvester Goff, of Rehoboth. 
7. John, born September i, 1773, died August 29, 
1859. 8. Thomas, October 17, 1775. died 1855. 9- 
Anna, September 17, 1777. 10. Cromwell, March 
17, 1779, died February 7, 1848. 11. Ezra, June 17, 
1780, died Mav 11, 1857. 

(IX) Nathan Bliss, son of Nathan (8) and 
Joanna Bliss, was born at Rehoboth, December 19, 
1761. He removed to Royalston, Massachusetts, be- 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



36= 



tweeii 1770 and 1/75. and married Rutli Briggs, 
at Diglilon, Alassachusclts, who died at Royalsion, 
Novemljer 28, 1862. She was born at Dighton, 
December 22, 1765. He died at Royalston, Jan- 
nary 31, 1852. He was a farmer. Their children 
were Annie living at Royalston; unmarried ; Abel 
liorn Augnst 23, 1785, died' July 4, 1852; Ruth 1795, 
married James BufTuni, who lived in Kccnc, New 
Hampshire. She died 1856; Sally, born 1806, mar- 
ried Benjamin Bufifum, pf Royalston. 

(X) Abel Ballou Bliss, son of Nathan Bliss, 

, Jr. (9), was born at Royalston, August 2^,, 1785. 
He was a shoemaker. He married Nicena Ballou, who 
was born March 6, 1788, and died April 7, 1847. 
He died July 4, 1852. Their children were: Nathan, 
born September, 1808, married Emily Lovett, 1832; 
Abel Ballou, February 21, 181 1, died August 4, 

'1852; Harrison, October 9, 1812, married Sarah H. 
Howe; Russell, December 5, 1815, married Mary 
May, Marcli 8, 1835, died June 15, 1852; James 
July 16, 1818, married Julia Drury, died January 
16, 1842; Nicena J., December 12, 1823, died Jan- 
uary 7, 1845, unmarried ; Olive Lucian, July 3, 

' 1S25, married May 9, 1847. Charles C. Balch, car- 
penter, resided at Shirley, Massachusetts. 

(,XI) Harrison Bliss, son of Abel (10) and 
Nicena Ballou Bliss of Royalston, was born at 
Royalston, October 9, 1812, What education he 
got in school was obtained in his native place. He 

. started out at the age of eighteen to make his own 
living. He landed in Worcester, as he used to say 
with just seventeen cents in his pockets. 

He went to work first at the very place where he- 
afterward bought one of the finest houses in the 

'city, where his son, William H. Bliss, now lives. 

' His employer was Dr. Oliver Fiske. That was 
in 1830. He worked for four years in the Worces- 
ter Post Office when Deacon James Wilson was 
postmaster in the present Union Block, and under 

' Jubal Harrington in the old Central Exchange 
Building. He went into business with Deacon 

'Alexander Harris in the Salisbury Block in Lin- 
coln Square, dealing in groceries and in flour. Lattr 
he took Joseph E. Gregory as partner. He sold 
his interest in this store in 1850 and later opened a 
Hour store in partnership with T. and J. Sutton 
under the name of Bliss, Sutton & Co., on Mechanic 
street, and in 1857 sold out to his partners. From 

'that time to his death he was occupied with his 
real estate and banking business. He started Hon. 
H. A. Blood, of Fitchburg, in business. Mr. Blood 
was in his employ in his store in Worcester. 

Mr. Bliss was president of the New Bedford 
and Taunton branch of the Boston, Clinton & Fitch- 
burg Railroad Company, and vice-president of the 
Framingham and Lowell branch, both of which are 
now operated by the New York, New Haven & 
Hartford Railroad Company. 

Mr. Bliss and the late Hon. Francis H. Dewey 
founded the Mechanics National Bank in 1848. He 
was president from i860 to his death in 1882. He 

i was interested in the Mechanics' Savings Bank from 
its organization in 1851. He was on the board of 
investment. He was president from 1864 to his 
death. He was largely interested in the old Music 
Hall Company, the successor of which owns the 
Worcester Theatre. He was interested largely in 
the Bay State House corporation. He was a rep- 
resentative to the general court in 1855, 1865 and 
1874, He was an Alderman in 1861, 1863. 1864, 1865, 
1875 and 1B76. He w-as chief owner of the Oriental 
Powder Company, manufacturing gun powder near 
^Portland, Maine. During the Franco-Prussian war 
,he made a snug sum of money selling powder to 
[the belligerents. The house in which bis son-in- 



law, I-'rancis H. Dewey, lives, he said was built from 
the profits of the sale of powder at that time. He 
sold out to advantage later. He married Sarah 

11. Howe, April 5, 1836, daughter of William Howe, 
of Worcester. (See Howe family.) A brother of 
his wife. Rev. William Howe, of Cambridge, Massa- 
cluisctls, is still living (1905), and will be one 
hundred years old May, 1906. Her father was a 
contractor. He had the contract for the building 
of the Worcester Turnpike over which for some 
distance the cars of the Boston & Worcester 
Electric Railroad run. He lost money and was 
rumcd by the contract. Mrs. Bliss died July 24, 
1882, a few weeks after her husband. She was a 
very capable woman and famous for her charities. 
He died July 7, 1882. Their children were: i. 
Harrison, Jr., , born July 30, 1843, married Amy 
Brown, of Dighton, November 6, 1864, died May 

12, 1868. 2. Sarah, September 22, 1S45, died Novem- 
ber 18, 1849. 3. William Howe, September 2^ 1850. 
4. Pameha Washburn, May 21, 1854, died Septem- 
ber 9, 1854. 5. Lizzie Davis, March 12, i8s6. mar- 
ried Francis H. Dewey, December 12, 1878, at Wor- 
cester. They have one son and one daughter. 
(See Dewey family and Bullock family.) 

The mother of Harrison Bliss (11), was Nicena 
Ballou. She married .Abel Bliss, in Richmond, 
New Hampshire. She was born March 6, 1788, in 
Richmond; he was born August 2^,. 1785. at Reho- 
both, and when six weeks old was' carried on horse 
back in his mother's arms from Rehoboth to their 
new home in Royalston. The Ballou familv is 
widely scattered but many Worcester county fami- 
lies are related to the Ballous. 

(I) Maturin Ballou, the emigrant ancestor, 
married Hannah Pike, daughter of Robert and Cath- 
erine Pike, probably of Providence, Rhode Island. 
1646 to 1649. He died February 24, 1661, to Jan- 
uary 31, 1663. Their children were: John, born 
1650, married Hannah Garrett; James, born proba- 
bly at Providence, 1652, married Susanna Whit- 
man, 1683; Peter. 1654, married Barbary ; 

Hannah, 1656, died unmarried ; Nathaniel. 1658', 
died young; Samuel, 1660. drowned June 10, 1669. 

(H) James Ballou, son of Maturin (i), was 
born at Providence, Rhode Island, 1652. He mar- 
ried Susanna Whitman, daughter of Valentine and 
Mary Whitman (or Wightman), who wa> born in 
Providence, February 28, 1658, married Julv 25, 1683. 
James was a large owner of land. With w'hat he in- 
herited and bought he had fully a thousand acres. 
Their children were : James, born November i, 
1684. married Catherine Arnold, January 25. 1714; 
Nathaniel, April 9, 1687. married .Mary Lovell, 
December 7, 1716; Obadiah, September 6, 1689, mar- 
ried Damaris Bartlett, January j, 1717, second 

Salisbury; Samuel, January 23, 1692, married 

Susannah Arnold, second, Mary Smith; Su^^anna, 
January 3, 1695, married John Inman, and Richard 
Sayles; Bathsheba, February 15, 1698. married 
Daniel Arnold. October 16, 1720; Nchemiah. January 
20, 1702, married Mary Holt and Abigail Perry. 

(Ill) James Ballou, son of James (2) and Su- 
sanna Ballou. was born in Providence, afterward 
called Smithfield, now Lincoln, Rhode Island. No- 
vember I. 1684. He- married Catherine Arnold 
daughter of Elisha and Susanna (Carpenter) 
Arnold, in Providence, January 25. 1713. She was 
born in Wrentham. later called Cumberland. Rhode 
Island, February 28. 1690. He was one of three 
pioneers to cross the Blackstone river and settle 
Cmnberland. The Cooks and Ballous, two of these 
families, often intermarried. They were Baptists 
of the Roger Williams sort. The little church built 
in or about 1745, still standing at Cumberland, was 



366 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



known as the "Elder Ballou Meeting House." James 
Ballou died February to, 1764. Their children 
were: Sarah, born November 15, 1713, married 
Uriah Jillson, 1733; Ariel, November 18, 1715, mar- 
ried Jerusha Slack, 1740; Bathsheba, November 26, 
1717, married Michael Keith and Elisha Newell ; 
Martha, October 6, 1720, married Elder Nathaniel 
Cook, January 27, 1742; James, December 10, 1723, 
married Tamasin Cook, June 7, 1744; Elisha, No- 
vember 15, 1726, married Hepsibah Thayer, Novem- 
ber 30, 1748; Friscilla, November 6, 1731, married 
William Cook, 1753. 

(IV) James Ballou, son of James (3) and 
Catherine Ballou, was born in Wrentham, near 
Cumberland, Rhode Island, December 10, 1723, mar- 
ried Tamasin Cook (Daniel (3), Nicholas (2), 
Walter (i) ), born June 16, 1725, . married June 
7, 1744. He was made a freeman of Cumberland, 
April ig, 1749. In 1774 he moved to Richmond, 
New Hampshire, with other Rhode Island associ- 
ates. He and other Ballous settled on what has 
since been known as Ballou Hill. The town was 
divided in factions later owing to a schism in the 
Baptist church caused by "the New Lights," in which 
James was interested but later abandoned. His 
wife Tamasin, died April 25, 1804, and he married, 
second, Huldah Carpenter, widow of Joseph Car- 
penter, June 19, 1806. He died January 21, 1812. 
His children were: I. Seth, born February 20, 
1748, married Margaret Hilton. 2. Olive, INIay 13, 
1751, married Preserved Whipple. 3. Silas, Feb- 
ruary 24, 1753, married Hannah Hilton, April 17, 
1774. 4. Susannah, June 16, 1755, married Nathan 
Harkness, June 4. 1775. 5. Oziel, July 11, 1757, 
married Hannah Robinson, December 7, 1790. 6. 
Tamasin, June 29, 1759, married Ebenezer Swan, 
February 15, 1778. 7. James, April 25, 1761, mar- 
ried Mehitable Ingalls, November 5, 1786. 8. 
Russell, July 11, 1763, married Henrietta Aldrich 

and . 9. Aaron, September 25, 1766, married 

Catherine Bowen, September 8, 1786. 10. Daniel, 
May 26, 1768, married Mary Hix, April 8, 1787. 1 1. 
Friscilla, January 3, 1772, married Nathan Bullock, 
February 28, 1790. 

- (V) Russell Ballou, son of James (4) and Ta- 
masin, was born at Cumberland, July 11, 1763. He 
married Henrietta Aldrich, daughter of Jonathan 
and Patience Aldrich, of Cambridge, Massachusetts, 
who was born August 20, 1764, certified, (married) 
February 23, 1783. All their children were born 
at Richmond, New Hampshire. He removed in 
1804, to Royalston, Massachusetts. His wife Hen- 
rietta died June 8, 1827, aged sixty-seven, and he 
married, second, Mrs. Beebe Mellen. of Swansea, 
New Hampshire, widow of Joel Mellen, April 16, 
1827. He died at Swansea, New Hampshire, Novem 
ber 10, 1847 ; she died 1854. His children were : 
Betsey, born October 6, 1783, married Royal Bland- 
ing, November 18, 1802; Amey, October 27, 1785, 
married Stephen Parks ; Nicena, March 6, 1788, 
married Abel Bliss, 1806 (see Bliss Family) ; As- 
quire, May 8, 1792, marled Arathusa Maynard, May 
29, 1816; Russell, September 9, 1794, married Lucy 
D. Norton, January 29, 1816; Luther, September 7, 
1797, married Clarissa Davis, December 3, 1818 ; 
Friscilla, June 25, 1800, died unmarried. May 8, 
1814; Olive, born August 29, 1803, married Jacob 
Boyce, 1829; Russell, died in infancy. 

FIOWE FAMILY. Ezekiel Howe, son lof 
Thomas Howe (3), grandson of Thomas, and great- 
grandson of John Howe, of Sudbury, was born in 
Marlboro, Massachusetts, January 29, 1720. He 
married Elizabeth Rice, of that town. May 10, 
1740, and their first child Patience was born in 



Marlboro, but recorded also at Worcester whither 
the father moved about 1742. Thtir children were 
Patience, born June 10, 1742; Elizabeth, February 
12, 1744; Ebenezer, November 4, 1746; Joel, Novem- 
ber 2, 1748; Jotham, June 17, 1750; Lucy, April 20, 
1752; Rebecah, April 3, 1754; Ezekiel, ]\Iarch 2oi 
1756. 

(V) Ezekiel Howe, son of Ezekiel (4) and 
Elizabeth Howe, was born at Worcester, March 20, 
1756. He married December 21, 1773, Mary Young! 
She was born in Worcester, IMay 14, 1757. William 
died in 1820. Their children were : William, bap- 
tized July 20, 1783; Marjr, baptized July 20, 1783; 
Asa, baptized July 20, 1783; Ezekiel, baptized Sep- 
tember 28, 1783. These records are from the Old 
South Church. They were born between 1774 and 
1783. 

(VI) William Howe, son of Ezekiel, Jr. (5) 
and Mary Howe, was born at Worcester about 
1780, and died in 1820. He married Sarah Gould, 
December 22, 1805. Their children were : Will-' 
iam, born March 25, 1806, now living (1905); John,i 
born August 7, 1808; Rufus, born July 27, 1812; 
Sarah H., born June 30, 1S14, married Harrison 
Bliss. (See W. H. Bliss, Bliss Family.) 

(VII) William Howe, son of William Howe; 
(6), was born May 25, 1806, so if he lives till his 
next birthday he will be one hundred yearj old. 
He is the oldest clergyman living in the United 
States. Although always in close touch with the 
members of his family in Worcester, he has made: 
his home in Cambridge, Massachuestts. In appear-; 
ance Dr. Howe is no older than he has been for 
the past ten years. His sight and hearing have; 
failed but his intellect is clear and his memory ex-i 
cellent. 

His youth in Worcester at the home of his parents, 
town of Holden, and Market street, Worcester, 
is rich with anecdotes that after nearly a century 
are full of interest. At that time Worcester was a 
country village around the court house, and ex- 
cept for a few stores even Main street was the 
location of farms. It is a marvelous thing to re- 
member events a hundred years ago. When he was 
fourteen his father died and his mother had the care 
of three younger than he. She managed her af- 
fairs which were somewhat tangled at the time of 
her husband's death in a way to win praise from 
the most astute financiers of the town who knew 
the problems that she had to meet. William was 
fitted for college and entered Waterville (now 
Colby) College, which is a favorite Baptist in- 
stitution. There were thirteen men in his clas5, 
nine of whom graduated. Needless to say he is the 
oldest living graduate of Colby. He was educated 
for the ministry at Newton Theological Seminary, 
and it was while he was there that he began the 
work that he continued for over half a century, 
that resulted in the establishment of four Baptist 
parishes growing out of his mission work. This 
work he began in Boston as city missionary, walk- 
ing to Boston from Newton, some ten miles every 
Saturday and Monday to carry on the work. In 
a sail loft on Charkstown street he started the first 
mission and Sunday school that grew into the pres- 
ent Merrimac Street LInion Baptist Church. He 
established seven others and carried on the eight 
missions simultaneously. From a Commercial Street 
Sunday school grew the Baptist Bethel Church on 
Hanover street. The Union Baptist Church united 
with the Tremont Temple Church, and has be- 
come the most important Baptist church in Boston 
and probably the best known in the country. From 
another Sunday school developed the Harvard Street 
Church, and from still another the Bowdoin Square 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



367 



Church. Dr. Howe himself was the first pastor of 
I the Merrimac Street Church, the hiiilding heing 
i<Jcdicated in 1846, and he remained pastor till 1858 
iwhen the union with Tremont Temple took place. 
i In 1863 Dr. Mowe accepted the pastorate of a 
jchapel on Harvard street, Cambridge, and under 
jhis hands this chapel grew into the parish of the 
: Broadway Baptist Church. Since he was seventy 
ihe has been living in retirement at 910 Massachu- 
I setts avenue, Cambridge, Massachusetts. He mar- 
• ritd in 1832, Angeline Ammidon, of Boston. She 
I was one the first women to form an anti-slavery 
Isociety when the abolition movement began in Massa- 
ichusetts. She died in 1883. They had no children. 
He was one of the founders of the Associated 
^Charities of Boston, and was at one time a mem- 
ber of the Boston school board. He knew personally 
Daniel Webster, Henry Clay, John C. Calhoun, 
'Rufus Choate, and other famous men long since 
!dead. He has always been interested in the Spell- 
man seminary for colored girls at Atlanta, Georgia, 
'and in that city he has erected a memorial chapel 
'•to his wife. 

', JOHN E. BRADLEY. Among the most im- 
iportant factors in the industrial world is recognized 
'ithe Bradley family, whose name is particularly 
identified with railway development in the United 
: States, and as pioneers in the great business of 
I building stage coaches and subsequently the manu- 
j'facture of steam and electric railway cars. 
1 (I) The Bradley family in America was founded 
ihy Daniel Bradley, who sailed from England, April 
18, 1635, and settled at Haverhill, Massachusetts, 
(later resided at Ipswich. He married Elizabeth Ayer 
and they had sons, Daniel and Joseph. He was killed 
!by Indians, August 13, 1689. 

f (II) 'Joseph Bradley, son of Daniel (x), mar- 
Sried Hannah Heath, April 4, i6gr, and their children 
Iwere: Mehitable, Joseph, Martha, Sarah, David, 
jNehemiah, Samuel and William. 
j (III) William Bradley, son of Joseph (2), mar- 
'ried Mehitable Emerson. Their children were : 
;Susan, Sarah, Abigail, Hannah. Mehitable, Joseph, 
(Jonathan, William, Moses, and Nancy. 

(IV) Jonathan Bradley married Sarah Osgood, 
iof North Andover, June 17, 1773. Their children 
; were : Thomas Osgood, born September 28, 1774; 
iSarah, Mary, William, Elizabeth, and Jonathan. 
(' (V) Thomas Osgood Bradley, son of Jonathan, 
finarried Mehitable Carlton, and had children : Os- 
Igood, born January 15, 1800, died May 11, 1884; 
John and Frederick. 

} (VI) Osgood Bradley, son of Thomas (5), was 
jborn January 13, 1800. He received a high school 
[iedtication, and early entered upon an active career. 
:His life affords a striking example of the great 
jresults attainable through industry and well directed 
leffort. Beginning as a carriage maker, he prose- 
Iciited his labors with such success that at the time 
lof his death he was held in honor as the oldest of 
Ithe pioneer car builders in America. He learned 
,the carriap-e-raaking trade in Framingham, coming in 
[1822 to Worcester, where he began the making of 
coaches and carriages in an old wooden building in 
the rear of the "Green Store," but subsequently 
(removed to other and larger quarters as business 
fexpanded. In 1826 he began the making of coaches 
for the large stage line operators in New York 
jand New England, and for years built the majority 
[of those in use in that region. At the dawn of 
ithe railway era in 1835 he turned his attention to 
the building of railway coaches, and in i8,v sold 
:out his carriage business to become exclusively a 
Irailway coach builder, constructing the pioneer cars 



for many of the early eastern roads, maintaining 
one manufacturing location for a full half century. 
For a decade prior to 1849 he was associated in busi- 
ness with Edward B. Rice. During the civil war 
Mr. Bradley entered into large contracts with the 
government for the construction of gun carriages 
for field, sea-coast artillery, fully maintaining the 
high reputation of the Bradley works and receiving 
the cordial appreciation of the War and Navy de- 
partments. 

Mr. Bradley was a splendid representative of his 
residential city. Progressive and enterprising, he 
was a leading factor in its upbuilding, and used his 
influence and means without stint for its advance- 
ment in moral and intellectual as well as in ma- 
terial affairs. He was a man of great nobility of 
character, of strict integrity and the highest moral 
worth, and was held in esteem by the entire com- 
munity. He was prominently connected with the 
Plymouth Congregational Church, and aided ef- 
ficiently in promoting its interests and usefulness. 
In 1845 he bought the fine mansion which stood on 
the site of the present Chase building, where he 
lived for many years, and where he died, May 11, 
1884. in his eighty-fifth year. Nearly ten years be- 
fore his demise (on January 15, 1875) he there cele- 
brated his seventy-fifth birthday. This was one of 
the notable events of the day, being the occasion 
of a remarkable gathering of men whose heads had 
become whitened with the frosts of many a winter, 
among the number being many railway magnates 
from various sections of the country. 

His first wife was Fanny Sanger, by whom were 
born: i. Elizabeth Mehitable, born September 11, 
1824; married George A. Hamilton. 2. Maria San- 
ger. September 29, 1826, married John B. VVyman, 
in 1S43; he became a prominent military man in the 
civil war period. 3. Henry Osgood, see forward. 
4. John, April 10, 1831. 5. Daniel Sanger, Febru- 
ary 9, 1834. 6. Osgood, December 26, 1836. 7. 
Sarah Olivia. November 2, 1839. Mr. Bradley, after 
his first wife's death, married Sarah J. Makepeace, 
by whom was born one child, A. Jeannie, who re- 
sides in Worcester, and is unmarried. 

(VII) Henry Osgood Bradley, third child and 
eldest son of Osgood' (6), was born September 
17, 1828. He received a liberal education, and early 
in life became associated with his fatiicr in busi- 
ness affairs, becoming the office manager and gen- 
eral accountant of the Bradley works, and displaying 
the same sterling qualities which characterized the 
sire. He was a man of unusually broad informa- 
tion, his mind well expanded not only through liberal 
reading but by much travel. He was just of age 
(in 1849) when the California gold-seeking voyagers 
set out, and he went on the first vessel sailing from 
Boston, remaining away a year. He became familiarly 
acquainted with the United States, and twice made 
a tour of Europe, visiting the industrial and art 
centres, solely for purposes of recreation and mind 
improvement. With quiet domestic tastes, he was 
devoted to his family, and would attach himself to 
no societies whatever. He bore a full share in pro- 
moting every community interest, but with entire 
■want of personal ambition, and would not enter 
upon any public career. He supported the princi- 
ples of the Democratic party. 

Mr. Bradley married (first) Sarah L. Stock- 
bridge, of Hanover, Massachusetts, and of this mar- 
riage were born two children, Fanny Sawyer and 
John Erving. Mrs. Bradley died November 22, 
1867. For his second wife Mr. Bradley married 
Alice Wethcrell, of Providence, Rhode Island, who 
died in February, 1895. Mr. Bradley survived her 
until October, 1901. 



3CS 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



(Vlil) John Rrving Bradley, only son of Henry 
Osgood and Sarah L. (StocUbridge) Bradley, was 
born February 26, i860. He received academical 
instruction in the high school of Worcester, and 
' studied for one year in Amherst College. At the 
early age of eighteen years he entered upon an 
independent career, taking employment with the old 
Jerome Marble Company of Worcester, manufac- 
turer of paints, oils, and mill supplies. He remained 
with the firm for four years, acquiring a familiar 
knowledge of all developments of the business in- 
cluding all the manufacturing processes, and was 
about to enter upon a traveling engagement in the 
interests of the establishment when (in March, 1882) 
he entered the employ of Osgood Bradley & Sons, 
After the death of the uncle in i8g6, he became 
general manager of Osgood Bradley & Sons' business, 
and was so occupied for five years, and until the 
death of his father, when he became full owner. 
Under his management the high reputation of the 
house has been fully maintained, and the scope of 
its business considerably enlarged, while its worth 
to the community is manifested by the employ- 
ment it affords to a company of nearly three hun- 
dred operatives, the majority being men of family. 
His deep interest in industrial affairs is evidenced 
by his connection with various important bodies, — 
the National Association of Manufacturers; the 
Master Car Builders' Association of America ; the 
American Railroad Appliance Association ; the New 
England Steam Railroad Club; the New England 
Street Car Railroad Club, in which he is a member 
of the executive board; and the Worcester Metal 
Trade Association. He is also a member of the 
Worcester Club, and of its membership committee; 
the Tatnuck Country Golf and Tennis Club; the 
Tatassit Canoe Club, of which he is commodore ; and 
the Up-Town Club, of which he is president. He 
served for three years in the Worcester Light In- 
fantry, and is a member of its Veteran Associa- 
tion, and of the membership committee of that body. 
His political affiliations are with the Republican 
party. He has been frequently solicited to enter 
upon active political life, and to become a candidate 
for various offices, but his deep interest in business 
concerns and in the commercial and social bodies to 
which he is attached would not permit him to accept 
proffers which were at once sincere and importunate. 
Mr. Bradley married, October, 1887, Emma L, D. 
Dingley, daughter of Hon. John B. and Maria M. 
(js.inney) Dingley, both of whom are deceased. 
Her father was a prominent business man of Gard- 
iner, Maine, and was the first mayor of the city, 
occupying the position for several terms through 
various re-elections. Two children have been born 
to Mr. and Mrs. Bradley — Helen, June, 1888; and 
Katherine, April, 1895. 

BENJAMIN ALLEN BARBER has been one 
of the leaders in. musical affairs in Worcester for 
fully twenty-five years. He was born December 23, 
i8=;s, in Worcester, and has spent his whole life 
there. He is a son of Benjamin and Ann Maria 
(Collins) Barber. His father was born in the little 
town of Wardsboro, Vermont, in 1804, died in Wor- 
cester in 1867. His mother was of the Collins 
family of Southboro, Massachusetts, where she was 
born July 6. i8i6. She was a daughter of Daniel 
and Polly (Chamberlin) Collins. She died at Wor- 
cester in 1904. Benjamin Barber was a stone cutter 
bv trade. After he came to Worcester, about 1830, 
he followed his trade and soon began to take con- 
tracts, having at first David Woodward as his part- 
ner. He built many substantial buildings in Wor- 
cester. He was the contractor for the mason work 



of the old city hall. He married Ann Maria Col- 
lins, of Soutliboro, November 20, 1838. Their chil- 
dren were: Rhoda Maria, born September 5, 1840- 
Warren, died young ; Emery Perry, born August 
29, 1846, resides in Boston, retired, unmarried: Linda 
Frances, born August 12, 1S51, married Albert E. 
Peirce, and resides at Evanston, Illinois; they have 
a son and daughter; Benjamin Allen, born December 
-'3, 1855. 

Benjamin Allen Barber, son of Benjamin and 
Ann Maria (Collins) Barber, married Georgie Lee 
daughter of Benjamin Franklin Lee, of Worcester' 
April 17, 1883. They have one child, Edith Louise' 
born October 14, 1884. Mrs. Barber's mother was 
Louise Bramhall Hammond, daughter of Jnhn and 
Adeline Hammond, of Worcester, and Mr. Barber 
has charge of the extensive estate of the late John 
Hammond, who was one of the leading men of the 
city in his day and owner of much real estate. His 
handsome old mansion on Highland street is the one 
now occupied by Colonel William A. Gile. 

Benjamin Allen Barber obtained his early edu- 
cation in the Worcester schools and passed the ex- 
aminations for entrance to the high school, which 
at that time was in the small building on Walnut 
street opposite the present classical high school. He 
went to work first for F. A. Clapp, who was a dealer 
in men's furnishing goods, the predecessor of E. B. 
Clapp, his brother. The store was then where the 
R. J. Healey shoe store now is. After two years 
and a half experience as clerk and salesman he 
entered the employ of Jerome Marble & Co., then 
and now the largest dealers in paints, oils, chemicals 
and drugs in this section. The present name of the 
firm is J. Russel Marble & Co. Mr. Barber has been 
with the firm since 1872, a period of thirty-three 
years, and has occupied close confidential relations 
with the owners as the cashier. 

Mr. Barber has taken a high place in the Masonic 
fraternity. He took eighteen of the degrees in Wor- 
cester and the remainder, including the thirty-second, 
in Boston. He belongs to Quinsigamond Lodge, 
Eureka Chapter, the Worcester County Commandery, 
Hiram Council. He is interested in athletics, being 
a member of the Boston Athletic Association and of 
the Worcester Golf Club. He has always taken an 
interest in amateur theatricals, and has helped many 
amateur performances in a city where amateurs have 
developed unusual talent. He is best known, how- 
ever, as a singer. He has sung bass in most of the 
Protestant churches having quartettes in Worcester. 
He has been one or more seasons in the quartette 
at Old South Congregational Church, the First Bap- 
tist Church, Piedmont Congregational Church. Cen- 
tral Congregational Church, First Unitarian Church 
and at the Church of the Unity. He is the only sur- 
viving member of the original Schumann Quartette, 
and he still sings first bass in the present Schumann 
Quartette. It has been Mr. Barber's custom to enter- 
tain during the week of the Worcester Festival the 
visiting artists. At the festival of 1904, for in- 
stance, over a hundred and fifty lovers of music 
gathered at his invitation at his house to meet some 
of the Festival soloists. Mr. Barber is personally 
a charming man. He is popular in the social circles 
of the city and has one of the largest lists of 
acquaintances and friends. Mr. Barber has a beauti- 
ful home at 31 Germain street, Worcester. 

CHARLES ALBERT ALLEN. The name of 
.Allen occupies a conspicuous place in the history 
of Worcester county. Massachusetts. It is found 
not only in the industrial but in the professional life 
of the people who have stood for all that is noblest 
and best. Persons in the United States bearing 




»^^c^^^ 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



369 



this surname find many lines to follow in reaching 
[the progenitor, for there are now at least twenty 
persons of the name of Allen who came to these 
American shores prior to 1640, But to James, who 
Isettled in Dedhani and removed to Medfield, a con- 
siderable number can trace their ancestry, among 
them Charles Albert Allen, who was born in Wor- 
icester, son of Albert S. Allen. 

i He attended the schools of his native town, pass- 
ing up through the various grades, after wdiich he 
took a full course in the Worcester Academy, ac- 
quiring the profession of a civil engineer. For 
several years he found employment at his profession 
,in Worcester and vicinity, a considerable portion of 
the time being engaged in making important surveys 
for the W. & N. R. R. During this period he de- 
Isigned and constructed the railroad viaduct at Wor- 
cester, also constructed the State Lunatic Ho.'^pital 
at the lake, the railroad bridges on South- 
ibridge street, and other important works. In the 
'year 1877 he was elected by the city couiicil to 
succeed Percy Daniels as civil engineer for the 
icity of Worcester, and was annually re-elected until 
!the year 1893. During the fifteen years that he was 
lat the head of the engineering department of the 
[city there were, aside from the natural and rapid 
growth of the city, various special instances when the 
department was seriously taxed with responsibility, 
namely : the construction of the new dam for the 
'Storage of the water, known as the Tatnuck brook 
supply, and the disposal of the sewage of the city, 
both of which was handled with professional skill 
md sound judgment. Mr. Allen has given much 
,time to the study of sewage disposal for cities and 
iiowns, and has personally investigated various sys- 
tems both in this country and in Europe. When 
iWorcester was compelled by an act of the legislature 
to purify her sewage before turning it into the 
Blackstone river, Mr. Allen, after careful investiga- 
;ion, recommended a system which was finally put 
n use to the acceptance of all interested parties. 
Since Mr. Allen's retirement from the city govern- 
:nent he has been engaged in expert work, as 
consulting engineer, special engineer, or commis- 
liioner in various parts of New England and in the 
jiouth and middle west. Within the past ten years 
fully one hundred different cases have come under 
iiis attention and service, many of them of unusual 
Importance and public interest, such as the abolition 
)f grade crossings, he having been appointed by the 
Superior court on forty-three grade crossing commis- 
ions, questions of supplying cities and towns with 
)ure water, disposal of sewage, w'ater power develop- 
;nent, and attendance before the courts or commis- 
jions to give evidence as an expert engineer. He 
Ivas appointed by Governor Greenhalge a member 
jif the Metropolitan water board, but was obliged to 
llccline serving on account of other engagements 
fonsuining his time. Mr. Allen belongs to the Amer- 
'can Society of Civil Engineers, the Boston Society 
f Civil Engineers, the Worcester County Society of 
rivil Engineers, the New England Water Works As- 
ociation, the Massachusetts Highway Association, 
'ommonwealth Club, of which he is president, the 
?atnuck Country Club, the Quinsigamond Boat Club, 
nd the Boston Club of Boston. He is also a mem- 
er of Quinsigamond Lodge, A. F. and A. M. In 
olitics he is a Republican. 

As has been stated. Mr. Allen traces his descent 
ack through the following ancestral lines to : 

(I) James .Allen, who came to America and 
lettled in Dedham. Massachusetts, in 16^7, married 
[innie Guild, the sixteenth day of the first month 
h 1638. He was a proprietor there in 1642, and 
ve years later took the oath of a freeman. He 
I 24 



removed with the first thirteen settlers to establish 
the town of Medfield, and drew his house lot on 
South street, and was living there in 1660, and may 
have died there, September 27, 1676. His wife died 
March 29, 1672-73. Their children were : John, born 
December 4, 1639; Mary and Martha, twins, born 
1641 ; Mary married Joseph Clark, Martha married 
Williain Sabin; Sarah, born 1644, married Domingo 
White ; James, born 1646, married Lydia Adams ; 
Nathainc, born 1648, married (first) Mary Sabin 
(second) Mary Frizzell ; Joseph, born 1652, married 
Hannah Sabin, of Scaconk. 

(II) Joseph Allen married Hannah Sabin, in 
1673, and took his house lot in the north part 
of Medfield, since known as the "Allen peace." He 
was a cooper by trade, and at the time of the sack- 
ing of Medfield by the Indians, during Philip's war, 
all the houses were burned except Joseph Allen's. 
He died January 14, 1703-04. She died 1730. Their 
children were : Joseph, born December ig, 1676, mar- 
ried Miriam Wight; Ilannali, born June 23, 1679, 
married Benoni Twichell in 1705; Daniel, born April 
21, 16S1, settled in Pomfret, Connecticut; David, 
born 1683, settled in Ashford, Connecticut ; Noah, 
born April 21, 1685; Eleazer, born y\ugust 25, 1688, 
married Mary Battle in 1712; Jeremiah, born August 
5. 1690; Hezekiah, born November 3, 1692, mar- 
ried Mary Draper ; Abigail, born October 24, 1694, 
■married Ebenezer Battle ; Nehcmiah, born April 22, 
1699. married Mary Parker; Thankful; Mary. 

(III) Joseph Allen, born December 19, 1676, 
married Miriam Wight, of Medfield, November 4, 
1701. She was a daughter of Ephraim Wight, of 
that town, and was born August 22. 1675; she was a 
granddaughter of Thomas Wight, who came from 
the Isle of Wight and was in Watcrtown, Massa- 
chusetts, 1636. Joseph Allen died May 25, 1727, 
in Medfield. His children were : Joseph, born Au- 
gust 16, 1702 ; Miriam, born May 27, 1704, died 
March 3, 1727-28; Moses, born September 20, 1708; 
Lydia, born 1714; Aaron, born March 11, 1715, 
married Hannah . 

(IV) Aaron Allen^ born March ir, 1715. married 

(first) Hannah , who died August 17, 1778. He 

married (second), January 4, T779, Deborah, widow 
of Colonel Daniel Plimpton. She died February 20, 
1787. He married (third) widow Catharine Smith, 
August 9, 1787. He died May 3, 1794, in Sturbridge. 
This Mr. Allen w'ith his brothers, Joseph and Moses, 
about the year 1736 removed to Sturbridge, Massa- 
chusetts. Joseph and Moses were chosen town of- 
ficers the year following the incorporation of that 
town, 1738. The children of Aaron were: Aaron, 
born August 22. 17,^. married Abigail .Mien, daugh- 
ter of Nehcmiah; Simeon, horn June 26, 1741, mar- 
ried Sarah Pufifcr; Elizabeth, born March 29, 1743, 
married John Allen ; Thankful, born June 29, 1745, 
died May 3, 1759; Prudence, born December i, 1747, 
married IVIarch Stacy; Reuben, born November 12, 
1740, died November 5, 1754; Ithmar, born October 
9, 1751. married Dolly Pincheon ; Joel, born October 

26, 1755, died August 27, 1754; Caleb, born June 25, 
1755, married Rhoda Allen; Amosa, liorn September 

27, 1757, died October 26, 1759; Elisha, born No- 
vember 20. 1759, married Cylinda ; Hannah, 

born September 29. 1762, died October 27, 1762. 

At least four of the above named sons served in 
the war of the revolution. Aaron marched to re- 
enforce General Gates at the north ward, enlisted 
September 26, 1777. discharged October 18. was in 
Lieutenant Benjamin Freeman's company. Colonel 
Jonathan Iloleman's regiment. He also enlisted July 
30, 1780, in Captain Abel Mason's coinpany. Colonel 
Jacob Davis's regiment, serving twelve days in Rhode 
Island. Ithmar also served in Lieutenant Benjamin 



370 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



Freeman's company on the same expedition to re- 
enforce (Icneral Gates. Caleb evidently served in 
several campaigns, was sergeant in Captain Joseph 
Sibley's company, Colonel Glenforth Key's regi- 
ment, cnlislcd July 8, 1777, discharged January 3, 
1778. He was a revolutionary war pensioner, Au- 
gust 15. 1833. He died August 22, 1839. 

(V) EliVha Allen, born November 20, 1759, mar- 
ried Cylinda . He evidently enlisted December 

10, 1776. and served in Captain Abel Mason's com- 
pany, Colonel Jonathan Holeman's regiment, dis- 
charged January 20, 1777; he was stationed at Provi- 
dence. Rhode Island. He very likely served at other 
periods during the revolutionary war. He was a 
farmer and resided at Sturbridge, having received 
by will from his father. Aaron Allen, "all hi.s Per 
sonal and Real Estate not before given or shall 
hereafter be given in this will, he paying all my 
just delits and personal charges, the Legacies in this 
will and erecting a proper monument over my 
grave." In order to correct errors in former pub- 
lished accounts of this Allen family we quote further 
from this will, which may be found in Worcester 
county probate records, volume twenty-six, page 
ninety-eight, filed May 21, 1794, allowed October 
28, 1794: 

"I give to my beloved son Aaron Allen. Jr., 
Simeon, Ithmar, & Caleb, each the sum of fourteen 
pounds to be paid in silver money or Indian corn 
;it three shillings per bushel. I give my beloved 
daughter the wife of John Allen the sum of four 
pounds. To my beloved daughter Prudence, the 
wife of Mark Stacy, four pounds. My son Elisha 
to be executor." 

The will appears to have been signed January 
3. 1794, although perhaps drawn August 24, 1791 ; 
the will does not give the name of his wife. But 
Elisha, in settling the estate, took a receipt from 
Catharine Allen (his mother-in-law) for the amount 
agreed upon for her legacy. July 5, 1794. Elisha 
died January 30, 1818. His children were : Oren, 
born April 10, 1786, died January 31, 1814; Walter, 
born March 22, 1788, married Harriet Holbrook ; 
Thankful, born July 22, 1790; Cylinda, born April 
6, 1792, died October 5, 1826; Calesta, born No- 
vember 10, 179s, married Pardon Thompson : Alvan, 
born November 13, 1798, married Lucy Salisbury; 
Martha, born December 20, 1800, married Alfred 
Hitchcock ; Elisha Dwight, born March 27, 1804, 
married Orril Merrick. 

(VI) Alvan Allen married Lucy Salisbury, 
daughter of Benjamin and Catharine Salisbury, who 
died in Brimfield, Massachusetts. He died in 1841, 
Catharine in 1850. For some years Mr. Allen re- 
sided in his native town, Sturbridge, Massachusetts, 
but in the year 1836 removed to Worcester, and with 
Ginery Twichell, Simeon Burt, and Frederick Bil- 
lings became interested in establishing various stage 
lines for the transportation of passengers and the 
United States mail. He visited Washington at in- 
tervals, securing government contracts for carrying 
the mail, and while the N. & W. R. R. was in 
process of construction he held a contract for carry- 
ing passengers from the end of the road to the 
wiiarf where they took steamboat for the city of 
New York. In 1845 he engaged in the grocery busi- 
ness, and three years later opened a store for the 
tale of pianofortes, securing about the year 184S the 
sole agency in Worcester for the sale of Chickering 
piano, and this a.gency he retained until his death, 
In 1849, 1850 and 1858 he represented ward four 
in the city council. In 1853 he was assistant assessor 
and also city marshal. Five years later he was 
chosen to serve on the school committee. He was a 
member of the Massachusetts state militia and held 



the office of major. On November 29, 1859, wh 
passing from Front to Mechanic street over the 1 
cation of the N. & W. R. R. tracks, he was accidei 
ally struck by a passing train and killed. Their ch 
dren were : Albert S., born October 2, 1827, marri 
Eliza A. Cole: Benjamine D., born February 1 
183 1, married Eliza F. White. 

(VII) Albert S. Allen married Eliza A. Co 
daughter of James and Eliza (Prouty) Cole. Eliz 
beth Prouty was the daughter of Joel and Elizabe 
or "Betsey" (Gates) Prouty. of Boston, Massach 
setts. Elizabeth Gates was the daughter of Sylvan' 
Gates, of Rutland and Spencer, and Elizabe 
Graham, his wife, whose mother was Jane Thorn 
son, granddaughter of Lord Craig. Joel Prouty w 
son of Asa and Lydia (Livermore) Prouty, . 
Leicester, and grandson of David Prouty, senic 
of that town. Mr. Allen was a teacher of mus 
as early as 1847; he opened rooms in Pains Ne 
Block, Main street, Worcester, w-here he gave i 
struction on the pianoforte, and from that time uni 
his death he continued as organist in varioi 
churches, and teacher of music, with the exceptii 
of the time spent in the service of his country du 
ing the civil war as a member of Company A, Fift 
seventh Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteer Militi 
He served through the Wilderness campaign, ai 
was there on duty at Camp Distribution at Bait 
more. Maryland, until the close of the war. Y 
died in Worcester. April 25, 1895. Eliza Ann Col 
wife of Albert S. Allen, died February 2. 188: 
Their children were : Charles Albert, born Januai 
27, 1852 ; Mary Salisbury, born November 23, 185,-- 
Frank L., born August 8, 1862. 

(VIII) Charles Albert Allen, whose name heac 
this sketch, married Grace T. Chase, daughter 1 
Joseph Chase, for many years a woolen manufa^ 
turer in Blackstone, Lowell, and Worcester, Mass; 
chusetts. Their children were : Robert Chase, boi 
March 8. 1878, graduate from the Worcesti 
Polytechnic Institute ; Charles Albert, Jr., dit 
May 2., 1884: Chester Salisbury, born Ni 
vember 25, 1881, was educated in the publ 
schools, Worcester Acadetny, and Brown LTniversitj 
Mary Harville, born March 10, 1886, graduated fro:' 
the high school, and is now in St. Margaret's Scho 
for Girls, Waterbury. Connecticut; Grace Walke 
born February 26. 1889. now a student in the hie 
school : Robert Chase and Chester Salisbury are 6\ 
engineers. Robert Chase Allen tnarried Florem 
Akens Taylor, April 14. 1903. and they are the pa 
ents of two children : Donald Taylor, born Februar 
29, 1904, and Charles Albert, second, born Augu 
14. 1905- 

REV. FREDERIC W. BAILEY. Benoni Bail, 
(l), the pioneer ancestor of the Rev. Frederic V 
Bailey, was an early settler of Danbury. Connect' 
cut, at a place called "Wild Cat" in the preset 
town of Bethel. The destruction of the early to\\ 
records by the British during the revolution has pr 
vented any fuller knowledge of him except th; 
in his family bible, now possessed by l\lr. Josep 
T. Bailey, of Philadelphia, his age is mentioned v 
ninety-six at his death in 1793. In the absence c 
any definite information, indications have pointe 
to the Bailey family of Massachuestts as the prob: 
ble original. 

He married Lydia, daughter of Solomon Ferr 
of Danbury, descendant of Charles Ferry, of Sprin} 
field, Massachusetts. Their children were: Samuf 
Rebecca and Sarah, who married Ebcnezer Munso: 

(II) Samuel Bailey, eldest son of Benoni, bor 
1728. died 1808. He inherited the old farm i 
Danbury and lived there throughout his life. W: 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



371 



appointed lieutenant of the Ninth Company Train 
Band in the Sixteenth Regiment of Connecticut 
i)y Act of Assembly, May, 1776, and served in the 
'evolutionary war. He married Lydia Becbe, a 
great-granddaughtir of Captain James Beehe, of 
Janbury, and Sarah Benedict, daughter of Thomas, 
)f Norwalk. The children of Samuel and Lydia 
3ailey were: Ebenczer (.see forward), Lydia, born 
yVay 8, 1769, married Edmund Beebe; Samuel, niar- 
jied Huldah Hoyt; Benjamin, born December 9, 
[756, married Hannah Diblile ; Lemuel, born Noveni- 
lier 2, 1779, married AUiey Gregory. 
i (in) Ebenezcr Bailey, son of Samuel (2), was 
jiorn in Danbury, 1760, and died i\Iarch 31, 1801. 
de married, December 7, 1778, ai Danbury, Ann, 
'laughter of Samuel Starr, of Danbury, fourth in 
ilescent from Dr. Comfort Starr, of Cambridge, 
niassachusetts. The children of Ebenezer and Ann 
•3ailey were: i. Clara (Beebe), born May 27, 
779. 2. Lucy (Benedict) (Comstock), April 2, 
,782. 3. Zoe (Hitchcock), July 13, 1784. 4. Lydia, 
June II, 1788. 5. Noah Starr, (see forward.) 6 
ibenezer Gould, February 7, 1795. 7. Samuel P., 
December 24, 1797. 

■ (IV) Noah Starr Bailey, fifth child of Ebenezer 
3ailey (3), was born in Danbury, July 16, 1790, 
nd died in Norwalk, October 26, 1853. Brought 
lip to the trade of a tailor, he later developed into 
* candy manufacturer and dealer at Norfolk, a busi- 
ness which was continued both there and at St. 
(.ouis, Missouri, by his son Samuel. 
I Noah Starr Bailey married Angeline, daughter 
ff Clausen Holley, or Hawley, and wife Sarah Dib- 
,le, of Danbury. She was born June 17, 1790. The 
hildren of Noah Starr and Angeline Bailey were : 
>Iary Louisa, born June 9, 1815; William Egbert, 
isee forward) ; Samuel Henry, born March 16, 
5820; Sarah Ann (Terry), born March 20, 1823; 
>id Frederick Starr, of Springfield, born May 24, 
325. 

i (V) William Egbert Bailey, second child of 
foah Starr Bailey, was born at Norwalk, Coni\ecti- 
iLit, October 31, 1817, and died in Brooklyn, New 
(Ork, 1893. He early entered upon a mercantile 
kreer in New York city, being for some years with 
he clothing house of Taylor, Ryno & Company, 
tith a branch ofifice at New Orleans. After his 
larriage he became a resident of Brooklyn, East- 
[-n District, where most of his life was passed. 
|/illiam E. Bailey, married, December 25, 1839, in 
jew York. Jane, a daughter of John Sharpe or 
cherp, and Alarcy Higbie. daughter of Aaron and 
■anddaughter of Samuel and Jean Higbie, of 
imaica. Long Island. Jane Sharpe, born in Bruok- 
in, New York, March 19, 1814, was a granddaughter 
f Jacob Hendrick Sharpe, of New York, and 
irancina Schaats, a descendant of Rev. Gideon 
kaats, first pastor of the Dutch church at Albany, 
lew York, and great-granddaughter of Jacob 
harpe or Scherp, the Palatine of Germantown, New 
prk, and his wife Anna Maria Bomper, daughter 
: Lodewick Bomper, of New York. 
I The children of William E. and Jane (Sharpe) 
!ailey were : Peter Sharpe. of Springfield, Massa- 
lusetts, born May 31, 1841, captain of Company 
, Twenty-seventh Infantry, Massachusetts, in civil 
ar, William Starr, born February 14, 1845. mem- 
!r of Ninth New- York Volunteers, killed in bat- 
S of Fredericksburg, December 21, 1862; John 
,enTy, born Fe1)ruary 14. 1849; Sarah Louise, horn 
jine I, 1851; Emma Jane, born February 3, 1855; 
iredcric William, born January 31, 1858; Mary 
ngeline, born December 25, 1859, died October 19, 
,95- 
I (VI) The Rev. Frederic W. Bailey, son of 



William Egbert and Jane S. Bailey, was born in 
Brooklyn, New York, January 31, 1858. Graduat- 
ing from the public schools he was for a time with 
11. J. Baker & Brother, wholesale druggists of New 
York. Under the pastoral care of Rev. Dr. Almon 
Gunnison, then pastor of All Souls Church, Brook- 
lyn, he was led to think of the mini.itry as his voca- 
tion. He graduated from St. Lawrence University, 
Canton, New York, in 1878, with the degree of B. 
D., and after serving in pastorates at East Jatlrey, 
New Hampshire, and Hightstown, New Jersey, and 
persuing a course of study at the Boston School 
of Oratory under Professor Moses True Brown, he 
received a call from the new All Souls' Universalist 
Church on Kilby street, Worcester, as its first pastor. 
For some three years he served thus, in wdiich time 
the land at the corner of Woodland and Norwood 
streets was secured and plans for a new brown stone 
church were drawn after designs prepared by Mr. 
James A. Norcross, who was greatly interested in the 
enterprise. At this period Mr. Bailey found him- 
self little in sympathy with the prevailing thought 
of the Universalist denomination, and in January, 
1889, promptly withdrew therefrom to seek orders 
in the Episcopal church. He was confirmed at 
St. James' Church, Cambridge, and after a special 
course at the General Theological Seminary, New 
York, was ordained Deacon by the Rt. Rev. B. H. 
Paddock, D. D., Bishop of Massachusetts, at Christ 
Church, Brooklyn, Eastern District, in 1889, and a 
priest in St. Paul's Church, Natick, in 1890. Of 
this parish he remained in charge till i8gi. establish- 
ing (luring that time the St. Andrew's Church in 
Wellesley, wdiich became part of his parish. In 
1891 he returned to Worcester as the rector's as- 
sistant at All Saints Church, and in 1893 was called 
to the rectorship of the Church of the Ascension 
in New Haven, Connecticut. In 189S he was chosen 
Secretary of the Commission on Parochial Archives, 
diocese of Connecticut, and copyist, and did much 
to preserve the old church records and papers there. 
Since 1901 he has resided at 33 Harvard street, 
Worcester, and is serving as a missionary of the 
diocese of Western Massachusetts, under his former 
associate. Bishop Vinton. He had charge of Christ 
Church, Rochdale, in 1903, re-opened and renovated 
the dormant Grace Church, O.xford, and in 1905 
established the Holy Trinity Church at Southbridge. 

Mr. Bailey is widely known as a genealogist and 
historian, especially such as pertains to early Con- 
necticut. He has himself published seven books of 
early Connecticut marriages, all taken from church 
records, and two books of early Massachusetts mar- 
riages all of which have had wide circulation and 
have been of great service in establishing old family 
connections. In 1892 he copyrighted and patented 
a book for the keeping of family records and trac- 
ing ancestry which is in such favor that a fourth 
edition is now contemplated, greatly enlarged and im- 
proved. He is a member of the New England His- 
toric Genealogical Society in Boston, the New Haven 
Colony Historical Society, and the Massachus.tts 
Society of the Sons of the -American Revolution. 

On January 14, 1891, Mr. Bailey married at 
Worcester, Lena Olive Marble, daughter of Jerome 
and Susan Emeline (Klanchard) Marble. Her father 
was linrn at Charlton, September 10, 1824, and died 
in Worcester, February 14, 1906. He married, 
March 21, 1849, Susan Emeline, daughter of Will- 
iam K. Blanchard, of Charlton (son of Isaac) and 
Susanna Boomer, who descended through her father, 
Rev. James Boomer, from Matthew Boomer, an 
original settler of Freetown, Massachusetts. The 
children of Jerome and Susan E. Marble were: 
h'enella and Lena Olive, as mentioned above, Jerome 



n2 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



Marble was for years the leading wholesale dealer 
in paints and oils of Worcester, having also a branch 
at Boston. 

John Putnam Marble, the father of Jerome, was 
born in Charlton, October i, 1802, and died in Wor- 
cester, January 23, 1901, at 33 Harvard street, where 
he had for some years resided. He married, No- 
vember 30, 1823, Ruth Ann, daughter of William 
P. Ryder, a great-grandson of Eleazer Ryder, of 
Sherborn, and of his wife Elizabeth, daughter of 
Major General Salem Towne, of Oxford, who de- 
scended from William Towne, an original settler 
of Salem, Massachusetts. They had two children : 
Thaddeus, who died single in 1852, and Jerome, 
mentioned above. 

Thaddeus Marble, father of John Putnam Mar- 
ble, was born in Sutton, February 24, 1758, and died 
in Charlton, March 19, 1817. He was a scythe 
maker. He married Olive, daughter of John Put- 
nam, of Sutton, son of Jeptha, who was great- 
grandson of John Putnam, an original settler of 
Salem, Massachusetts, in 1634. (See sketch of the 
Putnam family of Sutton, Massachusetts, in this 
work.) 

Enoch Marble, father of Thaddeus. was a son 
of Fregrace Marble the pioneer of the family at 
Sutton, and a son of Samuel, of Andover. (See the 
Marble family elsewhere in this work.) 

The children of Rev. Frederic William and Lena 
Olive (Marble) Bailey are: John Marble, born 
October 17, 1891, at Worcester ; Nella May, August 
25, 1897, at New Haven, Connecticut ; Frederic 
Starr, October 18, 1900, at New Haven, Connecticut. 

GEORGE W. CARR, president of the George 
W. Carr Company of Worcester, was born in St. 
Johns, New Brunswick. May 24, 1853, a son of 
Charles and Eliza (Smith) Carr, natives of London 
and Hull, England, respectively. Charles Carr 
(father), a sailmaker by trade, came to St. Johns, 
New Brunswick, from England, in early manhood, 
and was there united in marriage to Eliza Smith. 

George W. Carr was educated in the public 
schools of St. Johns. He began his business life 
as clerk in a men's furnishing goods, boot and 
shoe store, acquiring thereby a thorough knowledge 
of the duties of that position and performing the 
same in a highly creditable manner. He came to 
Worcester, Massachusetts, in September, 1873. 
After working a short time at harness making and 
carriage trimming, he engaged in business in part- 
nership with Eugene Curtis, under the firm name of 
Curtis & Carr, in the construction of concrete 
roofs and walks. Later he was in partnership with 
Charles O. Richardson in the same business. The 
firms with which INIr. Carr has been connected have 
conducted a large and profitable business in Wor- 
cester and vicinity, especially in gravel roofs and 
artificial stone, granolithic and concrete construc- 
tion. In 1901 the firm was incorporated under the 
name of the George W. Carr Company with George 
W. Carr as president, H. C. Wilson as treasurer, 
and A. H. Carr as superintendent of the work in 
Worcester and vicinity. In 1906 this firm assumed 
the interests of the Carr and Anderson corporation 
of Boston, and Mr. J. Fred Carr became the man- 
ager of the Boston office. 

Among the more important contracts for con- 
crete work of extensive proportions are the follow- 
ing: The New Home Sewing jNIachine Company 
works at Orange, Massachusetts; Saunders cotton 
mill at Saundersville; Paul Whitin Manufacturing 
Company at Northbridge; Draper Machine Com- 
pany at Hopedale ; Chapel Mills Manufacturing 
Company at Cherry Valley, Leicester; L. S. Star- 



rett Company mill at Athol ; Bayard Thayer's sta- 
ble at Lancaster (granolithic) ; Harry Payne Whit- 
ney's stable at Manhasset, Long Island; Art Museum 
building at Pittsfield ; Zenas Crane's place at Pitts- 
field ; Hon. L. D. Apsley's place at Hudson ; rail- 
road station for the New York, New Haven & 
Hartford Company at Marlboro; C. K. G. Billings' 
place. New York city ; new City Hall, Worcester, 
(granolithic) ; residence of Henry C. Pratt on Burn- 
coat street, Worcester; residence of Luther C. 
Brown on Cedar street, Worcester; driveway and 
wall of residence of George F. Hutchins, Ripley 
street, Worcester; sidewalks of Westland street, 
Vernon street and Stoneland road ; sidewalk of 
Conservatory of Music, Boston; sidewalk and in- 
terior of Horticultural Hall, Boston; East Boston 
Drainage (concrete) of the Boston & Albany 
Railroad ; retaining walls, steps, paving and yard 
of the Roger Wolcoot school, Dorcliester; grano- 
lithic floors and sidewalks of Motor IMart, Boston; 
waterproofing floors and basement of Eden Jordan's 
stable, Boston : granolithic floor of Anglier building, 
Brockton, and tar concrete work of car shop, Port- 
land, Maine. 

George W. Carr married, August, 1885, Georgi- 
anna Kindred, daughter of Amos and Sarah (Ketch) 
Kindred, of New Brunswick, natives of England and 
New Brunswick, respectively, and one child was 
born to them, Ella L. Carr. Mr. Carr is a mem- 
ber of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and 
Knights of Pythias. 

FREDERICK WILLIAM BLACKMER. Will- ■ 
iam Blackmer, or Blackmore (i), as it was some- 
times spelled, was the emigrant ancestor of Fred- 
erick W. Blackmer, of Worcester. He came from 
England in 1665 to Scituate to live with his uncle, 
Peter Collamore, who had made him one of his 
heirs. Mr. Collamore came to Scituate early. He 
was a proprietor in 1640, was able to bear arms 1643, 
and was a town officer in 1650. He lived about 
twenty years after his nephew came to New England, 
and the nephew had a family and had been dead 
about eight years when the uncle died in 1664. Mr. 
Collamore made his will January 16. 1683. It was 
probated June 4. 1664. It mentioned his wife Mary; 
and various relatives among then the four chil- 
dren of William Blackmer, Peter, John, Phebe and 
William Blackmer. 

A farm w-as laid out to William Blackmer at 
Scituate by the freemen. It was located where the 
late Captain Elijah Curtis resided. He married, July 
17, 1666, Elizabeth Bankes. In 1669 he was freed 
from military duty on account of the loss of an 
eye, yet he must have volunteered when King Philip's 
war desolated the colonies, for he was killed by 
the Indians, April 21, 1676. On January 24, 1677, 
his widow married Jacob Bumpas, who was born 
March 28, 1644, at Duxbury. son of Edward Bumpas 
(originally Bonrepos), of Plymouth, who came on 
the "Fortune" in 1621. Jacob and Elizabeth Bumpas 
had two sons and other children and left many de- 
scendants in Middletown and Rochester, Massachu- 
setts, where they settled later. 

The children of William Blackmer were: Peter, 1 
baptized July 7. 1667 ; John, baptized May 29, 1670, 
married Anna Branch, December 19, 1700, resided 
at Marshfield. Massachusetts ; Phebe. baptized Sep- 
tember 22, 1672, married Ebenezer Holmes ; William, 
baptized April 11, 1675, was an infant only a few 
days old when his father was killed, died 1698, un- 
married, leaving his property to his brothers and 
their children. 

(II) Peter Blackmer, son of William Blackmer ( 
(t), was born May 25. 1667. at Scituate, Massachu- < 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



373 



Setts, and died at Rochester, Massachusetts, August 

1, 1717. He married Elizabeth , and became 

tine of the pioneers and first settlers of Rochester, 
Massachusetts. He married (second) at Rochester 
, Sarah Edwards, daughter of Samuel Edwards, Octo- 
ber 24, 1711. All but the last two children. Samuel 
X2d) and Mary, were by his first wife, and all but 
Peter were born at Rochester. 

The children of Peter Blackmer were : Peter, 
born probably at Scituate, died 1692 ; John, born 
September 25, 1690; Jane, born December 8, 169,3; 
Jemima, born November 16. 1695; Joseph, born 
■September 4, 1697; William, born October 11, 1699; 
Peter, born March 21, 1702; Stephen, born July 27, 
1704; Samuel, born April 12, 1705. died young; 
.-Samuel, born July 20, 1712 ; Mary, born November 

•5, 1714- 

(HI) Peter Blackmer, son of Peter Blackmer 
(J), was born at Rochester, Massachusetts, March 
21, 1702. He and his older brother, John Blackmer, 
.settled in Warren and Palmer, Massachusetts. John 
;Blackmer raised a family at Rochester. He mar- 
ried Mercy Brickett, March 5, 1711-12, and had 
Nathaniel, born July .3, 1712; Elizabeth, born March 
il2. 1713-14; Susannah, born July 8. 1716; John, born 
.March 21, 1717-1S; Mary, born March 8. 1719-20. 
ijohn drew sixty-three acres in the second division 
■of Palmer in 1746. on John Patterson's right, and 
:Peter in 1743 drew thirty acres in the first division 
lof the common lands on Joseph Brooks' right in 
'Palmer. Peter Blackmer of Palmer was in Captain 
Euckminster's company at Fort Dummer, August 
16 to 20, 1748. in the French and Indian war. He 
•later settled at Warren. Massachusetts. John Black- 
imer who fought against the Indians in 1758, in this 
■vicinity, was probably a son of Peter. The names 
lof his children have, not been found. He had a son 
i Peter. Jr., born 1729. 

(IV) Peter Blackmer, son of Peter Blackmer 
,(3), was born near Warren or Palmer. Massachu- 
; setts, in 1729. He moved to Greenwich about 1760. 
; and was one of the prominent men of that town. He 
.married Esther Sheppard, who died October 17, 

1801, aged seventj'-two years. He was a farmer. His 
i place is now or was recently owned by George 
. Wheeler. Their children were born from about 

1760 to 1790. Not all the dates have been preserved. 
) Their children were : Rolen or Roland, engaged 

in Shay's Rebellion, went to Pelham, was treasurer 
I and selectman of that town, had Mary, David, Peter, 
; Susan, Esther, Thankful, Amos, Asa, Moses ; Mary. 

■ married Archibald Lammon ; David, married Louise 
iStebbins; Peter, born 1781. died July 2. 1838: mar- 
i ried Betsey Stebbins ; Susan, married Abner Strone : 
• Esther, married Bethens Huck ; Thankful, married 
f Barnabas Sears ; Asia, married Sally Stebbins ; Amos, 
' born November i. 1769. died April 18, 1823, mar- 
\ ried Margaret Gray, who died March 7. 1853, aged 
I seventy-three years : Moses, married Mary Vaughan. 

(V) Amos Blackmer. son of Peter Blackmer 
r (a), was born at Greenwich, November I, 1769. 
I He married (intentions March 7), 1802, Margaret 

Gray, daughter of Daniel Gray, of Pelham. They 
! settled in Prescott. Massachusetts, on the farm of 
I Daniel Gray. Amos died April 18. 1823: his wife 
died March 7. 1853. Their children, all born at 
Greenwich, Massachusetts, were : Mary D., born 
1805, died young; Daniel Gray, born 1809, mar- 
ried Adeline Sears, of Prescott, Massachusetts ; 
: Peter, born October 31, 1811, died February 27, 
t 1882 ; he never married ; William H., born April 

■ 14, 1S14, died November 15, 1885; moved from 
Prescott to Hardwick in 1858 ; Esther Shepard, born 
May 12, 1821, died in North Brookfield, December 
18, 1885 ; Amos Harvey, born November 12, 1817, 



married Lydia E. Sanger, of Westboro. Massachu- 
residing at Greenwich, where he died January 17, 

(VI) William Hack Blackmer, born at Prescott, 
Massachusetts, April 14, 1814, married Harriet" 
Newell Howe, at Worcester, April 14, 1S39; he died 
November 15, 1885. He settled in Hardwick. Massa- 
chusetts, in 1858, on the Petersham road. He was 
a farmer and his widow is now livin,g at No. 150 
Lincoln street, Worcester, Massachusetts. She was 
l)orn July 16, 1817. The children of William Hack 
and Harriet N. Blackmer were : Francis Thaxter, 
Ijorn in Worcester, March 30. 1844, died in Wash- 
ington, D. C., January 15, 1884; Daniel Gray, born 
in Prescott, January 3, 1846, died in Worcester, 
November .30. 1872 ; William, born in Prescott, July 
10. 1847, died July 26, 1847; Mary Anjeannette, born 
in Prescott, September 18, 1848, died in Hardwick, 
December 24, 1869; Edwin Augustus, born in Pres- 
cott, November g, 1850. died in Worcester, No- 
vember 30, 1882 : Charles Henry, born in Prescott, 
November 23, 1852, died in Hardwick, December 
I, 1869; Emory Washburn, born in Prescott, May 
24, 1854. died in Hardwick, December 24, i86g ; 
Hattie Adaline. born in Prescott, June 29, 1856, died 
March 30. 1857 ; Frederick William, born in Hard- 
wick, April 10, 1858 ; George Albert, born in Hard- 
wick. March 26, i860, died in Colorado Springs, 
Colorado, April 25, 1889 ; Herbert Theodore, born 
in Hardwick, February 11, 1862, died in Worcester, 
July 14, 1902, 

(VII) Francis T, Blackmer. son of William H. 
(6). was born in Worcester. Massachusetts, 1844, 
but spent his boyhood in Prescott and Hardwick, 
where his parents lived. He was educated in the 
district schools and at Wilbraham Academy. When 
twenty years of age he returned to Worcester to 
enter the law office of the late Lion. William W. 
Rice. He was admitted to the bar in 1867, but 
he continued in the employ of Mr. Rice until he was 
admitted to partnership. In 187s he was elected 
city solicitor of Worcester, and he continued in 
this office until 1881, when he resigned to take the 
place as district attorney of Judge Staples, who 
was at that time promoted to the bench. In both of 
these important public offices he was distinguished 
for faithful and able service. In 1883 his health 
failed so that he was obliged to give up work. He 
tried by rest and travel to regain his health, but 
the struggle was vain, and in January, 1884, he died 
at Washington, D. C., at the very beginning of 
one of the most promising legal careers and with 
remarkable attainments for a lawyer only forty years 
old. He was particularly successful as a^ trial lawyer. 
He was very effective in persuading juries to his 
way 'of thinking. His familiarity \vith Yankee char- 
acter and his easy confidence-winning mannerisms 
commanded the attention of rural jurors as nobody 
else could. He probably became known to more 
persons in the course of his career as a lawyer and 
di-strict attorney than any other lawyer in the county. 
In the examination of witnesses he had no peer 
among his contemporaries. He was always in con- 
trol of his temper and composed under the greatest 
stress. 

(VII) Frederick William Blackmer. son of Will- 
iam H. Blackmer (6), was born April 10, 1858. at 
Hardwick. Massachusetts. He attended the com- 
mon schools in towns where his parents lived, and 
fitted for college at Barre Academy and the Hitch- 
cock high school at Brimficld, Massachusetts. He 
came to Worcester in iSSo to enter the office of 
Francis T. Blackmer. his brother, and take a course 
at the law school. Lie had hardly become familiar 
with the details of his brother's practice when his 



374 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



brother was taken sick, retired and died. The busi- 
ness needed him and his legal education was gained 
by hard work in actual practice. He had to give 
up the plan to go to the law school. In 1883 
he was admitted to the bar at Fitchburg. Shortly 
after his brother's death he formed a partnership 
with Ernest H. Vaughan. In March, 1884, tlie new 
firm opened offices in the old postofifice building on' 
Pearl street. After a year ihey inoved to the Walker 
building, and on the completion of the State Mutual 
building- they took the corner suite, No. 801-804, 
where they are at present. For about ten years 
IBlackmer & Vaughan have ranked as the oldest 
firm of lawyers in Worcester. They have been ex- 
tremely successful in their practice for over twenty 
years. They have made a specialty of corporation 
cases, especially bankruptcy proceedings, and settle- 
ments of financial embarrassments. They have or- 
ganized hundreds of corporations and are regular 
counsel for over fifty different corporations. Their 
most notable achievement in court perhaps was in 
the famous Kettle Brook litigation. They won some 
one hundred and twenty suits for damages against 
the city of Worcester on account of the taking of 
water for city uses. The dainages amounted to 
about $680,000 in all. 

Mr. Blackmer is a member of the Commonwealth 
Club and the Worcester Golf Club. He and his fam- 
ily attend the Central Congregational Church. He 
enjoys travel and has made frequent trips to the 
south and west. He is familiar with every city in 
California and with most of the cities of the north- 
west. He resides in a very attractive new home on 
Massachusetts avenue. 

He married in 1883, Maggie Osgood Whitney, 
daughter of Lovell and Hannah (Moore) Whitney, 
of Boylsfon, Massachusetts, and a descendant of 
John Whitney, who came to Watertown in April, 
16-!=;. Their children are: Ralph Fred, born in 1885, 
graduated from Worcester Acadetny in the class of 
1904; Albert Whitney, born in 1887, graduated from 
Worcester Academy in the class of 1905, and now a 
member of the class of 1909 in Amherst College ; 
Waldo Harvey, born in 1890; and Bernice, born 
in 1893. 

ALBERT GEARY MANN. Richard Mann (I), 
who was in the town of Scituate, Massachusetts, be- 
fore 1644, was the emigrant ancestor of the late 
Albert Geary Mann, of Worcester, and his fainily. 
He took the oath of fidelity there January 15, 1644. 
He was one of the twenty-six partners in the cele- 
brated Conihassett grant in 1646. He was drowned 
February 16, 1655. while crossing the ice on the 
pond near his house. John Hoar, who subsequently 
went to Concord, Massachusetts, was his near neigh- 
bor and was on the jury that held an inquest after 
the death. The verdict shows that with the vain 
attempts of those present to help him he struggled 
for an hour and finally succumbed to the cold and 
was drowned. It is supposed that Rebecca Mann 
who married John Cowen in 1656 was the widow 
of Richard Mann. The name of Richard's wife 
was Rebecca. Richard Mann was a farmer or 
planter, and one of the original proprietors. His 
fariTi was beautifully located. His neighbor on the 
south was John Hoar, who early removed to Con- 
cord. Massachusetts. On the east was the sea and 
on the north was Musquascut pond, in which the 
drowning accident happened. 

The children of Richard and Rebecca Mann were: 
Nathaniel, born September 23, 1646, died July 20, 
1688: Thomas, born August 15, 1650, married Sarah, 
died T732: Richard, born February 5, 1652, mar- 
ried Elizabeth Sutton ; Josiah, born December 10, 



1654, probably died young, though he may be the 
Josiah who was in Boston 1674-5-6. 

(II) Richard Mann, son of Richard Mann (i), 
was born February 5, 1652, at Scituate, Massachu- 
setts. He married Elizabeth Sutton, who was born 
in 1662. She was the eldest daughter of John Sut- 
ton, of Scituate, and granddaughter of Elder Na- 
thaniel Tilden, who was a wealthy citizen and 
emigrated from Tenterden, in Kent, England, be- 
fore 1628, and settled in Scituate, Massachusetts. 
Richard Mann was three years old at the time 
of his father's death, and four when his mother 
married John Cowen. When eleven he was ap- 
prenticed to Governor Thomas Hinckley, of Barn- 
stable, for a term of ten years. He was a soldier! 
in King Philip's war and received his portion of| 
land for services, especially at the Narragansett) 
sortie fight, so-called. This tract of land was at; 
Hebron, Connecticut, and was deeded later by himl 
to his son Nathaniel. In 1703 he sold his farm at 
Scituate to his brother Thomas, and about the sameil 
time deeded a tract of Connihasset land to Gershoral 
Ewell. April 13, 1703. he bought a farm of threeJ 
thousand acres at Middleboro, Massachusetts, of 
John Allen. Soon afterward he settled at Lebanon,) 
Connecticut, where he spent the remainder of hisj 
days. AH his children, except the youngest, Elisha,( 
were born before the family left Scituate. 

The children were: I. John, born April 7, 1684,! 
was in Lebanon, Connecticut, 1719. but removed to 
western Massachusetts or to New Hampshire, wherei 
he raised a fainily. 2. Rebecca, born March 22, 1686.) 
married Isaac Tilden, of Lebanon, June 4, I'7i6, unit 
had six children. 3. Hannah, born April 13, 1689.) 

4. Nathaniel, born October 27, 1693, married (first) )j 
Mary Root. 5. Richard, born March 10, 1694, raar-«j 
ried probably Mary Culver, July 23, 1719, settled at 
Lebanon, Connecticut, and had Esther, born De- 
cember 18, 1721, removed to New Hampshire or 
Massachusetts. 6. Elizabeth, born August 27, 1696. 
7. Abigail, born February 23, 1698-9, probably mar- 
ried at Lebanon, April 6, 1721, Simon Baxter. . 8. 
Elisha, resided for a time at Lebanon. 

(III) Nathaniel Mann, son of Richard ]\Iann (2), 
was born at Scituate, Massachusetts, October 27, 
1693. He removed early with his parents to Lebanon,' 
Connecticut, about 1704. He married (first) Mary; 
Root, of Hebron, Connecticut, February I, 1713.' 
She died May 19, 1728. He married (second) Mary 
Sprague, March 4, 1729. She died October 15. 1735.) 
He married (third) Patience Role. September 5,'. 
1736. He had six children by his first wife and two| 
by his second, according to the records of Hebron,!! 
Connecticut, where they were born. Mary Root; 
was the daughter of Jacob Root, son of John Root, 
one of the first settlers of Hartford, Connecticut. 
Jacob Root was one of the first settlers of Northamp- 
ton, Massachusetts, removed to Hebron, Connecticut, 
1705, and was one of those chosen to run the bounds 
between Colchester and Hebron in 1710. He died 
August 9, 1 73 1, aged about seventy. Mary was born 
at Northampton. November 24, 1689. 

The children of Nathaniel Mann were: Joseph,, 
born April 5, 1713 (probably 1714) ; Nathaniel, born. 
June 16, 1715-16, married Deborah Tillotson, Junei 

5, 1739; Benjamin, born March 3, 1717 ; John, born 
November 20, 1721, married (first) Margaret Peters; 
Mary, born June 5, 1723: Nathan, born June 20, 
1727, married Elizabeth Skinner, February 12, 1752, 
and had five children; Abigail, born February 14. 
1730-31; Abijah, born August 7, 1734, married Sarah 
Porter. 

(IV) John Mann, son of Nathaniel ^lann (3). 
was born at Hebron, Connecticut, November 20. 
1720, died June 4, 1806. The Mann farm at Hebron 



*iif^^-^iife^ 







AI.r.ERT (i. MANX 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



375 



[ontains about two hundred and tifty acres. The 
[iresent house was built in 1782 by Andrew Mann 
Ind is in good repair (1884). The phice was never 
;old after Nathaniel Mann bought it until withiti 
I few years. John Mann married Margaret Peters, 
l)f Hebron, aunt of Governor Peters, of Hebron. 
She was born August, 1724, died June 2, 1789. He 
narried (second), about 1790, Hannah Kellogg, 
iv-idow of Samuel Kellogg, of Marlboro. All his 
children were by the first wife. They are: I. 
Vlary or Margaret, born April 14, 1742, married 

Cross, and settled at Montreal, Canada, had 

wo sons. 2. John, born December 25, 1743, died 
:828; married (first) Lydia Porter. 3. Mary, born 
"ebruary 25, 1745-6, died May 18, 1817; married, 
October 16, 1768, Jacob Loomis, who was born at 
\ndover, Connecticut, May 20, 1745, died May 9, 
813, had three children. 4. Hannah, born 1747. 5. 
VIercy, born March 5 or 16, 1749, married Joel Mann. 
). Elijah, born August 9, 1751, married (first), Au- 
gust 20, 1771, Mary Perkins, who died 1781; he 
narried (second), November 14, 1782, Widow Bax- 
er, of Lebanon, Connecticut, had four children. 
J. Andrew, captain, born March 18, 1755, married 
Harriet Phelps. 8. Dr. Nathaniel, born August 11, 
757, educated at Dartmouth College and in Eng- 
and as a physician, married a Miss Owen, of Heb- 
■on. May 6, 1787, removed to Georgia, where he 
practiced medicine ; had two daughters. 9. Phebe, 

)orii August 6, 1763 (or 68). probably married 

'3uel. 10. Hannah, born June 5, 1772. married The- 
iphilus Baldwin, who was born August 25, 1769, 
ivcd for a time at Bradford. Connecticut, removed 
,0 Holland. Erie county, New York, where they 
died ; had four or more children. 

(V) John Mann, son of John Mann (4), was 
jorn at Hebron, Connecticut, December 25, 1743. 
tie married in 1765, Lydia Porter, of Hebron, Con- 
lecticut. She was born March 17, 1746, daughter 
.if John Porter, of Hebron. He removed with her 
3n horseback to Orford, New Hampshire, in October, 
1765 and settled on a tract of land given him by his 
■ather. They arrived in the wilderness October 24, 

1765, and passed the winter with a family that was 
ilrcady located there, in a hut covered with bark. 
That family moved away so that Mr. Mann and his 
,vife were the first abiding settlers of the town. 
After the arrival of other settlers and much clearing 
lad been done, Mr. Mann bought other lots, making 
•i large farm, and built his house in what is now 
,;he centre of a thriving village. He died at Orford, 
.'New Hampshire, May 9, 1828. A handsome monu- 
Tient erected to his memory is to be seen in the vil- 
]!a"e grave yard. His wife Lydia died March S, 
180.V It is said that late in life he married (second) 
1 Widow Barber. He had fifteen children -by his 
ivife Lydia, born at Orford, New Hampshire, all 
of whorn except the two youngest lived to marry and 
,have children. They were : John, born May 21, 

1766, married (first) Lydia Dutton ; Solomon, born 

.August 19. 1768, married Parkhurst : Jared, 

lorn Novem.ber 6. 1770. married Mindwell Hale; 
[ra. born September 8, 1772, married (first) 



Bailey; Aaron, born July 21, 1774, married (first) 
Sally Melvin ; Lydia. born September 17, 1776, died 
at Littleton, New Hampshire, December 29, 1851, 
narried Joseph Pratt and had four children ; Sarah, 
3orn June 4, 1778, died at Orfcrd, New Hampshire, 
November 5, 1864. married Dr. Rogers, had one 
-'hild; Nathaniel, born iJeceniber 29, 1779. married 
Mary Mason; Benning (judge), born November 25, 
1781, married Phebe I\Linn; Asaph, born September 
30, 1783, married Mary Barker; Cyrus (Rev.), born 
April 3. 1785, married Nancy Sweetser; Phebe. born 
March 7, 1787, died November 25, 1871, married 



Samuel Sargent, had seven children; Joel (Rev.), 
born February 7, 1789, married Catherine Vernon; 
Abijah. born April 3, 1791, died March 8, 1809; a 
son w-ho died in infancy. 

(VI) .Aaron Mann, son of John Mann (5), wsa 
born at Orford. New Hampshire, July 21, 1774, died 
in Elgin, Illinois, in 1851, having moved there and 
settled with his family in 1838. He married (first) 
Sally Melvin; (second) Sally Ingraham. Captain 
Mann, as he was called, had sixteen children, eight 
by each wife. They were: Sally, born at Orford, 
married Reuben Roberts, resided at Fishcrville, New 
Hampshire; Aaron, born February 28. 1799, married 
Eliza Weld ; Harriet, married Francis Weld ; Phil- 
oxa, born 1803, died October 20, 1831, at Elbridge, 
New York; married, September 12, 1827, Peter Clark, 
graduate of Union College, president of Washington 
College, Kent county, Maryland, had one son; Eli- 
phalet Kimball, born in New Hampshire, went to 
Elgin, Illinois, about 1833, died in Chicago about 
1880; Isaac, Cyrus, Adin, William, Leonard, Ben- 
ning, Munroe, Charles, Eunice, Maria, died young; 
and an infant that was buried with his mother. 

(VII) Aaron Mann, son of Aaron Mann (6), 
was born February 28, 1799, at Orford, New Hamp- 
shire, died March 10, 1854. He resided in the 
easterly part of Orford and was a farmer and dealer 
in lumber. He married Eliza Weld, at Orford, 
New Hampshire. She was born April 15, 1800, 
died August 9, 1876. Their children were: I. 
Caroline, born January 17, 1825, married Oliver 
Chase, of Paxton, Massachusetts; married (second) 
Calvin Proctor, of Claremont, New Hampshire, has 
a son, Henry Chase, now or lately of Worcester, 
Massachusetts. 2. Albert Geary, born July ig, 1827, 
married (first) Julia Maria Sanborn, of Orford, 
New Hampshire; married (second) Harriet A. 
Bigelow, of Worcester, Massachusetts. 3. Henry A., 
born September i, 1832. died January 9, 1835. 4. 
Louisa, born October 8, 1836, died February g, 
1859; married, January 14, 1857, John E. Spaulding, 
of Worcester; has no children. 

(VIII) Albert Geary Mann, son of Aaron Mann 
(7), was born at Orford, New Hampshire, July 17, 
1827. He was brought up on the New Hampshire 
farm. During a part of the year he was engaged in 
burning lime, a business that his father carried on at 
times, and in this occupation he learned the rudi- 
ments of the business which he followed later in life. 
He attended the district schools of his native town, 
but like most of the successful men who started 
life under similar conditions, was taught to under- 
stand that school furnishes a man only a slight start 
in his education. At the age of eighteen he left home 
and went to Leicester, Massachusetts, to work. He 
w-as back and forth between Orford, Leicester and 
Worcester for several years. In 1847 he was em- 
ployed for about three months by David Wodward 
the leading stone mason in Worcester at that time, 
and he cut most of the window caps and sills for 
the Warren block, then building on Pearl street. 

In 1851 Mr. Mann located himself in Worcester, 
and two years later entered into partnership with 
David Damon, they having a stone yard on School 
street. In 1857 the firm was dissolved and he con- 
tinued alone. He bought some property on South- 
bridge street and established there the extensive 
stone business which he conducted for many years. 
He enlarged the stone yard several times by the 
purchase of adjoining property. For twenty-five 
years he carried on the largest stone business in Wor- 
cester, employing at times as many as eighty stone 
cutters and masons. In 1868 he bought the granite 
quarry at Marlborough, New Hampshire, where 
most of his stone was secured. He sold the city 



376 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



much of the block paving. He furnished all the 
stone for the ashlar work on the Union station and 
Plymouth Church. In 1888 he was the contractor 
for the granite in Jonas G. Clark's building, opposite 
the City Hall, the largest and best block at that time 
in the city. Much of his work was for cemeteries, 
such as tombs, headstones and monuments. In the 
course of his business life Mr. Mann made many 
inventions and improvements, such as the hardening 
of the heads of the tools used in cutting stone and 
alterations in the derricks used in the quarries and 
on construction of buildings. In 1876, in consequence 
of the threatened withdrawal of railroad facilities, 
Mr. Mann removed his stone yard to Crescent street, 
and in 1885 he sold his entire business, including 
the New Hampshire quarry, to George D. Webb, 
who has continued the business with marked success 
since then. After the sale of his business Mr. Mann 
occasionally served on building committees and 
places where his knowledge and experience were 
invaluable. He was on the building committee of 
the Young Men's Christian Association and also of 
Central Church. Mr. Mann had a handsome resi- 
dence on Harvard street overlooking the town, so 
much of which he had taken part in building. He 
was an excellent business man with a reputation 
for square dealing and uprightness, and personally 
he was simple, sincere and courteous. He was a 
member of the Society of Antiquity and of the Wor- 
cester County Mechanics' Association. 

He married (first) Julia Maria Sanborn, of Or- 
ford. New Hampshire, and (second), December 13, 
1864, Harriet A. Bigelow, of Worcester, who sur- 
vives him. They had no children. Mr. Mann died 
June 9, 1899, after an illness lasting about a month. 

SILAS EMERSON HARTHAN. William 
Harthan (l) (spelled Harthborne, Hawthorn and 
various other ways in the early records) was the 
emigrant ancestor of Silas Emerson Harthan, of 
Worcester, Massachusetts. He was also the pro- 
genitor of Nathaniel Hawthorne, who changed the 
spelling of his name from Hathorne. Following is 
the line of descent of Nathaniel Hawthorne, the 
author: I. William Hathorne. 2'. John Hathorne 
and wife Ruth Gardner. 3. Joseph Hathorne and 
wife Sarah Bowditch. 4. Daniel Hathorne and wile 
Rachel Phelps. 5. Nathaniel Hathorne and wife 
Elizabeth Clark Manning. 6. Nathaniel Hathorne 
and wife Sophia Peabody, married July 4, 1804. He 
changed his name to Hawthorne; died at Plymouth, 
New Hampshire, May 19, 1864. 

William Hathorne, the emigrant, is the ancestor 
of most of the families of Harthan and Hathorn 
and other variations of the spelling. He and his 
brother John were the only emigrants of colonial 
days of this name. Both lived in Salem and it is 
difficult to distinguish between the two families. 

William and John Hathorne were sons of William 
and Sarah Hathorne, of Binfield, Berkshire county, 
England. William was born in 1607 and came with 
Governor Winthrop in the "Arabella" in 1630. He 
settled in Dorchester, where he was a proprietor. 
He was admitted a freeman May 14, 1634. He was 
a town officer there. He removed to Salem in 1636. 
He represented Dorchester in the general court 1635 
and 1637, and Salem many years after his removal. 
He was elected speaker of the house of deputies in 
1644 and re-elected a number of times. He had a 
grant of land of six hundred and forty acres Septem- 
ber 6, 1676, for extra services to the state. This 
was the first grant in Townsend, Massachusetts, and 
is probably the land occupied by his sons and grand- 
sons in Stow, Marlboro and Townsend later. He 
was elected assistant to the governor in 1662 and 



served until 1679. He was one of the most able, 
energetic and widely influential men in New Eng- 
land. He was at the great training in Boston in 
1639. He was captain of the Salem military company 
appointed May l, 1646, commissioned major 1656. 
He was narrow and bigoted, arbitrary and intolerant 
in church and state, judged by present standards, but 
he was a zealous and fearless advocate of personal 
rights against the encroachments of the royal agents. 
He had letters from his brother, Robert Hathorne, 
of Bray, England, April i, 1653, with a message to 
his brother John, who has been mentioned above. 

A list of his children written by his own hand 
has been preserved. He died in 1681, in his seventj-- 
fourth year. His will was dated February 17, 1679- 
80 and an inventory is dated June 10, 1681. His 
wife Ann was executor. He bequeathed to his 
wife ; to William, Samuel and Abigail, children oi 
his deceased son Eleazer ; to son John ; to Sarah.' 
widow of deceased son William; to grandchildrer 
Jervice Helwyde, land at Groton if he came ovei 
from "Urop" to enjoy it; to daughter Sarah Coak- 
er's two eldest sons by her husband Coaker; to th( 
rest of his grandchildren. The estate was settlea 
by his sons, John Hathorne and Israel Porter. Thd 
children of William and Anne Hathorne were; 
Sarah, born March 11, 1634-5, married Joseph Cokert 
of Newbury, Massachusetts ; Eleazer, born Augus? 
I, 1637, married Abigail Curwen, daughter of George 
Curwen; Nathaniel, born August 11, 1639; John, 
born August 5, 1641, married Ruth Gardner, daughi 
ter of George Gardner; Anna, born December 12 
1643, married Joseph Porter; William, born Apri 

I, 1645, married Sarah ; Elizabeth, borii 

1649, married Israel PortJr ; Mary, baptized May ij 

1653. 

(II) John Hathorne, son of William Hathornii 
(i), was born August 5, 1641, in Salem, Massachu 
setts. He was distinguished in civil and militar 
life. He was a captain in the war with the ejsteri 
, Indians, later colonel of his regiment and chief ii 
command of the expedition in i6g6 against the In 
dians. He was a magistrate, except during th 
brief administration of Sir Edmund Andros, am 
was a most cruel and intolerant judge during th 
witchcraft delusion. He married Ruth Gardner 
Their children were: John, Nathaniel, Ebenezei 
Joseph, baptized June, 1691, married Sarah Bow 
ditch ; Ruth, Benjamm. There is some doubt w'hethe 
the Ebenezer and Nathaniel Hathorne, who settle 
in Marlboro, Massachusetts, about 1720, were son' 
of John (II) or Nathaniel, but there is more reaso: 
to think that they were the sons of Nathaniel. 

(II) Nathaniel Hathorne, son of William Ha 
thorne (i), was born in Salem. Massachusett 
August II, 1639. He settled in Lynn, Massachi 
setts. Among his children the historian of Marlbor 
evidently believes were the two settlers, viz. 
Ebenezer and Nathaniel, though the INIarlboro set 
tiers may have been sons of Ebenezer Hathorn 
(HI), the son of Nathaniel (II). The childre 
of Nathaniel Hathorne (II) were: Ebenezer, mai 
ried, 1683, Esther Witt, probably daughter of Jor, 
athan and Mary Witt ; she was born 1665 ; Nathanie 
born in Lynn, Massachusetts. 

(III) Ebenezer Hathorne, son of Nathaniel Hi 
thorne (2), w-as probably father of Nathaniel an 
Ebenezer Hathorne, of Marlboro. There is n 
doubt that the INIarlboro line is connected with tl 
Salem family and probably in one of the w'ays ind 
cated. Ebenezer Hathorne married a Witt and tr 
Witt and Hathorne families came to Marlboro t( 
gether from Lynn and Salem. 

(IV) Nathaniel Hathorne, son of Ebenezer H; 
thorne (3), was born in Lynn or Salem about 169 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



177 



is brother of the ancestor of Silas E. Harthan, 
aa came with his brother to Marlboro. He married 
(fst) ]\Iartha 



and had several children. 



Y married (second), 1728, Sarah Stevens, probably 
o^Stow, where the Hathorncs seemed to have set- 
t>J before coming to Marlboro. He settled on 
wat is now the Marlboro town farm. The children 
oNathaniel and Martha Hathorne were: Nathaniel, 
bjtized August 11, 1723, died young; Martha, bap- 
tied December 23, 1726 ; Nathaniel, born Ucccmbcr 
2; 1726. The children by the second marriage 
vre : Ebenezer, born June 30, 1734, married. May 
6 I7S7, Rhoda Howe ; Mary, born 1730, married, 
Jivember 5, I7S4, Amasa Cranston; Deliverance, 
nrried, March I, 1764, John Cutler, of Shrews- 
bry. 

(IV) Ebenezer Hathorne, probably son of 
lenezer Hathorne (3), was born in Salem or 
Inn about 1690. He came to Stow and later t^ 
larlboro with his brother, Nathaniel Hathorne, 
a5ut 1720. He married, 1730, Elizabeth Goodalc, 
C'jghter of Benjamin Goodale. The Goodales were 
stlers in Salem also. So were the Stevens family, 
iio which his brother married. The children of 
lenezer and Elizabeth (Goodale) Hathorne were: 
J,cy, born February 28, 1730 ; Silas, born December 
^ 1732, was in French war. 1759; afterwards lived 
i| Shrewsbury; Micah, born March 31, 1735; Solo- 
i,)n, born February 24, 1738, married, 1761, Mary 
ttes, and had Ebenezer, born April 8, 1763, and 
linice, born April I, 1765. 

: (V) Micah Harthan, as he usually spelled it, 
sn of Ebenezer Hathorne (4), was born in Marl- 
h-o, Massachusetts, March 31, 1735. He was a sol- 
<pr in the French and Indian war in 1757. He was 
i Captain Samuel Howe's company at the fall of 
iirt William Henry in the relief expedhion. He 
ijis also a soldier in the revolution at the Benning- 
tia alarm. He enlisted in Captain Solomon Stuart's 
Mnpany and Colonel Josiah Whitney's regiment, 
.jigust 21, 1777. The powder horn carried by 
jcah Harthan in the French and Indian war has 
Jen preserved and is in the possession of Silas E. 
,arthan. 

j Micah Harthan came from Marlboro to the 

irth district of Shrewsbury, now located in West 

!pylston, in 1761. He married Sarah Jones, of 

;jarlboro, November 26, 1761, recorded in Shrews- 

Iry. She was born March 8, 1734, died 1820, aged 

t;hty-six years. He died in 1803, aged sixty-eight 

jars. The widow declined to administer the estate 

^d Jonas Temple, who married his daughter Lois, 

ns appointed, the other heirs consenting. The chil- 

len of Micah and Sarah (Jones) Harthan were: 

uty, married Samuel Straw, of Peterboro, January 

, 1801 ; David, born January 15, 1764, married 

udence Winn Smith; Eunice, married, November 

. 1794; Lois, married Jonas Temple, December 

1791 ; Lucy, married Benjamin Pollard, of 

reenfield, New Hampshire, February 2, 1796; Lydia, 

;arried Thomas Keyes, Jr., March 26, 1791 ; Olive, 

^rried Hiram Howe, of Holden, January 6, 1800. 

VI) David Harthan, son of Micah- Harthan 

. was born in Shrewsbury, now West Boylston, 

-achusetts, January 15, 1764. He married, July 

, 1786. Prudence Winn Smith, widow, born in 

i64, daughter of Jacob Winn. He was the founder 

[■ the well known Harthan Mills in West Boylston, 

fassachusetts. His home was about fifty rods 

[jrth of the present railroad station at West Boyls- 

n. The children of David and Prudence (Winn) 

l.irthan were: Antipas Smith, born in WestBoyls- 

n, October 3, 1788 ; Silas, born in West Boylston, 

jovember 28, 1791 ; Lois, born November 19, 1793; 



Dennis, born November 17, 1796; Ward Boylston, 
born July 28, 1804. 

(VII) Antipas Smith Harthan, son of David 
Harthan (6), was born in West Boylston, Massa- 
chusetts, October 2, 1788. He married Cynthia Fair- 
banks, born in West Boylston, Massachusetts, July 
10, 1784. She was a descendant of Jonathan Fair- 
bank, of Dedham. (See Fairbanks Family sketch 
elsewhere in this work.) This branch of the family 
settled Lancaster and is that from which the vice 
president of the United States, Charles W. Fair- 
banks, is descended. Antipas Smith Harthan died 
in 1815. The children of Antipas Smith and Cynthia 
(Fairbanks) Harthan were: Silas Smith, born in 
West Boylston, Massachusetts, August 7, 1814; 
Prudence Maria. 

(VHI) Silas Smith Harthan, son of Antipas 
Smith Harthan (7), was born in West Boylston, 
Massachusetts, August 7, 1814. When eighteen years 
of age he learned the trade of cabinet maker and car- 
penter. He had a common school education. He set- 
tled in Sterling, but in 1844 removed to Worcester 
and lived in the old Dan "Tucker house on Pleasant 
street, opposite High street, where the Brunswick 
block now stands, the house at that time being the 
first one on the street coming from Main street. In 
1845 he built and occupied the house on Chatham 
street, then called Division street, corner of Clinton 
street, now occupied by General Josiah Pickett. 
Afterwards he removed to Guilford, Connecticut, 
Sterling and West Boylston, Massachusetts. His 
home at West Boylston was taken by the Metro- 
politan water board during the construction of the 
reservoir there, and the last few months of his life 
were spent on the old homestead in West Boylston, 
where he was born eighty-eight years before. He 
died September 18, 1902. He was a member of 
Quinsigamond Lodge, 1. O. O. F., when in Worces- 
ter. In politics he was a Republican. He was a 
Congregationalist and belonged formerly to the Old 
South Church, Worcester, of which his wife was 
also a member. 

He married, January 6, 1836, Mary Ann Ross, 
born in Sterling, Massachusetts, January 22, 1817, 
the daughter of Peter and Polly (Burpee) Ross. 
She was the mother of thirteen children, of whom 
Silas E. Harthan was the second. She attended 
the old Redstone school in Sterling, the very -school 
attended by Mary Sawyer, of whom the verses 
"Wary Had a Little Lamb" were written many years 
ago. Mrs. Harthan w'as reared in the strict Ortho- 
dox faith of her ancestors and she brought up her 
own children in the same way. She died December 
6, 1902. A sister of Mrs. Harthan, Mrs. Olive Ross 
Burbank, was the mother of Luther Burbank, of 
Santa Rosa, California, known throughout the 
world as "The Wizard of Horticulture." Mr. Bur- 
bank and Silas E. Harthan are first cousins. 

(IX) Silas Emerson Harthan, son of Silas 
Smith Harthan (8), was born in West Boylston, 
Massachusetts, March 5, 1S38. He attended the 
same little district school that his mother before 
him had attended, the Redstone Hill school in Ster- 
ling. Massachusetts. After the family removed to 
Worcester he attended the school house formerly 
on the Common and the old Thomas street school. 
He attended the academy at Guilford, Connecticut. 
When a small boy he sold the Daily Spy and 
the £>ai7v Telegraph in Worcester. In 1848-49- 
50 he sold the Worcester Directory, then only 
twelve and a half cents a copy. While in the 
academy at Guilford he began to learn the machin- 
ist's trade. When seventeen years of age he was 
given charge of the department making dies for tin 



3/8 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



toys and tinware. About that time he constructed 
his first steamboat. It was twenty-one feet in length 
and he made the boiler, engine, patterns, castings 
and all himself. Afterwards he built a side wheeler 
used in the passenger trade on the Providence river 
and at Martha's Vineyard. In 1873 he built the 
steamboats "Addie" and "Little Favorite," and later 
four other steamboats used on Lake Quinsigamond. 
These were the first steamboats on the lake. He 
has built more than fifty steamboats. The last boat 
the Mr. Ilarthan built was the "Sterling," now in 
commission on Lake Waushacum, Sterling, Massa- 
chusetts. 

Mr. Ilarthan came to Worcester in i860 and 
went to work for the Cleveland Machine Company 
on contract work. He was also superintendent there 
for a time. He worked for the Gilbert loom works 
also on contract work. In 1S69 he became master 
mechanic for the Bay State Shoe and Leather Com- 
pany, of which H. H. Bigelow was the general man- 
ager. Mr. Harthan invented the Bigelow Heeling 
Machine, an ingenious machine for compressing 
scraps of leather into heels, shaping the heel and 
driving the nails part way through, ready for use. 
Each machine had a capacity of three thousand 
heels a day, and each machine produced about four 
thousand five hundred dollars a year in royalties. 
The perfecting of this machine brought about the 
consolidation of the Bigelow Heeling Company and 
the McKay Company. He also invented other ma- 
chines used in the manufacture of boots and shoes. 
The Armsby property at 44, 46 and 48 Central street 
was purchased and rebuilt for use in making these 
heel machines. Many of these machines are still 
in use by the Bay State Shoe and Leather Com- 
pany at 68 High street. 

In 1879 Mr. Harthan became the manager of the 
first electric light company and later the first electric 
railway, the first electric power, the first storage 
battery, operated in Worcester. The first arc lamps 
used in Worcester were in the Skating Rink on 
Foster street during the New England Fair in Sep- 
tember, 1879. The next were installed at Union 
Station. When the Denholm & McKay Company 
moved into their present quarters opposite the Com- 
mon in 1881, the department store was fitted with 
electric lights. The announcement that the store 
was to be lighted by electricity awakened the fears 
of some good old citizens. There was quite a public 
demonstration against the innovation. A meeting 
of the city government was hurriedly called as a 
last resort to prevent the use of the new-fangled 
lights on the opening night of the Boston Store, but 
they failed to locate the management of the light 
in time. Denholm & McKay's big Boston Store 
was lighted with electricity on the opening night 
of course, in spite of the clamor, and it was not 
long before many stores in the city were lighted 
with electric lamps. The dynamos then in use were 
in the brick station on the old Skating Rink grounds. 
There were very few instruments for measuring 
electricity at that time. Lighting was done by thumb 
rule at first, but the oil rule that necessity is the 
mother of invention was again demonstrated in the 
simplicity and reliability of the modern electric 
light plant. In 1883 the electric light business was 
sold to the Worcester Electric Light Company. The 
Worcester Electric Power Company was organized 
by a Boston company with Mr. Harthan as manager. 
It was sold to H. H. Bigelow in 1887. 

A number of electrical exhibitions were held in 
the Skating Rink under the direction of S. E. Har- 
than and H. H. Bigelow to demonstrate to the 
public the usefulness of electricity in the industrial 
world. The public was made familiar in this way 



with the uses that could be made from the sai 
electrical circuit, such as operating street railwa; 
furnishing power for- running machinery, for be 
arc and incandescent lighting ; for heating, cooki 
ranges, for sad irons, etc. An electric railroad f 
carrying passengers was in operation in the skati 
rink during these exhibitions. This was the iii 
electric railway in Worcester, if not in Massach 
setts. Soon after, in 1889, the cars on the dumr 
railroad owned by H. H. Bigelow, connecting La 
Quinsigamond with the business centre of Wore* 
ter, were operated by a trolley electric system. T 
Foster Street Electric Railway was built in 18 
and later the North End Street Railway. Both 
these street railways were operated from the st 
tion on the Skating Rink grounds. In 1897 t 
Worcester Electric Power Company was adopt 
by the Worcester Electric Light Company. 

In 1897 Mr. Harthan was employed by soi 
capitalists to re-open the old coal mine near Lai 
Quinsigamond after it had been abandoned f 
about seventy years. He found the mine about for 
feet deep and full of water. After pumping 
two hundred thousand gallons of water some fifte 
or twenty tons of coal were taken out and expei 
mented with. Mr. Harthan burned some of t 
coal in his furnace, as did others, and it was fou; 
to be of too poor a quality to pay to operate t 
mine. The coal was mixed with graphite and oth. 
foreign matter. Mr. Harthan retired in 1898 aft; 
selling his shop fittings and tools. He has devot 
his time since then to the care of his real esta 
and to the operation of the steamboat "Sterling" ■ 
Lake Waushacum, Sterling, running during t 
season from the Methodist Camp Grounds at Sti 
ling Junction to the Waushacum Park Pier 
Grounds, a tract of land about thirty acres in e 
tent owned by a company in which Mr. Harthan 
a partner. These picnic grounds are the on 
grounds in the state used exclusively for chur 
and society picnics. They have been open sin 
187S. 

Mr. Harthan married, January 1=;, i860. Ma 
Elizabeth Tufts, born in Lancaster, May 19, 18; 
died September II, 1877. She was the daughter 
Albert Tufts, of Medford, Massachusetts, of t 
family that founded Tufts College in Medford. H 
mother was Mary Louise Newhall, of Lancasti 
daughter of Albert Newhall, of Lancaster, an en 
nent teacher and composer of music. Mr. Harth: 
married (second) Maria Carpenter Buker, born 
Stonington, Connecticut, daughter of Nelson Ca 
penter, later of Putnam Heights, Connecticut. H 
mother was Mercy Randall Brayton, of the ^ 
Brayton family of Rhode Island. She was a dird| 
descendant of Roger Williams. 

The children of Silas Emerson Harthan were 
Frank Ellsworth, died in infancy in 1863. 2. Char] 
Emerson, born in Worcester, educated in the pul 
schools and at the Polytechnic Institute; is a< 
ciated with the General Electric Company at L] 
Massachusetts, as electrical engineer and at the h( 
of the entire arc light department ; in 1905 
made designing engineer of the whole General El( 
trie Company ; he has made for the General Eli 
trie Company a number of valuable inventions. J 
married, June 21, 1888, Annie Hinks Dow, of Lyi 
Massachusetts, and has one child : Lewis Emers( 
born September 30, 1891, who has unusual musil 
talents. 3. Addie Maria, born in Worcester, et" 
cated in the Worcester public schools and the Si 
Normal school at Worcester; has been a teacher 
the Worcester public schools for the past fourt( 
years. 4. Herbert Miller, born in Worcester, e( 
cated in the public schools there ; was of mark* 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



379 



rtchanical ability ; married, February 22, 1900, Har- 
iH Allcrton Purinton, a direct descendant of the 
j^lertons who came on the "ilayflower" ; he was 
inured in the factory where he was employed and 
(td three days later, June 28, 1900, aged thirty-one 
Jars. 

T 

iTHE PARSONS FAMILY is of English de- 
cent, and are found at a very early date in New 
Agland. Whether in the domains of England or on 
t-; New England shores they have borne an honor- 
;le part in all that has been for the upbuilding 
c refined society and good forms of government. 
i', a family they have been prominent both in Eng- 
lid and the United States. Whether as soldiers, 
j'rists, scholars, physicians, or clergymen, the name 
sinds for loyalty and high-minded living. Mrs. 
I E. Schieffelin, a descendant, says : "The Parsons 
f-nily is of the same descent as the Earl of Rosse, 
(. Parsonstown, Ireland. The Parsons went from 
ligland to Ireland. Their coat-of-arms is similar 
t ours, and the form and face of the members of 
t; two branches have a striking resemblance." 

(11) Joseph Parsons, on July .1. 1635, sailed with 
Is brother Benjamin and others of the family from 
(avesend, England, in the bark "Transport," bound 
fr America. He was born in Great Torrington. 
lar Exeter, Devonshire, England, and is supposed 

have descended from Sir 'I'homas Parsons, of 
j.ilton Royal, who was knighted by Charles II, 
:'34. The record states that "His brother Benja- 
in Parsons was a grandson of Thomas Parsons, 
i Great Milton, Oxfordshire, England, who died 

I597-" Joseph Parsons married, November 26, 
;'46, Mary, daughter of Thomas and Margaret 
''ord) Bliss, of Hartford, Connecticut. She was 
Irn in England, 1620, and died January 29, 1712. 
]t died October 9, 1683, at Springfield, Massachu- 
:tts. He was a man of much prominence in his 
• y, and was one of the witnesses to the Indian 
oed of the territory of Springfield, given to Will- 
ni Pyncheon and others for a consideration of 
i-jhteen yards of wampum, eighteen hatchets, eight- 
in knives, July 15, 1636. In 1642 he removed to 
.brthampton, and was among the first purchasers 
Jom the Indians in 1645. For fifty years he was 
1e leading business man of the Connecticut Valley, 
.e was a fur trader, and had a monopoly on the 
laver trade in Connecticut, for which he paid an- 
;'.ally the sum of twelve pounds. He left a large 
ftate, part of which is still held by the heirs. He 
I'ls styled "Cornet," indicating that he had been 
i officer in a British cavalry regiment. The chil- 
•en of Joseph and ^largaret Parsons: i. Joseph, 
)rn at Springfield, November, 1647, died Novem- 
Ir, 1729. 2. John, born 1649, married Sarah Clarke, 
i Northampton, December 23, 1675. 3. Samuel, 
lirn 1652 ; he settled at Durham, Connecticut, 
l'o6. 4. Ebenezer, born 1655. killed by Indians 
'' King Philip's war, September 8, 1675. 5. Jona- 
lan, born June, 1657, died October, 1684. 6. 
avid, born April, 1659. 7. Mary, born June, 1661. 

Hannah, born 1663. g. Abigail, born Septem- 
[■r, 1666. 10. Hester, born 1672 ; married Joseph 
[nith, of Greenwich, Connecticut. 
\ (II) Joseph Parsons and wife Elizabeth had ten 
ildren : Joseph, John, Ebenezer, Elizabeth, David, 
risiah, Daniel, Moses. Abigail, Noah. 

(II) Samuel Parsons and wife, settled at Dur- 
m, Connecticut, had children: Timothy, Simeon, 
jiineas, Aaron, Ithamar. 

I (III) Joseph Parsons, grandson of the ancestor, 
-arried Elizabeth Thompson, and had children : Jo- 
iph, Samuel, William, Elizabeth, John. 
( (IV) Joseph Parsons, great-grandson of the 



American ancestor, married Frances Usher; their 
children : Frances. Elizabeth, Joseph, Thomas, Sarxi- 
uel. Dr. John, William, Sarah, Edward. 

(IV) Samuel Parsons and Mary his wife had 
children: Mary, Joseph, Hannah, Betsey. 

(IV) William Parsons married Sarah Burnham ; 
their children: Sarah, William, Elizabeth, John, 
Joseph. Ebenezer. 

(III) Rev. David Parsons and wife Sarah 
( Stebbings ) Parsons had one child, David, and his 

children were: Ezekial. Williams, David, Prudence, 
Thomas, Harriet, Francis, Mary, Caroline, Sophia, 
William, James. 

(IV) Israel Parsons, born 1715, died 1767, mar- 
ried Hannah Waite, and for his second wife Lois 
Wiley. His children: Hannah, Sarah, Deborah, 
Israel, Ebenezer, James, Ruth. 

(V) Israel Parsons, son of Israel (4). lived in 
Hatfield, and married Nancy Parmlee. Their chil- 
dren : Nancy. Lucina, Harriet, Israel, Epaphroditus, 
Susan, Hannah. 

(IV) Dr. Solomon Parsons married Elizabeth 
Taylor; their children: Jcrusha, Elizabeth, Phebe, 
Solomon. 

(V) Solomon Parsons, fourth son of Dr. Solo- 
mon Par.sons (4), born August 29, 1757, died May 
II, 1831. He married, 1789, Rebecca Coburn Wesson, 
of Shrewsburv, Massachusetts, a native of that place, 
born 1726, died in Worcester, 1836. He removed 
from Leicester to Worcester in 1812. He enlisted 
in the army during the revolution, in March, 1777, 
being only nineteen years old at the time. He was 
present at the surrender of Burgoyne; and after- 
ward at the battle of Monmouth, June 28, 1778, 
where he was severely wounded and left to die on 
the field, but in a most wonderful manner survived 
and lived for more than half a century. His own 
graphic story of his service in that engagement ap- 
pears in the history of the Parsons family, and 
illustrates the sterling virtues of the brave soldier 
and Christian man. His children: Samuel, Eliza- 
beth, Sally. Bloomfield. Maria. Solomon. 

It is noteworthy that Bloomfield, fourth son of 
Solomon Parsons, was named in honor of the sur- 
geon who attended him when he was wounded at the 
battle of Monmouth. The following is the verbatim 
statement of Solomon Parsons relative to his serv- 
ice in the revolutionary war: 

"I Solomon Parsons, of Leicester, listed March 
9, 1777, during the war. and was at the taking of 
Burgoyne, then marched to the southward and was 
in the battle of J^Ionmouth where I endeavored to 
act well my part until I received a ball which broke 
my thigh. Our men being on the retreat I fell into 
the enemies hands where 1 was stabbed with a 
bayonette three times, one through my arm and 
one on mv shoulder and knee, and received a blow 
from the ramrod of the artillery on my head which 
rendered me senseless. .Mter the battle I was car- 
ried to Princeton College where I bad my wounds 
dressed. I was then carried to Trenton. My father 
came with the solicitations of my friends to return 
home if possible before I breathed my last which all 
expected soon. I received a pass Sept. .30. and went 
home with my father and was confined seven years 
on my friends and my own expense. In 1780 Gen- 
eral Washington ordered all sick absentees to be 
returned deserters unless they returned or made a 
return of themselves. I being unable my father got 
a return made out signed by the • Selectmen of the 
Town and sent it on to Camp. It not being carried 
up through a neglect I lost all my arrears of pay 
and clothing and the hundred acres of land. At 
the close of seven years our Representative sent 
for me to go to Boston with him. In the year 1785 



38o 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



the Commissary gave me a Pention of twenty sliil- 
lings per month. In the year 1816 I received $6 per 
m'onth. My fractured thigh continues to be a run- 
ning sore and very painful when it stops running 
until it is lanced anew, which frequently occurs. 
This I labor under with the inconveniences of a 
stiff knee which this wound occasioned. But I 
have now the con.solation of seeing this country in 
its Glory, which partly compensates me. 

"(Signed) Solomon Parsons." 

(VI) Solomon Parsons, son of Solomon, of 
revolutionary fame, was born October 18, 1800, less 
than a year after the death of Washington. Born 
on a New England farm, Mr. Parson's long life 
was devoted to the cultivation of the soil, an occu- 
pation in which he took delight. In 1812 his father 
bought the farm near Valley Falls, in Worcester. 
Here the elder Parsons and his son spent the re- 
mainder of their days, and the latter's son, Samuel 
B. Parsons, still occupies the place. Solomon Par- 
sons married, April 16, 1828, Sarah Hasey Child, of 
Cambridge, Alassachusetts. She died 1S76. During 
the last years of his life, Mr. Parsons had a strong 
aversion to war and all connected with it ; but in his 
veins ran patriotic blood that has never failed to 
manifest itself in every generation of this good old 
Worcester family. Among the family keepsakes is 
a ribbon badge, worn in 1824, when he acted as 
military guard in escorting General Lafayette 
through Worcester. It bears a fine likeness of La- 
fayette and the outline of Bunker Hill monument. 
Solomon Parsons was one of the founders of the 
First Methodist Episcopal Church of Worcester, 
One of his peculiarities was the fact of his being 
a consistent vegetarian, and he attributed his robust 
constitution and long life to the fact of his not 
being a meat eater. He was a strong advocate of 
the anti-slavery movement, and, when the civil war 
came on, he gave up his son, named after him, to 
the service of his country. He was fond of travel ; 
in 1865 he sailed for the West Indies, and in 1869-70 
made a journey to the Holy Land and traversed the 
section once so familiar to the feet of Christ and 
his apostles. In 1877, when long past three score 
and ten, he made an ocean trip to South America. 
But time finally caused his earthly travels to cease, 
and December 16, 1893, he died on the old home- 
stead. He lived to pass his ninety-third birthday, 
surviving nearly all wUo began life's race with him. 
"Uncle Solomon", as he was called by many both in 
and outside the family, loved peace and loathed 
passion. He loved and prayed, and when his mission 
ended his mortal remains were placed in the finest 
shades of Hope cemeterj-, where he sleeps by the 
side of his wife and son. His children were: i. 
Sarah Frances, born January 24, 1829 ; married, July 
4, 1849, Samuel H. T. Bennett, of Pepperell, Massa- 
chusetts. 2. Solomon, born June g, 1830; married, 
April 21, 1856, Mary Smith Gilbert, of Windsor, 
Connecticut. He entered the Union army as a mem- 
ber of Company F, Fifty-first Massachusetts Regi- 
ment, and died January 18, 1863. They had one son 
Albert Gilbert, born June 7, 1857, died April 13, 
1882. 3. Samuel Bloomfield, born February 24, 
1832, married Elizabeth L. Gibbs, December 11, 
1861. 4. Mary Elizabeth, born October i, 1833, mar- 
ried, March 29, 1853, Elmer Woodward, of Orange, 
Massachusetts. S- William Augustine, born October 
30, 1836, died July 2, 1859. 6. Lucy Mason, born 
July 19, 1840; married Nathaniel H. Bryant, of 
Boston. 7. Anna Eliza, born June 21, 1843 ; married 
Angus Henderson, of Provincetown, Massachusetts. 
He died December 21, 1897. 

(VII) Samuel B. Parsons, son of Solomon and 
Sarah Hasey (Child) Parsons (6), born February 



24, 1S32, in Worcester county, where he was rearet 
and educated. He has served as justice of the peact 
for thirty-five years. After finishing his educatior 
at the Leicester Academy, he took up civil engineer- 
ing and has followed it for more than fifty years 
He married Elizabeth L. Gibbs, of Boylston, Decem- 
ber II, 1861. Their children: l. Anna Gibbs, born 
November 2, 1862. 2. Norman Bloomfield, Septem- 
ber 28, 1865. 3. Irene Elizabeth, December 8, 1867. 
4. Nellie Merriara, September 18, 1870; died Augusi 

25, 1871. 

(VIII) Norman Bloomfield Parsons, son oi 
Samuel B., as above, born September 28, 1865, was 
educated at the Worcester high school, and for a 
number of years had charge of the old home farm 
which has belonged to the Parsons family since 
1812. In 1902 he was elected as a commissioner 
from the seventh ward in Worcester, and re-elected 
in 1904 by twelve hundred majority. He has beeni 
treasurer of the Republican Club for seven years,i 
taking a lively interest in all political matters. 

WALTER HEYWARD FISKE. Symon Fiskcl 
(i), to whom the ancestry of Walter H. Fiske, oi 
Upton, is traced, was Lord of the Manor of Stad- 
haugh, parish of Laxfield, county of Suffolk, Eng- 
land. He married (first) Susannah Smyth and (sec-' 
ond) Katherine . His will was dated Decem- 
ber 22, 1463, and proved at Norwich, February 26,: 
1463-4. He died in February, 1464. His children, 
were : William, Jeffrey, John, Edmund, JNIargaret. 

(II) William Fiske, son of Sir Symond Fiske' 
(i), was born at Stadhaugh, England. He marriedi 
Joan Lynne, of Norfolk. His widow made her will 
July IS, 1504, proved February 28, 1505. He died 
about 1504. Their children were : Thomas, William, 
Augustine, Simon, Robert, John, Margery, Margaret 

(III) Simon Fiske, son of William Fiske (2), 

was born in Laxfield. He married Elizabeth , 

who died in Halesworth, in June, 1558. His will 
was dated July 10, 1536. and proved July 13, 1538. 
He died June, 1538. His children were : Simon, 
William, Robert. Joan, Jeffrey, Gelyne, Agnes, 
Thomas, Elizabeth, John. 

(IV) Simon Fiske, son of Simon Fiske (3), 
was born in Laxfield. His will was dated January 
2S> 150S, and he died that year. His children were: 
Robert, John, George, Nicholas, Jeffrey, Jeremy, 
William, Richard, married Agnes Crispe ; Joan, 
Gelyne, Agnes. 

(V) Robert Fiske, son of Simon Fiske (4), was 
born at Stadhaugh, England, about 1525. He mar- 
ried Mrs. Sybil (Gould) Barber. For some time 
he was of the parish of St. James, South Elmham,- 
England. Sybil, wife of Robert, was in great danger 
in the time of the religious persecution, 1553-8, as 
was her sister Isabella, born Gould, who was con- 
fined in the castle of Norwich and escaped death 
only through the intercession of her brothers. Robert 
himself fled for the sake of his religious beliefs 
to Geneva during the reign of Bloody Mary. He 
died in 1600 and his will was proved July 28. l6co. 
The progeny of his three sons, William, Jeffrey and 
Thomas, settled in New England. His children 
were: William, born 1566; Jeffrey, Thomas, Eleazer. 
died in England, 1615, s. p. ; Elizabeth, married 
Robert Bernard. 

(VI) Thomas Fiske, son of Robert Fiske (5), 
was born in Laxfield, England. He married Marg- 
ery . His w^ill is dated February 20, 1610. and 

proved February 28, 1610. He died February, 1610. 
He lived at Fressingfield, England. His children 
were: Thomas, settled in Madfield, Massachusetts; 
James; Phinehas, born 1610; Elizabeth; Mary. 

(VII) Captain Phinehas Fiske, son of Thomas 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



381 



iske (6), was born in Laxfield, England. He mar- 
led there in 1638, Sarah ■ , who died September 

o, 1659. He married (second) in Wenhani, Massa- 
ihusetts, June 4, 1660, Elizabeth Easterick. He was 
dmitted a freeman in Wenham, Massachusetts, 
I642, and in fact was one of the first settlers of the 
'own and a leading citizen. He was captain of 
;he militia company. He was constable in 1644, 
ieputy to the general court in 1653, magistrate to 
•nd small causes in 1654. His will was dated March, 
.673, and proved in June of that year. He died 
fune 7. His children, all by the first wife, were: 
James, born in England ; John ; Thomas, born in 

ingland, 1632, married Peggy . 

1 (VHI) Hon. John Fiske, son of Phinehas Fiske 
«7), was born in England. He married, December 

jfo, 1651, Remember . She married (second) 

Oeacon William Goodhue, of Ipswich. She was his 
jourth wife and she died February 16, 1702. John 
Fiske was admitted a freeman in 1649, was a con- 
stable in 1654 and representative in 1669 and 16S1. 
ie died intestate in 1683. He was in King Philip's 
iwar in Captain William Turner's company, and in 
|the Falls fight he was wounded. In consideration 
pf tile wound which disabled him he was permitted 
lio keep a public house. He died October 27, 1682-3, 
at Wenham, Massachusetts, where he had livc-i. 
Children of John and Remember Fiske were : John, 
born December 12, 1654, married Hannah Baldwin ; 
Samuel, born 1660; Noah, born November 14, 1662; 
Elizabeth, born March 8, 1673; Remember; Waite. 
(Genealogy gives Jonathan, born in December 12, 
1688, after father's death, obviously an error of some 
)vind.) 

i (IX) Dr. John Fiske, son of John Fiske (8), 
•was born at Wenham, Massachusetts, December 12, 
1654. He married, January 17, 1682, Hannah Bald- 
;win, daughter of John Baldwin, of Milford, Connec- 
'ticut, and wife Mary Bowen, born November 20, 
5:663. John Fiske was admitted a freeman in 1685. 
jrle practiced medicine and surgery in Wenham and 
:also in Milford, Connecticut, whither he removed 
with his family in 1694 and joined the church there. 
'He sold his property in Wenham, November 15, 
,1693. He' was a prominent physician in his day and 
the was a man of wealth. He was a soldier in the 
; Indian wars and on account of a wound received 
■in the war was released by the court from the p.iy- 
;ment of country rates. He died about 171^-18. 
'Children of Dr. John and Hannah (Baldwin) Fisi-ce 
were: Phinehas, born December 4, 1682; Benjamin, 
iborn 1683; Ebenezer, born 16S9, married Mehitable 

' , and Rebecca Trowbridge; John, born 1693; 

'Hannah, married, August 20, 1713, Jeremiah Peck. 
' (X) Benjamin Fiske, son of Dr. John Fiske (9), 
was born in 16S3 and baptized in Milford, Connecti- 
cut, March, 1696. He married, July 24, 1701, Abi- 
, gail Bowen, of Rehoboth, Massachusetts. She was 
■the daughter of Obadiah and Abigail (Bullock) 
[Bowen, of Rehoboth. After Benjamin removed 
' to Rhode Island he was justice of the peace for 
[ years at Scituate. He resided at Swansey, Massa- 
i chusetts, also. He died February 14, 1765. Chil- 
j dren of Benjamin and Abigail (Bowen) Fiske 
,were: Mary, born April 28, 1702; Hezekiah, June 
II, 1704; Benjamin, March 8, 1706; Elizabeth, May 
9. 1708; Daniel, December 16, 1709; Job, 1711; John, 
January 11, 1713; Freelove, March 29, 1716; Noah, 
: 1722: Abigail. 

[ (XI) Daniel Fiske, son of Benjamin Fiske (10), 
i was born in Rehoboth. Massachusetts, December 16, 
1709. He married, December 24, 1732, Freelove 
; Williams, daughter of Peleg and Elizabeth (Car- 
penter) Williams, granddaughter of Daniel Williams, 
and great-granddaughter of Rev. Roger Williams. 



At the time of his marriage Daniel Fiske lived in 
Scituate. His wife was born November 13, 1713, 
died April 20, 1791. Mrs. Fiske's grandfather was 
murdered by the Indians while hoeing his corn. 
His wife was watching him from the cabin door 
when she saw the Indian throw the tomahawk and 
scalp his victim. Daniel Fiske died June 27, 1804. 
He lived at Scituate, Rhode Island. Children of 
Daniel and Freelove (Williams) Fiske were: Eunice, 
.born April 5, 1736; Joseph, April 23, 1738; Waite, 
February 23, 1740; Rhoda, January 16, 175 1 ; Daniel, 
April 28, 1753. 

(XII) Daniel Fiske, son of Daniel Fiske (11), 
was born at Rehoboth, Massachusetts, April 28, 
1753- He married, in Cranston, April 13, 1785, Free- 
love Knight, daughter of Stephen and Mary (Man- 
chester) Knight. She was born January 21, 1766. 

She married (second) Thomas, and she died 

May 20, 1819. He was a member of the Rhode Is- 
land legislature. He lived at Scituate, Rhode Island, 
and died there. May 5, 1810. Children of Daniel 
and Freelove (Knight) Fiske were: Rhoda, born 
November 20, 1786, died unmarried 1872; Celia, 
February 17, 1788, married Stephen Burlingame ; 
Stephen K., April 26, 1789; Isaac, March 4, 1792; 
Hardin, March 4, 1795; Betsey, July 7, 1798, died 
February 27, 1819; Arnold, Julv 26, liio2, married 
Susan R. Miller. 

(XIII) Stephen Knight Fiske, son of Daniel 
Fiske (12), was born in Scituate, Rhode Island, April 
26, 1789. He married, in Scituate, March 2, 1817, 
Mercey Burlingame, of Clemence. She was born 
April 8, 1800, died July 19, 1857. His father died 
when he was twenty-one. He carried on the farm 
with the help of some of his younger brothers and 
supported the family. At the age of twenty-eight 
he and a brother bought the farm. His wife died in 
1857. He gave part of his farm to his youngest 
son Almond, and made his home with him for many 
years, then went to live with another son at whose 
home he died, August 18, 1871, in Scituate. He was 
eighty-three years old and had his health until his 
last illness, which was brief. He was held in high 
esteem by his fellow citizens. He was representa- 
tive to the state legislature two years, town council- 
man for many years, held many other positions of 
trust, and settled many important estates. 

Children of Stephen Knight and Mercy (Burl- 
ingame) Fiske were : Almond W., born August 23, 
1830, married Amy Cahoon : Daniel, May 27, 1817, 
married Ruth Burlingame ; Clarinda .-Vnn, March 23, 
1818. married, February, 1838. Zephaniah Ramsd^ll ; 
he died January 26, 18S5 ; she died January 26, 1885 ; 
Stephen, June 21, 1819, married Cynthia Colvin; 
Ebenezer, August 31, 1821. married Amy Colvin; 
Cynthia. August 30. 1824, died July 22, 1828; Eliza- 
beth, September 3, 1828. died July 14. 1844. 

(XW) Daniel Fiske, son of Stephen Knight 
Fiske (13), was born in Scituate, May 27. 1817. He 
married, at East Killingly, Connecticut, July 3, 1842, 
Ruth Burlingame. She was born June 20. 1820. 
He attended the country schools and worked on the 
farm during his boyhood. By studying at home he 
fitted himself for the high school. After his course 
in the South Scituate high school he taught school 
in the village of Hope in Scituate. At the age of 
twenty-five he moved with his father to the village 
of Hope, and was married the following summer. 
He and his father carried on the farm together. 
In February, 1848, he bought a good farm of one 
hundred and fiftv acres in Brookfield. Massachusetts, 
and went there with wife and three children to make 
his home. In 1876 he gave up business and re- 
moved to 56 Coral street, Worcester, Massachusetts, 
where he spent the remainder of his days. He died 



382 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



March 19, 1897. He was a justice of the peace in 
Rhode Island. 

Children of Daniel and Rnth (Burhngame) Fiske 
were: Julia Ann, born August 13. 1844. married, 
November 15. 1865. George R. Hamant, of North 
Brookfiekl: Mary Elizabeth, 'born January 19, 1846, 
married, November 16. 1865, Moses Hobbs, of North 
Brookfield, Massachusetts: Susan Maria, resides m 
Worcester; Stephen Burlingame, born October 30. 
1849 married Alice N. Stebbins ; Celia Jane, born 
April 7 1854. resided lately at 56 Coral street, Wor- 
cester : ChaVlcs Daniel, born March 13, 1856. married 
Melinda Brooks: Sarah Frances, born December 15, 
1858, married, June i, 1887, John Charles Hawkins, 
01" Fiskville, Rhode Island. 

(XV) Stephen Burlingame Fiske. son of Daniel 
Fiske (14), was born in Brookfield, Massachusetts, 
October 30 1849. He married, at North Brookfield, 
Massachusetts, March 3. l873. Alice N. Stebbins, 
born July 23, 1852. Mr. Fiske was educated in the 
public schools of Brookfield. He assisted his father 
for some time on the farm before he was twenty. 
Afterwards he served an apprenticeship of three 
years in the drug business in Woonsocket, Rhode 
Island and he was for one year a member of the 
firm of G. R. Hamant, of North Brookfield, Massa- 
chusetts. For the next five years he kept a drug 
store in East Jaffrey, New Hampshire. In 1879 he 
came to Upton. Massachusetts, and succeeded to the 
drug business formerly carried on there by James 
S. Le Sure at the corner of North Main and Mil- 
ford streets. He had no opposition in his line and 
he built up a large and successful business. A few 
years ago he built near the old location a new busi- 
ness block, where he has a main salesroom thirty 
by seventy-six feet, with office, prescription depart- 
ment and laboratory in the rear. About three thous- 
and square feet of floor space is devoted to the 
business. Mr. Fiske was not only the town apothe- 
cary, but he was the advisor and business confident 
of half the town. He was most accommodating and 
helpful to those needing advice and assistance, and 
no man in the vicinity had the confidence and esteem 
of the community more completely. 

Mr. Fiske was a Republican in politics and^ was 
intensely interested in public affairs. His business 
ability as well as his high standing in the community 
have called him often into the public service. After 
he had declined the ofiice of town treasurer, when 
he had been a resident of the town only three years, 
he was in 1884 induced to accept the position and he 
held it to the satisfaction of all concerned until his 
death, except for two years. He was a member of 
the committee to construct the school house, and 
was a member of the library committee for several 
vears. He was chief engineer of the fire depart- 
ment, was a notary public and justice of the peace. 
As a magistrate he was particularly helpful to the 
veterans in putting their pension papers in shape 
He was an active member of a number of fraternal 
orders. . 

He invested largely in Upton real estate and in- 
dustries and in every w-ay possible helped in the 
development of his town. He built a handsome 
residence on Nelson hill, known as Maple Terrace. 
Since the death of Mr. Fiske, his widow has lived 
w-ith her son in the building over the drug store in 
the village square. Mr. Fiske died April I, 1904, 
after a long illness. 

He married. March 3, 1873, Alice N. Stebbins, 
of a prominent North Brookfield family. Their chil- 
dren were : Charles Norman, born at East Jaffrey, 
New Hampshire, April 22. 1876: Harry Austin, born 
at Upton, June 12. t88o. died there April 10, 1897; 
Walter Heyw^ard. born January 3. 1882. 



(XVI) Dr. Charles Norman Fiske, son of 
Stephen Burlingan-fe Fiske (15), was born in E.ist 
Jaffrey, New Hampshire, April 22, 1876. He re- 
ceived his early school training in the Upton schools, 
graduating from the high school 1892. He then 
studied a year at Phillips (Exeter) Academy, grad- 
uating 1893, and entered Harvard College. He de- 
cided to try for the office of surgeon in the navy, 
and accordingly left college to enter the Harvard 
Medical School, from which he was graduated in 
T900. He entered the navy and is now (1905) a 
past assistant surgeon, attached to the Marblehead, 
now undergoing alterations and repairs in the Mare 
Island navy yard. San Francisco. He married, Sep- 
tember 25, 1902, Helen Tucker Hawke, daughter of 
Admiral James T. Hawke, who is living since his 
retirement at Sonoma, California. They have one 
child, John Norman, born November 15, 1903. 

(XVI) Walter Hey ward Fiske, son of Stephen 
Burlingame Fiske (15). was born in Upton, Massa- 
chusetts, January 3, 1S82. He attended the common- 
schools of his native town and graduated from the 
Upton high school, iSgp. He studied at Phillips 
(Exeter) Academy one year and took a course in' 
Becker's Business College in Worcester. He came 
into the store as soon as he left school and assisted 
his father in the business. The entire management of 
the business soon devolved on him by reason of his 
father's ill health. He was virtually the town treas- 
urer also during the last illness of his father. Since 
the death of his father, in 1904, Mr. Fiske has held 
the position of treasurer. He is a member of the 
Republican town committee. In a way he has taken 
his father's place in the town as well as in the busi- 
ness. Those who had learned to trust the father : 
have reposed equal confidence in the son, and he is 
popular with all his fellow citizens. He is a nu-nilier 
of the Milford Lodge. No. 223. Independent Order 
of Odd Fellows ; also Master Mason of Montgomery 
Lodge, Milford. Massachusetts; Benevolent and Pro- 
tective Order Elks, Milford Lodge, No. 628; Court 
Upton, Foresters of America, No. 195. 

He married. October 22, 1902, Ernestine Saunders, 
daughter of Milton Saunders, of Milford, Massa- 
chusetts. They have one child, Helen, born in Up- 
ton, April 24, 1904. 

CALVIN LYON HARTSHORN. No name has 
been more prominent in the history of the develop- 
ment of agriculture and horticulture in Worcester 
county than that of Hartshorn. Three generations 
of them have pursued the vocation of farming in 
the city of Worcester with success. They have each 
kept ahead of their times and have led rather than 
kept pace. The three representatives of these gen- 
erations are Calvin Lyon Hartshorn, his father Jonas 
and his son Arthur E. They are descended from the 
Hartshorns of Reading, Dedham, Walpole, Sher- 
born. Boylston and Worcester. 

(I) Thomas Hartshorn, the founder of the family 
of the name in America, settled in Reading in the 
Massachusetts Bay colony. His original farm has 
been occupied continuously by lineal descendants to 
the present time. He was born in England in 1614. 
The Hartshorns in England took their name from an 
ancient parish of this name in Litchfield diocese, 
Derby county. It is believed that the parish was 
named from its geographical resemblance to a hart's 
horn. The family was well established, as the 
records show, as far back as the thirteenth century. 
Henry de Hertishorn and others are mentioned as 
residing in Derby county. They bore arms. The 
coat of arms contains three bucks' heads and the 
crest is a buck's head. The design obviously refers 
to the name's significance. Thomas Hartshorn took 



I 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



383 



he freeman's oath at Reading. Ma.v 10, 1648. He 
vas a prominent and influential citizen, serving his 
(ellow colonists as selectman and in other positions 
pf trust and honor. He died about May 18. 1683. 
His wife, Susannah, died March 18, 1659-60. He 

Inarried (second) Hannah , who was received 

,:roni the church in Ipswich 6 (2) 1663. She died 
(uly 20, 167.3. He married (third) Sarah, widow of 
William Lamson, of Ipswich. H'S children were : 
Thomas, born October 30, 1646, died young ; Thomas, 
)orn September 30, 1648; John, born May 6, 1650; 
Joseph, born July 2, 1652; Benjamin, born 1654; 
Jonathan, born August 20. 1656: David, born 1657; 
Susannah, born March 2, 1659 ; Timothy, born Feb- 
fUary 3, 1661 ; Mary, born August 19, 1672. 
, (II) Joseph Hartshorn, son of Thomas (i), and 
Susannah Hartshorn, was born July 2, 1652, at Read- 
ing, Massachusetts, died July 30, 1727, at Walpole. 
He resided at Reading and Dedhain, and was a 
soldier in King Philip's war. He married Sarah 

'; , and their children were : Susanna, born 

1677; Sarah, born 1679, married Samuel Guild, of 
Dedham, January 8, 1700-1 ; Mary, born 16S1, married 
Jonathan Faierbank, February 3. 1702; Abigail, born 
1686; Joseph, born 1688; Tabitha, born 1690; Rebeka, 
born December 7, 1693 ! Thomas, born May 8, 1695 ; 
iEbenezer, born July 10, 1697, married Rebekah 

1 , Dedham; Martha, born July 2, 1700. 

; (III) Joseph Hartshorn, son of Joseph (2) and 
;Sarah Hartshorn, was born at Reading, 1688, died 
'at Walpole. December 22, 1758. He inarried Rachel 

, of Sherborn, March 17, 1709, and she died 

^November 14, 1769. They lived at Walpole and 
■Sherborn. Some of their children were: Joseph, 
.born March 12, 1710: a daughter, born September 
25, 1712; Sarah, born May 28, 1726. 
; (IV) Joseph Hartshorn, Jr., son of Joseph (3) 
.and Rachel Hartshorn, was horn March 12, 1710, 
at Walpole. He married Hannah Foster, December 
29, 1721, and their children, all born at Walpole, 
iwere: Joseph, born October 15, 1732; Samuel, born 
:April 22, 17.34, died September 9. 1747; Joseph and 
Hannah, twins, born January 9. 1735-6; Jacob, born 
Noveinber 27, 1737; Mary, born January 11, 1742-3; 

Ebenezer, born January 12. 1745-6: , born 

March 31, 1747; Samuel, born April 30, 1749; Sibbel, 
(born October 5, 1 75 1. 

i CV) Deacon Ebenezer Hartshorn, son of Joseph, 
Jr., (4) and Hannah (Foster) Hartshorn, was born 

January 12. 1745-6. married Thankful , who 

;died November 24, 1796. He married (second) 

■ Betty, daughter of Jonas and Sarah Greenwood, 
(August 30, 1798, at Walpole. Ebenezer Hartshorn 

was a farmer and also a carpenter. He moved 
from Walpole to Boylston. Massachusetts, soon after 
1790. He died May 27, 1813, at Boylston. His 

children were: Jacob, born August 17, 1769; , 

September 23, 1771 ; Daniel. February 7, 1774; Ebe- 
;nezer. June 13, 1778; Nancy, January 23. 1781, at 

■ Stoughtenham ; VVarren, June 13, 1783 ; Grata, Oc- 
.tober 27. 17S8; Jonas. June. 1802; Calvin. March 6, 
, 1804. died November 8. 1889 ; Susan. August 19, 
I 1806, died September 25, 1881, married William Ken- 
;dall, December 25, 1828; Sarah. February 16, 181 1, 

■ married Simeon Partridge, of Boylston. 

(VI) Calvin Hartshorn, son of Ebenezer (5) 

and Betty Hartshorn, was born March 6. 1804. He 

. remained at Walpole. following his vocation of mill- 

■ Wright. He inarried, November 19, 1832, Maria Ann 
Guild, born at Walpole. October 7, 1807. Their chil- 
dren were : i. Anna Maria, born September 12, 

I ^^33< married Luther Swan Leech, of Stonghton, 
Massachusetts, who died April II, 1875. leaving his 
widow and a son, Joseph Swan Leech, born Novem- 
ber 14, i86o. 2. Calvin Guild, born February 23, 



1840. at Walpole. 3. Edwin Curtis, born September 
28. 1844, died April 21, 1849. 

( VI ) Deacon Jonas Hartshorn, son of Ebenezer 
(5) and Betty Hartshorn, was born at Sherborn, 
Massachusetts, June, 1802. His father died wdicn 
lie was a mere child and his mother apprenticed him 
to a man named Temple at Boylcslon, with whom 
he served his seven years. He came to Worcester 
and for a time was guard and turnkey at the county 
jail. He bought a farm on Mountain street, but in 
1839 sold it and bought of Joseph and William W. 
Patch, two brothers, half of their farm of about 
two hundred acres. The other half was retained 
by William W. Patch. This new farm is the pres- 
ent Hartshorn estate. The new owner set out or- 
chards and shade trees, built the present barn and 
dwelling house, vastly improving the property. 

Jonas Hartshorn married (first) Eunice Patch, 
April I, 1828. She died October 2, 1834, at the age 
of thirty years. He married (second) Laura Ann 
Patch, September 22, 1835. She died August 15, 
1847, at the age of thirty years. He married (third) 
Abigail Whitney, August 10, 1848. She died March 
23, 1862, at the age of fortv-nine years. He married 
(fourth) Lydia W. Bray, March 15, 1864. Follow- 
ing are the children : John Clark, born January 20, 
1829, died November 26. 183 1 ; Nathan Greenwood, 
born June 23, 1831, died Noveinber 26. 1831 ; Calvin 
Lyon, born December 25, 1832 ; Caroline Elizabeth, 
born November 9, 1836, died December 25, 1839; 
John Warren, born September g, 1839; Ann Eliza, 
born October 15. 1842, died August 22, 1845; Emma 
Jane, born May 15, 1845, died August 30, 1S45; 
L?ura Ann, born August 3, 1847, died August 15, 
1847. 

(VI) Susan Hartshorn, daughter of Ebenezer 
(5) and Betty Hartshorn, was born August 19. 1806, 
died September 25. 1881. She married William San- 
ford Kendall, a miller of Templeton, Massachusetts, 
December 25, 1828. He was born in Boylston. Au- 
gust 9, 1803, died in South Royalston, February 23, 
1879. Their children were: i. William San'ford, 
born at Templeton, October 18, 1829, died in Tem- 
pleton, March 25, 1835. 2. Albert Warren, born 
September 8. 1832, died May 9, 1900, aged sixty-seven 
years. He was a gate tender at one of the cross- 
ings on the Boston & Maine Railroad in Gardner. 
He married (first), January 7, 1854, Charlotte Bar- 
rett Tyler, born in Hinsdale. New Hampshire, Oc- 
tober 17, 1832, died in South Royalston, Massachu- 
setts, May 23, 1856. He married (second). May S, 
1862, at Three Oaks, Michigan, Nellie Gilligan, born 
in Joliet, Illinois. January 17, 1840, died in Souih 
Royalston, February 5, 1878. He married (thira), 
November 25, 1885, in South Royalston. Lucy Hill, 
horn in Boston, .\ugust 7. i860. His children were : 
Arthur Clarence, born in Momence. Illinois. June 
27, 1863, a chairmaker in South Royalston. married 
in Gardner. October 25. 1888. Emma Elizabeth Wcf- 
fenden, born in South Royalston. November 29. 1859; 
Mary Arabella, born July 24. 1865, died September 
19, 1899. aged thirty-four years: Charles Edwai-d, 
born South Royalston, October 15, 1869, died Sep- 
tember II. 1873; Blanche Evelyn, born January 18, 
1875, resides at Somerville, Massachusetts, un- 
married : Ruth Lilla, born June 5, 1887 ; 3. 
Charles Augustus, born in Templeton, December 
15. 1834, died May 23, 1902, aged si.xty-seven years; 
he was a liookkeeper in Somerville. married. October 
18. 1870, Lvdia Clifford, born in Edgecomb, Maine. 
4 and 5. Snrah Sophia and Susan Maria, (twins), 
born (October 29, 1837; Sarah S. died October 7. 
iSg6. a.gcd fifty-eight years: Susan M. married 
November 27, 1856, Jeremiah .Atkins Rich, born 
April IT, 1825. a chair maker in South Royalston. 



384 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



Susan M. Rich died December 12, 1903, aged sixty- 
six years. 6. William Sanford. born December 8, 
1839, a miller in Athol Centre, Massachusetts, mar- 
ried, September 8, 1868, Adelaide Smith, born in 
Athol, July 20, 1836, died October 29, 1S96; their 
children were : Leila Gertrude, born in South Royal- 
ston. May 14, 1869, died in Lynn, Massachusetts, 
August 29, 1873; William Webster, born October 

26, 1870. a' sash and blind maker in Athol, married, 
March 8, 1893, Blanche Elsie Dennis, born in Athol, 
November 10, 1876, having two children : Lelia 
Blanche, born 1893, and Gladys Lenora, born 
April 6, 1896; Elwood Lynde, born in Glen- 
villc, Connecticut, September 19, 1879; Goodman, 
born in East Port Chester, Connecticut, September 
9, 1880, died September 26. 1881. 7- Edward, borr' 
in South Royalston, November 27, 1843, died Janu- 
ary S, 1845. 8. Edward Hartshorn, born March 30, 
1847, died June 13, 1850. 

(VI) Sarah Hartshorn, daughter of Ebenezer 
(5) and Betty Hartshorn, was born February 16, 
181 1, died August. 1890. She married, November 

27, 1837, Simeon Partridge, born July 6, 1799, died 
1866. He was a farmer at Boylston. Their children 
were: i. Mary Keyes, born July -9, 1839. married, 
June, 1S66, Henry Harlow, born in Shrewsbury, 
Massachusetts, where he resides on a farm; they 
had: Hiram Edward, born January 12, 1S69, is 
a farmer on the home farm in Shrewsbury, being 
of the fourth generation on that farm ; Arthur John, 
born January 16, 1871, married Annie Kershaw, 
born England, Jtme 3, 1904; he is a farmer; Edith 
Maria, born March 27, 1873, is a teacher in the pub- 
lic schools of Worcester; Ruth Alice, born October 
2, 187s, resides on the home farm : Helen Elmira, 
born January 29, 1879, married Charles Edward 
Allen, son of Romeo Allen, of Shrewsbury, Decem- 
ber 25, 1902, and resides in Shrewsbury ; Robert 
Henry, born December 11, 1882, owns a milk route 
in the city of Worcester ; he boards in his father's 
family in Shrewsbury. 2. Caroline Elizabeth, born 
November 5, 1841, married, April 6, 1869, John Wil- 
liam Warren, born in Princeton and is on the Wor- 
cester police force (1898). They had Herbert An- 
son, born March 14, 1870, a civil engineer in New 
York city, married, March 6, 1895, Maude Sophia 
Bosworth, of Worcester, and they had three children, 
among whom were : Edwin Taylor, born April 27, 
1896. and Barbara Bosworth, born March 24. 1898; 
Thaddeus Chenery, born September 18, 1871, an 
electrician in Worcester, married. September 19, 
1895, Adaline E. Stearns ; Susie Greenwood, born 
August 29. 1876, clerk at the Worcester Insane Asy- 
lum ; John Partridge, born February 24, 1878, assis<^- 
ant superintendent at the salesrooms of the White 
Automobile Company in New York city : Sara Maria, 
born November 3, 1880, resides in New Rochelle, 
New York; Philip Hamilton, born January 17, 1882, 
graduated June. 1905. at the Lowell Textile School, 
and is now in New Rochelle, New York. 3. Ruth 
Ellen, born January 15, 1844, resides in Worcester. 
4. Susan Abigail, born April 14, 1847, for twenty- 
five years a teacher in the public schools of Wor- 
cester : resides in Worcester. 

(VII) John Warren Hartshorn, son of Jonas (6) 
and Laura Hartshorn, was born September 19, 1839, 
married Emma J. Lynn. December 16, 1869. She 
was born December 10, 1846. at New London, Con- 
necticut, died October 29, 1895. He is an insurance 
agent at New London, Connecticut. Their children 
were Albert Lyon, born January 17, 1871 : Laura Ann 
born April 16, 1873 : Grace Evelyn, born June 8, 
1883. 

(I) Thomas Greenwood was the emigrant an- 
cestor of Betty Greenwood, who married into the 



Hartshorn family. He came to Boston in 1665. H 
was born in England in 1643 and learned the trad 
of weaver there. He settled in Cambridge, nov 
Newton, and was first town clerk there. In 166; 
he was constable and for four years selectman. H 
married (first) Hannah Ward, July 16, 1690, aiK 
(second) Abigail Spring, and had children by both 
His children were : Thomas, born January 22, 1671 
Thomas (Rev.), born July 15, 1673, graduate a 
Harvard College, 1690; John; James, born Decern 
ber 19, 1687 ; William, born October 14, 1685 
Thomas died September II, 1693. 

(Il) William Greenwood, son of Thomas (f 
and Abigail Greenwood, was born October 14, 1689 
He was deacon of the church. He removed fron 
Newton to Sherborn. It is related in the histor; 
of Sherborn that Greenwood was the first man ii 
the town to receive potatoes, which were introduce! 
in New England in 1720 by the Scotch-Irish.^ Tlieii 
use spread slowly. He tried his first mess in I7.3(, 
and after testing them declared that "after freezinj 
and thawing a few times they would be good." Hi 
was a farmer and was always active in church axin 
town affairs. For twenty-four years he was thii 
town clerk and for six years selectman. In 174;; 
he was representative to the general court at Boston< 
He married Abigail Woodward, and their children 
were: Abigail, born June 2, 1716; Dorcas, bon 
July 17, 1717; William, born November 4, 1721 
Caleb, Ijorn September 9, 1724. died February 4, 1800 
Jonas, born April 25, 1727, died May 28. 1802; Sam- 
uel, born March 21, 1729; John, born December 16 
1730; Daniel, born July 22, 1732; Joseph, born June 
10, 17,34; Abigail, born August 10, 1737. 

(HI) Jonas Greenwood, son of William (2) ano 
Abigail Greenwood, was born April 25, 1727, diedi 

May 28, 1802. He married Sarah , and their 

children were; i. Jonathan, born November 12 

1755, married Sybil , and had Alvin, born 

April 3. 1781, and Sybil, born January 2, 1785, at 
Sherborn. 2. Mary, born March 16, 1758. 3. Belle, 
born April 4, 1760, married Mary Babcock, July 10, 
1783. 4. Betty, born January 23, 1765. 5- Betty, 
born August -1, 1767, married Ebenezer Hartshorn 
at Walpole, August 30, 1798. See Ebenezer (V) 
Hartshorn for genealogy. She died February, 1815. 

6. Reuben, born January 9, 1770, married Gate, 

and had five children. 7. Susannah, born July 4, 
1772. 8. Jonas, born July 19, 1775, married Polly 
Stratton. and had Aaron, born October 30, 1799, 
and Sally Stratton, born October 13, 181 1. 9. Ach- 
sah. born December 16, 1778. 

(IV) Betty Greenwood, daughter of Jonas (3) 
and Sarah Greenwood, married Ebenezer Hartshorn. 
See Hartshorn (V). 

(VII) Calvin Lyon Hartshorn, son of Jonas (6) 
and Eunice Hartshorn, was born in Worcester, 
Christmas Day, 1832. He was educated in the Wor- 
cester., public schools, at Worcester Academy and 
Essex" Seminary (now Essex Academy) at Essex, 
Connecticut. His early years when not in school 
were spent on his father's farm. When he began 
for himself he bought a milk route, which is re- 
markable for its long continued prosperity. It wasij 
established in 1838 by his father and has been con-fl 
ducted without interruption to the present time. ItJ 
is the oldest in the city. Later he returned home(| 
and conducted his father's farm. He began the rais-J 
ing of early vegetables with a few small hot bedsJ 
and as he found it profitable he extended the busi-f 
ness until he has on the farm at present over fourt] 
hundred hntbcd sash and two modern green-houses," 
each one hundred and seventy-five feet in length.' 
About thirty bands are employed on the place inj 
summer and fifteen in winter. Mr. Hartshorn hasl] 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



385 



modeled tlic farm-house and built other Iiuildings. 
e has laid out part of the farm, which is at the 
irner of May and June streets in a rapidly grow- 
g and very attractive suburban section of Wor- 
ster, and has sold some of the property for build- 
|g lots. Such important city streets as Courtland, 
falworth, Lovell, June, May and Chandler cross 
'e farm. He has built a brick machine shop on 
handler street, first occupied by the Wright Ma- 
jine Company and now owned by Bay State Stamp- 
jg Company. A new house on the farm is occupied 
I? his son, Arthur E. Hartshorn, who for several 
pars has taken up the active management of the 
jisiness. The farm is generally known as the Wal- 
jt Hill Farm. The fruits and vegetables raised 
^re are prize winners at all the horticultural and 
'jricultural exhibitions in this vicinity. 
! Mr. Hartshorn has been prominent all his life in 
(ty affairs. He and his wife were charter members 
t Worcester Grange, Patrons of Husbandry, which 
tis developed into an exceedingly strong and snc- 
i;ssful organization. For five years he was the 
jaster of the Grange. His prominence among the 
fen of his own business is. showji best perhaps by 
lis service in the Agricultural and Horticultural 
bcieties and in the public offices he has held, in 
fhich special knowledge and training in agriculture 
fe requisite. He has been for many years trustee 
jiid vice president of the Worcester Agricultural 
lociety. He is also a trustee and vice-president of 
ie Worcester County Horticultural Society. For 
ivelve years he was a member of the State Board 
f Agriculture, for six years a member of the Dairj- 
urea^i of Massachusetts, for six years a member 
jf the executive committee of the State Board of 
igi'iculture. for four years a director of the state 
;<perimental station at the Massachusetts Agricul- 
jjral College at Amherst, Massachusetts. In his 
Wn business his word is taken as authority. Mr. 
lartshorn is a member of the Dewey Street Baptist 
■hurch. 

[I He has had a very 'creditable career in the city 
pvernment. Men of his sterling honesty and com- 
lion sense are the kind needed in the public service 
erhaps more today than formerly because of the 
i;ndency of active and successful business men to 
Ifoid public life. Mr. Hartshorn was in the com- 
iion council from 1870 to 1874. Through his efiforts 
jainly the fire department was extended to give 
ctter protection to the residence section on the 
/est Side. He assisted the project of constructing 
[le boulevard, which at that time was looked upon 
iy some of the people as a wild, extravagant and 
feless expense. Time has shown the wisdom of 
iie construction of .this great thoroughfare. As a 
iublic officer he had the gift of foresight as well as 
;:gard for the present economies. He made an 
rJmirable servant on the board of overseers of the 
por, on which he served for twelve years. He was 
bpointed a park commissioner and the duties were 
bngenial. but after one year he was obliged to rc- 
,gn on account of the pressure of other business. He 
L'rved Worcester as representative in the' general 
,ourt, as his ancestors had done before him. He 
presented the twent.v-fourth district in 1879 and 
'^So. He was nominated for mayor, but refused 
:i_ run against the late Ma.vor E. B. Stoddard. Not- 
tithstanding his announced withdraw'al he received 
I very handsome complimentary vote in the annual 
[•ection of i88r, receiving 1571 votes. 
, Although retired from the active management of 
iS business, he has spent the past few years in 
avel and special work of various sorts in which 
: was interested. His personal qualities have at- 
acted a large circle of friends in all parts of the 



state. He seems to be universally popular not only 
in this city but throughout the length and breadth 
of the commonwealth. 

He married, September 30, 1858, Helen Marcelia 
Marcy, of Charlton, born November 29, 1831, died 
February 25, 1902. She was the daughter of An- 
drew and Clarentine (Towne) Marcy. Their chil- 
dren were: I. Annie Maud, born October 18, i860, 
married William K. Stanley, of Fitchburg, Massa- 
chusetts, October 18, 1881. He was born October 9, 
1857. At present he occupies a responsible position 
with the Barnard, Sumner & Putnam Company, one 
of the leading department stores of Worcester. Their 
children are : Helen Maud Stanley, born October 
19, 1S82, married William Irving Whiting, of Wor- 
cester, and had Stanley Hartshorn Whiting, born 
March 27, 1905; Grace Hartshorn Stanley, born 
June 16, 1884. 2. Arthur Ernest, born February 10, 
1867. 

(VIII) Arthur Ernest Hartshorn, son of Calvin 
Lyon (7) and Helen Marcelia (Marcy) Hartshorn, 
was born February 10, 1867, married September 17, 
1890, Annie Maria, daughter of Thomas and Ann 
(Buckley) Williams. She was a born at Worcester, 
December 10, 1S69. Her father was a manufacturer. 
Arthur E. Hartshorn w-as educated in the Wor- 
cester public schools and graduated at Hinman's 
Business College. At present he is the manager of 
the Walnut Hill Farm and is conducting its busi- 
ness along the most progressive and scientific lines. 

ALFRED SEELYE ROE, who has achieved an 
extended reputation as a teacher, writer and lecturer, 
and who has read many papers before the historical 
societies of the various states, is descended from the 
old colonial families who settled in Massachusetts in 
the seventeenth century. 

(I) John Roe, or Rowe, as the name in variously 
spelled, it being Rowe on his tombstone, but his 
descendants invariably using the former form, was 
born in Ireland in 1628, but was of English ex- 
traction. He emigrated to America in 1655, settled 
in Lynn, Massachusetts, but soon afterward went 
to Easthampton, Long Island, New York. Thence 
he removed to Setauket, now (1906) Port Jefler- 
son, Brookhaven township, and was one of the first, 
if not the Very first, settler in that place. The house 
erected by him in 1690 is still standing and in good 
condition, and is in use at the present time. He 
was one of the constitutent members of the Presby- 
terian church of Setauket, and in his will he calls 
himself a "cordvvainer." The original burying place 
has been destroyed by the laying out of new streets, 
and his tombstone is now to be found with those 
of his descendants in the public cemetery of Port 
Jefferson. Family tradition states that John Roe 
met Hannah Purrier, a descendant of an English 
fann'ly. on ship board, and they were married. Among 
their children was a son, Nathaniel. 

(II) Nathaniel Roe, son of John (i) and 
Hannah (Purrier) Roe, married Hannah Reeve, of 
Long Island, and many of their descendants are 
prominent in Long Island today, especially in Port 
Jefferson, Patchogue and Huntington. 

(III) John Roe, son of Nathaniel (2) and Han- 
nah (Reeve) Roe, married a widow, Joanna (Miller) 

(Helme). whose first husband, Thomas Helme, was 
killed while felling a tree, and left one son, Thomas, 
who became a prominent citizen of Long Island, 
and was a member of the committee of safety dur- 
ing the revolution. John and Joanna (Miller) 

(liclnie) Roe had eight children, of whom the 
fourth was Daniel.. 

(IV) Daniel Roe, fourth child of John (3) and 
Joanna (Miller) (Helme) Roe, was a man of prom- 



386 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



inence and influence in his day. He was captain 
in the Second Regiment of the New York troops 
during the war of the revolution, and was also a 
member of the original committee of safety in Brook- 
haven township. His family suffered greatly at 
the hands of the enemy, and were obliged to flee 
to Connecticut, where the last four of his children 
were born. He married Deborah Brewster, fifth 
in line of descent from Elder Brewster of the "iMay- 
flowtr." Among their children was a son, Austin. 

(V) Austin Roe, youngest child of Daniel (4) 
and Deborah (Brewster) Roe, was born in Wood- 
bury, Connecticut, in 1782. He married his first 
cousin, Sally Roe, of Brookhaven township. Long 
Island, and among iheir children was a son, Austin 
Marinus. 

(VI) Rev. Austin Marinus, son of Austin (5) 
and Sally (Roe) Roe, was born in Brookhaven, 
Long Island, September 27, 1823. With his par- 
ents he removed to Rose, Wayne county. New York, 
in 1833, and was there reared on a farm. In his 
early days he acquired as good an education as the 
public schools of that time afforded, and in his later 
teens was a student at Red Creek Academy for a 
time. He entered the ministry of the JNIethodist 
Episcopal denomination, and from 1850 until the 
present time has been a clergyman in that church. 
He has been retired from active service for the past 
twenty years, having his home in Fulton, New York. 
He is a member of the Northern New York, formerly 
the Black River Conference. As a young man he 
was a Democrat, casting his first presidential vote for 
James K. Polk, in 1844. He next voted the first Free 
Soil ticket, and remained faithful to this party until 
1856, when he voted for Fremont, and was a firm 
upholder of the tenets of the Republican party, until 
of late, when he began casting his vote for Prohi- 
bition candidates. Pie married, more than sixty 
years ago, Polly Catharine Seelye, born August 29, 
1827, daughter of Colonel George and Polly Cath- 
arine (Shepard) Seelye, the latter being seventh 
in descent from Dr. Edward Fuller, of the "May- 
flower" company. Colonel Seelye was an officer in 
the New York state militia, and his commissions 
bear the signatures of Governors William L. Marcy 
and William H. Seward. Her paternal ancestry de- 
scends from Watertown, Massachusetts, New Mil- 
ford and Danbury, Connecticut, and Washington 
county. New York, in which latter place her great- 
grandfather, Nehemiah Seelye, was a captain in the 
revolutionary army and was in action at Saratoga. 
His home in Kingsbury was destroyed by the forces 
of Burgoyne in their march from Canada. The 
Shepards also came from Watertown, Massachu- 
setts, and after a time were found in Litchfield 
county, Connecticut, whence Aaron Shepard and 
family went by means of ox teams to the wilderness 
of the Genessee district in 1812. Among the chil- 
dren of Rev. Austin Marinus and Polly Catharine 

(Seelye) Roe is a son, Alfred S. Roe, the par- 
ticular subject of this sketch. 

(VIII) Alfred Seelye Roe, son of Rev. Austin 
Marinus (6) and Polly Catharine (Seelye) Roe, 
was born in Rose, Wayne county. New York. June 
8, 1844. He was a pupil in the public schools of his 
locality until he had attained the age of sixteen 
years, when he became a student at the Falley Semi- 
nary in Fulton, New York, vi-here he received his pre- 
paratory training for college, expecting to enter an 
institution of learning of that class in 1864. He 
took a course in army tactics first, however, and 
matriculated at the Wesleyan University, Middle- 
town, Connecticut, in 1866. and was graduated from 
this institution in 1870. He is a member of the 
Phi Beta Kappa. He officiated as principal of the 



high school in Ashland, Massachusetts, until 1875 
and until 1890 in the high school of Worcester, bein; 
principal during the last ten years. Since that tim( 
he has been engaged in writing and lecturmg, anc 
has also served his country in the legislature. Ii 
politics he is a stanch Republican, and in the cam 
paigns has always been an eloquent and convincin; 
speaker in behalf of that party. He represents 
ward one of Worcester from 1892 to 1895, mclusive 
in the Massachusetts legislature, and was senatoi 
from the Second Worcester district from 189(3 ti 
1898, inclusive, during nearly all of this lime beiiis 
chairman of the committee on education. He wa; 
instrumental in the passage of a number of act: 
which were greatly for the public benefit, among 
them being: The act which today renders secondan 
education in the state possible to the people of tlu 
poorest and most remote towns ; an act exempting 
the property of invalid soldiers from taxation ; anc 
the veteran's preference bill. At present he is super 
visor of the evening schools of Worcester. Hi 
enlisted in Company A, Ninth New York lieavj 
Artillery, January 21, 1864, and served until Octobeii 
17, 1865. His regiment helped build and man the 
defences of Washington, and in the spring of 186. 
joined the Sixth Army Corps, sharing its fortune' 
until the surrender ol Lee. He was captured a 
Monocacy Junction, Maryland, July 9, 1864, and way[ 
a prisoner for almost eight months in Danville, Vir-lr 
ginia. He has been a member of the George WH 
Ward Post, No. 10, Grand Army of the Republi^ 
more than twenty-five years, was its commands 
two years, and is now (1906) the junior vice-comil 
mander. Department of Massachusetts. He- hm 
frequently represented Post No. 10 in departmenfl 
encampments, and in 1883 and 1892 was delegated tcl 
national encampments. In 1895 and 1896 he was w\ 
aide on the staff of Commander Derby, was 
spector-general for Commanders Blackmar and Jud3 
an aide for Commander Field in 1905, and in I90| 
was a member of the council of administration. Hf 
was reared in the creed of the Methodist Episcopal 
church, of which his family have been members foil 
more than a century, and has been an official memfl 
her of Grace Church, Worcester. He is a lay preache 
in that denomination, but speaks frequently in othe 
houses of worship on subjects pertinent to the 
and time. He was president of the Red Cross oril 
ganization during the Spanish-American war. Hm 
is also connected with the following organizationsij] 
Rose Lodge, No. 590, Free and Accepted Masons 
of Rose, New York ; Worcester Society of Antiquit] 
before which he has read many papers ; New Eng 
land Methodist Historical Society. He is an hon!J| 
orary member of Rhode Island Soldiers' and Sailors 
Historical Society, Kansas Historical Society, Old 
Colony Historical Society, and the Westboro His 
torical Society. He is also a member of the Massa 
chuselts Society, and is president of the Worceste 
Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution 

For many years he has been a forcible speak 
in the cause of temperance, and has been a prolifiij] 
writer, for the political, religious and educatioiia 
press. Among his books may be mentioned : "Hisil 
tory of the Worcester Classical and English Higlj| 
School ;" "History of Rose, Wayne County, Nev 
York:" History of the Ninth New York Heay 
Artillery;" "History of the Worcester Young Men' 
Christian Association ;" "History of the Twent] 
fourth Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteers ;" "Hii 
tory of Worcester in the Spanish War ;" "Diary < 
Captain Daniel Roe ;" and many others. 

He married, June 22, 1874. in Ashland. MassaJ] 
chusetts, Nora Ardelia Metcalf, daughter of Alva| 
and Harriet Hannah (Vose) Metcalf. Alvah MetJ 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



387 



:al was born in Appleton, Maine, though many 
jeprations of his family had lived in Massachii- 
sei. He was the seventh in descent from Micliael 
M'calf, the first schoolmaster of Dedham, Massa- 
:h^etts, and his vifife, Mary Fairbanks, whose girl- 
h((l home stills stands in Dedham. the oldest 
Jvilling house in continuous use in America, but it 
iS ,1 excellent preservation and is still in use as a 
J\,lling. Harriet Hannah Vose, luother of Mrs. 
Ri, was the daughter of Alexander and Malinda 
M'a (.Weeks) Vose, and was the seventh in a di- 
re line of descent from John Alden and Priscilla, 
jf'Mayfiower" history. Mrs. Roe had the ad- 
/alage of an excellent public school education, and 
ioniany years has been a contributor to the press, 
;s;cially that of the Methodist church. She is the 
irior of "Three Little Street Singers," published 
)>j^ee & Shepard, of Boston. jNIr. and Mrs. Alfred 
5. Roe have had children: i. Adelaide Estelle, 
)Ci April 6, 1875, died February 24, 1878. 2. 
\ label Catherine, born September 3, 1879, was 
;r,luated from Mount Holyoke College in 1901, 
ir. is a teacher in the public schools of Worces- 
:e 3. Delos Metcalf, born January 8, 18S3, died 
My 28, 1892. 4. Harriet Eudora, born June 5, 1885, 
SI her senior year in Mount Holyoke College. 

[iDGAR EUGENE BUCK. * William Buck (i) 
V the emigrant ancestor of Edgar Eugene Buck, 
)f\\'orcester, and of a branch of the Buck family 
b settled in Connecticut. William Buck came 
o\ew England on the "Increase," sailing in April, 
;6;, from England and landing a month later at 
J-ton, Massachusetts. He gave his age as fifty 
'^s and according!}- was born in 1585. His son 
ii;er was with him, and his age w'as given as 
i'lteen. He settled at Cambridge, Massachusetts, 
r 1652 he had a grant of land, twenty, acres, 
c, No. 91 in the Cambridge Survey, so-called. 
He he built a new home for his family. It was 
n.vhat was called the west field, northeast from 
J den street, on what is now Raymond street, 
i died intestate January 24. 1658. and was buried 
rthe old cemetery at Cambridge, Massachusetts. 
■\ son Roger was administrator and it does not 
i[|ear that there were any other children. William 
3'rk was a plough-wright. 

(H) Roger Buck, son of William Buck (i). 
,■ born in England. 1617. He emigrated to Xew 
inland on- the "Increase," April 15, 1635. Captain 
-•. Master, with his father, W'illiam Buck. His 
iher was probably dead. It is generally sup- 
(?d that Enoch Buck and Emanuel Buck, who 
sjed at Wethersfield, Connecticut, were relatives. 
t;ibly older sons of William Buck, who was 
i.y when he came over. He was a plough-wright 
il farmer. He settled at Cambridge near his 
oier. On the death of his wife Susannah he 
1/ed to Woburn, where some of his children 
■{d. He died there November 10. 1693. 

iThe children of Roger and Susannah were : 
Iry. born January 23. 1648, died unmarried August 
I1669; Rutli. born November 6. 1653. died Sep- 
;ber 21. 1682, married Thomas Bathrick or Baver- 
'-y Elizabeth, born July 5, 1657, married. August 
:, 1678, Joshua Wood ; Lydia, married. November 
,1672, Henry Smith: John, born September 3, 
'4, died unmarried : Samuel born JMarch 16. 1669. 
rried Rachel Levin or Leven. settled in West 

nbridge (Menotomy), where he died September 
, 1690. his wife Rachel died 1694. and his estate 
• divided among his children (Samuel has many 
i:cndants) ; Ephraini, born July 26, 1646. mar- 
i[, January I, 1671, Sarah Brooks, of Woburn, 

ssachusetts. 



(HI) Ephraim Buck, son of Roger Buck (2), 
was born at Cambridge, Mas.sachusctts, July 26, 
1646. He married, January i, 1671, Sarah Brooks, 
daughter of John and Eunice (Mousall) Brooks, of 
Woburn. He settled there probably a few years 
earlier, as he is mentioned in the will of John 
Mousall, whose granddaughter he married. Mr. 
Mousall died March 27, 1665. He also left a be- 
quest to John Brooks. Ephraim Buck became a 
man of distinction; he was the local magistrate ap- 
pointed to try small causes by the general court. He 
was a farmer. His grandson, Jonathan Buck, son 
of Ebenczer, was the founder of the town of Bucks- 
port. Maine, and he has thousands of descendants 
in Maine and northern New England, through this 
son, Ebenczer. (See tlie Bangor Historical Regis- 
ter.) He died January, 1721, at Woburn, Massa- 
chusetts. The children of Ephraim and Sarah 
(Brooks) Buck were: Sarah, born January 11, 
1673, married Thomas Grover; Ephraim, born July 
13, 1676, married Esther Wagget; John, born Jan- 
uary II, 1678-9. died young; John, born February 

7. 1679-80, married Priscilla ; Samuel, born 

November 13, 1682, married Hannah ; 

Eunice, born July 7, 1685 ; p'benezer, born May 20, 
1689, married Lydia Fames; Mary, born October 
28, 1691, married (first) Nathaniel Pike or Spike, 
married (second) Samuel Bigsbee. 

(IV) Samuel Buck, son of Ephraim (3), was 
born at Woburn, Massachusetts, November 13, 1682. 

He man-ied Hannah about 1708. He was 

a fanuer. He settled in Woburn, Massachusetts. 
The children of Samuel and Hannah Buck were : 
Hannah, born February i, 1710; Samuel, born May 
7. 1711; Sarah, born April 16, 1716; Zebediah, born 
August 29, 1719. 

(V) Samuel Buck, son of Samuel Buck (4), 
w-as born at Woburn, Massachusetts, May 7, 1711, 
died December, 1765, at Killingly, Connecticut, ac- 
cording to the old church records. From somewhat 
meagre and unsatisfactory records in Connecticut 
the establisment of the family at Thompson and its 
connection with that at Woburn is ascertained. 
Samuel Buck went with othtr Woburn, Lexington 
and Watertown families or followed them to Kil- 
lingly and Thompson. Connecticut, where this 
branch of the Buck family lived. Eleazer Bateman 
joined the Killingly Church September 15, 1715. He 
was from Woburn. Richard Blosse, of VVest Water- 
town, joined the church INIay 23. 1716; George and 
Sarah Blanchard, of Lexington, Octolser 18. 1715, 
and tlie stream of emigration continued to Thomp- 
son from Woburn for a number of years. In 1729 
James Wilson and Ivory Upham, who had just 
come from Woburn, joined the church. In the 
thirties probably Samuel Buck, of Woburn. came 
with or followed relatives. There is a record of the 
marriage of Robert Buck, of Killingly, in 1715, but 
nothing else about him. He may have been one 
of the Wethersfield family. 

He w-as one of the heads of families who on 
November 19, 1745, signed the covenant and called 
Rev. Perley Howe, of Dudley. Massachusetts, to 
settle as the minister at Killingly. He bought a 
farm in 1756 on Killingly Hill of Ebenezer .Adairis 
and settled on it. The Rev. Mr. Howe kept no 
church records and information about Samuel Buck's 
family is difficult to find. He was deacon of the 
church for many years. He was succeeded by Lieu- 
tenant Benjamin Levens, who may have been a rela- 
tive of .Samuel Buck from Woburn, Massachusetts. 
The son of Sannicl. Sanuiel. Jr.. married a Miss 
Bloss, whose grandparents came from Watertown, 
Massachusetts. The following are believed to be 
some of Samuel's children : i. Zerviah, married 



388 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



Giles Roberts, April 3, 1754. 2. David, married Anna 
Russell, June 22, 1756. One account of his line says 
he was born in Massachusetts and came to Putnam, 
part of Thompson or Killingly townships, Connecti- 
cut. He was a joiner and farmer. His children 
were : David, Jonathan, Aaron, Mrs. Josiah Dean, 
Mrs. Benjamin Cutler. By second wife, David, 
Eliza, married Henry Adams. Aaroii, son of David 
Buck, was born at Killingly and lived on the old 
homestead. He married Annie, daughter of Asa 
Lawrence, of Killingly. His children were: Lucy, 
married Calvin Leffingwell; Rosamond, married 
Calvin Boyden ; Mary, married Jesse Herenden ; 
Anne, married Caleb Howe; Erastus, Elisha, Augus- 
tus, George, born October 13, 1810. There are 
many descendants of David Buck (VI) in the vi- 
cinity of Thompson and Killingly, Connecticut. 3. 
Samuel, married Martha Bloss, January I, 1760. 
4. Jonathan, was in the revolutionary war, second 
lieutenant, killed at the battle of Harlem, New 
York, September 15, 1776; he was one of those who 
gave to the fund to buy the Killingly common in 
1775) no record of his marriage or children. 5. 
Aaron, died August 24, 175;,';. 6. Child, died Octo- 
ber 5, 1756. 7. Reuben, married Elizabeth, joined 
the church 1769. Some of the above may not be 
the children of Samuel but there seems to be good 
reason to think all are ; some certainly are. 

(VI) Samuel Buck, son of Samuel Buck (5), 
was born at Killingly, Lonnecticut, about I74i>. H- 
settled in that part of the town called Putnam. He 
married Martha Bloss, January, 1760. He and his 
wife joined the church April 2, 1764. The records 
of his family are found in part in the records of the 
old church at Putnam Heights, the second church 
built east of Guinebaug in a parish formed in Wind- 
ham, Connecticut. Some of the children of Samuel 
and Martha Buck were : Mary, baptized February 
26, 1764; Hannah, baptized February 26, 1764; Jo- 
hannah, baptized February 26, 1764; Joseph, bap- 
tized June I, 1766; Simeon, baptized May 28, 1773. 

(VII) Joseph Buck, son of Samuel Buck (6), 
was born in Putnam or Killingly, Connecticut, in 
1766, baptized June I, 1766. He is mentioned as 
prominent in 1793 among the early Methodists of 
Thompson, Connecticut, and vicinity. He was blind 
for many years. He settled at Thompson, Con- 
necticut, where his four children were born, as fol- 
lows : Richard, who was a soldier in the war of 
1812, was in Captain Solomon Sikes' company sta- 
tioned at New London ; Amy ; Barney and Aaron 
(twins) ; Barney married Amy Sprague, of Thomp- 
son, Connecticut. 

(VIII) Barney Buck, son of Joseph Buck (7), 
was born at Thompson, Connecticut, about 1790. He 
was in Captain John Joslin's company at New Lon- 
don in the war of 1812. He married Amy Sprague, 
of Thompson. The children of Barney and Amy 
(Sprague) Buck were: Warren, married Sophia 

, went to Michigan to live ; Hiram, married 

Cynthia Brown ; Henry, married Sophronia Shel- 
don, married (second) Sophia Anderson; Aaron, 
married Emiline Randall ; Barney, married Almeda 
Coman ; William L., married Martha Maddox ; Ab- 
bie, married Sidney liolton ; Caroline, married Lib- 
erty Brown. 

(IX) William L. Buck, son of Barney Buck 
(8), was born in New York state, died July 13, 
1893, at Woodstock, Connecticut. He married Mar- 
tha Maddox, July 25, 1847. She was the daughter 
of William and Jane (Moran) Maddox, of Union, 
Maine. He died at Appleton, Maine. Mrs. Buck 
is living in Worcester. The children of William L. 
and Martha (Maddox) Buck were: i. William 
Henry, born August 20, 1848, at Thompson, Con- 



necticut, married, 1867, Ellen White, at Killing 
Connecticut, and had two children : Marcus, bo 
1871, and Elmer White, born 1873, both of whc 
reside in Worcester, Massachusetts. 2. Rosalie J 
born May 19, 1850, at Thompson, Connecticut, di 
September 13, 1851. 3. Lewis Franklin, born N 
vember II, 1851, died at North Grafton, Massach 
setts, August 10, 1856. 4. George L., born Decei 
ber II, 1853, at Thompson, Connecticut, died Oct 
ber 3, 1885. 5. Mary Jane, born October 28, 185 
at Plainfield, Connecticut, married Frank F. Clar 
January 26, 1877, had Ada Frances, born Oclob 
30, 1877, and F'lorence Edna Clark, born July i 
1884, resides at Coral street, Worcester, Massach 
setts. 6. Charles Warren, born January 27, iS; 
at Plainfield, Connecticut, married Anna Taft, Api 
16, 1884. 7. Edgar Eugene, born February 10, i8t 
at Putnam, Connecticut. 8. Frederick Lorenzo, boi 
August 27, 1864, at Plainfield, Connecticut, did 
April 16, 1865. 

(X) Edgar Eugene Buck, son of William' 
Buck (9), was born at Putnam, Connecticut, Fe 
ruary 10, i860. The family moved frequently whi 
he was a boy and he lived at various times 
Woodstock, Danielson, Putnam, Moosup. His fatb 
was employed in cotton mills. He finished his eari 
education m the Putnam schools. While a mere b( 
he went into business on his own account as 
truckman. After four or five years he went to woi 
in the shoe manufacturing business as a cutter. I 
was employed at Webster, Grafton, Nashua, ar 
Worcester. He became proficient in the art of cu 
ting leather economically and was made foreman c 
the cutting departments first at S. R. Heywood 
factory, then at Whitcomb & Miles'. About tt 
years ago he began the manufacture of novelties : 
quarters in the Bowker building, Washington squar 
Two ye&rs later he bought the business of P. . 
Thompson & Co., leather dealers. Later he toe 
into partnership Arthur Davis and his son. Tl 
name of the firm is the E. E. Buck Leather Con 
pany, and their present location is on Main strei 
in Franklin spuare. The business has been extendi 
and enlarged. Mr. Buck is a thorough busine; 
man and has won his way in life by hard work ar 
his own energy. He has been a member of tl 
Gideons, the Christian Commercial Travelers, tl 
order of United American Mechanics, the Knigh 
of Honor. He is a member of the Dewey Strei 
Baptist Church. In politics he has voted with tl 
Republicans. 

He married, April 17, 1883, Addie Josephir 
Herindene, of Woodstock, Connecticut. She is 
descendant of Laben Herindene, who came fror 
Rhode Island to Woodstock when young. He mai 
ried Mary Marcy, who was born in Woodstocl 
Connecticut. Laben Herindene was born 1770, die 
1850. Their children were : Laben, Simeon, Wilbu 
Levi, Hannah, Mary. 

Wilbur Herindene, son of Laben Herindene, se 
tied at Woodstock, Connecticut. He married Mar 
Estabrook. He was born 1795, at Woodstock, die 
April 5, 1851. His wife died January 28, 1862. The 
children were: Wilbur, Alfred, Fidelia, Sarah Jan^ 
Nelson, Mary Ann, Hannah, Emeline, James, Lev 

James Herindene or Herindeen, son of Wilbi 
Herindene, was born at Providence, Rhode Islam 
May 16, 1823. He married Emily Chamberlain, Ma 
30, 1847. She was born at Woodstock, October i. 
1824. He died January 15, 1894. He was a Hi 
member of the local grange. He was captain of 
militia company. He settled at Woodstock, Cor 
necticut. Their daughter, Addie Josephine Herii 
deen, married Edgar Eugene Buck, of Worceste 
Massachusetts. James Lester Buck, son of Edgr 




1 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



\ddie Buck, was born in Worcester, August 
. married, May 17, 1905, Jessie Evilyn Hub- 
Holden. 

GTON.FAMILY. Fred W. Welling- 

ivu;cester, comes of the Wtlluigton family, 

jy Roger Wellington, a planter, bom about 

i l„-,:,i,if one of the early proprv iv- nf 

chusetts. He removed 

He has a record at \' : 

• was admitted a.^ a {recmaii in lOf^. 

Mary, eldest d^usihtcr "f Dr. Richard, 

vB. 'He <!■ His will 

5: John, Palgravf 

up the geiK-aioi^i^,.!! .;ij^ Ml lire family 

planter, born 1609. be known as Roger 

I). 

jamin Wellington,, son ot Roger (n, 
! as a freeman, 1677, and in iC)7[ «i- 
'Elizabeth Sweetman. He dii.' 

njamin Willinglon, son of 

n January ai, JI176. died at 1 

-i i5i 1738- !' i Lydia Br..A;> 

in Lexington. usetts, where 

iniitted to the ei.uv,;, June 10, 1705. .-. . 

\' 13, 1711, and he married (second),. De- 

'.: 171- Fi;T:,li.lh Phelps. Slu- .:;.,! '.;;.^ 
years, ar 

'rr-. for r 



^uri:."", till oc jCj-i.- : 
Of his seven clr 



'igust 7, 1743, married 

July 12, 1745; Timothy, 

j.iii 15, .; '.jril, 1809; Abigail, born 

14, 1749, I. cember 29, 1768, Danical 

of Walthauj, iCushman, born September 4, 

Captain Timothy Wellington, son of Tim- 
;■. born April 15, 1747, died April, 1809. Hv- 

lumber of •:" v,i ,,:. PnrLf-r'c .-•ir.n-m^- :i?i.l ..■■■ 

I to Lex 
. prisoner 
■ paroled, hiu m: 
;icd his compsuy a. 
i Hannah W. AiboU, ilay 1, i77a. 
I NehemJah V.'clhngton, son of Timoth', 
ill January, i, 1780, and was t'. 
"al Fred W. Welii igton. He 
^' 'y 16, 1S05, a daughter of j.^.r.,.,„ . ^.„ . . 
He died !\Iay 11, 1857. He ser\-td 
italive, 1836-38, assessor. !?ao. v.nl ?-- 
ii'. They had nine clu 
March 2, 1806, died O 
rn January 15, 1807 ; J 
■er 17, 1809, married Sr. 
iy W., born July 4. iSj . 
~; paragraph; Sullivan, ' 
. juiia.s Clarke, born Xovitiu ■ 
;. October 17, 1839, Harriet Boswori 
:o; Horatio, born Septerti ■ 1 < i.-' - 
ctmber 16, 1841, Mary '■ 
in Jime 27, 1819,- marr 
a; Joseph A., born June 12, .iiii. uiariicd 
. Smith. 
,,V11) Timothy W. W • . 

j h (6), was born July 4. 
Sian Ray, November 4. 1035, cy wnom ne nad 



seven children, 


ffnir of whom are n? f 


ward W 




war of 




the T 




teers. 


1 


MaSS:n:irMrLin 


•-.d-.ailN, -.i-l \ '.ru in Li.-. . w iii_\ ir, Li-C 


Potomac, bin 


on accoant of failing health was 


obliged to '• ■ 


;.vn rr:.T,V W Iftru X'oveniber 13, 


1842. He .; 


-anie com- 


pany, same 


M- brother 


Edward; v. 


iment 


at Newberi 


.1 the 




.;i itoj. ' - 11 -\pril IJ, 1847, 


i\ 


11 the V' : Massachusetts 


a; 

S^...,,u 


! 1 


prisoner at 




j\n,k'rsonvii! : 


■ ■ :-i 



Charles, a twin brc 
uy, serving fifteen 
lit at New Orleans. 
1 dif-d April 28, 1,^47. 



tlisied in 
■ Admiral 
of these 
ilton mar- 
Tufts 
. born 



■ct of 



who died September 16, 1871, 
hri.crht tjirl of fourteen ye^r?. 
■1 moved ' 
iig of the 

.rt m susiain-.ni,' me 
^ ur sons to the front. 

• '- --• 'Til at Wor- 
th he sup- 
i,... ., ,, . , 1 favors to 

more be represented 

the tv. L * in the legis- 

lature. The Worcester .- iquity has 

many valuable war Telic? Welling- 

ton. He died at A'- 
gust 26, 1884, aged .s- 
has since died at Worc-stcr, 
(VIH) General Fred W. \' 

this memoir, son of Timothy i ,. 

31, 1851, in Shirley, Massachusetts. : 
„„„r,o,i to Worcester in 1855. Fred W. a 

^ of Worcester, also studied two years in 
r and Germany. Handed down from ancestry, 
his military likings were strong, and in his youth 
he was a drummer boy from 1861 to 1865 for the 
1 state guard. In 1868 he took a position in the 
:;-st National Bank of Worcester as a bookkeeper, 
remaining until August, 1870, and from that date 
to 1871 was in charge of the coal yard at South- 
bridge stre-' '.. 'n,.„fr to T. W. Wellington & 
Company. year was spent in the 

sunny \r:ur] n April, 1872, he returned 

and en ip with T. W. Wellington 

& Con: 1 he was the junior mem- 

jjer c! ale and retail coal busi- 

ness, lat line ' until May, 1874. 

At that !r ' ' ' '*' ■"■'■ 

Rogers an.. 
m name 
,: became 
...ime "f '' 

ing. it w 
■n lca??i' 
corner ot 
engaged in 

the firm nam.; .j1 Ired \\ . \\ 
and for thirty (.10) years he ha 
in 1880 he purchased the preseia lu^ai.y.i. 



pany, 
that Ge 



a:ul 
ander 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



389 



. and Addie Buck, was born in Worcester, August 
I, 1885, married, Maj- 17, 1905, Jessie Evilyn llub- 
ftrd, of Holden. 

WELLINGTON FAMILY. Fred W. Welling- 
ju, of Worcester, comes of the Wellington family, 
eaded by Roger Wellington, a planter, born about 
609, and became one of the early proprietors of 
,'atertown, Massachusetts. He removed from Bos- 
m to that place. He has a record at Watertown 
: 1642. He was admitted as a freeman in i6go. 
!■ married Mary, eldest daughter of Dr. Richard, 
i Charlestown. He died March 11, 1698. His will 
icnlions- sons : John, Benjamin, Oliver, Palgrave. 
To take up the genealogical line of the family 
a Roger, the planter, born 1609, be known as Roger 
VcUington (l). 

(II) Benjamin Wellington, son of Roger (i), 
,as admitted as a freeman, 1677, and in 1671 was 
larried to Elizabeth Sweetman. He died January 
, 1710. 

(HI) Benjamin Wellington, son of Benjamin 
2), was born January 21, 1676, died at Lexington, 
vjvember 15, 173S. He married Lydia Brown, and 
ettled in Lexington, Massachusetts, where they 
\cre admitted to the church, June 10, 1705. She 
llied May 13, 171 1, and he married (second), De- 
;ember 25, 1712, Elizabeth Phelps. She died Jan- 
lary 7, 1730, aged fifty-four years, and he then mar- 
'■jed Mary Whitney. He was, for many years one 
i)f the most popular men of the town, having been 
lilected as assessor, serving sixteen years; town clerk, 
'ifteen years; treasurer, three years; and represent- 
[itive, three years. Of his seven children one was : 
1 (IV) Timothy Wellington, son of Benjamin (3), 
Jwas born July 27, 1719, and died previous to 1760. 
JHe married Rebecca Stone, born January 22, 1721, 
ijlaughter of Jonathan and Chary (Adams) Stone, 
JDf Lexington, Massachusetts. They have five chil- 
dren: Benjamin, born August 7, 1743, married 
Martha Ball; Chary, born July 12, 1745; Timothy, 
born April 15, 1747, died April, iSog ; Abigail, born 
March 14, 1749, married, December 29, 1768, Danieal 
Cotting, of Waltham ; Rushman, born September 4, 

1751- 

(V) Captain Timothy Wellington, son of Tim- 
othy (4), born April 15, 1747, died April, 1809. H= 
was a member of Captain Parker's company, and on 
the way to Lexington was taken prisoner, being 
the first prisoner taken in the revolutionary war. 
He was paroled, but he stole through the woods 
and joined his company and fought that day. He 
married Hannah W. Abbott, May I, 1776. 

(VI) Nehemiah Wellington, son of Timothy (5), 
was born January i, 1780, and was the grandfather 

:of General Fred W. Wellington. He married Nancy 
;• Stearns, May iti, 1805, a daughter of Joshua Stearns, 
l|of Waltham. He died May 11, 1857. He served 
fas a representative, 1836-38, assessor, 1840, and se- 
' lectman, 1841. They had nine children : Anna 
I Eliza, born March 2, 1806, died October 3, 1822 ; 
> Augustus, born January 15, 1807; Hannah Maria, 
I born November 17, i8og, married Samuel Bridge, in 
I 183s; Timothy W., born July 4, 181 1, mentioned in 
the following paragraph ; Sullivan, born November 
! 8, 1813; Jonas Clarke, born November 30, 1815, 
! married, October 17, 1839. Harriet Bosworth, of 
Attleboro; Horatio, born September 6, 1817, mar- 
ried, December 16. 1841, Mary Bowman Tell ; Avis 
M., born June 27, 1819, married Emory Abbott 
Mulliken ; Joseph A., born June 12, 1812, married 
Ellen A. Smith. 

(VII) Timothy W. Wellington, son of Nehe- 
miah (6), was born July 4, 1811. He married (first) 
Susan Ray, November 4, 1S35, by whom he hafl 



seven children, four of whom are as follows: Ed- 
ward W., born September 20, 1840. In the civil war or 
war of the rebellion ho enlisted in 1861 as a private in 
the Twenty-fifth Regiment, Massachusetts Volun- 
teers, was promoted to lieutenant in the Second 
JMassachusetts Cavalry, served in the Army of the 
Potomac, but on account of failing health was 
obliged to resign. Frank W., born November 13, 
1842. He also enlisted as a private in the same com- 
pany, same regiment, same date as did his brother 
lulward ; was detailed to the commissary department 
at Newbernc, North Carolina, and served until the 
close of the war in 1865. George, born April 12, 1847, 
enlisted (first) in the Forty-second Massachusetts 
Regiment of Infantry, when but seventeen years of 
age, and went to New Orleans, and (second) in the 
Second JMassachusetts Heavy Artillery, was taken 
prisoner at Plymouth, North Carolina, and sent to 
Andersonville prison, where he died the following 
year. Charles, a twin brother of George, elisted in 
the navy, serving fifteen months under Admiral 
Farragut at New Orleans. The mother of these 
children died April 28, 1847. Mr. Wellington mar- 
ried (second), September 5, 1848, Augusta Tufts 
Fiske, daughter of Samuel and Adclia L. Fiske, born 
December 31, 1S22, died at Worcester April 2. 1906, 
being over eighty-three years of age. By this mar- 
riage two children were born : Fred W., and 
Delia Maria, who died September 18, 1871, 
being then a bright girl of fourteen years. 
In 185s Timothy W. Wellington moved to Worces- 
ter from Shirley. At the opening of the war of the 
rebellion he took an active pan in sustaining the 
Union, in addition to sending four sons to the front. 
He provided at his own expense a hospital at Wor- 
cester for sick and disabled soldiers, which he sup- 
ported about five months and dispensed favors to 
more than sixty soldiers. In 1864 he represented 
the twenty-seventh Worcester district in the legis- 
lature. The Worcester Society of Antiquity has 
many valuable war relics given it by Mr. Welling- 
ton. He died at Alburgh Springs, Vermont, Au- 
gust 26, 1884, aged seventy-three years. His widow 
has since died at Worcester, Massachusetts. 

(VIII) General Fred W. Wellington, subject of 
this memoir, son of Timothy (7), was born May 
31, 1851, in Shirley, Massachusetts. The family 
moved to Worcester in 1855. Fred W. attended the 
schools of Worcester, also studied two years in 
France and Germany. Handed down from ancestry, 
his military likings were strong, and in his youth 
he was a drummer boy from 1861 to 1865 for the 
old state guard. In 1868 he took a position in the 
First National Bank of Worcester as a bookkeeper, 
remaining until August, 1870, and from that date 
to 1871 was in charge of the coal yard at South- 
bridge street, belonging to T. W. Wellington & 
Company. The following year was spent in the 
sunny land of California. In April, 1872, he returned 
and entered into partnership with T. W. Wellington 
& Company, of which firm he was the junior mem- 
ber, conducting a wholesale and retail coal busi- 
ness. He continued in that line until May, 1874. 
At that time he associated himself with James S. 
Rogers and .\rthur A. Goodell, coal merchants, the 
firm name being J. S. Rogers & Company; in 1876 
he became a member of the firm and in 1877 the 
name of the lirm changed to A. A. Goodell & Com- 
pany Mr. Rogers retiring. It was on January I, 1878, 
that General Wellington leased the coal yard at the 
corner of Canterbury and Hammond streets and 
engaged in the wholesale and retail coal trade under 
the firm name of Fred W. Wellington & Company, 
and for thirty (30) years he has been the sole owner. 
In 1880 he purchased the present location, corner of 



39° 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



I 



Soutlibridgc and Hammond streets, more than twen- 
ty-nine (29) years, where he has conducted the same 
_business. Among other enterprises with which he 
is associated is the American Car Sprinkler Com- 
pany, organized for the purpose of watering streets 
by electric power, and he has been the president of 
this company since its organization in 1894. In 1888 
he in addition to his other business, accepted the 
treasurer's position and became general manager of 
the Arthur C. Wellington Coal Company, where 
he remained until 1896, when the company was 
dissolved. 

It was in 1882 that General Wellington joined 
the militia, being elected and receiving his commis- 
sion as second lieutenant in Battery B, Light Ar- 
tillery, unattached, First Brigade, Massachusetts 
Volunteer Militia. In January, 1883, he was elected 
first lieutenant and soon became recognized as a 
model military man, being very popular with his 
command. September 29, 1884, he was elected cap- 
tain, commanding the battery, in which position he 
served until January I, 1886, when he was appointed 
assistant inspector-general on the staff of Governor 
Ames, with rank of colonel, which position he re- 
signed in 1889. He was re-appointed to the same 
position by Governor Brackett in 1890 and i8gi, 
when he again resigned, and in the latter year he 
enlisted as a private in Battery B, his old command. 
He was re-appointed as colonel to the same place 
on the staff of Governor Greenhalge, 1894, and was 
re-appointed by him in 1895, (the year of the death 
of Governor Greenhalge) and he was then appointed 
by Acting Governor Wolcott, who continued Colonel 
Wellington in the same position by successive annual 
re-appointments up to 1900. In January of that 
year he was appointed commissary general by Gov- 
ernor Crane, with rank of colonel, and in May of 
the same year was given the rank of brigadier- 
general by the legislature. He was continued in 
the position of commissary general by Governor 
Crane during 1901-2 and was re-appointed com- 
missary general by Governor Bates in 1903-04. In 
the latter year he was placed on the retired list at 
his own request with rank of brigadier-general. The 
Wellington Rifles, Company H, Second Regiment of 
Infantry, Massachusetts Volunteer Militia, was 
named in honor of General Wellington. 

Very naturally such a gentleman finds his place 
of prominence in the civic societies. Among such 
connections it may be stated that he is a thirty- 
second degree Mason, being a member of the Bos- 
ton Coni^ibtory. He also belongs to the Worcester 
County Commandery, Knights Templar. In 1892 he 
was captain-general of that body. Politically he is 
a Republican, believing that this party best serves 
the interests of the rank and file of the American 
people. He served on the Republican State Central 
Committee in 1887-88-89. and again in 1893-94-95-96. 
and served as a member of the executive committee 
from 1887 to 1896. 

General Wellington married, September 4, 1883, 
Lydia A., widow of General Arthur A. Goodell, of 
the Thirty-sixth Massachusetts Regiment, war of 
the rebellion. 

PLINY MOORE. John Moore (i), of Sudbury, 
Massachusetts, was the first ancestor of Pliny Moore 
and probably hundreds of other Worcester men 
and women. Moore was a proprietor as early as 
1640. He was a farmer. His eldest son, John, was 
also a proprietor of that town, but later made his 
home in Lancaster and is the progenitor of a large 
branch of the family, some of whom are in the city 
and more in the various towns of the county. The 
wife of John Moore was .Elizabeth, daughter of 



Philemon Whale. The Whale family came fr 
Colchester, England, where a brother died in if 
Elizabeth, wife of Philemon, and mother of U 
Moore, died April 20, 1647. He married (sccor 
Sarah, widow of Thomas Cakebread, and (thii 

Elizabeth , who died November 8, 1688. 

died February 22, 1675, leaving his property to 
widow and the children of his daughter, Elizab 
Moore. John Moore died in 1674, his will bei 
proved April 7, 1674. His wife Elizabeth died Ji 
6, 1664. Their children were : John, of Lancasb 
William; Lydia, born at Sudbury, June 24, 16 
married (first) Samuel Wright, (second) Jan 
Cutler; Jacob, born at Sudbury, April 28,' 1645; . 
seph ; Benjamin; Elizabeth, born January 10, 16 
married Henry Rice ; JNIary, married Daniel Sto 

(II) Jacob Moore, son of John and Elizabf 
Moore (i), was born at Sudbury, April 28. 16.1 
He married Elizabth Loker, May 29, 1667. He » 
a captain in the Indian wars. He died March : 
1715-16. Their children as recorded at Sudbury we* 
Richard, born September 12, 1670, see forwan 
John, born December 13, 1673 ; Elizabeth, born Fr 
ruary 4, 1675; Nathaniel, born June 21, 1678, < 
forward; Hannah, born July 18, 1680; Jacob, bo 
1680. 

(III) Richard Moore, son of Jacob (2) a 
Elizabeth Moore, was born at Sudbury, Septemti 
12, 1670, and resided there, but he seems to have ) 
sided at Cambridge later in life. He married Mi 

. Their children as recorded at Sudbw 

were: Sebella, born September 2, 1694; Collii 
born October 17, 1698, settled in Worcester (S 
Wall's History) ; Isaac, born June 11, 1700, settll 
in Worcester; Abijah, born December 22, I7ff 
Richard, born January 10, 1707-08; Mary, born MS 
IS, 1710; Lydia, baptized March 17, 1712-13. 

(IV) Isaac Moore, son of Richard (3) a 
Mary Moore, was born at Sudbury, June 11. I7( 
He came to Worcester at an early age with 1 
brother Collins, and Nathaniel, his uncle, his fathe 
youngest brother, (See Nathaniel Moore.) He w 
a proprietor in 1726. He married Hannah 



His cbildren, born and recorded in Worcester, wer 

Hannah, born March 31, 1725; Thomas, ]\Iay 

1727; David, October 21, 1729; Jonathan, Janua 

10, 1732; Samuel, May 5, 1736; Phebe, Novemb 
28, 1738; John and Isaac, (twins) March 11. 174 
Mary, May 19, 1743; Sarah, November 9, 174 
Susanna, March 22, 1747. 

(Ill) Nathaniel Moore, son of Jacob (2), w 
born at Sudbury, June 21, 1678. He married Gra 
Rice, a sister of Jonas Rice, of Sudbury, who w 
the first settler of the town of Worcester. X 
thani'el Moore is reckoned as the third settler, C3r 
ing there in 1715, with others of the family. Jam 
and Comfort, and Collins and Isaac, sons of 1 
brother Richard. He was a deacon of the cliiirc 
He died November 25, 1761 ; his wife died 1711.^. 
the age of ninety- four years. (See Sketch of J^n 
Rice.) Children of Nathaniel and Grace JNloo 
have many Worcester descendants. They wen 
Mary, born December 20, 1702: Sarah, July 2, 17O:' 
Henry, January 10, 1705-06; Judith. February I 
1708; Grace, July 7, 1709-10; Elizabeth, June 2 
1711; Eleanor, February 16, 1713; Nathaniel, Jam 
ary 31, 1714-15. 

(V) John Moore, son of Isaac (4) and Hanna 
Moore, was born in Worcester, November 28, 173 
John Moore bought a farm near Tatnuck and bui 
there in 1763 the house which has been occupie 
since by his descendants. He married, Septembi 

11. 1760, Esther Bigelow. who lived on a farm ne; 
(Lake Quinsigamond. Their children were : Wil 
iam, born April 19, 1761 ; Lydia, October 7, 176; 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



391 



Matilda, February 5, 1768; Esther, April 26, 1769; 
Tyler, March 10, 1771 ; Joshua, November 20, 1772; 
Willard, October 12, 1775. 

(VI) Willard Moore, son of John (5) and 
Esther Moore, was born October 12, 1775. in the 
(house at Tatnuck in Worcester. He followed farm- 
ing as a calling, but was an invalid and recluse. 
He married, January i, 1798. Mary Curtis, born 
February 2, 1776. Their children were : Seraph, 
born December 11, 1798; Nathaniel Curtis, October 
II, 1800; Alexander, October 10. 1802; Sybil, Sep- 
tember 25. 1S04: Peregrine Craig. October 23. 1806; 
John Bisco, August 7, 1809; Winthrop, January 25, 
1812; Ephraim Curtis, February 15, 1815; Harrison, 
May 14, 1818. 

(VU) Nathaniel Curtis Moore, son of Willard 
(b) and Mary Curtis jMoore, was born October 11, 
1800, at Tatnuck, Worcester. He lived at home 
until he was fifteen, then came to Worcester and 
worked on a farm. He married, December 20, 
1S25, Sarah Childs, daugliter of Moses. N. Childs, 
of Worcester, who lived in the house built in 1763 
in which Pliny Moore now lives. Nathaniel was 
captain of an independent cavalry company of Wor- 
cester. Sarah (Childs) Moore died January 4, 1832, 
and left three children: i. Calvin, born December 

I, 1826; he and his wife moved to Jacmel, Hayti, 
February, 1865, and both died there a few months 
nfter. 2. Curtis, born May 30, 1828; he died in Hol- 
\i:ike, ^Massachusetts, April 20, 1902. 3. Luther, 
born April 9, 1830 ; he died in Worcester, January 
9. 1901. Nathaniel C. Moore married for his second 
wife, i\Iarch 13, 1833, Patty Moore, daughter of 
Jiuiathan jMoore, of Holden. Their children: I. 
Sarah (now living in Iowa), born December 9, 
1833. 2. Martha, born May 30, 1835, died October 

II, 1835. 3. Infant, born May 20, 1836, died un- 
named. 4. Seraph, born October 25, 1838, resides 
with her brother Pliny in Worcester. 5. Eunice, 
1-irn April 7. 1841, resides in Worcester. 6. Ba.xter, 
burn November 16, 1842, resides in Dudley, Massa- 
chusetts. 7. Pliny, born October 7, 1847. 

(VIII) Pliny Moore, son of Nathaniel Curtis 
(/) and Patty jNIoore, was born at Worcester, Octo- 
ber 7, 1847, and has lived all his life in the house 
where he was born. He is one of the best known 
f.irmers in Worcester. He belongs to Worcester 
<i range. Patrons of Husbandry. For twelve years 
lie was secretary of the Chamberlain District Farm- 
ers' Club, a flourishing and influential organization 
of Worcester farmers, started in 1873. He has 
been chairman for many years and is at present the 
head of the club. He is a member of the Worces- 
ter Agricultural Society. 

(VIII) Baxter Moore, son of Nathaniel C. 
Moore (7), was born at Worcester, November 16, 
1842. Until nineteen he attelided the public schools 
lii' the city and Worcester Academy. Then he 
j 'lined the quartermaster's department of Burnside's 
Division of the Union army, stationed at Camp 
Nelson, in Kentucky ; subsequently he followed va- 
rious occupations, part of the time farming, also 
working at mechanical business for several years 
until the year 1877, when he bought the Walnut 
Grove farm, where he now resides. In 1882 he con- 
ducted the farm at the Highland Military Academy; 
in 1883 and 1884 he was farm manager of the 
Buffurn farm in Oxford, Massachusetts, but since 
1884 he has run the Walnut Grove farm success- 
fully. He is a trustee of the Worcester South 
Agricultural Society, a member of Dudley Grange, 
Patrons of Husbandry, for six years. He was a 
member of the Worcester City Guards in the sixties 
and declined a commission. He is naturally of a 



retiring disposition and Las taken no active part in 
politics. He is a Congregationalist. 

He married. May 5, 1868, Jennie E. Mayers, 
daughter of Francis K. and Harriet (Govven) 
Mayers, of Worcester. Their children were : Her- 
bert P"rancis, born January 22, 1869, died at birth ; 
Harry Lawton, born December 20, 1872, married. 
December 9, 1898, Florence A. Bisco, of Worcester ; 
she died July 8, 1899; Marian Jennie, born Janu- 
ary 21, 1878, married, November 14, 1899, George 
L. Penniman, of Dudley, and their children are: 
George Forest, born October 9, 1900 ; Earl Anson, 
born February 28, 1903, died September 6, 1904 ; 
and Wesley Moore Penniman, born December 7, 
1905. 

CHARLES GREENWOOD is city forester of 
Worcester, which office he has held since 1898, a 
prominent citizen of the city, to which he removed 
February 14, 1875, and since April i, 1886, a resi- 
dent on the Patch farm, one of the oldest in Wor- 
cester, was born in the town of Hubbardston. Wor- 
cester county, Massachusetts, November 21, 1849. 

Moses Greenwood, great-grandfather of Charles 
Greenwood, born in 1752, settled with his two 
brothers — Abijah and Levi — in the town of Holden. 
Moses Greenwood married Betsy Dunlap, March 22, 
177S: she was born in Cherry Valley, New York, 
in 1756. When four years of age she was rescued 
from the Indians, who had murdered her par- 
ents and burned their dwelling. She died Decem- 
ber 9, 1826, aged seventy j-ears. She was survived 
by her husband who passed away at the age of 
seventy-five years, March 8, 1827. Their children 
w-ere : l. Ethan A., born May 27, 1779; married 
I\Irs. Caroline Warren, of Roxbury, who died Janu- 
ary 20, 187s ; he died l\Iay 3, 1856. He graduated 
at Dartmouth College, and studied law for a short 
period of time. He became a successful portrait 
painter, and proprietor of the New England museum 
in Boston. He also painted a large silk banner for 
the military companies of the town. He acquired 
a large property in Boston and Hubbardston. 2. 
Aaron, born March 22, 1781 ; married Eliza Thatcher, 
removed to Pennsylvania and died there in the year 
1807. 3. Sally, born May 6, 1783; married Abel 
Warren, of Northboro, June 4, 1805. Their deaths 
occurred in the town of Northboro. 4. Moses, born 
November 4, 1785 (see forward). 5. Betsey, born 
December 12, 1787; died April 24, 1797. 6. James, 
born September 4, 1792; married (first) Sally Hunt- 
ing, I\Iarch 3, 1814; she died October 17, 1818; mar- 
ried (second) Betsey Rice. May I, 1819, removed 
to Pennsylvania and there died. His children were : 
Lucy, born December i, 1814; died at Harford, 
Pennsylvania ; Stephen, born August 23, 1817, died 
April 22, 1818; and Asa Willard, born November 
4, 1819. 7. Cynthia, born October i, 1794, was 
drowned May 15, 1808. (Cynthia Greenwood with 
two other young people went to the mill-pond of 
Major Greenwood's estate in Hubbardston, built a 
raft and started to cross the ' pond, but the raft 
parted and they were drowned.) 8. Betsey, born 
May 20, 1799 ; married Elisha Whittemore. 

Moses Greenwood, grandfather of Charles Green- 
wood, was born in Hubbardston, Massachusetts, 
November 4, 1785 ; died September 26, 1828. He 
was a prosperous farmer, and owned a sawmill, 
where he manufactured lumber. On January 9, 1806, 
he was married to Polly Brown, born in Hubbards- 
ton, May 16, 1780; died January 14, 1859. Their 
children were: i. Lyman, born June 13, 1806: mar- 
ried Augusta Marean, November 19, 1829, and died 
October 5, 1880. Their children were : Milo, born 



392 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



March 4, iSji; removed Soutli, and died in the war 
of the rebellion ; IMoses, born October 9, 1S32 ; mar- 
ried Adelaide Wright, January i, 1857; was the 
father of one child, Helen Mabel, born July 9, 1862, 
and resided in Cambridge; died in Ashburnham, 
Massachusetts, in 1904; Ann Elizabeth, born Septem- 
ber 16, i8j4, married Lyman Woodward ; Joseph 
L., born June 10, 1836; removed to Abington; Asa 
Morrill, born December 22, 1839; married Mary 
E. Nichols, April 12, 1865; died in Leominster, 1904; 
Helen A., born May 29, 1843 ; married James H. 
Gleason; Mary Alice, born March 21, 1847; mar- 
ried Thomas B. Grimes; Frank B., born November 
25, 1851. 2. Moses, born May 23, 1808; married 
Adeline Ayers, of North Brookfield, resides in 
Louisiana. 3. Aaron (see forward). 4. Cynthia, 
born February 20, 1812, married William Joslin, a 
farmer of Ilubhardston. She died when about 
seventy years of age, leaving three daughters and 
two sons. 

Aaron Greenwood, father of Charles' Green- 
wood, was born May 23, 1808, in Hubbardston, 
Massachusetts. He was for many years a selectman 
of Hubbardston, and for one year represented 
that town and Templeton in the general court. He 
removed to Worcester a short time prior to his death, 
August 3, 1878. On April 14, 1831, he married Ade- 
line Rice, a native of Hubbardston, daughter of 
William and Rebecca (Allen) Rice, the former 
named having been born May 17, 17S8, died Novem- 
ber 13, 1831, and the latter born in 1790, died when 
eighty-three years of age. Mrs. Adeline Green- 
wood died in 1883. She was the mother of nine 
children, as follows: i. Cella Jane, born February 
28, 1832 ; married Lorenzo Barnes. 2. Sarah Re- 
becca, born January 5, 1834; married William H. 
Earle. 3. Lucy Agnes, born January 31, 1836; died 
April 17, 1843. 4. Charlotte, born May 15, 1838; 
married George P. Earle. 5. Aaron Holbert, born 
January 21, 1841, enlisted June 29, 1861, Company 
D, Thirteenth Massachusetts Regiment, wounded at 
Antietam, September 17, 1862; discharged February 
14, 1863 ; died at Alexandria, Virginia, soon after- 
ward. 6. George, born May 11, 1843; enlisted Aug- 
ust 7, 1862, Company I, Twenty-fifth Massachusetts 
Regiment ; died of wounds received at Point of 
Rocks, Virginia, May 10, 1864. 7. Lucy Addie, 
born April 3, 1845; married William H. Earle, (sec- 
ond wife). 8. Chester, born June 22, 1847. 9. 
Charles, born November 21, 1849, (of whom later). 

Charles Greenwood attended the public schools 
regularly until fourteen years of age, continuing 
thereafter during the winters for several years. At 
the age of twenty-two he took up his residence in 
Fitchburg, and there gained his first experience in 
market gardening as a means of livelihood, con- 
tinuing that occupation for two and a half years. On 
February 14, 1875, he removed to Worcester and, in 
1886, purchased the Patch farm, consisting of one 
hundred and four acres, but subsequently disposed 
of all but fifteen acres, on which he resides. He 
was a member of the Worcester common council 
for two years, and in the spring of 1898 was ap- 
pointed to his present position of city forester by 
the board of park commissioners. He is a Repub- 
lican in politics. He was for two years master, and 
is now (1906) treasurer, for a term of seven years, 
to Worcester Grange. He married, December 10, 
1873, Ella E. Grimes, daughter of Joseph and 
Augusta (Maynard) Grimes, and their children are: 
Burt W., born March 18, 1881 ; graduated from the 
Worcester high school in 1900 ; and from Harvard 
University in 1904. He is now connected with the 
Worcester Trust Company, and resides in the fam- 
ily homestead. Harold J., born May 7, 1884, studied 



designing, in the Eric Pape school of art, Boston, 
where he won high honors, being a prize winner 
in the competition of 1905, and a student of general 
artistic ability. He resides at home. Mrs. Green- 
wood is a member of the Union Congregational 
Church. 

Joseph Griines, father of Mrs. Greenwood, con- 
ducted a farm for a number of years, and also was 
employed in a chair factory at Gardner. He died 
in 1894, aged seventy-four years. His wife, Augusta 
(Maynard) Grimes, was a native of Sterling, and 
died in 1899, at the age ot seventy-five years. They 
were the parents of eight children, one son, Fred- 
erick W. Grimes, a resident of Jamaica Plains, and 
seven daughters, all of whom attained years of ma- 
turity. 

JAMES PRESCOTT HAMILTON. John 
Hamilton, (i), the immigrant ancestor of James 
Prescott Hamilton, president of the Worcester Na- 
tional Bank, was born in England or Scotland. 
The name was frequently spelt Hambleton on the 
early records. The first record of John Hamilton 
is found in Charlestown, Massachusetts, in 1658. 
He was then owner of four acres of woodland and) 
three of commons. He removed to Concord, Massa-. 
chusetts, before 1667, and in 1671 is said to have, 
removed to Marlborough, but King Philip's war in 
1675 caused the settlers there to abandon their homes 
and he probably removed to some town near Boston. 
Indeed, his son Joseph seems to have been an inn- 
keeper in Boston later. His wife's name is spelt 
Christian in the Concord records. Their children: 
John, see forward; Joseph, born at Concord, Jan- 
uary 9, 1671. 

(II) John Hamilton, son of John Hamilton 
(l), was born in Concord, Massachusetts, March i, 
1667-68. He was maltster by trade. He settled in 
Brookfield about 1700. He sold his house, barn 
and land at Concord, January 25, 1702, after mov- 
ing to Brookfield. It was not until Alarch 18, 1708, 
that he sold the homestead at Concord. The pur- 
chaser was Obadiah Wheeler. He had a grant of 
land at Brookfield, November, 1701, comprising fifty 
acres of upland, formerly of James Hosmer, on the 
county road east of Joseph Bannister's land. He 
had a special grant of land from the town of Brook- 
field to encourage him to set up his trade as maltster 

there. He married (first) Sarah ; (second) 

Hannah . Two of his children were born at 

Concord. Children : Joseph, born at Concord, 
September 5, 1697, resided at Brookfield ; married 

Sarah ; John, see forward; Hannah, married, 

January 8, 1724, William Ayres ; Dorothy, born 
December 4, 1725, married Josiah Wood; Jonah; 
Nathan ; Amos. 

(III) John Hamilton, son of John Hamilton 
(2), was born in Concord, Massachusetts, August 
26, 1699. He resided in Brookfield. He married, 
January 8, 1725, Mary Wheeler. Their children: 
Reuben, born November 6, 1726; John, December 
18, 1728, removed to Palmer, Massachusetts; Levi, 
December 25, 1730; Hannah, December 10, 1733, 
married, March 11, 1756, Natlianiel Wolcott ; Silas, 
February 10, 1736, removed to Whitingham, Ver- 
mont; Mary, November 4, 1739, married Good- 
rich, of Fladley, Massachusetts; Mercy, June II, 

1743- 

(IV) Reuben Hamilton, son of John Hamilton 
(3), born November 6, 1726, was for many years a 
deacon of the second precinct church. Brookfield. 
He removed to Worcester, where he died in 1790. 
The administrator's bond is dated July 14, 1790. 
His son Asa settled the estate. Deacon Reuben 
Hamilton married, April, 1756, Lucrctia Hubbard, 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



393 



if Brookfield. She married (second) Captain Jon- 
itlian Fay, of Westboroiigh, Massachusetts, O"- 
cntions dated March 30, 1798) and she died in 1805. 
Children of Reuben and Lucretia HaniiUon : I. 
ieubcn, born April 13, 1757, married, March 9, 
■780, Elizabeth Woodbury, of Leverett, Massachu- 
setts; resided in Dublin, New Hampshire, and 
Canada. 2. Lucretia, bora October 23, 1758, married, 
November 22, 1778, Joseph Bartlett, of Hrookfield. 
i. Hannah, born May 30, 1760, married, January 8, 
783, Elijah Allen ; removed to Craftsbury, Ver- 
nont. Silas, born August 16, 1762, married and 
noved to Hanover, Massachusetts; sailed from Bos- 
on and was never heard of. 5. Asa, see forward. 
ij. Lydia, born June i, 1767, died October 23, 1768. 
1. Mary, born August 26, 1768, married Byticld 
Pierce, of Worcester; removed to Craftsbury, Ver- 
nont. 8. Dr. Samuel, born November 5, 1770, died 
,;847; married, October 23, 1793, Aleliitable Bemis, 
)f Worcester; went to Dublin, New Hampshire; 
,vas clerk of the Social Library, 1794, represcnta- 
ive in the legislature, selectman, prosperous mer- 
diant, removed to Canandaigua and Rochester, New 
'iork; children — i. Ashley, born February 24, 1794, 
Inarried Clarissa Chamberlain ; ii Eliza, born Au- 
gust 9, 1796, removed to Rochester, New York, wife 
l)f Silas Ball; hi. Rebecca, born June 16, 1798; iv. 
rlarriet, born August 3, 1800; v. Mary, born No- 
.-ember 7, 1802. g. Dorothy, born May 23, 1772, 
iiarried, 1796, Asahel W'ashburn, of Leicester ; she 
'lied May, 1849. 10. Luke, born March 29, 1775. 
;i. Betsey, born March 27, 1778, married Reuben 
Muzzy, of Dublin, removed to Athens, Pennsyl- 
/ania. 12. Eli, born April 19, 1781, married Mary 
i(Voodward, resided in Dublin ; died March 24, 1852. 
'. (V) Asa Hamilton, son of- Reuben Hamilton 
^4), was born in Brookfield, Massachusetts, Novtm- 
jer 28, 1763. He made his home in Worcester be- 
iore he was of age, and in 1793 opened a tavern 
3n the old Post road from Worcester to Lancaster, 
;hrce miles from Worcester common, in a house 
jccupied later by Solomon Parsons, and conducted 
t until 1800, when he bought a store on the west 
iide of Main street. He carried on this store, deal- 
ing chiefly in dry goods, the remainder of his days. 
iHe is credited with a month and a third service 
in the revolution for the town of Brookfield. He 
■cmained in the militia after the war and rose to 
he rank of captain. He was admitted to the Wor- 
:ester Fire Society, July S, 1802. He was promi- 
iient in public afifairs and held many offices of trust 
and responsibility. At the time of his death he 
ivas town treasurer. In personal appearance he was 
straight and erect, a fine-looking gentleman, very 
neat and polite, and a great favorite with the 
tv'omen who bought goods at his store. He died 
suddenly at his residence on Main street, Decem- 
jer 14, 1831. He married, August 28, 1788, Eliza- 
beth Blair, who died July 17, 1834. Their chil- 
dren : Sewall, see forward ; Charles Augustus, see 
iorward. 

(VI) Sewall Hamilton, son of Asa Hamilton 
KS), was born in Worcester,- March I, 1789, mar- 
ried, October 11, 1810, Nancy Howard Fullerton. 
He died December 10, 1824, in his thirty-sixth year. 
Their children: l. Mary Lucretia, born December 
;26, 1810. 2. Alexander Sewall (changed to Ed- 
Iward), see forward. 3. Elizabeth Blair, born Sep- 
tember 12, 1814. married, October 23, 1839, William 
Coe, who died August 24, 1850, leaving five chil- 
dren. 4. Martha Sanders, born May 31, 1816, mar- 
ried, November 11, 1839, Hiram Gould; he died 
October 27, 1846, leaving children — i. Martha Cor- 
nelia Gould, born August 19, 1840, married W. H. 
Balcom; ii. Sarah Goddard Gould, born August 4, 



1846, married, December 6, 1866, Captain John N. 
Coe and they had Arthur Hamilton Coe, born July 
14, 1867. 5. George Augustus, born March 25, 1823; 
married, April 2, 1845, Elizabeth M. Bradley, daugh- 
ter of Osgood Bradley, the car manufacturer ; re- 
sided in St. Paul, Minnesota, and had — i. Fanny S. 
B., born 1847; ii. Edward F'uUerton, born Novem- 
ber, 185S. 

(VI) Charles Augustus Hamilton, son of Asa 
Hamilton (5), was born in Worcester, May 11, 
1805, died there October 30, 1879. He received his 
education in the common schools of his native town, 
beginning his business career as clerk in the book 
store of George A. Trumbull, in 1821. In 1823 
was clerk in a Boston store, the following years in 
his father's store in Worcester, and in 1826 went 
into partnership with his "father. In 1829 he was 
in the office of the clerk of courts of Worcester 
county, and during the ne.xt two years held various 
public offices, "deputy sheriff, constable, auctioneer, 
collector of taxes, treasurer of the school district, 
assessor of the second parish, and took care of a 
reading room in Paine's Building," to quote from 
his diary. This variety of work was excellent 
preparation for his career as a banker. It gave him 
a thorough knowledge of business, a wide acquaint- 
ance with men, valuable legal training and self- 
confidence. He was made cashier of the (Juinsiga- 
mond Bank when it was organized in 1833. He re- 
signed this position in 1853 to become treasurer of 
the Worcester County Institute for Savings, a po- 
sition he tilled with conspicuous ability and success 
until his death. This bank has from the start held 
the lead among the savings banks of Worcester 
county. 

Mr. Hamilton was the first city clerk of Wor- 
cester. He was town clerk from 1836 until the 
city was organized in 1848. He -resigned as city 
clerk in 1855, a period of twenty years in charge 
of the public records. He was notary public from 
1835 to 1839 and justice of the peace from 1844 
to 1864. He was much attached to his church, the 
second parish, now known as the First Unitarian 
Church, of which he was elected deacon in 1847. 
He was actively engaged in Sunday school work, 
and in 1881 became a life member of the American 
Unitarian Association. At the time of his death 
he was the oldest survivor of the Worcester Light 
Infantry, which he joined in the autumn of 1821. 
He was made corporal in 1822, sergeant and clerk 
in 1824, lieutenant in 1826 and captain in 1828. He 
resigned in 1831. He was first president of the 
Veteran Association of the Light Infantry. 

He married, March 7, 1826, Eliza Abbott Porter, 
daughter of Oliver and Sarah (.Abbott) Porter, of 
Boston. She was born October 29, 1803, and died 
July 8, 1840. He married (second), April 13, 1843. 
Hannah Maria Prescott, born January 18, 181 1, died 
October 26, 1864, daughter of James and Hannah 
(Champney) Prescott. Mr. Hamilton died at Wor- 
cester, October 30, 1879. Cliildren of Charles A. 
and Eliza A. Hamilton: I. Sarah Abbott, born 
March 22, 1827, married, April 10, 1850, William 
Cross, son of William and Sophia A. (Thompson) 
Cross; children — i. Eliza Hamilton Cross, born Jan- 
uary 26, 1851, died May 5, 1865; ii. Mary Stacy 
Cross, born April 17, 1854. died July 27, 1855. 2. 
Frances Towne, born July 25, 1828, married, Octo- 
ber 4, 1853, Joseph irumbuU, of Worcester, son of 
George A. and Louisa (Clapp) Trumbull; she died 
January 25, 1859; children— i. Helen Carnes Trum- 
bull, born December 27, 1856; ii. Frances Hamilton 
Trumbull, born January 17, 1859, died in Philadel- 
phia, March 28, 1885. 3- Calvin Willard, born Jan- 
uary 12, 1833, see sketch elsewhere in this work. 



SV4 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



'I 



Children of Charles A. and Hannah M. Hamilton : 
4. James Prescott, see forward. 5. Edward Bangs, 
born April 13, 1846, died November 2, 1897. 

(VII) Edward Hamilton, son of Sewall Ham- 
ilton (6), was born in Worcester, January 6, 1812. 
His name was originally Alexander Sewall, but 
was changed after his marriage by legal process to 
Edward. He was a teacher of music by profession 
and prominent in musical circles. He was assist- 
ant treasurer of the Worcester County Institution 
for Savings. He married, June 5, 1841, Mary Coe, 
who died August 4, 1863, daughter of John Coe, 
of Worcester. He married (second), April 15, 
1865, Sarah Cornelia Moore Perkins, of Holliston, 
Massachusetts. He died in Worcester, .January 2, 
1870. The only child of Edward and Sarah C. 
Hamilton was: George' Howard, born December 
14, 1868. 

(VII) James Prescott Hamilton, son of Charles 
Augustus Hamilton (6), was born in Worcester, 
March 10, 1844. After receiving the education af- 
forded by the common and high schools of his 
native city, at the age of seventeen, he began his 
career as clerk in the Worcester County Institution 
for Savings, of which his father was treasureiv 
He remained in this bank for several years, and ac- 
quired an excellent training for his profession. In 
January, 1865, he entered the National Park Bank 
of New York city, and during the next three years 
tilled several important positions in the several de- 
partments of this great institution. He left New 
York in May, 1868, to accept the position of assist- 
ant cashier of the Worcester National Bank, and his 
life since that time has been identified with the 
banking interests of his native city. He was im- 
mediately promoted to the position of cashier. The 
"Old Worcester Bank" (as his bank is familiarly 
known) is the oldest in the city, having rounded 
out a century of existence in 1904. It is and always 
has been the largest bank in the city, unless trust 
companies be included in the comparison. In the 
past thirty-seven years during which he has been 
cashier, the business has grown steadily. In Janu- 
ary, 1904, Mr. Hamilton was given increased re- 
sponsibility, being promoted to the vice-presidency 
of the bank. The assistant cashier, Samuel D. Spurr, 
was made cashier, and Frederick M. Hedden as- 
sistant cashier, to fill the vacancies caused by his 
promotion. The president until his death in 1905 
was Stephen Salisbury, whose father, also Stephen 
Salisbury was president until his death. In 1906 
Mr. Hamilton was elected president of the bank. 
An idea of the present business of the institution 
may be obtained form the exhibit of deposits, 
which in March 1905, amounted to $3,356,381.12. 
The capital stock is $250,000. The growth of the 
business has obliged the bank to plan for larger 
quarters, and the alterations are now (1906) being 
made in the bank building on Foster street. Mr. 
Hamilton is one oi three executors of Mr. Salis- 
bury's will. 

Mr. Hamilton is also treasurer of the Worcester 
Gas Light Company, trustee of the People's Sav- 
ings Bank, and was formerly vice-president until 
the enactment of the present law forbidding national 
bank officers holding executive offices in savings 
banks. He is also auditor of the State Mutual Life 
Assurance Company, and president of the Worcester 
Clearing House Association. He is executor of 
the will of Josiah H. Slarke. He is also auditor of 
Clark University, and was an executor of the will 
of Jonas G. Clark, its founder, and later of his 
widow's estate. Under Mr. Clark's will Mr. Ham- 
ilton became custodian of certain funds, and the 
following clause from the will explains the duty he 



had to perform, and indirectly testifies to the co 
fidence reposed in him by the distinguish 
philanthropist ; 

"I think it proper to provide and do accordini. 
direct my executors to appoint Air. James P. Hai 
ilton one of their number, as treasurer, to hold a 
have charge of such of the funds as are direct 
to be kept separate from the general endowme 
fund of the University for the space of five yea 
after the probate of this instrument, in order tl 
my purpose to keep these funds intact and indepen 
ent of said general fund may not fail." 

Mr. Hamilton was one of the forty charter mei 
bers of the Worcester Art Museum. He is a mei 
ber of the Worcester Club, the Quinsigamond Be 
Club, the Tatnuck Country Club, the Worcest 
Fire Society, and was a member of the Commo 
wealth Club. He is a regular attendant of t 
First Unitarian Church, has served as its treasur^i 
and is now chairman of its parish committee, 
politics he is a Republican. 

Mr. Hamilton married, September 24, 1874, Sar 
Antoinette, daughter of George A. and Sarah 
(Hadvven) Kimball. Their children are: i. Edi 
born October 23, 1875, graduated at Radcliffe, I9( 
taught school at St. Agnes, Albany, same year. 
Charles Augustus, born July 15, 1877, gradual 
Harvard University, 1899, entered the law offices 
Charles M. Thayer, and was admitted to the t 
1902, and has since practiced, having offices wi 
Mr. Thayer. 3. Mary, born March 12, 1882, grad 
ated Smith College, 1904. 

(VII) Calvin Willard Hamilton, son of Chari 
Augustus (6), was born in Worcester. January 1 
1833, and was educated there in the public a 
high schools. He began his mercantile career 
Boston as clerk in a dry goods establishment a 
learned the business there. He started in busirif 
in Worcester in the firm of Jenkins, Hamilton 
Company, dry goods dealers, succeeding B. L. Hi 
don, in the store on Main street between VValr 
and Maple street. During the civil war he enter 
partnership with Charles Fox, his wife's broth 
under the firm name of C. W. Hamilton & Co 
pany, and manufactured army cloth in the old F 
mills, Worcester. After this firm was dissolved i\ 
Hamilton started in the manufacture of tapes a 
narrow fabrics, and continued for many years w 
marked success. The business was located at 
Water street and went under the name of Hamilt 
Flock Company. He manufactured all kinds 
flocks, woolen yarns, etc., and was a dealer in shi 
and gig flocks, woolen waste, etc. After giving 
his manufacturing business about 1885 he was cc 
nected with George Upton, glue manufacturer 
Boston, as traveling salesman, and later with I 
American Glue Company in same business up 
the time of his death, October 3, 1901 

JNIr. Hamilton had few interests outside his ho 
and business. He was a member of the First U 
tarian church and a Republican in politics. He v 
of a social nature and made friends readily, 
won the confidence as well as the esteem of 
friends. He made his home at 37 Oak aven 
Worcester, opposite the residence of Senator Ht 
who counted him as one of his friends and neif 
bors. His family are living there at present. 1 
house is filled with antique furniture and treasu 
that have been inherited in the family. 

Mr. Hamilton married, October 27, 1859, El 
Fox, born March 23, 1834. (See Fox family ske 
with Dr. L. Fox Woodward's sketch.) She 
sides at the homestead, S7 Oak avenue. The 
child of Calvin W. and Eliza Hamilton was Far 
JNIaria, born at Worcester, March 9, 1865, educa 




\. S^U^^^^vAi5V\/ 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



395 



n private schools and at tlic Worcester State Nor- 
,nal school, and is now teacher of l<indergarten at 
|he EHzabeth street scliool, Worcester. 

j COLONEL THEODORE S. JOHNSON, fornr.r 
rial justice for hilackstone, and at present and for 
many years previous clerk of the courts of Worcester 
;ounty, Massachusetts, is a man whose high ideals 
ind executive ability render him in an eminent de- 
cree an interesting and influential citizen in the com- 
nunity in which he lives. He traces his descent 
Jxick through a number of generations. 

(I) Solomon Johnson, the founder of the 
Johnson family in America, came to this country 
jrior to 1639, for in that year he was one of the 
proprietors of and settled in Sudbury, Massachu- 
setts. He brought with him his wife and several 
rhildren. It appears from the records of Watertown, 
.Massachusetts, which bordered on Sudbury in the 
;arly days, that Solomon was born in 1615, that he 
Was appointed to have charge of the public cow- 
men (pound) near the Sudbury line, March 31, 
1651, and that he continued there until 1660, when 
le removed to Marlboro. He sold land in Sudbury 
in 1653, and was one of the selectmen of Marlboro 
from 1661 to 1666, inclusive, being a leader among 
the pioneers of that town. He was very active in King 
Pliilip's war, as all Marlboro men had to be in 
irder to protect their families and themselves from 
,:he Indians. He had some difliculty with the town 
Df Watertown about the payment of church rates 
jfter his removal to Marlboro, and the selectmen 
ti Watertown ordered a suit brought to compel him 
ind his son John to pay balance of ministry rates. 
'Solomon Johnson made his will March 28, 1686, 
;ind he died the following year, for his will was 
oroved October 6, 1687. This will makes mention of 
jais children, Nathaniel and John, of his grand- 
sons, the children of Nathaniel, and of his son-in- 
llaw, John Barnes. No mention is made of any 
bther of his descendants living at this time. He 
>vas a tailor by trade, and was also a farmer. Solo- 
mon Johnson w'as married three times. His first 
wife, Elinor, came to this country at the same time 
•as he did. He married (second), about 1650, Han- 

bah , by whom he had three children, and 

jvvho died at Sudbury, June 4, 1685. He married 
i(third), February i, 1686-87, at Watertown, Mass- 
[ichusetts, Hannah Crafts. The record of his chil- 
Jren is as follows : John, born probably in England 
'I635 to 1637, married in Sudbury, !^Iassachusetts. 
'Deborah Ward, 1657, resided at Marlboro ; Na- 
-haniel (twin), born February 3, 1639-40, of whom 
ater; Joseph (twin), born February 3, 1639-40, 
;:iiarried Susannah , at Marlboro, Novem- 
ber 19, 1667, and died in 1668; Johanna, born Feb- 
ruary 16, 1641 ; Mary, born February 23, 1643 ; Caleb, 
oorn February i, 1645, was shot and killed near 
Watertown line by accident, ?ilay 4, 1654; Solomon, 
Dorn 1646, was at Marlboro at the opening of King 
Philip's war, and probably died July 28, 1690. (He 
[rnay have been the Solomon who married Abigail 
joodnow of Sudbury, Massachusetts, June 6, 1716, 
'ind had Hepsebath. born October 12, 1716. and 
lohn, born October 17, 1718, in Sudbury, but it is 
inot likely if he were born as early as some au- 
lihorities think he was) ; Jonathan, born (probably) 
1646, his wife died December 28, 1728, and they had 
■hree children; Samuel, born March 6, 1654; Han- 
lah, born April 27, 1656, married George Parmenter, 
:of Sudbury; Caleb, born October 31, 1658, mar- 
.ried Agnes Bent. July 9. 1684, who died June 4, 
1729; Caleb died December i, 1715. 

(II) Nathaniel Johnson, second son and child of 
Solomon Jonhson (i), was born February 3. 1639 



40, at Sudbury, Massachusetts. He went to Marl- 
boro, Massachusetts, in 1660, and settled there. He 
and his brothers, John and Jonathan, were especially 
active at the time of King Philip's war. In 1675 
he W'as at the meeting when plans were made to 
defend the town. When the town was garrisoned 
about 1711, he was in Captain Kerby's garrison near 
his dwelling house on the road to Southboro. 
The Johnson families may have left the town for 
a short time during these Indian troubles, but in the 
main they remained at their posts. Nathaniel John- 
son died July 24, 1718. He married, November 16, 
1671, Mary Plympton, who died November 27, 1736. 
The children of this marriage were: Joseph, born 
October 6, 1672, married, January 9, 1705, Sarah 
Maynard ; Samuel, born August 28, 1674, died 
1740; Mary, born F'ebruary, 1675; John, of whom 
later ; Joanna, born November 7, 1682 ; Dorothy, 
born April 26, 1685; Jane, born March 22, 1687, 
died 1688; .•\bigail, born 1691, died 1693. 

(III) John Johnson, third son and fourth child 
of Nathaniel (2) and Mary (Plympton) Johnson, 
was born March 24, 1679, at Marlboro, Massachu- 
setts. He was a farmer, and married. February 25, 
1707, Mary Plimpton, who died July 19, 1720. He 
died February 15, 1758. Their children were: 
Abraham, born June 13, 1709; Abigail, born SeptLm- 
ber I, 1711, died February 10, 1760, unmarried; 
Elizabeth, born July 30, 1713, died October 30, 1756, 
unmarried; John, born May 29, 1715. was in the 
F'rench wars in 1756; Mary, born December 8, 1716; 
Natlianiel, of whom sketch follows. 

(IV) Nathaniel Johnson, third son and sixth 
and youngest child of John (3) and Mary (Plymp- 
ton) Johnson, was born at Marlboro, March 18, 1718, 
He resided in Marlboro, but in 1763 moved to Hard- 
wick, Massachusetts, where he died November 3, 
1790. He married, December 31, 1740, Sarah For- 
bush, of Westboro, Massachusetts, and they had 
children as follows: Joel, born October 31, 1743; 
Silas, April 21, 1746; Sarah, July 26, 1748; Stephen, 
June 6, 1751; Catherine, April 25, 1753; Mary, Octo- 
ber IS, 175s; Susanna, July 5, 1758, died .Vpril 16, 
1761; Persis, May 2, 1760; Nathaniel. January 12, 
1762; Aaron, May 10, 1763; Tryphena, September 15, 
1764, married Sylvanus Brimhall, Srptember 14, 1783. 
All the children were born in Marlboro, except the 
youngest, who was born in Hardwick, Massachusetts. 

(V) Silas Johnson, second son and child of 
Nathaniel (4) and Sarah (Forbush) Johnson, was 
born at Marlboro, Massachusetts, April 21, 1746, died 
July 12, 1822. November 27, 1766, he married Pa- 
tience Walker, of Petersham, who died October 18, 
1813. at the age of sixty-nine years. Their children 
were as follows : Silas, of whom a sketch follows ; 
Susanna, born April 15, 1770. 

(VI) Silas Johnson, eldest child and only son 
of Silas (5) and Patience (Walker) Johnson, was 
born November 27, 1767. He married (first), Han- 
nah Nye, December 15, 1785, and after her death he 
married (second), Olia Howard February 24, 1799. 
He died March 19, 1840, and his widow married 
(second), John Peckham, of Petersham, April 20. 
1741. The children of Silas Johnson (6) are as 
follows: Silas Nye, born September 3, 1799, died 
at Dana, Massachusetts, April i, 1879; Alanson, 
born November 9, 1800; Hiram, September 3, 1892; 
Gardner, October 25, 1804; Nehemiah Howard. May 
26. 1807, resides in Illinois, September 21, 1841, 
when he married Eunice Randall; Ranslure, July 
IS, 1809; Theodore Wilder, of whom a sketch fol- 
lows. 

(VII) Theodore Wilder, seventh and youngest 
son and child of Silas (7) and Celia (Howard) 
Johnson, was born June 3, 1820, at Hardwick, Massa- 



396 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



cluisetts. He married, April, 1S42, Emily Sears 
Mellen, of Prescott, Massachusetts. Mrs. Johnson 
died at Worcester, Massachusetts, January 5, 1902. 
She was of Scotch Presbyterian ancestry. Theo- 
dore Wilder Johnson died at Worcester, Massachu- 
setts, January 10, 1890. He and his wife were the 
parents of the following named children. Colonel 
Theodore S., of whom later ; Emily Helen, born at 
Dana, Massachusetts; Charles Rensselaer, born at 
Dana, Massachusetts ; Samuel Howard, born at Dana, 
Massachusetts, died in the same town, March 23, 

I8S7- 

(VHI) Colonel Theodore S. Johnson, eldest 
child of Theodore Wilder (7) and Emily S. (Miller) 
Johnson, was born at Dana, Massachusetts, July i, 
1S43. His youth was spent on the old place in his 
native town. He attended the Dana schools and af- 
ter graduating from the high school went to Wil- 
braham Academy. In 1864 he came to Worcester, 
Massachusetts, to study law. He entered the olBce 
of Dewey & Williams, one of the leading law firms 
of the county. He was admitted to the bar in 1866 
and immediately opened an ofBce and began the 
practice of law at Blackstone, Massachusetts. In 
1867 he was appointed a trial justice for Black- 
stone by Governor Bullock. This office under the 
Massachusetts statutes provides a magistrate for 
large towns similar in jurisdiction to the district 
courts. The trial justice has jurisdiction of minor 
civil causes and criminal cases that are not serious 
enough to go before the grand jury. Colonel John- 
son was the local judge for about four years, when 
he resigned to take the position of clerk of the 
district court in the city of Worcester. Hon. Hart- 
ley Williams, of Dewey & Williams, with whom Mr. • 
Johnson had studied law, was the justice and he 
naturally turne"d to Mr. Johnson as a man having 
the necessary experience, executive ability and dig- 
nity for the office. Mr. Johnson held this office 
for ten years to the entire satisfaction of the mem- 
bers of the bar and other authorities with whom he 
had relations. In the civil and criminal branches of 
a municipal court, in a city as large and cosmo- 
politan as Worcester, there is a natural demand 
for the highest ability on the part of the clerk to 
keep the machinery of the court in good order. The 
high reputation of this court during the time that 
Colonel Johnson was its administrative officer, was 
a test of his ability, and won him promotion to his 
present position as clerk of courts of Worcester 
county. He was elected in November, 1881, and 
re-elected in 1886-91-96 and 1901. He is serving 
his twentieth year and through all this period he 
has given the utmost satisfaction. The details of 
his office are too many and perhaps too technical 
to be enumerated here, and it is difficult to explain 
to others than lawyers what are the elements of 
Mr. Johnson's success and popularity. However, 
the public realizes that he is efficient. The machin- 
ery of the courts at Fitchburg and Worcester al- 
ways runs smoothly ; the records of his office are al- 
ways up to date ; and lawyers go out of their way 
to show their appreciation of the administration 
of Colonel Johnson. Perhaps his tact and courtesy 
have much to do with the success of his depart- 
ment. He never hesitates to accommodate those 
having business with his office, even at considera- 
ble personal sacrifice. At times the duties of his 
position require him to tiirn night into day to keep 
up with the volume of business to be transacted. 
He has chosen an excellent corps of assistants to 
whom he gives much of the credit of the efficiency 
of his office, but, as in all such cases, the credit 
belongs to the chief, because he had the sagacity 



to choose the right persons and the wisdom to keep 
forces well organized and disciplined. 

The county of Worcester has had through all 
its history a reputation for havifig in its clerks of 
court men of high character and pronounced ability. 
The office of clerk of courts requires exact legal 
knowledge almost as extensive as that of the bench 
itself. It re ]uires great personal dignity, modified 
by a proper sense of the fitrtess of things and the 
occasion. It often requires the practical ability to 
cut the Gordian knot of legal red tape to get results. 
If there is one thing more than another that Colonel 
Johnson likes to do it is to have the court get re- 
sults; to solve the problems brought to it and end 
litigation rather than to continue it indefinitely. 
Since the incorporation of the county of Worcester 
in 1731, there have been but eleven different per- 
sons holding this office. It has attracted men who 
have been in congress, and who have held other high 
offices, because of the liberal reward allowed by the 
county and because of the importance and honor 
of the place. Yet it is universally conceded by men 
familiar with the conditions and competent to judge, 
that the present clerk is the most competent as well 
as the most successful. No matter what standard 
may be applied. Colonel Johnson must be deemed 
the best clerk of courts that Worcester county has 
ever had. His success in life must be measured by 
his work as clerk, for that has been his chief oc- 
cupation. 

He has always been interested as a citizen in 
municipal politics, and has at times been very act- 
ive in the Republican organization. He was cap- 
tain and advocate general on the staff of the Third 
Brigade Massachusetts Volunteer Militia from 1874 
to 1876, inclusive. He was appointed in 1S78 by 
Governor Talbot as colonel and aide-de-camp on 
his stafif, whence the title by which he is generally 
known. He represented the city of Worcester on 
the Republican state central committee in 18S1-2-3 
and 1884. In 1883 he was elected director of the 
Quinsigamond National Bank and was an active 
factor in the management of that bank until its 
liquidation. Is at present a director of the Mer- 
chants' National Bank. He has been connected with 
various local corporations as director, and his busi- 
ness ability and common sense have made him par- 
ticularly useful in the companies in which he has 
been an investor. He is also a member of a num- 
ber of social organizations. He married, in April, 
1873, Amanda M. Allen, of Blackstone, jMassa- 
chusetts. 

(VIII) Charles Rensselaer Johnson, second son 
and third child of Theodore Wilder (7) and Emily 
Sears (Miller) Johnson, was born in Dana, Massa- 
chusetts, December 28, 1852. He attended school 
in his native town and in 1865 removed with his 
parents to Worcester, and was graduated from the 
Worcester high school in 1S71. He entered Harvard 
University and graduated from there in 1875. He 
then entered the law office of Rice & Blackmer and 
studied under their personal supervision, being ad- 
mitted to the bar in 1878, and has since practiced 
law in Worcester. His office is in the State Mutual 
building. For many years he shared offices with 
the late David Manning. Mr. Johnson has made 
a special study of divorce, probate and chancery 
cases. He became interested in the public schools 
and for twenty years or more has been the most 
influential figure in the administration of the schools. 
Much of the high reputation of these schools is 
due to the wise judgment and unfailing interest that 
Mr. Johnson has taken as chairman of the board. 
He has been a member of the school board since 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



397 



J77, with the exception of a period from 1879 to 
5g2, and has been zealous at all times for the ad- 
ancement and development of the great public 
phools system of. Worcester. No citizen of this 
bwn has shown a more continuous and unselfish 
nterest in this matter, and Mr. Johnson's long 
pcperience and familiarity with the schools and 
chool buildings, with the conditions of the past 
|S well as of the present, furnish a fund of in- 
ormation that is invaluable to the city and that could 
'Ot be bought for money. It is services like those 
jendered by Mr. Johnson that have made New 
England what it is — an educational model for the 
,orld. 

Mr. Johnson was a member of the Republican 
;ity committee in 1880-81. He has been a master 
<fi chancery since 1882, and is a notary public. He 
3 a member of various fraternal orders and was a 
nember of the supreme council. Royal Arcanum, in 
^899. He is a life member of the Worcester So- 
ciety of Antiquity, and corresponding member of 
l,he Western Reserve Historical Society. He is in- 
terested in local and family history and has written 
various articles on historical subjects. He is also 
,1 member of the state board of charity, having been 
ippointed by Governor Bates in 1904. He repre- 
sented the seventh ward of Worcester in the leg- 
islature in 1898-99, was on the committee on probate 
'and insolvency in the house in 1898, and chairman 
Ipf the committee on constitutional amendments 
[(house chairman) and member of the committee 
bn judiciary in 1899. 

' Mr. Johnson married. August 8, 1882, Mary Mc- 
•Gann, of Maynard, who died at Worcester, Massa- 
.chusetts, December 6, 1887, leaving one daughter, 
'Florence Emily, born at Maynard, July 19, 1883. 
(He married (second), May 29, 1889, Susie Serry, 
lof Davenport, Iowa, and they have two sons : 
Charles Ward, born at Worcester, Massachusetts, 
jMarch 8, 1894; Theodore Howard, born at Wor- 
'cester, Massachusetts, October 24, 1896. 

WILLIAM WATSON McKIBBEN, M. D. The 
McKibben family of America is of Scotch-Irish 
[origin. The progenitor came to Pennsylvania dur- 
[ing the great emigration from 1720 to 1750 from the 
northern province of Ireland, which gave to Penn- 
sylvania its sturdiest and best stock. 
I The variations in spelling the name make it some- 
1 what difficult to trace. The family settled in the 
; counties of Down and Antrim in the province of 
Ulster. Ireland, and are to be found nowhere else 
in the old country. The name is rare in Scotland, 
as at present spelled. The family was Presby- 
terian in religion and intermarried with the other 
Scotch families in Down and Ulster. It is possible 
that a careful research would connect the Pennsyl- 
vania progenitor of the McKibbins or McKibbens 
with the family of Knockhashum, mentioned in the 
genealogy of the family of James Orr, of Bally- 
black, who died in 1627 and whose wife, Janet Mc- 
Clement. died in 1636. The pedigree also mentions 
the McKibbins of Haw. Descendants of the Orr 
family of Scotch-Irish came to New Hampshire 
and Pennsylvania with the early Scotch-Irish set- 
tlers. 

In Pennsylvania Rev. J. McMillan mentions John 
McKibben in his diary under date of 1775, as his 
host, when he preached at Dunlap's creek, prob- 
ably in Washington county. 

William McKibben. son probably of the first 
>ettler of the name, was great-grandfather of Dr. 
VV. W. McKibben. of Worcester, and was born 
probably about 1760 in Pennsylvania. 

James McKibben. Jr., grandfather of Dr. W. W. 



McKibben, of Worcester, was born at Cedar Run 
in what is now Clinton county. Pennsylvania, about 
nine miles southeast of Lockhaven, Pennsylvania, 
about 1800. He married Catherine Lamb, daughter 

of Hugh and (Allison) McManigal. Her 

mother was the daughter of Daniel Allison, and 
was an aunt of United States Senator W. B. Allison. 
She was born June 11, 1807, in Centre county, Perm- 
sylvania, and died September 5, 1855. He died July 
28. 1858. Their children were : Frank Reed, see 
forward ; David A., resides in Leavenworth, Kansas, 
and is president of the Home-Riverside Coal Min- 
ing Company of Leavenworth ; Joseph ; Lucetta ; and 
James A. 

Frank Reed McKibben, father of Dr. W. W. 
McKibben. was born at Caroline, Seneca county, 
Ohio, December 2, 1843. He was the fifth child 
of a family of six children. He received a com- 
mon 'school education, but was largely self educated. 
At the death of his father in 1858 he went to live 
with Henry Isabel, at Plymouth, Ohio, where he 
took up the trade of carriage trimmer. He worked 
with Mr. Isabel also at Mansfield and Shenandoah, 
Ohio, working at his trade until after the civil 
war broke out. 

He enlisted in November, i86r, in Company A, 
Major William AIcLoughlin's Squadron, First Ohio 
Independent Cavalry, which was soon afterward at- 
tached to the famous brigade of General W. T. 
Sherman. The company proceeded from Mansfield 
to the Big Sandy valley in Eastern Kentucky, serv- 
ing under Colonel (afterwards . President) James 
A. Garfield in the campaign against Brigadier-Gen- 
eral Humphrey Marshall, of the Confederate forces. 
Mr. McKibben was in the battle of Kernstown, 
Virginia, March 23, 1862, against Stonewall Jack- 
son. In the summer of 1863 his squadron was trans- 
ferred to Burnside's command in the Army of the 
Potomac, and he was in the battles of Knoxville 
September 3, 1863 ; at Cumberland Gap : Morris- 
town ; Strawberry Plains and in many skirmishes 
and minor engagements. At Smoky Mountain he 
was wounded in the breast and leg and carried back 
to the city of Knoxville in an ambulance, and re- 
mained for many weeks in the hospital. He was later 
transferred to General Sherman's connnand at Buz- 
zard's Roost, in northern Georgia, and was in the 
famous March to the Sea. He finally rode back 
to Nashville where he was mustered out in 1865. 
After the war he located for a short time at 
Plymouth, Ohio, and Leavenworth, Kansas, and 
finally settled at Fort Smith, Arkansas, in the dry 
goods business, as clerk for his brother, David A. 
McKibben. He had a tobacco store of his own 
for a time, but eventually bought a farm which he 
carried on. working in his brother's store in the 
winter season and on his farm in the summer. In 
1870 he was superintendent of the Shaw-Cotton Plan- 
tation on the Arkansas river for about a year. He 
removed to Van Buren, Arkansas, where he opened 
a general store which he carried on for about seven 
years alone, then took into partnership his brother- 
in-law, Henry Pape, under the firm name of Mc- 
Kibben & Pape. In 1893 he sold out his interests 
and the business was continued by the firm of H. 
F. and C. A. Pape. 

He bought a stock ranch of 6.000 acres five miles 
from Wagoner, Indian Territory, on the reserva- 
tion of the Creek Indians. In addition to his ranch 
he carried on a general store there. His store 
was burned and he lost heavily. After four years 
he returned to Van Buren and became the General 
.\gent of the Union Central Life Insurance Corn- 
pany of Cincinnati. Ohio. He became interested in 
real estate in Kansas City and had property there 



398 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



valued at $60,000. In 1900 he was appointed United 
States jailer at Fort Smith in the Federal Jail. He 
built and owned the McKibben Opera House at Van 
Buren and was an extensive land owner there. 

He was a Republican in politics and was a dele- 
gate to the Republican National Convention at 
Minneapolis in 1892. He was a member of Van 
Buren Lodge of Free Masons, No. 6, at Van Buren, 
Arkansas. He was also an Odd Fellow. He was 
director of the Crawford Company National Bailk 
at Van Buren ; also of the Van Buren Canning 
Company ; the Van Buren Ice Company and the V'an 
Buren Cotton Compress Company. He attended 
the Methodist church and was a liberal contributor 
to its charities. 

He married at Fort Smith, Arkansas, September 
7. 1870, Elizabeth Pape, who was born in Cincinnati, 
Ohio, January 16, 1851, the daughter of Henry Pape, 
who was born in Berlin, Germany, in 1828, and his 
wife, Elizabeth Ziegenbein, born in the province 
of Hanover, Germany, 1827. Her father vi'as a con- 
tractor and builder before and after coming to 
America ; he and his wife located in Cincinnati, 
Ohio, about 1848. They were attracted thither, as 
were many other Germans, by a book which was 
circulated in Germany telling about the grape in- 
dustry, which began as follows : 

"A little befofe the middle of the ninteenth cen- 
tury the culture of the grape was introduced into 
the neighborhood of Cincinnati and for many years 
it was thought that Hamilton county was destined 
to he a great wine country. Nicholas Longworth 
is principally entitled to the credit for the endeavor 
to add this attractive product to the list of those 
successfully harvested in this county. He had for 
many years given much attention to the cultivation 
of the grape with the view- of making wine. His 
first efforts were confined to the acclimatization of 
foreign vines. He tried about forty varieties be- 
fore the idea occurred to him of testing our in- 
digenous grapes. He met with such success that he 
withdrew from the practice of law and commenced 
experimenting more elaborately upon the production 
of wine from the native grapes. Two of these va- 
rieties, the Catawba and the Isabella, seemed to him 
to possess the best qualities for wine and to be 
best adapted to the climate and soil. He soon culti- 
vated large vineyards and built extensive wine 
vaults where he stored the wine manufactured from 
his own grapes as well as those purchased from 
others. As a result Cincinnati became world famous 
as the center of a wine region, and thousands of vine 
growers flocked to it, causing the vine-clad hills 
to become famous the world over. In 1851 Mr. 
Longworth had one hundred and fifteen acres in 
grapes, almost exclusively Catawba, and he bottled 
during the season 75.000 bottles." From about 1859 
on, the vine growers began to have trouble with 
their vines and soon it became apparent that the 
vine culture was no longer adapted to the locality 
of Cincinnati and "the vine-clad hills along the 
banks of the beautiful river, have long since become 
a thing of the past." 

The children of Frank Reed and Elizabeth (Pape) 
McKibben were: Frank Pape. born November 13, 
1871, see forward; William Watson, see forward; 
Bertha Lucetta, born January 29, 1887. unmarried, 
has lived at Newton Centre, Massachusetts, since 
1902 ; Minnie Vera, born December 1,3, 1888, died 
at Van Buren January 7. 1893. Frank Reed Mc- 
Kibben died at Duncan, Indian Territory, May II, 
1901. 

Frank Pape McKibben, son of Frank Reed Mc- 
Kibben, and brother of Dr. William Watson Mc- 



Kibben, was born at Fort Smith, Arkansas, Novem- 
ber 13, 1871. He received his education in the 
common schools of Van Buren, Arlcansas, whither 
he moved with his parents when , he was an infant. 
He studied three years at the Arkansas Industrial 
University of Fayetteville, Arkansas. He then took 
a year's preparatory course for West Point, but 
failed on his physical tests. In l8go he entered the 
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, graduating 
as civil engineer in 1894. He became a teacher of 
liridge engineering at the institute and is at present 
associate professor of civil engineering there. He 
has designed and superintended the building of sev- 
eral important bridges and has designed some of the 
structures of the Boston Elevated Railway. 

He is the assistant engineer of the Massachusetts 
Railroad Commissioners, appointed September 30, 
1901. He is a member of the American Society 
of Civil Engineers ; of the Boston Society of Civil 
Engineers; of the American Society for Testing 
Materials ; of the Society for the Promotion of En- 
gineering Education. He has been librarian of the 
Boston Society of Civil Engineers for several years. 
He is a Republican in politics and is actively in- 
terested in the work of the Young Men's Christian 
-A-ssociation, for which he has lectured and worked 
on various occasions. He is a member of the Con- 
gregational church, at Newton Center, where he 
is at present living. 

He married, January 26, 1899, Arabelle Atniy, 
at New Bedford. She was a teacher in the New 
Bedford training school. She is a daughter of 
Warren W. and Sarah (Gray) Almy. Her father 
is a farmer of Tiverton Four Corners, Rhode Island. 
The only child of Frank Pape and Arabella Mc- 
Kibben is: Elliott Spencer, born March 23, 1902. 

William Watson McKibben, son of Frank Reed 
McKibben, w-as born in Fort Smith, Arkansas, Au- 
gust 22. 1874. When he was two years old his 
parents moved to Van Buren, an adjacent town, 
where he attended the common schools after he 
was six years old and graduated from the high school 
at the a,ge of thirteen. He entered the Arkansas In- 
dustrial University, taking a two-year preparatory 
course and then entered the collegiate department, 
where he studied civil engineering for a year. Find- 
ing himself disinclined for this profession he left 
college and entered the office of the Adams Express 
Company as billing clerk. In 1891 he came to 
Boston and entered the Berkeley School (Chauncey 
Hall) where in one year he prepared for Harvard 
University, entering September 26, 1892. He grad- 
uated with the degree of A. B. in 1896 and entered 
the Harvard Medical School from which he was grad- 
uated in 1900 with the degree of M. D. In the sum- 
mers of 1899 and igoo he served in the Boston 
Floating Hospital for children. He was house sur- 
geon previously in the Free Hospital for Women at 
Brookline. He came to the Worcester City Hospital 
as house officer September 5, 1900, and remained 
fourteen months. 

He opened an office and began to practice medi- 
cine at 662 Main street, Worcester, where he re- 
mained until July I, 1903. when he entered the South 
Department of the Boston City Hospital as assistant 
resident physician, giving up his Worcester prac- 
tice for the time being, in order to make a special 
study of children's diseases. In April, 1904, he went 
to London and Paris where he studied pediatrics, 
or children's diseases, after wdiich he traveled in 
Switzerland and Germany, returning to Worcester 
September i, 1904, and resuming his practice at 
the old stand. In July. 1905. he removed to "38 
Main street, where he now resides and has his office. 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



399 



Dr. McKibhen is a member of Piedmont Con- 
^gational Cbiirch, and is at present a teacher in tlie 
^nday school. In poHtics he is a Republican. He 
is niemlier of Quinsigamond Lodge of Free Masons, 
■Worcester ; of Quinsigamond Tribe of Red Men ; 
cl Court Cunningliam Foresters of America; of the 
Jlta Upsilon fraternity of Harvard; of the Twen- 
l!th Century Club ; the Congregational Club ; the 
}:onomic Club : tbc Massachusetts Associated 
liards of Health : the Boston Society of Medical 
Jiences ; the Massachusetts Medical Society ; and 
n Worcester Medical Society. He is an honorary 
nmber of the Stationary Engineers, He is a meni- 
Ir and physician of the Junior Order of American 
]echanics. He received military instruction at the 
dlege in Arkansas under Colonel Fletcher, U. S. A. 
: He married, September ii. 1905, Olive Beatrice 
jint, daughter of Charles W. and Cora (Flint) 
lint, of Worcester. 

■ DANIEL WEBSTER ELLINWOOD. Ralph 
"linwood (i) was tlie emigrant ancestor of the 
;iinwood and EUenwood families of America. He 
filed from England September. 1635. at the age of 
•i-enty-eight years, in the ship "Truelove." He 
;ttled in Salem. Massachusetts, where he was living 
i 1637. He was a planter. He removed to the new 
Ivvn of Beverly nearby: According to a deposition 
lade in 1669 he was aged about sixty years. He 
lis admitted to the church March 21,, 1647, and 
Is wife was admitted August 13, 1648. He married 
lecond) Marcli 14. 1655, Ellen Lyn. He died 
'73-4. His will was dated January 7, 1673, and 
Joved August 3. 1674. He bequeathed to his wife 
ilen ("Helen"), and children: Ralph, John, Jo- 
:ph, Benjamin. David, Mary and Elizabeth. The 
ijdow signed her name Eleanor, which was prob- 
^\y the correct way of spelling it. 
[ Children of Ralph Ellinwood by the first mar- 
nge were : l. Josiah, baptized May 26, 1644, and 
'.obably others. Children of Ralph and Eleanor 
j^yn) Ellinwood were: 2. Stephen, baptized March 
f, 1656. 3. Ralph, baptized .\pril 26. 1657. 4. Ralph, 
irn March t8. 1638. John. .August 2, 1659. 6. 
Iiseph, May 12, 1662. 7. Mary, .\pril 3, 1664. 8. 
lizabeth, born June 27. 1666. 9. Sarah, baptized 
Vigust 7, 1666. TO. Benjamin, born April i, 1668. 
•. David, born July 6, 1670. 

(H) John Ellinwood. son of Ralph Ellinwood 
.). was born in Beverly, Massachusetts, .August 2, 
,159: married (first) Elizabeth Rawlinson ; second 
.irah Morrill. The widow of John Ellinwood, pre- 
:imably Sarah, died at Beverly. Massachusetts, 
^64. at the age of ninety-eight years. 
I Children of John and Elizabeth (Rawlinson) 
llinwood were: i. John, baptized February 9, 
■106. 2. Joseph : probably settled at .Amherst. New 
[ampshire. where other members of the family 
Jent. 3. Dorothy. 4. Elizabeth. 5. David, born Au- 
list 16, 1696. 6. Jonathan (not on records avail- 
Die). Child of John and Sarah (Morrill) Ellin- 
ood was: Anna, February 6, 1704. Benjamin 
llinwood (2) also lived in Beverly and had seven 
.• more children, Ralph Ellinwood (2) had by 
s wife Ellen Lyn two or more children at Beverly, 
j (HI) Jonathan Ellinwood. presumed to be son 
;' the preceding, grandson of Ralph Ellinwood (l), 
las born in Beverly, Massachusetts, about 1690, 
/ith a party from Ro.xbury, and some from Beverly 
[id Essex county, he removed to Woodstock, which 
;as in Connecticut some of the time, and in Massa- 
lusetts at other times. The Trasks and Wallis 
[niilies of Beverly were neighbors of Ellinwood in 
1/oodstock, and perhaps relatives. Jonathan Ellin- 



wood was a blacksmith by trade, although he owned 
considerable land and doubtless always conducted 
a farm. He was a soldier in the Cape Breton ex- 
pedition when Louisburg was captured June 17, 1745, 
but died or was killed in the service. In the papers 
relating to his estate at the Probate office in Wor- 
cester is a charge by his administrator "To a journey 
to Worcester to settle with Colonel Willard and Cap- 
tain Stearns about Cape Breton." That was in 1753, 
though Ellinwood died in 1745. There was on the 
same account another charge for "a trip to Beverly, 
Massachusetts, to discharge two obligations given 
by the deceased to maintain his mother." That es- 
tablishes beyond quest. on the family to which he be- 
longed, although it does not name his .fathei. 
Joannah Ellinwood, his widow, married, about 1746, 
Zebulon Dodge, who thus became one of the ad- 
ministrators of Jonathan EUinwood's estate. He then 
sold for forty pounds twenty acres in Woodstock 
to Hezekiah Goflf, as directed by an order of the 
court. John Peake, as mortgagee, joined in the 
deed. 

Jonathan Ellinwood bought, September 9, 1740, 
land of a company of which Robert Hale and others 
of Beverly were members, the property being at 
Woodstock. He bought land there March 30, 17,38, 
of John Kathan, and September 7, 1740, an adjoin- 
ing lot of John Peake, who took a mortgage on the 
land, as stated above. John Peake was guardian of 
the minor children of Jonathan Ellinwood, with 
Jabez Lyon as surety. Peake was surety on the 
widow's bond with Joseph Wright. 

Children of Jonathan were: i. Thomas; mentioned 
in the settlement of the estate, apparently the only 
son of age during the father's life. 2. Ephraim, born 
1735; settled in Woodstock. 3. Joanna, born 1739. 
4. Mary, born 1741. 

(IV) Thomas Ellinwood, son of Jonathan Ellin- 
wood (3), w'as probably born in Beverly before his 
father came to Woodstock, about 1710. He bought 
1,-ind in Woodstock, October 23, 1730, of Jabez 
Lyons, of Woodstock, half of lots 82 and S3. He 
bought more land March 20. 1734-5. of Benjamin 
Childs. He bought lots 86 and 87 of Ichabod Davis 
and William Davis, of Brookline. Massachusetts, 
January 5. 1740. and more land originally laid out 
to Samuel Lyon, of Roxbury. February 17, 1742, 
bought of Edward Sumner, of Roxbury. He sold 
out about 1745 and removed with a colony of Wood- 
stock families to Brimfield. Massachusetts. He sold 
land in the first division, fourth range lots 85, 86 
and 87 to Jabez Lyon, who had helped settle Jona- 
than's estate. He was not married when this deed 
was passed. He was a joiner or carpenter by trade. 
At Brimfield where he went in 1746 or 1747 he was 
a verv prominent citizen. He was selectman and 
as^es.sor in Brimfield in 1748. when his name first 
appears in the town history. He was selectman 
also in 1769 and 1775. He was also assessor in 1766- 
67-7.3-74-75-76-80-81-84. 

He married, probably for his second wife, Re- 
becca Livermore, widow of Edmund Livermore, of 
Sturbridge. Massachusetts, which adjoined the old 
home town of the Ellinwoods in Woodstock. In 
1760 one of her two Livermore children was already 
married to Eliphalet, brother of Nchemiah .Allen, 
who was guardian of the two children, and who 
bought the real estate of Edmund Livermore sold 
by order of the court. He paid one hundred and 
thirty-two pounds for the fifty-acre homestead at 
auction. 

Children of Thomas Ellinwood were; I. Han- 
aniah : soldier in the revolution. 2. Dr. Daniel (see 
forward). 3. Thomas, Jr., born about 1760; died in 



400 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



Alhol in 1840, leaving sons. Frederick, Thomas, and 
George Benjamin, and relatives Austin and Benja- 
min, who owed him money; he married Persis. 4. 
Jonathan ; soldier in the revolution from Brimfield. 

(V) Dr. Daniel Ellinwood, son of Thomas Ellin- 
wood (4), was brought up in Brimfield, Massachu- 
setts. He was born there about 1746 and educated 
in the schools there. He studied medicine under 
Dr. Israel Trask, one of the noted physicians of his 
day. When Dr. Ellinwood looked about for a place 
to practice he decided on Athol, Massachusetts. Dr. 
Trask was the son of Benjamin Trask. Dr. Trask 
sold land in Athol to Dr. Ellinwood March 29, 

1779, and Dr. Ellinwood settled there. He married 
Lucy. Children were born probably in Athol, Massa- 
chusetts. Dr. Ellinwood died at Athol in 1794. The 
inventory of his estate was tiled December 3, 1779. 
Six of his children were under age at the time of 
his death. 

Children of Dr. Daniel and Lucy Ellinwood 
were : I. Daniel, born about 1775. 2. Senaca. 3. 
James (see forward). 4. Justus: settled in Hub- 
bardston in 1812 ; married Sophia McClenathan. July 
14, 1814; he died September 4, 1844; she died Sep- 
tember 21, 1851 ; they had six children. Lucy 
married Artemas Wilder, of Petersham (intentions 
dated February 21). 1808. 6. Abigail, married Dr. 
Chaplin, of Athol, Massachusetts. 

(VI) James Ellinwood. son of Dr. Daniel Ellin- 
wood (5), was born at Athol, Massachusetts, about 

1780. He is buried in Athol, where he died. He 
was a carpenter by trade and a skillful mechanic. 
He worked at his trade in Boston for a number of 
years. He married Rebecca Higgins of Mount 
Desert. Maine. (See sketch of M. P. Higgins for 
a sketch of her ancestors.) After his marriage he 
removed to Athol, Massachusetts, and settled^ on 
the farm on the border of Phillipston, where he lived 
the rest of his days. 

Children of James and Rebecca (Higgins) Ellin- 
wood were: i. Elvira. 2. Cynthia. 3. Horatio N. 
4. Eliza. ■ 5. Daniel (see forward). 6. Edwin O. 
7. Euceva. 8. Tilden. 9. Lucy. 

(VII) Daniel Ellinwood, fifth child of James 
Ellinwood (6), was born in Athol, Massachusetts, 
September 13, 1814. He attended the district schools 
of his native town. He was apprenticed to his 
brother. Captain Benjamin Twitchell, of Athol, at 
the mason's trade. He followed his trade all his 
life. He was known as a workman of imusual skill, 
and he was known far and wide for his stucco 
work. He finally came to Worcester, where he re- 
mained for two years, working at his trade. He left 
Worcester to go to Michigan, where he had decided 
to locate with his family, but returned sick, after 
the household goods were packed for the trip. He 
had to give up the change and settled again in Athol 
in 1850. Shortly afterward he bought a farm which 
he conducted in addition to his work as a mason. 
He died there March 16, 1879. 

He was an active member of the Methodist Epis- 
copal church and with Asa Waite and Mr. Estey 
was one of the founders of the Trinity Methodist 
Church which was at first located in Park street. He 
was for many years a member of the Second Advent 
Christian church at Athol. He was a charter mem- 
ber of that organization, and for many years a dea- 
con of the church. He was a man of exemplary 
character, highly esteemed in both church and civil 
life. He was a Republican in politics, but never 
an office seeker. He was a member of Worcester 
Lodge, No. 56, of Odd Fellows. He married Octo- 
ber 6. 1S35, Dulcinia Chase, daughter of Moses and 
Miriam (Tw-itchell) Chase, of Athol, IMassachusetts. 



Moses Chase was a blacksmith in Athol many yes 
Children of Daniel and Dulcinia (Chase) EI 
wood were: l. Leroy Sunderland, born August 
1837: died April 18. 1839. 2. Miriam, born Janu 
17, 1839; married Franklin Sawtelle, of .\thol, ; 
they have two children : Jennie and Albert. 3. Lei 
born December 4, 1840; married Emily Homer, 
Westboro, Massachusetts, and they have five c! 
dren : Flora, Ada, Daniel, Edith, and Alphonzo. 
Sarah, born January 17, 1842; married Samuel 
Parsons, of Woodstock, New Brunswick, and 1 
four children, all deceased. 5. Hannah Maria, bi 
July 30, 1843 ; married Eliphas S. Gage, of W 
cester. (See sketch.) 6. Edwin, born March 
1845 ; married Clara Webster, of Athol, and t! 
have six children : Cora-Mabelle, Edwin-Clj 
Daniel-Webster, Henry-Ovil, Arthur-Winfred ( 
ceased), and Eva-Gladys. 7. Daniel Webster, bi 
February 21, 1847 (mentioned below). 8. Euge 
born May 21, 1851. 9. Eva Rebecca, born Febru 
8, 1854; married Harry M. Leland, of Worces 
and they have three children : Ernest, Maud-He 
and Stanley. 

(VIII) Daniel Webster Ellinwood, son 
Daniel Ellinwood (7), was born in Athol. Mas 
chusetts, February 21, 1847. He received his ei 
cation in the common schools of Athol up to 
age of eighteen, when he came to Worcester ■< 
served an apprenticeship with A. T. Burgess, 
mason and contractor, serving the customary th 
years. He remained another year in the emp 
of Mr. Burgess. In 1869 he entered in busin 
for himself, in partnership with Anthony Pot; 
The partnership was dissolved after six months, < 
since then Mr. EUinw-ood has been in busin 
alone. His office is at his home, 10 Winslow stri 
He has been the mason and contractor for m; 
notable buildings. Among those for which he v 
the mason are : the Salisbury street school hou 
the Abbott street school house ; several brick bui 
ings on Pleasant street ; the Millbury street sch 
house ; large business blocks for John E. Day, a 
for G. Henry Whitcomb, of Worcester, and 
Heywoods, of Gardner, Massachusetts. 

He attends the Second Advent church, Piedm( 
and Chandler streets, Worcester. In politics he 
a Republican. He is a member of Damascus Lod 
Knights of Pythias, of Worcester. 

He married, April 29, 1869, Anna Eliza Withii 
ton, daughter of Josiah Muzzy and Isabella B; 
cock (Smith) Withington, of Harvard, Massacl 
setts. Her father was a farmer. Their children a: 
I. Hattie Dulcenia, born Februarj' 24, 1870, unm 
ried, lives with her parents. 2. George Frani 
born March 30, 1873 ; married Lois M. Magoon, 
Bristol, Vermont, daughter of Rev. John B. i 
goon ; they reside at Thomaston, Connecticut, wb 
Mr. Ellinwood is principal of the high school, a 
also superintendent of the schools of the tow 
they have one child, Leonard Webster Ellinwo( 
born February 13, 1905. 

(VIII) Dr. Eugene Ellinwood, son of Dan 
Ellinwood (7), and brother of the preceding, w 
born in Athol. Massachusetts, May 29, 1851. He 
ceived his early education in the district schools 
his native towm. At the age of seventeen he 
tended the New Salem Academy, where many nol 
Worcester county men received part of th 
training. 

He entered the dental office of Dr. James Hemt 
way, of Athol, to learn dentistry. After two ye: 
of study and experience he went to Woodstoi 
New Brunswick, where he practiced for a year, 1 
wishing to study further he went to Philadelpl 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



401 



id entered the Pennsylvania College of Dental Sur- 

•ry, graduating from there in 1873 with the degree 
D. D. S. He opened an olfice in Clinton and 

sumed practice. About eighteen months later he 
id an opportunity to buy the practice of Dr. J. B. 
^alker, whose office was at the corner of Main and 
ilm streets, in Worcester. Since buying this busi- 
j:ss Dr. Ellinwood has continued in the same of- 
'ces to the present time. He has met with con- 
<ant success in the practice of his profession. He 
(lilt a residence in 1876 at 14 Winslow street, and 
^ven years later sold it to his brother, D. W. Ellin- 
jood, and built his present home at 47 Piedmont 
Itreet. He attends the Park Congregational Churcli. 
',. politics he is a Republican and has frequently 
;rved his party as delegate to senatorial and other 
inventions. He was the organizer and director 
f the Fraternal Aid Society that was afterwards 
ailed the Massachusetts Benefit Association. He 
ias treasurer and director of the Single Tax Club 
if Worcester, and organizer and assistant treas- 
urer of the Basin Mining and Milling Company, of 
'ortlond, Maine. He is a member of the Massaclm- 
Jrtts Dental Society, formerly a member of the 

onnecticut Valley Dental Association up to the 
me it was merged into the Massachusetts Dental 
jociety. He has been a member of the Worcester 
i^ounty Mechanics' Association, and is a member 
if Quinjigamond Lodge of Odd Fellows, Worcester. 
He married Abbie Priest, February 3, 1876, 
'aughter of Ira and Sarah Jane (Brocklebank) 
I'riest, of Lancaster, Massachusetts. Her father 
.■as an official of the Massachusetts state prison for 
lany years. The only child of Dr. Eugene and 
\bbie (Priest) Ellinwood is Ralph Waldo, born 
("ebraury 21, 1883 ; now a student in Harvard 
University. 

. GAGE i AMILY. Robert Gage (i), the pro- 
jenitor of Eliphas S. Gage, of Worcester, was born 
Ibout 1690. He lived in Weston, formerly Water- 
own, MassaCiiusetts. where his children were born. 
4is widow A'ary died in Lincoln, Massachusetts, 
Vlarch 14, 17; 7, at an advanced age. Their chil- 
Iren: i. Rolert, Jr., born April 14, 1720, mar- 
led, April 3. 1747, Susanna Smith, of Waltham. 
i. Isaac, born September 26. 1721, estate administered 
November 8, 1751. 3. Philip, born August 11, 1723, 
narried. March 7. 1744-45, Anne Priest; settled in 
Sturbridge. Massachusetts. 4. Rachel, born July 
^3. 1725. admitted in full communion in the Water- 
own church. December. 1742; died January 19, 
1746. 5, Jonathan, mentioned below. 6. Lydia. 7. 
Alice, born 1732. 

; (H) Jonathan Gage, son of Robert Gage (l), 
was born probably in Weston, 1725. He married 
Ruth Underwood (fublished April 4. 1752). They 
had a son. Jonathan, born in Lincoln, Massachusetts, 
October 6, 1755. mentioned below. 
f (III) Jonathan Gage, son of Jonathan Gage (2), 
was born in Lincoln. Massachusetts. October 6, 
■I755- He was a sol.ier in the revolution, taking 
active part in the fightng April 19, 1775; a private 
in Captain William Smith's company of Minute 
,Men ; Colonel Abijah Pierce's regiment; corporal 
later in 1775 in Captain Nathan Fuller's company, 
Lieutenant-Colonel William Bond's (Thirty-seventh) 
regiment. He was a corporal in the Continental 
army for three years — 1777 to 1780 — in Captain 
■Abijah Child's company. Colonel John Greaton's 
regiment. He lived during the revolution in Lin- 
coln and Weston, but removed later to Berlin. He 
;bought land at Leicester, while a resident of Berlin, 
:of John Brigham of Northboro, April 30, 1785. He 
26 



settled finally on the old Dr. Parsons place in the 
northwest part of Leicester on the road leading 
to Zolva (ireen's. The old house has long since 
been torn down. He married Mary Brigham. Their 
children, born in Leicester, were: i. Levi, born Au- 
gust 9, 1786, see forward. 2. Sila.s, born April 13, 
1788. 3. Mary (Polly), born April 15, 1790. 4. 
Brigham, born Xoverriber 17, 1793. 

(IV) Levi Gage, son of Jonathan Gage (3), 
was born in Leicester, Massachusetts, August 9, 
1786. He was a farmer by occupation. He mar- 
ried Nancy Barnes. Children : Levi ; Anson, men- 
tioned below ; Marian Brigham, Silas, Willard, Her- 
vey and Nancy, all deceased but Hcrvcy and Nancy. 
Levi Gage taught school in his younger days, as- 
did his wife, Nancy Barnes. 

(V) Anson Gage, son of Levi Gage (4), was 
born August 25, i8i.> He married Rhoda Fidelia 
Chapin in November, 1840. He died September, 
1889. The mother died December 10, 1891, in Wor- 
cester at the home of our subject; both are buried at 
Northfield, Massachusetts. Among their children was 
Eliphas S., mentioned below. Isabclle Ellen died 
an infant. Edward A., Iiorn February 8, 1843, and 
died in 1857. Elliot Chapin. born July 3, 1847, re- 
sides in VVorccstcr. Anson Gage, the father, was 
in politics a Republican and prominent in the Ad- 
vent church. 

(VI) Eliphas Sanniel Gage, son of Anson Gage 
(5). was born in Northfield, Massachusetts. Septem- 
ber 15, 1841. He was educated in tlic public schools 
of his native town. When a young man he was em- 
ployed for some two years in piano manufactories at 
Montague and Irving. Massachusetts. He came to 
Worcester in 1866 where he learned the trade of 
paper hanging and followed it until his health failed 
him and he took up the real estate business which 
he has since fpllowed. In politics is a Republican, 
being on the Republican Central Committee some 
five years; was justice of the peace in Worcester 
over twenty-one years ; is a member of the Advent 
Christian church ; belongs to A. F. & A. M., Royal 
Arch Chapter, Hiram Council. 

He married. April 11. 1865, Hannah Maria Ellin- 
wood, daughter of Daniel and Dulcinia (Chase) 
Ellinwood. Their children are: I. Minnie Isabel, 
born September 24. 1866, graduate of the Worcester 
schools and the Worcester State Normal school in 
1888 : she taught one year in Spencer public schools 
and has since, except for two years in mission work 
in the south, taught in the Worcester schools, being 
at present a teacher in the Salisbury street school ; 
member of the Advent Christian church of Wor- 
cester, and for several years a member of the Wo- 
man's Mission board of the .-Vdvent Christian de- 
nomination, taking a very active part and spending 
two years in the south, as before mentioned. 
2. Edward Anson, born June 4. 1869. graduate of 
the Worcester high school and of the Worcester 
Polytechnic Institute, class of 1893 ; now assistant 
insncctor of ordnance in the United States navy, 
stationed at Quincy. Massachusetts ; married. June 
15. i8g6. Edith Newton; children — Donald Newton 
and Sydney Vernon. 3. Frederick Eugene, born 
July 22. 1873. educated in the public and high schools 
of Worcester and an Indiana Business College : 
now assistant foreman of the operating department 
of the American Steel and Wire Company. Worces- 
ter; member of Plymouth Congregational church; 
married Mary L. Frisbie; child: Marjorie Chase. 
4. .'\rthur Chase, born May 23. 1880, educated in 
the Worcester public and high schools ; now travel- 
ing salesman for the Plunger Elevator Company of 
Worcester; unmarried. 



40:2 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



DR. CHARLES CLINTON SCOTT. William 
Scott (i), of Hatfield in New England, was prob- 
ably the son of Benjamin Scott, the immigrant, of 
New Braintree. Benjamin and Hannah Scott were 
inhabitants of Braintree in 1643. Their children 
were Hannah, married Christopher Webb, Febru- 
ary 18, 1654-55 ; John, born December 2$, 1640 ; 
Peter, born March 6, 1643; Benjamin, died 1683. 
Benjamin Scott's widow Hannah married, Septem- 
ber 21, 1647, John Harbor. 

William Scott married January 28, 1670, Hannah 
Ellis (or Allis), of Braintree, the daughter of Will- 
iam Ellis, who settled in Braintree in 1639, was 
admitted a freeman May 18, 1640, was a deacon 
of the church, removed to Hadley, then to Hatfield, 
was lieutenant, assistant of the court in 1676, died 
September, 1678. Very little is known of William 
Scott. His children were: Josiah, see forward; 
Richard, born February 22, 1673 ; William, Novem- 
ber 24, 1676; Hannah, August 11, 1679; Joseph, 
March 21, 1682; John, July 6, 1684, died February 
8, 1692; Mary, 1686; Mehitable, September 9, 1687, 
died September 18, 1687; Jonathan, November I, 
1688, died young; Abigail, November 28, 1689. 

(11) Josiah Scott, eldest child of William 
Scott (i), was born in Hatfield. He was one of the 
proprietors of Bernardston, Massachusetts. He mar- 
ried Sarah Berrett. Their children : Josiah, born 
November 29, 1699, settled in Whately ; Sarah, Sep- 
tember 9, 1701; Hannah, May 30, 1704; Benjamin, 

May 31, 1708, married Jemima , and settled in 

Whately; died 1792; jNIehitable, May 4, 171 1 ; Moses, 
see forward; Ruth, November 25, 1715. 

(HI) Moses Scott, sixth child of Josiah Scott 
(2), was born in Hatfield, Massachusetts, February 
3, 1713. He settled on his father's grant of land 
in Bernardston, and as these grants were to the 
men engaged in the fall fight in King Philip's war 
in May, 1676, William Scott (l) was undoubtedly 
one of the soldiers. Moses Scott was a selectman 
in 1761. He built a bridge near his saw mill in 
1760. Moses Scott was captured with Sergeant 
Hawks, August 20, 1746, with his wife and two 
sons, one of whom died in captivity. He returned 
from Canada and served again in the last French 
war with Captain Clesson. He died at Bernard- 
ston, July 23, 1799, aged eighty-six years. He mar- 
ried, August 24, 1742, Miriam Nash, daughter of 
Ebenezer Nash, of Hadley. Their children: Eben- 
ezer, born 1743, was the first white male born in 
Bernardston, see forward; Moses, Jr., born 1745, 
died in Canada, February 11, 1747. 

(IV) Ebenezer Scott, elder son of Moses Scott 
(3), was born in Bernardston, the first male child 
of white parents, in 1743. When two or three years 
old, he was captured by the Indians and taken to 
Canada, where he was sold to the French. He re- 
turned to Bernardston with his father. He served 
in the revolutionary war and drew a pension late 
in life. He removed to the adjoining town of Ver- 
non, Vermont, where he died in 1826. The names 
of his children have not been secured ; some of 
them were: Eleazer, born 1788, married Sarah 
Strickland, of Gill, settled in Vernon ; Robert, see 
forward; Lemuel, settled in Fletcher, an adjacent 
town. 

(V) Robert Scott, son of Ebenezer Scott (4), 
was born probably in Bernardston, Massachusetts, 
or a town in that vicinity in Massachusetts or 
southern Vermont, in 1763-64. He died in Bakers- 
field, Vermont, in 1833, aged sixty-nine years. He 
was brought up in Vernon, Vermont. He lived for 
a time after his marriage in various towns in the 
vicinity. He settled first in Townshend. He re- 
moved to Bakersfield, an adjoining town, in 1804, 



and his descendants are living there at present He 
was the first of the name in that town. He 1 i 1 
farm, but his regular occupation was carryin; the 
freight from Bakersfield to Boston and return. 

He married Hannah Hesseltine, about 1690. [tr 
sister, Judith Hesseltine, married, 1782, Ebe m 
Brigham, who was born March 3, 1761, in Si m, 
Massachusetts. The mother of Hannah H' el- 
tine married (second) Silas Whitney. 

One of Robert Scott's children was namec or 
Ebenezer Brigham. Both Robert and his wifs .re 
buried in the Bakersfield cemetery. Childre ol 
Robert and Hannah (Hesseltine) Scott v e; 
Thomas Woodburn, born about 1792, in Townsl id 
married Jerusha Shattuck ; their son, Hamble '± 
Scott, inherited the homestead and still lives or le 
original farm of Robert Scott; Nancy, born am 
1794, married Solomon Hull, is buried at Nth 
Fairfield, Vermont; Russell, died at the age of t"'i- 
ty-six years and is buried at North Fairfield; EIi- 
ezer Brigham, see forward; Nahum, removecio 
Palmyra, New York. 

(VI) Ebenezer Brigham Scott, generally Cicd 
Brigham, son of Robert Scott (5) was borrn 
Townshend, Vermont, 1797. He removed withiis 
parents to Bakersfield in 1804 and went to scIdI 
there. The opportunities in those new townsin 
Vermont for good schools were not favora . 
He was a soldier from Bakersfield in the want 
1812. Though he was under age at the time of Is 
enlistment he was of unusual size and was ■ - 
cepted. He removed to Oakham, Massachusetts! tl 
1832, and worked for a traveling merchant. Lit 
in life he settled in Spencer and conducted a fa . 
He died in Spencer in i860. 

He married (first), 1815, Caroline Potter, wh ; 
ancestry is given herewith. They were divorced 1 1 
she married (second) Levi Janes, of Bakersfi , 
and had three children: Marther Baker, Cha; > 
Wesley and Caroline Potter Janes. E. Brigh i 
Scott also married (second), April 28, 1838, at ■ 
ham, Ann Thompson, of Spencer, Massachuse . 
Children of Ebenezer Brigham and Caroline (F ■ 
ter) Scott were: Whitney, born January 14, 18 
died 1830; Ebenezer Woodburn, see forwai 
Nancy Caroline, born January 22, 1821, marr 
(first), July 7, 1844, Josiah Lyon, son of Aaron a 
Betsey Lyon, he was born 1817 and died 1863; i 
married (second) Willard Howe, son of Aaron a 
Elizabeth Howe, he was born 1815 and died 1888, s 

married (third) Rowell ; they lived in Paxtc 

Mrs. Rowell is living with her daughter. M 
Partridge, (1906) at 423 Pleasant street, Worcest 
Luke CuUin, born July 4, 1824, married, Novemb 
1846, Lizzie Ball. Joseph Barker, born November . 
1826, married, January," 1856, Amanda E. Youi 
born 1838, daughter of Francis and Sarah Youn 
he was a soldier in the Mexican war and nev 
came north afterward, but settled at Dade, Bastr 
county, Texas, where he was living in 1903. 

(VII) Ebenezer Woodburn Scott, son of Ebe 
ezer Brigham Scott (6), was born in Bakersfiel 
Vermont, January 20, 1818, in the log cabin on I 
father's farm. The opportunities for educatio 
were scarce. The Bakersfield school at that tin 
was in a log house and school was kept but a fe 
weeks each year. When he was fourteen years o 
his mother died and his father decided to come 1 
Massachusetts. They traveled on foot nearly tw 
hundred miles to Oakham, where his father an 
he both were employed by a traveling merchan 
He was paid $7 per month and his father $15 p( 
month, and he used to say that the wandering lii 
was rather pleasant. After three years he went t 
work in the slaughter house of John Corey 8 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



403 



Watertowii, and in tlie course of four years had be- 
come an important factor in the business. He and 
■• 'Mr. Corey's son were partners in a livery stable 
' ; business for a time. In 1852 Mr. Scott came to 
i Rutland with his six children and settled on the 
■ 'Charles Spooner farm on the Paxton road, where 
! Ihe lived for twenty-three years. In June, 1H77, he 
'removed to his late home, the former parsonage 
; (of the Congregational church. In politics he was a 
1 (Democrat. He was a highway surveyor and mem- 
■' i'ber of the school committee. He cast his first 
[ vote for Van Buren in 1840 and voted the Demo- 
; icratic ticket until 1896, when he was against the 
i 1 free silver Democratic candidates. He attended the 
: ' Congregational church. In his younger days he 
; belonged to an artillery company and to a fire en- 
: ! gine company. He died July 27, 1902, at the age 
• I of eighty- four years. 

' [ He married Sarepta White, of Sturbridge, who 
j died October 4, 1888. Their children: Mary, mar- 
ried C. B. Linton, of Brooklyn, New York, and 
t has three sons ; Caroline, married H. J. Davis, of 
■ Rutland, and has six children ; Ebenezer Woodburn, 
I Jr., resides in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, a milk 
[ dealer, was in the Forty-second Massachusetts Regi- 
[ ment in the civil war ; Elizabeth A., married the late 
; Denny E. Mason; she resides in Rutland; Charles 
, Potter, born in Watertown, Massachusetts, July 
i 24, 1849, a farmer of Holden; has a son Harry and 
j -daughter, Delia ; Etta, married Warren W. Bryant 
Band they have two sons and a daughter; their home 
\ is in Princeton, Massachusetts ; Clinton Brigliam, 
i see forward; Adelia Maria, died when fourteen 
' years old. 

j (VIII) Clinton Brigham Scott, seventh child 
I of Ebenezer Woodburn Scott (7), was born in Rut- 
; land, Massachusetts, and when a young boy was 
; brought up on a farm there. He went to the Rut- 
I land schools. Soon after he was married he re- 
[i moved to Worcester and worked for several years 
in the meat market of Aaron Hainmond, on Main 
I street. He worked later in Prentice's market, South- 
1 bridge street, and Ring's market at the corner of 
! Coral and Grafton streets. He went into business 
I for himself in 1889 at 42 Chandler street and met 
t with gratifying success. His market became one of 
, the largest in the city at that time. He retired 
, from business in 1895 ^nd went to live on the 
homestead in Rutland. Mr. Scott is a member of 
; Quinsigamond Lodge of Odd Fellows and of Wor- 
I ■tester Lodge, Ancient Order of United Workmen. 
: In politics he is a Democrat. 

He married, at Paxton, Clara A. Marsh, daughter 
of Luther and Augusta Marsh. She died Decem- 
ber 25, 1890, in Worcester. Their children : Charles 
Clinton, see forward; Clarence Nelson, born in 
Worcester, February 4, 1887, student of dentistry 
in his brother's office ; Edith Clara, born in Wor- 
cester, December 18, 1890, lives with her father at 
Rutland. 

(IX) Charles Clinton Scott, eldest child of 
Clinton Brigham Scott (8), was born in Paxton, 
June 28, 1878. His parents moved to Worcester 
with him when he was eighteen months old. He 
attended the public schools of Worcester, leaving 
the high school at the end of his second year. He 
entered the dental offices of Dr. F. H. Kendrick, 
where he remained for six months. In 1895 he 
entered the Dental School of the University of 
Pennsylvania at Philadelphia. He won his degree 
at the end of his first year by crowding three years 
work into one. In the summer of 1896, after grad- 
uating, he entered the office of Dr. W. H. Sears, 
Worcester, where he practiced for three years. From 
l8gg to the fall of 1904 he was associated with Dr. 



H. H. Gabler, of Worcester. Since then he has 
been practicmg at 578 Main street, where he has 
elaborately appointed offices and employs an opera- 
tor and assistant. He is a member of Anchoria 
Lodge of Odd Fellows, of the Massachusetts Dental 
Society and has been a member of the Hancock 
Club. He is a Republican and attends Piedmont 
Congregational church. He married, June 14, 1905, 
Bessic Bonker, daughter of Harry L. and Caroline 
(Haring) Bonker, of Worcester. Her father is at 
present an inspector of locomotives for the New 
York Central & Hudson River Railroad and lives 
in Worcester. 

(I) Nicholas Potter was the pioneer ancestor 
of Dr. Charles C. Scott, through Caroline Scott, 
who married Brigham Scott, mentioned above. He 
was a settler in Lynn as early as 1638, a brick- 
layer by trade. He married (first) Eunice . 

He married (second) Alice Weeks and (third) 
Mary Gedney, daughter of John Gedney. His chil- 
dren : Mary, born and died 1659; Hannah bap- 
tized March 25, 1661 ; Sarah, born October 4 1662- 
Mary born November 10, 1663; Samuel, baptizeel 
March 10,1664-66, died March 10,1664-66; Hannah 
baptized April 8, 1666; Lydia, baptized February 
10, 1666-67, died 1668; Bethiah, baptized July 12 
1668; Samuel, baptized April 25, 1669; Lydia bap- 
tized July 17, 1670; Robert, Elizabeth, Benjamin 

(II) Robert Potter, son of Nicholas Potter 
(i), was born iiI Lynn, New England, married 
Ruth Driver and lived in Lynn. 

(III) Robert Potter, son of Robert Patter (2), 
w^Ts born March 18, 1661. married, Januarv 9, 1682) 
Martha Hale and they lived in Lynn. 

(IV) Ephraim Potter, son of Robert Potter 
(3), was born in Lynn, Massachusetts, February 5, 
1683, and settled in Marlboro, Massachusetts He 
married, November 23, 1708, Sarah Witt and their 
children all born in Marlboro, were: Mary, Sep- 
tember II, 1709; Martha, September i, 1711; Jo- 
seph, February 3, 1713; Persis, August 29, 1715; 
Ephraim, March 5, 1718; Sarah, January 26, 1721; 

1 lieophilus, see forward ; Elizabeth, January 25, 
1728. 

(V) Theophilus Potter, seventh child of Ephraim 
Potter (4), was born January 26, 1725, and settled 
in Brookfield, Massachusetts, where he died Septem- 
ber 13, 1814. He married in 1748 Lois Walker, of 
Sudbury. Of their children, the first four were 
born in Marlboro, the other eight in North Brook- 
field. Their children: Silas, born June 17, 1749; 
Barnabas, June 15, 175 1 ; Ephraim, Julv 31. 1752; 
Hannah, December 17, 1755; Thomas,' November 

16, 1757; Abijah. January 23, 1760; Lois, January 
30, 1762, married Thomas Knight; Thaddeus, May 
18, 1764; Esther, January 15, 1767; Elizabeth, July 

17, 1770, died young; Luke, see forward; Aaron, 
March 29, 1776. 

(VI) Luke Potter, eleventh child of Theophilus 
Potter (5), was born in North Brookfield, April 
28, 1772. and died October 19, 1812. He married 
Lydia Baker, the daughter of Joseph Baker, the 
first settler and proprietor of Bakersfield. Vermont, 
for whom that town was named. She died in North 
Brookfield. January 28, 1810. Their children: 
Lydia, born 1794, died at Palmer in 1813; Nancy, 
born July 26, 1796; Roswell, born 1798, died at 
Stockholm, New York; Caroline, see forward; 
Luke, born 1802, died in Canada about 1878 ; mar- 
ried Elvira Page, of Waterville, New York. 

(Vin Caroline Potter, fourth child of Luke 
Potter (6). was born in North Brookfield, 1800. She 
died at Bakersfield. Vermont. She married Eben- 
ezer Brigham Scott, mentioned above. 



404 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



HORACE WYMAN. The name of Wyman is 
beyond doubt of Saxon origin, and in common 
with family names of the earliest period, appears in 
various diiYerent forms, as Wyman, Wiman, vVy- 
mant, Wymond, Winiond, etc. It is estimated that 
there are now in the United States about eight 
thousand persons who appear under one or another 
form of the name. 

It was discovered by Henry F. Waters, A. M., 
of London, in the record of a will made by Francis 
Wyman, farmer, of the parish of West Mill, county 
of Herts (Hertfordshire), England, that he was 
the father of Francis and John Wyman, the emi- 
grant ancestors of the American branch of the 
family. The family estate in England was inherited 
by their elder brother Thomas. The names of John 
and Francis Wyman first appear in Woburn, Massa- 
chusetts, in 1640, as signers of town orders. They 
had farm houses near the town site of Woburn ; 
that of John was demolished many years ago, but 
that built by Francis, in 1664, is yet standing. It 
was used for defensive purposes during King Phil- 
ip's war, and the loop-holes for the rifles of its 
defenders are still visible. It is now owned by the 
"Wyman Associates," and the descendants of the 
family have an annual re-union there. The broth- 
ers also owned houses in the village, opposite the 
park, at the junction of Main and Wyman streets. 
Their tannery was located nearby, and the vats yet 
exist, but are buried beneath several feet of earth. 
The ancient gravestone of Francis Wyman is still 
plainly discernable, but its inscription is wellnigh 
obliterated : 

"Here lies ye bdy of Francis Wyman, aged about 
82 years, died Nov. 28, 1699. The memory of ye 
just is blessed." 

The line of descent of the Horace Wyman fam- 
ily of Worcester, is as follows: 

(I) John Wyman, born in West Mill, Herts 
county, England, in 1621, emigrated to this country 
in 1640, and was one of the first settlers of the 
town of Woburn, Massachusetts. He married Sarah 
Nutt. in 1644. He was a man of enterprise and 
marked independence. He, with others, was prose- 






THE WYMAN HOMESTEAD 
Birthplace of Horace Wj-man 



cuted before the courts in December, 1671, somi 
"for publicly manifesting contempt for the orclinanC{ 
of infant baptism as administered in the church 
Woburn," others for withdrawing from the worshii 
of that church. Some of those prosecuted reccivec 
public admonition, and others were fined. That Ik 
bore a prominent part in the Indian difficulties ii 
established by documentary evidence. 

(i) Sewell's "History of Woburn" says of th( 
fifty-eight persons enlisted from that place in 167; 
in King Philip's war, that one of the number, Simp 
son, was apparently a Scotchman, one of those who 
for espousing the cause of Charles II was sen 
over to this country by Cromwell after he had de 
feated them at the battle at Dunbar, 1650, or o 
Worcester, 165 1, to be sold, and being a tanner bi 
trade, was bought by Lieutenant John Wyman 
tanner, of Woburn, "on purpose for the manage 
ment of his tanyard." (By "sale" is meant in 
denture for a term, in payment of the ship passagi 
of Simpson. — Ed.). "Mr. Wyman, his master 

(having had his son slain in the fight at Narragan 
sett) petitioned the general court May 16, 1O76 
that his servant Simpson might be returned," etc 
This document is contained in the papers of thi 
IMassachusetts Historical Society, and is as follows 
To the Honorable Covers : ye Council now Sitting ii 

Boston 
The Petition of John Wyman 

Humbly Sheweth that yore Petitioner Hath beeni 
often out in the service of ye Country against thi 
Indians : his sone also was out and slaiue by thi 
enemy : and his servants hath beene long out in lh( 
warrs and now being reduced to greate wants fo: 
clotheing: desires liberty to come downe from Had 
ly where he now remains a garrison souldier • an( 
he is a taner by traid and yore Petitioner bough 
him on purpose for that management of his tai 
yard : and himselfe being unexperienced in tha 
calling doth humbly request that favore of you; 
honors to consider the premisses and to grant hi 
said servant Robert Simpson a dismission from thi 
present service that so his lether now in the fatts ma; 
not be spoyled but yore Petitioner be ever engage( 
to pray &c. Jno. Wyman. 

(II) Jonathan Wyman, son 
John (i), born 1661, married Han 
nab Fowle, 1690. 

(III) Jonathan Wyman, son 
Jonathan (2), born 1704, marriei 
Martha Thompson. He served ii 
the war of the revolution. 

(IV) Jonathan Wyman. sen 
Jonathan (3), born 1734, marrie< 
Abigail Wright. 

(V) Jonathan Wyman, son o 
Jonathan (4), born 1763, marriec 
Ruby Richardson. Their childrei 
were: Jonathan, bom 17S7; .-Micl 
1793; Abigail, 1795; Sylvester, Jc 
seph. Stephen. Ray, Ruby, and Ipps 

(VI) Abe! Wyman, second soi 
and child of Jonathan (5) and Rub; 
(Richardson) Wyman, was bom ii 
1793. and died in 1864. He was : 
boot and shoe manufacturer, an( 
was noted for his integrity, tac 
and sagacity in business relations 
and was of strong moral character 
He married Maria Wade, in 1S17 
Their children were : Charles .Au.s 
tin, born 1817; .Ward, iSr9: Win 
throp, 1821 ; Nancy ^laria. 182J 
Horace. 1827. 

Maria (Wade) Wyman was thi 




/^^>e£^, /ri'A^x./i-H- 



7' 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



405 



daughter of Ebenezer (5) and Leah Wade, whose 
jother cliildren were Nancy and Harriet. Her ances- 
liry is traced back as follows: 

(I) Jonathan Wade, a native of England, emi- 
grated l to America from Denver, near Donnham 
;i\Iarl<et, Norfolk coitnty, in 163J. in the ship "Lion." 
iHe first settled in Ipswich, Massachusetts, and aftcr- 
Iwards removed to Medford, and was elected the first 
jtown clerk there in 1674. He was a prominent per- 
ISon in the town and the largest owner of lan<l 
there, and paid the highest tax for many years. He 
gave a public landing place for boats ami shipping 
nil the Mystic river upon which the town is situated, 

(II) Major Nathaniel Wade, son of Jonathan 
lO. married Mercy Bradstreet, daughter of Gover- 

inor Simon and Anne Bradstreet, and granddaugh- 
ter of Governor Thomas Bradley (2). 

Governor Bradstreet made an affidavit relative 
to this marriage, which is curious for its quaint 
phrasing as well as for the subject matter. It is 
[quoted as follows from "Genealogy of the Dudley 
iFamily," vol. 11, pp. 1031-1033: 

I "When Mr. Jonathan Wade of Ipswich came 

first to my house att Andvar |'yeare — 72 — to make a 

motion of marriage betwixt his son Nathaniel 

land I my daughter Mercy hee freely of hiinsclf told 

I me what he would | give to his son viz. one halfc 

[of his ffarme att Mistic and one third pt of his | land 

in England when he Dyed: and that he should have 

'liberty to make | use of pt of impved and broken 

upp ground vpon the sd ffarme till [ he? could gett 

\some broken vpp for him selfe vpon his own pt and 

I like wise j that hee should live in and have the vse 

of 'halfe the house &c till he had one | of his owne 

[bit upon his part of the ffarme I was willing to 

[accept of his | ofifer or at least sd nothing against 

it 'but ppounded that hee would make his sd son 

ia deede of guift of that third pt of his land in 

England to enjoy to | him and his heired after his 

(death — tliis he was not free to do but sd it was [ as 

sure for he had soe putt it into his will that his 

!3 sons should have | that in England equally devyded 

betwixt them vz each a pt. I objected | hee might 

alter his will when hee plea.sed & his wife miglit dye 

& hee marry | again and have othr children wch 

hee thought a vaine obiccon. much othr discourse 

there was about the stock on the ffarme &c but 

remayning vnwilling | to give a deed for that in 

England : saying hee might h'ue to spend it and 

; often [ repeating hee had soe ordered it in his will 

'as aforesd wch hee should never alter without | great 

necessity or words to that purpos so wee pted for 

that time leaving [ that matter to further con- 

sidracon I after hee came home hee told sevall of 

my I ffriends and others they informed me that he 

had pfferd them 1000 L and I would not accept of 

it., the next tyme he came to my howse after 

I some I discourse about the premsis and pceiveing his 

' resolucon as form'ly I consented | to accept of wt 

hee had formily ingaged. and left it to him to ad 

1 wt he pleased | towards the building of him a howse 

&c. and soe agreed that the young psons | might 

pceede in maryage with both o consent wch ac- 

cordinglv they did. 

j ' S. BRADSTREET 

I The Hon. ble Simon Bradstreet. Esq. r | made 
oath to the truth of the above written j (Sept. 21, 
1683.) I before SAMLL NOWELL. ASSISTT. | 

(III) Captain Samuel Wade, son of Nathaniel 
(2). 

(IV) Nathaniel Wade, son of Samuel (3). 

(V) Ebenezer Wade, son of Nathaniel (4). 
(VT) Ebenezer Wade, son of Ebenezer (5). He 

Vol. I. 



ser\ed in the French and Indian war. and also the 
revolutionary war. 

(VII) Maria Wade, daughter of Ebenezer (6),. 
married Abel Wyman. 

Horace Wyman, youngest child of Abel and 
Maria (Wade) Wyman, was born in Woburn, No- 
vember 27, 1827. He was educated at the Woburn 
and Francestown (New Hampshire) Academies. He 
conmienced his business career in 1846 as machinist 
in the .Anioskeag Manufacturing Company in New 
Hampshire, and afterwards in the Lowell Machine 
Shop, and in the Hinckley Locomotive Works in 
Boston. He then entered into the employ of the 
Holyoke Water Power Company as a draughtsman, 
and in i860 became associated with George Cronip- 
ton, of Worcester, as superintendent and manager of 
his Loom Works. He is noted for his mechanical 
ability and inventive genius, particularly in the line 
of loom and factory machinery-. 

The records of the United States Patent Office 
disclose the fact that he has taken out over one 
htmdred and fifty patents, the great majority of 
them relating to textile machinery, many of his ma- 
chines being in use in the principal mills through- 
out the country, with the result of improved goods, 
in greater quantities in a given time, and at a re- 
duced cost of production. From time to time he 
has been associated with others, but the principal 
machines with which his name is cotmected were 
altogether conceived in his own brain and wrought 
out by his own masterly mechanical skill. The 
Crompton Loom Works of Worcester owed much 
of their success to improvements of his designing 
and introduction. When George Crompton died in 
1886, the business was reorganized by incorporation, 
with Mr. Wyman as vice-president and manager, and 
when that corporation was merged into the Cromp- 
ton and Knowles Loom Works in 1897 he became 
its consulting mechanical engineer. 

While Mr. Wyman has been thus busily engaged 
along lines which seemingly would tax the ability 
of one man to the utmost, he has at the same time 
been actively interested in various other enterprises 
entering into the commercial and financial life of the 
city, serving as president of the Worcester Storage 
Company, a director in the Quinsigamond Bank, the 
People's Savings Bank, and the Uxbridge & Black- 
stone Street Railway Company. He has also .served 
as a member of the board of aldermen. He is an 
active member of the American Society of Mechani- 
cal Engineers, the Worcester County Mechanics' 
Association, the Worcester Society of .Antiquity, and 
of the board of managers of the Old Men's Home. 
He is also affiliated with local bodies of the Masonic 
fraternity. In politics he is a Republican, and his 
religious connection is with the L'nitarian faith. Of 
studious habits and cultivated tastes, he has read 
and traveled much. He is familiarly acquainted with 
nearly all regions of the United States, and he has 
several times visited Europe, at times on business,, 
and again solely for recreation and mental improve- 
ment. He has made much careful study of genea- 
logical subjects, and has published two works in- 
volving a great amount of careful and patient re- 
search : "The Wyman Families of Great and Little 
Hormead, Herts county, England," 1895 : and "Some 
.•\ccount of the Wyman Genealogy and Wyman 
Families in Herts county. England," 1897. 

In i860 Mr. Wyman married Louisa B. Horton. 
of Orleans. Massachusetts, who died in 1894. She 
was of English extraction, a daughter of Sparrow 
and Betsey (Doane) Horton. and a descendant of 
John Doane. who was born in 1590. He arrived at 
Plvmouth. Massachusetts, in 1630, and was assistant 



. 4o6 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



lo Governor Thomas Prince in 1633. Of this mar- 
•ringe were born four cliildren : 

"(1) Horace Winfield W'yrnan, born May 30, 1861, 
died October II, 1905. He was educated in Wor- 
cester — in the public schools, the Worcester Acad- 
emy, and the Polytechnic Institute. In 1883. at the 
age' of twenty-two, he formed a partnership \vith 
Lyman F. Gordon, a classmate at all the above 
named schools, and engaged in the manufacture of 
iron and steel drop forgings, an industry then in its 
comparative infancy. This business they built up 
and developed, until it has become one of the fore- 
most in the world : its product reaching all parts 
of the United States, and every foreign market open 
10 American commerce. Mr. Wyman possessed in 
marked degree the mechanical taste and ability, as 
well as the inventive genius which characterize his 
father, and much of the efficiency and success of the 
great works with which he was identified, was due 
to his mechanical ability, joined to a keen business 
judgment. He was treasurer of the Worcester Stor- 
age Company, a trustee of the Worcester County 
Institute for Savings, and has been twice presi- 
dent of the .\!umni Association of the Polytechnic 
Institute. He was a member of the International 
Iron and Steel Institute, the American Society of 
Mechanical Engineers, and of prominent clubs in 
Boston, New York and Cleveland as well as of Wor- 
cester. In politics he was a Republican, but he 
never aspired to public office. In 1889 he married 
Mary Wills Haskill, of .\tchison, Kansas, and their 
children are : Aurelia, Horace and Louise. 

(II) Maria Louise, born in 1864. 

(III) Josie Horton, born in 1867, died in 1868. 

(IV) Adelaide Richards, bom 1870, married in 
1898, Ernest Wood, of the firm of C. G. Wood & 
Company, woolen manufacturers of Worcester. 

THOMAS ARIMIT PELLETT. Thomas Pellett 
(i). the immigrant ancestor of Thomas .-^rmit Pel- 
lett, of Worcester, settled in Concord, Massachu- 
setts, where he married, March 5, 1660. Mary Dane 
or Deane, of Concord. 'He was a farmer. Their 
children, all born in Concord, were : Mary, born 
August 27. 1662; Thomas, born .A.pril 18, 1666; 
Daniel, born August i, 1668; Samuel, born March 
28, 1671 ; Richard, mentioned below ; John, born 
November g, 1675; Elizabeth, born April 8, 1679; 
Jonathan, born April 18. 1682 ; Sarah, born Septem- 
ber =;, 1685; Susanna, born January 18. 1690, 

('ll) Richard Pellett, eighth child of Thomas 
Pellett (i), was bom in Concord, Massachusetts, 
April 23, 1673. He settled at Canterbury, Connecti- 
cut, and died there June 15, 1758. He married. .A^pril 
2, 1703, Ann Brooks, of Canterbury. She died Octo- 
ber 25, 1756. Their children, all born in Canterbury, 
were : Jonathan, mentioned below ; Thomas, born 
September 9, 1706. married March 18, 1730. Martha 
Tibbets: Samuel, born March 7. 1709. married (first) 
Margaret . who died February 28, 1748; (sec- 
ond). July, I7.=;2, Hannah L'nderwood ; Hezekiah, 
born April 28, 1712, married. March 5. 1738. Abigail 
Brown : John, born April 4, 1715 ; Ephraim, born 

June 21. 1718, married Hannah ; Patience and 

Ann (twins), bom August 8. 1721. 

(Ill) Jonathan Pellett, eldest child of Richard 
Pellett (2). was bom in Canterbury, Connecticut, 
March 2. 1704: married, February 20. 1733. Jerusha 
Bradford, who died June 15, 1788.. She was a direct 
descendant of Elder William Bradford, who came 
in the "Mayflower"' to Plymouth in 1620. The line 
is through William Bradford (l). who married 
(first) Alice Richards: (second) Widow Wiswell ; 
(third) Widow Mary Holmes. Thomas Brad- 
ford (II), son of William Bradford (I), set- 



tled in Norwich. Connecticut; married (first) .\ 
na Fitch, daughter of Rev. James Fitch, ma 
ried (second) Priscilla Mason, daughter of Maj 
John Mason, the hero of the Pequot war. Jan 
Bradford (III), son of Thomas Bradford (II 
was the father of Jerusha Bradford, born Jn 
27. 1716. Her sister Mary married William Pi 
lett. The Children of Jonathan and Jerusha (Bra 
ford) Pellett were all born in Canterbury, vi; 
Jonathan, born June 20, 17.M, died young; Edii 
born March 25, 1735, died young; James, born Fe 
ruary 9, 1737, died young; Jonathan, born Octob 
19. 1739. died young; Thomas, born November : 
1742; Jerusha. bom June 6, 1744; Joseph, bo 
March 18. 1748; David, born February 21, 175 
Jonathan, born July 12, 1753 ; Hepzibah, born Fe 
ruary 25, 1757; Rufus. mentioned below. 

(IV) Rufus Pellett. youngest child of Jonath 
Pellett (3), was born at Canterbury, May 25. I't 
He also was a farmer at Canterbury, where he di 
in 1806. He married Drusilla Wheeler. Their ch 
dren, all born at Canterbury, were : Rufus, bo 
November 4. 1781 ; John, born July 4. 1783; gra 
uate of Harvard College (M. D.), died at Sale 
Massachusetts. 1809; Eunice, born October 26, 17! 
married Joseph Graves, of Canterbury ; Esther, bo 
December 9. 1786; Jonathan, died young; Timotl 
born May 4, 1791 ; Jonathan, born August 17, 175 
Archibald, died young; Chester, mentioned belo' 
Maria, born April 22, 1800. resided in Canterbury 
advanced age ; Marian, born March 25. 1803. marri 
.\aron Stearns, of North Erookfield. removed 
Whately ; Heman, born September, 1805. died yom 

(V) Chester Pellett. ninth child of Rufus Pell 
(4). was born in Canterbury. Connecticut. Mi 
1797. He was raised in his native town but 1 
moved to Wales. Massachusetts. Among his ch 
dren was the father of Thomas Armit Pellett Jo 
C. Pellett. 

(V) John C. Pellett. son of Chester Pell 
(5). was born in Canterbury. Connecticut. He : 
sided at North Brookfield and Wales. Massac! 
setts. He married. January 28, 1849, Sarah H: 
•wood, who was born June 15, 1820, the daugh 
of Thomas Armit Harwood. 

John C. Pellett was a railroad man, a secti 
boss on the New London & Northern Railroad a 
later on the Vermont Central Railroad. He serv 
two years in the civil war. He was color serge; 
of the Eleventh Verniont Regiment and he li 
his right arm in a skirmish during the campai 
in the Shenandoah Valley. He died at Brattlebo 
Vermont, in 1897. The children of John C. a 
Sarah (Harwood) )Pellett were: i. Mary, marr; 
Andrew Thomas, of Claremont. New Hampshi 
and they have a son, Leon Andrew, and a dau^ 
ter, Genevieve Louise, both born in Brattlebo 
Vermont. 2. John C, Jr., married Grace Doub 
day. of Binghamton, New York; married (secon 
Lizette Winslow ; resides at 6 Jaques avenue, Wi 
cester, is a mason and contractor, at present < 
gaged in Brattleboro, Vermont. He has three cl 
dren by the first wife : Charles Arnold. Loui 
John. 3. Thomas A., mentioned below. 

Thomas Armit Harwood, son of Captain Pe 
Harwood. was born in Spencer, Massachusetts, Fi 
ruary 6. 1789: married (first). May 24. i8t8. H: 
nah Palmer Pellett, of North Brookfield, who d; 
September i, i8,w; married (second), June 15, 18 
Ann Mead, of North Brookfield. who died Augi 
30. 1870. aged eighty years ; he died .\pril 4. iS 
aged ninety-one years. He was a .soldier in 1 
war of 1812. They had a large family of cl 
dren. Thomas Armit Harwood. Jr., ^yas in 1 
British service; had a verv adventurous life all oi 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



407 



.e world; in 1879 was living in India under tlie 
(, ime of Francis Hudson. 
^ Peter Harvvood, grandfather of Mrs. John C. 
tllett, was the son of Major Peter Harwood, born 
{ North Brookfield, September 16, 1765. He was a 
i.vern keeper and farmer. He served three years 
' the revolutionary army with his father who was 
iptain of the North Brookfield company. He suc- 
;eded Captain Aaron Forbes as captain of the 
^mpany and was himself succeeded by his brother, 
aptain Abel Harwood. He was selectman and as- 
i;ssor. He married, in Dover, New Hampshire, 
jout 1788, Elizabeth Armit, who was born in Scot- 
':nd (North Brookfield history says London, Eng- 
iind) and came to America when she was three 
?ars old. Captain Peter died in Spencer, April 
7, 1836. Their eldest child was Thomas Armit 
larwood, mentioned above. 

■ Major Peter Harwood, great-grandfather of Mrs. 
Dhn C- Pellett, son of Ebenezer Harwood, was 
brn in Littleton, Massachusetts, May 10, 1740. He 
■as a millwright and farmer. He married, May 26, 
763, Phebe Prouty, of Spencer, who was born 

ugust 3, 1744, died February 13, 181 1; he died in 
lelaware, January 14, 1805. He was an officer in 
Se revolutionary army — brave, daring and impetu- 
us. He was court-martialled for disobedience of 
rders to abandon and destroy a bridge at White 

■ lains, then being held by the American army ; in 
■Uempting to hold it he was captured ; the result 
i the court-martial was in his favor and he retained 
is rank and was further promoted. After the war 
e built a brick house, the most expensive one in 
)wn. He had nine children. 

! Ebenezer Harwood, father of Major Peter Har- 
•ood and son of Peter Harwood, was born in Con- 
>rd, Massachusetts, February 22, 1714. He mar- 
ed Dorothy Hubbard, who died in Brookfield. Au- 
ust 15, 1809. He removed from Concord to Little- 
)n in 1737 with his father and brother Joseph, and 
lence to North Brookfield in 1743-4. In April, 
745, he joined the secret expedition against Louis- 
urg in Captain Olmstead's company under Sir Will- 
;im Pepperell and was killed during the siege June 
7, 1745. His widow drew his prize money at Bos- 
Dn, February 15, 1748. She married (second) at 
Vorcester, July 5, 1750, Nathaniel Bartlett, of North 
irookfield. 

, Peter Harwood, father of Ebenezer Harwood and 
pn of Nathaniel Harwood, was born in Concord, 
.lassachusetts, January 12, 1671. He married. No- 
ember 7, 1700. Mary Fox. of Concord, and died at 
-ittleton in 1740. He had seven children, 

Nathaniel Harwood, the immigrant ancestor of 
■Irs. John C. Pellett and her descendants, father 
f Peter Harwood. was first in Boston, then in Con- 
ord between 1665 and 1667. In 1665 he signed a 
.eclaralion of non-freemen of Boston as to their 
.atisfaction with the government. He married Eliza- 

eth , who died April 25, 1715. He died Febru- 

ry 7, 1716. 

(VII) Thomas Armit Pellett, son of John C. 
'ellett (6), was born in Wales, Massachusetts, ' 
.lav 19, 1850. He attended the public schools in 
irattleboro, Vermont, whither his parents moved 
Vhen he was only four years old. He learned the 
■lason's trade in Brattleboro. In 1S74 the contractor 
or the Worcester Insane Hospital at Bloomingdale, 
Vorcester. J. D. Plummer. sub-let the contract for 
he brick work to Mr. Pellett. This contract took 
hree years during the warm months and took thirteen 
nillion bricks. Mr. Pellett next superintended the 
milding of the Mount Hermon Boys' School at Gill, 
vlassachusetts, for Rev. Dwight L. Moody, for about 
1 year and a half. In partnership with Mr. Plummer, 



under the firm name of Pellett & Plummer, his firm 
built a school house at Saxtons river and a paper 
mill in Bellows Falls; the Amherst hat shop and two 
stores at Amherst. In partnership with his brother, 
John C. Pellett. under the name of Pellett Brothers, 
he built the high school building in Brattleboro, Ver- 
mont ; the Canal street school house; the Hooker 
block; the railroad station and the engine house, 
all at Brattleboro. In company with J. M. Boswell 
he built an addition to the Worcester Insane Hospi- 
tal, comprising two large wings. This firm also 
executed important contracts at the gas works, Wor- 
cester, and built Lamb's block on Front street. 

Again he went into partnership with his brother 
as T. A. and J. C. Pellett. This firm had the con- 
tract for the tower on St. Paul's Church. In 1903 the 
firm was dissolved, J. C. having important contracts 
in Brattleboro, Vermont, where he has been working 
since then, while Thomas A. Pellett has remained 
in business in Worcester under his own name. In 
1896 the firm was associated with John H. Pick- 
ford in building the Standish Hotel ; additions to 
Bowler Brothers' brewery; additions to the gas 
house; The Aurora, Main street, for Charles F. 
Stevens ; the foundations of Bicknell block and two 
tenement buildings for Rice Brothers. Pellett 
Brothers also built the Worcester Society of An- 
tiquity building; Mr. Shell's residence. Northfield, 
Massachusetts ; the Free Will Baptist Church ; the 
German Lutheran Church, Worcester; the old Ethan 
Allen factory on Jackson street. Some of the build- 
ings constructed by Mr. Pellett, when he was not 
in partnership were : The Methodist Church at 
Brattleboro ; engine house and barn at North Brook- 
field; stable for Charles Bush; engine house for the 
town of North Brookfield ; a fine residence at St. 
John. New Brunswick. 

He married. April 2, 1878, Emily Barrett, of 
Wardsboro, Vermont. Her father, Emerson Barrett, 
was a wood-worker by trade. Their children are: 
Arthur, born August 26, 1880; Annie, born February 
24, 1882; Bradford, born June 15, 1889; Marion, 
born April 6, 1901. 

FRANK LUCIUS MURDOCK.' The name 
Murdock (Murdoch or Murtogh) is of Gaelic origin 
and signifies Admiral, Sea Leader or Sea Power. 
The Murdock coat of arms is thus described : Argent, 
two ravens hanging paleways (sable) transfixed by 
an arrow through their heads fess ways. Tlie family 
motto is: "Omnia Pro Bono." (.iMl Things for the 
Good). The C. of A. was registered by Murdock 
of Camlodden in 1672 and has never been reduced. 
The crest is a raven rising, shot through the breast 
by an arrow. 

Murdoch is the Scotch way of spelling the sur- 
name, which in England and America is spelled 
Murdock. The name has been common in Scot- 
land for centuries, especially in Ayrshire. At the 
same time branches of the family are found over the 
line in England. Henry Murdac. w-ho died in 1 153, 
was a famous archbishop of York. He came of a 
wealthy and important family in Yorkshire. He 
joined the Cistercian order of Monks at Clairvaux. 
He was enthroned at York, January 25. 1151. The 
second Duke of Albany was Murdac or Murdoch. 

John Murdoch, born in Ayr, in 1747. died there 
1824. was a distinguished writer and friend of Robert 
Burns. Another famous Scotch author was Patrick 
Murdoch, who died in 1774. educated at Edinburgh, 
a native of Dumfries. Perhaps the best known mem- 
ber of the family was William Murdoch, the in- 
ventor of coal-gas lighting. He was born in Ayr- 
shire at Bellow Mill, near Old Cumnock, the second 
son of John Murdock. millwright, August 21. 1754, 



4o8 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



died in 1839. His father and grandfather were both 
gunners in the royal artillery. After Murdoch re- 
moved to England he spelled his name Murdock. 
At the present time Rev. Alexander Murdoch is 
Canon of Edinburgh, an office he has held since 1883. 
He has been rector of All Saints Church, Edin- 
burgh, since iSC>7 

(I) Robert Murdock, the first American ancestor 
of Frank L. Murdock, of Worcester, Massachu- 
setts, was born in Scotland about 1665. He and his 
brother, John Murdock, came to America about 1688 
and settled in Plymouth colony in New England. 
John remained there and is the ancestor of a numer- 
ous branch of the family. Robert stayed about four 
years in Plymouth. In 1692 he removed to Roxbury, 
Massachusetts. On the early records the name is 
spelled Murdo and Murdow as well as Murdock. 
His was the only name of this family on the Rox- 
bury records before 1700. He married, at Roxbury, 
April. 28, 1692, Hannah Stedman, born in 1667, 
daughter of Thomas and Mary Stedman, of Cam- 
bridge. Robert Murdock and his family removed 
from Roxbury to Newton in 1703 and bought a house 
and one hundred and twenty acres of land there for 
ninety pounds of Jonathan Hyde and John Wood- 
ward. The farm was west of the school lot and the 
Dedham road, north of Jacob Chamberlain's farm, 
and east of John Hyde's. Later he owned the place 
called the Captain Jeremiah Wiswall place. 

His wife Hannah died 1727, aged sixty. He mar- 
ried (second) Abigail . He died April, 1754, 

aged eighty-nine years. Children of Robert and Han- 
nah (Stedman) Murdock were: Hannah, born Jan- 
urary 22. 1693; Lt. Robert, February 11, 1695, married 
Abigail Hyde, daughter of Samuel Hyde. Novem- 
ber 5, 1719, and his only son settled in Hubbardston 
with his cousin. Robert, ancestor of the Worcester 
branch ; Lieutenant Robert was seclectman, repre- 
sentative to the general court, etc. ; John, May 25, 
1606, ancestor of the Uxbridge, Massachusetts, and 
Windham county, Connecticut, branches of the fam- 
ily, see forward: Samuel, March 24. 1698; Benjamin, 
March 4, 1701, married, 1725, Mary Hyde; Hannah, 
born at Newton, May 22, 1705. 

(II) John Murdock, third child of Robert Mur- 
dock (i), was born in Roxbury, Massachusetts, 

May 25, 1696. He married, in 1722, Sarah . He 

bought twenty-two acres of land in Newton in 1721 
of William Hyde for two hundred pounds. His place 
was on the west side of the road. His neighbors 
were on the north James Prentice and on the south 
Daniel Hyde. He died March, 1744, aged forty- 
eight years. His wife died 1779. aged seventy-six 
years. Children of John and Sarah Murdock were: 
Hannah, born July 17, 1723, died young; Abiel, Feb- 
ruary 21, 1724-25. went to Brookfield, Massachu- 
setts, thence to Hubbardston, married Rebecca Wat- 
son, who died June 3, 1772, aged seventy-five years; 
he died January 20, 1834, aged ninety years; John, 
December 24, 1727, founder of the Uxbridge branch; 
Ephraim, April 18, 1729. died young; Amos, August 
7. 1730, founder of the Windham, Connecticut, 
branch; Elisha, August 25, 1732, died 1749; Aaron, 
August 28, 173s ; Ephraim, March 19, 1737, married, 
1761, Sarah Sever, and 1768 Charity Davis, lived 
at Roxbury, deacon; James, March 15, 1738, mar- 
ried Deborah Williams, October 10, 1765 ; Robert, 
see forward; Sarah, September 17, 1741 ; Hannah, 
February 21, 1744, married Nathaniel Sparhawk, 
1768. 

(III) Robert Murdock, tenth child of John Mur- 
dock (2), was born in Newton. Massachusetts. Sep- 
tember, 1739. He was a soldier in the -revolution. 
He was in Coptain William Marean's company. 
Colonel Doolittle's regiment, at Lexington, April 19, 



1775. He was second lieutenant in Captain Willian 
Marean's. company. Colonel Nathan Sparhawk'; 
(Seventh Worcester) regiment. He was commis 
sioned as lieutenant April 6, 1776. Lieutenant Rober 
Murdock removed from Newton to Hubbardston 
Massachusetts, about 1765. He married Margare 
Cheney, of Newton. He died October I, 1819; shi 
died March 11, 1826, aged eighty-four years. Chil 
dren of Robert and Margaret (Cheney) Murdod 
were : Margaret, born 1768, in Hubbardston, mar 
ried Luther Goodspeed ; Ebenezer, 1771 ; Robert, se( 
forward; Sarah, November 14, 1779, died Septembe: 
24, 1798; Hannah, July 8, 1782, married Ebenezei 
Stowe. 

(IV) Robert Murdock. third child of Robert Mur 
dock (3), was born in Hubbardston, Massachusetts 
August 31, 1773. He settled in his native town anc 
his children were all born there. He married Sail; 
Nichols, March 15, 1804. He died April 27, 1852 
she died September 5, 1855. Children of Roberi 
and Sally (Nichols) Murdock were: William, borr 
January 27, 1805, married Sarah Wheelock, Febru- 
ary, 1833; he died at Wendell, June 4, i860, and sht 
died October 14, 1863, aged fifty-six ; they had ninf 
children ; Mary, August 10, 1806, married. Marct 
I, 1832, Joshua P. Pillsbury and lived in Washing- 
ton, D. C; died April 30, 1892 ; Ebenezer, Septembei 
27, 1808. married Betsey Wheeler, March 2, 1836 
died July 6, 1845; their daughter Ellen married 
June 3, 1863, John D. Williams ; Sumner, July 28 
1810. married Charlotte W. Howe, January 23. 1833 
and had .four children, among whom were Charle; 
W., Henry L., Clara E., married Albert Mason, 0; 
Gardner; Joseph Cheney, November 30, 1812, diec 
December 14, 1882; married Julia Greenwood, Janu 
ary q, 1838, and had six children : Julia Ann, Leandei 
L., Willie C, Alfred C. Abby L., John G. : Elisha 
see forward; Sarah. July 31, 1818, married Richar( 
Leonard, died December, 1900. 

(V) Elisha Murdock, sixth son of Robert Mur 
dock (4), was born in Hubbardston, Massaclni 
setts, June 21, 1815. He married Nancy Temple 
daughter of Thomas Temple, January 17, 1837. Shi 
died September 2, 1853. He married (second' 
Abigail A. (Clark) Young, May 24, 1855. She diei 
February 17. 1875. He married (third) Mrs. Marth; 
J. Evans, of Royalston, Massachusetts, April 9, 1877 
He resided all his life in Hubbardston and was 1 
highly respected and esteemed citizen of that towr 
Children of Elisha and Nancy (Temple) Murdocl 
were : Lucius Adelbert, see forward ; Elwin, die( 
young; George Elwin. August 7, 1840, resided ii 
Worcester. Child of Elisha and Abi.gail A. (Clark' 
Murdock was : Nancy Ella, born March 16, 185; 

(VI) Lucius Adelbert Murdock, son of Elish: 
Murdock (5), was born in Hubbardston, Massachu 
setts. August 28, 1837. He attended the publi 
schools of his native town until eleven years old 
At that age he left home with fifty cents in hi 
pocket and hired out to William Joslin. He earnei 
sixteen dollars in the first month of working ou 
and he saved as well as earned money. At th 

■ age of fifteen he bought a farm in Hubbardstor 
which has since been known as the Murdock Farn: 
and in three years he had cut off wood enough, si 
that w-ith his savings he had the property free 
debt. His ambition led him finally to leave Hub 
bardston. He sold the farm to good advantage am 
went to East Templeton as engineer for the Derb; 
Chair Company. He was there but a short tim 
when he had an opportunity to make some mone; 
by handling winnowing machines. His thrift an' 
energy interested William Smith, a manufacturer 
tinware, in Templeton Centre, and Mr. Murdoc! 
accepted a position offered him by Mr. Smith. Ii 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



409 



1861 Mr. Smith moved his business to Worcester 
;and took Mr. Murdock into partnership. The firm 
name was Smiih & Murdock and their place of 
.business was 174 Main street, near Lincoln square. 
The firm manufactured and dealt in silver and tin 
'ware. In 1873 the firm was dissolved and Mr. Mur- 
dock went into business with his son, Frank L. 
Murdock. dealing in wool stock at Bigelow court. 
In 1880 he was appointed general agent of the 
Penn Mutual Life Insurance Company of Philadel- 
phia, Pennsylvania, with offices in Boston, and he 
; withdrew from business in Worcester. For twenty- 
five years he was actively engaged in the duties of 
his position with the Penn company. He was well 
'known throughout New England among insurance 
men and took a high standing among them. He 
enjoyed the complete confidence of his company, 
and under his management the business grew to large 
proportions. Mr. Murdock made his home at 21 
Highland street. He attended the Plymouth Con- 
gregational Church. Pearl street, and was one of 
its founders. In politics he was a Republican. He 
was a charter member of the Brookline Lodge of 
Elks at Brookline. Massachusetts, where he lived 
during his later years. He was a member of the 
Home Market Club of Boston. He was ahvays in- 
terested in public affairs and was well posted in cur- 
rent events. He was an authority on insurance 
matters. Fie died January 29, 1905. at Worcester. 
, He married, November 25, 1858, Ellen Hager, 
daughter of Charles White and Lydia Parkhurst 

■ (Whipple) Hager, of Hubbardstoo, Massachusetts. 
Charles W. Hager was a farmer there. Children 
of Lucius A. and Ellen (Hager) Murdock were: 

' Frank Lucius, see forward ; William Herbert, born 

■ July 10. 1863, died August 24, 1864 ; Mary Boyden, 
born March 17, 1870, married Charles Crompton; son 
of Georse Crompton. of Worcester. June 6, 1892. 

(VII) Frank Lucius Murdock, eldest child of 
Lucius A. Murdock (6), was born in East Temple- 
ton, Massachusetts, February 29. i860. His parents 
removed to Worcester when he was a year old. At 
the age of five he began to attend the public schools 
in Worcester. He took a two years' course in the 
. high school and left to enter upon a business 
career. In 1876 he entered into business with his 
father, dealing in wool stock'. He was in the firm 
of Lucius A. Murdock for four years, when his 
father went into the life insurance business and he 
became connected with Tower, Wing & Co., of 
Lawrence, Massachusetts, manufacturers in wool 
stock and commission merchants. He remained with 
this firm until 1892, when he became vice-president 
of the Basch & Greenfield Company, of Newark, 
New Jersey. He resides at 714 Pleasant street, 
Worcester. He and his family attend the First 
Universalist Church. In politics Mr. Murdock is a 
Republican. lie is a member of the Worcester .\uto- 
mobile Club, and the Home Market Club of Bos- 
ton. He was from 1877 to 1880 a member of Com- 
pany C, Worcester Light Infantry. Second Regi- 
ment, Massachusetts Volunteer Militia. 

He married, January i, 1880. Inez Estelle Bud- 
ding, daughter of Benjamin Quincy and Lucy Ann 
(Fessenden) Budding, of Worcester. Mrs. Mur- 
dock is a member of the Home Club of Worcester, 
Timothy Bigelow Chapter, Daughters of the Ameri- 
can Revolution. Their only child is Alice Camille, 
born March 22, 1881, who lives with her parents. 
Mrs. Murdock's father, Benjamin Quincy Budding, 
was a well known inventor of shoe inachinery. 

JOSEPH RICE TORREY. In all parts of the 
world, wherever razors and razor strops are used, 
the name of Torrey is known,- and that for a reason 



to be seen farther on in this brief memoir of one of 
the enterprising manufacturers of the city of 
Worcester. 

Joseph Rice Torrey was born August 23, 1828, 
at New Salem, Massachusetts. When but two years 
of age his father died and his mother moved to 
Barre, Massachusetts, where he attended the common 
schools and subsequently his his own efforts the 
Wcslcyan Academy at Wilbraham, Massachusetts, 
and also took a course at the Leicester Academy, 
where he early showed in a marked degree the 
physical strength and power of endurance of an 
athlete which has served him so well in the hard 
and constant work of later years. At the age of 
seventeen he taught school, teaching for two years 
in Barre and Leicester, and then became an ap- 
prentice to the trade of stone-cutting, at which he 
worked for about four years. 

Being considered an expert penman he took up 
the teaching of penmanship at Leicester and West- 
minster academics and other places in Worcester 
county, finally locating in the city of- Worcester in 
1852, where he engaged as bookkeeper with Will- 
iam H. Dexter, then in the flour and grain busi- 
ness. While occupying this position he originated 
a system of accounts which was approved by Mr. 
Dexter, and adopted by several large dealers in the 
same line of business. We ne.xt find him in the 
grocery trade, conducting a large retail business 
under the firm name of Eddy & Torrey; this part- 
nership was dissolved in 185S. Feeling that he had 
not yet discovered his favorite calling he decided, 
after carefully following out a line of investi.ga- 
tion in which he had been much interested for some 
time, to engage in the manufacture of razor strops. 
His grocery business not having proved financially 
successful owing to the great trade depression cul- 
minating in the disastrous year of 1857, he began his 
new venture without capital depending solely upon 
his own labor for the support of his family, but 
by untiring industry nights as well as days he soon 
established a reputation for making gootis superior 
to any other in this his newly chosen line. Year 
by year he contin\ied to expand this business and 
enlarge his territory for trade. Commencing in a 
small way in 1858, by 1880 he owned the largest 
industry of_ the kind in existence. During the 
year 1880 he added the manufacture of razors and 
organized with Joseph Turner, a skilled expert in 
that line of cutlery, tht J. R. Torrey Razor .Com- 
pany, with Mr. Turner as president and himself 
as treasurer. They were as conservative in this 
venture as Mr. Torrey had been in the strop busi- 
ness, but with the passing years of steady growth, 
the razor business has increased until now this 
firm is by far the largest exclusive manufacturers 
of razors in this country, if not in the world, and 
wherever men shave their faces the "Torrey" brand 
is known and appreciated for its exceedingly fine 
temper and keen cutting qualities. 

There had been several previous attempts to 
manufacture razors in the United States. Some of 
them on quite an extensive scale, bringing from 
England experienced workmen, and in one instance 
barrels of water were imported in which to harden 
the blades, under the singular delusion that the 
water in this country was not suitable for that 
purpose. But all these attempts proved failures, 
and it remained for the J. R. Torrey Razor Com- 
pany to establish the first successful "manufactory 
for that article in America. 

Joseph Rice Torrey was never above his busi- 
ness and never shirked his personal duty. He 
learned to creep before he tried to walk. He first 
made by hand the razor strops which he sold upon 



4IO 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



the streets of Worcester, New York and other 
cities, until the people who used such articles be- 
came acquainted with the superior quality of his 
goods, and dealers sought after them. Reputation 
thus gained became his capital and earned for him 
the handsome reward he now enjoys. Let his record 
stand out boldly as an example to the rising young 
man who would make a success of life. 

In 1870 he was elected to represent Worcester 
in the state legislature, being re-elected in 1871. He 
is a stanch Republican in his political views, and at 
one time wielded an influence in the councils of his 
party second to none in the county. He served on 
city, county and congressional committees in many 
hotly contested campaigns. He has always been a 
strong advocate of temperance and always practiced 
total abstinence as the only consistent and safe man- 
ner of living. In his social relations he is num- 
bered among the Masonic fraternity, Worcester 
Board of Trade, Massachusetts Club of Boston. 
He belongs to the Old South Congregational Churcli. 
He is an as.sociate member of the Grand Army, 
George H. Ward Post, No. 10, of Worcester. 

In 1852 he married Ann Adelia Lewis, daughter 
of John Lewis, of Westminster, Massachusetts. Two 
children blessed this union: Frank William, who 
died at the age of sixteen years, and Lewis Hamil- 
ton, who is now associated with his father as a 
member of the firm of J. R. Torrey & Company, 
and is also a director in the Torrey Razor Com- 
pany. Mrs. Torrey died in 1869, and in 1877 he 
married Eliza Rice, of Barre, Massachusetts, b\ 
whom he has one daughter, Annie Louise. 

The following regarding the ancestry of Joseph 
Rice Torrey is of interest: 

(l) William Torrey, one of the American im- 
migrant ancestors of the Torrey family in Massa- 
chusetts, was born at Combe St. Nicholas, Somer- 
setshire, England, about 1590; he was descended 
from an eminent family of that county, received a 
good classical education and came to Massachu- 
setts with his brother James about 1640. James 
settled at Scituate, and William at Weymouth, where 
he became a magistrate and captain of the train- 
band of the colony (the highest military rank of 
the time), and was many years a representative 
from Weymouth in the general court. Being a 
good penman he was frequently chosen clerk of that 
body. He was prominent in all committee work 
where they had to do with liferary and educational 
questions. He died at Weymouth about 1675. 

His son Samuel, born in England, graduated at 
Harvard College, and became an eminent minister 
at Weymouth. Preached the "Election Sermon" 
three times and twice declined the presidency of 
Harvard College. He was ,born about 1631, and 
died in 1707. 

Ebenezer Torrey, the grandfather of Joseph Rice 
Torrey, born in 1771, at Weymouth, Massachusetts; 
when a young man moved to New Salem, Massa- 
chusetts. He married a Miss Day of that place by 
whom he had two sons : Sumner and William. 
Ebenezer Torrey was very active politically and 
prominent in the state militia. In 1810 was com- 
missioned captain by Gevernor Gore. He served as 
a member of the Massachusetts legislature from 1831 
to 1833, and was earnestly interested in securing 
the charter for the first line of railway from Boston 
to Worcester. He died in 1863 and was buried at 
New Salem, Massachusetts. 

William Torrey, son of Ebenezer Torrey, was 
born at New Salem, in 1799, married Clarissa Rice, 
daughter of Joseph Rice, of Barre, December I, 
1825, she being of the fourth generation from 
Gersham Rice, one of the first settlers of Worces- 



ter. Their only child was Joseph Rice Torrey, 
whose father, William Torrey, died in 1830. aged 
thirty-one years, and was buried in New Salem, 
that part of which is now in the town of Orange. 

CRAWFORD FAMILY. While the Crawford 
family was well established in Scotland before 1200 
we are told that it is of Anglo-Norman origin some 
two centuries earlier, and the Crawfords of Scotland 
trace their ancestry to a Norman noble of the days 
of William, the Conqueror. The name is spelled 
sometimes Crawfutt in the early Scotch records, 
while Crauford was the ordinary spelling until later 
days. A list of the heads of important Scotch fam- 
ilies in 1291 has been preserved. . It is known to 
historians as the Ragman's Roll. On this list are 
the names of five Crawfords : John de Crauford, 
of Ayrshire ; John de Crauford, tenant le Roi, 
Ayrshire; Renaud de Crawford, of Ayrshire; Roger 
de Crauford and William de Crauford. The records 
show families in Lanarkshire, Renfrewshire and 
Stirlin.gshire, as well as Ayrshire, before the year 
1200. The titles held in Scotland by this famil) 
were: The Viscountcy of Mount Crawford and 
Garnock. The Earldom of Crawford belonged tc 
the Lindsey family. A number of Crawfords were 
amoung the Scotch given grants of land in the prov- 
ince of Ulster, Ireland, in 1610, and later by King 
James I. The first settler in Tyrone, whence came 
the American immigrant of the branch of the fam- 
ily under consideration, was George Crawford 
Nicholas Pynnar, who made a survey of the Scotch 
Irish settlements in 1619, reported that in the pre- 
cinct of Mountjoy, county Tyrone, George Crawford 
had transferred his thousand acre grant to Alex- 
ander Sanderson. The name is common in the Prot- 
estant ' districts of Antrim, Down, Londonderry and 
Tyrone at the present time. 

(I) Aaron Crawford, the pioneer ancestor ir 
America of William H. Crawford, of Worcester 
was born in county Tyrone in 1677. If George 
Crawford were his ancestor, the family had beer 
there some sixty years when he was born and George 
would have been his grandfather or great-grand- 
father. He came to New England with his familj 
in 1713, some five years before the first extensive 
emigration of the Scotch-Irish began. He arrivec 
in Boston in the spring or summer of 1713 and livec 
there probably until he settled in Rutland, ^lassa- 
chusetts, soon afterward. The grant of what is now 
Rutland was confirmed to the children of ]\Iajoi 
Simon Willard, of Lancaster, and others by ordei 
of the general court, February 23, 1713. It is said 
that the first clearing was made in 1716 and thai 
the settlers began moving there in September, 1719 
The town was incorporated May 13, 1722, and the 
first meeting of the settlers under the act of incor- 
poration was held on the last Monday of July, 1722 
As one of the Crawford family was elected to ; 
town office at the first meeting, it is believed thai 
Aaron Crawford was one of the earliest settlers 

Aaron Crawford married Agnes Wilson, in the 
parish of Capy. county Tyrone, Ireland. She wai 
born in 1678. Three sons, Samuel, John and Alex- 
ander, born in Ireland, in this parish of Capy, were 
brought over by the parents, also Martha. Alex- 
ander was less than a year old when the famih 
arrived in Boston. Aaron and his wife both diec 
at Rutland and are buried in the graveyard in the 
centre of the town. He died August 6, 17.^4; she 
died December 10, 1760. Their children ; Samuel 
born 1705 in Ireland, died October 17, 1760: mar- 
ried Margaret Montgomery and had no children 
Martha, born 1706. died September 20. 179S. ir 
Rutland; married, May 'S^ 1733, James Bell, of Ire- 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



411 



], who died March 25, 1793; tliey had Molly, 
Mam, Martha, James, John, Aaron, Abraham, 
(es, Samuel, Simsoii and Sarah Bell. John, born 
Ireland, settled in Palmer, Massachus'elts; died 
K unmarried. Alexander, born 1713 in Ireland, 
;i forward. Isabella, died young. Mary, born in 
iland, April 15, 1721. married, April 15, 1745, 
fiiam McCobb and they had Elizabeth, Isabella, 
6n, Margaret, Nancy, Fanny, John, Molly, 
; tha, and Samuel McCobb. Moses, died un- 
;Hed in Rutland, where he settled, 
'il) Alexander Crawford, son of Aaron Craw- 
I (i), was born in the county of Tyrone, Ireland, 
'713, probably early in the year. He was an in- 
i less than a year old when the family came to 
i;rica in 1713. He went to Rutland with the fam- 
,'in 1719 and helped his father clear the farm 
mg his youth. He settled in Rutland and fol- 
>'d the life of a pioneer farmer until 1750, when 
i'emoved to Rutland West Wing, now Oakham, 
be he died October 11, 1793, in his eightieth 

^e married Elizabeth Crawford, probably a dis- 
1 relative, February 5, 1735-36. She died April 
'•1774, aged sixty-two years, doubtless also born 

reland, in Londonderry county, emigrating with 
;'ral brothers and sisters from Magherafelt, of that 
)'ity, and settling in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, 
1' Virginia. Their children : William, died in 
ijicy. John, born January 7, 1739, was captain 
.he revolution; married, February 9, 1759, Rachel 
['iderson and had: Elizabeth, born March 14, 1760, 
,;ried Robert Wilson; John, born_ May 2, 1762, 
rvned, unmarried, aged thirty-five, a school 
liher; Alexander, born February 12, 1765, married 
^lia Willis and had eight children ; Samuel, born 
J 16, 1767; Samuel, born August 9, 1769, mar- 
e' Huldah Burden and had ten children; Calvin, 
31 October 18, 1770, married Catherine Bence and 
a several children, removed to New York state; 
inel, born April 2, 1773. married — — Stimpson, 
f Vermont; Josiah, born April 25, 1776; Patty 
tn), born December 11, 1778; Polly (twin), born 
icmber II, 1778. Infant, died young. Aaron, 
i.ried, January 31, 1768, Gilles Gill and had six 
o:> and three daughters, removed to Canada, 
/'iam, born October 23, 174S, see forward. 

'.Ill) William Crawford, son of Alexander 
T'.vford (2), was born in Rutland, Massachusetts, 
tciber 23, 1745. He removed to Oakham with his 
aiuts when five j'ears of age and was brought up 
n'the farm, getting a meagre education in the 
3mon schools. He learned the trade of clock- 
i.-'ing and became one of the most skilful and 
aous mechanics in his line. His home was in 
veastern part of the town. He was a soldier in 
v revolution and sergeant in Captain John Craw- 
j:'s company, Colonel James Converse's regiment, 
nsting July 22, 1777, and was discharged July 
6 1777, serving in the Rhode Island campaign. 
I' was under the same officers on the Bennington 
il-ni, from August 20, 1777, to August 23, 1777. 
I'was short of stature and somewhat lame in con- 
erence of a fever sore. He became captain of 
li; company in the militia and was afterward al- 
'cs called Captain Crawford. 

fie married Mary Henderson, who was born 
li 30, 1748, died November 26, 1838, of old age. 
il' was the daughter of James and Sarah Hendcr- 
0' of Rutland. Their children : Elizabeth, born 
"e-uary 10, 1774, died February 3, 1838; married, 
5(tember, 1815, Jonathan King, wdio died April I, 
8;. James, born August 11, i775, see forward. 
AY, born February 7, 1778. William, born Feb- 
•^"y 25, 1780, died March 30, 1781. Sarah, born 



January 30, 1782, died February I, 1798. William, 
born January 30, 1782, died February I, 1798. Will- 
iam, born October 5, 1780, was representative to 
the general court 1813-23-33-41-46, to the state senate 
1825 and 1826, and was county commissioner from 
1836 to 1850 inclusive; graduate of Dartmouth and 
prominent school teacher; a giant mentally as 
well as physically; general in the state militia. 
Rufus, born November 13, 1785, married, January 
16, 1820, (intentions dated) Clarissa Cunningham, 
of Spencer, and had : Laura del Rosetta, born 
March 5, 1826, married. May 10, 1846, Edwin Fuller 
and had one child Edward L. Fuller; Amanda Mal- 
vina, born November 30, 1S34. Molly, born Octo- 
ber 6, 1787, married, June 27, 1812, Samuel Tcimcy 
and had : Paul, born October 12, 1822 ; Lucy Maria, 
born May 3, 1814; Martha Rice, born November 
30, 1816; Mary Chandler, born July 5, 1819; Rufus 
Oswcll, born May 7, 1821 ; Laura Hazen, born 
November 30, 1822; Ellen Elizabeth, born July 27, 
1825; Isabella, born February 24, 1796, died Novem- 
ber 16, 1845. Alexander, born April 16, 1792, mar- 
ried, September 6, 1813, Mary Henderson anci had : 
Emeline Mariah, born September 30, 1814; .\nson 
Alexander, born January 17, 1817; William Aniory, 
born October 7, 1820. Harriet, born March 10, 1795, 
died March 19, 1795. 

(IV) James Crawford, son of William Craw- 
ford (3), was born at Oakham, Massachusetts, 
August II, 1775. He received his education in the 
public schools of his native town and helped his 
father on the farm. In early manhood he learned 
the trade of gunsmith, following it through life. 
He died at Albany, New York, February 5, 1814. 
He had been employed in the government arsenal 
there. He was an active and robust man, fully six 
feet in height. 

He married, March, 1800, Molly Butler, born at 
Oakham, Massachusetts, October 17, 1780, died Jan- 
uary 31, 1825. daughter of John and Grace Butler, 
of Oakham. Their children : Laureston Faulkner, 
born October 8, 1801, married October 8, 1829, 
Caroline R. Cummings, of Hardwick, born 1809, 
died August 29, 1838, leaving son Joseph', born 
1830, daughter Mary Reed, born June 4, 1832, and 
daughter Emily Augusta, born January 29, 1834. 
Algernon Sidney, born April 27, 1805, died July 
1846. at Puebla, Mexico, of yellow fever during the 
Mexican war; married (first) Eliza Gay and had 
son James; (second) Lucy Stone, of Rutland, and 
had daughters Jane and Ann. William Theron, 
born April 2, 1807, see forw^ard. 

(V) William Theron Crawford, son of James 
Crawford (4), "'as born at Oakham, Massachu- 
setts, .\pril 8, 1807. He received his education in 
the common schools of that town. He became a 
wheelwright by trade and while a young man and 
unmarried worked at Rochester, New York. He 
married Almira Clark, at Barre. Massachusetts, and 
lived for a year or more in Rutland, Massachusetts, 
but settled shortly in Barre, where he bought the 
farm where his wife's ancestors for several genera- 
tions had lived. He lived there until his death, 
January 8, 1858. He attended the Congregational 
church regularly all his life, but was never a mem- 
ber. In politics' he was a Whig until the organiza- 
tion of the Republican party, with which he affiliated 
in his last years. He was selectman in Barre in 
184=;. 

He married according to the family records, 
November 6. 1S31, Almira Clark, daughter of Thomas 
and Sarah (Dcmond) Clark, descendant of one of 
the oldest families of Massachusetts, her immi- 
grant ancestor being one of the first settlers. Their 
children: l. Charles, born May 11, 1833, married 



412 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



ft" 



Louise Blakemaii, at Minneapolis. Minnesota, No- 
vember 2, 1866; died at Chicago, Illinois, May 31, 
1905 ; was paymaster of the United States Volun- 
teers from 1861 to 1865; stationed at Fort Leaven- 
worth, Kansas, and Denver, Colorado ; made brevet 
lieutenant colonel at close of the war ; his children 
were — Charles, Jr. and Marion. 2. William, born 
January 3, 1835, at Barre, married Judith Perkins 
Cochran, daughter of Rev. Joseph Gallup and De- 
borah Plumb Cochran, missionaries at Mount Seir, 
Persia, at Buffalo, New York. May 31, 1880; edu- 
cated in Barre schools, Leicester Academy, Am- 
herst College and Andover Theological Seminary ; 
he had pastorates at Central City, Colorado ; Green 
Bay, Sparta, and Mazomanie, Wisconsin ; received 
degree of Doctor of Divinity from Amherst College 
in 1893; his children — William Wilbcrforce, born 
at Washington, Connecticut, June 30, 1882, educated 
at Beloit College, Wisconsin, and Oberlin College, 
Ohio; married at South Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Sep- 
tempcr 5, 1905 ; journalist in Chicago, Illinois; 
Arthur Whipple, born at Sparta, March S, 1885, 
graduated at Beloit College. Wisconsin, 1906; Dora 
Judith, born at Sparta, April 24, 1888. 3. Henry, 
born March 5, 1839, died February 17, 1843. 4. Sid- 
ney, see forward. 5. Sarah Clark, born in Barre, 
May 22, 1843, died there December 26, 1861. 6. 
Ellen Almira, born in Barre, April 4, 1846, died in 
Barre. April 27, 1873. 7. Joseph Bowman, born in 
Barre. February II. 1848, died in Barre, December 
20, 1851. 8. Frederick Bowman, born in Barre, Sep- 
tember 12, 1854, was educated at Sheffield Scientific 
School in Yale Lhiiversity, was in business at Balti- 
more and Philadelphia until his death, October 7, 
1894. He married Janie Campbell, October 14, 1880, 
children — Bessie, Frederick Campbell and Mary 
Helmsworth. 

(VI) Sidney Crawford, son of William Theron 
Crawford (s), was born in Barre, Massachusetts, 
January 31, 1841. He received his early educa- 
tion in the public schools of Barre, fitting for col- 
lege in the high school of that town and at Monson 
Academy. He entered Amherst College in 1857 and 
graduated in 1861. From 1861 to 1864 he was 
principal of Walton Academy, Delaware county, 
New York. He was for one year assistant pay- 
master in the United States Volunteers at Leaven- 
worth, Kansas, and Denver, Colorado. Then he 
studied theology at Andover Seminary, graduating 
in the class of 1870. He has had pastorates in Fair- 
haven, Vermont ; Lyons, Iowa ; Tampa, Florida ; 
Rutland, Massachusetts ; and Provincetown, Massa- 
chufetts. During his residence in Florida he was a 
member of the board of trustees of Rollins College 
at Winter Park. He is author of "Historic Sketch 
of First Congregational Church, Lyons, Iowa" and 
of "Rufus Putnam, and his Pioneer Life in the 
Northwest," printed in the proceedings of the Amer- 
ican Antiquarian Society, 1899. He united first 
with the Congregational church in Andover Semin- 
ary and since then has kept his connection with the 
church of which he was pastor. In politics he has 
always been a Republican. He belongs to two col- 
Ico-e fraternities, the Alpha Delta Phi and the Phi 
Beta Kappa. 

He married, at Green Bay, Wisconsin, 1S75, Har- 
riet Phinney Peak, daughter of Dr. James Madison 
and Celestia Benjamin Peak, of Cooperstown. New 
York. Mrs. Crawford died in Tampa, Florida. 1888. 
He married (second), 1901, in Provincetown, Massa- 
chusetts. Edith Small, daughter of Josiah F. and 
Adelaide L. Small. The children of Rev. Sidney 
and Harriet Phinney (Peak) Crawford were. i. 
Frederick Stuart, born in 1876 at Lyons, Iowa, grad- 
uated at Amherst College 1897; since then he has 



been on the staff of the New York Tribune, 
York city ; married, 1902, Mabel Rosemond J 
Lean, of Elmira, New York; their two children 
Frederic Stuart Crawford, Jr., born 1903; Si 
Peak, born 1905. 2. Paul Peak, born 1879,! 
young. 3. Marjorie Peak, born 1881, died younj 

(V) Elias Butler Crawford, son of James 
ford (4), was born in Oakhatn, Massachusetts,' 
vember 19, 1810, and was educated there in the cc 
mon schools. When he was about twenty-one 
left home and went to New England, village 
Grafton. Massachusetts, and was engaged in 
thread business, he remained there until .1835, \vl 
he removed to Oxford, Massachusetts, and foi 
time manufactured spools. Later he manufactu 
thread, and this business was continued under 
firm name of DeWitt, Campbell & Company ; Al 
ander DeWitt being agent until after May, it 
when he was succeeded by Benjamin F. Campl 
who continued until May 25. 1842, when the ] 
was burned and the business discontinued. On S 
tember 20, 1842, Stearns DeWitt conveyed to E 
B. Crawford three-fourths of the estate of Butfi 
ville, including lands called Pierpont together w 
the remnant of the plant of the old thread comp. 
not destroyed, and Mr. Crawford continued 
manufacture of thread in a shop near the site 
the mill and had his home on this property. . 
Crawford acquired the other quarter interest in ; 
property April 24, 1845, from the Samuel Do 
estate, and he began the building of the present 1 
of brick and had it nearly completed, when he - 
it to Charles L. Harding, who fitted it up for mak 
broadcloths and doeskins. In 1854 Mr. Crawf 
occupied the basement of the Sigourney mill in ■ 
manufacture of twine. Elias B. Crawford bou 
of H. G. Otis and Asa B. Taft, April 16, 1853, : 
old Jacob Marble place on Rocky Hill, and : 
Crawfords lived there until April, 1S60, when t ' 
sold to Francis Coughlin, of Rhode Island. 
Crawford removed to Putnam, Connecticut, and ■ 
a time manufactured cotton goods. Later he ma • 
factured woolen goods at Stafford, Connecticut, ■ 
ally coming to Wilkinsonville, Massachusetts, wl ' 
he owned a mill and manufactured woolen go • 
at what was known as Woodbury Village. His n 
kct was mostly in New York city. He sold out fin: ' 
to INIoses Taft, of Uxbridge, in 1888, and reti I 
from active business, making his home in Won ■ 
ter with his daughter, Mrs. Caleb Colvin. He c 1 
there January 29, 1890. In politics he was a Rep ■ 
lican and in 1855 held the office of assessor in : 
tow-n of Oxford, and at one time highway ci ■ 
missioner. 

He married, at Grafton (intention dated) Mn 1 
8, 1834, Jane Thankful Taft, who died January , 
1S76, dau,ghter of Otis, granddaughter of Silas, • 
scendant of Robert Taft, the immigrant, thro 1 
his son Robert. (See sketch of Taft famili' 
Their children: i. Eliza Jane, born January 18, i^ , 
married. June 26. i860, Albert H. Appleby, of 1 • 
ford, Massachusetts, and had Elmira Harris, b 1 
September 8. 1861 ; Marian, born February 17, i . 
married David Glass of Oxford; Nettie Louise, b 1 
October 5, 1867 ; Addie Eliza, born October 9. I^ ■ 
Elias Butler, born August 23. 1S75. 2. Ellen Mine , 
born November it, 1S37, died February 25, It ; 
married. October 8. 1877. Caleb Colvin, a promiit 
Worcester manufacturer, 3. William Henry, B 
forward. 4. Annette, born September 21, 1S50, < j 
January 22, 1905 ; married .Albert Harry Stone, f 
Worcester, and they had — Nellie Crawford Sti ', 
born August 24, 1880; Arthur Stone, born July , 
1888. 

(VI) William Henry Crawford, son of Elws ■. 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



wford (5), was born at Oxford, Massachusetts, 
iSy 7. 1840. He received his early education in the 
pLlic schools. At the age of eighteen years he 
vjtit to Schrawlenburg, New Jersey, where he taught 
sjool for two years. In i860 he went to Worcester 
all entered the employ of Sumner Pratt, a prominent 
(liler in mill sujiplies, and spent his first year in 
ti business with which he has been connected all of 
ti time since. After his first year he took a course 
a.'\Vesleyan Academy at Wilbraham, Massachusetts, 
aU then returned to the employ of Mr. Pratt. Pie 
■\,h a clerk in the concern until 1870, when he was ^ 
anitted a partner by Mr. Pratt under the firm name 
C Sumner Pratt & Company. The store was at 22 
Bont street and the stock consisted of mauufac- 
ti'ers' supplies for the cotton and woolen industries, 
ie tirm continued until December i, i8(j6, when 
i'. Crawford became the senior partner and John 
7 Brierly was admitted to the firm. The present 
rme of Crawford & Company was then assumed, 
'ie business was moved to 15 and 17 Mechanic 
geet. April I, 1900, where it remained until burned 
ct March 17, 1905. Since then the firm has occupied 
l;idsome and spacious quarters at 663 and 665 Main 
jeet, in the Bellmar block, scarcely a month 
e.psing from the time of the fire until the firm was 
^e to supply its trade from the new store. The 
fni does a prosperous business with mills in all 
jirts of New England, New York, New Jersey, 
(;nada and other sections. 

' Mr. Crawford is an attendant of the Plymouth 
fmgregational Church, and has been on the board 
<[ assessors of the parish three years. In politics 
i is a Republican and had frequently taken part in 
(limty, councillor, senatorial and congressional con- 
■>ntions of his party as delegate. He was a mem- 
Ir of the Worcester common council in 1S84 and 
;85, and of the school board three years. He has 
fen a member of Montacute Lodge of Free Masons 
iice October 14, 1872. He was a director of the 
ftizens' National Bank for several years. Mr. Craw- 
■rd has an elegant residence at 1 1 Massachusetts 
/enue. 

i He married. June 8, 1865, at Palmer, Massachu- 
Stts, Mary Ann Moore, daughter of Henry A. and 
'mira (Ruggles) Moore, of Palmer. Her father 
'^s a scythe maker. Their children: i. Lillian 
.'oore, born May 4, 1868, teacher in the Classical 
'gh school, Worcester. 2. Mabel Jane, born Octo- 
;r 17, 1870, married Dr. Frank H. Howland, of 
(Worcester, one of the leading dentists of the city, 
W they have Mabel Gladys Howland, born March 
! 1904. ^. Anna Cutler, born June 3. 1873, resides 
', home with parents. 4. Harry Colvin. born Sep- 
hiiber 23, 188.5, ^''^duate of Amherst, 1906, and is 
'ith the firm of Crawford & Company. 

^ FROST FAMILY. Elder Edmund Frost (i>. 
e immigrant ancestor of Frederick E. Frost, of 
i/orcester, Massachusetts, was born in England 
lOut 1610. He settled in Cambridge, Massachu- 
tts, where he was during his life ruling elder of 
e Cambridge church. He was admitted a freeman 
arch 3, 1635-36, and was a proprietor of the town 
^ early as 1636. He bought land of Thomas 
ilodgett in 1639 on the west side of Dunster street, 
;tvveen Harvard square and Mt. Auburn street. 
;e sold this place to Catherine Haddon and bought 
' house on the west side of Garden street, near 
iiason street. He sold land to Richard Eccles in 
'>46. He seems to have owned the land on the west 
de of Kirkland street from Divinity Hall avenue 
' Francis avenue. His descendants owned it until 
cently. He married (first) in England Thoma'^in 
Tamasin) , and (second) Rcana Daniils, 



who was the widow successively of James, 

William Andrew and Robert Daniel. He died July 
12, 1672. His will was dated April 16, and proved 
October i, 1671. He bequeathed to wife Reana ; 
to sons Ephraim, Thomas, John and Joseph; to his 
two daughters, Sarah and Mary; to Jacob French 
and his wife and the children of Golden More; to 
Harvard College and to Mr. Alcock's son there. 
The inventory of the estate of the widow was dated 
January 3, 1675-76. The children: John, born and 
baptized in England; Thomas, born April, 1637, died 
young; Samuel, born F'ebruary, 1638; Joseph, 
born January 13, 1639; James, born April 9, 1640; 
Mary, born July 24, 1645; Ephraim, see forward; 
1 homas ; Sarah, born 1653. 

(II) Ephraim Frost, son of Edmund Frost (i), 
was born in Watertown, Massachusetts, in 1646, died 
there January 2, 1717-18. He settled in Cambridge, 

and married Mepsibath . Their children: 

Edmund, born March 14, 1679-80; Ephraim, born 
September 23, 1682; Thomas, born 1688; Ebcnczer, 
born in Cambrid.ge, . baptized January 17, 1696-97, 
see forward; Sarah, married. May 17, 1720, Nathaniel 
Patten. 

(III) Ebenezcr Frost, son of Ephraim Frost (2), 
was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and bap- 
tized there January 17, 1696-97. He married, July 2, 
1723, Deborah Martin. In 1730 he bought a lot on 
the east side of North (now Massachusetts) ave- 
nue, Cambridge. He seems to have lived in Charles- 
town also and his children may have been born there, 
or some of them. He was taxed there in 1741, 1745 
to 1766. He sold Gideon Frost four acres, late of 
John Cooper. Frost was a currier by trade. Pie 
died in 1768. His will was dated April 16, 1768, 
and proved June 28, 1768. The children: Abraham, 
born March 7, 1723-24, married, June 8, 1747, Mary 
Oliver; Ebenezcr, baptized August 22, 1725, see for- 
ward; James, born jNIarch 2, 1731-32, married Eliza- 
beth Roby, daughter of Dr. Ebenczer Roby. 

(IV) Ebenezcr Frost, son of Ebenezcr Frost 
(3), was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and 
baptized there August 22, 1725. He removed to 
Rutland, Massachusttts, after his second marriage 
in 1761. He bought a farm of one hundred and 
four acres including house and barn at Rutland 
of Joseph Bartlett, of that town. The land was 
bounded by land of William Allen, Captain Samuel 
Brown, Samuel Mansland and Israel How. The 
deed is dated December 19, 1760. 

He married Naomi Dana, daughter of Thomas 
Dana. April 21. 1748. He married (second) Ruth 
Wright, of Woburn (published I-'ebruary 24. 1761). 
He was appointed guardian of his four children of 
his first wife July 13, 1761. His wife Ruth died at 
Rutland. July 20, 1789, aged eighty-nine years ac- 
cording to the inscription on her gravestone. He 
was a soldier in the revolution, a private in Captain 
David Bent's company. Colonel Nathan Sparhawk's 
regiment, and marched at the Bennington alarm. 
The children of Ebenezcr and Naomi Frost : Eben- 
ezcr, born in Cambridge or Charlestown, baptized 
February 19, 1748-J9, see forward ; Mary, baptized 
February 24, 1750-51; David, baptized June g. 1754: 
Deborah, baptized February 12, 1758. Children of 
Ebenezcr and Ruth Frost : Ruth, born August 4. 
1762 ; Joseph, baptized December 29. 1765 ; married, 
November 20, 1784, Adonijah Bartlett; Jonathan, 
baptized December 13, 1767: Dana, born 1769, died 
May 28. 1843 ; Stephen, baptized .April 8, 1770, mar- 
ried Polly Kendall, August 5, 1790. 

Ebenezcr Frost, son of Ebcnczer Frost (4). was 
born in Cambridge or Charlestown, Massachusetts, 
and baptized in Cambrid.ge, February 19, 1748-49. 
He settled for a short time in Southborough, but 



414 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



sold his land there September 5, 1771, to his father, 
Ebenezer Frost, of Rutland, and went to Norwich, 
New London county, Connecticut. He kept a tavern 
there with good success. He also followed his trade 
of stone mason until incapacitated by an accident 
while laying a stone wall. He was an extensive 
dealer in horses, many of which he sold in Cuba. 
There is a deed in the Worcester registry in which 
Ebenezer Frost, of Norwich, county of New Lon- 
don, conveys to Thomas Read, of Parkstown, Massa- 
chusetts, for twenty pounds all his right to the real 
estate of his father, Ebenezer Frost, late of Rut- 
land, Massachusetts, as set off to "my mother, Mrs. 
Ruth Frost, as her dower." The deed is dated 
May I", 1799, ten years after the death of the 
Widow Frost. Ebenezer Frost married Luthena 
Cady, a native of France. Their children; Eben- 
ezer, Henry, Joseph, born 1792, see forward; Polly 

Luthena, married Peckham, and lived at 

Hartford, Connecticut. 

(VT) Joseph Frost, son of Ebenezer Frost (5), 
was born at Norwich, Massacjuisetts, February 17, 
1792. He was educated in the district schools of 
this locality, and in early manhood went to Wood- 
stock, Connecticut, to learn the trade of cabinet 
maker. After a few years he went to Greenfield, 
Massachusetts, where he followed his trade and 
made carriages in the employ of one Clay. After 
his marriage, five years later, he removed to Strat- 
ton, Vermont, worked at his trade there two years, 
then came back to Greenfield and worked for one 
Bancroft and for Miles & Lyon. He remained in 
Greenfield until i860, when he removed to Water- 
bury, Connecticut, and worked there as carpenter 
and cabinet maker for the next ten years. He 
spent the last two years of his life in Lunenburg, 
Massachusetts, living with George Washburn Frost, 
his son. Mr. Frost was an Episcopalian in early 
life, later a Unitarian. He was a Whig until the 
Republican party came into being, when he became 
a firm supporter of the new organization and re- 
mained so until his death. He was a member of the 
state militia in his youth. 

He married at Greenfield, Massachusetts, De- 
cember 2 1819, Susanna Waite Guellow, born Sep- 
tember 30, 1801. Their children: Joseph Warren, 
born at Stratton, Vermont, November 14, 1820, 
married, March 17, 1845, Harriet Buck, of Brattle- 
boro, Vermont, and had children— Webb War- 
ren, born February 4, 1846, married, December 20, 
1866, Celia N. Armstrong; Hallie Eliza, born Feb- 
ruary 22, 1848, married, 1866, Sidney J. Enson and 
had one son, Clarence, born June 20, 1869; Rush 
Stanhope, born October 17, 1757, married S. Elinor 
Davies and and have: Clarence Stanley, born No- 
vember 26, 1884; Herbert Leslie, born September 
26, 1886; Rush Raymond, born August 11, l8go ; 
Howard Davies, born January 25, 1893; Marjorie 
Adelaide, born May 27, 1906. Daniel Webb, born 
May II, 1822, at Greenfield, Massachusetts, married, 
January 14, 1847, Louisa Cook, of Windsor, Con- 
necticut, died August 19, 1903; they had children- 
Henry, born April 22, 1848, died August 19, 1904; 
Jennie Louise, born 1832, died 1859; S. Otis, born 
January 17, 1858; Charles H., born December 10, 
1859. Luthena Cady, born at Greenfield, Massachu- 
setts, April 28, 1824, married, July 3, 1843, Samuel 
Azaro Corser, of Greenfield, born December 6, 1823, 
and they had children— George Albert, born Sep- 
tember 23, 184s, died in civil war, unmarried; Ida 
Luthena, born at Fitchburg, Massachusetts, April 
28, 1848, married, August 2, 1866, Waterman D. 
Bristol, of Waterbury, Connecticut; Ada, born May 
25, 1850, died February 19, 1883. unmarried: Charles 
Henry, born in Millbury, died young; Elizabeth, 



born November 23, 1855, married, April, 1889, Georg 
Hawley and have a son, George William Hawlej 
Susan Jane, born at Worcester, 1857, died younj 
Hezekiah Stone, born in Greenfield, February i 
1826, died April 26, 1898; married, March 13, 184 
Mary Esther Munsell, born November 27, 1827, die 
December 25, 1895, and they had children — Mai 
Elizabeth, born February 8, 1847, married, Octobf 
28, 1902, Joseph Bowers, of Chicago ; Ella Aug'ust; 
born June 29, 1848, married, June ij , 1869, Edwar 
B. Beals, of Springfield, Massachusetts, and ha 
Alfred Tennyson, born April 21, 1870; Grace Fros 
born October 23, 1871 ; Nellie Elizabeth, born Sej 
tember 28, 1873; Edna Winifred, born October il 
1876; Joseph Frost, born March I, 1850, died Sej 
tember, 1851. George Washburn, born at Greer 
field, July 2, 1828, died August 20, 1830. Georg 
Washburn, born April 18, 1831, see forward. Elizj 
beth, born May 16, 1833, married, January 3, 185. 
Noble Terrill, of Hamden, Connecticut, and hai 
children — Joseph Henry, born June 17, 1855, die. 
February i, 1875; Ida Louise, born February i; 
1858, married, July 2, 1877, Noyes E. Bassett an 
have — Raymond E., Louise H., Leon N.; Jenni 
Lusina, born April 22, 1867, married, June 6, i88i 
Octave Petitjean, and they have: Mabel T., Clij 
ford O., Hazel J. ; Jessie Evelina, born May 9, 187;:, 
died August 10, 1875. Charles Henry, born Marc 
24, 1835, married Eliza Cook, of Windsor, Coni 
necticut, had no issue. Joseph Frost married (sec- 
ond), October, 1856, at Greenfield, Maria (.\n 
drews) Abbott, mother of George Washbur; 
Frost's wife. They had no children. 

(VII) George Washburn Frost, son of Josep' 
Frost (6), was born at Greenfield, Massachusett; 
April 18, 1831. He was educated in the commo 
schools of that town. He went to work first a 
the age of eleven years and when not in schoc 
was employed in the factory of the Russell Cutler 
Company. He then went to Fitchburg, Massachu 
setts, and learned the trade of iron molder of Ashe 
Green, -remaining with him four years when h 
removed to Worcester and entered the employ o 
William A. Wheeler, in whose foundry he workei 
for nine years. He worked also at his trade for th 
Fall River Iron Works at Fall River, Massachu 
setts ; for the Holmes Iron Foundry at Provideno 
and for the Whitin Machine Works at Whitinville 
He went to Springfield about 1857, and two year 
later returned to Fitchburg, where for ten years h' 
was employed in the foundry of Page & Smith anc 
for ten years by the Putnam Machine Company, re 
siding in Fitchburg and Lunenburg for twent; 
years. About 1881 he went again to Worcester anc 
worked in the foundry of Caleb Colvin and fo 
other foundries for a number of years. He is a 
present associated with his son, Frederick E. Frost 
at 505 Main street. He resides on Piedmont street 
He is an Episcopalian in religion and a Republicai 
in politics. He has served at various times as dele 
gate to nominating conventions of his party. Hi 
was a member of the Molders' Union of Fitchburg 
from 1873 to 1878. 

He married, March 20, 1856, Mary Ellen Abbott 
born January 22, 1840, daughter of Jonathan Woo< 
.\bbott. born at Shapleigh. New Hampshire, Apri 
17. 1789, and Maria (Andrews) Abbott, born a 
Machias, Maine, June 9, 1798. Her father was : 
custom tailor. Their children : Joseph, born a' 
Springfield, August 11, 1857, died at Lunenburg 
February 8, 1875 ; Willard Francis, born at Fitch- 
burg. September 13, i860, unmarried ; George Al- 
bert, born at Fitchburg, July 25. 1866. died July I 
1868; George Henry, born at Fitchburg, March I 
1864, died August 12, 1S64; Frederick Eugene, born 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



415 



at Fitchburg, March 13, 1869, see forward ; Emma 
Luella, born at Lunenburg, -October 10, 187J, died 
June 16, 1873; Harry Lincoln, born at Lunenburg, 
June 12, 1877, died December 15, 1879. 

(VIII) Frederick Eugene Frost, son of George 
\\'ashburn F'rost (7), was born in Fitchburg, Massa- 
chusetts, March 13, 1869. He received his early edu- 
ciilion in the public schools there. At the age of 
thirteen he came to Worcester with his parents 
and attended the public and high schools. • He was 
>.Kiduated from the Classical high school in 1888. 
lie entered the employ of Perkins & Butler, dealers 
111 paper, twine, etc., as clerk, and remained two 
vcars. He then started in business for himself at 
554 Main street in the manufacture and sale of 
rubber stamps. A year later he removed to 535 
Main street, upstairs, where he was located for a 
year. He was then at 537 Main street for a year. 
In the spring of 1898 he bought of William L. Lewis 
the old established stationery store, formerly owned 
by C. B. Eaton, at 505 Main street, where he has 
since been located. He has made a specialty of 
typewriters, stamps and stencils, in which he does a 
large business as well as in the regular lines of 
stationery, office supplies, etc. He manufactures 
seals, door plates, badges and incidentally has a 
large business in soda, confectionery and cigars. He 
owns a fine residence at 33 Newbury street. He 
attends the First Universalist Church. In politics 
he is a Republican. He is a member of Morning 
Star Lodge of Free Masons, joining June 19, 1900. 
He became a member of Worcester Chapter of 
Royal Arch Masons. He is also a member of 
Quinsigamond Lodge, No. 43, Odd Fellows, and of 
the Worcester Automobile Club. 

He married, November I, l8go, Edith Emily 
Cook, daughter of Benjamin lilunroe and Susan B. 
(Walden) Cook, of Worcester. Her father is a 
machinist in the Crompton &. Knowles Loom Works, 
a veteran of the civil war. Their children : Ray- 
mond Harrison, Mabel Sophia, Harold Lincoln. 

HARRINGTON FAMILY. The ship "Eliza- 
beth" which sailed from England, April 10, 1634, 
had as one of its passengers Robert Harrington, 
born in England, 1616. He settled in Watertown, 
Massachusetts, where he was given a "homestall" 
by Deacon Thomas Hastings, probably a relative. 
Harrington's name appears last on the list of pro- 
prietors of Watertown, made 1642 to 1644, at which 
time he owned the above named "homestall." Octo- 
ber I, 1648, he married Susan, (or Susanna) George, 
daughter of John George, of Watertown. She was 
at that time an orphan, the widow of Henry Gold- 
stone being her guardian. She died July 6, 1694. 
He was admitted freeman May 27, 1663, and died 
May II, 1707, aged ninety-one years. His will, dated 
January I, 1704, mentions sons — John, Daniel, Ben- 
jamin, Samuel, Thomas and Edward. To Edward 
he gave the homestead. His will also mentions 
daughters, Susanna Beers, Mary Bemis, Sarah Win- 
ship; his grandson, Joseph, son of Joseph, deceased, 
and daughter-in-law, Joanna Ward, late wife of his 
deceased son Joseph. His inventory mentions six- 
teen lots of land amounting to six hundred and forty- 
seven and one-half acres, appraised at seven hun- 
dred and seventeen pounds. The estate included 
house and mill, valued at one hundred and twenty 
pounds. The children of Robert and Susan 
(George) Harrington were: Susanna, born August 
18, 1649, married, February 9, 1671, John Cutting; 
John, August 24, 1651, died August 24, 1741 ; Robert, 
August 31, 1653, died young; George, November 
24, 1655. was in Captain Samuel Wadsworth's com- 
pany and was killed by Indians at Lancaster, Feb- 



ruary, 1675; Daniel, November r, 1657, died April 
19, 1728; Joseph, December 28, 1659; Benjamin, Jan- 
uary 26, 1661, died 1724; Mary, January 12, 1663, 
married John Bemis; Thomas, April 20, 1665, died 
^iarch 29, 1712; Samuel, December 18, 1666; Ed- 
ward. March, 1668; Sarah, March 10, 1670, married 
Joseph Winship, Jr., November 24, 1687, and died 
November 28, 1710; David, June i, 1673, died March 
II, 1675. 

(II) Edward Harrington, son of the ancestor 
Robert, married (first), March 30, 1692, Mary 
Ocington, and (second). May 24. 1727, Anna, widow 
of Jonathan Bullard, of Weston, Massachusetts. 
He was selectman of Watertown, 1716-30-31. Their 
children were: Mary, born January 2, 1692, married 
Daniel Rogers, December 7, 1710; William, Novem- 
ber II, 1694, died February 27, 1751 ; MindwcU, June 
19, 1697, died October 14, 1700; Joanna, August 16, 
1699, married John Taintor, May 25, 1720; Edward, 
June 27, 1702, died December 6, 1792; Samuel, 
August 3, 1704; Nathaniel, June 25, 1706, known as 
"Master Harrington"; Francis, June 11, 1709. mar- 
ried Prudence Stearns ; Susanna, born September 9, 
171 1, married Samuel Barnard; her son Samuel was 
one of the Boston tea party, and a tnajor in the rev- 
olutionary war. 

(III) Samuel Harrington, son of Edward and 
Mary Harrington, was born August 3, 1704. He 
married, October 19, 1725, Sarah Warren. He was 
called "of Walthams" and had children : Samuel, 
baptized May 19, 1728; Mary, baptized May 19, 
1728; Elijah, born 1734, probably another son, was 
in Worcester prior to 1768. 

(IV) Samuel Harrington, was called "of Wor- 
cester" in 1776, at which time his daughter Hannah 
married Daniel Maynard, of Shrewsbury. He very 
likely was here prior to April, 1775, when his son 
Samuel marched from Worcester in Captain Tim- 
othy Bigelow's company for Lexington. His chil- 
dren were: Samuel, born 1754, married Silence 
Robinson ; he died 1838, aged eighty-four years ; 
Hannahf;.born 1757, married Daniel Maynard ; Noah, 
born February 2, 1760, married Lois Kingsley. 

(V) Samuel Harrington, fifth in line from the 
ancestor Richard, married, November 19, 1782, Mrs. 
Silence Robinson, at Dorchester, Massachusetts, 
where they first settled and there all but one of their 
children were born. He marched from Worcester 
on the alarm at Lexington, April 19, 177S, in Cap- 
tain Bigelow's company of Worcester men, and 
served twenty-three days in Colonel Artemas Ward's 
regiment. Fie came with his family to Worcester 
about the year 1796, and here his youngest son was 
born, September I, that year. Their children were: 
Susanna, born February 12, 1783, married Abel 
Flagg, October 31, 1802; Samuel, October 3. 1784, 
married Nancy White, April 23, 1812; Lucretia, 
August 21, 1786, married John Baird, December 
25, 1800; James, June 23, 178S, married Esther 
Flagg, April 25, 1821 ; Sarah, April 12, 1790, married 
John Gleason, and Peter White ; iibenezer, Sep- 
tember 22, 1792 ; Mary, August 24, 1794, married 
Samuel Perry; Austin, September I, 1796. 

(V) Noah Harrington, son of Samuel Harring- 
ton (4), was born February 2, 1760, and died July 
18, 1832, aged seventy-two years. He served as 
matross in Colonel Timothy Craft's regiment of ar- 
tillery. He was also in Captain Joseph Sibley's 
company in 1777, and served in other capacities in 
the revolutionary struggle. He is described as five 
feet, eleven inches tall and of light complexion. He 
married, July 27, 1784. Lois Kingsley, born Sep- 
tember 12. 1760, died October 11. 1820, aged fifty- 
four years. They first settled in Shrewsbury, where 
three children were born to them. They came to 



4i6 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



Worcester about 1792, and lived on the Grafton 
road, where it passes near the Boston & Albany 
Railway tracks. He, with his brother Samuel, kept 
a tavern in Boston on the site of the present Adams 
House. Their children were : Lydia, born Decem- 
ber 25, 17S4; William, 1786, died in infancy; Han- 
nah, 1792, died young; Samuel, died young; Will- 
iam, February 25, 1788, died February 12, 1871 ; 
Luke, September 12, 1789, died November i, 1855; 
Samuel, 1797, died April 4, 1855; Eliza, 1800, mar- 
ried Mr. Shay, and died July 17, 1869; Thomas J., 
January 27, 1804, died July S, 1888; Hannah, July 
17, 1809, married Henry Tower, and died Alarch 23, 

1853- 

(.VI) William Harrington, son of Noah (5), 
was born February 25, 1788, died February 12, 1871. 
He married Abigail Adaline Stowell, daughter of 
Peter and Elizabeth Stowell. She was born March 
IS. 1799- Mr. Harrington passed his youthful days 
on his father's farm, and when a young man at- 
tempted to master the trade of a mason. While 
at work on the original Exchange building on Main 
street, Worcester, the staging on which he and others 
were at work gave way and all were tlyown to the 
ground. Young Harrington was picked up for dead 
and carried to Mr. Hampilton's residence. In a few 
moments Mrs. Hampilton discovered signs of life, 
when every eflfort was put forth in his behalf. His 
knee was crushed in the fall, and after a confine- 
ment lasting five years the limb was finally ampu- 
tated by Dr. John Green. He then lilted himself for 
a teacher and taught in the Central Worcester dis- 
trict. Charles Stiles, George Bancroft, Stephen Salis- 
bury and Henry W. Miller attended his school. 
Later he conducted a store and a tavern. The sec- 
ond time he embarked in mercantile business, he 
located at what has come to be known as Harring- 
ton's corner. Flour sold in 1812 here at twenty-five 
dollars per barrel. He resided on Park street, near 
Salem street. He died in 1871, aged eighty-two 
years, eleven months and seventeen days. His chil- 
dren were: Frances A., born October 4, l8ei ; Will- 
iam Henry, April 29, 1824; Chauncy Goodrich, 
June 30, 1826. 

(.VII) William Henry Harrington was born 
April 29, 1824. He married Lucy Forbes, of Mill- 
bury, and had one son to reach mature years, Will- 
iam Harrington, now of Worcester. After the death 
of his first wife he married Mrs. Bemis. Mr. Har- 
rington was a manufacturer, and many years oper- 
ated the plant known as the Berlin mills, where 
woolens are manufactured. Prior to this he made 
wrenches. About 1855 he bought out the business 
of Calvin Witherbee in Millbury, where he continued 
making monkey-wrenches, chisels and drawing 
knives. After the beginning of the civil war he 
made bayonets for the government. A Mr. Heald 
was interested with him in starting in business at 
the Berlin mills, and also the Atlanta mills in Mill- 
bury. 

(Ill) Josiah Harrington, son of John Harring- 
ton, an elder brother of Edward, the father of Fran- 
cis, was born June 12, 1709. He married. May 20, 
1730, Dinah Flagg, youngest child of Allen Flagg. 
He bought land in Worcester of Cornelius Durant. 
May, 1754, he was "of Walthams, Massachusetts." 
Their children were : Fluldah, baptized September 
25, 1731 ; Dinah, baptized J\Iay 20, 1733, died Sep- 
tember 30, 1759, was the wife of Elijah Livermore ; 
Elijah, baptized November 17, 17,^4: Tabitha, bap- 
tized September 11, 1737; Elizabeth, baotized April 
15. 1739; Josiah, baptized May ir, 1740, married 
Mary Jones, January 10, 1764; Hannah, baptized 
November 22, .1741 ; Jemima, baptized July 29, 1744; 
Sarah, baptized JVIay 11, 1746; Jemima, baptized 



January 24, 1748; Anna, baptized July 2, 1749; Mary, 
baptized September I5,"i75i; Silas, baptized May 21, 
1752, married, November 25, 1773, Mindwtll Wel- 
lington; she died October 27, 1808, aged fifty-seven 
years. Silas Harrington married Abigail Thorp, 
February i, 1809. He died in Worcester, June 15, 
1831. His children were: Olive, born 1775; Lydia, 
1778; Jerenuah, 1779; Josiah, 1781 ; Clarissa, 1784; 
Silas, 1786; Aiindwell Wellington, 1810; Hannah 
Bucklin, "1812; Clarissa tiarlan, 1815; Mary, 1817; 
Silas Flagg, 1820. • 

(IV) Elijah Harrington, son of Josiah and. 
Dinah (Flagg) Harrington, married Azubah Rice, 
February 8, 1758. she died in April, 1768, aged 
thirty-four years. He married (seconjl) Mehitable 
Draper, in 1769. He died February 3, 181 1, aged 
seventy-seven years. Their children were : Ephraim, 
baptized June 29, 1760; Azubah, baptized April 11, 
1761, died in infancy; Azubah, baptized March 24, 
1762; Mehitable, baptized May 24, 1770; Abigail, 
baptized July 14, 1773; Tamesin, baptized June 7, 
1776; Fanny, baptized August 14, 1777; Elijah, bap- 
tized August 2, 1779. 

(HI) Francis Harrington, eighth child of Ed- 
ward (2) and grandson of Robert the American 
ancestor, was born June 11, 1709. He married Pru- 
dence Stearns, of Watertown, Massachusetts, in 
1736. She was born April 27, 1713, and died at 
Worcester, August, 1751, aged about thirty-eight 
years. He married (second) Deborah Brigham, in 
Westboro, November 14, 1752. She died in Worces- 
ter, April 20, 1799, aged eighty-four years. He died 
July 18, 1793, aged eighty-four years. At the date 
of his marriage with Prudence Stearns he was called 
"of Grafton." Thither he took his young wife and 
established his home, and there their eldest child 
Francis, Jr., was born. In the Spring of 1741 he 
purchased of Joseph Dana and Mary Dana, his wife, 
of Pomfret, Connecticut, the farm in Worcester that 
was to become his future home. He no doubt took 
possession of the purchase just named as soon as 
Charles Davenport (then on the land) could easily 
vacate the premises, and Harrington was tlie first 
of his name to settle in Worcester, as evidenced 
by the town records, the name of Francis Harring- 
ton appearing in the list of "persons qualified to 
serve as jurymen agreeable to law." This list was 
laid before the selectmen at the meeting held July 
19, 1742, and soon public honors and responsibihlies 
came to him, for at the next meeting he was chosen 
field driver, and was re-elected the next year. The rec- 
ord shows that at a meeting held May 16, 1743, it 
was voted that in consideration of great sickness in 
Francis Harrington's family, his tax for the last 
year be repaid to him, being one pound, three shil- 
lings ; and August 29, the town voted him seventy- 
two shillings for "two birds two tails." In March, 
1748, he was chosen constable. For four years, 1754 
to 1777 inclusive, he was chosen to serve on com- 
mittee to provide schoolmasters for his district. His 
chief service, however, was given to the office of 
surveyor of highways and collector of highway 
taxes, having been first chosen to that office in 
1750, and re-elected in 1758-63-68-72-83. 

The children of Francis and Prudence (Stearns) 
Harrington were: Francis, born in Grafton, 1737, 
died in Worcester, April 6, 1768; Nathaniel, burn 
in Worcester, 1742, married Ruth Stone; jMary, born 
in Worcester, December 16, 1753, married Jonathan 
Stone, Jr., February, 1777; Prudence, born April 20, 
1755, married Jonah Perry, July 6, 1780: William, 
born November 18, 1756, married Mary Perry, >.Iay 
29, 1781. 

(IV) Nathaniel Harrington, son of Francis and 
Prudence Harrington, was born in Worcester, 1742. 







(lA/ly|y^^V^A^07^ 







Q:7i^la.r7^c^ c3^^^^^: 





WORCESTER COUNTY 



417 



He married Ruth Stone, July 2, 1776, who was 
born in 1748, and died August 24, 1817, aged sixty- 
nine years. Mr. Harrington was born and reared on 
die Harrington lioniestead, and when the alarm was 
sounded calling for men to assist in defending the 
rights and liberties of the colony, he responded, go- 
ing out as sergeant in Captain Timothy Bigelow's 
company of mmute-men, Colonel Artemas Ward's 
regiment, which marched on the alarm of April 19, 
1775. He signed, with others, order for advance 
pay in June, 1775. He was also hrst lieutenant in 
Captain Joshua Whitney's company. Fifth Worces- 
ter County Regiment of Massachusetts militia. ]Mr. 
Harrington's introduction into public office in his 
native town was March ii, 1777, when at town 
meeting he was chosen, with seven others, to serve 
as "hog reeves." Two years later his name appears 
on the jury list, and in 17S0 also as assessor, and 
the foUownig year as one to provide schooling in 
his district. In 1788-94 Mr. Harrington was chosen 
surveyor of highways and collector of highway 
taxes. He served on the school committee from 
1790 to 180S, and was chosen on committee for 
building public schoolhouscs in 1797-99. t'or more 
than twenty- five years from 1798 he was paid by the 
town for boarding and nursing Kezia jNIorse, a poor 
person. In 1799 he was fence viewer, and he served 
as a selectman from 1803 to 1809 inclusive. About 
the last public service rendered the town was in 
running the boundary line between Worcester and 
Shrewsbury. In 1808 he, with the other members 
of the board, signed a letter to the selectmen of 
Boston declining their request that the citizens of 
Worcester be assembled in town meeting to concur 
with the sentiments expressed by the inhabitants 
of Boston in a petition addressed to President Jef- 
ferson, praying for the suspension of the embargo 
act. He died February 28, 1831, aged eighty-nine 
years. His children were": Francis, born JMay 15, 
1777, died October 17, 1841 ; Jonathan, October 31, 
1779, married Mary Flagg ; Sarah, August 14, 1786. 

CV) Captain Francis Harrington married Lydia 
Perry, May 13, l8or. He remained on the old home- 
stead. He was captain of the militia of the Wor- 
cester South Company. Although not prominent in 
public affairs, he was honored more or less with 
responsible positions by the town, such as school 
committeeman, surveyor of highways and collector 
of highway taxes. In 1816 he was chosen with 
William Trowbridge, Thaddeas Chapin, Benjamin 
Thaxter and Ebenezer Mower to report at a future 
meeting on the claim made by Isaiah Thomas, Esq., 
"for work, etc., done at the bridge near ilr. Salis- 
bury's, etc." His children were : Daniel, born Octo- 
ber 4, 1802, married Clarissa Gray ; Mary, March 
20, 1804, married Captain and Deacon Samuel Perry ; 
Hannah, February 12, 1806, died July 14, 1823; Jo- 
seph, February 27, 1808, died April 13, 1812; Fran- 
cis, August II, 181 1, married ( first"! Harriet W. 
Robbinson; (second) Frances J. Moore; he was an 
alderman in i86o ; Lydia, December 12, 1814, mar- 
ried Nahum Flagg. 

(V) Jonathan Harrington, son of Nathaniel (4), 
was born October 31, 1779. He married Molly (or 
Mary) Flagg, 1804, and resided on a portion of the 
original homestead. Their only child was Benjamin, 
born April 8, 1S05, died August 15, 1873. His home 
was at Harrington Court, near his cousin, Daniel 
Harrington. He married Lucretia Flagg, March 
l8, 1834. Their children : Mary Elizabeth, born 
January 25, 1836, married Samuel G. Curtis; Benja- 
min F., September 2, 1838, married Harriet W. 
Harrington ; Hannah Flagg, November 12, 1842, died 
April n, 1845; Henry Augustus, September 8, 1846, 
married Delia M. Griggs; he was a member of over- 
seers of the poor, 1888 to 1896, and a member of 
27 



the board of aldermen, 1900-01 ; Sarah A., married 
Gonzalo Buxton. 

(VIj Captain Daniel Harrington, son of Cap- 
tain Francis Harrington (S), was born October 4, 
1802, and died September II, 1863. He married 
Clarissa Gray, born August 23, 1809, and died 
June 6, 1885. He succeeded to the home estate, 
and in 1831 his name appears on the jury 
list. Subsequently he was called to fill the position 
of fence viewer, school committee and highway sur- 
veyor. He served in the common council, 1849-1850, 
and board of aldermen, 1851. Their children were: 

1. Joseph A. Harrington, born October 26, 1829, 
died December 4, 1875; a soldier in Fifty-first Regi- 
ment, Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, in civil 
war for nine months; married Zelia M. Pierce. 

2. Emily A. Harrington, born October 23, 1831, 
married George S. Battelle, died 1883. 

3. Charles A. Harrington, born May 20, 1834, 
died October 16, 1905. He married (first) Lucy 
Goulding; (second) Margaret Patch. He served in 
the city council, 1882-1883. His children were : El- 
mer VV., Herbert H. 

4. Henry M. Harrington, born March 20, 1836, 
died August 6, 1837. 

5. Delia A. Harrington, born March 21, 1841, 
married George B. Andrews, 1863, residence Clinton, 
Massachusetts. 

6. Maria A. Harrington, born September 2, 1843, 
married Edward W. Wellington, son of T. W. Wel- 
lington, coal dealer at Worcester; Mr. Wellington 
enlisted in the civil war, serving as lieutenant. His 
two children were : Delia M., Frank E. 

7. Hon. Francis Alfred Harrington, born No- 
vember 17, 1846, married (first) Roxanna M. Grout, 
who died December 24, 1900, (second) Mrs. Lillia 
(Dudley) Leighton. He was born and reared 

at the old homestead, the farm purchased in 1741^ 
which he now owns. He is a prominent Odci 
Fellow and Free Mason, and also active in 
Grange organizations, having been treasurer of the 
State Grange for twenty years. He was elected as 
alderman to represent ward three in the city gov- 
ernment, serving during the years 1S87-88-89 in the 
board of aldermen. The following year he was 
elected mayor, and was twice re-elected. His ad- 
ministration covered a period from 1890 to 1893, 
and proved one of economy and success, for all 
there were many difficult problems to solve. He was 
then called higher and represented the Second Wor- 
cester senatorial district in the legislature for the 
years 1899-1900-01. He is past eminent commander 
of the Worcester County Commandery, Knights 
Templar, and past master of Athelstan Lodge of 
^Master Masons. 

The children of Hon. Francis Alfred Harring- 
ton are: Charles A., married Luella B. Crook, of 
Columbus, Ohio ; he was a teacher in the Worces- 
ter high school, now engaged in the insurance busi- 
ness ; he is commander of the Worcester County 
Commandery, Knights Templar, past master of Athel- 
stan Lodge, Ancient, Free and Accepted Masons, and 
master of the Worcester Grange, Patrons of Hus- 
bandry. Their children are : Ruth Anna and Mildred 
Elizabeth. Frank C, married Leora Leighton and they 
have Frank L., Robert Dudley, Lillia L., and Anna 
G. ; he is the secretary of the Callahan Supply Com- 
pany of Worcester, and is past master of Athelstan 
Lodge, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons. May 
E., married James P. Gray. 

8. George A. Harrington, born July 8, 1849, died 
18S3. 

9. Daniel A. Harrington, born May 8, 1851, was 
educated at the Worcester public schools and acad- 
emy; also graduated at Howes Business College, 



4i8 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



Worcester, in 1867. He resided on the old Harring- 
ton homestead, farming and contracting in the dairy 
business until 1876, when he became identified with 
the livery business, in which he has been engaged 
for twenty-eight years. His barns are models of 
up-to-date liveries. He is also president and treas- 
urer of the Harrington Automobile Station. He is 
a member of the Independent Order Odd Fellows and 
in 1903 was elected brigadier-general of the Second 
Brigade of Patriarchs Militant of Independent 
Order Odd Fellows. He served two terms on 
the board of aldermen, and was a member of the 
board when the vote was passed to build the new 
city hall of Worcester, that now so beautifully 
adorns the Common. Among other things he had 
the honor of being chairman of the committee that 
induced the trustees to locate the State Odd Fel- 
lows Home in Worcester, and was chief marshal of 
the inunensc parade when the corner stone of that 
institution was laid in 1892. 

Mr. Harrington married Jennie A. Spiers, by 
whom the following children were born : Clara A., 
a teacher in the Worcester schools. Josie A., mar- 
ried Herbert Linnell, a graduate of the Worcester 
Polytechnic Institute, who is now holding a posi- 
tion as resident engineer of the city of Colon at the 
Isthmus of Panama. His was the first family to 
reside there, from this country, after our govern- 
ment took possession of that territory. Mr. and 
Mrs. Linnell have two sons — Herbert H., born 
1898, and Phillip, born 1900. John S. Harrington, 
married Mabel M. Clark, by whom two sons were 
born — John S., Jr., October 27, 1903, and William 
Clark, June 28, 1905. 

(VI) Mary Harrington, daughter of Captain 
Francis Harrington, married Captain and Deacon 
Samuel Perry, and they settled on the old Harring- 
ton homestead, Vernon street, Worcester. Their 
children were : Hannah Harrington, born October 
8, 1824; Mary Stone, November 8, 1826; Joseph 
Stone, November 3, 1828; Julia Maria, October 13, 
1830; Nathan Fiske, March 10, 1833; Lydia Al- 
mira, February 27, 183S; Harriet Newell, February 
28, 1837; David Brainard, March 7, 1839; Samuel 
Payson, March 18, 1841 ; Moses, July 15, 1843. 

HOPKINS FAMILY. This surname was spelled 
Hopkyns in England in the sixteenth century. It 
is an ancient English family of Oxford county. John 
Hopkyns was a civic officer in Coventry, Oxford- 
shire, in 1567. From the strong resemblance of the 
armorial bearings of the Wykehams of Swelcliffe, 
Oxford county, and of Flopkins of Oving, it is con- 
jectured by Burke that in early times sorne bond 
of connection existed between these families. In 
confirmation of this surmise there is in Sibford 
Cower in Swalcliffe Parish a small estate which is 
charged with a quit-rent of a hundred pence that 
tradition has assigned to the late owners as the 
nineteenth John Hopkins who has successively and 
lineally inherited it without the intervention of any 
other Christian name than John. It belonged some 
fifty years ago to Mr. D. D. Hopkins, who had 
then in his possession a deed of the ninth year of 
Elizabeth's reign when the name was written Hop- 
kyns. As this estate joins immediately to War- 
wickshire, it may fairly be assumed that the family 
of Hopkins in Coventry and Swalclifife derive from 
a common ancestor. Following is the ancestry of 
the Coventry family : 

(I) William Hopkins, chosen to preside over the 
city of Coventry. His sons: William, the heir; 
Richard, sheriff of Coventry 1554; Nicholas, sheriff 
of Coventry 1561. 

(II) William Hopkins, son of William (1), was 



sheriff of Coventry 1557; mayor 1564; was pr 
sented for heresy; married Agnes Riley, daughter 
Thomas Riley. 

(III) Richard Hopkins, son of William Ho 
kins (2), was also of Coventry. His sons: Sam 
son, William, proprietor of Shortley. 

(IV) Sampson Hopkins, son of Richard Ho 
kins (3), was mayor of Coventry 1609; representi 
the city in parliament. He died 1622. Childrei 
Sir Richard, Sampson, mayor 1640; Ann, marrii 
Matthew Babbington, Esq., of Rothby Temp; 
county Leicester, died 1648, aged thirty-three yeai 

(V) Sir Richard Hopkins, son of Sampson Ho 
kins (4), was steward of Coventry; represented tl 
cfty in Parliament; married Sarah Burton, tl 
daughter and co-heir of John and Mary (Jessoi 
Burton, of Buckland, Hampshire. Mary Jessor 
father, William Jesson, was mayor of Coventry 
1631. Children: Richard, Thomas, Sarah, marric 
Sir John Goodricke. 

The American ancestor it is fair to assume w: 
connected with this family of Coventry, thoug 
actual proof has not been found. The Hopkins co 
of arms : Sa. a chev. arg. charged with three ros 
gu. between three matchlocks, or. 

(I) Thomas Hopkins, the immigrant ancestor 1 
many of the numerous families bearing the nan 
of Hopkins, especially in Rhode Island and Mass 
chusetts, was the progenitor of Frederick Ferdinar 
Hopkins, of Worcester. He was the son of Willia 
and Joanna (Arnold) Hopkins, and was born 
England, April 7, 1616, died in Providence prior 
December 27, 1792. His mother was a daughter 1 
Thomas and Alice (Gully) Arnold. Joanna Arno 
was baptized November 30, 1577; her brother, Wii 
iam Arnold, was born June 24, 1587, the father 1 
Bendict Arnold, not the traitor but the first goverm 
of Rhode Island under the royal charter of 1643 ai 
ancestor of the Arnolds of Warwick. Her hal 
brother, Thomas Arnold, is progenitor of the A 
nold families of northern Rhode Island. The wi 
of Thomas Hopkins is believed to be Elizabeth A 
nold, daughter of William Arnold, and sister 
Governor Benedict Arnold, a cousin. Thomas Ho 
kins was a deputy to the general assembly fro 
Providence for the years 1652-59-60-66-67, a memb^ 
of the town council for 1667-72. Children : Williai 
see forward; Thomas, Jr., died April i, 1718. 

(II) Major William Hopkins, son of Thorn; 
Hopkins (i), was born about 1650. He was ai 
mitted a freeman April 30, 1672, and married, abo 
1680, Abigail Dexter, widow of Stephen Dexte 
son of Rev. Gregory Dexter, daughter of John ar 
Sarah Whipple, early settlers in Providence, r 
moving from Dorchester about 1659. Major Ho; 
kins was a man of marked ability, serving the coloi 
in both civil and military offices to an advanced ag 
He was noted as a surveyor of lands througho; 
the colony and numerous accounts of his labors 
this profession are found in the records. His hon 
at the time of his death and probably for a loi 
time previous was at Massapauge, a portion 1 
Providence that was included in the part set off ; 
make the town of Cranston in 1754. He died Ju 
8, 1723, leaving a large property, the bulk of whic 
he bequeathed to his grandson William. His wido 
died 1725. The only child of Major William ai 
Abigail Hopkins was William, see forward. 

(HI) William Hopkins, son of William Hoi 
kins (2), was born about 1682, and died in Scitua 
in 1738. He married early in life Ruth Wilkinso 
daughter of Samuel and Plainc (Wickendcn) Wi 
kinson. Samuel was a son of Lawrence WilkinsO' 
an early settler in Providence, and I'laine was 
daughter of Rev. William Wickendcn, who siK 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



419 



ceeded Rev. Gregory Dexter as pastor of the First 
Baptist Church in Providence. The will of William 
Hopkins was made June 11, 1738, and proved Octo- 
ber 9, 1738. The children : VVilliam, born probably 
at Cranston about 1705, died in Providence, Feb- 
ruary 17, 1755; Stephen, born March 7, 1707, see 
forward; Rufus; John, born about 1710, died F"eb- 
ruary i, 1755; Hope, born March 3, 1717, died July 
20, 1803; Esek, born April 26, 1718, died February 
26, 1802; Samuel, died September, 1744; Abigail, 
born 1727, died January 30, 1772; Susanna, born 
1728, died November 8, 1745. 

(IV) Governor Stephen Hopkins, son of Will- 
iam Hopkins (3), was born in Cranston, Rhode 
Island, ilarch 7, 1707, as is shown by a record of 
his family made by himself February 3, 1754, which 
sets at rest the oft-repeated account of Scituate be- 
ing his birthplace. He was elected the first mod- 
erator of the town of Scituate in 1730, and in 1731 
was town clerk. He was first elected to the gen- 
eral assembly in 1732. In 1742 he removed to Provi- 
dence. After that he represented Providence in the 
general assembly for many years and was several 
times the speaker. He was for ten years chief jus- 
tice of the superior court. In 1755 he was elected 
governor of Rhode Island and held that office nine 
years. In 1774 he was elected member of the con- 
tinental congress ana he was one of the signers of 
the Declaration of Independence. At that time he 
was sufifering from a nervous afifliction that made 
writing very difficult. For a number of years pre- 
vious to 1776 it is stated on the authority of his 
friend and associate, Moses Brown, that when he 
wrote at all he was compelled to guide his right 
hand with his left. This accounts for the poor ap- 
pearance of his signature on the Declaration of In- 
dependence. In early life he wrote a beautiful hand, 
as shown in his town records written when town 
clerk of Scituate. 

Stephen Hopkins did not confine himself to 
politics and the holding of office. He took an intelli- 
gent and active share in building the commerce of 
Providence, and the Brown family, then already 
prominent among the great inercantile and shipping 
houses of New England, found in the rising judge 
and statesman an energetic and practical coadjutor 
in their efforts to increase the facilities for traffic 
and commercial intercourse. Such necessary public 
works as bridging the rivers inet with strenuous 
opposition, and every improvement of a public na- 
ture had to be fought for in fhose days. A system 
of insurance policies for the benefit of merchants 
and chiefly if not entirely marine, appears to have 
been instituted by Governor Hopkins as early as 
1756, although the first insurance corporation, the 
Providence Insurance Company, was incorporated 
February 3, 1799, and is still in existence, the oldest 
in New England. He began to write a history of 
Rhode Island, but was interrupted by the revolu- 
tionary war and the difficulties preceding it, so that 
only the first chapter, published in the Providence 
Gazette and Country Journal, was ever written. Gov- 
ernor Hopkins, more than any other man, was re- 
sponsible for the national sentiment that developed 
slowly in Rhode Island, but which finally triumphed 
and brought the state into the Union. He was for 
a life time an advocate of co-operation among the 
colonies, of independence even if force were neces- 
sary, as it was found necessary, and of a policy 
leading up to a national government. "Next per- 
haps to Samuel Adams and Thomas Jefferson, he 
was," says his biographer, William E. Foster, "most 
active in developing the system of committees of 
correspondence. It was he who may well be called 
the father of the Congress of 1774, and whose com- 



manding influence in that Congress led to the form- 
ation of a powerful sentiment in favor of separation 
from the home government; the member who intro- 
duced, advocated and carried through the Second 
Congress those measures creating an independent 
postal service, and an American naval armament, 
which did so much to commit the still reluctant 
colonies to the exercise of the national functions." 
' In a paper read before the Rhode Island His- 
torical Society, Mr. Foster thus summed up the 
character and service of Governor Hopkins : 
"Father of the commercial development and ever- 
increasing prosperity of Providence; distinguished 
among the founders of this college (Brown) ; the 
founder of the first public library in Providence ; 
the first Rhode Island man to make the name and 
influence of the colony a power outside of its limits ; 
the very first delegate ever nominated and elected 
to the very first Congress of the United States ; the 
governor of the colony for a greater number of 
years than any other of its Eighteenth Century 
governors, with two exceptions; — yet the strongest 
of his claims to distinction is associated with the 
creation and growth of a national sentiment in 
Rhode Island. Rhode Island has had few names 
more worthy of honor, few historic characters more 
worthy of careful study, than that of Stephen 
Hopkins." 

The Providence Journal, June 23, 1884, says 
of Hopkins : "Stephen Hopkins lived to see the 
states independent ; he did not live to see them a 
united nation. He died July 13, 1785, in his own 
house on Towne street in Providence and was fol- 
lowed to his grave by the judges of the courts, 
the President, Corporation and students of the col- 
lege and in the language of the Providence Gazette 
by 'a prodigious concourse of respectable citizens.' 
The state and the nation, and more especially the 
people of Providence, whose particular champion 
he was in all the struggles of party, owe to him a 
debt of immortal gratitude, and his name will be 
remembered in Rhode Island while Point Judith 
repulses the assaults of the Atlantic, and Prospect 
Hill looks down upon our city of homes." 

Governor Hopkins married (first), October g, 
1726, Sarah Scott, born June 25, 1707, died Septem- 
ber 9, 1/53, daughter of Sylvanus and Joanna 
( Jenckes ) Scott, and granddaughter of John Scott, 
son of Richard Scott, said to have been the first 
Quaker to settle in Providence. He married (sec- 
ond), January 2, 1755, Anne Smith, widow of Ben- 
jamin Smith, and daughter of a man of the same 
name. She had by Benjamin Smith four children, 
one of whom, Benjamin, born October 14, 1744, 
was the father of thirteen children, whose home was 
at Quinsnaket in the .►\rnold neighborhood, in what 
is now the town of Lincoln. 'The children of Stephen 
and Sarah Hopkins: Rufus, see forward; John, 
born November 6, 1728, died July 20, 1753; Ruth, 
born October 3, 1731, died April 2, 1735; Lydia. 
born January 6, 1733, died June 29, 1793; Silvanus. 
born October 19, 1734, died April 23, 1753; Simon, 
born August 26 17,^6, died April 2, 1744; George, 
born January 11, 1739. died 1775. 

(V) Rufus Hopkins, son of Governor Stephen 
Hopkins (4), was born in Cranston, Rhode Island, 
February 10, 1727, died in Scituate, November 13, 
1812. He entered early upon a distinguished career 
in business and public life. His early life was spent 
in mari(imc pursuits, in which he attained high rank 
as a nautical commander. He held many offices of 
trust and honor. He was for several years a judge 
of the court of common pleas for Providence 
county, and for a season justice of the superior court 
of the slate; was repeatedly elected to represent 



420 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



Scituate in the general assembly ; a trustee of Brown 
University from 1782 to his death. About 1766 he 
was associated with his father and Messrs. Nicho- 
las, Joseph, John and Moses Brown and Jabez 
Bowcn in a project to utilize a bed of iron ore 
found in Cranston and the building of Hope Furn- 
ace in which was cast, among other articles, cannon 
for use of the army in the revolution. The bell 
now in use in the steeple of the First Baptist Church 
was broken in 1787 and recast at Hope Furnace. 
It was at Scituate and Rufus Hopkins was in 
charge. 

He married (first), October 13, 1747, Abigail 
Angell, who died July 21, 1758, aged twenty-seven 
years, eleven days, daughter of John Angell. He 
married (second), November 11, 1759, Sarah Olney, 
daughter of Captain Joseph Olney, and sister of 
Colonel Jeremiah Olney. She was born March 31, 
1732, died October 2, 1785. The children of Rufus 
and Abigail Hopkins: John, born October 11, 
1750, died September 2, 1754 ; a daughter, born and 
died April 5, 1753; Silvanus, born September 17, 
1756, died August 21, 1757. The children of Rufus 
and Sarah Hopkins: Stephen, born January I, 1762, 
died June 2, 1830; Silvanus, born June 25, 1764, 
see forward; Rufus, born November 15, 1771, died 
August 29, 1773 ; Joseph Olney, born March 20, 
1774, died January 5, 1792. 

(VI) Colonel Silvanus Hopkins, son of Rufus 
Hopkins (5), was born June 25, 1764, died August 
18, 1824. He was for many years a resident of 
Scituate, Rhode Island, and engaged in the manu- 
facture of cotton goods. He stood high socially as 
well as in business, and rose to the rank of colonel 
in the military service. About jSip he removed to 
Washington Village, Coventry, Rhode Island, and 
became cashier of the Bank of Kent located there. 
Subsequently he removed again to Norwich, Con- 
necticut, where he died August 18, 1824, and his 
widow August 28th of the same year. He married 
Mary Waiuon, daughter of Captain Peter and Eliza- 
beth (Gardner) Wanton, of a distinguished Rhode 
Island family. The children of Colonel Silvanus and 
JNIary Hopkins: Sarah Olney. died June i. 1821, in 
her twenty-ninth year ; Joseph Olney, born January 
22, 1794, died December i, 1841 ; William Wanton, 
died November 24, 1824, aged twenty-six years ; Sam- 
uel Stow, died October 16, 1826, aged twenty-six 
years ; Edward A., born July 4, 1802, died September 
16, 1836; George Silvanus, see forward. 

(VI I) George Silvanus Hopkins, son of Col- 
onel Silvanus Hopkins (6), was born in Scituate, 
Rhode Island, December 3, 1804, died December 12, 
1863, at Colchester, Connecticut, aged fifty-nine 
years. 

George Silvanus Hopkins received his education 
in the common schools of his native town. At the 
age of fifteen he removed with his parents to Cov- 
entry, Rhode Island. In early manhood he learned 
the trade of machinist, which he followed through 
life. He was master mechanic for a time at the 
Naiunkeag Mills, Salem, Massachusetts, and for 
another mill in New Hampshire. He was master 
mechanic at the Heywood Rubber Company at Col- 
chester, Connecticut, for a numbar of years, and 
at Unionville, Connecticut. At one time he was in 
the machine business at Norwich, Connecticut, in 
partnership with Joseph Hopkins, his brother. He 
was a Methodist in religion. In politics he was a 
Whig until the Republican party was organized and 
afterward a Republican. He was a member of the 
Masonic fraternity at Norwich. 

He married, September 15 1832, Esther (Rose) 
Cooley, who died January 23, 1838, aged twenty- 



nine years. He married (second), September i, 
1843, Dianthia Robinson, who died December 7, 
1850, aged forty-eight years. The children of George 
S. and Esther Hopkins : William W., born Octo- 
ber I, 1833, died August 7, 1850; Frederick Ferdi- 
nand, born February 17, 1836, see forward; Mary 
Esther, born December 25, 1837. The only child 
of George Silvanus and Dianthia Hopkins was: 
George Warren, born April I, 1845. 

(VIII) Frederick Ferdinand Hopkins, son of 
George Silvanus Hopkins (7), was born at Nor- 
wich, Connecticut, February 17, 1836. He attended 
the common schools of his native place until about 
seventeen years old. In 1854 he came to Worces- 
ter and entered the employ of Allen & Thurber, 
manufacturers of fire arms. Mr. Hopkins continued 
with the firm about three years. He worked fur a 
short time in a firearms factory at Newark, New 
Jersey. He was an expert machinist and skilled 
in the making of fire arms. From 1858 to 18O9 he 
did contract work for Frank Wesson, brother of 
Daniel B. Wesson, late of Springlield (of the famous 
firm of Smith & Wesson). In 1870 Mr. Hopkins 
began as solicitor of business for the State Mutual 
Life Assurance Company. He was promoted fin- 
ally to the position which he still occupies, as general 
agent of the company. He formerly attended the 
old Salem Street Congregational Church, but has 
been a member of Piedmont Congregational Church 
since its organization, and was for sixteen years sec- 
retary and treasurer of the Sunday school. He is a 
member of the Worcester Congregational Club. He 
is an honorary member of the Worcester Continentals 
and was formerly an active member. He is an as- 
sociate member of George H. Ward Post, No. 10, 
Grand Army of the Republic. 

He married, January i, 1857, Sarah Jilaria Lewis, 
born in Norwich, Connecticut, December 16, 1836, 
daughter of Joseph B. and Deborah (Rathbun) 
Lewis. Their children : Herbert Perry, see for- 
ward; Edward Earle, see forward; Marion A., born 
June 16, 1862, died August 5, 1864; Frederick Syl- 
vanus, see forward. 

(IX) Herbert Perry Hopkins, son of Frederick 
Ferdinand Hopkins (8), was born at Norwich, 
Connecticut, June 25, 1858. He removed with his 
parents to Worcester when a young boy and was 
educated there in the public schools, and the Clas- 
sical high school. In 1878 he entered the employ 
of the Boston, Barre & Gardner Railroad as an ex- 
press driver, was soon made express messinger, 
and was appointed baggage master within a short 
time. A year later he became clerk in the general 
offices of the company, and in 1880 was made a 
conductor of passenger trains, a position he held 
for six years. He resigned to become associated 
with his father, who was general agent of the State 
Mutual Life Assurance Company, with offices at 
240 Main street, later in the Burnside building and 
finally to the present quarters in the new State 
Mutual building. He remained with his father un- 
til his death, December 28, 1904. He was elected 
treasurer of the Worcester Association of Life Un- 
derwriters, a position he held to the time of his 
death. He attended All Saints Protestant Church, 
Worcester. He was a Republican in politics. He 
was made a member of Quinsigamond Lodge, Free 
Masons, April 12, 1889; Eureka Chapter, Royal 
Arch Masons, June 4, 1889 ; Worcester County Com- 
mandery. Knights Templar, September 20, 1889. He 
was a member of Company C, Second Regiment, 
Massachusetts Volunteer Alilitia, Worcester Light 
Infantry, from December 2, 1879, to December, 
1882. He was at one time a member of the .\rling- 




C^- v^ 



'' c/d^/^^^^A) 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



421 



ton Social Club and for a miinber of years its 
president. He also belonged to tlie Tatassit Canof 
Club and the Uptown Club. 

He married, October 5, 1893, and had one child, 
Sarah iM., born in Worcester, May 14, 1901. Mr. 
Hopkins died in the very prime of life, cutting 
short a promising career in business. He had the 
natural ability and the personal magnetism that 
makes a man especially successful in the insurance 
business. He attracted friends by his voice and 
manners, was social, sympathetic and generous, and 
his death was universally regretted. 

(IX) Edward Earle Hopkins, son of Frederick 
Ferdinand Hopkins (8), was born at Colchester, 
Connecticut, August 26, i860. He received his early 
education in the Worcester public schools, gradu- 
ating from the Classical high school in 1878. While 
still in school he began the study of dentistry. In 
1880 he entered the Harvard Dental School, Boston, 
and was graduated in 1S82 with the degree of D. 
M. D. In the fall of that year he began to practice 
in Boston. His offices were at 85 Newbury street, 
where he was located for fifteen years. He pur- 
chased the estate at 175 Newbury street, Boston, 
in 1879, and has been located there since that time. 
He was for seven years after graduating an in- 
structor in operative dentistry and had charge of 
the crown and bridge work in Harvard Dental 
School. He resides at 355 Newtonville avenue, New- 
tonville, Massachusetts. He and his family attend 
the Newtonville Congregational Church. In politics 
Dr. Hopkins is a Republican. He is a member of 
the Newton Social Club, the American Academy of 
Dental Science, the Harvard Dental Alumni Asso- 
ciation and was formerly a member of the Harvard 
Odontological Society. 

He married, .\ugust 4, 1886, Annie Louise Tullock, 
born April 7, 1861, daughter of Arthur and Emily 
C. (Preble) Tullock, of Whitefield, Maine.. Their 
children: Helen, born July 29, 1887; Stephen Tul- 
lock, born March 19, 1892, named for Governor 
Stephen Hopkins (IV), mentioned above. 

(.IX) Frederick Sylvanus Hopkins, son of Freder- 
ick Ferdinand Hopkins (8), was born in Worcester, 
December 11, 1864. He was educated in the Wor- 
cester public schools and the Classical high school. 
In 1883 he became clerk in the Worcester National 
Bank. Two years later he accepted a position in 
the office of Norcross Brothers. In the fall of 1886 
he entered Harvard Dental School, from which he 
was graduated in 1889 with the degree of D. M. D. 
He started at once to practice in offices at 2 Park 
Square, Boston. After two years he removed his 
offices to 159 Newbury street and later to 161 New- 
bury street, his present location. From 1889 to 
1893 he was instructor of operative dentistry in the 
Harvard Dental School. He resides in Worcester. 
Dr. Hopkins and family attend Piedmont Congre- 
gational Church. He is a Republican in politics. 
He is a member of the Harvard Odontological So- 
ciety, the Harvard Dental Alumni Association, the 
Boston Chapter, Sons of the Revolution, and the 
Tatnuck Country Club at Worcester. He was for- 
merly a member of the Commonwealth Club and of 
the Worcester Light Infantry, Company C, Second 
Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteer Militia, from 
1885 to 1887. 

He married, August 23, 1892, at Plymouth, 
Massachusetts, Etta May Holbrook, born May 22, 
1865, daughter of Eliphalet and Harriet (Rice) 
Holbrook, of Worcester, jNIassachusetts. Their 

children: Esther, born August 6, 1894, in Plymouth, 
Massachusetts ; Robert Holbrook, born in Worces- 
ter, Massachusetts, March 22, 1902; Frederick Syl- 



vanus, Jr., born in Worcester, Massachusetts, Sep- 
tember 27, 1903, died May 24, 1905. 

W.\RD F.\MILY. William Ward (1) was the 
immigrant ancestor of Edward Dickinson Ward, 
of Worcester, Massachusetts, and of most of the 
branches of the Ward family in Worcester county. 
He was probably from York county, England. One 
of the captains under William the Conqueror was 
named Ward, of whom tliere is a record dated 1066. 
In 1 175 William dc la Ward resided in Chester. 
The family was numerous and well scattered ovei 
England at the time of the settlement of the Ameri- 
can colonies. The ancient coat of arms of this fam- 
ily was: Az. a cross baton p,r. Crest: Wolf's head 
erased. 

The first record of William Ward is found m 
Sudbury in 1639. He may' have been there several 
years. He was admitted a freeman May lO, 1643, 
and for many years was one of the chief men of the 
town. He was a deputy to the general court from 
Sudbury in 1644. for many years was a selectman 
and most of the time chairman of the board. He was 
the local magistrate — the commissioner to end small 
causes. He deposed October 4, 1664, that he was 
about sixtv-one years old, fixing the year of his birth 
as 1603. He was one of the nine Sudbury men who 
petitioned for the grant subsequently known as 
Marlboro, and including originally not only the 
present city of Marlboro, but the towns of West- 
boro, Northboro and Southboro. In 1660, the year 
year of incorporation. Ward settled in the new town 
where his descendants have been numerous and 
distinguished. He w-as chosen the first deacon of 
the Marlboro church. He drew fifty acres, the 
largest size of house lot granted by the proprietors. 
These home lots varied, according to the importance 
of the individual proprietor, from fifteen to fifty 
acres. His house was on the south side of the road 
nearly opposite the meeting house, and his land ex- 
tended to what was then called Belcher's pond, near 
which the tavern of his son-in-law, Abraham Wil- 
liams, was located. Ward suffered the usual hard- 
ships 'and losses of the pioneer and especially during 
King Philip's war he lost heavily. His buildings 
were burned, his cattle destroyed and one son slain. 
He died at Marlboro. August' 10, 1687, aged 
eighty-five years. His will was dated April 6, 1686. 
He bequeathed to his wife Elizabeth; children John 
and Increase; the children of sons Richard and 
Eleazer, deceased ; son-in-law Abraham . Williarns ; 
to all his children by former wife and present wife. 
The widow died December 9, 1700, in her eighty- 
seventh year. Their children were : John, born 
about 1626, married Hannah Jackson; Joanna, born 
1628 married Abraham Williams; Obadiah, born 
1632', see forward; Richard, born 1635, married 
Mary Moore; Deborah, born 1637, married John 
Johnson: Hannah, born 1639, married .'\braham 
How; William, born January 22, 1640. married Han- 
nah Fames; Samuel, born September 24, 1641, mar- 
ried Sarah How; Elizabeth, born April 14, 1643; 

Increase, born February 22, 1644. married 

Record ; Hopestill, born February 24. 1646 ; married 
James Woods ; Mary, born about 1647, married Dan- 
iel Stone: William, born February 12, 1648-49; 
Eleazer, married Hannah Rice ; Bethia, born 1658, 
married Daniel Price. 

(II) Obadiah Ward, son of 'William Ward (l), 
was born in 1632, died in Marlborough, Massachu- 
setts, January 5. 1718, aged eighty-six years. He 
had lands assigned him in Sudbury in 1653 and 
house lot of twenty-one acres with the after divi- 
sions in Marlboro in 1660, and he moved there 



422 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



soon after. He was a deputy to the general court 
in l68t) from Marlboro. He married, November 

13, 1667, Mary , who died August 22, 1706, 

at Marlboro. He married (second) Joanna Mixer, 
daughter of Isaac Mixer, of Watertown. Joanna 
was born December 14, 1666. Children of Obadiah 
and Mary Ward were: Alice, born November 14, 
1668; William, born January 7, 1670, see forward; 
Obadiah, born September 18, 1672, married Elizabeth 

; Bethia, born 1674, died same year; Mary, 

born May 4, 1676; Jane, born 1677; Edmund, born 
January 21. 1679; Sarah, born January 29, 1681, mar- 
ried Samuel Rartlett; Richard, born April 26, 1683; 
Elizabeth, born December 4, 1685, died unmarried; 
January 21, 1730; Hannah, born January 3, 1688; 
Eleazer,- born November 2, 1689; Prudence, born 
1691. 

(HI) William Ward, son of Obadiah Ward (2), 
was born in Marlboro. Massachusetts, January 7, 
1676. He resided in Marlboro, where all the chil- 
dren were born, and in 1711 sold out to Samuel 
Morris and removed to Ashford, Connecticut, where 
he purchased land in 1715 and where his son Wil- 
liam bought land in 1720. Jacob Ward, another son, 
received a gift of lands there in 1726. William Ward 
removed to Union, Connecticut, where he died Janu- 
ary 8, 1731, aged sixty-one years. His death was 
the first in the town of Union. His wife Judith 
died in Union, January 21, 1746. Their children 
were : William, born June 9, 1691 ; Jemima, born 
July 5. 1603 ; Gamaliel, born October 2, 1694, mar- 
ried IDamaris ; Jacob, born March 9, i6g6- 

97, married Hannah ; Judith, born March 6, 

1699-1700: Keziah, born June 4, 1703; Dinah, born 
October 2, 1704. 

(IV) William Ward, son of William Ward (3), 
was born at Marlboro, Massachusetts, June 9, 
1691. He resided in Union. Connecticut, where he 
became a very prominent citizen, as appears from the 
town records. He was a large land owner and con- 
ducted several farms. There is a large rock on the 
old place with the letters "W. W." roughly hewed 
on the surface and it is said that they were cut 
by William Ward. His will was dated August 12, 
1772, and was proved October 2, 1780. Children of 
William and Rachel Ward were: Uriah, born Feb- 
ruary 24, 171S, 'married Elizabeth Ingraham ; John, 
born November 9, 1716, see forward; Ebenezer, born 
April 9. 1719, married Anna Peache ; Moses, born 
September 16, 1622, married Eunice Rood; Obadiah, 
born Febtuary g, 1725, married Esther Ruggles ; 
Rachel, born April 23, 1727, married Joseph Enos ; 
Jesse, born August 6, 1729, married Elizabeth Abbe; 
Benjamin, born February, 1731, died October ig, 
1741 ; Sarah, died January 13, 1740; William, died 
April 23, 1735. 

(V) John Ward, son of William Ward (4), 
was born at Union, Connecticut, November 9, 1716, 
and resided there. He removed in 1749 to Belcher- 
town, ATassachu=etts, with his family. Five children 
were born in Union, the remainder in Belchertown. 
He married (first at Union, October 10, 1739, Abi- 
gail Walker; he married (second) Abigail Heath, 
of Tolland. Comiecticut, March 27, 1748, and she 
died at Belchertown, February 21, 1813, aged eighty- 
two years. He died there in t8oo, aged eighty-four 
years. Children of John and Abigail (Walker) 
Ward were: Sarah, born about 1740, married Jona- 
than Drade ; Dorcas, born June 24, 1742, died Decem- 
ber 4, 1748; Eunice, born December 15. 1744, mar- 
ried Captain Shearman of Brimfield, where he died 
without issue. John, Jr.. born January i. 1747. died 
June 20. 1747. Children of John and Abigail (Heath) 
Ward were: .Anron. born October 11, 1748. died 
November I, 1748; John, born about 1749. married 



Belliia Fuller; Benjamin, born 1751, married Mary 
Clough; Tirzah, born 1753, married Richard Lull; 
Zerviah, born November 27, 17^ " married Samuel 
Ward ; Sybil, born December 7, 1756, married Ben- 
jamin Clough ; Mehitable, born February 6, 1759, mar- 
ried John Pease; Ruth, born April 21, 1761, married 
Guild Wilson, of Belchertown, June, 1780, and re- 
sided at Hebron, New York ; Hepzibah, born June i, 
1765, see forward; Beulah, born August 20, 1767, 
married Samuel White, of Pelham, February 20, 
1787, at Madison. New York ; Moses, born October 
2g. I76g, married Rachel Convers ; Ebenezer, born 
July ig, 1773, see forward. 

(VI) Ebenezer Ward, son of John Ward (5), 
was born at Belchertown, Massachusetts, July ig, 
1773. He also settled at Belchertown, probably in 
that part of the town set off as Enfield. He married, 
July 7, 1796. Rebecca Randall, of Belchertown. Their 
children, all born at Belchertown, were: Israel, 
born February 8, 1797, married Rachel Thayer ; Al- 
vah, born September 17, 1798, married Louisa Shaw; 
John, born May ig, 1800, married Sylvia H. Shaw ; 
Mercy, born September 10, 1801, married Samuel 
Tinkham; Abigail, born May 8, 1803, married .Mvah 
Thayer; Zerviah. born July 23, 1804; Elizabeth, born 
February 25, 1807; Benjamin, born April 24, 1809, 
married Elizabeth W. Hawks; Mary, (twin) born 
April 23. 1811. married Oromel Walker; Sarah, 
(twin), born April 23, 1811 ; Estes, born May 3, 1815. 

(VII) John Ward, son of Ebenezer Ward (6), 
was born at Belchertown, Massachusetts. He lived 
in Enfield, Massachusetts, formerly part of Belcher- 
town, and other towns of the vicinity. He married 
Sylvia H. Shaw, daughter of Asa Shaw, of Enfield, 
and his wife Abigail Hanks, who died November 
i,S. iS3g, in her fifty-third year, the mother of ten 
children. Sylvia was born March 6, 1807. The father 
of Abigail was Ebenezer Hanks, of Belchertown, 
who married Hepsibah Ward, April 12. 1785. He 
was a soldier in the revolution : they had eight chil- 
dren. Hepsibah was the daughter of John Ward 
(V), the thirteenth child. Children of John and 
Sylvia H. Ward, all born at Enfield, Massachusetts, 
were : Charles Rockwood, born April 27, 1834, see 
forward; Verona A., born April i, i83g; Caroline 
F., born April I, i83g; Proctor L., born May 23 
1841 : Henry W., born August ig, 1847. 

(VIII) Charles Rockwood Ward, son of Johr 
Ward (7), was born at Enfield, Massachusetts, Apri' 
27. r8.S4. He was educated in the public schools ol 
his native town. He was a carpenter by trade. He 
married Julia Reed. He died October 26, igoi. 

The children of Charles Rockwood and Juli; 
Ward were: Abbie J., born March ig, 1861, mar- 
ried Simon A. Norcross and resides at 728 Mair 
street, Worcester ; Cora L., born November 27, 1862 
died when five years old ; Edward Dickinson. se( 
forward ; Nellie A., born December 16, 1866. mar- 
ried F. A. Abbott, of Worcester ; John Waldo, borr 
March II. 1868. a carpenter, married Ida Hacker 
died in Worcester ; Delbert E., born April 5. 1870 
carpenter, resides in Worcester ; Carrie B., born No- 
vember 3. 1873 ; Albert E.. born February 13. 1875 
a boat builder, resides in New York city. Frederick 
born November 3. 1878. died young. 

(IX) Edward Dickinson Ward, son of Charles 
Rockwood Ward (8). was born in Enfield. Massa- 
chusetts. March 6, 1864. He was educated in the 
public and high schools of his native town. He 
learned the carpenter's trade of his father anc 

■ worked for some years as a journeyman in Worces- 
ter and other places. He started in business for him- 
self in Worcester in company with W. F. Blanding 
Aiter a few years the partnership was dissolved anc 
Mr. Ward continued on his owm account. He ha! 




^.^^U^L^ k>fr/3r.^^^K^ , 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



built many of the fintst residences and public build- 
ings of Worcester in the past ten years, and ranks 
among the leading contractors and builders of the 
city. He resides at 46 Alvarado avenue and has his 
office and shop at 48 Alvarado avenue. In politics 
Mr. Ward is a Republican. He married, December 
9, 1S91, Miss Mabel E. Kibbe. of Worcester, daugh- 
ter of Eugene H. and Mary Kibbe. Their children 
are: Mildred May, born July 4, 1893; Ethel Mabel, 
born March 30, 1896; Irene Belle, born September 
12, 1898. 

ALBERT AUGUSTUS BARKER. Richard 
Barker (i), the only man known to have been in 
Andover. Massachusetts, before 1643, was the pro- 
genitor of .(Mbert Augustus Barker, late of Worcester, 
Massachusetts. For more than fifty years he was one 
one of the leading citizens. The Essex county 
records show that he bought stock and produce of 
William Hughes in 1643. He was called a husband- 
man in the early records. His home lot in Andover 
was near that of John Osgood on the north side of 
the Cochichaucke pond, and his family and descend- 
ants have owned the land almost surrounding Great 
Pond as it is now called. He was one of those who 
organized the first church October 24, 1645. He 
was entrusted with the administration of many es- 
tates. His will was dated April 7. 1688, and proved 
March 28, 1693. It mentions eight children, grand- 
daughters, Priscilla, Hester and Sarah, children of 
his deceased daughter Hannah. The children of 
Richard and Joanna Barker were: i. John, died in 
1722 of small-pox: deacon of North church: In- 
dian lighter. 2. William, born 1646, died 1718. 3. 
Ebenezer, born March 12, 1651, died 1747, aged 
ninety-five. 4. Richard, born April 10, 1654. 5. 
Stephen, see forward. 6. Benjamin, born February 
28, 1663, married Hannah Marston : died 1750. 7. 
Sarah, married, November 17, 1673, John Abbott. 8. 
Hester, married John .Stevens. 9. Hannah, born 
October 21, 1665, married, May 27, 1680, Christopher 
( Osgood. 

(II) Stephen Barker, fifth child of Richard Barker 
(l), was born July 6, 1659; in Andover, Massachu- 
setts, He settled in Haverhill where he was active 
in securing the incorporation of Methuen. Atkin- 
son, where his sons lived, was originally part of 
Haverhill, Massachusetts. The children of Stephen 
Barker were : Stephen ; Zebediah, see forward ; 
James, and perhaps others. 

(III) Zebediah Barker, son of Stephen Barker 
(2), was born in Andover, Massachusetts, probably 
about 1700-10. He settled in Andover and Haverhill 
where he loaned the town money August 14, 1777. 
He married Deborah Merrill and they settled at 
Atkinson, New Hampshire. Among their children 
were: i. Peter, see forward. 2, Abijah, born 1760, 
married Susannah Wood, settled in Antrim, New 
Hampshire, in 1787; was a soldier in the revolu- 
tion : his wife was a sister of Peter Barker's wife. 
3. Zebediah. Jr., who was a soldier in Captain Sam- 
uel Johnson's Company, Andover, 1777. 

(IV) Peter Barker^ son of Zebediah Barker (3), 
was born in Atkinson, New Hampshire, in 1755. He 
married Sally Wood, daughter of Samuel Wood, 
of Methuen, sister of Susannah Wood, who married 
his brother .-^biiah, who came to Antrim, New Hamp- 
shire, with him to make a home there. Peter prob- 
ably was in Antrim earlier, but he had his family 
there early in 1789. He bought the place now, or 
lately, of Levi Curtis, but later exchanged with 
his brother-in-law, Charles Wood, for the place that 
was known as the Moody Barker place. Peter 
Barker was captain of the alarm list. He was a 
soldier in the revolutionary war. He died May 



22, 1829, aged seventy-four. His wife died in 1S43, 
aged eighty-eight years. Their children were : 
Samuel, born in Atkinson, died in Oppenheim, New 
York ; Hannah, born in Atkinson, married Daniel 
Mcllvane; Peter, born in Antrim, March 14, 1789, 
died in Cleveland, Ohio; Isaac, July 2, 1791; TJiomas, 
1793; Captain Moody Morse, see forward; Sally, 
January 26, 1797, married Deacon Asa Bond. 

(V) Captain Moody Morse Barker, son of 
Captain Peter Barker (4), was born in Antrim, 
New Hampshire, May 24, 1795. He received a com- 
mon school education in his native town. He in- 
herited the homestead and early in life he devoted 
himself to farming, and was a prosperous man. He 
was a strict Presbyterian and stood high in the es- 
timation of his associates in the church and his 
fellow citizens. In politics he was a Whig, but later 
in life became a Democrat, adhering strongly to 
his political views. He was for some years captain 
of the militia company in Antrim, though never 
in the service. He married Nancy Bixby, of Hills- 
boro. New Hampshire, in 1821. They lived together 
until March 24, 1873, when he died. She died two 
days later. Their children were : I.John Bixby, see for- 
ward. 2. Emily, born in 1824, married Samuel Brown, 
of Wilton, New Hampshire, had no children. 3. 
Adeline, born September 12, 1829, married, July 3, 
1854, Charles Woods, of Hillsboro, New Hampshire, 
and had two children : Charles Woods, who married 

Downs, of Francestown, New Hampshire, and 

had three children. He died July, 1905 : Adeline 
Woods, who married Mark Woodbury, of Antrim, 
and has sons : Mark and Valentine. 4. Miles C, 
born 1832, married Sarah J. Carr, of Hillsboro, New 
Hampshire, resides in Nashua, New Hampshire, and 
has two daughters : Carrie C, unmarried ; Jennie 
Hatch, married Arthur Jefferson, of Conway, New 
Hampshire, and has two children. 5. Henry Mar- 
tin, born August 24, 1838, married, November 30, 
1S64, Mary Jane Colburn ; they live in Staatsburg, 
New York, and have three sons : Herbert Luther, 
M. D., born August 27. 1866. married Luella J, 
Herrick. of Staatsburg, New York, and has one son, 
Robert Herrick Barker; Harry Colburn (Lawyer), 
born March 31, 1870, married Marion Hughes, of 
Staatsburg. New York : Fred Martin, born May 4, 
1871. married Grace Barnes, of Rhinebeck, New 
York, and has a son, Clifford V. Barker. 

(VI) John Bixby Barker, eldest son of Captain 
IMoody Morse Barker (5), was born in Antrim, New 
Hampshire, November 13, 1822. He was educated 
in the common schools of Antrim, and worked on 
his father's farm there. Later he removed to Ben- 
nington, New Hampshire, where he remained for 
about six years, two of which he was engaged in 
making sand paper. He also learned the art of 
paper making in the mills at Bennington. In 1850 
he was induced by his brother-in-law, Frederick 
A. Newton, of Bennington, to accept a position in 
a paper mill situated in Guadalajara, Mexico, under 
the control of Grant and Warren, of Boston, Massa- 
chusetts. Soon after he became familiar with the 
plant he was made the superintendent with a hand- 
some salary. He remained there six years, then went 
to Southern California where he invested in wheat 
growing. He lost money'owing to a long drought, 
and returned to his old position in Mexico where 
he remained until his death two years later, Novem- 
ber 22, i860. He was the first American buried in 
the cemetery of that Mexican city, the permit being 
obtained through the intercession of the American 
consul. 

In his younger days Mr. Barker was a Presby- 
terian, but he became more liberal in his religious 
views and later joined the Universalist church. Dur- 



424 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



ing tlic short lime he was in this country after the 
formation of the Rcpubhcan party he was an earnest 
supporter of the new political faith. His early death 
cut short a very promising career. He married, 
October lo, 1848. Harriet Elizabeth Newton, daugh- 
ter of' Luther and Harriet Elizabeth (Griswold) 
Newton, of Bennington, New Hampshire. Luther 
Newton was a paper manufacturer and learned his 
trade of the Cranes, in Dalton, Massachusetts. He 
was a Republican. He was a member of the paper 
making firm of Newton & Tufts, of Alstead, New 
Hampshire. The children of John Bixby and Harriet 
Elizabeth (Newton) Barker were: Albert Augustus, 
.see forward; Mary Frances, born in Guadalajara, 
Mexico, April ig, 1855: never married; has lived in 
Worcester with her mother and brother, and is a 
teacher in the Oxford street public school ; Adelaida 
Elizabeth, born in Guadalajara, August 6, 1859, died 
October 22, i860. 

(VII) Albert Augustus Barker, eldest child of 
John Bixby Barker (6), was born in Guadalajara, 
Mexico, November 20, 1852. After his father's death, 
when eight years of age, he came with his family to 
Bennington, New Hampshire, where he lived five 
years. In 1865 he came to Worcester, wdiere he at- 
tended the public schools. After leaving school he 
entered the office of Elbridge Boyden, one of the 
oldest and best known architects of Worcester. Dur- 
ing the time he was with Mr. Boyden he was 
frequently employed by Thomas H. Dodge, one of 
the most successful patent attorneys in the country 
in his day. from whom he received instruction as 
patent solicitor. He started in business for him- 
self March i, 1879. forming a partnership with Walter 
B. Nourse, under the firm name of Barker & Nourse, 
as architects and solicitors of patents. January i, 
1904, the partnership was dissolved, and during the 
last year of his life Mr. Barker was in business 
alone. He was instructor in the evening drawing 
schools of the city of Worcester, having charge of 
the architectural department, and was supervisor of 
drawing in the Worcester County Mechanics' Asso- 
ciation evening schools. As an architect he en- 
joyed a wide fame, and many public and private 
buildings erected from his plans, and under his 
personal supervision, are a monument to his ability. 
Among some of the more conspicuous buildings are : 
The Society of Antiquity; the Odd Fellows Home; 
the Winslow Surgery at the City Hospital ; the 
English High School ; the Day Building ; the Aurora 
Hotel all of Worcester; the Gardner High School; 
the Uxbridge High School : the West Boylston High 
School ; the Princeton High School ; the Shrews- 
bury Public Library ; the Johnsonio Hotel at Fitch- 
burg. 

Mr. Barker was a Unitarian in religious faith, 
and since 1865 a member of the Church of the Unity. 
on Elm street. He was chairman of the Parish 
Committee at the time of bis death, and supervising 
architect of the recent remodelling of the church. 
He was a member of no secret orders. He belonged 
to the Society of Antiquity, the Worcester Board 
of Trade, Builders' Exchange, Worcester Chapter 
of the American Institute of Architects, Worcester 
County Mechanics' Association. Royal Arc.inum and 
the Hancock Club. He was always a Republican 
but never sought or held office. He married. Octo- 
ber 24, 1877, Eacyetta Boyd, daughter of George 
and Rebecca (MacGerigle) Boyd, of Worcester, 
Massachusetts. Mr. Boyd was overseer in a boot 
manufactory. He was also engaged in woolen in- 
dustry. He was of Scotch-Irish stock, born in 
Londonderry, Ireland. . He was a citizen of Wor- 
cester for sixty years. As early as 1849 he was a 
member of the Worcester Fire Company, and was on 



duty at the great Merrifield Fire. He was a Repul 
lican. The children of Albert Augustus and Eacyetl 
(Boyd) Barker were: i. Everett Newton, born i 
Worcester, Massachusetts, June 4, 1881, succeede 
his father in business, as patent solicitor and arch 
tect. and resides at the homestead, 88 Chatham stree 

2. Robert Stuart, born in Worcester, Massachusett 
April 3, 1884, is in the mercantile business, and 
also at the homestead. 

Mr. Barker was cut off in his prime June' 
1905. A^ wide circle of friends will always hoi 
him in kindly remembrance, for he was an uprigh 
courteous gentleman, winning the love and respei 
of all who knew him. 

ALONZO WILTON WHITCOMB. John Whi 
comb (l). the first of tire Whitcomb family to sett 
permanently in this country, was the ancestor ( 
Alonzo Wilton Whitcomb. of Worcester. He a] 
peared in Dorchester as early as 1633. He joint 
the church there in 1635 and his youngest son Josia 
was born in Dorchester. It had been supposed ft 
a long time that he was the son of Symon Whi 
comb or Whetcombe, who was one of the origin 
patentees of the old Massachusetts Bay colony, bi 
the will of Symon's father shows this belief al 
solutely wrong. He may have been the brother. Tl 
belief is gaining ground amon.g those who ha\ 
studied the records that the emigrant, John Whi 
comb, was the second son of John and Anr 
(Harper) Whitcomb, of London. John Harpe 
whose daughter was the mother of John Whitcnm 
was a member of the East India Company, Jin 
16, 1620, and it is recorded that he gave John Whi 
comb, who married his daughter Anne, a share i 
Virginia viz. : America. 

In 1640 John Whitcomb removed from Dorchesti 
to settle in Scituate. Massachusetts, where he a 
ready owned land. During his residence in Scitua 
he -was made constable. He w'as on the list of thoi 
able to bear arms in 1643. He was admitted 
freeman June 3. 1652. In i6,S4 he removed to Lai 
caster. Massachusetts, where in 1652, when the tow 
was laid out, he had invested some money. N^ 
all his children accompanied him to Lancaster. H 
daughter Catherine was settled in Scituate, where i 
1644 she married Rodolphus Ellmes, who came : 
1635 on the "Planter," aged fifteen. Robert Whi 
comb remained in Scituate. James- Whitcomb settle 
in Boston. 

John Whitcomb and his son John, Jr., wei 
among the founders of the town of Lancaster. Afti 
some thirty years of pioneer life in the colony Joli 
Whitcomb died September 24, 1662. aged aboi 
seventy-four years. He was buried in the old gravi 
yard at Lancaster, but there is no stone. 

He married in England Frances , and thei 

his elder children w'ere born. He had certainly ft\ 
sons, perhaps six, and three daughters. He die 
intestate and the widow and children mutually agree 
unon a division of his estate, which was approve 
by the court. His -widow. Frances, made her wi 
May 12, 1671, and died at Lancaster, May 17, 167 
She named her youngest daughter Mary as executri: 
The children of John Whitcomb were: r. Catherin 
married. 1644, Rodolphus Ellmes. of Scituate; ri 
sided there and had nine children. 2. James, hot 
in England ; settled in Boston ; may have remaine 
in Dorchester and Boston when his father remove 
to Scituate; not mentioned in his father's wil' 
owned a place of five acres opposite the Bosto 
Common, died in Boston. November 23, i6,96, mai 
ried twice. Rebecca and Elizabeth ; had ten childrei 

3. John, born in England, may have been the olde; 
son ; was most closely associated with his fathe 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



425 



(Their signatures are found together in several places 
— once as early as 1652 when they both signed the 
town covenant of Lancaster, and in 1654-5 hoth 
are among the twenty families named in a petition 
for a township drawn up by John Whitcomb, Sr.)- 
Married May ig, 1669, or January 16. 1671 ; prob- 
ably on the latter date, which is given by Savage: 
he died April 7, 1683. accidentally drowned, leaving 
wife Mary and two daughters. 4. Robert, remained 
at Scituate when his father went to Lancaster ; 
married 1660 by a Quaker preacher, in R-liode Island, 
to Mary Cudworth, daughter of General James Cud- 
worth, but this marriage being pronounced unlawful 
by the Puritan authorities he was remarried March 
9, 1660. (She was born July 23. 1637). The preacher 
was Henry Hobson, of Rhode Lsland. Robert Whit- 
comb was the first to settle at "Beechwood" in the 
Beeches, the family place at Scituate where several 
penerations of Whitcombs have lived. He had seven 
children. 5. Jonathan; was on the jury at the in- 
quest upon the death of Richard Mann, of Scituate, 
Massachusetts, February 16, 1655, with his brother- 
in-law. Rodolphus Ellmes, John Hoar and others. 
(See Mann Family Sketch). He removed from 
Scituate to Lancaster : married November 25, 1667, 

Hannah ; died February. 1600: July 18, 1692, 

his widow Hannah was killed by the Indians at the 
house of Peter Joslin, in Lancaster. He had eleven 
children. One of his descendants is G. Henry Whit- 
comb. the envelope manufacturer, of Worcester. 6. 
.Abigail, no record. 7. Job. was a surveyor at 

Lancaster ; married May ig, 1669, Mary . He 

did not return to Lancaster after King Philip's 
war, but settled at Wethersfield, Connecticut. He 
died 1683. He had six children and has many de- 
scendants in Connecticut. 8. Josiah (see 'forward). 
g. Mary, married John Moore, August 13, 1663, 
son of John and Anna (Smith) Mnore. 

(II) Josiah Whitcomb, son of John Whitcomb 
(l), was born in Dorchester, Massachusetts, in 1638, 
and is believed to be the j'oungest son. He accom- 
panied his father's family from Scituate to Lan- 
caster in 1654, and his name appears variously in 
the records of Lancaster. In 1688 he received a 
bounty for killing a wolf. He was named in an 
action for damages for killing swine belonging to 
Stephen Gates. He married January 4, 1664, in 
Lancaster. Rebecca Waters, daughter of Lawrence 
and Ann (Linton) Waters, of Watertown, Lancaster 
and Charlestown. She was born February, 1640. 
During Queen Anne's war (1702-17) he was allowed 
a garrison for protection against the Indians. This 
garrison was situated in what is now called Bolton, 
set off from Lancaster in 1738. He lived in the 
southeastern part of Bolton. He was commander of 
the garrison. In 1705 he was selectman and in 
1708 he and twenty-nine others signed the church 
covenant. In 1710 he was elected deputy to the 
general court. He died in 1718. In his \\n\\ made 
March 20, 1718, he gave to each of his children one- 
eighth part of his right to land in Littleton. His 
widow died in 1726. His posterity is very numer- 
ous, thought to be the most numerous of the sons 
of John Whitcomb. Their is a gravestone in the 
Bolton graveyard marking his burial place. His 
children were: i. Josiah. born November 12, 1665 
died same day. 2. Josiah, born January' 7. 1667 : mar 

ried (first) i6qo. Mary : second Elizabeth 

lie died April t2, 1718: widow married (second), 
March 25, 1719. Jabez Fairbanks, of Lancaster^ 
Massachusetts. 3. David (see forward). 4. Rebecca 
■born November 12. 1671 : married Jacob Houghton 
1704. ;. Johannah. born March 8. 1674: married, 
December 26, 1708, Peter Joslin : died September 
24, 1717. 6. Hezekiah. born September 14, 1681 



married Hannah ; lived in Bolton, where he 

was prominent in the church, died previous to 
June 20, 1732 : had eight children. 7. Deborah, born 
December 26, 1683 ; probably died yotmg. 8. Damaris ; 
married, in Marlboro, Nathaniel Wilder, g. Mary, 
named in father's will. 10. Abigail, born March 13, 
1687-8; married Josiah White, June 26, 1706. rr. 
Eunice. 

(III) David Whitcomb, son of Josiah Whit- 
comb (2), born February 20, 1668; married May 
31, 1700, in Concord, Massachusetts. Widow Mary 
(Hayw-ard) Fairbanks, who was descended from 
Resolved White who came over in the ''Mayflower" 
with his parents. Her husband Jonathan Fair- 
banks was killed by the Indians at Lancaster, Massa- 
chusetts, September 4, 1697 ; she was taken a captive, 
but was returned January 17. 1699, on the Province 
Galley from Casco Bay. While in captivity she 
acquired a knowledge of herbs, and afterward she 
dispensed medicines and was called Doctress. They 
lived in the southeastern part of Bolton, where they 
kept a tavern. He died intestate April 11, 1730, 
and his wife Mary died January 5, 17.34, in tlie 
sixty-seventh year of her age. 

The children of David and Mary (Hay ward) 
(Fairbanks) Whitcomb were: i. David; married 
in Lancaster, Massachusetts. January 13, 1730-1, 
Betty White; joined the Lancaster church July r8, 
I7,s6. and in 1741 was dismissed to the Bolton church; 
was called Deacon, will probated December 5. 1786, 
mentions ten children. 2. Jonathan, born at Lancas- 
ter. Massachusetts ; married Rachel Woods. Decem- 
ber 12, 1722 ; died October 7, 1743. 3. Joseph, born 
at Lancaster. 4. Rebecca: baptized 1708; married 
Ezra Sawyer. January 16. 1725-6. 5. Benjamin, born 
in Lancaster; baptized October or November 26, 
1710: lived in Lunenburg in 1735: removed thence 
to northerly part of Leominster. Massachusetts, 
where he was elected deacon of the church Decem- 
ber 2, 1747 ; married Dorothy White, daughter of 
Captain John and Eunice (Wilder) White; he died 
October, 1778. 6. Simon, born in Lancaster ; bap- 
tized there March 7, 1713-4; married Thankful 
Houghton, of Lancaster. July 12, 1733; had eleven 
children. Order of birth unknown. 

(IV) Joseph Whitcomb, son of David Whit- 
comb (3). born in Lancaster; married Damaris 
Priest, daughter of John and Anna (Houghton) 
Priest, of Lancaster. January 20. 1725. and the births 
of their children are recorded in Lancaster. About 
1760 the family moved to West Swanzey. New 
Hampshire, where Joseph Whitcomb built a saw mill 
and a grist mill, making the mill privilege on which 
now stands the Stratton mills and the Box and 
Bucket shops. He owned an extensive tract of land. 
He was about sixty when he went to Swanzey. He 
died November. 1792. at the age of ninety-two years, 
and was buried in Swanzey. His wife died No- 
vember 12, 1770. In the expedition which laid siege 
to Louisburg in 1745 Joseph Whitcomb was lieutenant 
in companv four, of which John Warner was cap- 
tain and Samuel Willard colonel. He was also a 
lieutenant in the Crown Point Expedition in 1755. 
In the conquest of Canada in 1758 Joseph Whit- 
comb was captain in Colonel Timothy Ruggles' regi- 
ment. His five sons took a very prominent part 
in the revolution. One gained the title of general, 
two of colonel, one of lieutenant. 

The children of Joseph and Damaris Whitcomb 

were : i. .Abigail, born April 13, 1726 ; married 

Derbv. 2. Elizabeth, born December 3, 1728. 3. 
Joseph, born March 15, 1731-2: married December 
t6 or 18. 1754, Elizabeth Wheelock, of Leominster, 
Ma^-sachusptts. was lieutenant in the revolutionary 
army at Ticonderoga according to town records ; 



426 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



also other service ; removed to Grafton, Vermont, in 
1790 or 1792. 4. Benjamin; born September i, 1735; 
died young. J. Damaris. born January 7, 1737 ; died 
young. 6. Benjamin, born September 29, 17,38. 7. 
Jonathan Priest (see forward). 8. Elisha (twin) 
born October 18, 1742; had the military title of 
major: was eleven months and eight days in Canada 
in 1776; was in service also in 1777, called colonel 
afterward on records ; was at the battle of Bunker 
Hill ; married Joanna Whitcomb, of Leominster, 
Massachusetts : prominent citizen of Swanzey, state 
senator seven years; died September 17, 1814; widow 
died December 17, 1835 ; had thirteen children. 9. 
Elizabeth (twin), born October 18. 1742. lO. 
Damaris, born May 21, 1746; married April 3, 1765, 
Jonathan Carter; she died July 6, 1820. ir. Phile- 
mon, born October 29, 1748; had the military title 
of general in the revolution ; had a saw mill and a 
trip hammer; married (first) Martha Sawyer, of 
Lunenburg (intentions March 23, 1770) ; married 
(second) Mrs. Anna Aldrich, widow of Amasa 
Aldrich; died January 10, 1824. 12. Abijah, born 
June 25 or 27, 1751 ; built a saw and grist mill 
on the west side of the river at West Swanzey, 
New Hampshire, and later with his brother Philemon 
built a saw mill at what is now Spragueville, New 
Hampshire; was in the battle of Bunker Hill; was 
a pensioner ; served in Captain Jonathan Whitcomb's 
company. Colonel Reed's regiment, of New Hamp- 
shire; married (first), November 6, 1786, Mary 
Seaver, daughter of Shubael Seaver ; married (sec- 
ond) Susaima Warner, daughter of Daniel Warner. 
13. Anna, bom 1755; married June 19, 1775, John 
Carter. 

(V) Jonathan Priest Whitcomb, son of Joseph 
Whitcomb (4). born January 14, 1740, at Leominster, 
Massachusetts; married, September 5, 1764. Dorothy 
Carter. She was born March 9, 1746; died Octo- 
ber 22, 1827. He settled in Swanzey, New Hamp- 
shire, and kept the first store and the first tavern 
in the town. He served in the revolutionary war 
and was paid for eight and one-half months service 
at Cambridge. Massachusetts, during the siege of 
Boston in 1775. He was captain of the largest com- 
pany in Colonel James Reid's regiment at Lexington, 
April 19, 177s, and at Bunker Hill June 17, 1775. 
His company encamped on Winter Hill, numbering 
about seventy men from Keene, New Hampshire, 
and Swanzey. He was promoted to the rank of 
colonel in 1775. He had a difficulty with a Captain 
Marcy, who accused him of cowardice, but a clean 
and gallant war record was sustained by the court 
of inquiry. Colonel and Mrs. Whitcomb used to 
make horseback trips to Boston to buy goods, and 
on one occasion brought home some lilacs, the first 
they ever saw, which were planted on the old home- 
stead. • Colonel Jonathan died June 13, 1792, and 
his old regiment attended the funeral. His widow 
died at the home of her son .Nathan. (Where the 
dates in this family are double it is due to a con- 
flict between the dates of the Swanzey history and 
the Carter Genealogy). 

The children of Colonel Jonathan Priest and 
Dorothy (Carter) Whitcomb were: I. Dorothy, 
born March 3 or May 23, 1765 ; died May 2, 1825 ; 
married Nathan Capron and had four daughters. 2. 
Jonathan, born September 20, 1766, or 67; married 
May II, 1786. Miriam Willard ; he died December 
13, 184J.: resided at Swanzey. 3. John, born March 
22, 1768: died October 17, 1770. 4. Nathan (see 
forward). 5. John, born March 9, 1772; married 
May 7, T70.S. Esther Morse, of Swanzey, daughter 
of Henry Morse ; removed to Grafton, Vermont, 
and Saxton's River, Vermont, where in 1830 he 
bought the old Judge Baxter place; died 1875. 6. 



Ephraim, born June 4 or 9, 1774; died August 15, 
1777. 7. Damaris, born April 29, 1777:' died June, 
1784. 8. Anna, born April 9, 1779; died June 17 
1784. 9. Ephraim, born February 26, 1782; married 
(first), in 1798, Dorothy Chamberlain; married 
(second") her sister, Charlotte Chamberlain, in 1817; 
he died March, 1S69: was a saddle-maker by trade.l 
10. Salome, born March 3, 1784 ; died March orl 
May 30, 1785. II. Salome, born April 25, 1786;' 
married Amos Bailey. 

(VI") Nathan Whitcomb, son of Colonel Jonathan 
Priest Whitcomb (5), was born May 14, 1770. He 
settled at Swanzey and died there. He married, 
October 23, 1791, Penelope White, of Milford, 
Massachusetts. She was born in 1771 ; died March 
15. 1850. Their children were: i. Leonard, bomi 
January 26, 1793; married Betsey Woodward, daugh- 
ter of Josiah Woodward, February 9, 1819; died at 
West Swanzey in 1866, aged seventy-four years. 2: 
Carter (see forward). 3. Otis, born September,' 
1796; married July 22, 1818, Esther Osgood, daugh- 
ter of Ezekiel Osgood. He died March 18, i882.' 
He had eighteen children. His wife was born Octo- 
ber 17, 1799; died April 20, 1867. He was called 
captain and always took great interest in military^ 
matters. He has been made famous by Denman 
Thompson's play "Joshua Whitcomb." The char- 
acter of Joshua was a combination of Joshua Hoi--; 
brook and Otis Whitcomb. Mr. Thompson, the play- 
wright, was a native of Swanzey, and very fond of' 
Mr. Whitcomb, and often had him at performances. 
Four or more sons were in the civil war. 4. Nathan, 
died in Fitchburg, Massachusetts. 5. Alva, borni 
about iSoo; married Almira, daughter of Ezekiel I 
Osgood. September 21, 1820; removed to Pennsyl 
vania, where he died 1850. 6. Lyman, born April 
22, 1804 ; married September 26, 1837, Eliza Curtis, 
daughter of Oliver and Elizabeth Curtis, of Sharon, 
Massachusetts. 7. Eliza, born at Swanzey ; mar- 
ried May 12, 18.39, Rev- James W. Bailey. 8. Son, 
born 1812: died from scald, March 9, 1814. 9. 
Infant. 10. Infant : died young. 

(VII") Carter Whitcomb, son of Nathan Whit- 
comb (6), was born at Swanzey, New Hampshire, 
February 9, 1794: married December 26, 1815, to 
Lucy Baker, daughter of Jonidab Baker, of Marl- 
I)oro, New Hampshire. She was born February 4, 
1794: died October 3, 1890, aged ninety-six years. 
He died May i, 1879. He was a merchant and 
manufacturer of woolen goods from 181S to 1837 
in Saxton's River village, Vermont, in partnership 
with Clement Godfrey. He took an active interest 
in military and town afifairs and was colonel of a 
Vermont regiment. In 1837 he returned to Swan- 
zey and spent the remainder of his life there, on 
his farm. Except the youngest, his children were 
born in Saxton's River. His children were : i. 
Alonzo (see forward). 2. Carter, born May 27, 
1820; married Emily Augusta Spring, of -Worces- 
ter. Massachusetts, who was born December 11, 
1827. in Uxbridge. He was in active business with 
his brother Alonzo until 1871. His death occurred 
December i, 1880, in Worcester. His children were: 
Ida Francena, born April 29, 1851 ; married Walter 
G. Beal; Carrie Jane, born January 13, 1853; died 
February 4, 1856: Henry Carter, born August 29, 
1857; resides in New York city; Franklin_ Luther, 
born March 5, 1862, at Worcester ; married in Pitts- 
burg, Pennsylvania, November 15, 1893, Mary Piatt 
Parry; is a manufacturer of car-wheels in Chicago, 
where he lives ; has three children : Carter Parry, 
born January 9, 1S95, at Detroit, Michigan : Franklin 
Luther, born June 15, 1896, at Chicago; Pemberton, 
horn December 22, 1900, at Chicago. 3. Jonidab 
Baker, born October 2, 1823 ; married Cynthia A. 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



427 



Cutter, of Grafton, Vermont. April 5, 1855 ; settled 
in Berkley, California ; compiled "Ancestry and De- 
scendants of Colonel Jonathan Priest Whitcomb ;" 
died January 22. 1890. 4. Byron, born April 17, 
1826 ; married January 12, 1858, Eliza V. Lott, of 
Flatlands. Long Island, New York; learned ma- 
chinist's trade at Worcester and removed to Fall 
River, Massachusetts; went to California in 1S49; 
went with brother Jonidab Baker to the Yuba river 
at Foster's Bar; from 1858 to 1868 lived at Young 
Hill in Yuba county ; removed then to Worcester, 
where he went into Iiusincss for a few years, finally 
settled at Flatlands, Long Island : has iive children. 
5. Clement Godfrey, born December 12, 1828; died 
April I, 189.^. at San Francisco; unmarried. 6. Lucy 
Jane, born May 9. 1834; married George Carpenter, 
of Swanzey, New Hampshire. 7. Henry Homer, born 
May 13, 1837; unmarried; died September 12, 1899. 

"(VIII) Alonzo Whitcomb, son of Colonel Carter 
Whitcomb (7), was born at Saxton's River, Ver- 
mont, April 30, 1818. He came to Worcester in 1845 
and was employed in the machine shops of S. C. 
Coombs & Company until 1849 when, with his brother 
Carter Whitcomb (q. v.) he purchased the copying- 
press business of George C. Taft. on Union street, 
in the old Howe & Goddard shop. In a few years 
they had developed this business largely and the 
firm, then known as C. Whitcomb & Co., moved in 
1852, to secure larger quarters, into the Merrificld 
building at the corner of Exchange and Lmion streets, 
where it remained until burned out in the great fire 
of 1854. After the fire the Junction shop was oc- 
cupied temporarily, then the firm moved into the 
new Merrifield building at the corner of Exchange 
and Cypress streets. In addition to the manufacture 
of copying presses the firm also took up the manu- 
facture of metal-working machine tools soon after 
its first establishment in the Merrifield building, and 
this branch soon became the most important part 
of the business. 

In 1871 Carter Whitcomb retired from the firm 
and the name was changed to The Whitcomb Manu- 
facturing Company. In 1872 Mr. Whitcomb moved 
to the Estabrook shop at the Junction, and later in 
1877 to the Rice & Griffin shop on Gold street. Here 
he had another disastrous fire, having a $45,000 loss 
with only $5,000 insurance, but the business suiifered 
no interruption. In 1892 he built the shop at the 
corner of Sargent and Gold streets, since occupied 
by his business. From 1866 to 1881 he was a part- 
ner in the firm of Rice & Whitcomb with Augustus 
Rice, in the business established by Timothy F. Taft, 
manufacturing metal shears and presses. Upon the 
retirement of Mr. Rice this business was united with 
the other, Mr. Whitcomb being sole owner of both. 
He was one of the founders of the Kabley Foundry. 
His partners in that concern were Frederick E. Reed 
and Arnold Kabley. Before the death of Mr. Whit- 
comb that business had been incorporated, and the 
ofiicers were : President, Arnold Kabley ; treasurer, 
Alonzo Whitcomb ; director, F. E. Reed. The 
foundry is located at 56 Gold street. In spite of times 
of financial depression when it was the common 
thing for shops to shut down. Mr. Whitcomb always 
kept a certain number of men at work, preferring to 
suffer loss of profits himself to depriving men who 
had been faithful in their work for many years of 
their much needed wages, 

Mr. Whitcomb died March 28, 1900. after an active 
business career of over fifty years. When over eighty 
he continued to do his work, and was remarkably 
active. He was of a quiet and retirin.g nature. 
He nreferred his home life to public affairs and 
social ^'■tix-i'y. He owned the famous old Governor 
John Davis house on Lincoln street. Dickens, 



Thackeray and other famous men have been guests 
in this house, which is one of the most interesting 
m the city. It is now the home of his son Alonzo 
Wilton. 

Mr. Whitcomb married in 1857 Sybell (Heald) 
Clary, who was born in Troy, Maine, October 17, 
1820. Mrs. Whitcomb and her daughter, Camilla 
Gertrude, reside at 35 Oxford street, the home built 
by Mr. Whitcomb in i860. The children of Alonzo 
and Sybell (Heald) (Clary) Whitcomb were: Lucy 
Stella; married J. F. Browning; Camilla Gertrude; 
Alonzo Wilton. 

(IX) .Monzo Wilton Whitcomb, son of Alonzo 
Whitcomb (8), was born in Worcester, Massachu- 
setts, April II, 1S62. He attended the Worcester 
schools and graduated in 1880 from the Worcester 
high school. He went to Amherst College where he 
graduated in 1884. He came directly into his father's 
business and worked in all the departments until 
thoroughly familiar with all its details and ma- 
chinery. He was associated with his father in part- 
nership until his death in 1900, and during most of 
the time in active management of the large interests 
of the firm. LTpon the death of Alonzo Whitcomb 
the business was incorporated with Mrs. Sybell H. 
Whitcomb, president ; Alonzo Wilton Whitcomb, 
treasurer ; Samuel H. Clary, clerk and director. The 
stock of Mr. Reed and Mr. Kabley in the Kabley 
Foundry was purchased, and the same officers chosen 
for the Kabley corporation. In 1905 a further con- 
solidation took place by the union of the P. Blais- 
dell Machine Co. and Whitcomb Manufacturing Com- 
pany, in one Massachusetts corporation, with a capi- 
tal of $200,000. This consolidation gives the new 
company a foundry and two large machine shops, 
each having a large and prosperous business. The 
ofiicers of the new corporation are : President, A. W. 
Whitcomb ; vice-president and treasurer, Charles E. 
Hildreth ; directors : William A. Blaisdell. Samuel 
H. Clary and Camilla G Whitcomb. The company 
now makes a specialty of metal planers, engine lathes 
and upright drills. The ordinary force employed is 
three hundred and twenty-five. The name of the new 
corporation is the Whitcomb-Blaisdell Machine Tool 
Company. 

>Ir. Whitcomb is a member of Quinsigamond 
Lodge of Free Masons, and of the Commonwealth 
Club. He is a trustee of the Worcester County 
Mechanics' Association and on the Executive Coun- 
cil of the Worcester Metal Trades Association. He 
is a member of the Worcester Board of Trade. 

He married April 4, 1894, Gertrude Coffey, who 
was born in Worcester, April 11, 1871. Their 
children are: Dorothy, born January 2, 1895; Pres- 
ton, born May 30, 1897 ; Wilton Alonzo, born April 
4, 1900. 

HENRY AUGUSTUS GREEN. Bartholomew 
Green was a soldier in the revolutionary war. serv- 
ing in Captain Samuel Dexter's company. Colonel 
Learned's regiment. The company return is dated 
Roxbury Camp, January, 1776. This company was 
raised in New Braintree. Hardwick and Oakham, 
he being credited to the latter town. We find him 
also associated with the companies of Captain Barna- 
bas Sears and Captain Ralph Earll, Colonel Dan- 
forth Keyes' regiment, enlistin.g in the latter com- 
pany July 2, 1777. discharged January 4. 1778, roll 
dated Providence, and sworn to in Worcester county. 
(Vol. VI, p. 795, Mass. Soldiers and Sailors, War of 
Revolution). 

Records seem to be wanting to connect this 
Bartholomew with other branches of the Green fam- 
ily, but it is perhaps a significant fact that one Joel 
Green, of Spencer, Massachusetts, also Jeduthan 



428 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



Green, of same town, served in Colonel Learned's 
regiment, and it is also a fact that children of both 
Bartholomew and Jeduthan made their homes in 
Rutland, Massachusetts, which fact at least is an 
intimation that there was a family relationship exist- 
ing; between them. Jeduthan Green was son of Will- 
iam and Rebecca (Tucker) Green, and lived on the 
Charlton road in Leicester, born October 27, 1744. 
Jedutlian enlisted from Spencer,, and after the revo- 
lutionary war settled in Barre. William, father of 
Jeduthan, was born of Captain William and Sarah 
(Sprague) Green; his father was son of Thomas 
Green, of Maiden, Massachusetts. 

Bartholomew, the revolutionary soldier, married 
(as it would appear) rather late in life, in Barre, 
April II, 1804, Hannah, daughter of Skelton Felton, 
born September 2, 1778. Her mother was Silance 
Hale, born in Bolton, Massachusetts, February, 1776. 
Skelton Felton was in the fifth generation de- 
scent from Nathaniel Felton, who was born about 
161S, came from (ireat Yarmouth, county of Nor- 
folk, England, to Salem, Massachusetts, in 1633, 
where he lived, and died July 30, 1705, aged ninety 
years, leaving ten children. His son Nathaniel, 
born .-Vugust 15, 1655, by wife Ann Horn, had 
eight children, among whom was Skelton, born about 
1680, married. May, 1712, Hepsibah Sheldon ; among 
their seven children was Joseph, baptized August 
14, 1715, married Mary Trask, of Salem, in 1736, 
and had thirteen children, the seventh being Skel- 
ton, born December 21, 1750, and married Silance 
Hale. Children of Bartholomew Green, who died 
in Barre, January 8, 1835, and his wife Hannah, who 
died in Holden, Massachusetts, in 1846: Elbridge 
Gerry, James Sullivan, Josiah Martin, Bartholomew, 
Mary, Lydia, and Silance. No dates of their births 
appear on the town records of Barre. 

James Sullivan Green was born 1807. in Barre, 
where he received his early education in the common 
schools, and in early life worked on the farm that 
was the property of his grandfather. Skelton Felton, 
of Barre, under the direction of his uncle. Captain 
Benjamin Felton, his mother's brother, who after 
the death of the father, July 9, 1822, administered 
on the estate. Captain Benjamin Felton died in 
Worcester, April 6, 1875, aged eighty-two years. 
After a number of years farm work, Mr. Green re- 
moved to Grafton, where for several years he kept 
the hotel now known as the Kirby House. He 
then went to Millbury, and conducted the Tourtelotte 
House, which for many years enjoyed an enjoyable 
reputation as a popular hostelry. September 12, 
1837, Mr. Green married Abigail Martin, of Shrews- 
bury, daughter of John and Sarah (Fay) Brigham. 
At the time of this marriage, Mr. Green was a 
resident of Grafton. He died in Millbury, Novem- 
ber 21. 1844, aged thirty-seven years and three 
months. His children : James Oscar : Henry Au- 
gustus, see forward ; Marion Augusta ; Sarah Abigail, 
born May 7, 1843, in Millbury. 

Henry Augustus Green was born in Grafton, 
September 7, 1842. After the death of his father, 
the mother removed with her children to Shrews- 
bury, where the subject of this sketch attended the 
public schools, and when a young man secured em- 
ployment in the store of Mr. Bontelle, where he 
remained until September 25, 1862, when he enlisted 
in Company A, Fifty-first Massachusetts Infantry, 
serving with the Eighteenth Army Corps, in Cap- 
tain E. A. Wood's company, in the General Foster 
expedition. He was at New Berne, Kingston, White 
Hall and Goldsb'oro, North Carolina, being among 
the nine months men, and was honorably discharged 
July 27, 1862. On his return home he entered the 
employ of E. T. Srnith in the wholesale grocery 



trade in Worcester, Massachusetts. Here he re- 
mained until 1870, when he opened a store on Shrews- 
bury street for the sale of groceries on his own 
account, later taking Jesse Smith into partnership, 
the style of the firm being Smith & Green, dealing 
in groceries and provisions, lime and cement, their 
store being on the corner of Shrewsbury and Mul- 
bury streets, and there the business was continued 
up to the time of Mr. Green's death, November 26, 
l8g3. Mr. Green was an attendant at the Uni- 
versalist church, and was a Republican in politics. 
He received his Master Mason degree in Montacute 
Lodge ; his Royal Arch degree in E jka Chapter ; 
his Knight Templar degree in Worcester County 
Commandery, No. 5. He was a member of George 
H. Ward Post, No. 10, G. A. R. He married, Janu- 
ary, 1868, Frances Maria Gates, born March 20, 
1846, in Worcester, daughter of Ephraim Gates, born 
in Worcester, October 27. 1815. Her mother, Maria 
(Campbell) Gates, was born in Worcester, Febru- 
ary, 1822. Children of Henry Augustus and Frances 
M. Green : i. Walter James, born February, 1870, 
died February 8, 1871. 2. Alice Elizabeth, born 
L")ecember 12, 1872. 3. Albert Henry, born July 
27, 1875 ; married Edith Wood Armington, of Wor- 
cester ; children: Richard Henry, Bradford, and 
Frances, born March 20, 1895. 4- Marion Frances, 
born October 6, 1880; married Frederick E. Goulding, 
of Worcester. $. Florence Lillian, born October 
25. 1882. 6. Cora H'-len, born September 18, 1885. 

THE HEYWOOD FAMILY OF WORCES- 
TER. The surname Heywood is distinct from Hay- 
wood. Hayward and Howard, although the spelling 
of each in every possible way makes it difficult 
not to confuse the families, especially where Hey- 
wards. Howards and Heywoods were living in the 
same town. 

The derivation of the name Heywood is given 
in a pedigree prepared by Peter John Heywood, of 
Whitehaven, England, 1781, and published in 
"Hunter's Life and Times of Oliver Heywood," 
wdio was a non-conformist clergyman of note in the 
days of Charles I. The pedigree runs back to the 
year 1164, a period when surnames were beginning 
to come into use in the mother country. Often some 
local feature of a man's place of residence was em- 
ployed to distinguish him from others bearing the 
same Christian name. The earliest authentic docu- 
ment containing the name of Heywood or its proto- 
type is a title deed still preserved for a tract of 
land in Lancashire, from one Adame de Burgo or de 
Bury, who held the knight's fee to a large section of 
territory in the vicinity to Peter de Ey-wood, that is 
"of wooded island." The latter was the reputed 
founder of the Heywood family in England, from 
which the American family is descended. This 
estate remained in the possession of the descendants 
of Peter Heywood more than five hundred years, 
or until 1717 when Robert Heywood sold it to John 
Starkey, of Rochdale, whose grandson, James 
Starkey, dying intestate, allowed the place to pass 
into the hands of the Crown. It is now an attractive 
public park, having been donated for the purpose by 
Queen Victoria. While the English line is traced 
in an unbroken line from this Peter Heywood, the 
ancestry of the emigrants to America had not at 
last accounts been discovered. James and John Hey- 
wood, both about twenty-two years old, presumably 
brothers, came together in the ship "Planter" in 1635. 
They were both certified from Stepney Parish, Lon- 
don. James Heywood settled in Charlestown and 
Woburn where he died November 20, 1642. John 
Heywood is the ancestor of the Worcester and Gard- 
ner families of this name. 





Y}n(^ 




CUcrru 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



429 



(I) John Heywood, mentioned above, settled in 
Concord, Massachusetts, and was probably born in 
London, England, about 1620. He married (.first), 
August 17, 1656, Rebecca Atkinson, daughter of 
Thomas Atkinson. She was probably not his first 
wife unless his age is estimated wrongly. She died 
1665. He married (second), August 5. 1665, Sarah 

Simonds, He married (third) Priscilla , who 

survived him. He was admitted a freeman in 1670. 

The children of John and Rebecca (Atkinson) 
Heywood, born in Concord, were : Rebecca, born 
September 9, 1657, died young ; Rebecca, May 13, 
l6(jo; John, jr. (Deacon), mentioned below; Persis, 
April II, 1664; Benoni, July 31, 1665, died young; 
The children of John and Sarah (Simonds) Hey- 
wood were: Sarah, born August 30, 1666; Judith, 
January 3, 1667; Mary, November 3, 1(169; Abigail, 
.\pril 9, 1672; William, April 17, 1674; Huldah, 
September 17, 1676; James, January 27, 1678-79; 
Joseph January 3, 1(380-81 ; Benjamin, jilarch 17, 
1682-83. 

(II) Deacon John Heywood, third child of John 
Heywood (i), was born in Concord, Massachusetts, 
April 5, 1662, where he also settled and lived, and 
where, January 2, 1718, he died. In 1676 he was a 
constable. He was keeper of an ordinary at Concord 

in his later years. He married Sarah . Their 

children were : I. Sarah. 2. Thomas, born July 16, 
1(386. 3. Samuel, October 11, 1687, married Eliza- 
beth Hubbard in 1710, was deacon and town officer, 
died October 28, 1750, had thirteen children. 4. 
Edmund, July 31, 1689. 5. Josiah, November 15, 
i(X)i. 6. Daniel, April 15, 1694, removed to Wor- 
cester and is ancestor of a large number of the 
Worcester family ; married Hannah, daughter of 
Obadiah Ward, another pioneer at Worcester ; he 
lived and kept an inn on the site of the Bay State 
House, and his son and grandson maintained the 
tavern there for over a hundred years. 7. Eleazer, 
.\ugust 3, 1696. 8. Nathan, September 24, 1698. 9. 
Sarah, January 18, 1700-01. 10. John. March 14, 

1703, settled in Lunenburg. 11. Mary, March 23, 

1704. 12. Phinehas, mentioned below. 13. Benja- 
min, October 25, 1709. 

(III) Phinehas Heywood, twelfth child of Dea- 
con John Heywood (2), was born in Concord, Massa- 
chusetts, July 18, 1707. He settled in Shrewsbury 
in 1739. in the northwest part near the Worcester 
line. His descendants have been and are very numer- 
ous in Worcester, Shrewsbury, Gardner, and other 
sections of Worcester county. He was a prominent 
man. being a selectman of Shrewsbury, representative 
to the general court, delegate to the provincial con- 
gress; committee of safety and correspondence 1774 
and 1775. He was concerned in one of the first 
overt acts of rebellion against the crown just a year 
before the battle of Lexington. Together with four- 
teen other Worcester county men, among whom 
was Colonel Timothy Bigelow and Joshua Bigelow, 
he was on the grand jury that signed the famous pro- 
test against Chief Justice Oliver who had been im 
peached by the general court for accepting pay 
from the king in addition to his salary from the 
province. This protest presented to the judges of 
the superior court of judicature at Worcester, stated 
the purpose of the jurors to decline to act if the 
chief justice were present on the bench "because 
we apprehend it would be highly injurious to sub- 
ject a fellow-countryman to a trial at a bar w'here 
one of the judges is convicted in the minds of the 
people more heinous in all probability than any that 
might come before him." The protest was read 
publicly by the clerk, considered by the four judges 
present, who at length stated that it was not prob- 
able that the chief justice would attend the session. 



No attempt was made to discipline the rebellious 
jurors. Although greatly interested in the events that 
led up to the revolutionary war, he died at the very 
beginning of the conflict, March 6, 1776. 

He married Elizabeth Moore, daughter of Deacon 
Nathaniel Moore, of another of the important pioneer 
families of Worcester. She died June 20, 1797, aged 
eisfhty-six years. Their children, all born in Shrews- 
bury, were: i. Elizabeth, born May 15, 1755, mar- 
ried John Curtis, Jr., of another pioneer Worcester 
family. 2. Mary, married Samuel Jennison, an early 
Worcester family. 3. Scth. 4. Timothy, born Feb- 
ruary II, 1740, died at Westminster, 1825, aged 
eighty-five. 5. Keziah, April 30, 1742, married 
Bezaleel Howe, of Marlboro. 6. Phinehas, July 29, 
1744. 7. Benjamin, October 25. 1746 (judge), father 
of Dr. Benjamin P., grandfather of John G. Hey- 
wood. 8. Nathaniel, baptized November 13, 1748, 
mentioned below. 9. John, born April 25, 1751. 10. 
Levi, May 12, 1753, settled in Gardner. 

(IV) Nathaniel Heywood, eighth child of Phine- 
has Heywood (3), was born in Shrewsbury and 
baptized November^ 13, 1748. He married (first), 
.\pril 23, 1778, and lived on the homestead at Shrews- 
bury. His wife died May 25, 1792, aged thirty-live. 
He married (second), July i, 1793, Mary Chamber- 
lain, daughter of Deacon Jacob (Chamberlain. She 
died November 21, 1802, aged thirty-nine. He died 
November 18, 1834, aged eighty-six. 

He was a corporal in Captain Timothy Bigelow's 
company. Colonel Artemas Ward's regiment, April 
19. I77S. at Lexington, and also in Captain Jonas 
Hubbard's company. Colonel Ward's regiment, in 
1775. He was lieutenant under Captain William 
Gates, in 1777, and served in New York. 

The children of Nathaniel and Hannah (Curtis) 
Heywood were: I. Levi, born September 21, 1777, 
died September 17, 1804. 2. Nathaniel, February 6, 
17S0, died October 4, 1836. 3. Benjamin, March 29, 
1782. 4. John, August 24, 17S4, died xAugust 16, 1833, 
at Shrewsbury. 5. Phinehas, May 4, 1788. 6. Daniel, 
November 17, 1790. died December 20, 1802. The 
children of Nathaniel and Mary (Chamberlain) Hey- 
wood were: 7. Hannah, February 9, 1794. 8. Daniel, 
mentioned below. 9. Marietta, May 9, 1802, married 
Elijah Stow, of Grafton. 

(V) Daniel Heywood, eighth child of Lieutenant 
Nathaniel Heywood (4), was born March 9, 1796, at 
Shrewsbury. He married, October 21, 1824, Maria 
Brooks, of Princeton. He settled in Shrewsbury 
and his children were born there, viz. : John Brooks, 
born August 8, 1825 ; George Chamberlain, June 18, 
1827, died November 12, 1829; Charles Leland, men- 
tioned below; George Chamberlain, June 17, 1832; 
Edwin Chapin, September 27, 1836; Henry Adams, 
June 23, 1842. The baptisms of the children are 
recorded in the second parish, Worcester. 

(VI) Charles Leland Heywood, third child of 
Daniel Heywood (5)^ of Shrewsbury and Wor- 
cester, Massachusetts, was born in Shrewsburj', Octo- 
ber 21, 1828. 

(VII) Charles H. Heywood. son of Charles Le- 
land Heywood (6), was born in Worcester. Massa- 
chusetts. He married, November 22, 1886, Cora 
Maria Eaton, daughter of Amos Madison and Eliza 
Maria (Kelley) Eaton, of Worcester. Their chil- 
dren are : Muriel Clio, Vincey Eaton, and Charles 
Errol. 

AMOS MADISON EATON. John Eaton (i) 
was the emigrant ancestor of Amos Madison Eaton, 
of Worcester. He was the son of Nicholas and 
Katherine (Marston) Eaton, and was baptized in 
England August 21, 1611. Nicholas Eaton was a 
curate and church warden. John Eaton received a 



430 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



bequest of ten pounds from his step-mother's will 
dated April lo, 1635. 

John Eaton is believed to have come with others 
of the family on the ship Elizabeth and Ann in 
April, 1635. He settled first in Watertown, iVIassa- 
chusetts, where he was a proprietor, and where May 
25, 1636, he was admitted a freeman. He removed 
to Dedham a year later and was a proprietor there 
in 1637. He had grants of land at Watertown, 
July, 1636, and February 28, 1636-37-38. He joined 
the Dedham church in 1641 and signed the famous 
Covenant there. He bought the rights of Thomas 
Hastings when he went to Dedham May 11, 1637. 
. He v.-as first present at the Dedham town meeting, 
November 28, 1637, although he was one of a com- 
mittee in 1637 to cut pines for the meeting house. 
He helped build the first foot-bridge across the 
Charles river. He was on a committee to lay 
out land for settlers and survey highways. He was 
wood reeve for several years. He had the delicate 
task in 1647 of deciding who were behind on the 
highway work. In 1650 he was on the committee 
to repair the foot-bridge. He had numerous grants 
of land. 

He married in England, Abigail Damon, or Dam- 
mant, who had two children, John and Jane, by 
her previous marriage. He died November 17, 1658. 
His will was made November 2, 1658, and proved 
December 16, 1658. The children of John and 
Abigail Eaton were: I. Mary," baptized in Dover, 
England, March 20, 1630-31, married. May 5, 1651, 
John Mason. 2. John, baptized in Dover, England, 
October I, 1633, buried there January 27, 1734. 
3. Thomas, born in England, 1634, died in Dedham, 
September 10, 1649. 4. John, born in Watertown, 
(see forward). 5. Abigail, born in Dedham, Jan- 
uary 6, 1640, married Robert JNIason, of Med- 
field. 6. Jacob, born in Dedham, June 8, 1642, died 
March 20, 1646. 

(U) John taton, fourth child of John Eaton 
(i), was born probably in 1636 in Watertown, 
Massachusetts. He inherited the homestead at Ded- 
ham. He married Alice , who died May 8, 

1694. 

The children of John and Alice Eaton were : 
John, born July 15, 1665, died October 15, 1665; 
John, September 17, 1671 ; Thomas, July 23, 1675; 
William, August 11, 1677; Judith, September 17, 
1679, died April 26, 1780; Jonathan, (see forward); 
David, March 8, 1683, died March 28, 1683; Eben- 
ezer, May 3, 1687, died May 23, 1688. 

(HI) Jonathan Eaton, son of John Eaton (2), 
was born in Dedham, Massachusetts, September 3, 
1681. He went to Connecticut in 1703, and bought 
land in Woodstock in the part now Putnam, Con- 
necticut. In 1702 he paid taxes in Dedham, in 
1704 in Woodstock. In 1705 he paid in Dedham 
only, being "eased from all rates" in Woodstock 
by special vote of the town. . He attended church 
at Woodstock until the establishment of a church 
at Killingly, January 28, 1730, of which he was 
chosen the first deacon. This church is now the 
North Society of Thompson, Connecticut. He mar- 
ried the second daughter of Comfort and Mary 
Starr, of Dedham. Comfort Starr was the son of 
John and the grandson of Dr. Comfort Starr, of 
Dedham, Massachusetts. Abiah (Starr) Eaton was 
born February 8, 1687-88. Although her name 
was Abiah she was baptized Lydia, June 17, 1688. 
Her sister, Mary Starr, married her husband's 
brother, William Eaton. Deacon Jonathan Eaton 
died June 25, 1748, aged sixty-seven years. His 
wife died March 4, 1751. 

The children of Deacon Jonathan and Abiah 
(Starr) Eaton, all recorded at Woodstock, were: 



Lydia, born November 5, 1707, married Philemon 
Chandler; Keziah, May 24, 1710; Alice, November 
28, 1712; Susannah, April 8, 171S; Jerusha, April 
16, 1717; Hannah, August 17, 1719; Jonathan, No- 
vember 10, 1721 ; John, May 18, 1724, settled at 
Adams, Massachusetts; Penelope, March 21, 1727; 
Comfort, September 25, 1729; Marston, October 21, 
1731, died May 3, 1776, (see forward). (See Ded- 
ham Reg. 'Vol. II.) The gravestone of Jonathan 
is at Putnam, Connecticut. 

(IV) Marston Eaton, youngest child of Jon- 
athan Eaton (3), was born in Killingly, Connecti- 
cut, in the section now Thompson. He married 
Elizabeth Lyon, of Woodstock, January 7, 1762. He 
removed to Belchertown, Massachusetts, in 1776, 
and shortly after his arrival there he died. May 3, 
1776. He and his brother Comfort operated a mill 
on the Quinebaug river on land given them by their 
father. The children of Marston and Elizabeth 
(Lyon) Eaton were: Comfort; and Marston, see 
forward. 

("V) Marston Eaton, second child of Marston 
Eaton (4), was born at Killingly, Connecticut, 
April 13, 1767. When a young boy he moved with 
his parents in 1776 to Belchertown, Massachusetts, 
where he attended the public schools. He also lived 
and went to school in the adjoining town of Pel- 
ham. Massachusetts. He moved to Amherst, 
Massachusetts, in 1804 and established a store there 
removing to Pelham in 1806. He was prosperous 
and had what was for his day and location a for- 
tune. The loss of $10,000 of convention money 
embarrassed him, and he finally retired to his farm 
where he spent the later years of his life. His 
farm was in Pelham, where, October 10, 1845, h^ 
was accidently killed by a tree which he cut, and 
which fell upon him. He was a member of the 
Lhiiversalist Church. He was a Whig in politics 
and influential in town affairs. He was collector 
of taxes in Pelham for many years and held other 
town offices. He was a Free Mason. At the time 
of Shay's Rebellion he and other citizens in that 
vicinity started for Worcester to join the ranks of 
the malcontents, but he failed to carry out his pur- 
pose and went to Connecticut until the trouble was 
at an end. 

He married Charlotte Dutton, of Ludlow, Massa- 
chusetts, December 22, 1793. Their children were: 
I. Rufus, born in Belchertown, Massachusetts, May 
I, 1794, married Fannie Holden. 2. Mary, born in 
Belchertown, December 29, 1796, married David 
Abercrombie. of Pelham, and had seven children. 
3. De Marcus, September 10, 1798, married Ora 
Austin, of Canterbury, Connecticut. Their children 
were : Phebe A., married Charles Ray, of Canter- 
bury; Fayette, married Fannie Lester, of Canter- 
bury, and had Elmer Ellsworth and Sarah ; Calvin, 

married Payne, of Providence, Rhode Island, 

and had : Charles H. and one daughter. Mary 
Hannah, unmarried, lives in Canterbury, Connecti- 
cut; and Lutheria. 4. Lily, June 29, 1800, mar- 
ried Asa Briggs, of North Adams, Massachusetts, 
and had eight children. 5. Walter, July 24, 1802, 
married Jerusha Austin, of Canterbury. Connecti- 
cut. 6. Jefferson, June 26, 1804. 7. Marston, see 
forward. 8. Hannah, September 25, 1808, died at 
age of three. '9. Madison, August 23, 181 1, died 
October 19, 1836, married Orinda Hall of Shutes- 
bury, Massachusetts. 10. Calvin Dutton, October 
20, 1814, married Harriet Dudley, of Dudley, Massa- 
chusetts, and had five children: Heman, Homer, 
Julia, Cornelia, and Ellen. 11. Monroe, July 24, 
1817, married Clarissa Boyden and had three chil- 
dren : Morton Monroe, Frank Lapierre, and 
Augusta, who lives in Hancock, Iowa. 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



431 



(VI) Marston Eaton, seventh child of JMarston 
Eaton (S), was born in Pelham, Massachusetts, 
May 26, 1806. He received his early education in 
the district schools of his native town, but he was 
a self-educated man in the proper sense of the word. 
He was a life-long student. He began to teach 
school when he was about nineteen years old, 
working at home on his father's farm during the 
summer seasons. For about fifteen years he was 
a school teacher in Pelham, Amherst and vicinity. 
During this time he worked two summers for his 
brother DeMarcus, in Canterbury, Connecticut, in 
his axe factory. He then returned to his home and 
resumed teaching and farming for two or three 
years. In 1847 he came to Worcester with his fam- 
ily and settled near Millstone Hill. Later he 
bought a farm in Holden and lived there for six or 
seven years, during which time he had charge of the 
quarries at Millstone Hill. He finally exchanged 
his Holden property for a farm at the corner of 
Belmont and Elizabeth streets, as the location is now 
known. He built two dwelling houses there. He 
lived there and in other parts of the city. In 1869 ' 
he retired from active business and went to Shrews- 
bury where he bought another farm on which he 
spent the remainder of his days and where he died 
January 3, 1873. He was a member of the Baptist 
church. He . was a Republican in politics. He 
served in the militia in his younger days and was 
drummer of the Pelham Company, being very ex- 
pert with the drumsticks. 

Marston Eaton married (first), May 23. 1829, 
in Millbury, Massachusetts, Betsey, daughter of 
Sylvanus and Alice (Sprague) Joslyn, of Douglas, 
Massachusetts. Sylvanus Joslyn was a farmer. He 
was drowned in a pond on his own farm. Marston 
Eaton married (second) Sarah Whitney, of Boyls- 
ton, Massachusetts. He married (third) Abigail 
Winter, of West Boylston. He married (fourth) 
Angeline L. Bond, of Worcester. The children of 
Mar.'ston and Betsey (Joslyn) Eaton were: i. Rufus 
Joslyn. born in Pelham, ilassachusetts, 1831, mar- 
ried Julia Sampson, of Brookheld, Massachusetts, 
who died February, 1905. They had four children : 
Charles Henry, lives in Dallas, Texas, and has four 
children; Carrie Augusta, deceased, married Henry 
Boatmer, of Dallas, Texas, and had one child, James 
W. Boatmer; Grace, died young; Mary Louise, mar- 
ried Henry W. Fobes, of New Braintree, Massachu- 
setts, lives in Dallas. Rufus Joslyn died in Dallas 
in 1896. 2. Amos Madison, see forward. 3. Marston 
Monroe, born in Worcester, June 14, 1836, married 
(first) Emily Thayer, of Barre, Massachusetts. 
They had two children : Bessie, who died young ; 
Emma Viola, deceased. He married (.second) 
Marietta Knowlton, of Springville, New York. They 
had two children : Bessie, who was burned to death 
at the age of eighteen ; Marston Monroe, Jr., of 
Deer Lodge, Montana, a Methodist clergyman, has 
four children : Marston Monroe, Jr., JNIary Harriet, 
Pauline and Lois. 4. Calvin Jefferson, born in Wor- 
cester, June 3, 1839, killed at Gettysburg battle July 
4, 1863 ; he was in Company B, Fifteenth Massa- 
chusetts Infantry. 5. Elizabeth Dimmis, born in 
Worcester, April 14, 1841, died in 1873, married 
Augustus D. A. Guild, of Worcester, who was killed 
in the battle of Spottsylvania ; married. Thanks- 
giving Day, 1858, and had one child, Marston Augus- 
tus Guild, deceased, who married Ella Boutelle, of 
Aztalan, Wisconsin. They had four daughters : 
Bernice Alvira, Elizabeth Eaton, Cora Eaton, and 
Bculah. b. jSlary Harriet, born in Holden, ^Nlassa- 
chusttts, March 7, 1847, lives at 24 Maywood street, 
Worcester, unmarried. 7. Orinda, born in Holden, 
Alassachusetts, April 6, 1849, married Benjamin T. 



Marsh, of Worcester. The children of Marston 
and Angeline L. (Bond) Eaton were: 8. Walter 
Fayette, died young. 9. Lily Luthera, married Ed- 
ward A. Bartlett, of Shrewsbury, Massachusetts. 
They have five children : Henry A., Edith, Gladys, 
Herbert, and Everett. 10. Annie Eliza, married 
Charles A. Bacon, of Worcester, and they have five 
children : Hazel Irene, Eunice Evelyn, Arthur 
Charles, Ruth Belle, and Marston Eaton Bacon, u. 
Carrie Belle, married William T. Pratt, of Shrews- 
bury, Massachusetts. 12. Annie Frances, married 
Fred C. Pratt, of Shrewsbury, and had one child, 
Carlisle Clifton Pratt. Annie Frances Pratt died 
December 25, 1901. 

(VII) Amos Madison Eaton, second son of 
Marston Eaton (6), was born in Pelham, Massachu- 
setts, October 21, 1833. At the age of ten or twelve 
years he came to Worcester with his father's family 
who soon afterward went to Holden where he at- 
tended the district schools. After receiving a com- 
mon school education he attended the Claremont 
(New Hampshire) Academy. His first employ- 
ment was driving a baker's cart for George T. King, 
of Orange street, Worcester. Then, after a year or 
two in the bakery business, he went into partner- 
ship with Oran A. Kelley, on School street, in the 
retail grocery business. After two years he bought 
out his partner and for twenty-five years he car- 
ried on the business there, at 19 School street. 
After retiring from the grocery business he carried 
on a real estate business for about thirteen years 
and cared for his own real estate interests. He 
was also in the sand business for a few years and 
died while engaged in that line of business, July 
4, 1895, at his home in Worcester, 807 Main street. 

Mr. Eaton had a kindly social disposition that 
won him many friends. He was a man of upright- 
ness and integrity. He won the esteem of his friends 
by his frankness, honesty and good nattire. He was 
a member of the LTnitarian church. In politics he was 
a Republican. 

He married Eliza Maria Kelley, daughter of Oran 
A. Kelley. of Worcester. (See sketch of Oran A. 
Kelley's family in this work). 

The only child of Amos Madison and Eliza Maria 
(Kelley) Eaton was Cora Maria, who married 
Charles H. Heywood. of Worcester, November 22, 
1886. He is an inventor of envelope machinery, 
and is a stockholder in the United States Envelope 
Company. Their home is in the west. 

The children of Charles H. and Cora Maria 
(Eaton) Heywood are: Muriel Clio, Vincey Eaton 
and Charles Errol. 

HENRY WARD BATES. The family of Bates, 
Bate or Batt as it was variously spelled in ancient 
times is an ancient name in England, and many 
mcmliers of the family in England as well as Amer- 
ica have been distinguished. The Bates coat of arms 
in England is a lion's head, erased, go. The name 
is a form of Bertelot (Bartlett), derived from the 
ancient name Bartholomew when surnames came into 
vogue. Five generations of the family are traced 
in England in the direct line of ancestry of Clement 
Bates, Hingham, the emigrant ancestor. 

(I) Thomas Bates, the ancestor of Henry Ward 
Bates, of Worcester, lived in Lydd, parish of All 
Hallows, county Kent, England, and died there in 

1485. 

(II) John Bates, son of the preceding Thomas 
Bates (i). died in 1522. 

(III) .Andrew Bates, son of the preceding John 
Bates (2), had four sons: he died in 1533 at Lydd. 

(IV) John Bates, son of the preceding Andrew 
Bates (3), died at Lydd in 1580, leaving three sons. 



43-' 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



(V) James Bates, son of the preceding John 
Bates (4), died at Lydd in 1614. Among his chil- 
dren authorities give the three American pioneers 
of this name : Clement, of Hingham, Edward, of 
Weymouth, and James, of Dorchester, Massachu- 
setts. 

(.VI) Clement Bates, son of the preceding James 
Bates (5), was born in Hingham, county Kent, Eng- 
land, in 1595. At the age of forty he embarked 
with his wife Anna of the same age April 6, 1635, 
on the ship "Elizabeth," William Stagg, master. He 
had with him also five children. He settled at 
Hingham. Massachusetts, about the same time that 
Rev. Peter Hobart's company arrived in September, 
1635, and had a homestead of five acres on Town 
street, near South street, and the original house was 
lately standing and owned by descendants of the 
emigrant. 

Anna Bates died in Hingham, October I, 1669, 
aged seventy-four years ; Clement died September 17, 
1671, aged seventy-six years. In his will dated at 
Hingham, October 12, 1669, he gives land to sons, 
Joseph, Benjamin and Samuel. The children of 
Clement and Anna Bates were: James, born 162 1 ; 
Clement, 1623 ; Rachel, 1627, died June, 1647 ; Joseph, 
1630; Benjamin, 1633; Samuel, baptized in Hing- 
ham, March 24, 1639. 

(VII; Joseph Bates, son of Clement Bates (6), 
w-as born in county Kent, England, about 1630; mar- 
ried in Hingham, Massachusetts, January 9, 1657-8, 
Esther Hilliard, daughter of William Hilliard. She 
died June 3, 1709. Joseph died April 30, 1706, aged 
seventy-six years. l:i his will of April 24, 1706, he 
mentions and provides for his wife Esther, also for 
four sons and for daughters. He was a bricklayer 
by trade, and undoubtedly a brickmaker as well. He 
was constable from 1675 to 1678, inclusive. He was 
selectman 1671-77-84-92; he was appointed sexton of 
the parish in 1673 and served in that office until the 
new meetinghouse was erected. He resided on the 
old homestead, South street. 

The children of Joseph were : Joseph, born Sep- 
tember 28, 1660; Esther, August 29, 1663, married 
Richard Cobb; Caleb, March 30, 1666; Hannah, Oc- 
tober 31, 1668; Joshua, .August 14, 1671 ; Bathsheba, 
January 26, 1673-4; Clement, September 22. 1676, 
drowned June 29, 1706, in thirtieth year; Eleanor, 
August 29, 1679, died September, 1679; Abigail, Oc- 
tober 16, 1680, married, June 12, 17047 John Chub- 
buck. 

(VIII) Joshua Bates, son of Joseph Bates (7), 
was born in Hingham, Massachusetts, August 14, 
1671; married, January 15, 1695-6, Rachel Tower, 
daughter of Ibrook and Margaret (Hardin) Tower. 
She was born in Hingham, March 16, 1674-5. Their 
children, all born in Hingham, were: Rachel, July 

14, 1696; Joshua, June 15, 1698; Bathsheba, Feb- 
ruary 9, 1699-1700; Elizabeth, November 23, 1703; 
Solomon, April 13, 1706; Isaac, March 3, 1707-8; 
Jacob, August 20, 1710, of whom later. 

(IX) Jacob Bates, son of Joshua Bates (8), 
was born in Hingham, August 20, 1710. He married, 
November ig, 1730, Mary Clark, daughter of John 
and Rebecca (Lincoln) Clark. He resided in the 
second precinct of Hingham and in 1745 was con- 
stable. Late in life he removed to Attleboro, Alassa- 
chusetts, and later to Dudley, where he died at an 
advanced age, July 6, 1795. The children of Jacob 
and Mary (Clark) Bates were: Mary, born July 
19, 1732; Simeon, March 21, 1737-8; Obadiah, May 
7, 1741 ; James, April 19, 1743; Lydia, July 10, 1744; 
Elijah, December 2, 1746; John, December 4, 1748, 
of whom later: Jacob, April 15, 1751 ; Israel. April 

15. 1753; Elizabeth, baptized May 8, 1761. 

(X) John Bates, son of Jacob Bates (9), was 



born in Hingham, December 4, 1748, died December 
12, 1834, aged eighty-six years. He married (Zhloe 
Fuller, who was born August 6, 1747, died July 11, 
1825, aged seventy-nine years. She was the daugh- 
ter of Ensign Noah Fulltr, who was born October 
18, 1714, and died August 10, 1786, an ensign in 
the militia. Her mother, Mary Cushman, was a de- 
scendant of Mayflower stock. He was a soldier in 
the revolution and was paid for services at the battle 
of Bunker Hill ; he was in Captain Ide's company. 
Colonel Daggett's regiment. He was also in the 
service in Rhode Island in 1776 and later. In 1775 
he was in Attleboro and he went from there to 
Bellingham, where other relatives lived. Later he 
settled in Dudley, Massachusetts, now a part of Web- 
ster, where he spent the remainder of his life. He 
was a farmer and large landowner. 

His children were : Captain Alanson, born Jan- 
uary 30, 1772, in Attleboro, Massachusetts, died 
August 22, 1842, married twice; John, born 17S0, 
of whom later; Subil, married Joslin, re- 
sided at Thompson, Connecticut. 

(XI) Captain John Bates, son of John Bates (10) 
was born 1780 and died 1863, aged eighty-three 

years. He married (first) Patty , born 

1786, died August 9, 1844, aged fifty-eight. He set- 
tled in Thompson, Connecticut. He had only one 1 
child, John Wakefield Bates, born about 1800. Cap- 
tain John Bates was a man of wealth and influence 
in his day. 

(XII) John Wakefield Bates, son of Captain 
John Bates (11), was born about 1800. He was 
brought up in Thompson, Connecticut, and went to 
school there. He learned the weaver's trade, at 
which he worked for several years. He removed to 
Webster, Massachusetts, when a young man and 
went to work in the Slater mill. After a couple of 
years he bought a farm at Rochdale, Massachusetts, 
known as the Bridges farm and became a farmer ^ 
for the remainder of his life. When a young man 

he was a school teacher for a time in the common 
schools in and about Thompson. He was a member 
of the Baptist church. In politics he was a Repub- 
lican. He died September 25, 1881, at Rochdale. 

He married Alma Perry, who was a native of ., 
Connecticut; she died August 20, 1881. Their chil- I 
dren were: John Franklm, died unmarried; Henry I 
Thompson, of whom later ; Alma Jane, died INIay 
S, 1867, married Washington Hill Merritt, of War- 
ren, Massachusetts, and their only child, Blanche, 
died young; Emery F., died January 4, 1864, un- 
married. 

(XIII) Dr. Henry Thompson Bates, son of John 
Wakefield Bates (12), was born in Webster, Massa- 
chusetts, November 12, 1832, At an early age he 
removed w'ith his parents to Rochdale, and was edu- 
cated in the public schools of that town. He also 
attended Leicester Academy, and was graduated at 
the age of eighteen. He then came to Worcester as 
a clerk in the drug establishment of William Bush 
(now Brewer & Co.'s), Front street. He began 
to study medicine there and after two years entered 
the Worcester Medical College on Providence street, 
where the old Worcester Academy now is. He 
studied there under Dr. Newton and Dr. A. Jack- 
son Howe. He subsequently went to the College of 
Medicine at Cincinnati, Ohio, and received his de- 
gree of M. D. there. 

He bought the practice of Dr. Hall, of Lowell, 
and practiced his profession there for three years. 
Then he disposed of his business there and removed 
to Brookfield, Massachusetts, where he practiced for 
ten years with gratifying success. But his health 
became impaired and he removed to Norwich, Con- 
necticut, where he resided for a year and then came 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



433 



3 Worcester, where he spent the remainder of his 
fe. He never recovered his health and was able 
D practice but little after leaving Brooktield. During 
he last two years he was a hopeless invalid. He 
:ied April 4, 1870. He was a Congregationalist and 
vhile in Brookfield was the clerk of the parish. In 
lolitics he was a Republican. He was on the school 
ommittee in Brooktield when the school committee 
lad to run the schools and give them personal at- 
ention. He was a member of Hayden Lodge of 
."ree Masons of Brookfield and of the Worcester 
district ]\Je,dical Society. 

He married, August 4, 1857, Charlotte Howe 
Bush, daughter of Eleazer and Sarah (Howe) Bush, 
Df North Brookfield. Eleazer Bush was a farmer and 
prominent in the militia. The children of Dr. and 
Charlotte Howe (Bush) Bates were: Grace Alma, 
born October i, i860, resides at 58 Wachusett street, 
Worcester, unmarried ; Henry Ward, born February 
13. 1863, of whom later. 

(XIV) Henry Ward Bates, son of Dr. Henry 
Thompson Bates (13), was born at Brookfield, 
Massachusetts, February 13, 1863. He began his 
early education in his native town, but soon removed 
to Norwich, Connecticut, where he went to school 
for a time. He removed with the family to Wor- 
cester, and attended the public and high schools. In 
1879 he took the place of one of John D. Wash- 
burn's clerks who had resigned on account of ill- 
ness. He showed an aptitude for the insurance 
business, and has been connected with this firm as 
clerk and later as partner ever since. He was ad- 
mitted to partnership in 1896 and the firm name be- 
came John D. Washburn, Willis, Green & Bates. 
This agency is one of the largest as well as one of 
the oldest in the county. 

Mr. Bates attends Central Congregational Church 
and has been on its board of assessors three years, 
part of the time as chairman. He has been a mem- 
ber of the Worcester Congregational Club for eleven 
years and is at present the treasurer. He is treas- 
urer and clerk of the Worcester Board of Trade, 
first vice-president of the Worcester Board of Un- 
derwriters, member of the corporation of the Wor- 
cester County Institution for Savings, member of 
the Massachusetts Association of Local Fire Insur- 
ance Agents, the Worcester County Mechanics' As- 
sociation, the Tatassit Canoe Club, the Automobile 
Club, and other social organizations. In politics he 
is a Republican. Mr. Bates served four years in the 
militia and was second sergeant of the Worcester 
Light Infantry, Company C, Second Regiment, 
Massachusetts Volunteer Militia. 

He married, October 15, 189S, Mabel Washburn 
Jenkins, who was born February 25, 1871, the daugh- 
ter of James E. Jenkins, of Vernon, New York. 
The children of Henry Ward and Mabel Washburn 
(Jenkins) Bates were: Rachel, born in Worcester, 
September 10, 1896; Hester, born in Worcester, 
June 9, 1900. 

General James E. Jenkins, father of Mrs. Henry 
Ward Bates, was the son of L. Whipple Jenkins, 
and was born in Vernon, New York, in 1842. His 
father was one of the ablest lawyers in the state 
in his day. His father's brother, Hon. Timothy 
Jenkins, of Oneida Castle, was a congressman for 
several years. He attended the schools of his native 
village and afterwards prepared himself for college. 
He was a student at Hamilton College when the 
civil war broke out, and left at once to enlist. He 
helped to raise a company of which he was to be 
the captain, but after the company was raised there 
was a long and costly delay in mustering them in, 
so the men were scattered. Mr. Jenkins then be- 
28 



came first lieutenant of the Oneida Cavalry Com- 
pany, which went to the front in September, 1861, 
and was made headquarters guard for the Army 
of the Potomac and remained on this duty till the 
end of the war, being mustered out September, 
1865. In JMarch, 1863, Lieutenant Jenkins was trans- 
ferred with the same rank to the One Hundred and 
Forty-sixth New York Infantry, known as the Fifth 
Oneida. The lieutenant colonel of this regiment 
was David T. Jenkins, his brother. Lieutenant Jen- 
kins was soon made a captain and was brevetted for 
special bravery at the battle of Spottsylvania. He 
was terribly wounded at Gettysburg, shot through 
the neck by a musket ball and at the same time his 
back was badly torn by an exploding shell. He 
was nursed back to health by his mother, who took 
him to her home in Vernon as soon as he could be 
moved. His brother. Colonel Jenkins, was killed 
in the battle of the Wilderness while he was re- 
covering from his wounds. In September, 1864, 
Captain Jenkins, re-enlisted in the Oneida Cavalry 
Company and retained his command until mustered 
out a year later. 

After the war Captain Jenkins engaged in busi- 
ness in Worcester, Massachusetts, but in 1871 re- 
moved to New York, where he remained for about 
ten years. He never recovered from the wounds 
and exposures of army life, and in 1881 had to retire 
from business. He went to Florida, then to South 
Dakota, and in 1882 decided to locate there. He 
pre-empted a homestead in Brule county, near 
Chamberlain, removing his family there the follow- 
ing year. His health improved and he became 
prominent in his new home. In 1883 he was elected 
treasurer of the coimty for three years, and in 
1886 was re-elected. In 1887 he was appointed by 
Governor Church adjutant general of Dakota, and 
thus became known as General Jenkins. Had his 
life been spared he gave promise of becoming one 
of the distinguished men of the territory. 

Mr. A. P. Case wrote of him at the time of his 
death : "Brave and manly as a boy, brave on the 
battle field, brave in his last struggle with his last 
antagonist death. In the field he did not seem to 
know what fear was. Always cool and collected, 
a model commander, quick to see, prompt to act, he 
ohly wanted a larger field of action to have become 
distinguished as an officer. Himself friendly, he 
always made friends, and was a favorite with his 
playmates, his college chums, his army comrades, 
and with the far western people among whom he 
finally cast his lot. But with his friendliness he 
always kept his stately, courteous manner, his self- 
respect, his positive, determined character, thus com- 
pelling the respect of others. In these respects, as 
well as in personal appearance and dignity, he 
often reminded his friends of his uncle, the late 
Hon. Timothy Jenkins, of Oneida Castle. His vig- 
orous youth and erect form promised a long life, 
but four years of army life hardships sapped it be- 
yond recovery." 

He married Lizzie Learned Pierce, of Spencer, 
Massachusetts. They had si.x children : Mabel W., 
Mrs. Henry W. Bates ; David T.. resides in Minne- 
apolis ; Alice S., at home ; Bessie, deceased ; Mar- 
shall P., at home ; Gennette E., resides with Mrs. 
Bates. 

GEORGE HENRY SHERMAN. The name 
Sherman had a German origin, but the family in Eng- 
land is very ancient. 

(I) Henry Sherman, the first English progenitor 
to whom the line of George Henry Sherman, of 
Worcester, can be traced, lived in Dedham, Essex 



434 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



countv, England; married Agnes ; died in 15S9. 

Their children were: i. Henrj-, see forward. 2. 
Edmond. 3. Judith. 4- John. 5. Robert. 

(II) Henry Sherman, son of Henrj^ Sherman (i), 
married Susan Hills. He died in Dedhara in 1610. 
His children were: i. Henry, born 1571; died 1645. 

2. Samuel (.see forward). 3- Susan. 4. Edward. 5. 
Nathaniel, died voung. 6. Nathaniel. 7. John. S. 
Elizabeth. 9. Ezekiel 10. Mary. 11. Daniel. 

(III) Samuel Sherman, son of Heno' Sherman 
(2), born 1573, in Dedham, England; married 
Phillippa : died in England 1615. Their chil- 
dren were: i. Mary, born 1599. 2. Samuel, died 
in Boston, Massachusetts, and 3- Henry (twins), 
died young. 4. Henry, born June 25, 1603. 5. 
Martha. January 24, 1604. 6. Sarah, February 12, 
1606; died December 12, 1612. 7. Philip (see for- 
ward). 

(IV) Hon. Philip Sherman, son of Samuel Sher- 
man (3). born in Dedham. England, February 5, 
1610: died in Portsmouth. Rhode Island, 16S7; mar- 
ried Sarah Odding, daughter of Mrs. John Porter. 
He came to New England in 1634, and settled first 
at Roxbury, Massachusetts. He became interested 
in the doctrines and opinions of Anne Hutchinson, 
and when she was exiled he, with others, left Massa- 
chusetts Bay colony and went to Rhode Island. Here 
bv advice of Roger Williams, they bought tlie island 
of Aquetnet, now Rhode Island. Z^Iarch 24, 1638. 
The government was established July, 1639, with 
William Coddington as governor, and Sherman secre- 
tary. He often held offices afterward. He was a 
man of intelligence, wealth and influence. The early 
records of Portsmouth, Rhode Island, are in his 
handwriting, which shows an unusual degree of edu- 
cation. He was a neat and skilful penman. After 
settling in Rhode Island Sherman became a Quaker, 
and many of his descendants have been Quakers also. 
Hon. John Sherman and his brother. General ^Vill- 
iam T. Sherman, were descended from Philip's 
brother, Edmund Sherman, who settled in Water- 
town. Massachusetts. 

Children of Hon. Philip and Sarah Sherman 
■were: I. Eber (see forward). 2. Sarah, bom 1636; 
married Thomas Mumford of South Kingston, 
Rhode Island. 3. Peleg. born in Portsmouth, Rhode 
Island. 4. Marj-. died young. 5. Edmund, born 1641. 
6. Samson, born 1642; died 1720. 7. William, died 
young. 8. John, born 1644; died 1734. 9. Mary, 
married Samuel Wilbor, of Swansea. 10. Hannah, 
married William Chase, of Swansea. 11. Samuel, 
born 1648: died 1717. 12. Benjamin, born 1650; 
married December 3. 1674, Hannah Marcy. His son 
Jonathan, had son Jonathan and grandson Benajah 
who lived in Exeter (no record available of Bena- 
jah's children). He was born in 1723; died 17S5. 
13. Philip, bom October i, 1652; married Hath- 
away. 

(V) Eber Sherman, eldest son of Philip Sher- 
-man (4), born in Roxbury, Massachusetts, 1634; 
settled at North Kingston, and died there in I/06. 
INorth Kingston formerly included Exeter, Rhode 
Island. Children of Eber Sherman were: i. Eber, 
married Martha Remington, and resided at North 
Kingston. 2. Stephen, farmer of North Kingston. 

3. William, married May 12. 1681. Martha Wilbor. 

4. Peleg (see forward). 5. Elisha. resided in North 
Kingston. 6. Samuel, died 1744, unmarried. 

(VI) Peleg Sherman, fourth child of Eber Sher- 
man (5), born in North Kingston, Rhode Island; 
resided there on the farm now in the limits of 
■Exeter. Rhode Island, now or lately owned by 
Othniel Sherman. Children were: i. Ichabod. born 
December 3, 1715. 2. Lydia, 1717: married William 
Sweet. 3. Elizabeth, 1719. 4. Moses (see forward). 

5. Mary, bom June 27, 1725. 



(,\'II) Moses Sherman, fourth child of Pclej 
Sherman (6). born in North Kingston, July 8, 1723 
settled in that part of the town now Exeter, per 
haps on the homestead. He married (^rirst), Marcl 
31, 1745, Sarah Austin ; (second) Mary Tarbox, Julj 
I3> 1758. Children of Closes and Sarah (.\ustin) 
Sherman were : i. Mellicent, born July 20, 1747. 2 
Elizabeth, October 4, 1749. 3. Hannah, Februarj 
26, 1752. 4. Moses, March 7, 1756. Children o) 
Moses and Mary (Tarbox) Sherman w-ere. 5 
Rufus, January 28. 1759. 6. Sarah, January 15, 1761 
7. Abiel, February 15, 1767. 8. Benajah (jee forward) 
(not in printed records). 9. Samuel, married Mary 
Niles of West Greenw-ich, Januar\- 18, 1794. (BirthM 
not recorded of Samuel, see marriage record). .■ 

(VIII) Benajah Sherman, son of Moses Shenfl 
man (7), born in Exeter. Rhode Island, April imM 
1774. was the father of Peleg Brown Sherman, borlS 
October 11, 1798. '■ 

(IX) Peleg Brown Sherman, son of BenajaliH 
Sherman (8), born in Exeter. Rhode Island, Octo*»B 
ber II, 179S, was the grandfather of George HIM 
Sherman, of \\'orcester, and father of Hazard Sher-B 
man, born January 14, 1821. His wife was ElsicJ 
Dawley and they had fourteen children : HarrietjtB 
Mary, Hazard. Susan, Peleg. Martha and Rutttll 
(twins), George, Robert, was in the navy during theil 
civil war ; Elsie, Alford. Hannah, Emily, and onetl 
who died young. He was killed by an accident, hisfl 
horse running away. He was a merchant. I 

(X) Hazard Sherman, son of Peleg Brown Sher-I 
man (9), and grandson of Benajah Sherman, was:l 
bom January 14, 1821, in Exeter, Rhode Island, I 
where the family lived for many generations. Theil 
town of Exeter was set off from North Kingston,],! 
where the family located about 1660. His father wasil 
born there October II, 1798, and his grandfather,! 
Benajah Sherman, was born on the same farm in J 
North Kingston. April 16. 1744. Hazard Sher- I 
man settled in Lonsdale, Rhode Island, where he I 
kept a general store and was postmaster ; was also 'I 
a carpenter and contractor. He was a member and. I 
captain of the old Rough and Ready fire company, I 
of Pawtucket, Rhode Island. He was a man of I 
influence, and much esteemed by his fellow citizens. I 
For a number of years he served in the town coun- | 
cil. He was a Free Mason and Knight Templar, 
and a charter member of Unity Lodge of Lonsdale. 
He removed from Pawtucket to Lonsdale later in 
life. He attended and supported all churches liber- 
ally. He married Susan B. Follett of Massachu- 
setts, daughter of James Follett. and their children 
were: i. Hazard B. 2. Fred A. 3. George Henry 
(see forward). 4. Frank P. 5. Charles J. 6. 
Susan E. 7. Cora J. He died in Lonsdale about 
18S2. She is still living (1906) and resides at Paw- 
tucket. Rhode Island. 

(XI) George Henry Sherman, son of Hazard 
Sherman (10), born in Pawtucket. Rhode Island, 
March 24, 1850; attended school in his native town 
and in Lonsdale, and was graduated from the Lons- 
dale high school in 1867. He went to work in 
his father's store, and for a time, while clerking 
tliere. was assistant postmaster. He was in the store 
six years. He then started in business for himself 
in Lonsdale, but after a short time removed to 
Florida, where he opened a general store, first in 
Micanopy. where he remained a year, then in Gaines- 
ville. He made a specialty there of dealing in Sea 
Island cotton. He was in business in Florida in 
all five years. In 1880 he accep:ed a position with 
the American Supply Company, of Providence, deal- 
ers in mill supplies for cotton and woolen mills, as 
commercial traveler, and has been with this house 
ever since. He is well known to the mill owners 
of New England. He lived in Valley Falls, Rhode 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



435 



'■■'tt\ 



Ktii 



Island, for six years, and in Pawtueket nine years. 
In 1897 he came to VVorcester, and a few years later 
built an attractive home at 690 Pleasant street, op- 
posite Newton Hill. He is a Free Mason, a member 
of L'nion Lodge of Pawtueket ; Pawtueket Royal 
Arch Chapter; Holy Sepulchre Commandery, Knights 
Templar; Palestine Temple, Mystic Slirine of Provi- 
dence; and Tatassit Canoe Club, of Worcester. He 
was in the Pawtueket Light Guards in 1867-68. He 
is a Republican, and in 1877 served in the common 
council of Gainesville, Florida. He and family at- 
tend the Universalist Church, Worcester. 

He married October 30, 1871, Harriet E. Cook; 
born August 20, 1851, the daughter of Olney M. 
and Harriet E. (Arnold) Cook. Olney M. Cook 
died January, 1876; he was a farmer and merchant, 
born and died in Cumberland, Rhode Island. His 
wife died February, 1896. Their children were : I. 
Sarah. 2. Mary. 3. Davis. 4. Charles. 5. George 
O. Cook. Her grandparents were Amos and Olive 
(Darling) Cook, whose children were: i. Ellis. 2. 
Eliza. 3. Arnold. 4. Sarah. 5. Olive and 6. Olney 
2 twins). 7. Levi. 8. Barton. 9. Davis. 10. Al- 
^rtis. II. Amos. 12. Edmund. Amos Cook lived 
in Cumberland and was a tavern-keeper. 

Mrs. Sherman's mother was the daughter of 
,Simon and Lydia (Sheldon) Arnold. Their five 
iiehildren were : i. Edmund, married Virginia 
Chapin. 2. Harriet, married Olney M. Cook. 3. 
Henry, married Abbie Chapin. 4. Hetty, married 
Asa- Carpenter. 5. Rosa, married Flavel Carr. The 
Arnolds lived in Pawtueket. 

The children of George Henry and Harriet E. 
(Cook) Sherman are: I. Lola Gertrude, born Au- 
gust 19, 1S73 : graduate of the Pawtueket high school ; 
married William B. Hay, November 10, 1898 : he is 
manager of advertising of the Burroughs Screen 
Company, of Partland, Maine ; he is son of Henry 
H. and Eleanor Hay, of Portland; they have a son, 
Sherman Hay, born June 7, 1905. 2. Harrie Hazard, 
born October 19, 1879; graduate of the Pawtueket 
high school in 1897; graduate of the Worcester 
Polytechnic Institute, 1901; is assistant manager of 
the Webb Pink Granite Company, of Milford, Massa- 
chusetts ; married June 9, 1902, Juliet Jennie Webb 
and they have two children: i. Webb Hazard, born 
December i, 1903. 2. Harrie Hazard, Jr., born Sep- 
tember 14, 1905. 

EDWIN BUTCHER, son of Edwin and Mary 
Ann (Perks) Butcher, was born in Kidderminster, 
England, March 28, 1848. His parents were born 
in Kidderminster, which is in the midst of the great 
carpet manufacturing district of Great Britain. 

When Edwin Butcher, Jr., was a year old he 
was deprived by death of his father, and conse- 
quently at the early age of eight was set to work in 
a carpet mill. His time was divided between school 
and the mill work, half a day at his books and half 
among the looms. He naturally became a weaver 
and followed his trade in England until 1879, when 
he came to America seeking a chance to better him- 
self. He sailed on the ship "Ohio" of the White 
Star line, landing at Philadalphia, November I, 
1879. He secured work at his trade in that city, 
but the following year moved . to Thompsonville, 
Connecticut, and in 1882 came to Worcester, !Massa- 
chusetts. He began work in a very small way in a 
wood shed at the back door of his house, moving 
later to the attic of his residence at No. 13 Cheever 
street, and subsequentlj' to the cellar. He came near 
abandoning the business, owing to the low prices 
which he was receiving for his goods, but he re- 
ceived an order from M. J. Whittall. the carpet 
manufacturer of Worcester, for ten thousand at 



an advanced price, which enabled him to manufac- 
ture at a profit. Thus the business began to grow, 
and he sold large quantities in the United States, 
Canada and England. In 1902, after working twenty 
years at his trade in Worcester, he was forced to 
abandon weaving on account of trouble with his 
eyesight. He is now engaged in the manufacture 
of heddles for carpet looms, having secured valuable 
patents in the United States and England. One was 
granted to him August 3, 1897, and another Novem- 
ber 29, 1904; they are for certain new and useful 
improvements in heddles for Jacquard looms for 
carpet manufacturing. In the first year of manu- 
facturing this device he sold one hundred thousand. 
His shop is now located at No. 4 Cheever street, 
Worcester. 

Mr. Butcher has accumulated considerable prop- 
erty through thrift and careful investment. He 
owns large apartment houses in Worcester, believing 
in the solid value of such real estate. He is an ex- 
cellent example of adopted citizenship. He has 
overcome the disadvantages of poverty and realized 
the reward of the man who honors his trade and has 
contributed something to improve it. He is an 
active and influential Republican. He is a member 
of the Congregational church, and of the Foresters. 

Mr. Butcher married (first) Eliza Burns, daugh- 
ter of Jasper Burns, of Kidderminster, England. 
She was born in 1844 and died on Easter Sunday, 
1900. He married (second) ^lary Follows, daugh- 
ter of John and Ann Roslyn (Badlands) Follows. 
She was born in Kidderminster, England, February 
4, 1857, coming to America with her parents when 
two years old. Her family came to Worcester in 
1870. Her father died in 1883, aged sixty-three, and 
her mother in 1861, aged thirty-nine. No children 
were born to either union. 

ALEXANDER DE WITT. John Witt (i), who 
came from Holland to Lynn, Massachusetts, about 
1630 and settled there, was the ancestor of Alexan- 
der De Witt, of Worcester, Massachusetts. The 
prefix De was added by later generations and is 
doubtless properly part of the surname. He married 

Sarah , and is said to have had two wives. 

He died at Lynn, December 2, 1675. His children 
were: John, married Elizabeth Baker; Jonathan, 
married, March 23, 1663, Mary Dimond, of Lynn, 
probably daughter of John Dimond; Ann, married 

Barnes ; Elizabeth, Sarah, Mary, Martha, 

born at Lynn, March 5, 1659; Thomas, born at Lynn, 
July 25, 1661, married, February 26, 1685, Bethia 
Potter, daughter of Nicholas Potter; Ebenezer, born 
April 6, 1665, died young. 

(II) John Witt, son of John Witt (i), was 
born probably about 1650 in Lynn. He married, 
January 14, 1676, Elizabeth Baker. They resided 
in Lynn, where all their children were born, not all 
being recorded. The children shown by the Lynn 
records were : Elizabeth, born August 9, 1677 ; 
John, born June 3, 1679, married Mary Dane; Mary, 
born August 14, 1681 ; Jonathan, married in Marl- 
boro, Lydia Mathews ; Abigail, born February 10, 
1687 ; Samuel, born at Lynn. Octciber 20. 1691, mar- 
ried (first) Elizabeth Breed, of Lynn, (second) 
Susanna Pierce : Ebenezer, born August 8. 1693 ; 
Thomas, born February 18, 1696, married Mary 
Ivory : Persis, born ]May 2, 1698. 

(III) John Witt, son of John Witt (2), was 
born at Lynn, Massachusetts, June 3, 1679. He mar- 
ried Mary Dane. They settled in ilarlborough, 
Massachusetts, about 1707. He died there in 1743. 
His will was made March 6, 1741, and proved May 
16, 1743. It mentions his wife ^lary; sons, William, 
Elias, Joseph, John and Ebenezer; daughters, Mary 



436 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



Dike and Elizabeth ; granddaughter, Rebecca Goodell. 
He settled on the Indian plantation in the northeast 
part of the town where his descendants have snice 
lived The children of John and Mary (Dane) 
Witt were: William, born May 13, 1708; Mary, 
born July 29, 1710; Elias, born June 30. 1714. mar- 
ried March 31, 1742, Elizabeth Marble; Rebecca, 
boni 1715, married, January 17, 1733, Eleazer Good- 
ale, of Sutton; David, born April II, 1720, married 

Sarah , and had Thomas, born April II, 1745; 

Ebenezer, born 1722, baptized June 22, 1722, mar- 
ried Lydia Woodbury; Elizabeth, married Benoni 
Bailey; John, see forward. 

John Witt, son of John Witt (3), was born at 
Marlborough, Massachusetts, about 1720. He was a 
nephew of Captain Ebenezer Witt, of Brookfield, 
and he came to North Brooktield to settle as early 
as 1744 with his wife Sarah. They lived on what 
is lately known as tne Cheever place. John Witt 
sold his farm to Sainuel Cheever, July 19, 1769- He 
was one of the fortv-eight charter members of the 
Second Church, formed May 28. 1752. He was a 
lieutenant in the militia in the Indian wars. Four 
of his children only are recorded at North Brook- 
field, as follows: Benjamin, born August 15, 1750; 
Ivory, October 20, 1752; Stephen, August 15, 1754; 
Joseph, January 3, I7S7- , ^ 

(.V) Benjamin Witt, son of John Witt (4), was 
born at North Brooktield, Massachusetts, August 
15, 1750. He removed to New Braintree. He mar- 
ried Olivia Campbell, daughter of Duncan Camp- 
bell, and settled at Oxford. Massachusetts. He was 
a soldier in the revolutionary war. In 1794 he re- 
moved again to New Braintree, where he died April 
17, 1818. His widow married Daniel Bacon, of 
Charlton, Massachusetts, and died February 5, 1848, 
at Oxford, Massachusetts. Their children were: 
I. Stearns, born December 22, 1787 (named for his 
maternal grandmother, Elizabeth Stearns. This 
name in England has always been "Stern'' and 
Captain De Witt early discarded the "A" ano wrote 
his name "Sterns"). 2. Sophia, born April 22, 1789, 
married, August 14, 1808, William Earle, resided 
at New Braintree, Oxford, Franklin and Boston, 
where he died August 27, 1867; she died January 
3. 1885. Their children were: Olivier S., born 1812; 
William, 1814; Samuel H., 1816; Benjamin A., 
1818; Paul, 1821; Henry A., 1824; Mary M., 1829; 
Nancy S., 1831. 3- Polly, born March 22, 1791, mar- 
ried Amos Thompson. 1810. 4. HoUis, born December 
22, 1792. S. Archibald, born October 27, 1794, mar- 
ried Martha Fisher, daughter of A. F. Fisher, of 
Franklin, where they settled; he died May, 1759- 
His children were: George Alexander, William, 
Martha and Horace. 6. Susan, born August 17, 
1796, married Rufus Harris. 7. Alexander, born 
April 2, 1798. 8. Nancy, born March 29, 1800, mar- 
ried Horace Smith. 9. Elizabeth, born February 
17. 1803, married Jonas Bacon. 

(VI) Nancy De Witt, daughter of Benjamin 
Witt, was born March 29, 1800, at New Braintree, 
jNIassachusetts. She married Horace Smith, of 

■ Leicester, his second wife. She died September 24, 
1830, and her two children were adopted by her 
brother. Colonel Alexander De Witt, who was child- 
less. The children were ; Eliza L., born at Leicester, 
May 2, 1825, married Dr. William Newton; Horace 
De Witt, name changed to Horace Smith De Witt, 
born at Leicester, Massachusetts, October 2, 1828, 
married, March 29, 1852, Sarah Jane Phelps, daugh- 
ter of James Phelps, of Sutton. 

(VII) Horace Smith De Witt, son of Horace 
and Nancy De Witt Smith (6), was born at Leices- 
ter, Massachusetts, October 2, 1828. He married. 
March 29, 1852, Sarah Jane Phelps, daughter of 



James Phelps, of Sutton, Massachusetts. He died 
May 4, 1859. They settled at Pepperell, Massachu- 
setts, where their only son was born : Alexander, 
March 7, 1854. 

(VT) Colonel Alexander De Witt, son of Benja- 
min Witt (s), born April 2, 1798, at New Brain- 
tree, Massachusetts. He was great-uncle of Alex- 
ander De Witt, of Worcester, his namesake. He 
was the next oldest brother of Nancy De Witt. Am- 
midown says of him : "He was emphatically what is 
termed a self-made man. Self-reliance was his motto 
and from this resource he rose to whatsoever posi- 
tion he sustained in either public or private life." 
He went to work at the age of fifteen in the store 
of the Merino Manufacturing Company at Dudley, 
Massachusetts, and remained in that position four 
years, travelling some of the time to sell goods. In 
1818 he went to Franklin and engaged in manu- 
facturing cotton thread in partnership with Dr. Mil- 
ler. Next year he started a mill and country store 
at Oxford, selling the thread he made from his 
wagon. After he married he manufactured thread 
at Franklin with his father-in-law until 1824, when 
he entered a partnership with his three brothers. 
Sterns, Archibald and HoUis, and they began a small 
business at what is now Buffum village in Oxford. 
They continued but a few years. As his means in- 
creased he became interested in cotton and wool 
manufacturing elsewhere. He resided in Oxford all 
his life except from 1837 to 1840, when he was a 
partner in a commercial house in Boston and lived 
in that city, and in 1848 and 1849, when for about 
a year he resided in Worcester. He became wealthy 
and held investments in railroads, insurance com- 
panies and many different industrial concerns. 

He was for twenty-six years a director of the 
Worcester Mechanics' and Farmers' Insurance 
Company; for twenty-seven years director of the 
State Mutual Life Assurance Company of Worces- 
ter ; for twenty years with the Mechanics' Savings 
Bank of Worcester as trustee and president ; di- 
rector and for nine years president of the Mechanics' 
National Bank of Worcester ; for five years presi- 
dent of the Oxford Bank ; three years president of 
the Worcester & Nashua Railroad ; for seventeen 
years director of the Providence & Worcester Rail- 
road ; for twenty-five years director of the Norwich 
& Worcester Railroad. He was often moderator 
of the Oxford town meetings. He was representa- 
tive in the general court five years, state senator in 
T842-44-50-51. He was a delegate to the constitu- 
tional convention in 1853. He was elected to con- 
gress in 1852 over the Whig and Democratic nomi- 
nees from the ninth congressional district, and re- 
elected in 1854. He gave freely to charitable ob- 
jects and was the largest contributor in the town 
to religious institutions. He left a legacy to the 
Oxford Congregational Church. He is described as 
a large, florid, handsome man, jovial and hearty in 
his manner and very attractive personally. He mar- 
ried, June 5, 1820, Mary Makepeace, of Franklin, 
Massachusetts. He died January 13, 1879; she died 
April 6, 1887, at the age of eighty-nine. They had 
no children, but adopted the children of his sister, 
Naiicv (De Witt) Smith. 

(VIII) Alexander De Witt, son of Horace De 
Witt (7), was born at Pepperell, Massachusetts, 
March 7, 1854. He received his education in the 
public schools at Sutton, Oxford, and Leicester 
Academy, and in 1871 came to Worcester to_ live. 
He began his business career in the office of Kinni- 
cutt & Co., hardware merchants. Main street. The 
firm was composed of F. H. Kinnicutt, Samuel 
Woodward and L. N. Kinnicutt. He remained 
with this firm until 1881. He was then associated 





'/2^2W-:^^H^ d' c/y^Ctc^^''^>^ 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



437 



with J. and J. Murdock, of Lester, until 1883. He 
entered the banking business in partnership with 
Lincohi N. Kinnicutt, in 1884, and continued until 
January, 1906. They were interested with others 
in the successful purchase and re-organization of 
the Worcester Safe Deposit & Trust Company, now 
the Worcester Trust Company, of wliich Mr. De 
Witt is a director. He is also trustee of the People's 
Savings Bank. He married, September 21, 1880, 
Caroline Murdock, daughter of Joshua Murdock, of 
Leicester, Massachusetts. 

HON. EDWARD FOSTER FLETCHER. The 
surname Fletcher is derived from the occupation of 
arrow maker, or maker of bows and arrows, from 
the .\nglo-Sa.xon "fledge," an allusion to the feath- 
ering of an arrow. The family is ancient, coming, 
it is said, from Burgundy, now the Canton de 
Vaud, in Switzerland. The first Fletcher came to 
England with the Normans at the time of the Con- 
quest. The ancient coat-of-arms of the Fletchers 
was : Sable, a cross flory between four scallop shells, 
argent. 

Moses Fletcher came in the "Mayflower," signed 
the Compact, and died soon after arriving. There 
were three other prominent immigrants to New 
England: Edward, from Badgeden, county Glouces- 
ter, returned to England ; Robert, of Concord, men- 
tioned below : and William, of Concord. No proof 
of relationship between them has been found. 

(I) Robert Fletcher, the progenitor of Hon. Ed- 
ward Foster Fletcher, ex-mayor of Worcester was 
born in England in 1592. The family tradition has it 
that he came from Yorkshire, and the name is com- 
mon in tlie north of England. Robert settled in Con- 
cord, in New England, in 1630, and became wealthy 
and prominent ; he was appointed by the general 
court a constable November 2, 1637. He removed 
to Chelmsford; he joined with William Fletcher 
and others in 1654 in inviting Mr. John Fiske and 
the Wenham church to remove to Chelmsford in a 
body. He died at Concord, April 3. 1677, aged 
eighty-five years. His will was made February 
4, 1672, aged about four score years ; in it he com- 
mits his wife to the care of his son Francis and 
wife; bequeathed to sons Francis, William and Sam- 
uel. The inventory is dated May 12, 1677. His 
children: I. Luke, born in England; died May 21, 
1665, unmarried. 2. William, mentioned below. 3. 

Caroline, married Kebby. 4. Samuel, born 

1632. 5. Francis, born 1630. married Elizabeth 
Wheeler. 

(H) William Fletcher, son of Robert Fletcher 
(l), born in England, 1622. came with his father to 
Concord when eight years old. He was admitted a 
freeman May 10. 1643 ; was selectman 1655. the first 
public meeting, November 22. 1654, being held at his 
house ; in 1673 was appointed a commissioner for 
Chelmsford. He was the owner of a tract of land 
embracing what is now the city of Lowell. A part 
of the original lot, near the meeting house at Chelms- 
ford, has been occupied more than two hundred 
years by his descendants. He died November 6, 
1677 ; his wife Lydia died October 12, 1704. He 
married Lydia Bates, of Concord, October 7, 1645. 
Their children: i. Lydia, born January 30, 1647; 
married Rev. John Fiske. 2. Joshua, mentioned be- 
low. 3. Paul, married, .•\pril 12, 1705, Deliverance 
Stevens. 4. Sarah. 5. William, born in Chelms- 
ford, February 21, 1657. 6. Mary, born in Chelms- 
ford, October 4, 1658. 7. Esther, born at Chelms- 
ford. .\pril 12. 1664. 8. Samuel, born July 23. 1664. 

(HI) Joshua Fletcher, son of William Fletcher 
(2), was born at Concord, March 20, 1648, and ad- 
mitted a freeman March 11. 1689. He married. 



May 4, 1668, Grissies Jewell, who died January, 
1682, and (second) Sarah Willey, July 18, 1682. 
He died November 21, 1713. The only child on rec- 
ord of Joshua and Grissies Fletcher was Joshua, 
born about 1669, married about 1700, Dorothy Hale. 
Children of Joshua and Sarah : 2. Paul, born 1683, 
resided at Chelmsford ; belonged to the Snow Shoe 
company of soldiers in the Indian war 1724; was 
town treasurer. 3. Rachel, born June 27, 1683. 4. 
Timothy, born October, 1685, died March 2, 1705. 

5. John, born at Chelmsford Alay 7, 1687 ; married 
Hannah Phelps. 6. Joseph, mentioned below. 7. 
Sarah, born January 21, 1690; married Thomas 
Reed. 8. Jonathan, married. May 5, 1735, Jane 
Chamberlain, and settled in Westford ; his widow 
lived to be a hundred years old. 9. Elizabeth, born 
June 10. 1698, married Samuel Hartwell. 10. Jonas, 
born 1694. 

(IV) Captain Joseph Fletcher, sixth child of 
Joshua Fletcher (3), born in Chelmsford. June 10, 
1689; married Sarah Adams, of Concord, November 
17, 1712. She was born 1691 and died April 24, 
1761 ; he died October 4, 1772. They settled and 
lived in Westfor<l, adjoining Chelmsford, on the 
place known as the E. Tower place, where all the 
children were born. Their children: i. Joseph, 
born July 6, 1713. 2. Benjamin, born August 8, 
1716 ; married twice. 3. Timothy, born April 12, 
1719. 4. Thomas, born March io. 1721. 5. Sarah. 

6. Edith, born April 8, 1725; married Benjamin 
Carver. 7. Pelatiah, mentioned below. 8. Joshua, 
born November 20, 1731. 9. Ruth, born .August 28, 
1733- 10- Mary, born .August 29, 1735; married, 
January 16, 1755, Eleazer Fletcher. 

(V) Captain Pelatiah Fletcher, seventh child of 
Captain Joseph Fletcher (4), born in Chelmsford, 
May 3, 1727; married Dorothy, daughter of James 
Hildreth, January 13, 1757. She was born August 
26, 1736, died June 14, 1784. He married (second) 
Widow Betty Keyes. born in Hartwell, October 13, 
1782. He was sent as a delegate from Westford to 
the convention of committees from the towns held 
at Dracut, November 26, 1776. He died February 
23, 1807. Children: i. Betsey, born December 15, 
1757. 2. Dorothy, born December 21, 1759; mar- 
ried Sampson Fletcher. 3. Joseph, born November 
6, 1761, died December 25, 1765. 4. Sarah, born 
August 12, 1763, died August 22, 1783. 5. Lucy, 
born November 14, 1765, died July i, 1766. 6. 
Pelatiah, mentioned below. 7. Joseph, born May 
13, 1769, married Frances (Grant) Keyes. 8. Lucy, 
born February 12, 1771, married Joseph Rockwood, 
of Groton. 9. Adams, born March 10, 1773, died 
September 27, 1775. 10. Ezra, born October 9, 1774. 
II. Polly, born August 11, 1776; married Abram 
Prescott. 12. Adams, born August 17, 1779. 

(VI) Pelatiah Fletcher, sixth child of Pelatiah 
Fletcher (5), born April 4, 1767; married Patty 
Keyes, December S. 1785. She died December g, 
1786; he married (second) Sally Woodward. Sep- 
tember 22, 1788; (third) Mrs. Buelah Heywood. of 
Concord. June 23, 1803 ; she died May, 1814. He 
died May 7, 1811. Children of Pelatiah and Patty 
Fletcher: I.Joel, born at Westford, 1786; 
married Abigail Dinsmore. in Anson. Maine; 
seven children. Children of Pelatiah and Sarah : 
2-3. Sally and Patty, twins, born in Ashburnham, 
June 28. 1789; Sally married Richard Adams, De- 
cember 9, 1806 ; Patty married, April 9, 1807, Jacob 
Osgood, of Westford, born iVIarch 13, 1787, died 
1857, and had a large family. 4. Wiley, born at Gro- 
ton, February 7, 1791 ; married Elizabeth Lyman, of 
Sandlake, New York ; removed to Albany, New 
York. 5. Samuel, born at Ashburnham, March 21, 
1792; married. April 13, 1813, Buelah Heywood, of 



438 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



Westford ; he died February 25, i860. 6. Timothy, 
born at Groton, November 28, 1795; married, Jan- 
uary 25, 1825, Ehzabeth Ann Edes; he was county 
commissioner several years. 8. Harriet, born at 
Groton, July 31, 1800; married Nathan S. Hamlin, 
of Westford, November, 1829. 9. Mary, born at 
Westford, January 25, 1803 ; married Thomas Rich- 
ardson, January 23, 1840; died March 22, 1877. 
Children of Pelatiah and Buelah : 10. Pclatiah, born 
in Westford, June 27, 1804, married, May 13, 1830, 
Susan Hamlin, born August 29, 1808, died April 
15, 1850; settled in Pepperell. 11. Lucy, born at 
Westford, September 10, 1806, married Abel Stevens, 
of Fitchburg, Massachusetts. 

(VH) Calvin Fletcher, seventh child of Pelatiah 
Fletcher (.6), born in Groton, JMassachusetts, Feb- 
ruary 20, 1797. He was a farmer in Groton and 
dealt also extensively in lumber. He served, the 
town as selectman, representative to general court, 
and in other positions of trust and honor. He was 
one of the prominent men of his day. At the time 
of his death he owned a large amount of land at 
Ayer Junction. He was well educated, and in his 
younger days was a school teacher. He married, 
October 10, 1819, Nancy Reed, daughter of Samuel 
Reed. Their children : i. Nancy E., born at West- 
ford, 1820; married William Sawtelle, of Shirley. 

2. Calvin J., born at Westford, 1822, died Decem- 
ber 24, 1905 ; married Elizabeth Whitney, of Stowe, 
1848, who died December 24, 1905 ; three children : 
Emma C, born 1849; Mary F"., 1851; Helen B., 
1861. 3. Rufus R., mentioned below. 4. Samuel 
W., born 1826, died 1845, unmarried. 5. Pelatiah, 
born 1827, died 1833. 6. Mary F., born 1829; mar- 
ried Frederick W. Pope, 1853; three children: Nellie 
F., born 1854; Frank F., 1859; William F., Pope, 
died October 21, 1906. 7. jNlartha P., born 1833, 
married Jacob W. Cooper, 1853 ; had Ida S. Cooper, 
born 1854. 8. Pelatiah, born 1836, died. 9. Joseph, 
born 1837, died ; married, 1862. Sarah J. Stone, and 
had: Calvin, born 1863; Charles S., born 1867. 10. 
Albert Francis, born 1840, died March 14, 1906; 
married, 1889; two children — Robert and Edwin. 
Sarah J. Stone died August 6, 1905. 

(Vni) Rufus Reed Fletcher, third child of 
Calvin Fletcher (7), born at Westford, July 2, 1823, 
died April 16, 1906. He was brought up and went 
to the public schools in his native town. He became 
a nurseryman and florist in early life, and followed 
that occupation during his active life, over fifty 
years, and at the time of his death was living at 
Rutland, Vermont. When a young man he owned 
some valuable inventions and travelled extensively 
in the west and south. He was an active member 
of the Unitarian church in Ayer, where he resided 
until recently. He was at various times trustee, 
collector and treasurer of the church. Mr. Fletcher 
was a gifted conversationalist. He had a fund of 
good stories and good nature that attracted every- 
body who knew him. He made friends everywhere, 
and few men were more fortunate in winning the 
good-will and esteem of a multitude. He married 
first, 1848, Sarah Marble Whitney, born November 

3, 1819, died September 17, 1892. He married (sec- 
ond) Mrs. Mary E. Hayward, of South Acton, 
Massachusetts. Children of Rufus Reed and Sarah 
Marble (Whitney) Fletcher: I. Harriet Josephine, 
born August 25, 1849, resides in Worcester, un- 
married. 2. Sarah Elizabeth, born October S, 1850, 
married Charles B. Felch, a printer, of Ayer, Massa- 
chusetts, who died 1881 ; she resides in Worcester ; 
they had one son, Percy Fletcher Felch, born March 
S, 1878, died July 8, 1900. He attended the city 
schools of Worcester and then entered the JMassa- 
chusetts Agricultural College at Amherst, and grad- 



uated in 1901, well advanced in his class. He was 
very popular among his classmates ; he was per- 
suaded to remain after graduation for a few days 
with his friends, and two days later, while bathing, 
was drowned. He possessed marked musical talent. 
His death was a severe blow not only to his widowed 
mother, but also to his numerous friends, who 
revered and esteemed him for his many noble char- 
acteristics, which shone forth clearly in his daily 
walk and conversation. 3. Daniel Whitney, born 
February I, 1852, resides at Ayer; president Middle- 
sex Northwest Savings Bank of Ayer, and vice- 
president Ayer National Bank ; is owner of Fletcher 
block; a dealer in men's clothing, furnishings, shoes, 
etc., and has his two sons in business with hmi. He 
married Emma Phelps, and has five children; Ethel] 
A., Howard P., Frank W., Dorris, Hazel died June,! 
1894. 4. Edward Foster mentioned below. 5 Samuell 
Wyley, born JNIay 28, 1857 ; was engaged in the! 
clothing business at Nashua, but March i, 1906, soldi 
this and associated himself with his brother, Ed- 
ward Foster, in business in Worcester. He married 
Susan Fletcher; two children, i. Mary M., a teacher 
in the kindergarten at Nashua, New Hampshire;! 
she has a fine contralto voice and sings in public,! 
thus furnishing pleasure for many people ; she tsl 
noted for her many acts of charity among the poorl 
and deserving. 2. Nina G., the well known violinist,! 
who has been heard with favor in Boston Symphony! 
Concerts and many recitals, and gives promise of a| 
brilliant career. 

(IX) Edward Foster Fletcher, fourth child ofj 
Rufus Reed Fletcher (8), was born in Littletonj 
Massachusetts, June 17, 1854. When he was fouf 
years of age his parents removed with him to Ayer.l 
and he attended the public schools of Ayer and Law-I 
rence Academy, at Groton, Massachusetts. At the! 
age of twenty-one he entered into the boot and shoe! 
business in Ayer, where he continued for six years,! 
and then formed a connection with the Oakdale Shoe I 
Company, at Oakdale, ]\Iassachusetts. Two yearsj 
later he formed a partnership with Gilbert G. Bemis,! 
and began business in Worcester in the Cromptonl 
block, on Mechanic street, 1883, under the name ofl 
the Waverly Shoe Company. The rapid growth o£| 
the business necessitated its removal in 1886 toj 
larger quarters on Front street, where the firm con-! 
tinned for five years, when, having again outgrown! 
their quarters, they removed to the large factory! 
building in the rear of 560-62 Main street. Thei 
Waverly Shoe Company was one of the most pros-^ 
perous shoe concerns making shoes in Worcester.' 
In 1895 the firm was dissolved and Mr. Fletcher 
sold his interests to his partner. Mr. Bemis moved- 
the business to Laconia, New Hampshire. Mr. 
Fletcher retained for ten years a special partnership 
in the company. In 1896 Mr. Fletcher formed the 
Lincoln Shoe Company, and built up an extensive 
business as jobber and wholesaler of shoes. George 
F. Leavitt and P. E. Bassett had an interest 
in this corporation. In 1904 Mr. Fletcher disposed 
of his stock in the Lincoln Shoe Company to the 
White Shoe and Rubber Company, of Worcester, 
Franklin White, president. Front street, Worces- 
ter. The companies were consolidated and at present 
are conducted by Mr. White under the name of 
White Shoe & Rubber Company and Lincoln Shoe 
Company, Consolidated. 

]\Ir. Fletcher had become interested in the Hough 
Shade Corporation at Janesville, Wisconsin, and 
since disposing of his shoe business has devoted 
much time to this business, which is in a very pros- 
perous condition. He is vice-president of the com- 
pany, which has a capital stock of two hundred thou- 
sand dollars, employs one hundred and fifty hands, 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



439 



jnd owns large brick and stone factories covering 
seventy-four thousand square feet of land. More 
t-ecently Mr. Fletcher purchased the patents of the 
Triss-Cross tube cleaner, and is now engaged in the 
nanufacture and sale of this very useful contrivance. 
His ofiice and factory are at 26 Southbridge street. 
The device for cleaning tubes is the best known for 
use in boilers, gun barrels, etc. It is a metallic spring 
arrangement that will adjust itself to the variations 
of size and shape in the tube and yet effectively cut 
the dirt and deposits to be removed. The factory 
is rushed with orders from all parts of the country. 
Mr. Fletcher is doing business under the name of the 
Reversible Tube Cleaner Company. He has secured 
additional valuable patents since buying the original 
in 1905. He has salesmen on the road in Canada 
and England as well as in this country. He is di- 
rt ctor and active in the management of the Thurston 
W rench Company, a rapidly growing concern with 
a very valuable patented wrench. The factory is on 
Hermon street. With these business interests and 
the care of his real estate, Mr. Fletcher is a busy 
jnan. He is not only successful in the various lines 
of business he has undertaken, but his methods 
have been fair and honorable, and he has the re- 
spect and friendship of even his active rivals in 
trade. He is a Republican. His personal popularity 
and success in business brought to him requests to 
run for office, which in most cases he declined. He 
'.served the city as member of common council in 
1892, however, and again in 1893. When the city 
had elected a Democratic mayor through dissensions 
; in the Republican party, and the city seemed to be 
■ about to continue the administration then in power, 
a conference of leaders was held and Mr. Fletcher 
selected as the man best fitted in the city to bring 
harmony in the party and redeem the city for the 
Republicans, as well as to give a thoroughly capable 
business administration. He was consulted and re- 
luctantly consented to run. At the city convention 
next day the nomination was made, and Mr. Fletch- 
er's election follow-ed. He was mayor of Worcester 
in 1902, and re-elected for the following year by an 
increased majority. He gave the city a clean, honest 
and business-like administration ; the tax rate was 
reduced ; waste in various departments cut off 
and less money borrowed ; he paved Main, Mechanic 
and School streets, and made many niiportant im- 
provements in the highways of the city. He became 
interested in the City Hospital and great improve- 
ments have been effected in that institution. The 
cnal strike occurred while he was mayor, and he 
organized the Fuel League, contributing one thou- 
sand dollars of his own money to buy Welsh coal 
to be sold to the people at cost. The day the 
coal arrived in Boston, Worcester dealers dropped 
their price from fifteen dollars a ton to twelve, and 
the day the Fuel League began to sell at eight dol- 
lars and a quarter a ton Worcester dealers dropped 
their price to eight dollars and a quarter, while 
coal was selling elsewhere in the state as high as 
twelve dollars a ton. He made a strong effort to 
establish a consumptives' home, or hospital, and 
though the movement has not yet resulted in build- 
ing, he organized a cornoration, of which he was 
the first president, for the purpose of holding the 
funds collected and raising more for the purpose. 
In a word, Mr. Fletcher gave the city a business 
administration of its municipal affairs. Mr. Fletcher 
is a membe' of Montacute Lodge, F. and A. M. ; 
Quinsigamond Tribe of Red Men ; the Worcester 
County Agricultural Society; and the Worcester 
Board of Trade. He is president of the board of 
trustees of All Souls Universalist Church. He has 



been a director of the Worcester County Mechanics' 
Association. 

A statement issued December 3, 1901, by a com- 
mittee of twenty-five Republicans, contained this 
summary of Mr. Fletcher's character: "He is a 
successful business man, in the vigor of manhood, 
trained and fitted by previous service in the city 
government to manage its affairs. Ht has not sought 
the office, but the office has sought him. He stands 
as the type of honest, independent, clear-headed, 
vigorous and successful since Worcester needs these 
qualities in her mayor in the coming year." James 
Logan, general manager of the United States En- 
velope Company, was chairman of this committee- 
He married (first), June 17, 1880, Mary E. Mi- 
lant, of Boston, one child, Charles Edward, died 
August 23, 1881. Mrs. Fletcher died August 8, 
1881. He married (second), February 18, 1887, 
Helen Bassett, born February 17, i860, died Decem- 
ber 22, 1893, daughter of Hon. William Bassett, of 
Berlin. The children of Edward F. and Helen 
(Bassett) Fletcher were: Raymond Bassett, born 
April 16, 1890, a student in the Worcester high 
scliool ; and Earle Whitney, born February 11, 1892, 
died ^larch 10. 1894. Mr. Fletcher married (third), 
July 7, 1897, Florence M. Bassett, a sister of his 
second wife. Mr. Fletcher resides at No. 2 Tirrell 
street and has a summer home at Berlin, Massa- 
chusetts. 

GEORGE JENNISON. The Jennings family 
and the Jennison family are descended from the 
same immigrant ancestor. Two brothers, Robert 
and William Jennings, came to New England in 
1630 or before. They came from Colchester, Eng- 
land. One of the descendants of Robert Jennison 
was prominent among the pioneers of the town of 
Worcester. None of the founders was more promi- 
nent. 

William Jennison was a settler in Charlestown 
and built his house there in 1630. He sold out and 
removed to Watertown, where Robert Jennison 
settled, August 16, 1631. He held the rank of cap- 
tain. He was admitted a freeman ^May 18, 1631. lie 
w-as formerly a partner' of Richard Spitty of Grey's 
Inn, London. He was one of the first selectmen; 
was deputy to the general court; went for a pilot 
in the ship "Thunder" to Bermuda, October 17, 
1633, and reported improved conditions there on his 
return; commanded a company against the Pequot 
Indians in the war in 1636; was called to court in 
July, 1644, for a slight difference of opinion on 
the question between Parliament and the king, 
proved to be most loyal to the colony and common- 
wealth ; was employed by the Earl of Warwick to 
see to his vessel at Boston, June 27, 1646 ; returned 
to Colchester, England. He was ensign August 16, 
163 1 ; captain March 9, 1636-7; captain of the Train- 
band 1638; selectman 1635-42-44; deputy to the 
general court 1637-42-45. 

(I) Robert Jennison, brother of the preceding, 
settled at Watertown in New England and was 
appointed ensign to Captain Patrick in the military 
company August 16, 1631. He was a proprietor of 
Watertown and was admitted a freeman in May, 
1645. As attorney for his brother William, formerly 
of Watertown, then of Colchester, England, he sold 
land in 1657. His wife Elizabeth died October 30, 
1638, aged thirty years. He married (second) 

Grace , and she died November 26, 1686. 

He died July 4, 1690. His will was dated Septem- 
ber 15, 1688, with a codicil April 21, 1689. proved 
October 7. 1690; it mentions his wife, daughter. 
Michal Warren, son-in-law, George Reed ; son 



440 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



Samuel, executor; grandsons, William and Robert 
Jennison. 

His children were: i. Elizabeth, born April 12, 
1637, married, in VVoburn, October 4, 1652, Deacon 
George Reed, who was born 1629, son of William 
and Mabel Reed, of Woburn. 2. Michal, born 
December 17, 1640, married, February 10, 1657-8, 
Richard Bloys, who died August 7, 1665 ; she mar- 
ried (second) John Warren, Jr.; she died July 14, 
1713- .3- Samuel, of whom later. 

(11) Ensign Samuel Jennison, son of Robert 
Jennison (l), was born at Watertown, Massachu- 
setts, December 15, 1642. He married, October 30, 
1666, Judith Macomber, who died March i, 1722-3. 
Their children were : Judith, born August 13, 1667 ; 
Mercy, January 23, 1669-70; Rachel, October 8, 
1671 ; Samuel, of whom later; William, October 17, 
1676, settled in Worcester, one of the founders, 
judge of the court, died in Worcester, September 
19, 1741 ; Elizabeth, twin of the preceding, born Oc- 
tober 17, 1676; Grace, February 11, 1678; Peter, Oc- 
tober I, 1681; Robert, July 24, 1684; Lydia, May 18, 
1688. 

(HI) Samuel Jennison, son of Ensign Samuel 
Jennison (2), was born October 12, 1673. He mar- 
ried Mary Stearns, daughter of Samuel and Hannah 
(Manning) Stearns. He lived in Watertown or 
Newton. Their children were : Mary, born August 
17, 1700; Hannah, July 17, 1702; Samuel, of whom 
later; William. February 9, 1706-7 (H. C. 1724); 
Nathaniel, April 5, 1709. settled in Watertown, later 
in Weston, married, October 23, 1729, Abigail Mead; 
John, February 19, 1710-11, married in Lunenburg, 
July 21, 1740, Mary Hubbard; Lydia, April 2, 1712; 
Abigail, April 22, 1715, married in Lunenburg, Sep- 
tember 24, 1739, Jonathan Hubbard, Jr.; Mercy, 
March 11, 1717-18; Sarah, died November 11, 1720; 
Eunice, born 1721-2, married, July 11, 1739, Joshua 
Richardson, of Woburn. 

(IV) Samuel Jennison, third child of Samuel 
Jennison (3), was born September 26, 1704. married, 
February 13, 1733-4, Abigail Holden, of VVatertown. 
The children of Samuel and Abigail were: Samuel, 
born November 6, 1734; Abigail, October 7, 1736; 

I Mary, June 27, 1741 ; Phinehas. of whom later ; Lucy, 
baptized April 20, 1746 ; Sarah, June 8, 1748 ; Will- 
iam, baptized September 23, 1750 ; Joshua, baptized 
April 22, 1753 ; Mercy or Mary, baptized April 22, 

^753- 

( V) Phinehas Jennison. fourth child of Samuel 
Jennison (4), was born in Watertown, September 
27, 1743, married, August 28, 1767, Susan Newton; 
married (second), August 2^, ijgi, Sarah Whitney, 
who died in 1815 at the age of seventy-two years. 
Phinehas Jennison removed from Watertown to the 
adjoining town of Newton in 1795 and died there 
February II, 1825, aged eighty-two years. His chil- 
dren were: Phinehas, baptized January 14, 1770; 
Susan, baptized January 14, 1770; Elias, baptized 
April 26, 1772, died 1842, married Sally Tallman 
and had twelve children; Benjamin, baptized Octo- 
ber 23, 1774, of whom later; Phineas, baptized Sep- 
tember 30, 1781 ; Josiah, baptized September 30, 
1781, settled in Holden, Massachusetts ; William, 
baptized 1784, died unmarried; Fanny, born in 
Newton. 

(VI) Benjamin Jennison, fourth child of 
Phinehas Jennison (5), was born in Watertown. 
Massachusetts, and baptized October 23, 1774. He 
settled in Newton and was for many years an under- 
taker at West Newton. He was a leading citizen. 
He attended the Congregational church. He mar- 
ried, 1804, Mary Tolman, who died March 7, 1842, 
aged sixty years. (Records of marriage give name 
Sukey. Gravestone gives the name Mary and age 



fifty-six.) The children of Benjamin and Mary 
Jennison were : Joel, married Lucy Trowbridge. No- 
vember 10, 1831 : George; Albert, married Elizabeth 
Wilton ; Edwin, Matilda, Mary. 

(VII) George Jennison, second child of Benjamin 
Jennison (6), was born in Newton, Massachusetts. 
He handled the freight in the early days of the Boston 
& Worcester Railroad at the first depot in Worcester. 
He was a member of the Congregational church. In 
politics he was a Whig. He married Nancy Fiske. 
Their children were: George, of whom later; Mary 
Jane, born May 25, 1838, at Worcester, married 
Curtis E. Robinson, of Framingham, and had one 
child, Fred N. Robinson, born at Holyoke, Massa- 
chusetts ; Martha Sophia, born February 25, 1840, 
in Worcester, died there ; married William H. Rich- 
ardson, of Poultney, Vermont, and had one child, 
George William Richardson. 

(VIII) George Jennison, eldest child of George 
Jennison (7), was born January 6, 1836, at Worces- 
ter, Massachusetts. His father died when he was 
only four years old and he went to live with his 
grandfather, Benjamin Jennison, at West Newton. 
He went to school there until he was thirteen, when 
he removed to Millbury, Massachusetts, and worked 
for a year on the farm of Charles A. Smith. He 
then came to Worcester and started to learn the 
trade of tin, sheet iron and copper worker in the 
shop of his brother-in-law, Isaiah D. Russell, on 
Front street. After his four years of apprenticeship 
was out he worked two years for various concerns, 
and four years for George R. Peckham making con- 
denser rolls for carding machines. He made copper 
pumps for N. G. Tucker, Pleasant street, for several 
years. He finally changed his occupation and be- 
came clerk in the fish market of G. P. Cobb & Co., 
on Front street, and about eighteen months later 
opened a store on his own account at 24 Green 
street. The business was prosperous and he ac- 
quired a competence, retiring in February, 1903, when 
he sold out to George W. Barker. 

Mr. Jennison attends the First Universalist 
Church. He is a Republican and has been some- 
what active in politics, having represented his party 
in municipal, councillor, senatorial and state con- 
ventions, and received the nomination for repre- 
sentative to the general court. He is a member of 
Athelstan Lodge of Free Masons; Eureka Chapter 
of Royal Arch Masons ; Hiram Council and is a 
fourteenth], sixteenth and eighteenth degree Scottish 
Rite Mason. He is a member of Quinsiganiond 
Lodge, No. 43. Odd Fellows ; of Blake Lodge, 
Knights of Pythias; of the Worcester Veteran Fire- 
men's Association, having been a member of the fire 
department twenty-five yevs, of which he lias been 
the president ; and of the Worcester County ile- 
chanics' Association. 

He married, December 26, 1861, Caroline Blanch- 
ard, born January 26, 1840, in Lyndeboro, New 
Hampshire, daughter of Asa and Elizabeth Blanch- 
ard, of Lyndeboro, New Hampshire. Her father 
was a farmer. The children of George and Caroline 
Jennison, all born in Worcester, were : Alice 
jNIarian, born September 13, 1863, died February 
25, 1864; Benjamin Fiske, born August 21, 1869; 
Mabel Blanchard, born May 27, 1872; Grace Good- 
win, born April 28, 1875, works at the City Hall ; 
Walter Russell, born September 14, 1877, is in the 
grocery business at Edison, Washington ; Harry 
Irving, born August 6, 1880, died October 23, 1882. 

EDWARD A. CO WEE. James Cowee (l), was 
the first ancestor of the Cowee family in this country. 
He is the progenitor of Edward A. Cowee, ol Wor- 
cester. Massachusetts. 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



441 



James Covvee or Cohee, as the name was some- 
times spelled, was born in 1726 or 1727 in the north 
part of Ireland of Scotch Presbyterian stock. His 
■mother died when he was a young lad and his father 
took a second wife. She did not take kindly to her 
stepchildren, James and his brother Bartholomew, 
and neglected and abused them. As they grew to 
manhood the father decided to send them to Amer- 
ica, where he believed they would have a better 
chance than they W'ould in the old country. Ac- 
cordingly, he made arrangements with a sea captain, 
whom he knew, to take the boys as passengers. Bar- 
tholomew, the youngest boy, died on the voyage. 
The captain of the ship proved himself a scoundrel 
by keeping the money that the boys' father had 
entrusted to him to be given to the boys when they 
reached their destination in America, and by selling 
James into temporary service in accordance with an 
evil custom of those days. He was taken to a 
frontier settlement and when his term of service 
expired he worked his way back among the settle- 
ments of eastern Massachusetts. He was at Chock- 
sett (now Sterlin.g) for a time. He came to Narra- 
gansett No. 2, later the town of Westminster, Massa- 
chusetts, where he eventually settled. He bought 
of Rev. Elisha Marsh lot No. g6, in the north part 
of the town, and proceeded to turn a section of the 
wilderness into a farm. He bought his place October 

I, 1750. It is now or was recently owned by Isaac 
N. Smith, of Westminster. By the following July 
he h?.d six acres cleared, his orchard set, and a 
good house built with cellar. The site of the house 
may be discovered near the road, a few rods below 
the present commodious dwelling house on the old 
place. 

James Cowee was an industrious man. and he 
became a skillful, shrewd and prosperous farmer. 
He was a man of much independence and force of 
character. He became one of the largest land-holders 
in the town, and at the time of the federal tax levy 
in 1798 owned one of the most valuable residences 
there. 

While he was working in Sterling he became ac- 
quainted with Mary Pearson (probably a daughter 
of John Pearson), of Rowley, Massachusetts. They 
were married March 3, 1757, and had a large family 
of children. He died April 29. 1801, aged seventy- 
four years. She died March 11, 1S13, aged eighty- 
three years. Their children were: i. John, born 
July 20. 1758; married Mary Rand and settled at 
Chittenden, Vermont. 2. Sarah, born October 12, 
I75Q '• married Zeeb Green, settled in Westminster. 
3. Mehitable. born March 2, 1761 ; married Nathan 
Wood ; settled in Westminster. 4. David, born 
March 2, 1763; married Mellicent Jackson: settled 
in Westminster. 5. James, born February 21, 1765; 
married Susannah Baldwin: resided in Westminster 
and Gardner, Massachusetts, and had fifteen chil- 
dren. 6. Mary, born January 17. 1767: married John 
Bigelow ; had no children ; died March 7. 1819. 7. 
Rebecca, horn .September 14, 176S: married (first) 
Jonathan Eager: married (second) John Bigelow. 
8. Nathan, born June 19, 1770 : died unmarried. April 
21, 1813. 9. Rhoda, born April 30, 1772; married 
William Sawin : had two children ; died April 29, 
1823 10. Joel, born February 15, 1774; died young. 

II. Pearson, born October 9, 1775: married Susan- 
nah Upton ; resided at Westminster : died August 
29, 1850. 

(ID James Cowee, .son of James Cowee (l), 
born at Westminster. Massachusetts, February 21, 
1765 : married Susannah Baldwin, daughter of Josiah 
and Susannah (Green) Baldwin, February 17, 1783. 
They settled in Westminster, but after ten years 
they removed to Gardner, Massachusetts, where they 



spent the remainder of their lives, and where many 
of their descendants have lived. Their farm at Gard- 
ner is known as the Eli Keyes, now or lately the 
property of B. P. Hill. The site of the dwelling 
house may be easily recognized in what is called 
the Cowee pasture. Of their fifteen children six 
were born in Westminster, and all the others in 
Gardner except the last, Reuel G., who was born 
at Ashby, Massachusetts. The Cowee place at Gard- 
ner was where Hezekiah Corey afterwards lived. 
It was made a part of Ashburnham by act of the 
legislature in 1814, at the request of Mr. Corey. 
The children of James and Susannah (Baldwin) 
Cowee were: i. Persis. 2. Joel: married Bridget 
Glazier: resided in Gardner and had seven children. 
3. Rebecca. 4. Susannah. 3. Betsey. 6. Mehitable. 
7. Sally, born April 15, 1794. 8. Lucinda, born De- 
cember 14, 1795. 9. Pearson, born October 6, 1797; 
married Sarah J. Glazier. 10. George W.. born Sep- 
tember 3, 1799; married (first) Leonora Greenwood 
and had six children: married (second) Sarah Wil- 
cox and had five more. 11. Aaron, born August i, 
t8oi : married Susan Spaulding and settled in Em- 
den. 12. James, born December 28, 1802. 13. Will- 
iam, born February 12, 1805. 14. John, born June 
9, 1807, was the first maker of cane seated chairs 
at Gardner, which is now a great centre of the chair 
manufacturing business. 15. Reuel G. (see forward). 

(III) Reuel G. Cowee, son of James Cowee (2), 
born at Ashby, Massachusetts, about 1809. He w'as 
the first to engage in the manufacture of chairs 
by machinery in Gardner, which is now one of the 
great centres of chair manufacturing in the East. 
He sold his Gardner business and moved to West 
Boylston, Massachusetts, in 1850. Here he bought 
a mill privilege and operated a grist mill. His son 
.\aroii Cowee and his son-in-law George F. Hildreth 
were later associated with him in the mill and feed 
business. His grandson Edward A. Cowee is at 
present conducting the business that he established. 
He died in West Boylston in 1880 at the age of 
seventy-one years. He married Lucy Ann Severy 
and settled in Gardner. They had only two chil- 
dren. They were: Aaron (see forward); Mary, 
(see forward). 

(IV) Aaron Cowee, son of Reuel G. Cowee (3), 
born at Gardner. Massachusetts, June 10, 18,36 ; mar- 
ried Sarah Winter. They had one son : Edward A. 
Cowee. born July 23, 18.S7. Aaron Cowee owned 
a mill at West Boylston, Massachusetts. 

(V) Edward A. Cowee, son of Aaron Cowee 
(4), was born at West Boylston, Massachusetts, 
July 23. 1857. He was educated in the schools of 
his native place and after graduating from the gram- 
mar school entered the business of his father, who 
had a grist mill, and dealt in grain and other sup- 
plies for farmers. Not only his father but his 
grandfather and great-grandfather were millers. Mr. 
Cowee has an inherited liking and aptitude for his 
business. Edward A. Cowee started in for himself 
in the grain and feed business when twenty-one years 
of age with M. H. Bosworth for two years and then 
with R. G. Cowee. his grandfather, and remained 
with him until the death of the latter when he took 
the business alone and continued the business at 
the old mill until driven out by the Metropolitan 
Water Board and at the present writing the buildings 
are torn down and land covered with water, there 
having been a mill on the property about one hundred 
and fifty years. At the present time he is running 
a mill and elevator at 193 Summer street. Worcester, 
with stores in different parts of the city and one in 
Jefferson and one in Rutland and one in Auburn. 
He has a livery stable at 14 Market street, Worcester. 
Mr. Cowee has been an active Republican all his 



4V- 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



life and a leader in his district. He represented the 
eleventh Worcester representative district in the gen- 
eral court in 1896 and the thirteenth district in 1897. 
He has been urged to become a candidate for sena- 
tor in his district and at this writing seetns to be 
the probable Republican candidate in 1905. For the 
past few years he has resided at 25 Shaffner street, 
Worcester, although he has large interests in West 
Boylston. where he lived for so many years. His 
mother lives w-ith him. 

He married. October I, 1S82. Hattie L. Cutler, 
daughter of Oliver B. and Harriett R. (Cutting) 
Cutler. They have two children : Howard, born 
November 10, 1884; Marjorie, born November 21, 
1890. 

(IV) Mary Cowee, daughter of ReueJ G. Cowee 
(3), born at Gardner, Massachusetts. November 18, 
1839; married, in 1861. George F. Hildreth, born in 
Sterling. January 22. 18.36. son of James D. and 
Betsey E. (Winn) Hildreth. His paternal grand- 
father, Timothy Hildreth, and wife were both na- 
tives of Sterling and died there. They were mem- 
bers of the Ste.ling Baptist church. Timothy Hild- 
reth was a farmer. 

James D. Hildreth, son of Timothy Hildreth, of 
Sterling, was born in Sterling, and there and in 
West Boylston spent the greater part of his life. 
He grew up on his father's farm, and attended the 
schools of his native town. He subsequently trans- 
ported various kinds of freight on wagons before 
the day of steam railroads. He carried goods be- 
tween Leominster and Boston. Gardner and Boston, 
Sterling and Boston and Providence and Gardner. 
He died at the age of fifty-eight, and his wife in 
1894 at the age of ninety-three. Their children were: 
James N : George F. : Charles E. ; Sarah A., wife 
of Alonzo Smith ; Georgia A., married Alphonso 
Smith, twin brother of Alonzo, whom her sister 
Sarah married. Two children died young. 

George F. Hildreth. son of James D. Hildreth, 
attended the Sterling schools when a boy and worked 
on the farm until he was twenty-one. He then went 
to Worcester, where he worked for the city for two 
years. In 1859 he removed to West Boylston, and 
for the next twenty years was engaged in the grain 
business there. He entered the employ of Reuel 
G. Cowee and became the manager of Mr. Cowee's 
grist mill, later entering partnership with Mr. Cowee, 
whose daughter he married shortly after moving 
to AVest Boylston. He was an assessor of West 
Boylston ; trustee of the West Boylston cemetery, 
and superintendent until his removal to Worcester 
in 1897. where he has made his home since at 5 
Newton avenue. 

Mrs. Hildreth is the last survivor of her father's 
family. She is greatly interested in the Sunday 
school work of her church, both at West Boylston 
and Worcester. Mr. and Mrs. Hildreth are Con- 
gregationalists. Mr. Hildreth served for twenty- 
five years on the parish committee of the West 
Boylston church. 

HENRY AUGUSTUS SKINNER. Thomas 
Skinner (i). the emigrant ancestor of Henry A. 
Skinner, of Worcester, was an early settler at Mai- 
den. Massachusetts. He was born in England in 
1617 and came from Chichester, England, some time 
between 1649 and i6s2. He settled at Maiden, where 
he kept a tavern. He had two sons, both of whom 
came to this country with him. He was admitted 
a^ freeman of Maiden. May 18. 1653. He was mar- 
ried in England to Mary , w-ho came with him 

to Maiden. She died April 9, 1671. He married 
(second) Lydia flail, who died March 2, 1704. His 
children were: Thomas, born July 25, 1645; Abra- 



ham, September 29. 1649, married Hannah , 

who died January 14, 1725-26. 

(II) Thomas Skinner, son of Thomas Skinner 
(i), was born in Subdeanerie parish, Chichester, 
England, July 25, 1645. He married Mary Pratt, 
daughter of Richard and Mary Pratt, of Maiden, 
Essex county, England. Richard Pratt was baptized 
there June 29, 1615, died 1691. Deacon Thomas 
Skinner removed with his family, consisting of his 
wife, his sons Richard. Benjamin, Ebenezer, Nathan- 
iel and daughter Abigail to Colchester, Connecticut, 
where he was one of the original proprietors. His 
name and that of his son Ebenezer frequently occur 
in the early records. He held various town offices 
and served on important committees. He and his 
son Benjamin were granted lots January 21, 1702, 
and in May, 1702, he drew his house lot. The diary 
of his son Thomas has been preserved and gives 
many interesting details of family history. All the 
children were born in Maiden. His wife died March 
26, 1704. Their children were: Mary, born Novem- 
ber 3. 1666 : Thomas. November 3. 1668, removed 
to Norton. Massachusetts: Abiah. June 16,^ 1761; 
John, April 5, 1673, settled at Norton with his 
brother Thomas; they were among the earliest set- 
tlers ; have many descendants in and about Norton ; 
Richard. June 2. 1675, married Hannah Pratt and 
had six children : Joseph, January 13, 1678, died 
January 18. 1725: Hannah, died October 21, 1728; 
"Benjamin. January 30, 1681, died at Hebron, Con- 
necticut. June 2. 1750; Ebenezer. April 23. 1684; 
Nathaniel. January 27, 1686. married, June 13, 1706, 
Marv Gillctt, had' eleven children : Abigail. Febru- 
ary 17. 1691. married. July 13. 1708-09, Ebenezer 
Mudge. born at Northampton, Massachusetts, Feb- 
ruary 26. 1683. died at Sharon, Connecticut, April 
21, 1758; she died at Sharon. 

(III) Benjainin Skinner, son of Thomas Skinner 
(2), was born January .30, 1681, at Hebron. Con- 
necticut. He married Elizabeth . who died 

December I. 1753, at Hebron. Connecticut, where 
all their children were born, viz. : Martha. Decem- 
ber 19, 1713; Richard, IMarch 2. 1716-17. Benjamin, 
October 5, 1718 : Hannah. February 17. 1720-21 ; 
Joseph. June 3. 1723. married, December 31, I74I. 
Ruth Strong and had five children ; Jeremiah, March 
17, 1725; Thomas. May 5. 1731, married. August 
14! 1751, Martha Wright and had six children. 

CIV) Benjamin Skinner, son of Benjamin Skin- 
ner (3), was born at Hebron, Connecticut. October 
5. 1718. married. May 2, 1749, Rebecca Gott. She 
was born 1725 and died April 27. 1774. Their chil- 
dren were : Benjamin, born May, 1750, married, 
Mehitable Root; David. February 23. 1752, married 
(first). September 18, 1780. Lydia Perkins, who died 
June 22, 1781 : he married (second). October 17, 
1782, Ruth Chapell; Lydia, September 30, 1754; 
John, April 18. 1759. died same day: Daniel. August 
3. 1761 : Oliver. April 20, 1764. married. November 
26. 1792, Sibyl Root; Aaron, July 8, 1767, married, 
February 16. 1794. Elizabeth Austin, of Lyme, Con- 
necticut." and had a large family. 

(V) Benjamin Skinner, son of Benjamin Skin- 
ner (dV was born in Hebron, Connecticut. May 2, 
1750. He married Mehitable Root. He settled in 
New Hampshire probably. Among his children was 
Benjamin, the grandfather of Henry A. Skinner, 
of Worcester. 

(VI) Benjamin Skinner, son of Benjamin Skin- 
ner (5"). was born probably in New Hampshire. 
Among his children was : Otis Skinner, see forward. 

(VII) Otis Skinner, son of Benjamin Skinner 
(6). was born in Dana, Massachusetts, February 3, 
1813. He married Hannah Putnam Nourse, born 
in Littleton, New Hampshire, November 17, 1816. 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



443 



He worked on a farm and attended the common 
schools when a boy. He learned the trade of car- 
penter and became a maker of piano legs. At North 
Dana he had a grist mill. He was a man of ex- 
ceptional mechanical skill. He died May i8, 1893, 
in New Haven. Connecticut, and is buried at North 
Dana. Massachusetts. His wife died May 13, 1874, 
at Worcester, aged fifty-seven years. Her father 
was John W. Nourse. His children were : Sher- 
man, born October i. 1814, died at Grafton. New 
Hampshire, about 1895, aged eighty years ; Hannah 
Putnam, born November 17, 1816, died May 13, 
1S74, married Otis Skinner, .\pril 10, 1837; Vashti, 
born April 27, 1819, died at Wliitefield, New Hamp- 
shire, October 16, 1901 : Polly, born April 29, 1821, 
died at Littleton, New Hampshire, October 8. 1822 ; 
John W, born February 3, 1823, died at Whitefield, 
New Hampshire, April 24, 1903 ; Cynthia, born April 
24, 1825, died at Patch Grove, Wisconsin, 1899; 
Eunice, born July 12, 1827, died at Littleton, an in- 
fant : William, born July 5, 1830, died in Boston, 
1852 ; Ezra, enlisted in 1863, was wounded in battle, 
discharged and returned home ; upon his recovery he 
returned to the war and was never heard from after- 
ward by his family. John Nourse. grandfather of 
the above family of children, was born near Bos- 
cawen, New Hampshire, and died April 11, 1846, 
aged eighty-four years, ten months and fourteen 
. days. His wife died May 5, 1814, aged fifty-one 
years, one mpnth and three days. John W. Nourse. 
father of the above children, died May 6, 1876, aged 
eighty-eight years, two months and twenty-five days. 
His wife died December 24, 1864, aged seventy-six 
years, twenty days. They were married November 
II, 18x3. 

Children of Otis and Hannah Putnam (Nourse) 
Skinner were: i. Polly Williams, born at Bethle- 
hem, New Hampshire. January 25, 1838, died in 
Dana, Massachusetts, September 20, 1839. John W., 
born at Stratford, New Hampshire, November 27, 
1856, died at Worcester, July 2X, 1900. Sherman 
Franklin, born at Dana, Massachusetts, February 
24, 1840, died in Dana, August 9, 1842. Sarah Addie, 
born June 22, 1S42. resided at New Haven, removed 
to New Jersey, married (first) Stillman Briggs 
(second) Charles Ma.gaffey, by whom she had one 
son, Harry; (third) William B. Collier, living 1905 
in New Jersey. Lydia Lemira, born at Phillipston, 
Massachusetts, December 22, 1844, died in Dana, 
October 10, 1862, unmarried. Henry Augustus, born 
at Bethlehem, New Hampshire, April 20, 1847 : see 
forward. Lois V.. born at Littleton. New Hampshire, 
July 2, 1849. died August 22. 1895, in Springfield ; 
married John T. Wright, had one daughter Edith, 
born in April. 1872, died June 10, 1879, has son 
George who resides in Bridgeport and son Lewis 
who resides in Springfield. Benjamin Elias, born 
at Littleton, New Hampshire, March 16, 1851. 
Charles E., born at Littleton, New Hampshire, June 
I, i8,^-?. 

(11) Henrv Augustus Skinner was born at Beth- 
lehem, New Hampshire, April 20, 1847. He attended 
the North Dana (Massachusetts) public schools. His 
father was a carpenter and maker of piano legs. 
He learned his father's trade and worked at it until 
twenty years old, when he took a trip west and south 
to see the country. When he returned he worked 
for a time at Orange, Massachusetts, for the New 
Home Sewing Machine Company. In 1868 he re- 
turned to Worcester to live. He worked for N. 
P. Malloy, gunsmith and locksmith, at 394 Main 
street; for J. B. Lincoln in his repair shop, Foster 
street, and for G. Henry Whitcomb. repairing en- 
velope machinery at the envelope factory on Front 
street. He returned for a time to sewing machine 



work for S. L. Shaffer. In the meantime he had been 
experimenting and had several inventions whi:h he 
sold to a Springfield man, and he went there to 
manufacture the goods for him. After three years 
in Springfield he spent some time in Providence, 
resided thirty-nine years in Worcester, and in No- 
vember, 1905, moved to Maiden, where he novi 
(1906) resides. He came with the Massachusetts 
Oilless Bearing Company. 

He started in business at 17 Hermon street in 
the manufacture of patterns, experimenting and 
building experimental machinery. At present the 
business is incorporated under the name of the Wor- 
cester Pattern and Novelty Company. Mr. Skin- 
mer is president; John M. Sawyer is treasurer and 
J. Walter Smith clerk. They are the owners of the 
stock and the directors of the company. Mr. Skinner 
has some valuable inventions. One is a buzz planer 
which does the work of two ordinary planers and 
never requires oil, having the new oilless bearings. 
.'\nother invention is a band saw also with the new 
bearings. He has an ingenious printing machine 
that does the work of four machines. He has a 
window fastener that keeps the window locked while 
open any distance desired. The Security Blind 
Fastener, which he invented, has been on the market 
and in steady demand for thirty-two years. He 
invented the Security Broom Holder, and has a 
new; device for blind hinges to secure the blinds 
against the wind. The latter is not yet on the 
market. An electric device of Mr. Skinner for 
indicating the height of water in a reservoir is in 
successful use at Readsboro, Vermont. He has 
patented a switch for street cars to be operated by' 
the motorman with his foot without leaving the 
car. He has a patented device for automatically 
shutting off water to prevent freezing of pipes in 
cold weather. He invented the automatic car coupler 
and sold it to the Boston & Albany and the Boston 
& Maine Railroads a few years ago. He secured 
fourteen patents which were pending at the same 
time in the patent office. Mr. Skinner is one of the 
most ingenious and versatile inventors in a city 
remarkable for the number and value of its patents. 
He is as active as ever in the study of mechanical 
devices and his inventions, which now number over 
five hundred, are of a widely different kind. He 
has not been limited to the industrial field nor to 
labor-saving domestic contrivances. He has turned 
a natural mechanical genius loose wherever he saw 
a chance for improvement in devices or machines 
in use. He has been a very busy worker and has 
spent most of his time in his shop. He is a mem- 
ber of the order of the Golden Star. 

He married, January 22. 1872, Zilpha Lavinia 
Vance, of Barnet, Vermont. She was the daughter 
of Richard West and Lydia M. (Prouty) Vance. 
He died November, 1&86. His wife, Lydia Morgan 
Vance, died in 1876, aged fifty-eight years, at New 
Bedford, Massachusetts. The day of his death is 
not known, for he wandered away from his home, 
23 Prospect street, and was found dead the day 
after Thanksgiving. Children of Henry Augustus 
and Zilpha Lavinia Skinner are : Mabel Luella. born 
July 22. 1874. married Walter W. Green, of Provi- 
dence. Rhode Island. Walter .Arthur, born Feb- 
ruary 28, 1877, married Nellie Price, of London, 
England, now of Lowell, Massachusetts, where they 
reside. Charles .Alton, born in Springfield. Massa- 
chusetts, June 20, 1879, has been in the photograph 
business under the name of the Worcester View 
Comnany for the past ten year.s, has made a collec- 
tion of old and new views of the city of Worcester 
and vicinity, resided with his parents at 61 Pied- 
mont street, Worcester, but in November, 1905, 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



moved witli liis parents to Maiden, Massachusetts, 
and has opened a photograph studio at 56 Pleasant 
street. 

CLOUGH FAMILY. John Clough (i), the 
immigrant ancestor of that branch of the Clough 
family to which Dr. Benjamin F. Clough of Wor- 
cester belongs, was born in England in 1613. He 
was twenty-two years old in 1635, when he sailed 
for America in the ship "Elizabeth." The date 
of sailing is given as April 11. The name for many 
generations has been spelled variously Clow, Clough, 
(pronounced to rhyme with ''how") and ClufF and 
Cluffe, pronounced as written. The established spell- 
ing Clough seems to be the proper way. 

John Clough deposed in 1691 that his age was 
seventy-seven years, thus substantiating the approxi- 
mate date of his birth obtained from his age at 
emigration. He may have lived at Boston for a 
time, but it is difficult to prove whether John Clough 
of the Boston records is John of Watertown or 
John of Salisbury. John of Watertown was a tailor. 
Tlie John Clough of this pedigree settled in Salis- 
bury, was a proprietor there as early as 1639, and 
a house carpenter by trade. He had a second grant 
of land 1640, and others later. He was admitted 
a freeman May 18, 1642, and took the oath of fidelity 
1650, and W'as a commoner and taxpayer 1650. The 
general court granted to John Clough, then of Bos- 
ton, a lot of land at Salisbury (see Hoyt's Families) 
March 13, 1638-9, the record stating that he had 
served his master four years, indicating that he was 
either apprenticed to learn his trade of carpenter 
tir was bound out for a term — a common way of 
paying passage money. Or he may have been a 
prisoner of war. It seems most likely that he was 
apprenticed at Boston in some family that he knew 
in England and with whom he came to this country. 
He must have been counted a desirable citizen even 
as a young man, or he would not have been granted 
land by the general court. He died July 26, 1691, 
and his will was proved November 3d, following. 
He made bequests to his wife Martha ; sons John, 
Samuel and Thomas ; son-in-law Daniel Merrill ; 
daughters Elizabeth Home and Sarah Merrill ; the 
children of daughter Martha, wife of Cornelius 
Page, late of Andover. and other grandchildren. 
He married (first) Jane , died January 16, 

1679. He married (second) January 15, 1686, 
Martha Cilley, or Sibley. Children of John and 
Jane Clough: i. Elizabeth, born December 16, 1642, 

married Home. 2. Mary, born July 30, 1644, 

died before her father. 3. Sarah, born June 28, 
1646; married May 14, 1667, Daniel, son of Nathaniel 
Merrill, 4. John, born March 9, 1648-9 ; married 
November 13, 1674, Mercy Page ; was eldest son in 
1691, 5. Thomas, mentioned below. 6. Martha, born 
March 22, 1654 ; married, November 13, 1674, Cor- 
nelius Day. 7. Samuel, born February 20, 1656-7;' 
married, August 31, 1679, Elizabeth Brown. 

(ID Thomas Clough. son of John Clough (l), 
was born at Salisbury. Massachusetts. May 29, 1651. 
He took the oath of fidelity and allegiance 1677. 
He was a farmer or yeoman 17.W and probably all 
his life. He and his wife joined the church in Salis- 
bury, July 27, 1718. He married first, March 10, 

1680. Hannah, daughter of Samuel Gile. She died 
December 22 or January 22, 1683. He married (sec- 
ond) 1687, Ruth, daughter of Cornelius Connor. 
Their children, born in Salisbury, were: I. Samuel, 
born December 5, 1680 : mentioned below. 2. 
Thomas, Jr., born December 9, 1681 ; cordwainer 
by trade. 3. Jeremiah, born June 21, 1688. 4. Ebe- 
nezer. born July 5, 1690: died young. 5. Ebenezer, 
born April rj, 1691. 6. Zaccheus, born February 17, 



1693 (?). 7. Isaac, born January 24, 1693-4. 8. 
Rebecca, born June 3, 1696; baptized, an adult, 1716. 
9. Hannah, born September 25, 1698; died February 
3, 1715. 10. Judith, born October i, 1700. 11, 
Martha, born February 25, 1702-3. 

(III) Samuel Clough. son of Thomas Clough 
(2). born at Salisbury. Massachusetts, December 5, 
1686, also settled in Salisbury. He married Sarah 

. She administered his estate, receiving her 

appointment as administratrix in 1728. Their chil- 
dren: I. Theophilus, born 1703. 2. Eliphalet, died 
1706. 3. Samuel, mentioned below. 4. Daniel, born 
1716. 5. Anna, married Abraham Morrill. 6. Abi- 
gail, married Benjamin Morrill, of Kingston. 7. 
Sarah, married Daniel Marston Hampton. 8. Mehi- 
table. 9. Miriam. All were living in 1728, except 
Eliphalet. 

(IV) Samuel Clough, son of Thomas Clough 
(3), was born about 1708 at Salisbury or vicinity. 
He removed thence to the adjacent town of Kittery, 
now in Maine, and married, February 14, 1736-7, 
Hannah Hutchins, of one of the old families of that 
section. Two of their children and perhaps more 
were born at Kittery. He removed to Arundel, now 
Kennebunkport, Maine, about 1758. Four or more 
of their sons were soldiers in the revolution. Chil- 
dren of Samuel and Hannah Clough : I. Joseph, 
born at Kittery, February 21, 1742-3; was a revo- 
lutionary soldier; married Elvira Hutchins, and after 
the war removed to Hollis, New Hampshire. 2. 
Thomas, married Hannah Goodnow". 3. Samuel, 
married Lucy Wakefield. 4. Enoch, a soldier in the 
revolution ; died at sea. 5. Noah, mentioned be- 
low. 6. Joel, married Dorothy Hutchins. 7. Rhoda, 
born at Kittery, May 2, 1745: married Paul March. 
8. Martha, married Thomas Huff. 9. Lydia, married 
Silas Abbot. 

(V) Noah Clough. son of Samuel Clough (4), 
was born in Arundel, now Kennebunkport. 1754. 
He was a soldier in the old French war in the six- 
ties and again in the revolution. He was in the 
battle of Bunker Hill. He was wounded in the 
attack on Quebec, was captured and kept a prisoner; 
was in other service as stated below after he was 
exchanged, and had a pension granted him after the 
war on account of his health ; he was then an invalid. 
His war service in detail was: Private in Captain 
Jesse Dorman's company. Colonel James Scammon's 
regiment; enlisting May 8, 171S, went into Conti- 
nental army 1778 for six months; was a private in 
Captain Abel Moulton's company. Colonel Jonathan 
Titcomb's regiment. 1777. Rhode Island campaign ; 
in Captain Joshua Nason's company. Colonel Storer's 
regiment, at Queman's Heights ; served in same com- 
pany in Northern army 1777; mustered in for six 
months October 25, 1780. The revolutionary war 
rolls describe his personal appearance thus: Age 
twenty-six years : height, five feet, ten inches ; dark 
complexion. His children: David, mentioned be- 
low : Obed. Shadrach. 

(VI) David Clough. son of Noah Clough (5), 
was born in Kennebunkport. Maine. November 16, 
1780, and died March 16. 1864. He settled in Ken- 
nebunkport. where he was a farmer all his life. 
His children : Melville, Horace, Arthur, mentioned 
below ; Lois ; Pliebe, Charles W. 

(VII) .Arthur Clough. son of David Clough (6), 
was born in Kennebunkport, Maine, April 16. t8ii. 
He received his education there in the public schools 
and worked during his minority on his father's 
farm. He also became a farmer. He bought a large 
farm on the road from Kennebunkport to Saco 
church, and lived there during his active life. All 
of his children were born there. His farm yielded 
excellent clay, and he made bricks in large quanti- 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



445 



ties to supply the demand in and about Kennebunk- 
port. He sold out his farm and brickyards in later 
life and bought a house in the village of Kennebunk, 
where he lived the rest of his life without the care 
of farm or business. He died there February 17, 
1S86. Early in life he was a Methodist, but in 
later years he belonged to an Orthodox Congrega- 
tional church. In politics he was a Republican. He 
married, May 7, 1837, Harriet Gilpatrick, of Ken- 
nebunkport, Maine, born June 11. 1809. Their chil- 
dren: I. Dr. Benjamin Franklin, mentioned be- 
low. 2. George Sylvester, born May 2, 1839; married 
January 5, 1865, Mercy Stone March, of Saco, 
Maine; one child, Hattie, died young; he mar- 
ried (second) March 7, 1874, Sarah Jane, 
of Kennebunkport, Maine, born May 31, 1845, 
daughter of Thomas Cleaves and Olive Little- 
field (Hatch) Worth; their children: John 
Arthur, born December 22, 1874, attorney at 
law, Worcester; Cora Belle, born December i, 1877, 
resides with mother and brother at i Merrick street ; 
George S. Clough was a prominent carpenter and 
builder : member of the school board of Worcester 
tliree years; common council; general court 1891-92; 
prominent in the Masonic fraternity. 3. John Hill, 
born November 7, 1846; settled in Worcester; was 
a school teacher; died March 2},, 1871 ; married Abbie 
Elizabeth Redding of Worcester, January 14, 1869. 
4. Arthur Howard, born June 24, 1852; died August 
1^, 1852. 

(Vin) Dr. Benjamin Franklin Clough, son of 
.Arthur Clough (7), was born at Kennebunkport, 
Maine, February 4, 1838. He attended the com- 
mon schools there and supplemented his schooling 
with a course at Berwick Academy, at South Ber- 
wick, Maine, where he was fitted for Harvard Col- 
lege. To prepare himself for his medical studies 
he entered the drug store of Alexander Warren at 
Kennebunk, Maine, as an apprentice. November 6, 
11^56, and remained there until March. 1858, when 
he accepted a clerkship in Biddeford, Maine, where 
lie remained until November 6, i860. He took a 
-hort vacation and then came to Boston to work in 
the drug store at the corner of Tremont and Boyls- 
ton streets, April 12, 1861. He remained in that 
position until October 16, 1863, when he received 
an appointment as surgeon's steward in the United 
States navy. He proceeded to Cairo, Illinois, to 
report to Admiral Porter on his flagship '"Black 
Hawk," began his new duties October 23d, and served 
on that ship during the Red River campaign and 
other engagements. The "Black Hawk" was de- 
stroyed by fire April 22, 1865, and he was trans- 
ferred to the hospital ship "Red Rover," where he 
served until the close of the war. He was mus- 
tered out August 12, 1865. 

He returned to Boston and accepted a clerkship in 
the old drug store, corner of Tremont and Boylston 
streets, remaining until the fall of 1866, when he 
entered Harvard Medical School. He was gradu- 
ated with the degree of M. D. in 1869, and started 
to practice in Worcester, His office was at 2 Myrtle 
street until September 14, 1886, when he removed 
to 46 Austin street, where he practiced to the 
time of his death, May 8, 1899. He enjoyed a large 
general practice and was accounted a wise and suc- 
cessful physician. He ranked high in citizenship 
as well as in his profession. He was an active mein- 
ber of Trinity Methodist Church and of the 
Epworth League. He was a Republican in 
politics. He was prominent in the Masonic 
fraternity, a life member of Montacute Lodge, 
being raised November 13, 1893 : made a 
member of Eureka Royal Arch Chapter Feb- 
ruary 6, 1894 ; was a member of Hiram Council of 



Royal and Select Masters, and of Stella Chapter, 
Order of the Eastern Star. He was a member of 
Charles Devens Council, American Mechanics. He 
was one of the most interested members of the Grand 
Army of the Republic. He joined George H. Ward 
Post No. 10 during the first year of his residence 
in Worcester, and was mustered in by Captain Amos 
M. Parker in May, 1869. He was elected post surgeon 
to succeed Dr. Albert Wood, December, 1891, and 
re-elected December, 1892, serving up to the time 
of his death. Hon. A. S. Roe calls him the "most 
devoted surgeon Post 10, G. A. R., ever had." He 
was also president of the board of trustees of Post 
ID, having charge of the relief work of that or- 
ganization. He was an active member of Farragut 
Association (Naval) of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 
He was a member of the Massachusetts Medical 
Society ; the Worcester District Medical Society, and 
the Harvard Alumni Medical Society. He married 
August 15, 1871, Adelia Jane, born September 13, 
1845, daughter of John and Catherine (Sweetzer) 
Perkins, of Lynnfield, Massachusetts. Her father 
was a farmer and late in life was occupied largely 
with the settlement of estates ; was twenty-one years 
town clerk ; captain of the militia, and representative 
to general court. The only child of Dr. Benjamin 
Franklin and Adelia Jane Clough was Bertha Fran- 
ces, born August. I, 1873; died November 16, 1884. 

HOLLAND JOSEPH ADAMS. Henry Adams 
(l), of Braintree, the immigrant ancestor of Hol- 
land jToseph Adams, of Worcester, was probably 
born in Braintree. Essex county, England. The 
Adams family in England is very ancient, but the 
exact pedigree of Henry Adams is still in doubt. 
He arrived in Boston in 1632 or 1633 accompanied 
by his wife, eight sons and one daughter. He was 
allotted land at Mount Wollaston, later the town 
of Braintree. where many of his descendants have 
lived. The name of his wife is unknown, and it 
is thought that she and her daughter, possibly also 
her son John, returned to England. Henry Adams 
died in Braintree June 8, 1647. 

His children were : I. Lieutenant Henry, born 
1604, married in Braintree, Elizabeth Paine, daughter 
of Moses Paine ; he was deputy to the general court, 
lieutenant of the military company ; was killed by 
the Indians while standing in the doorway of his 
home at Medfield, and his sick wife was accidentally 
killed the same day. 2. Lieutenant Thomas, born 
1612, married Mary Blackmer or Blackmore ; was 
town clerk, selectman, and deputy to the general 
court : he settled in Concord, Massachusetts. 3. Cap- 
tain Samuel, born 1617: married (first) Rebecca 
Graves; married (second) Esther Sparhawk; was 
prominent in civil and military life. 4. Deacon 
Jonathan, born 1619, married (first) Elizabeth Fus- 

sell ; married (second) Mary ; settled in 

Medfield with several brothers and had his house 
burned by the Indians there in 1676. 5. Peter, born 

1622 ; married Rachel , and had his house 

burned by Indians, 1676, at Medfield, where he set- 
tled. 6. John, born about 1624, possibly John of 
Cambridge. 7. Joseph, born 1626; maltster: select- 
man ; married Abigail Baxter. 8. Ensign Edward, 
fsee forward). 9. Ursula, daughter. 

(II) Ensign Edward Adams, youngest son of 
Henry Adams (i), born in England in 1630; married 
(first) Lydia Rockwood, daughter of Richard and 
Agnes (Bicknell) Rockwood. who died March 3, 
1676; m.irried (second) 1678, Widow Abigail 
((Traft) Ruggles, of Roxbury, Massachusetts, (or 
.'\bigail Day) who died 1707: married (third) Jan- 
uary 6. 1709-10. Sarah Taylor. He settled, with 
three other brothers, in Medfield, Massachusetts, and 



446 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



was ensign in tlu- military company, selectman of 
the town, and deputy to the general court in 1689-92, 
and 1702. He died in Medfield, November 12, 1716, 
the last of the original settlers. 

Children of Ensign Edward and Lydia Adams, 
all born in Medfield, were: Lydia, born July 12, 
165J, married twice; Captain Jonathan, April 4, 
1655, married twice; John (see forward); Eliashib, 
February 18. 1658-9, married a great-granddaughter 
of Captain Miles Standish and settled in Bristol, 
Rhode Island; Sarah, May 29, 1660, married John 
Turner, who fought in Captain Moseley's company ; 
Lieutenant James, January 4, 1661-2, settled in Bris- 
tol, now Barrington, Rhode Island ; Henry, October 
29, 1663, settled in Providence, Rhode Island, and 
Canterbury, Connecticut; Mehitable, born March 30, 
1665, married Josiah Faxon, of a well known Brain- 
tree family; Elisha, born August 25, 1666, settled 
in Bristol; Edward, Jr., born June 29, 1668: settled 
in Bristol and left children ; Bethia, born April 12, 
1670; died 1672; Bethia, born August 18, 1672, died 
young; Abigail, born June 25, 1675, died young; 
Miriam, born February 26, 1676, died young. 

(III) John Adams, son of Ensign Edward Adams 
(2), born in Medfield, Massachusetts, February 18, 
1657: married (first), 1682, Deborah Partridge, 
daughter of John and Magdalen (Bullard) Part- 
ridge, born 1662; died before. 1695: married (sec- 
ond) Susanna Ercck, daughter of Thomas and Mary 
(Hill) Breck, born in Sherborn, Massachusetts, May 
10, 1667. died May 28, 1744, at Medway. John Adams 
inherited the homestead at Medfield and lived on 
it. He died there March i, 1751. 

Children of John and Deborah Adams were : 
Edward, born January 13. 1682 ; John, Jr.. born in 
Medway, December 22, 1684. settled on the home- 
stead of his grandfather in Medfield ; Daniel, born 
January 12, 1686 ; Eleazer, born September 22, 1687, 
was a prominent man in West Medway; Obadiah, 
born January 20, i68g ; Jonathan, born 1692, settled 
on the homestead in Medway. The children of John 
and Susanna Adams were: Thomas (see forward) ; 
Susanna, born July 30, 1697 ; Jeremiah, born July 
13, 1699. settled in Brookfield; Abraham, born Au- 
gust I, 1701, settled in Brookfield: Bethia, born June 
2. 1702; Phineas, born May 19, 1705; Hannah, born 
March 29. 1707; Esther, Ijorn November 15. 1708. 

(IV) Thomas Adams, seventh child of John 
Adams (3), born in Medway. ^lassachusetts. Feb- 
ruary II, 1695-6, married October 26. 1720, Abigail 
Fisher, daughter of Jonathan and Rachel (Fair- 
banks) Fisher. She was probably born in 1701. 
He settled in Ashford, Connecticut, going thither 
from Amherst. Massachusetts, in 1737; died in Am- 
herst, near Leverett, 1743-5. Children were: Isaiah, 
born in Ashford. Connecticut, 1726, died in Amherst, 
Massachusetts. 1810, unmarried, aged eighty-four 
years ; Asa, born in Ashford, April 4, 1729, a pioneer 
settler of Shutesbury, Massachusetts; died there 
aged ninety-eight years; Nathan, born at Ashford, 
July I. 1731, died young; John, born in Ashford, 
1732; lived in .'Amherst and Rowe, Massachusetts; 
Abner (see forward) ; Nathan, born in .Ashford, 
May 16, 17.36; was soldier in French and Indian 
war, 1757; settled in Sunderland; Elizabeth, born in 
Amherst. Massachusetts ; married Bezaleel Wilder, 
Sr., of Shutesbury. 

(V) Abner Adams, fifth child of Thomas Adams 
(4). born in Ashford, Connecticut, August 10, 1733; 
married May 9. 1754, Dorothy Murray, daughter of 
General William and Hannah (Dickinson) Murray, 
of Amherst, born August 11, 1729; died in Marlboro, 
Vermont, January 16, 1S09. He was in Amherst 
until 1792, but removed to Marlboro. Vermont, be- 
fore 1795 ; died there after a long illness which af- 



fected his mind, 1828-9. He was a private in Cap- 
tain Noah Dickinson's company, Colonel Elisha 
Porter's regiment in 1777, and marched to New 
Providence. Children were: Dorothy, born in North 
.-\mherst, Massachusetts, baptized April 10, 1757; 
settled in Pittsfield, Monroe county. New York; 
Thomas (see forward) ; Naomi, born in North Am- 
herst, October 17, 1759; David, born in North Am- 
herst, was a soldier in the revolution ; Reuben, born 
in North Amherst, July 8, 1770, fell into a well and 
died in Genesee county, New York, unmarried. 

(VI) Thomas Adams, second child of Abner 
Adams (5), born in North Amherst, Massachusetts, 
October 21, 1758; married, 1783, Lucy Perkins, born 
in Bridgewater, Massachusetts, December i, 1757; 
died in Marlboro, Vermont, January 26, 1854-6. 
He was a soldier in the revolution. He settled 
in Marlboro, Vermont, in 1795. Late in life he 
removed to Halifax, Vermont, with his son-in-law 
Isaac Worden, and died there April 14, 1858, aged 
ninety-nine years. Children were : David, born in 
Amherst, Massachusetts, May 22, 1785, married, Octo- 
ber 22, 1807, Susan Warren, daughter of Captain 
Jonathan Warren ; Zebina, born in Amherst, August 
I, 17S7, married Clarissa Wheeler; Sally, born in 
.'Kmherst, June or August 17, 1790, married Jona- 
than Warren; Chester (see forward) ; Roswell, born 
in Marlboro, Vermont, December 27, 1795, died 
from a fall at Watertown, New York, June 28, 1817, 
unmarried: Orinda, born in Marlboro, December 27, 
1797-1800, married Captain Isaac Worden, of Halifax, 
Vermont. 

(VII) Chester Adams, fourth child of Thomas 
Adams (6), born in Amherst, Massachusetts, Janu- 
arv 14. 1793 : married June. 1824. Lana Spear, of 
Wilmington, Vermont, daughter of Francis B. Spear; 
she died June 22. 1858, aged sixty-one years. He 
died Januar\r 22. 1S52. He was a prosperous farmer 
at Marlboro, Vermont. Children, all born at Marl- 
boro, Vermont, were : I. Samuel, born January 29. 
1826, died February 7, 1S26. 2. Francis .Chester, 
born March 24, 1829. died November, 1905, married 
Mrs. Hannah (King) PoAvers; resided at Newfane, 
Vermont, and had two children : Herbert, married 
Mrs. Worden. and they have two children ; Nellie, 
married Leslie Stratton, and has two children. 3. 
Lana Marana, born September 18. 1830, married, 
November 20, 1S51. .(Monzo H. Brewer, of Benning- 
ton. Vermont, had two children. 4. Infant, died 
September 8. 1832. 5. Lucy Ann. born December 
3, 1S33, married. November 15, 1856, James Bennett, 
of Brattleboro, Vermont ; had two boys. 6. 
Winthrop Hart, born August 21, 1836, married, Sep- 
tember 17. 1858, Mary Ann Fames, daughter of John 
Fames, of Dover. Vermont : has one daughter who 
married Charles Jones ; resided at Brattleboro, Ver- 
mont, since 1870. 7. Holland Joseph (see forward). 

(VIII) Holland Joseph Adams, seventh and 
youngest child of Chester Adams (7), was born in 
Marlboro, Vermont, October 11, 1839. He received 
his early education in the common schools of his 
native town. He left school at the age of thirteen, 
and for six years worked on the farm at home. He 
then settled on a farm at Dover, Vermont, where 
he remained until 1867. He removed to Fitchburg, 
Massachusetts, in 1870, and took charge of the farm 
of J. B. Fisher for a year. After another year in 
Fitchburg, working for Joseph Cushion, dealer in 
flour and grain, he removed to Worcester and started 
in business for himself, manufacturing trunks, April, 
1872, under the firm name of Brown & Adams. After 
two years he went into the fruit business with Sam- 
uel Burbank, and later became a partner in the 
firm of Hiram H. .Ames & Company, dealers in 
furniture, remaining two years. He then withdrew 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



447 



and purchased the confectionery business of Eugene 
C. Akers at 506 Main street, where the Clark-Sawyer 
Company is now located. Three years afterward he" 
'removed to Front street and later to his present loca- 
tion 24 Pleasant street. He has for a number of 
years made a specialty of ice cream for the trade. 
He is the largest manufacturer of ice cream in 
the city. He provides ices and ice cream for parties, 
fairs, and families as well as in wholesale quantities 
to other dealers. He is a Republican in politics and 
a member of the Universalist church and of Anchoria 
Lodge of Odd Fellows, and Naomi Lodge of the 
Rebekahs. He resides at 4 Dewey .street, Wor- 
cester. He married Mariama Asquith Knight, daugh- 
ter of John and Diana (Brown) Knight, December 
31, 1866. Her father lived at Dover, Vermont. Their 
children are: i. Emma Adelia, born at Worcester, 
June 25, 1871, married, February 6, 1890, Charles 
Augustus Piper, of Worcester, and they have two 
children: Carl Adams, born April 15, 189 1 ; Ray- 
mond Hendrick, born August 9, 1S96. 2. Charles 
Holland, born in Worcester. August II, 1875, mar- 
ried Ella L. Green, of Colbrooke, Massachusetts, and 
they have: Chester Green, born May 28, 1894. 

JOHN T. BRIERLY, son of James and Hannah 
Brierly (born Barrett), was born at Millbury, Massa- 
chusetts. James Brierly was a cotton manufacturer 
at Millbury. John T" Brierly received his early 
education in the Millbury schools. After graduating 
iirim the high school he went into his father's cotton 
mill to learn the business. But finding that the dust 
-1 the cotton seriously affected his health he gave 

:> his intention to follow cotton manufacturing. He 
cepted a position as bookkeeper in the woolen mill 
. ! Ashworth & Jones at Valley Falls, in Worcester, 
mar the Leicester line, and found there an appor- 
tunity to learn the business. He put on jumper and 
overalls and worked in the mill, beginning at the 
iob of wool-sorting, working in every department in 
ilie mill, ending with the cloth finishing depart- 
ment. He left Ashworth & Jones to take a position 
a^ superintendent of the Brick City mill iji Cherry 
X'alley Owned by Edward D. Thayer. Two years 
later Sumner Pratt & Company made him a very 
favorable proposition to come to them in the ma- 
chinery supply business at 22 Front street. He ac- 
cepted the offer and has since been identified with 
that business. It was established in 1847, by Sum- 
ner Pratt. Mr. Pratt was born in Oxford, Massa- 
chusetts, September 30. 1S09. He came to Wor- 
cester in 1843, transferring the machinery from 
W'oonsocket to a mill in New Worcester, and manu- 
factured cotton thread, finally selling the busniess 
to Albert Curtis in 1845. and soon afterward start- 
ing the business of selling cotton and woolen ma- 
chinery and mill supplies. The store at 22 Front 
street was established in 1847. and the business grad- 
ually extended to reach manufacturers in distant 
parts of the country. When Mr. Brierly went to 
the business it was 'of large proportions and very 
profitable. Mr. Pratt died January 6, 1887. The 
present head of the firm. William H. Crawford, 
went to work for Mr. Pratt in i860. In 1870 Mr. 
Crawford was taken into partnership by Mr. Pratt 
with his sons Frederick S. and Edward Pratt. Ed- 
ward Pratt died later. A few years before his death 
]\Ir. Sumner Pratt retired from the business. 

The firm of Sumner Pratt & Company became 
Crawford & Company in 1898. The partners were, 
and at present are. William H. Crawford and John 
T. Brierly. Crawford & Company had spacious stores 
at 17 Mechanic street until March 17. 1905. when 
the fire in the Cronipton building compelled them to 

vacate. The firm located in May, 1905, at 673 Main 



street, where they have a very large and well stocked 
store. 

Mr. Brierly is also a partner in the Whitaker 
Reed Company. With Charles A. Geer he owns 
and manages this industry. The Whitaker Reed Com- 
pany was established in 1869 by John Whitaker, 
who was born in Lowell, Massachusetts, July 5, 
1839. His father was a silk printer in that city. 
In 1849 his father went to California to dig gold 
and w-as never heard from. The boy was thrown 
upon his own resources when very young. He was 
sent to Worcester to school. He learned the ma- 
chinist's trade at Brown's shop on Mechanic street. 
As soon as he was thirty years of age he began 
the manufacture of loom-reeds on his own account, 
and continued in this business until his death. He 
was very successful and made a fortune in the busi- 
ness. He died March 3, 1897. The Whitaker reeds 
are adapted to all varieties of looms, cotton, woolen 
and wire cloth, and are made of the finest steel. 
The Whitaker shop was at 184 Front street, and con- 
tinued there until the founder's death. The adminis- 
trator of his estate sold the business to John Mc- 
intosh, who continued in the same shop until 1900, 
when he sold out to Mr. Brierly and Mr. Geer. 
Before Mr. Whitaker began to make reeds they were 
produced by hand labor. He applied machinery to 
the manufacture of reeds and kept constantly making 
improvements in the process. The present company 
has maintained the high standards that he established, 
and manifested the same spirit of progress. The 
shops were moved to 84 Austin street a few years 
ago, and larger quarters secured. Mr. Geer came to 
Worcester from Connecticut, where he had worked 
in a woolen mill and acquired a practical knowl- 
ed.ge of the machinery used, and the needs of the 
manufacturers. Besides the reeds the firm makes 
■ ring travelers for cotton, woolen and worsted mills. 
The manufacture of these rings is a unique industry 
in Worcester. The work is done at the Whitaker 
Reed Company shops. 

Mr. Brierly is a member of Anchoria Lodge, 
Independent Order Odd Fellows; Regulus Lodge, 
Knights of Pythias, and Pilgrim Congregational 
Church; also one of the directors of the Worcester 
Collateral Loan Association. 

WALTER SCOTT CHASE. Joseph Chase (i), 
great-grandfather of Walter Scott Chase, of Wor- 
cester, was born on Cape Cod and lived there all 
his life. He was a farmer. He was descended from 
Aquila Chase, mariner, who was at Hampton, Massa- 
chusetts, in 1640, and removed to Newbury, Massa- 
chusetts, where he was a proprietor in 1646. He 
was born in England about 161S; died December 27, 
1670. His widow Anne married (second) June 14, 
1672, Daniel Mussilway. She died April 21, 1687. 
The second generation of the Chase family settled 
in the Plymouth Colony towns and has left a 
numerous posterity on Cape Cod and vicinity. 

Joseph Chase married Isabelle Thomas, of New- 
port. Rhode Island. She was niece (or cousin) of 
General John Thomas, one of the first four generals 
commanding under Washington. He was born at 
Marshfield. Massachusetts, in I72,S. He was a prac- 
ticing physician and surgeon, and was the surgeon 
for the provincial army sent to Nova Scotia in 

1746. He was on General Shirley's medical stafif in 

1747. and 1759 colonel of a provincial regiment. He 
commanded a regiment under Generals Amherst 
and Haviland in 1760 in the capture of Montreal. 
Colonel Thomas was one of the most active Sons 
of Liberty in Massachusetts before the revolution. 
He was appointed brigadier-general by Congress in 
1775. He commanded a brigade at the siege of 



448 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



Boston. After the evacuation he was sent to take 
command of the American troops in Canada. He 
joined the army before Quebec, May I, 1776, but 
fell a victim to smallpox a month later. He died 
at Chambhiy. June 2, 1776. 

(H) John Chase, son of Joseph Chase (i), was 
born at Uouglas, Massachusetts, in 1804. He was 
engaged in the manufacture of woolen goods from 
1835 to the time of his death in 1871. By his wife, 
Elizabeth, who was a native of Pascoag, he had 
three children : Oscar F. ; Mariette ; Frederick T. 

(HI) Oscar Francis Chase, son of John Chase 
(2), married Catherine Brown Howard. He was 
a woolen manufacturer in Dudley, North Oxford 
and Wilsonville, Connecticut. He made his home 
in later years at Webster, Massachusetts. They had 
one son Walter Scott Chase, born in Thompson, 
Connecticut. 

(IV) Walter Scott Chase, son of Oscar Francis 
Chase {3), was educated in the public schools and 
then went to work in the woolen mills of John 
Chase & Sons, established by his grandfather at 
Wilsonville, Connecticut, at North Oxford and Web- 
ster, Massachusetts. These mills have since been 
incorporated with the American Woolen Company. 
Mr. Chase left the woolen mill to learn the trade 
of steam fitting, and he studied the subject of heat- 
ing and lighting houses in a scientific way. He has 
become an expert in his business. He makes a 
specialty of heating apparatus, high or low pressure 
steam, and hot water heaters. He installs ventilat- 
ing maehmery and steam power plants ; also gas- 
piping, bronzing and pipe covering. He has been 
engaged in the business for twenty years. His head- 
quarters are at 10 Westfield street, Worcester. He 
had the contract for the residence of Dr. George E. 
Adams, corner of Stafford and Ludlow street; for 
the residence of W. E. Turple, at 919 Pleasant 
street; Albert E. Sanders at 19 Alvarado avenue; 
M. H. Pettigrew at 3 Fairfield street; some twenty 
houses for J. B. Scrimgeour, the real estate dealer; 
four for James H. Howland, real estate dealer ; for 
John D. Cummings, foreman for Crompton & 
Knowles, at 5 Woodbine street; for George War- 
den, at Auburn, Massachusetts; for the shop of 
George L. Brownell, Union street; for the Coes 
Wrench shops to heat with exhaust steam without 
back pressure on the engine. 

He is a member of the Independent Order of 
Odd Fellows, Anchoria Lodge. Mr. Chase has 
studied six years in the International Correspond- 
ence School of Scranton, Pennsylvania, an institu- 
tion that has all the time some fifteen hundred stu- 
dents in Worcester county, studying engineering of 
the various trades for which technical knowledge is 
required. He married Stella Maud Buckley, of 
North Grosvenordale, Connecticut. They have two 
sons : Walter Minot, born May 12, 1889, and Hyram 
Howard, born June 16, 1905. 

(Ill) Frederick T. Chase, son of John Chase (2), 
was born at Pascoag, Rhode Island, November 22, 
1844. He was educated in the schools of his native 
town. In i860 he came to Webster, Massachusetts, 
with his parents. He went into the woolen mill of 
his father at Webster and learned the business 
thoroughly. His brother Oscar F. and he became 
associated with his father and owned several 
mills under the firm name of John Chase & Sons. 
After his father's death he acquired the business 
and became sole proprietor. In 1879 he found it 
necessary to enlarge the mill, and later made fur- 
ther additions until it had three times its original 
capacity. The mill eventually was sold to the 
American Woolen Company. Mr. Chase had always 
been interested in politics. He was a Republican 



and had repeatedly served the town as selectman. He 
was chairman of the board for five years. He rep- 
resented his district in the general court in 1876, 
and was chairman of the committee on manu- 
factures. He was a member of the Webster Lodge 
of Free Masons, of the Worcester County Com- 
mandcry, and has taken all the degrees of the 
Scottish Rite. He attended the Universalist church; 
he died January 16, 1898. He married Jennie S. 
Alton, daughter of S. and Emby Alton. His chil- 
dren were: John F., Frederick T., Jr., Bessie F. 

ELEAZER D. JORJORIAN. The emigrants 
from Europe i:a the last half century have been 
largely from countries where English was an un- 
known tongue. Most of the emigrants have been 
deficient in early education, so that they have been 
seriously handicapped in learning the language of 
this country. Under the circumstances the Ameri- 
canizing of the emigrants of recent years has pro- 
ceeded with amazing rapidity and most gratifying 
completeness. The American government has no 
more loyal supporters, no more conservative and 
sincere citizens than men from Italy, Russia, Syria, 
Hungary, and the Scandinavian countries which 
have sent such a numerous and excellent colony to 
Worcester. 

Among the business men of foreign birth Eleazer 
D. Jorjorian is one of the best examples of success 
won in a new country, against all obstacles that for- 
tune seemed to have put in his way. He was born 
in Turkey in the state of Harpoot. He was the 
son of Stephen and Margaret (Tashjgaian) Jor- 
jorian. His father and ancestors were tillers of the 
soil. He was born August 24, 1870, and is still a 
young man at the beginning of a promising busi- 
ness career. He came to this country in 1888 and 
immediately took advantage of the Worcester even- 
ing schools to get a knowledge of English, and some 
general education. While he was studying at night 
he was working by day in the electro-type foundry 
of A. B. Brunell. Besides making electro-types Mr. 
Brunell also did all kinds of electro-plating. Mr. 
Jorjorian was in the employ of Mr. Brunell for 
several years and learned his trade thoroughly. He 
could have had no better opportunity, nor served 
under no better craftsman. He was ambitious to 
be something more than a skillful mechanic and 
operative, and made the most of his opportunities. 
He left Worcester to work in the largest silver 
plating shops in the country, at New Britain, Con- 
necticut. He worked later in the silver manufactur- 
ing concerns at Jileriden and at Hartford, for four 
or five years. He gained a varied experience in all 
branches of his trade. He returned to Worcester 
in 1S94, to start his own shop at 13 Mechanic street. 
He sold out this business and bought out J. N. 
Massoit's business on Hermon street, known as the 
Acme Plating Company. In 1897 he changed the 
name of the business to The New Acme Plating 
Company, and in 1904 he removed his shop to 54 
Hermon street, vifhere he has been conducting a 
prosperous and growing business. His company 
does all kinds of electro-plating and has a large de- 
mand for its work from the varied manufacturing 
industries of Worcester. In fact the product of 
Mr. Jorjorian's shop goes all over the world in 
connection with the machinery produced in Wor- 
cester. He has been a careful and prudent business 
man. He has acquired considerable property, some 
of which is invested in Worcester real estate. He 
owns the block on Beacon and on Wellington 
streets, and two other tenement houses on Beacon 
street. 

I\Ir. Jorjorian takes an active interest in public 






'cM^j 



^J4^ 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



• 449 



affairs and is a leader among the Turkish people 
in this community. His intiuence as a good citizen 
has often been used in political campaigns. He 
married, August 7, 1897, Zabelle Jil. Thomanjero, in 
Worcester. His wife is also a native of Turkey, 
daughter of Th. and Yacsa Thomanjero. They have 
one son : Leon E., born in Worcester. 

SCOTT THEODORE PIERCE. Thomas Pierce 
(i), unmigrant ancestor of Scott Theodore Pierce, 
of Worcester, iSlassachusetts, was born in England 
in 15S3-84. Many of the descendants of Thomas 
Pierce spell the surname Peirce, although the pro- 
nunciation is uniformly purse in Massachusetts. 
The genealogy of the family gives as the coat of 
arms: Three ravens rising, sable. Fesse hummette. 
Crest. Dove with olive branch in beak. Motto : 
"Di.xit et Fecit." 

Thomas Pierce came from England in 1633 or 
1634 with his wife Elizabeth and settled in Charles- 
town, I\Iassachusctts. His wife Elizabeth was ad- 
mitted to the church January 10, 1634, and he was 
admitted February 21, 1634-35. He was admitted a 
freeman May 6, 1635. He was one of the twenty- 
one commissioners appointed September 27, 1642, 
"to see that salt peter heaps were made by the farm- 
ers of the colony." He removed to Woburn and 
was a proprietor there in 1643 and was elected to 
town offices. His wife Elizabeth was born in Eng- 
land, 1595-96. She stated her age as seventy-one in 
1667. He died October 7, 1666. His will was dated 
November 7, 1665, aged about eighty-two years. He 
bequeathed to wife Elizabeth, grandchildren Mary 
Bridge and Elizabeth Jeffs now dwelling with 
him; to all grandchildren; to Harvard College. The 
widow deposed to the inventory March 22, 1666-67, 
aged seventy-one years. The children : John, mariner, 
admitted to church at Charlestown, 1652; Samuel, 

married Mary ; Thomas, Jr., see forward; 

Robert, married, February 18, 1657, Sarah Eyre; 
Mary, married Peter Jeffs and had Elizabeth ; Eliza- 
beth," married Randall and • Nichols; 

Persis, married William Bridge and had child Mary; 
married (second) John Harrison; she was ad- 
mitted to the church at Charlestown November 
30, 1643; Abigail, born June 17, 1639. 

(H) Thomas Pierce, Jr., son of Thomas Pierce 
(l), was born in England in 1608; married. May 
6, 1635, Elizabeth Cole, who died March 5, 1688. 
He died November 6, 1683. They resided in Charles- 
town in the part now Woburn. He is called ser- 
geant in the records, indicating military prominence. 
He was the progenitor of President Franklin Pierc;. 
viz.: Franklin (VH), Benjamin (VF), Benjamin 
(V), Stephen (IV), Stephen (III), Thomas (II). 
Thomas (I). Sergeant Thomas Pierce was admitted 
to the Charlestown Church February 21, 1634. He 
was an inhabitant of Woburn as early as 1643. He 
was selectman in 1660, and served on the committee 
to divide the common lands. He was one of the 
"Right Proprietors" elected March 28, 1667, and also 
of the committee of the general court appointed 
1668 to divide lands, etc. The children : Abigail, 
born August 17, 1639; John, March 7, 1643, mar- 
ried, July S, 1663, Deborah Converse ; Thomas, June 
21, 1645, married. 1680. Rachel Bacon; Elizabeth, 
December 25, 1646, married. November 9, 1666, 
Thomas Whittemore, and died ]\Iarch 10, 1670; Jo- 
seph. September 22, 1646, died February 27, 1649 ; 
Stephen, July 16, 1651, married, November 18, 1676, 
Tabitha Parker ; Samuel, February 20, 1654, died 
October 27. 1655; Samuel, April 7, 1656, see for- 
ward : William. March 20, 1658, married, April 8, 
1690, .Abigail Sommers, nee Warren ; James, May 7, 
1659, married Elizabeth Kendall ; Abigail, Novem- 
^9 



20, 1660, married February 18, 1684, George Reed, 
Jr.; Benjamin, married Mary Reed. 

(III) Samuel Pierce, son of Thomas Pierce 
(2), was born .April 7, 1656, at Woburn, Massachu- 
setts. He married, December 9, 1680, Lydia Bacon, 
who was born March 6, 1656, and died December 
5, 1717. They resided at Woburn, where he died 
July 5, 1721. His son Samuel, Jr., was appointed 
administrator of the estate July 28, 1721. The agree- 
ment to settle the est;ite was signed July 17, 1721, 
by Peter Waite as guardian of his two children, 
by Hannah P., by Tabitha P., by Isaac, Timothy 
and Abraham Hill. The children, born at Woburn, 
were: Samuel, Jr., see forward; Lydia, born March 
25, 1683, married Tomothy Snow ; Joseph, born 
March 28, 1685, died young; Isaac, born March 
22, 1687, married Grace Tucker, May 5, 1708; .Abi- 
gail, born February 27, 1689, married May 22, 1718, 
Peter White; Sarah, born June 22, 1691, married 
Peter W^aite ; Ruth, born February 14, 1693, mar- 
ried Abraham Hill; Tabitha, born .August 28, 1797, 
died September 30, 1797; Tabitha, born March 10, 
1700. 

(IV) Samuel Pierce, son of Samuel Pierce (3), 
was born at W'oburn, Massachusetts, November 25, 
1681. He resided at U'llmiiigton and Woburn, 
Massachusetts, and Mansfield, Connecticut. He mar- 
ried, June 14, 1705, Abigail Johnson, died March 
16, 1787. The children : Samuel, Ijorn June 3, 
1706, married Abigail ; Josiah, born July 13, 

1708, married Aliriam Cook; Abigail, born February 
28, 1711, married Zephaniah W^yman; Esther, bori> 

February 7, 1715, married Shubael ; Seth, 

born November 30, 1716, married Elizabeth Xye; 
Enoch, born March 22, 1719, married Mary Mason. 

(V) Setli Pierce, son of Samuel Pierce (4), 
was born in Woburn, Massachusetts, or at JNIans- 
field. Connecticut, after his parents removed, No- 
vember 30, 1716. He married Elizabeth Nye, of 
Tolland, Connecticut, who was born 1680 and died 
May 14, 1749. Seth settled in ]\Iansfield, Con- 
necticut, where the children were born, viz. : Seth, 
born September 12, 1744. see forward; Elizabeth, 
born June 2, 1748, married Bennett Fields: Enoch; 
Daniel, married Nye, of Montpelier, Vermont. 

(VI) Seth Pierce, son of Seth Pierce (5), was 
born in Mansfield, Connecticut. He was a captain 
in the revolution in the Connecticut regiment com- 
manded by Major Smith on the New Haven Alarm, 
1779. He married, April 17, 1767, Bethia Fields, 
who was born in 1745 and died September 18. 1807. 
He married (second), 1813. Patty Rindge. He died 
at Homer, New York, in 1835, at an advanced age. 
The children: Sarah, born November 20. 1767, 
married Royal Storrs ; Lucinda, born September 14, 

1709. married, November 27, 1788, Thomas Welch 
and had a large family ; Bennett, born September 
12, 1771, died March 17. 1773; Gordon, born .August 
31. ^773- married, 1796, Thirza Smalley; Bennett^ 
born July 14, 1775; Samuel, born May 23, 1777,. 
died August 26, 177S; Samuel, born May 20, 1779, 
married Persis Barrows; Elijah, born April 2y^ 
178,1, married, February 8. 1801, Patty Moulton ; 
Seth, born February 17, 1784; Daniel, born March 
16, 1786; Elizabeth, born September 12, 17S8; mar- 
ried Chester Collins: Bela, born .April 13, 1792. 

(VII) Samuel Pierce, son of Seth Pierce (6), 
was born May 20, 1779. He married, 1800. Persis 
Barrows, who was born October, 1783, and died 
February 5, 1858. He died August 17, 1858. They 
resided in Brimfiled and Hardwick, Massachusetts. 
The house of Samuel Pierce was on the boundary 
line between Hardwick and Ware, and it is related 
that he slept in two towns and two counties every 
night, his head in Ware, Hampshire county, and his 



450 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



feet in Hardwick, Worcester county. Their cliil- 
dren: Setli, born May 15, 1802, married, Septem- 
ber 22, 1831, Fidelia Bassctt. Cliester, born June 
20, 1803, married, March 15, 1831, Abigail Marsh. 
Eliza, born February 7, 1805, married, February 
ID, 1825, William Pepper and had : Caroline W., 
born March 4, 1828, married George F. Tyler; 
Samuel J., born November 2, 1829, married Sarah 
Torrey ; Abbie F., born June 24, 1832, married 
D. A. Sampson; William A., born June 25, 1834; 
Ashbtll, born April 7, 1838, married Martha Sib- 
ley; Elijah, born April 27, 1840; Austin, born Jan- 
uary 23, 184s, married Eva Burnett. Granger, born 
1806, see forward. S. Austin, born October 6, 
1808, married January 28, 1831, Roxanne Harvvood. 
William, born March 4, 1810, married Sarah With- 
erell. Brigham, born 1812, married Mrs. Cook. 
Mandly, born October 31, 1817, married. May 3, 1842, 
Emilv' Thomas. Octavia, born December 18, 1819, 
married, December 15, 1844, Byram H. Hervey, re- 
sided in New Braintree. 

(VIII) Granger Pierce, son of Samuel Pierce 
(7), was born in Hatfield, Massachusetts, November 
7, 1806. At an early age he removed with his par- 
ents to Hardwick, Massachusetts, where he was 
educated in the common schools, working also at 
home on the farm. He began to work out on 
various farms in that locality until his mar- 
riage in 1822, when he settled in New Braintree, 
Massachusetts. He bought there the old Warner 
place near the Winnimisett brook, where Warner 
killed the Indian. Eleazer Warner was the leading 
settler before incorporation of the town. Here was 
formerly an Indian town of considerable importance, 
the headquarters and chief rendezvous of the Indians 
when Brookheld was destroyed in King Philip's 
war. In 1865 Pierce came to Worcester and bought 
the old Reed farm on Holden street, a place of 
historic interest, and continued there farming until 
his death, March 17, 1886. He was a Congregation- 
alist in religion and attended the Central Church, 
Worcester. He was in his early days a Whig and 
Democrat, but in later years a Republican. He be- 
longed to the famous old Horse Thief Detectmg 
Society at New Braintree and to the Worcester 
West Agricultural Society at Barre, Massachusetts. 
He was a member of the Hardwick militia company 
at one time. 

He married, February 16, 1832, at Hardwick, ^ 
Mercy Stockwell of Prescott, Massachusetts, a > 
neighboring town. She was the daughter of Simon 
and Dolly Stockwell. Their children: Rufus Jud- 
son, born January 12, 1839, see forward; Scott 
Theodore, born June, 1841, was a member of the 
Fifty-third Massachusetts Regiment and died in the 
service during the civil war. 

(IX) Rufus Judson Pierce, son of Granger 
Pierce (8), was born in New Braintree, Massachu- 
setts, January 12, 1839. While a mere lad he worked 
with his father on the farm, going to school in his 
native town and later at New Salem Academy and 
the Deerfield Academy at Deerheld, Massachusetts. 
At the age of twenty he began to give all his time 
to his father's farm. In 1865 his father and he 
went to Worcester and bought the Rogers farm, 
known also as the old Reed farm, Holden street, 
where Scott T. Pierce now lives. The farm origi- 
nally consisted of si.xty acres. Rufus Pierce con- 
tinued in the management of the farm until his 
father's death, March 17, 1886, when he became the 
owner. Though he sold off some of the fanu he 
continued to carry on the place until shortly be- 
fore his death, when he turned the management 
over to his son Scott. He died February 5, 1903, 
at his home. He was a Universalist in religion and 



attended the First Universalist Church, Worces 
er. In politics he was a Republican. He was ; 
member of Worcester Grange, Patrons of Hus 
bandry. No. 22, and of the North Worcester Ai( 
Society. 

He married, April 18, i860, Sarah E. Nye, wh( 
was born September 25, 1834, daughter of Hose; 
W. and Emily (Bartlett) Nye, of Hardwick, Massa^ 
chusetts; her father was a blacksmith. The onlj 
child was : Scott Theodore, born December 23 
1864, see forward. 

(X) Scott Theodore Pierce, son of Rufus Jud- 
son Pierce (9), was born at New Braintree, ^lassa- 
chusetts, December 23, 1864. He removed when a 
year old to Worcester with his parents and was 
educated there in the public schools and at Foster's 
Business College, where he graduated. For a num- 
ber of years he assisted his father on the farm. In 
1888 he started a retail milk business, selling the 
milk from his father's dairy. He gradually took 
cliarge of the farm. He sold out his milk business 
January I, 1901. At the death of his father, Feb- 
ruary 5, 1903, he inherited the farm and has con- 
tinued to run it since then. In June, 1903, he erected 
the present modern residence on a sightly spot some 
distance from the main road, commanding a pictur- 
esque view of Indian lake. It is one of the most 
attractive residences in that section of the city. ^Ir. 
Pierce makes a specialty of market gardening and 
cider, having a cider mill on the farm. The present 
area of the farm is about fifty acres. i\Ir. Pierce 
is a member of the First Universalist Church. In 
politics he is a Republican. He is a member of 
Quinsigamond Lodge of Odd P^ellows, No. 43, of 
Worcester; of Worcester Grange, Patrons of Hus- 
bandry, No. 22; of the Worcester Yacht Club and of 
the Worcester Agricultural Society. He is an act- 
ive luember and director of the North Worcester 
Aid Company, a charitable organization. 

He married, October 15, 1890, Nancy Davis 
Chamberlain, who was born at Holden, October 
12, 1866, the daughter of Sumner and Cynthia 
(Clapp) Chamberlain, of Holden. They have one 
child, Ralph Chamberlain, born at Worcester, Au- 
gust 20, 1891. 

EARLE FAMILY. Ralph Earle (i), who was 
in Newport, Rhode Island, as early as 1638, was 
the emigrant ancestor in the paternal line of Mrs. 
Emily D. Richardson, of Worcester, Massachusetts. 
He married Joan Savage, who was born in England 
1594 or 1595. Ralph Earle was born in 1606 and they 
were doubtless married in England. Ralph Earle 
was one of fifty-nine persons admitted, October I, 
1638, freemen of the Island of Aqueedneck (Xew- 
port). He bought and sold land frequently for 
many years in various parts of Rhode Island. In 
1655 and 1669 he served on the grand jury. On 
May 25th, he was appointed by the court of commis- 
sioners to keep a house of entertainment. He 
joined a company of horse August 10, 1667, and 
later was chosen captain. On June 7, 1671, he was 
on a special jury to try two Indians. Ralph claimed 
the lands of the Dutch House of Good Hope, now 
Hartford, Connecticut, and commenced a lawsuit 
to establish his claim against Richard Lord and 
James Richard, possessors of the Dutch land, about 
1067. Earle affirmed that he purchased the land 
of Underbill in August, 1653, and paid him twenty 
pounds sterling for it; but Underbill protested 
against the claim of Earle. It is not improbable 
that the claim was well founded. 

The children of Ralph and Joan Earle were! 
Ralph, married Dorcas Sparague ; William, married 
(first) Mary Walker; (second) Prudence ; 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



451 



Mary, married William Cory ; Martha, married 
William Wood ; Sarah, married Thomas Cornell. 

(II) William Earle, son of Ralph Earle (i), 
was born in England. The first known record of 
\\'illiam Earle is dated April 2, 1634, when he and 
his wife I^Iary sold to James Sands their interest in 
fourteen acres that came by right of the late Widow 
Walker, the land having come by marriage of 
jNlary Walker, daughter of the widow, to William 
Earle. He was admitted a freeman at Bristol, 
Rhode Island, May 11, 1658, and on May l8th he was 
admitted a freeman of the colony at the general 
court held at Warwick. On June 8th, in the same 
year, he was chosen to represent Bristol in the 
general court of trials at Newport. He was given 

a grant of land in partnership with William Cory 
.May I, 1665, provided they maintain a windmill for 
the use of the town. In 1668 the windmill had been 
erected. William Earle removed to Dartmouth 
about 1670, and stayed there several years, his 
interests there being large. He owned more than 
two thousand acres from his claims in the original 
division of the land. 

The general assembly for Rhode Island and 
Providence plantations, for the election of general 
officers for the colony, was held May 6, i6gi, at the 
house of William Earle, it being removed from New- 
port by reason of the distemper. He was a deputy 
from Portsmouth to the general assemblies held 
at Providence, October 25, 1704, and at Newport 
May I, 1706, and July 3, 1706. He made a will 
November 13, 1713, mentioning various legatees. He 
■dfed January 15, 1715. The children of William 
Earle were : Mary, born 1655, married John 
Borden ; William, born at Portsmouth, Rhode 
Island; married Elizabeth ■ ; Ralph (see for- 
ward ) : Thomas, married Mary Taber ; Caleb ; mar- 
ried Mary ; John, born at Portsmouth, mar- 
ried Mary Wait; Prudence, married Benjamin 
Durfee. 

(III) Ralph Earle, son of William Earle (2), 
born in 1660; married Mary (Carr) Hicks, widow 
of John Hicks, and daughter of Robert Carr, of 
Newport, Rhode Island. She died the same year 
that he died, 1757, at Leicester, Massachusetts, and 
both are buried in the Friends' burying ground at 
Leicester, where the graves of no less than six gen- 
erations of their descendants are. The earliest 
known rtcord of Ralph Earle is to the effect that he 
had taken the freeman's oath prior to March 24, 
1686. In 1688 his father gave to him and his wife 
the land adjoining the "fall river" at Pocasset, in 
Freetown, His removal to and occupancy of this 
land must have occurred soon afterward. He lived 
there betw-een twenty-five and thirty years, the site 
of this house being on what is now Bedford street, 
iibout ten rods northeast of the northeast corner 
of the market, which was standing in i860. The 
house had a gambrel roof and was destroyed about 
1848. He was surveyor of Highways in 1690-92- 
96, constable in 1699, and grand juryman in 1700 
and 1715. He had the military title of ensign. 

In 1716 he went through Providence, Rhode 
Island, into the interior of Massachusetts, as far 
as what is now Leicester. On the way, at Grafton, 
he hired an Indian, named Moses Printer, as guide. 
Over part of the way there was no path and they 
blazed their way in order to find the track back 
again. In 1717 he removed with part of his family 
to Leicester and purchased of the original proprie- 
tors of the town two tracts of land, containing in the 
aggregate five hundred and fifty acres. One of the 
tracts included the Mulberry Grove, now or lately 
owned by George and Billings Mann, and the other 
was on the west side of Asnebumskit Hill, in what 



is now town of Paxton. Its westerly boundary 
appears to have been the road leading northerly 
from the Penniman place, a mile east of Paxton 
Centre. His dwelling house was built about one 
and one-half miles northeasterly from the present 
village of Leicester, on JNIulberry street, and very 
near the site of the residence now or lately owned 
by Benjamin Wilson. It was a one;, story house with 
a gambrel roof and was torn down in 1846. In 
1721 he was a member of the church that is the 
Congregational church of Leicester. Within a year 
a Society of Friends, commonly called Quakers, 
was organized in the town and he joined it. In 
1732 he and his sons William and Robert, wath four 
other men, asked to be released from paying any 
part of the tax for the support of the minister or 
ministers established by the laws of this province, 
alleging that they as Quakers with a conscientious 
scruple against paying such a tax. The Quaker 
meeting house was erected upon land taken from 
the farm of Ralph Earle and that of his neighbor, 
Nathaniel Potter, both of whose graves are within 
a fevv feet of the site of the old church. Ralph 
Earle's interest in the society was so great that 
he made a trip to Philadelphia to visit William 
Penn, the best known Quaker in the country. Penn 
at the time was building a house at Pennsburg and 
it is said told Earle that he would put his initials 
on the chimney. 

He still retained the confidence of his fellow- 
citizen for he was chosen March 22, 1736, to per- 
ambulate the line between Leicester and Worcester, 
with the committee from the other town, for which 
the town paid the munificent sum of four shillings. 
It is said that Earle once owned Mount Hope, 
Rhode Island, but no deed of it can be found on 
record. 

His will was made May 25, 1750. Among the be- 
quests to his wife is the negro boy Sharp ; and he 
directs that if the negro be faithful and well be- 
haved, he should have his freedom at her decease; 
if not, he may be sold. But before Earle died 
he himself manumitted the slave and April 6, 1756, 
gave him thirty acres of land on the southern de- 
clivity of Asnebumskit. The negro took the name 
of Freeborn as a surname later. 

Children of Ralph and Mary (Hicks) Earle were: 
William, born November 12, 1690, married Anna 
Howard; John, born April 24. 1692, married Widow 
Sarah Borden ; Mary, born October 24, 1693, married 

Sheflield; Elizabeth, born December 24. 1696, 

married Robert Lawson ; SaAh, born Januarj- 18, 
1698, married Stephen Manchester; Martha, born 
December 21, 1700; Patience, born November 24, 
1702, married Benjamin Richardson; Ralph, born 
March 14. 1704; Robert, (see forward); Mercy, 
born March 13, 1708, married Jotham Rice ; Ben- 
jamin, born JNIarch 14, 1711, married (first') Abigail 
Newhall; (second) Deborah (Buffum) Slade. 

(IV) Robert Earle, son of Ralph Earle (3), 
born March 2, 1706, in Freetown, Massachusetts; 
married (first) Mary Newhall, born November 5, 
1704, daughter of Thomas Newhall, of Leicester, 
formerly of Maiden, Massachusetts, by whom he 
had ten children. He married (second), ]\Iarch 23, 
1756, Hepsibah Johnson, of Worcester, Massachu- 
setts. He died in 1796. He was eleven years old 
when his father moved to Leicester, Massachusetts. 
When he was of age his father gave him two tracts 
of land, on one of which he erected his house at 
the corner of Earle and Mulberry streets, and resided 
there during all his married life. He sold the place 
to his grandsons, Pliny and Jonah Earle. for three 
thousand pounds, April 11, 1792. In the following 
year Pliny removed the old dwelling house to the 



452 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



opposite side of the road and erected upon tlie old 
site a new house, which with some changes and 
additions is still standing. Here Robert Earle 
passed the remainder of his days with the fainily 
of his grandson Pliny. He had a remarkable con- 
stitution and retained his vigor and activity to al- 
most the close of his long life. After the nine- 
tieth anniversary of his birth he went alone on 
horseback to visit his sons at Chester, Vermont. 
On his return he arrived home at night, having rid- 
den fifty miles' during the day. Once at least when 
at this extreme age he rode, in one day, to Provi- 
dence, Rhode Island, to attend the yearly meeting 
of the Society of Friends, to which he belonged. " 
Some years before his death he was injured by a 
fall from his horse, and was afterward somewhat 
lame from the effects of the injury received. 

The wife of Robert liarle, Mary Newhall, was 
the granddaughter of Thomas Newhall, the first 
white child born in Lynn, Massachusetts, He was 
the son of Thomas Newhall, who died at Lynn, 
May 25, 1674, and Mary Newhall, who died Septem- 
ber 25, 1665. Both were etnigrants from England. 
Children of Robert Earle were: ^Martha, born No- 
vember 3, 1726, married (first) David Earle ; (sec- 
ond) Hezekiah Ward; Nathan, born May 12, 1728, 
married Elizabeth Richardson ; Mary, born August 
ID, 1730, married Jonathan Sargent; Elizabeth, born 
Octolier 18, 1732, married John Whittemore ; George, 
born March 3, 1735, married j\Iary Baker; Thomas, 
August 27, 1737, married Hannah Wait; Esek, born 
February 10, 1741, married Mehitable Snow; Ro- 
bert, born October 10, 1743, married Sarah Hunt; 
Lydia, born August 15, 1746, inarried (first) John 
Wilson; (second) Micah Johnson; (third) Jonas 
Newton; Marmaduke, (see forward); Phebe, born 
December 22, 1756, inarried Francis Flagg; Timothy, 
born March 13, 1759, died in the Unites States army, 
Noveinber 3, 1777. 

(V) Marmaduke Earle, son of Robert Earle 
(4), born in Leicester, Massachusetts, March 8, 
1749; married, 1772, Elizabeth Newton, daughter 
of Jonas and Rebecca (Richardson) Newton, of 
Paxton, Massachusetts. She was born June 22, 
1755; died November 3, 1840; he died May 29, 1839. 
He was a farmer and his homestead was on the road 
to Barre, about a mile northwest of Paxton Centre. 
He and his wife retained their membership in the 
Society of Friends during life and were buried in 
the Friends' burying ground, at Leicester. None 
of the children were Quakers. Children were : 
Lucretia, born February 25, 1773, married Samuel 
Brown; Catherine, born March 3, 1775, married 
Francis Washburn; Winthrop, born May 5, 1777, 
died, unmarried in Paxton, January 15, 1836; De- 
liverance, born November 10, 1779, married Jon- 
athan Cunningham ; Samuel, born December 26, 
1781, died June 21, 1787; Amasa, born March ii, 
1784, married Lucy Howe ; Philip, born April 10, 
1786, married Patty Barton; Rebecca, born July 21, 
1788. married James Thompson; Emory, born Sep- 
tember 10, 1790, married Eunice Smith; Candace, 
born November 3, 1792, married William Boynton ; 
Persis, born December 18, 1794, married William 
H. Scott; Phebe, born June 22, 1797, married Moses 
Parkhurst ; Elmer, (see forward); Homer, born 
Alay 6, 1802, died August 30, 1804. 

(VI) Elmer Earle, son of Marmaduke Earle (5), 
born January 6, 1800, in Paxton, Massachusetts ; 
married Sally Bellows, daughter of Jonas and Martha 
(Bridges) Bellows, born April 19, 1804: died March 
30. 1881. They lived in Worcester, Massachusetts, 
where he died September 2, i86g. Their children 
were : Louisa, born February 9, 1825, died Septem- 
ber 26, 1827; Adeline A., born October 26, 1827, 



married Charles Newton; Emily D. (see forward); 
Charles G., born April 22, 1833, married Louisa M. 
Starkweather; Susan M. (see forward); Henry M., 
born July 23, 1841, died Septetnber 4, 1845. 

(VII) Emily Davis Earle, daughter of Elmer 
Earle (6), born at Leicester, Massachusetts, August 
31, 1830; married July 9, 1851, Seneca M. Richard- 
son, of whom later. (See Richardson Family under 
William A. Richardson sketch elsewhere in this 
work). 

(VII) Susan M. Earle, daughter of Elmer Earle 
(6), born in North Brookfield, Massachusetts, Au- 
gust 24, 1838 ; married Gilbert J. Rugg, of Lancas- 
ter, Massachusetts, October 20, 1858, at Worcester. 

(VIII) Seneca Merrill Richardson, son of Wyman 
Richardson (7), was born in Corinth, Vermont, 
December 5, 1830. For the ancestry of Mr. Richard- 
son see sketch of his brother, William A. Richard- 
son. He was educated in the schools at Smithville, 
where his parents were living during his boyhood. 
He learned the machinist's trade as his brother and 
ancestors had done. Both father and grandfather 
on the Richardson side were expert blacksmiths 
and machinists. His father worked in various places. 
He was at Athol, Barre, Petersham arid Boston, 
filling positions whpre his skill and experience as a 
mechanic and superintendent were needed. 

Sene'.a Richardson came to Worcester to work 
for Willard Williams & Company, manufacturers of 
wood-working machinery, in their machine shop. 
He went to Fitchburg and worked there in the 
manufacture of cane goods for five years. Then 
he took the position of superintendent of the E. C. 
Cleveland Machine Co., manufacturers of woolen ma- 
chinery, in the so-called Junction shop. This firm 
was composed of J. M. Bassett, one of the veteran 
manufacturers of Worcester, and J. C. Mason, also 
a well known name in Worcester industrial his- 
tory. In 1864 he went into business for himself 
in the firm of Witherby, Rugg & Richardson, to 
manufacture wood-working machinery. His part- 
ners were Luke B. Witherby and Gilbert J. Rugg, 
both men who had worked in the shops, manufactur- 
ing wood-working machinery such as the new firm 
began to make. They began in a shop in the Armsby 
building, at the corner of Central and Union streets 
with twenty men. Later they moved to the build- 
ing on Salisbury street which was built by the older 
firm of wood-working machine makers. Ball & Will- 
iams, in 1865. The firm of Ball & Williams formerly 
employed all three of the partners in the firm of 
Witherby. Rugg & Richardson. It was founded in 
183Q by Thomas E. Daniels in the Court Mills, sold 
to Deacon Richard Ball and Thomas Rice, who were 
succeeded by the firm of Ball & Ballard. This firm 
became later Ball & Williams, the partners being 
Richard Ball and Warren Williams, his son-in-law. 
Mr. Williams retired from business in 1865. The 
business of Witherby, Rugg & Richardson pros- 
pered for nearly thirty years, when the death of 
Mr. Witherby and J\lr. Richardson left the business 
in the hands of Mr. Rugg. It was incorporated in 1901. 
and Mr. Rugg was elected president of the com- 
pany — the Witherby, Rugg & Richardson Company — 
and managed the business until March i, 1903, when 
the entire capital stock of the corporation was sold 
to the Hobbs Manufacturing Company of Worces- 
ter. Mr. Rugg, then retired from the business, 
which has since been conducted by the Hobbs Manu- 
facturing Company as part of their business. Mr. 
Richardson was highly esteemed as a citizen. He 
ranked high as a business man, and was acknowl- 
edged to be one of the best mechanical experts in 
his line of business. He died .\ugust 15, 1899. He 
was a well known Mason, being a member of the 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



453 



■Worcester County Commandery, Kniglits Templar. 
He was a charter member of Quinsigamond Lodge, 
Ancient Free and Accepted Masons. He was a 
Republican and thoroughly posted in public matters, 
and interested in public affairs. He represented 
Ward One for two years in the board of aldermen. 
He and his wife were life members of the Uni- 
tarian Association and w-ere leaders, both being 
delegates to different conventions and active in the 
councils of the association. He married, July 9, 
1851. Emily Davis Earle, daughter of Elmer and 
Sally (Bellows) Earle. (See sketch of Earle fam- 
ily). Her father was born in Paxton, Massachusetts, 
January 6, 1800; the son of Marmaduke and Eliza- 
beth (Newton) Earle. Her mother was born in 
West Boylston, Massachusetts. Mr. and Mrs. 
Richardson had one child : Hattie Collins, born No- 
vember 18, 1856; married May 13. 1879, William 
Henry Brigham and "they have three children William 
5eneca, Bertha Emily, Katharine. 

Mrs. Richardson lives in an attractive home at 
134 Paine street, Worcester, Massachusetts. 

She is a descendant of Ralph Earle, the emigrant, 
who settled in Rhode Island among the early 
c-olonists, and of his grandson, Ralph Earle, the 
ijuaker, who was among the early settlers of Leices- 
ter, Massachusetts. (See sketch of the Earle Fam- 
ily in this work). 

JOHN OTIS HALE. Oliver Hale, of Leo- 
minster, was probably the son of one of the Hales or 
their descendants who settled in various places in 
Massachusetts, the most prominent of which was 
Thomas Hale, of Newbury. He was probably a de- 
scendant of Robert Hale, of Charlestown, a car- 
penter bj' trade, who was admitted a freeman on 
May 14, 1634, joined the Charlestown church in 
1630 and was a deacon thereof, also a town officer 
of Charlestown and an ensign in the militia. Subse- 
■quently he took up his residence in IMalden, Massa- 
chusetts. His wife, Joan Hale, bore him the follow- 
ing children : John, born June 3, 1636, admitted 
to the church. August 22. 1658, and became a minister 
of the Beverly church. Mary, born May 17, 1639. 
Zachariah. born April 3, 1641. died 1643. Samuel, 
liorn April 9. 1644. Joanna. Zachariah 2d. Robert 
Hale died July 16. 1659, and in his will he men- 
(.1 tions wife and children. His widow married Richard 
Jacobs. Oliver Hale, Leominster, born January I, 
1720. in Stowe, Massachusetts, was married twice. 
His first wife, Hannah (Frost) Hale, bore him sev- 
ij -cral children. His second wife, Catherine (Bout well) 
; Hale, born in Sudbury, Massachusetts, October 7, 
1732, a member of the same family as the late ex- 
Governor Boutwell, bore him the following chil- 
dren : Thomas, Daniel, Oliver, Calvin, Luther, Han- 
nah, Catherine. Sarah, Betty. Oliver Hale died May 
7. 1799 : he was survived by his wife, who passed 
away July 16, 1821. 

Luther Hale, son of Oliver and Catherine (Bout- 
well) Hale, of Leominster, ^Massachusetts, removed 
from that town about 1788 and settled in Hubbards- 
ton, where his descendants have since resided. He 
w-as born about 1765. He married (first), Jan- 
uary 16, 1787, Joanna Carter, who died July 30, 
1803, at the age of thirty-three years. He mar- 
ried (second), April 8, 1804, Phebe W^man, who 
died July 23, 1826, aged forty-seven years. He 
married (third). October 23. 18.U. Phebe (Kimball) 
Vpham, who died March 8, 1846. aged eighty-two 
years. He died February 7, 1845. aged seventy- 
eight years. His children were : John, born June 
24. 1787, died January 7. 1850. Lucy, born Au- 
gust 23. 1789, died May 3. 1805. Clara, born June 
12, 1791, died January 14, i860. Otis, born March 



16, 1793, died April 13, 1S22. Luther, born January 
19. 1795, married ^lelinda Goodspeed, January, 1823, 
removed to Vermont. Roland, born December 28, 
1796. married Clarissa Rice, of Templcton, June 
13. 1833, died July 29, 1861. Esther, born Febru- 
arv 17, 1799. died about the year 1885; she mar- 
ried James Newton, and removed to Greenfield, 
Massachusetts. Laura, born January i, 1801, died 
June I, 1815. Oliver, born September 28, 1804, 
was drowned on the voyage to California, February 
16. 1853; he married March 18. 1830, Sarah D. 
Parker, who died May 3, 1891. Thomas, born July 
6. 1808, married. March 20, 1831, Mary Pond, died 
April 2, 1861. Lucy, born February 13, 1810, died 
about the yeir 1883 ; she married Daniel Wilkinson, 
of Templeton. July 11. 1833. Joanna, born March 
II, 1812. died about 1886; she married Benjamin 
W. Fletcher, of Worcester. Susan, born April 2, 
181J. died 1891 ; she married Amasa Hyde, and re- 
moved to Shrewsbur}', Massachusetts. Charles, born 
September 5, 1816, died December 30, 1818. Luke, 
born August 21, 1818. died 1896; he married 
Sophronia Wyman, of Winchendon, Massachusetts, 
and resided there. Thomas, above mentioned, and 
his wife, Mary (Pond) Hale, were the parents 
of the follow'ing children : Louisa Minerva, born 
Seotcmber 30. 1832, died February 13, 1854. Thomas 
Irving, born October 9, 1838, married (first) Martha 
.■\. (Thompson) Hale, November 29, 1865; married 
(second) Helen D. Pond, January 16. 1878. Luther 
Hobart, born February 11, 1841, married Martha 
A. Thompson, March 28. 1862. enlisted September 
3. 1862. in Company H, Fifty-third Regiment Massa- 
chusetts Volunteer Militia, and died at Cleveland, 
September 12, 1863. on his way home from the 
hospital. Merrill, born November 25, 1845. Luke, 
born July 15. 1850, died October 3, 1862. 

Oliver Hale, son of Luther Hale, was born at 
Hubbardston, Alassachusetts, September 28, 1804. 
He resided in Hubbardston until the gold fever of 
1849. and was drowned on the voyage to California, 
February 16, 1853. He married, March 18, 1830, 
Sarah D. Parker, and their children were : John 
Otis, born April 2, 1831, see forward. Sarah Maria, 
bom ■ August 3. 1833, died August 2, 1898 ; she 
married Luke Davis, of Boston, August 31, 1862, 
and his death occurred August 31, 1883: they resided 
at Newton. Massachusetts. Minerva Florilla, born 
June 27. 1837.. resides in West Newton. Massachu- 
setts. (Catherine Swan, born June 8. 1841. Clara, 
twin of Catherine Swan, born June 8, 1841, resides 
in West Newton. Seth P. H., born February 12, 
1846, married, December 2, 1867, Abby Bennett, who 
died March 8, 1888, leaving one son, William B., 
born May 14, 1871 : he married (second), Feb- 
ruary 12, 1894, H. Gertrude Powers, and they are 
the parents of one daughter. Gladys, born Decem- 
ber 26, 1S99. Seth P. H. enlisted in Company G, 
Fourth Massachusetts Cavalry, January 4. 1864, and 
was honorably discharged from the service on June 
7, 1865. 

John Otis Hale, son of Oliver and Sarah D. 
(Parker) Hale, was born at Hubbardston. Massa- 
chusetts. April 2, 1831. He settled in his native 
town, and was a manufacturer of chair stock and 
chair seats in Williamsville, a village of Hubbards- 
ton. He was a capable, energetic man and was 
chosen to represent the district in the general court 
during the years 1868 and 1869. John O. Hale and 
J. D. Williams were instrumental in getting the 
Ware River Railroad ihrough Williamsville; they 
authorized costly surveys to be made at their own 
expense, and created so great an interest that the 
Burnshirt Valley line was adopted. Construction 
was begun on this road in Hubbardston, November, 



454 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



1870, and passenger trains commenced running upon 
the entire road in November, 1873, only a few days 
prior to the death of Mr. Hale. Mr. Hale was also 
instrumental in securing the valley road from 
Templeton to Barre. He was a Free Mason and 
a Knight Templar. Mr, Hale married, November 
7, i860, Lucy Browning, daughter of Joshua and 
Laura (Morse) Browning, of Hubbardston, and 
sister of Mrs. Robert H. Chamberlain, of Worces- 
ter, and Mrs. Wheelock A. Cheney, who resides at 
No. 15 Bowdoin street, Worcester. Their children 
are: Abby Calista, born July 21, 1862, died May 
I, 1890- Oliver, born December 12, 1863-. Joshua 
Browning, born June 14. 1865. married, August, 
1890, Nellie M. Lewis, and their children'are : Robert 
B., born June 13, 1891, and Roger W, L., born 
December 29, 1902; the family reside in Provi- 
dence. John Otis, born December i, 1866. Lucy 
Dorritt, born August 18, 1868. John O. Hale, the 
father of these children, died December 8, 1873. 
His wife died January 28, 1878. 

John Otis Hale, son of John Otis and Lucy 
(Browning) Hale, was born at Williamsville, Hub- 
bardston, Massachusetts, December i, 1866. His 
father died when he was only seven years old. 
He was educated in the public schools of Hubbards- 
ton, and during his early life worked on a farm. 
At the age of eighteen he accepted a position as 
steward of an institution at Barre, Massachusetts, 
and was there employed for about five years. He 
then came to Worcester, Massachusetts, entered into 
partnership with his brother in the manufacture of 
chains, and at the expiration of four years pur- 
chased his brother's interest in the business. This 
enterprise was started in a shop at No. 65 Beacon 
street, but the steady growth of the business neces- 
sitated its removal in 1901 to the present location 
at No. 42 Lagrange street. The business was in- 
corporated January I, 1905, as Hale Bros. Com- 
pany. John Otis Hale being the chief owner and 
president of the company. The product of their 
plant consists of jack and ladder chains, which 
they manufacture in a variety of styles of all sizes, 
and their trade extends throughout all the states 
of the Union. Mr. Hale is a member of the First 
Universalis! Church. 

Mr. Hale married, April 26, 1904. Josephine 
Ann Aldus, of Belfast, Maine, daughter of William 
S. atid Jane (Robinson) Aldus. 

THOMAS F. EAGAN, a successful hardware 
manufacturer of Worcester, was born in county 
Kerry, Ireland. March 25. 1850, and came with his 
parents to America in 1853. 

His childhood was spent in Worcester, where his 
father settled. He was educated in the public schools. 
He went to work first for Salem Copeland. a manu- 
facturer of firearms, and learned the trade of ma- 
chinist. After three years he accepted a place with 
the firm of Amesbury & Harrington, makers of the 
Union Mowing A-Iachine. After three years he 
went to the machine shop of L. W. Pond and 
there served a regular apprenticeship to perfect him- 
self in his trade. He next was employed by the 
Kniffin Mowing Machine Company in Worcester, 
and for nearly twenty years remained in various 
capacities with this company. In 1892 he bought 
the business of the owner, Charles W. Chamber- 
lin, of Worcester. A year later he bought the 
Copeland Hardware Manufacturing Company of 
Worcester. His business for nine years remained 
in the old location in the N. A. Lombard build- 
ing. In 1901 he moved to Blithewood avenue, where 
he built a shop for his use. Mr. Eagan has a 
well equipped machine shop, in which he carries on 



the manufacture of Copeland's and Cook's extension 
dividers, window springs, storm window fasteners,, 
calipers, and of late years has carried as a side 
line the agency of the Walter A. Wood harvesting 
machinery, with a repair shop designed to handle 
mowing machines and in fact all kinds of harvesting 
machines. 

He married, September 14, 1881, Catherine I. 
Devine, daughter of Daniel and Ellen Devine. form- 
erly of Auburn, Massachusetts. The children are 
as follows: Edward D., born September I, 1882; 
Nellie G., born July 20, 1884; Thomas F., born Sep- 
tember 25, 1886; John J., deceased, born March 16,. 
1888: Charles H., born October 29, 1890; Isabella 
C, deceased, born December 14, 1893 ; and Mary E., 
deceased, born November 20, 1896. 

THE HARLOW FAMILY 
By Major William T. Harlow. 
In a book on Derivation of Family Names, 
by Rev. William Arthur, it is said that the 
name Harlow is derived from the town of 
Harlow in England. The modern town of 
Harlow is situate on the east bank of the river 
Stort in the county of Essex, twenty-three miles 
north of London, on the high road to Newcastle, 
and is a station of the Great Eastern Railway. Terri- 
torially, the town is only a small fraction of, and 
nominally it is the last surviving relic of, a much 
larger tract of land, once called the Half Hundred 
of Harlow, or Dimidium de Herloua and by the 
latter name many times mentioned in Domesday 
Book. It extended twelve miles from north to 
south, and six miles in width, along the east side 
of the river Stort, and contained seventy-two square 
miles. As to the identity of the Dimidium of Domes- 
day with the Half Hundred, and of the names, of 
Herloua and Harlow my authority is Morant's His- 
tory of the County of Essex, — an elaborate work in 
two ponderous volumes, wherein the learned author 
traces everything in the county back to Sa.xon origins. 
' The Half Hundred of Harlow contained eleven par- 
ishes, of which one was called the Parish of Harlow, 
which parish included si.x manors (landed estates), 
of which one was named Harlowbury. The term 
hundred, originally used by the ancient Saxons to 
mean one hundred men, assigned with their families, 
under a quasi military form of organization, to 
occupy a large tract of land, in time became the 
name of the tract itself, and later came to signify 
an intermediate territorial division, now obsolete, 
between town and county. 

Mr. Arthur classifies Harlow with names of local 
origin, i. c. names derived from places and leaves 
his derivation of the name from the town of Har- 
low to rest on unsupported assertion. This is not 
the place to discuss at length the learned opinions 
of accepted authorities. But I beg to suggest, what 
in the absence of proof to the contrary seems to 
me the more probable supposition, that Harlow was 
originally the name of a man of whom the town 
is the namesake. Towns, always the products of men, 
not infrequently take their names from those of men, 
of which one may recall very numerous instances, 
capable historically of ea.sy proof. As to the re- 
verse derivation of English family names, from those 
of towns, I make bold to challenge proof of a single 
instance. I limit my challenge to English names, 
in which I do not include titles of rank, nor names 
with the prefix De, or its equivalent. But my pur- 
pose in referring to the origin of our family name 
is to show its high antiquity and to suggest to 
others, where with time and opportunity for foreign 
research, which the present scribe hath not. they 
may look for light upon our earlier family history. 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



455 



(I) William Harlow, the first comer of the 
Harlow name from England to New England, was 
: unaccompanied by wife, parents or kindred of any 
degree. His name appears here first in a list of resi- 
dents (1629-1700) of Lynn, Massachusetts. In 1637 
ten men of Lynn, originally called Saugus, had 
leave granted them to take up and settle land in 
Sandwich, and nine of the ten, with forty-six others, 
of whom William Harlow was one, removed from 
Lynn to Sandwich and settled there. The same year 
one Thomas Hampton, of Sandwich, not one of the 
new comers from Lynn, died without family or 
kindred, leaving a will, of which William Harlow 
was both an attesting witness and legatee, colony 
law allowing such attesting. The same year also 
he was fined ten shillings for keeping "3 hogges un- 
wringcd." In 1639 he was proposed for admission 
as a freeman and took the preliminary oath of 
fidelity. In 1640 he had assigned to him at a town 
meeting of Sandwich four acres of meadow. I men- 
tion these rather unimportant items because of their 
bearing upon the question of how old he then was, 
to which I shall recur again. 

William Harlow removed to Plymouth later. He 
was a cooper by trade. He built several houses 
in Plymouth, of which one, built in 1667 on a lot 
granted him by the town and described, as a '"little 
knoll, or parcel, lying near' his now dwelling house 
on the westerly side of the road to sett a new 
house upon," still stands where it was built on the 
road to Sandwich (now named Sandwich street), 
about a quarter of a mile southerly from Plymouth 
postoffice. Another house built by him in 1660, re- 
ferred to in the above description, called the Doten 
House, stood on the easterly side of the same road a 
few rods further south till 1898, when it was taken 
down. The house, still standing, was framed out of 
old timbers of the Pilgrim Fort on Burial Hill in 
Plymouth. As sergeant of the South Company Will- 
iam Harlow had had charge of the old fort for many 
years, and after King Philip's war (1675-6), he 
bought it of the town and used the old timbers 
in the construction of his new house. In 18S2, when 
some repairs were being made on this house, a 
ponderous iron hinge of the Fort Gate, attached to 
a timber, was discovered, and may now be seen with 
other Pilgrim relics in Pilgrim Hall. 

Sergeant Harlow, so-called in many records of 
the time still preserved, did military duty at a 
period when the Home Guards were not a laughing 
stock, ready day and night without compulsion or 
compensation to defend home and country against 
the savage foe. No details of his military service 
are preserved, but there can be no doubt of his 
employment in the Indian warfare of his time, of 
which the chief event was the great Narragansett 
fight, when both the Plymouth companies were pres- 
ent under the command of Major William Bradford. 
Doubtless, Sergeant Harlow was with his company 
when every able-bodied man in the colony was 
there. 

In civil affairs, William Harlow, having been ad- 
mitted as a freeman (1654). served as juror or grand 
juror every year, was rater (assessor) and excise 
man many years, deputy to the general court two 
sessions (Josiah Winslow being then governor), a 
member of the board of selectmen fifteen years and 
its chairman at the time of his death. He was also 
active in the church affairs, and his name is of very 
frequent occurrence in the records of the colony, 
town and church. 

The inventory of his estate, real and personal, 
foots up to 234 pounds, 16 shillings. 11 pence, and 
it was "ordered by the court that his four sons 
have all his lands, the eldest to have a double 



portion according to our law, saving to the widow 
her thirds, the remainder to be divided among the 
seven daughters.'' 

What was William Harlow's age at his death? 
According to the town records he died August 26, 
1691, aged sixty-seven years. This would fix his 
birth in 1624, and his age at thirteen years when 
he removed from Lynn to Sandwich and witnessed 
Hampton's will, and was mulcted for keeping swine 
contrary to law, and at fifteen when he applied for 
admission as freeman, and took the oath of fidelity, 
and at sixteen when he had a parcel of land as- 
signed to him by public authority. And still earlier 
he must have crossed the sea without care of parents 
or other kindred. Everywhere apparently treated as 
a man after his appearance here, we can have little 
doubt that he was at least twenty-one years old 
when he left England and that he must have been 
at least seventy-five years old when he died. 

He' married, at Plymouth. December 30, 1649, 
Rebecca Bartlett, who bore him four children and 
died 1657, aged twenty-eight years. He married 
(second), July 15, 1658. Mary Faunce, who bore 
him four children and died October 4, 1664. He 
married (third), January 15, 1665. Mary Shelley, 
who bore him five children and survived him. Of 
his thirteen children, all but the first born, lived 
to grow up. The children of the first wife were: 
William, born and died 1650; Samuel, see forward; 
Rebecca, born June 12, 1655 ; William, born June 2, 
1657. The children by the second wife were : Mary, 
born May 9, 1659: Repentance, born November 22, 
1660: John, born October 19. 1662; Nathaniel, born 
September 30. 1664. The children by his third wife 
were : Hannah, born October 28, 1665 : Bathsheba, 
born April 21, 1667: Joanna, born March 24, 1669; 
Mchitable, born October 4, 1672; Judith, born August 
2, 1676. 

William Harlow's first wife was a daughter 
of Robert and Mary (Warren) Bartlett, and grand- 
daughter of Richard Warren, the Pilgrim. The name 
of her grandmother (Warren's wife) was Eliza- 
beth Juat Marsh, and she was, when she married 
Warren, the widow of one Marsh, Juat being her 
maiden name. She did not come over in the "May- 
flower" in 1620 with her husband, but later in 1623 
in the ship "Ann," in which at the same time came 
Bartlett and Mary Warren, not then married, and 
two other daughters of the Pilgrim and his wife. 

(II) Samuel Harlow, son of William (i) and 
Rebecca (Bartlett) Harlow, was born in Plymouth, 
January 27. 1652. He followed his father's calling 
of cooper and received as his double portion of his 
father's estate the house built out of the old fort 
timbers, and lived in it during the remainder of his 
life. He was admitted a freeman in 1689 and held 
divers minor offices. Like his father he bore the 
prefix of sergeant, having succeeded him as orderly 
in the South Company. At the time of King Philip's 
war Samuel was twenty-three years old and it is 
more than probable that he took part in the Narra- 
gansett fight. 

He married (first) Priscilla and (second) 

Hannah . whose parentage and surnames are 

unknown. Their Christian names were common 
among the Pilgrims and that Samuel's wives were 
both of Pilgrim descent is little short of certain, 
considering that in his time there were few Plym- 
outh families without at least one "Mayflower" an- 
cestor. He died March 2, 1734. aged eighty-two 
years. His second wife survived him. His chil- 
dren, by his first wife, were: Rebecca, born Janu- 
ary 2-. 1678: by his second wife: John, born De- 
cember 19, 1685: Hannah, born November 15. 1688; 
Samuel, born August 14, 1690; William, born July 



456 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



26, 1692; Elcazer, see forward; Priscilla, born Octo- 
ber 3, 1695. , ^ , 

(III) Eleazer Harlow, youngest son of Samuel 
(2) and Hannah Harlow, was born April 18, 1694, 
and lived in Plymouth, though not in the house built 
bv his grandfather, that having passed to his older 
brother John. J:^Iea/:er died suddenly in 1728, aged 
thirty-foiir years, but his grave has not been found. 
His brothers, John and William, each have good 
headstones on Burial Hill, Plymouth, that of Will- 
iam who died April 11, 1751, being the earliest 
stone w'ith the Harlow name upon it on the hill. 
I have counted the names of eighty-eight Harlows 
on stones mostly in the vicinity of the Cushnian 
mommicnt, all doubtless descendants of the first 
William. At the time of his death the hill was 
already in use as a place of burial. The earliest 
date on any original stone on the hill is 1681, that 
of Edward Gray. Elder Cushman's original stone 
gives as the date of his death 1691. The hill w-as 
used until the close of King Philip's war for mili- 
tary observation and fortification, but it doubtless 
began to be used for a burial place soon after the 
war. So there can be little doubt that Eleazer 
Harlow, his father Samuel, and his grandfather Will- 
iam, are all buried there, though no visible memorials 
mark their graves. 

Eleazer Harlow married, October 5. 1715. Hannah 
Delano, daughter of Dr. Benoni Delano and grand- 
daughter of Dr. Thomas Delano, both of Duxbury. 
She died October, 1719. Eleazer married (second). 
1720, Hannah Pratt, w-ho survived him. Dr. Thomas 
Delano was the son of Philip Delano (De la Noye), 
the Huguenot Pilgrim, so-called, who came over 
from Holland to Plymouth in the ship "Fortune" in 
1621, and settled on a forty-acre lot by Mill Brook 
in Duxbury and there lived the remainder of his 
life. The wife of Philip Delano and mother of Dr. 
Thomas was Hester Dewsbury, supposed to have 
come from England with the Quakers and to have 
been of their persuasion. The wife of Dr. Thomas 
and mother of Dr. Benoni Delano was Mary Alden, 
daughter of John and Priscilla (Mullens) Alden, 
and .granddaughter of William and Alice Mullens, 
all "Mayflower" Pilgrims. Nothing is know-n of 
Dr. Benoni's wife, not even her given name. The 
children of Eleazer and Hannah (Delano) Harlow 
were: Eliphas, born March 5, 1716; Lemuel, born 
November 29, 1717; Eleazer, see forward. The chil- 
dren of Eleazer and Hannah (Pratt) Harlow were: 
Elizabeth, born October 21, 1721 ; Patience, born 
October I, 1722. 

(IV) Eleazer Harlow, Jr., son of Eleazer (3) 
and Hannah (Delano) Harlow, was born at Plym- 
outh. October 17. l/ig. Left an orphan at an early 
age, his mother dying shortly after his birth and his 
father when he was only nine years old, he was 
brought up by his grandfather. Dr. Benoni Delano 
who. evidently designing him to be his successor, 
began early to teach him the healing art. But the 
doctor died April 5, 1738, before his pupil \vas out 
of his teens. Nevertheless, having come by inherit- 
ence into possesion of his granfather's medical and 
surgical effects, books, drugs, recipes, panaceas, 
lancets, forceps, old mare, and saddle bags, all and 
singular, and no rival putting in an appearance to 
dispute his title to inherit also his grandfather's 
patients, young Doctor Harlow married a wife three 
j-cars younger and started out as his grandfather's 
successor, about fifteen months after his death. In 
due course of time, the young doctor succeeded to 
the old doctor's place in the confidence and patron- 
age of the people of Duxbury. In 1765 his house in 
■the village of ^lillbrook, Duxbury, was burned and 
Iwo children, his own daughter Abigail, aged thirteen 



years, and his step-daughter, Polly Dabney. aged 
eleven years, perished in the flames. His wife, mother 
of Polly, saved herself by jumping from a chamber 
window. The doctor had another house on or near 
the same site burned in 1797; after which, being 
seventy-eight years old, he gave up his medical prac- 
tice and went to live with his son Gideon at Crooked 
Lane, near Marshfield line, and died there August 
5, 1812, aged ninety-two years, seven months, eighteen 
days. In his last years his eyesight failed and he 
became entirely blind, though he retained his memory 
and mental faculties to the end of life. 

The estate of Dr. Harlow, valued at $3,994.85 
in the inventory, was settled by his son Asaph, 
then living in Cambridge. The graves of the doctor 
and his third wife, marked by large headstones with 
well cut inscriptions, are in an old and much 
neglected graveyard, about a mile from his son 
Gideon's farm at Crooked Lane. The grave of his 
first wife is at Cedar Grove in Marshfield, near 
tlie Congregational church, with those of her father's 
family. The site of Dr. Harlow's burned houses 
was near "Ford's Store" in Millbrook village, which 
is partly within the forty-acre farm settled Ijy Philip 
Delano. Here also lived and died Philip's son, Dr. 
Thoiuas, and his grandson. Dr. Benoni Delano. Dr. 
Harlow was their lineal descendant and successor 
and the united terms of the trio as practitioners in 
Duxbury extends from Pilgrim times to within the 
memory of the writer's father, who was in his four- 
teenth year at the death of Dr. Harlow, his great- 
grandfather. 

He married (first), November g, 1739, .Abigail 
Thomas, daughter of Gideon and Abigail (Baker) 
Thomas, of Marshfield. The bride's age on her 
wedding day was sixteen years, eleven months, five 
days : and the groom's age was twenty years and 
twenty-two days. She died November 24, 1743. 
He married (second), September 11, 1745, Abigail 
Clark, of Plymouth, and (third), about 1760, ]\Irs. 
Elizabeth Dabney, widow of Charles Dabney. of 
Boston. The only child of Dr. Eleazer and Abigail 
(Thomas) Harlow was: Gideon, see forward. The 
children of Dr. Eleazer and Abigail (Clark) Har- 
low were : Asaph. Thomas, Abigail, William, Arunah, 
Hannah, Elizabeth, Patience. 

(V) Gideon Harlow, son of Dr. Eleazer (4) and 
Abigail (Thomas) Harlow, was born in Duxbury, 
October 28, 1743. He was brought up by his mother's 
parents. Gideon Thomas and wife, who lived ir 
Marshfield very near the line between that town 
and Duxbury. His mother, Abigail, was the eldest 
of their seven daughters, and, after her death, hei 
son seems to have taken her place in the hearts 
of her parents. The Gideon Thomas homestead has 
never passed out of the possession of his de- 
scendants, and is now the property of his great-great- 
great-grandson, P. Foster White, of Worcester, 
Through his grandmother Thomas. Gideon Harlow 
was descended from Governor William Bradford, 
the Pilgrim, and also from Ellen Newton, anothei 
of the English exiles in Holland who followed the 
"Mayflower" two years later in the ship "Ann" and 
reioined their fellows at New Plymouth in 1623 
His grandmother Thomas was the daughter oi 
Kenelm and Sarah (Bradford) Baker, granddaughter 
of Major William Bradford and great-granddaughtei 
of the Pilgrim governor by his second wife, widow 
Alice (Carpenter) South worth, who w-as also a 
passenger of the ".\nn." Kenelm Baker was the 
son of Samuel and Ellen (Winslow) Baker, and 
grandson of Ellen Newton by her second husband, 
Kenelm Winslow, who was a brother of Edward and 
Gilbert Winslow\ the Pilgrims. Kenelm came ovei 
in 1629 from Droitwich near Worcester, England, 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



457 



and settled in Marshfield, where the house that he 

■ built and lived in with his wife Ellen is still standing. 

Gideon Harlow has the addition of "housewright" 
; in the deed of his farm, but except building a house 
i on his own farm, he did not to much extent 
1 follow that trade. His house is still standing, though 
not on its original site, an excellent exa.mple of old 
' colony architecture and handicraft. It contains 
' ornamental work of no mean order, and lumber 
: of choice character, such as one might now ransack 

• all the forests of Massachusetts in vain to find. The 
great pines and oaks such as were wrought into 

: that house are not growing now anywhere in the 
I commonwealth. 

( He was a revolutionary soldier, serving first 
I as a minute man at the Lexington alarm. He served 

■ several years as assessor and as selectman of Dux- 
; bury. His church relations, how-ever, were with 

the'iMarshfield church, of which he was a regular 
I attendant all his life and many years a deacon. He 
; was a prosperous and well-to-do farmer. He mar- 
i ried, January 4, 1770. Patience Ford Eames, widow 
i of Abner Eames, of Marshfield. Gideon and his wife 
! were both descendants of the widow Martha Ford, 
[ and of her son William, who came over in the 
; "Fortune" in 1621, and of John Thomas, who came 
i in the ship "Hopewell" in 1634. For more than a 
' hundred years the Fords and Thomases of Marsh- 
. field and Duxbury had been intermarrying and their 
,: descendants of the third, fourth and later genera- 
tions were all cousins of some degree. 

The Ford line of descent from the widow Martha 
i to Patience was by the widow's son William, grand- 
I son Michael, great-grandson Thomas and great-great- 
i grandson Thomas Ford, Jr., who was the father 
: and whose wife Jane Thomas (daughter of Israel 
: and granddaughter of John Thomas) was the mother 
of Patience. Gideon Harlow's grandfather, Gideon 
Thomas, was son "of Samuel and grandson of John 
Thomas. The wife of Samuel and mother of 
'■ Gideon Thomas was Mercy Ford, daughter of Will- 
iam Ford. Jr., granddaughter of the first William, 
and great-granddaughter of the widow Martha. 

Gideon Harlow died a year and four months be- 
fore his father, April 9, 1811, aged sixty-seven years, 
five months, and thirteen days. His wife long sur- 
vived him and died December 22, 1840, aged ninety- 
seven years, six months and twelve days. His sons 
i Abner and Eleazer settled his estate valued in the 
' inventory at $19,105.49. The graves of Gideon and 
: his wife are with those of his father and step- 
i mother at the neglected old yard in Duxbury, be- 
;i fore referred to and are marked by good head- 

• stones. Children of Gideon and Patience (Ford) 
i Harlow were: Abigail, born November 26, 1771 ; 
: Arunah. born January 29, 1773: Thomas, see for- 

■ ward: Lydia, born May 4, 1777; Elizabeth, born 
' May 10. 1779; Abner, born February I, 1782; Eleazer, 
\ born Xovember 4, 1784: Gideon, born April 10, 1786. 
1 All of them except Lydia, who died in infancy, lived 

to ages bevond the average of human life. 

(VI) Thomas Harlow, son of Gideon Harlow 

(5). was born May 17, 1775- He learned the tanner's 

I ; trade at Weymouth by a term of regular apprentice- 

I' ship (seven years), which expired March 16, 1796. 

The very next morning, which w'as that of his 

i twenty-first birthday, he made an early start to go 

I on foot to Shrewsbury — fifty miles — for the purpose 

; of buying the tannery of one Seth Pratt, who wel- 

I ; corned his customer on the evening of the same 

I I ' day that he left Wevmouth* and sold him the tannery 

; I . ^ 

*The writer well remembers how. if any one expressed aston- 
ishment at grandfather Harlow's great walking feat, he would im- 
mediately tell "a still more wonderful tale" of his nephew. 
Joshua Ford, who was sent up from Pembroke by his parents to 



for $1,000. A house and twenty-one acres of land 
went with the tannery, of which no vestige now 
remains, but the house which Pratt built in 1775 
is still standing, and the land was the nucleus of 
the farm, now owned by Henry Harlow, grandson 
of Thomas. There Thomas Harlow followed his 
calling about forty years and invested his gains 
therefrom in land, until he came to own at one time 
nearly three hundred acres. The only civil office 
that he ever held was, that of highway surveyor, 
to which he was elected in accordance with an under- 
standing in his highway district, that the taxpayers 
should each serve in rotation. Though a public- 
spirited man and regular attendant and voter at 
elections and town meetings, he never sought or de- 
sired public office. In the Congregational Church 
of Shrewsbury, of which he was a member, the 
office of deacon was thrust upon him and he served 
as such many years. He was a great reader of the 
Bible, and was accounted high authority on all 
Bible questions. 

He married, May 17, 1798, Thankful Banister, 
daughter of Nathan and Sarah (Whitney) Ban- 
ister, of the North Parish of Shrewsbury, now 
Boylston. Nathan was born in Brookfield. remov- 
ing in 1775 to Shrewsbury to live with his wife's 
father and mother on their farm in the southwest 
part of the North Parish. His father was Joseph 
Banister, son of Christopher, who came from Marl- 
boro to settle in Brookfield. and grandson of Nathan, 
Jr., whose parents, Nathan and Mary Banister, 
came from England in or before 1669 and settled 
in Charlestown. The first mentioned Nathan Ban- 
ister, Thankful's father, was a blacksmith by trade, 
and a soldier in the revolutionary war. 'Two of 
Thomas Harlow's brothers followed him later to 
Shrewsbury and settled there— Arunah (whose 
grandson. George H. Harlow, is the present register 
of probate for Worcester county) in 1798 and Abner 
in 1812. And most of the Harlows now living in 
Worcester county are lineal descendants of the three 
who a century ago came here from Duxbury. 
Thomas Harlow died November 20, 1865, aged 
ninety years ; his wife Thankful died January S, 
1847, aged seventy-three years. Their children were: 
Gideon, see forward; Nancy, born July 25. 1802, 
died in infancy; Elmira, born April 23, 1805; Abi- 
gail, born April 25. 1810. 

(VII) Giedon Harlow, son of Thomas Harlow 
(6). was born in Shrewsbury. February 17,1799. He 
succeeded his father under the latter's will as owner 
of the home farm. He built the brick house now 
standing on the farm and occupied it with his family 
during his life, his father and mother continuing 
to occupy the older house built by Seth Pratt. 
Like his father, Gideon Harlow served his term as 
highway surveyor, and he was selectman several 
years, also assessor and member of the school com- 
mittee. He was elected deacon of the Congrega- 
tional church, but declined to serve. He did not 
like the tanner's trade in which he w-as brought up, 
and devoted his life with untiring energy and ap- 
plication to improvement of the homestead by good 
culture, and the planting of fruit trees. There was 



learn the tanner's trade with him at Shrewsbury and got so home- 
sick that he had to go home and ran all the way back (sisty miles) 
in a single day. . ,, .^ . ■ 

Many years afterwards I asked Joshua s sister, Mrs, Benjamin 
F. Gleason, of Worcester, (nee Mary .Ann Ford) about her 
brother's great day's journey on foot. Slie said there was_ no 
doubt at all about it. She was then a cirl and late in the evening, 
when her father's family were about going to bed. Josh took them 
all by surprise, opening the door and coming into the room where 
they were. And so ashamed was he of his return that he did not 
tell them that he left his uncle's house in Shrewsbury in the 
morning. Nor did they know it till receipt of a letter from Uncle 
Thomas about it 



458 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



a great quantity of wood and timber on tlie farm 
which he cut off and marketed chiefly in Worcester, 
where demand for firewood, telegraph poles, rail- 
road sleepers and lumber for building purposes in 
his time always seemed to exceed supply. Many 
years before his death, his father had by will de- 
vised the farm to him, and ever afterwards, with 
his father's consent and approval, he made the same 
use of it. as if the fee simple of it were already 
his. 

No man ever did or could, with more persistent 
self-denial and conscientiousness than Gideon Har- 
low, devote himself to the welfare of his family. 
That his children should have opportunity by edu- 
cation and every other way to do better in life than 
he had himself, was the mainspring of all his con- 
duct. Often did he say in the presence of his chil- 
dren : "I had rather lose a day in haytime than 
have a child of mine lose a day in school." The 
writer often recalls with gratitude his father's re- 
ply, now nearly sixty years ago, to the request of 
some friends for leave to start a movement in 
Shrewsbury to nominate him for representative to 
the general court. He thanked them, but instantly 
added : "No, I have so many things to do this 
coming winter that I cannot attend to it." One of 
the things he had to do was to haul to market in 
Worcester a lot of wood to pay his son's expenses 
in college. 

He married, January i, 1828, Harriet Howe, 
daughter of Natlian and Mary (Parker) Howe. 
Her father was the son of Captain Nathan and 
Hepzibah (Taylor) Howe, and grandson of Daniel 
Howe, who, with William Taylor, Hepzibah's 
father, and several others, came from Marlboro to 
Shrewsbury and settled there in 1717. Daniel Howe 
was the son of Josiah and grandson of John Howe, 
who was in Sudbury in 1638, when, or very shortly 
before, he is supposed to have come over from 
England. I\Iary Parker, wife of Nathan Howe, 
Jr., was the daughter of Simon Parker, who came 
to Shrewsbury from Groton in 1742, and was the son 
of Samuel and grandson of James Parker, both 
also of Groton. Simon Parker and both the Nathan 
Howes were soldiers in the revolutionary war. Of 
Nathan, senior. Ward says in. his history of Shrews- 
bury : "He was an officer in the (British) service 
at Lake George in the French war and aided in the 
building of Fort William Henry. In 1776 he com- 
manded a company in thi-owing up works at Dor- 
chester Heights during the night (March 4-5). 
From an illness taken there he never recov- 
ered. 

Nathan Howe, Jr., only fourteen years old in 
1776, was not permitted by his father to enter the 
United States service until after the fatal nature of 
his own illness had unmistakably developed. 

Captain Howe died March 21, 1781, aged fifty- 
one years, of a lingering consumption. His origi- 
nal commission as captain, dated February 5, 1776, 
at Watertown, and signed, not by Royal Governor 
Gage,' who was then over in Boston with the Red- 
coats, but by William Sever, of Ivingston, and four- 
teen others "Major Part of the Council of the 
Massachusetts Bay in New England," is in the pos- 
session of the writer. 

Gideon Harlow, of Shrewsbury, died October 
26, 1S77, aged seventy-eight years and six months. 
His wife Harriet died March 15, 1870, aged seventy 
years and seven months. The children of Gideon 
and Harriet (Howe) Harlow were: William Tay- 
lor, see forward; Thomas, born August 18, 18,^0; 
Henry, born October 13, 1S33; Hiram, born No- 
vember 27, 1839, died October 5, 1858; Harriet Ann, 
born December 4, 1841, died April 2, 1883. 



MAJOR WILLIAM T. HARLOW 
By Ch.vrles Nutt. 

(VIII) William Taylor Harlow, son of Gideon 
Harlow (7), was born in Shrewsbury, October 3, 
1828. He was named for his great-great-grandfather, 
William Taylor, one of the first settlers of the town 
of Shrewsbury, and donor to the town of the site 
of the Congregational meeting house, originally 
fifteen acres of land, old style measure. His Ameri- 
can ancestry on the Harlow side, down to his grand- 
father, all belonged to Plymouth colony and included 
six "Mayflower" pilgrims and eight other exiles, 
three in the "Fortune," 1621, and five in the "Ann," 
1623, who followed the pioneers of 1620 to New 
Plymouth, as appears in greater detail in the fore- 
going sketch of the family. His four great-grand- 
fathers and one of his grandfathers w'cre soldiers 
of the American revolution, and brief mention of 
their service has been made above. 

He received his early education in the district 
schools of his native town, supplemented by a few 
terms of private schools. When not attending 
school he worked with his father and brothers on 
the homestead. He continued his studies at home, 
and was prepared for college chiefly by himself 
without a teachar. He attended Monson Academy 
one term in the spring and summer of 1848 under 
the instruction of Principal Charles Hammond, 
and upon his recommendation was admitted to the 
sophomore class of Yale College in 1S48. where he 
was graduated in 1851. He studied law with Thomas 
and Foster of Worcester (Benjamin F. Thomas 
and Dwight Foster, both afterwards justices of the 
supreme court of Massachusetts) and was admitted 
to the bar at the March term of the court of com- 
mon pleas, 1853. He opened an office for the pract- 
ice of law, first in Worcester, but in less than a year 
removed to Spencer, where he practiced until the 
civil war. 

He entered the United States service as first 
lieutenant of Company C, Twenty-first Regiment, 
Massachusetts Volunteers, in August, 1861, having 
been occupied since the war began in April, mainly 
in recruiting and drilling recruits, first at Spencer 
and later at Camp Lincoln, Worcester. He took 
part in the engagements of 1862 — at Roanoke 
Island, February 8, at Newbern, March 14, and at 
Camden Court House, April' 19, in North Carolina; 
at the second battle of Bull Run, August 28-31, 
and at Chantilly, September i, in Virginia; at South 
Mountain, September 14, and at Antietam, Septem- 
ber 17, in Maryland ; and at Fredericksburg. Decem- 
ber 12-15, <>lso in Virginia. He was detailed and 
acted as regimental quartermaster after the battle 
of Newbern for about three months and was pro- 
moted captain July 29, 1862. The losses of his 
company by wounds, disease and death in the cam- 
paigns of 1862 were such that he had in his com- 
pany only nine men left for duty. One of his 
lieutenants was killed at Chantilly and the other at 
Antietam. Though so fortunate himself as to es- 
cape serious wounds, he suffered much from ma- 
laria. As the other companies of this regiment 
had suffered similar losses to those of Company 
C, the colonel and several other officers, of whom 
Captain Harlow was one, resigned with the expecta- 
tion that the Twenty-first would soon be consoli- 
dated with some other regiment. He received an- 
other commission, as major of the Fifty-seventh 
Veteran Regiment, and assisted in recruiting it. but 
did not go with it to service in the field. 

He returned to the practice of law in Worcester 
in October, 1863, and continued it there until Jan- 
uary, 1866, when he went to California with a view 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



459 



to locate there. At Red Bluff in the Sacramento 
Valley, (head of river navigation,) where his 
brother Thomas had been living for several years, 
and was then extensively engaged in wheat rais- 
ing, Major Harlow remained nearly two years. 
Soon after his arrival there he received appointments 
as county surveyor (Tehama county) and assistant 
assessor of United States internal revenue. With 
these offices and practice of law he did not lack 
employment, but suffered much from malaria con- 
tracted during the war, more, in fact, than he had 
ever suffered in the river valleys of the Neuse and 
Rappahannock. He finally on account of health 
decided to return to Massachusetts, reluctantly giv- 
ing up his business in California ; for he said that 
like opportunity for doing well in the law and most 
other kinds of business he had never found else- 
where. 

He was appointed, June 22, 1869, assessor of 
internal revenue for the eighth Massachusetts dis- 
trict, identical territorially with the eighth congres- 
sional district, then represented in congress by 
Hon. George F. Hoar, through whose kindness he 
received the appointment. He held the office until 
it was abolished. It was laborious and responsible, 
but with the aid of assistant assessors and clerks, 
its duties were performed by him to the satisfac- 
tion of the government at Washington and to the 
taxpayers of the district. The four years employ- 
ment, during which he held this position, is said 
by Major Harlow to have been the most agreea- 
ble and remunerative of any of his life. 

He again returned to the practice of law iri Wor- 
cester, and continued in practice there until Jan- 
uary. 1877, when he was appointed by the justices 
of the supreme judicial court assistant clerk of the 
courts for the county of Worcester for a three- 
year term, and held the office by successive re-ap- 
pointments until January i, 1904, when, pursuant 
to an intention of long standing to retire at the age 
of seventy-five years, and thereafter to take cum otio 
what of life might remain to him, he declined an- 
other appointment. 

On retiring, he was surprised by his brethren of 
the Worcester bar by the tender of a banquet, 
whereat he was overwhelmed with expressions of 
their esteem, friendship and good will. And he 
has received not only from the bar, but from the 
justices of the courts, and the county commis- 
sioners of Worcester county cumulative assurances 
of their satisfaction with his discharge of his clerical 
duties. 

Major Harlow spent the summer of 1904 abroad 
with his daughter. He is a member of the First 
Unitarian church of Worcester. In politics he is 
a Republican. He served on the school committee 
of Spencer and later at Worcester on the school 
board and as a director of the Free Public Library. 
He is a comrade of the George H. Ward Post, 
No. 10, Grand Army of the Republic, and a com- 
panion of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion 
of the United States, Massachusetts Commandery. 
After his return form the war, at Spencer, May 
31, i86j, Major Harlow married Jeannette Bemis, 
daughter of Lewis and Maria (Stearns) Bemis. 
Her father, a farmer, merchant and manufacturer, 
was born, lived and died in Spencer. He was the 
son of Joshua, grandson of another Joshua and 
great-grandson of Samuel Bemis, the second settler 
in Spencer, who came there from Watertown in 
1721. Maria, wife of Lewis and mother of Jean- 
nette Bemis, was the daughter of Charles and Eliza- 
beth (McFarland) Stearns, of Worcester. Chil- 
dren of 2kIajor Harlow and wife, all born in Wor- 



cester, were: Frederick Bemis, see forward; Gideon, 
died in infancy; IMargaret, see forward. 

(IX) Frederick Bemis Harlow, son of Major 
Harlow (8), and named after his uncle. First 
Lieutenant Frederick A. Bemis, of the Twenty-first 
Regiment, JMassachusetts Volunteers, who was killed 
September I, 1862, at Cantilly, Virginia, was fitted 
for college at the Worcester high school and en- 
tered Williams in 1881. After remaining there 
two years he entered Amherst (junior class) and 
was graduated there in 1885. He studied law. and 
was admitted to the Worcester bar in the superior 
court, February 24, 1888. He opened an office in 
Worcester and remained there in practice until Alay, 
1900, when he removed to Paris, France, where he 
has since been practicing his profession. 

(IX) Margaret Harlow, daughter of Major 
Harlow (8), graduated from the Worcester high 
school in 1891. She then went abroad and spent 
most of the next two years in the study of the Ger- 
man and French languages. Returning to Worcester 
she taught German in the Worcester high school ' 
until her mother's death, when she resigned her 
place as teacher to become her father's housekeeper. 
Mrs. Harlow died January 11, 1901. Younger 
than her husband by nearly eight years, he had 
not expected to survive her. A true helpmeet to 
him in life, her death, sudden and unexpected, by 
apopletic stroke, was to him an irreparable loss. 

"Her children rise up, and call her blessed. 

Her husband also, and he praiseth her, saying 

Many daughters have done virtuously, 

But thou excelleth them all." * 

HARLOW FAMILY. George Herbert Harlow, 
the present efficient and popular Register of Pro- 
bate and Insolvency for Worcester county, is a de- 
scendant from William Harlow, who came to iMas- 
sachusetts, and was proprietor in Sandwich, March,. 
1637, and removed to Plymouth, where he was a 
proprietor 1653. The line has been traced from this 
William through .\runah Harlow, of the sixth gen- 
eration, to the subject of this sketch, (See sketch 
of Major William Taylor Harlow.) 

(VI) Arunah Harlow, son of Gideon Harlow 
(5), grandfather of George Herbert Harlow, of 
Worcester, was born in Duxbury, Massachusetts, 
January 29, 1773. He removed to Shrewsbury, Massa- 
chusetts, in 1798, where his brother had settled and 
where he became a prominent and highly respected 
citizen. He was a carpenter by trade and built the 
house, wherein he spent his remaining days, upon the 
lines of the Duxbury homestead. He married, June 
27, 1799, Sarah Banister, who died September 14, 
1841, the daughter of NatVian and Sarah (Whitney) 
Banister, of Bovlston. Massachusetts. Their chil- 
dren were: Sarah, born September 20, 1800, mar- 
ried September 9. 1824. Nathan Pratt, Jr. Eliza, 
bnrn March 26. 1802, married. May 4, 1826, Samuel 
\ Knox. Patience, born March I. 1804. married, 
March 18, 1S34. Tohn Barnes, of Boylston. Massac'hu- 
setts. Nancv, born August 7, 1806. Nathan Bannis- 
ter, born September 2. 1808, married (intentions 
dated .'\pril 20), 1844, Louisa D. Kendall, of War- 
wick. Massachusetts. Clarissa, born May 2, 181 1, 
married Christopher C. Doty. Arunah. Jr., born 
.'Vpril 17, 1813. married, November 7, 1839, Maria 
C Adams. Cleora Eager, born .August 15, 1815, 
married Samuel G. Reed, of Worcester. John 
Thomas, born May 29. 1818, married Laura J. Wood. 
Georse Henry, born June 18. 1820, see forward. 
(VII) George Henrv Harlow, son of Arunah 



*Prov. XXXI, 28 and 29, Revised Version, 



460 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



Harlow (6), was born at Shrewsbury, Massachu- 
setts, June 18, 1820. He received his education in 
the common schools of that town and at the Worces- 
ter Academy and the State Normal school at Barre, 
and became a popular and successful school teacher 
in several towns of Worcester county. He settled 
in Worcester in 1850, where he was a merchant and 
fire insurance agent, his place of business being on 
Front street in the block afterward owned by Dr. 
Frank H. Kelly, just east of William Bush's drug 
store, where Brewer &. Company are now located. 
He continued in this store until 1861, when he re- 
turned to Shrewsbury and purchased the farm form- 
erly belonging to his wife's father and known as 
the Dr. Edward Flint" place, situated near the centre 
of the village, on the old Worcester turnpike. The 
house was built in 1752, in 1768 was owned by Dr. 
Edward Flint and is at present owned by George 
Herbert Harlow, of Worcester. On this farm George 
Henry Harlow spent the remainder of his days, and 
died May 7, l8gi. Aside from his merchant and 
farm interests he carried on a fire insurance busi- 
ness upwards of forty years, representing the Mer- 
chants & Farmers Worcester Mutual Companies of 
Worcester and others. 

He was a member of the Shrewsbury Congrega- 
tional church. In politics he was a Republican from 
the organization of the party. Active, earnest and 
steadfast, prominent in the councils of the party and 
interested alike in town, state and national affairs, 
he was frequently elected delegate to important 
nominating conventions but never sought office for 
himself. He served on the school board of Worces- 
ter from ward four in 1855 and from ward six in 
1856. After removing from Worcester to Shrews- 
bury, he represented the district composed of that 
town and Grafton in the general court of 1S73, 
teing elected by the largest majority ever given a 
candidate for that office in the district. He was 
trusted by all men, regardless of political beliefs. 
For more than twenty-four years he was president 
of the Farmers and Mechanics Club of Shrewsbury, 
and was for many years a trustee of the Worcester 
Agricultural Society. He was widely known among 
Worcester county farmers, who held him in high 
esteem, and his enthusiasm for the work of the 
Farmers Club was characteristic ; he had the nature 
of a leader and organizer and stirred others to action 
by his energy and example, and his influence was 
shown particularly in the annual fairs of the Farm- 
ers' Club. 

He married Jane Flint, who was baptized De- 
cember 22, 1822, the daughter of Major Josiah Flint, 
who was born December 15, 1775, and his wife, 
Mary (Stone) Flint, daughter of Luther Stone, of 
Southboro, Massachusetts. Jane Flint was a grand- 
daughter of Dr. Edward Flint, who came from 
Concord. Massachusetts, to Shrewsbury in 1758 and 
bought the old homestead of eighty acres in 176S. 
She was a lineal descendant of Hon. Thomas Flint, 
who' came from Mattock. Derbyshire, England, to 
Concord in 1638 and died there October 3, 1653, 
Dr. Edward Flint, grandson of the immigrant, 
Thomas Flint, was surgeon in the expedition to 
Canada in the French and Indian war in 1758, and 
served with the Massachusetts Troops at Cambridge 
in 1775 in the revolution. He died November 13, 
1S13, aged eighty-five years. The only child of 
George Henry and Jane (Flint) Harlow is George 
Herbert, see forward. 

(VIII) George Herbert Harlow, son of George 
Henry Harlow (7), was born in Worcester, Massa- 
chusetts, educated there in the public schools, and at 
Shrewsbury and Worcester high schools. When a 
young man, he entered the internal revenue office 



as clerk for Major William T. Harlow, then as- 
sessor. He afterw-ard became deputy collector of 
internal revenue under General Augustus B. R. 
Sprague, of Worcester, and Judge Adin Thayer. He 
was appointed assistant register of probate and in- 
solvency for Worcester county, June i, 18S6, by 
Judge Adin Thayer, a position that he held until 
January 3, 1894, when he was elected the register, 
his present position. The high reputation of the 
Worcester county probate office for system, neatness, 
accuracy and efficiency, speaks for his ability and his 
attention to the details of his position. In politics 
Mr. Harlow is a Republican. 

He is an active member in the Masonic order; 
was made a Master Mason February 12, 1892, in 
Quinsigamond Lodge of Worcester; became a mem- 
ber of Eureka Chapter of Royal Arch Masons April 
26. 1892 ; of Hiram Council. Royal and Select JNIas- 
tcrs. May 3, 1S92 : of Worcester County Com- 
mandery. Knights Templar, June 23, 1892. Is a 
member of Worcester Lodge of Perfection, Goddard 
Council, Princes of Jerusalem and Lawrence Chap- 
ter of Rose Croix, A. and A. S. Rite. In 1876 
he became one of the early members of the Wor- 
cester Continentals, an independent military organi- 
zation, organized that year in memory of the fathers 
of our country, for the purpose of preserving the 
customs and ideals of the Minute Men of Revolu- 
tionary days ; a kindred organization, of though not 
so old as the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Com- 
pany of Boston; Mr. Harlow was elected clerk of the 
company with rank of sergeant in 1878, and in 1891 
w-as made first lieutenant and clerk upon the staff 
of Lieutenant-Colonel Aaron S. Taft. He was 
elected to the command of the organization, Feb- 
ruary 10, 1905, with the rank of lieutenant-colonel. 
He was for some years a member and secretary of 
the Hancock Club. He is a member of the •Common- 
wealth Club and of the Tatassit Canoe Club, both of 
Worcester. 

He married Ella Eliza Walker, daughter of Apple- 
ton and Zibah (Beaman) Walker, of Worcester. 
She is a member of the Worcester Home Club, 
the Worcester Woman's Club and of the Colonel 
Timothy Bigelow Chapter, Daughters of the Amer- 
ican Revolution. 

PORTER FATvHLY. Richard Porter, who set- 
tled in Weymouth, Massachusetts, in 1635, em- 
barked at Weymouth, England, before jNIarch 20, 
1635. He was a farmer, and a man of unusual 
activity and prominence in the colony. He was 
admitted a freeman May 18, 1653. and held several 
important offices. He died in 1689. His will was 
dated December 25. 1685, and proved December 26, 
1689, bequeathing to Thomas, only son of deceased 
son Thomas ; to son John ; to grandchildren Ruth 
Richards and Samuel Bayly; and to daughter Mary 
Bicknell. He married Ruth, daughter of ;Mary 
Bicknell. Their children: I. John, mentioned be- 
low, 2. Ruth, born October 3. 1639 ; married Sep- 
tember 19, 1660, Thomas Bailej', Jr. 3. Thomas ; 
married Sarah Vining. 4. ^Mary, married January 
2, 1659, John Bicknell. 

(II) John Porter, son of Richard Porter (i), 
was like his father prominent in the afifairs of 
Weymouth. He gave the Common to the town, 
l)uilt the first saw mill, and held various town of- 
fices and had a large estate. He married Deliverance, 
daughter of Nicholas and Martha (Shaw) Byram. 
He "died September 8, 1717; she died September 30, 
1720. Children: i. ^lary, born October 12. 1663; 
married William Pittee. 2. Susannah, born June 
2. 1665; married Matthew Pratt. 3. John, born 
July 2, 1667. 4. Samuel, born 1670, mentioned be- 






WORCESTER COUNTY 



461 



lew. 5. Nicholas, married Bathsheba Reed. 6. 
Ruth, married September 18, 1776, Nathaniel Willis. 

7. Thomas, married Susanna Pratt. 8. Ebenczer, 
married Sarah Humphrey. 9. Sarah, married John 
Dingley. 

(.Ill) Samuel Porter, son of John Porter (2), 
was born about 1670, in Weymouth, and died Au- 
gust 31, 1725. He also lived m his native town, and 
held tow'n offices there. About 1705 he removed 
to Abington, where he lived the rest of his life. 
He was a schoolmaster as well as a shoemaker 
and farmer. He was assessor of Abington in 1716; 
selectman 1714, 1715, 1716, 1717. He was an orig- 
inal member of the Abington Church. He married, 
1698, Wary Nash, daughter of Jacob and Abigail 
(Dyer) Nash. Children: i. Samuel, born May 14, 
1699; mentioned below. 2. Mary, born October 5, 
1701. 3. David, born 1702. 4. Jacob, born August 
10, 1704. 5. Hannah, born December 16, 1712. 6. 
John, died young. 7. John, born February 2, 1716. 

8. Abigail, born June 2i, 1719. 

(.IV) Samuel Porter, son of Samuel Porter 
I' (3)> was born at' Abington, May 14, 1699. He set- 
I ; tied in Bridgewater, and married Sarah Joslyn, 
daughter of Joseph and Sarah (Ford) Joslyn. Chil- 
dren: I. Sarah, born j\lay 26, 1723. 2. Mary, born 
February 9, 1725. 3. Samuel, Ijorn October 12, 1727. 

4. Joseph, born February 27, 1730, mentioned below. 

5. Ebenezer, born September 15, 1731. 6. Mary, 
born August 3, 1733. 7. Adam, born February 24, 
1735. 8. Hannah, born February 18, 1736. 9. Bet- 
tina, born September 23, 1737. 10. Noah, born May 
13, 1740. II. Jonathan, born August 27, 1741 ; mar- 
ried Mary Chipman, 1763. 12. Deliverance, born 

! July 19, 1742. 13. Abigail, born July 7, 1743. 14. 
Tabitha, born 1744; married Samuel Brown, Jr. 
15. Sarah, born 1757, married Noah Tinkham. 
ij (V) "Joseph Porter, son of Samuel Porter (4), 

i was born in Abington, February 27, 1730 and died 
' at Canton, Massachusetts, in 1803. He resided at 
East Bridgewater and Stoughton, now Canton. He 
was a lieutenant of his company in the Massachu- 
setts troops in the revolution. He married Eliza- 
beth, daughter of Samuel and Content (Whitcomb) 
Burrill. Their first seven children were born at 
Bridgewater, the others at Canton. His wife and 
daughters were women of remarkable beauty. Chil- 
dren : I. Elizabeth, born November 8, 1753. 2. Jo- 
seph, born June 10, 1754. 3. Hannah, born July 
21, 1758. 4. Robert, born March 30, 1762. 5. Isaac, 
. born February 23, 1765. 6. Content, born February 
i 5, 1767. 7. Aiehitable, born April 15, 1769. 8. Lib- 
beus, born at Stoughton April 22, 1771. 9. Cyrus, 
born at Stoughton December 23, 1774. 

(VI) Colonel Cyrus Porter, son of Joseph 
Porter (5), was born December 23, 1774, and died 
May 29, 1856. He married (intention dated No- 
vember 30), 1799, Rebecca French, born at Canton, 
, May 4, 1782, daughter of William and Mary (Per- 
kins) French. He married (second), September 8, 
1835, I\lartha- Alden, widow of Calvin Alden, 
daughter of Ebenezer Hayden. They resided in 
Stoughton, where he was a prominent citizen. He 
was a farmer. He rose to the command of his 
regiment. Children: I. Oliver, born October 16, 
1800; married Caleb Copeland, Jr. 2. Ahira. born 
November 9, 1801, mentioned below. 3. Rebecca, 
born November 11, 1803; died May 25,' 1804. 4. 
Rebecca, born 1805 ; married Marcus Copeland. 5. 
Cyrus, born June 12, 1807; married Eliza J. Dunbar. 

6. Mehitable, born December 3. 1808; married Ezra 
Churchill. 7. Eliza Ann, married, April 5. 1829, 
William Hall. 8. Luther, born December 18, 1814; 
married Lucy Talbot. 9. William French, born 



January 23, 1823. The order of birth is not known 
exactly. 

(VII) Ahira Porter, son of Cyrus Porter (6), 
was born in Stoughton, November 9, 1807; died 
December 6, 1S63. He was a mechanic residing in 
Stoughton; married, 1826, Rachel D. Swan, who 
died November 4, 1861. Children: i. Ahira Swan, 
born January 30, 1827. 2. Rachel D., born Decem- 
ber 27, 1827. 3. William, born August 30, 1831. 4. 
Samuel, born June 27, 1833, mentioned below. 5. 
James, born October 4, 1835. 6. George N., born 
January 30, 1843. 

(VIII) Samuel Porter, son of Ahira Porter 
(7), was born at Stoughton, June 27, 1833. He 
spent his youth in his native town and 'attended 
school there. When a young man he came to Wor- 
cester and engaged in the wood working business, 
but later turned his entire attention to the manu- 
facture of lasts for shoe manufacturers, and estab- 
lished the industry with which his name is asso- 
ciated in the business world. His son succeeded 
him in the business. 

Mr. Porter was a member of the Masonic order. 
He was a Republican in politics and a member of 
the Universalist Church. He married, first, No- 
vember 26, 1857, Sarah Chamberlin, daughter of 
Benjamin and Patience Chamberlin, of Marion, 
Massachusetts. She died May 18, 1865. He mar- 
ried (second), June I, 1870, Helen Frances Kendall, 
of Portland, Maine.' He married (third) Emma 
G. Putnam, nee Wingate, daughter of Aaron and 
Phoebe T. (Lamos) Wingate. She married (tir^t) 

E. J. Putnam, of North Grafton, Massachusetts; 
he died August 28, 1891. She married (second) 
Samuel Porter, as stated above, July 4, 1894; he 
died February 16, 1904. The children of Aaron and 
Phoebe Wingate, her parents, were: Sarah, died 
1828; Anne Susan, born January 12, 1830; George, 
born July 12, 1832; Edward P. and Ann Martha, 
died in infancy; Elizabetli. C, born May 31. 1841 ; 
Emma G., born January 6, 1844. The children by 
the two wives of Samuel Porter were : Addie Les- 
ter, born July 9, 1859, died September 24, 1865; 
Walter Chamberlin, May 13, 1865; Marian Kendall, 
September 28, 1874. 

(IX) Walter Chamberlin Porter, son of the 
late Samuel (8) and Sarah (Chamberlin) Porter, 
was born in Worcester, May 13, 1865. He married 
Louisa .Phillips, of Worcester, who died January 4, 
1905. He has succeeded to his father's business of 
last making with W. E. Bigelow, conducting busi- 
ness under the old name of Samuel Porter & Co., 
at 25 Union street. He resides at 10 Lenox street. 
His children are: Helen Irene, born June 24, 1889; 
Oscar Stanley, November 3, 1892. 

HILDRETH FAMILY. Richard Hildreth (i) 
was the emigrant ancestor of the well known Hil- 
dreth family of Worcester county, to which (Zharles 
H. Hildreth, l, Charles H. Hildreth, 2, and George 

F. Hildreth, of Worcester, belong. Richard Hil- 
dreth was an early settler in Cambridge and Wo- 
burn. He was admitted a freeman May 10, 1643. 
He was one of the founders of Chelmsford, Massa- 
chusetts, and had a special grant of land in 1663 
on account of having lost his right hand. A full 
account of the emigrant is given in the sketch of 
Andrew G. Hildreth elsewhere in this work. The 
children of Richard Hildreth were: James; Jo- 
seph, born April 16, 1658; Persis, born February 
8, 1659; Thomas, born February i, 1664; Isaac, 
born July, 1663 ; Ephraim. 

(II) Joseph Hildreth, son of Sergeant Richard 
Hildreth (i), was born at Chelmsford, Massachu- 



462 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



setts, April 16, 1658. He married Abigail Wilson, 
of Woburn, Massachusetts, December 12, 1683. He 
died January 28, 1706. Among his children were: 
Joseph, born November 30, 1695; F.phraim, born 
at Lhelmsford, stttled at VVestford, Massachusetts, 
and had twelve children there. 

(HI) Joseph Hildreth, son of Joseph Hildreth 
(2), was born November 30, 1695, died in 1780 in 
Weslford, where he settled, agtd eighty-tive years 
in 1780. He lived in what is known as Minot's 

Corner. He married (.first) Deliverance . He 

married (second) Abigail Hill, of Billerica. The 
children of Joseph and Deliverance Hildreth were: 
Ephraim, born 1718; Jonathan, 1722; Phineas, born 
1725; Hannah, born 1726; William, born 1728; Wil- 
son, born 1731 ; Hannah, born 1738. The children 
of Joseph and Abigail (Hill) Hildreth were: 
Kzekiel. born 1744, died young; Hosea, born 1744-5; 
Timothy, born 1746, died young; Abigail, born 1747; 
Hannah, born 1750; Ezekiel, born 1753; Timothy 
(2), born 1756. 

(IV) Timothy Hildreth, son of Joseph Hildreth 
(3), -was born in Westford, Massachusetts, Decem- 
ber 31, 1756. He married Hannah Hildreth. Rich- 
ard Hildreth, the historian, who was his grandson, 
said of him : "My grandfather emigrated to Cavend- 
ish, Vermont, and there cut out for himself a farm 
in the woods ; but he soon returned to Massachu- 
setts and passed the greater part of his life on a 
farm in Sterling. He had ten children. Hosea, 
his third son, was my father." Timothy Hildreth 
responded to the call to arms April 19, I775> a"d 
went to Boston with the Westford company. After 
the battle of Bunker Hill he was ordered to drive 
a yoke of oxen hauling fascines for the American 
breastworks at Nooks Hill on the peninsular. The 
work required great patience and endurance as it 
had to be done at night over bad roads. The driv- 
ers could not even speak to the o.xen. In after years 
he admitted that he shed youthful tears of vexation 
over the hardships of his work there. At the same 
time he expressed the greatest indignation at the 
transformation of Faneuil Hall by the British sol- 
diers into a theatre for amateur performances and 
the use of Old South Church for a riding school. 
After his service he returned to Westford, where he 
married Hannah Hildreth. She was descended from 
Richard Hildreth (i) also as follows: 

(H) Ephraim Hildreth, son of Richard Hildreth 
(l), and great-grandfather of Hannah Hildreth, who 
married Timothy Hildreth, was born in Chelms- 
ford, Massachusetts. He moved to Dracut in 1710. 
He owned land near the Providence Meadows in 
Westford, Massachusetts. He was a grantee of 
Concord, New Hampshire. He married Anna 
Moore, of Lancaster, Massachusetts. His children 
were: Joseph, born 1688; Abigail, born 1691 ; 
James, born 1692, died young; Ebenezer, born 1696; 
James, born 1698; Anna, born 1703; Thomas, born 
1707: Jacob, born 1709; David, born 1711; Josiah. 

(III) James Hildreth, son of Ephraim Hildreth 
(2), was born 1698, in Westford, Massachusetts. 

He settled there and married Dorothy . He 

lived on the place lately owned by J.Boynton Reed. 
His children were: Rebecca; Zechariah, born 1728: 
Amos, born 1730; Dorothy, born 1732, died 1735; 
Dorothy, born 1736, married Pelatiah Fletcher; 
Lucy, born 1742; Samuel, born 1744, died 1748. 

(IV) Zechariah Hildreth, son of James Hildreth 
(3), was born in Westford, Massachusetts. 1728. 
He married, 1753, Elizabeth Prescott. daughter of 
Jonas and Elizabeth Prescott. Their children were: 
Zechariah. born 1754, at Westford; Elizabeth, born 
1755, at Westford; Hannah, born at Westford. 1758; 
Timothy, born at Westford, 1760; James, born at 



Westford, 1762; Lucy, born at Westford, 1764; 
Jonas, born at Westford, 1766; Ruth, born at West- 
ford, 1768; Ed., born at Westford, 1771 ; Jesse, born 
at Westford, 1773; Hita, born 1775. 

(V) Hannah Hildreth, daughter of Zechariah 
Hildreth (IV), was born in Westford, Massachu- 
setts, 1758. She married Timothy Hildreth. 

Timothy Hildreth settled in West Boylston, 
Massachusetts, about 1800, after his return from 
Vermont. In 1803 he removed to the town of 
Sterling and spent the remainder of his days there. 
He made his will April 29, 1816, and it was proved 
May 20, 1817. His wife Hannah was made his 
legatee and executor and all the heirs consented 
in writing to the probate of the will. The names 
of the heirs were: Richard Hildreth, Timothy 
Hildreth, Hosea Hildreth, Abel F. Hildreth, 
Nabby Hildreth, Joseph Hildreth, Sophia (Hil- 
dreth) Robinson and her husband, Winthrop 
Robinson ; Hannah Patten and her husband James 
P. Patten. Ezekiel was probably out west and did 
not sign. The children of Tinvathy and Hannah 
Hildreth were: Timothy, lived at Sterling; Hosea, 
father of Richard Hildreth, the historian, was an in- 
structor in Philips Exeter Academy, graduated at 
Harvard College in 1805, settled minister at Glouces- 
ter, Massachusetts ; Ezekial, graduated at Harvard 
in 1814, taught school at Wheeling, Virginia, mar- 
ried Zane, of the family for which Zanesville, 

Ohio, was named ; Abel Fletcher, graduated at Har- 
vard in 1818, was a teacher in the Riverside Acad- 
emy. Auburndale. Massachusetts; Nabby (sic); Jo- 
seph: Sophia, married Winthrop Robinson; Hannah, 
married James P. Patten; Richard; an infant, Sarah, 
probably. 

(V) Timothy Hildreth, son of Timothy Hildreth 
(1), was born at Westford, Massachusetts, or Caven- 
dish. Vermont, about 1780. He was a farmer and 
settled at Sterling, Massachusetts, where he came 
with his father in 1803. He married Eunice Sawyer, 
of Sterling. They had si.x children : Thomas ; James 
Dwight, born June 8, 1808; George, married Sophia 
Howe, had no children ; John, never married ; Sarah, 
never married ; Sophia, married Samuel Howe, of 
Sterling, Massachusetts ; Mrs. Howe was living in 
1905; her husband was a blacksmith by trade; 
their children were: Samuel, never married: John, 
has two children; William, unmarried; Martha, 
widow of • Ryder. 

(VI) James Dwight Hildreth. son of Timothy 
Hildreth (5), was born in Sterling. Massachusetts, 
June 8. 1808, died December 16, 1865. He married 
Betsey E. Weston, a widow, born Winn, September 
8. 1801. She had one daughter. Elizabeth Jane 
Weston, by her first marriage, who married E. W. 
Johnson, of West Boylston, Massachusetts, and is 
living in West Boylston. Betsey E. Hildreth died 
November 2;^. 1894, at the age of ninety-three years, 
having made her home with her son, George F. 
Hildreth. for thirty-two years. The children of 
James Dwight and Betsey E. Hildreth were: James 
Nelson, born August 13, 1833, in West Boylston, 
Massachusetts ; George Francis, born in Sterling, 
January 22. 1836 ; Charles Henry, born in West 
Boylston, November 5, 1837 ; John Harvard, born 
June 2. 1839, in West Boylston, died in Grafton, 
Massachusetts. January 11, 1894; Henrietta Sophia, 
born in Rutland. Massachusetts, July 12, 1841. died 
in Worcester. May 5. 1863 : Sarah Ann, born in 
Rutland. ,\pril 22. 1844. married. June 30. 1867, 
.■\lonzo Smith ; Georgianna Elizabeth, born in Rut- 
land. June 23, 1846, married, June. 1870, Alphonso 
Smith. 

James Dwight Hildreth spent most of his life 
in West Bovlston and Sterling. He was on his 




^'i^^ j^/;^,^>vwe^ 




(^.CS. 




WORCESTER COUNTY 



463 



I father's farm until seventeen years old. He was well 
I known as the driver of a six-horse team from Leo- 
! minster to Boston and various other points in New 
England in the days when freight was transported 
in that way. He carried chairs and farm produce 
from Leominster to Boston and on the return trip 
brought dry goods and West India goods. Later 
he owned his own team and drove from Sterling 
1^) Boston. He at various times drove teams from 
(Gardner to Boston and Gardner to Providence. He 
was noted as a skillful horseman and whip and for 
his knowledge of hofses. 

(VH) James Nelson Hildreth, son of James 
Dwight Hiidreth (6), was born in West Boylston, 
Alassachusetts, August 13, 1833. He married Mary 
Frances Meaghan. They had seven children : Charles 
Henry: Everett, died young: Frederick Albert; Effie, 
married Charles Poole, of Worcester; Nettie, married 
Fred Fisher, bookkeeper, of Worcester, and their 
children are : Harry Woodbury, and Clayton Fay 
Fisher: Clifford W. : Maud. 

(VII) George Francis Hildreth. son of James 
Dwight Hildreth (6). was born in Sterling, Massa- 
chusetts, January 22, 1836. He attended the common 
schools of his native town and worked at home unt'l 
twenty-one. He then went to Worcester and for 
two years worked for the city. In 1859 he engaged 
in the grain business in West Boylston. but at the 
end of twenty years sold out and retired from active 
business. After a year, during which time he was 
in charge of the grist mill of Reuel G. Cowee. he 
became a partner. The business was one of the 
largest in the vicinity. The mill and grain business 
at West Boylston were destroyed by the building of 
the Metropolitan water basin at West Boylston. Mr. 
Hildreth for the past few years has lived in Wor- 
cester at 5 Newton avenue. He was a trustee of 
the West Boylston cemetery and until 1897 superin- 
tendent. Mr. and Mrs. Hildreth are member of the 
West Boylston Congregational church, and Mr. 
Hildreth served for twenty-five years on the parish 
committee. He married. May i, 1861, Mary Cowee, 
daughter of Reuel Green Cowee, with whom he 
was in partnership, the grandfather of E. A. Cowee, 
who is now proprietor of the grain business con- 
ducted by his father and grandfather. (See sketch 
of the Cowee Family in this work). 

(VIII) Charles H. Hildreth, son of James Nelson 
Hildreth (7), was born in West Boylston, Massa- 
chusetts. October 2, 1857. He attended school at 
West Boylston. but came to Worcester when a young 
hoy. He went into business with Charles H. Hildreth, 
first, in a livery stable business on Market street, 
Worcester. In i8go Mr. Hildreth established the 
stable at 10 Sever street, which he has since con- 
ducted successfully. He was for four years in 
the city council, in 1895-96 was in the common coun- 
cil and in 1S97-98 in the board of aldermeUi In the 
council he did good work for the city oh the street 
committee and in the board of aldermen was on the 
street, water, legislature committees and the special 
committee on grade crossings. He is prominent 
in the Republican organization. He is a Free Ma- 
son. He married (first) Ada Elizabeth Rockwood, 
of Leicester, Massachusetts, and (second) Addie 
Elizabeth Kennon, of Worcester. He has no chil- 
dren. 

(VIII) Frederick Albert Hildreth. brother of 
C. H. Hildreth, Jr.. married Eli?e Lord, of Worces- 
ter, and their children are: Charles H., Harold, 
Everett and Randolph Lord Hildreth. 

(VII) Charles Henry Hildreth, son of James 
Dwight Hildreth (6), was born in West Boylston, 
Massachusetts, November 5, 1837. He has always 
been in the sale stable and livery business. For 



many years he had a stable at Newton square, Wor- 
cester. He is at present the superintendent of the 
city stables of Worcester. He is a veteran of the 
civil war. He married Sarah Luce, a widow, who 
was a native of Maine, but her parents moved when 
she was very young to West Boylston. They have 
an adopted daughter, Lillian Hildreth. 

(ATI) John Harvard Hildreth. son of James 
Dwight Hildreth (6), was born June 2, 1839, in 
West Boylston, Massachusetts. He married Ruth 
Lincoln. They have two children : Herbert H., and 
Etta E. John H. Hildreth died at Grafton, Massa- 
chusetts, January 11, 1894. 

(VII) Sarah Ann Hildreth, daughter of James 
Dwight Hildreth (6), was born in Rutland, Massa- 
chusetts, April 22, 1844. She married, June 30, 
1867, Alonzo Smith, who is in the express busi- 
ness in Worcester, Massachusetts. They have no 
children. 

(VII) Georgianna Elizabeth Hildreth, daughter 
of James Dwight Hildreth (6), was born in Rut- 
land, Massachusetts, June 23, 1846. She married, 
June. 1870, Alphonso Smith, who is with the Wor- 
cester Hardware Company, 556 Main street, Worces- 
ter. They have several children. 

AUGUST E. DICK, the .surviving partner of 
the well known firm of Thomas & Co., cabinet makers 
and carvers, manufacturers of church furniture, with 
shops at no Exchange street and 151 LInion street, 
was born in Saxony, German}', March 13, 1858. 
He is the son of A. F. Dick, a weaver by trade. 

Mr. Dick started for America, July i, 1872, with 
his parents. They settled at Lawrence, Massachu- 
setts. He worked in the Washington mills there, 
and at the age of nineteen learned the trade of car- 
penter. He came to Worcester to work for Cutting 
& Bishop, contractors and builders, and worked 
steadily for that firm for eleven years. Then he 
accepted a position with Thomas & Co., which was 
established in the seventies, at No. 47 Foster street, 
of which later he becaine a partner and is now the 
only surviving member of the firm. He is a mem- 
ber of the Worcester Social Turn Verein. He mar- 
ried Annie O. Behrmann, of Lawrence, in that city. 
Their children are : Minnie H., born August 21, 
18S7; Annie, born in Worcester, May 8, 1889; George, 
born in Worcester. February 9, i8gi ; .\ugust, born 
in Worcester, October 23, 1892. 

CARL C. T. THOMAS. Frederick Carl 
Thomas, father of the late Carl C. T. Thomas, 
of Worcester, was a native of Mecklenberg, Ger- 
many. He married Mary Frederika Sass. a native 
of Sweden, and they made their home in Pomerania, 
Prussia. He was a wheelwright by trade. His wife 
died in 1849 and he married again. He was em- 
ployed by a nobleman. Herr Wehard Von Heiden. 
A conversation between the employer and the work- 
man made a strong impression on Carl when a boy 
of about twelve. When asked what Carl was going 
to do when he was grown up, Mr. Thomas said 
that he expected the boy to learn his trade of 
wheelwright. Then the shrewd German gave him 
this advice: "Whatever trade he learns, let him be 
familiar with the use of the tools that he makes." 
That is good advice for any maker of tools or 
machines to follow. 

In 1853 the father started for .America with his 
wife, her baby, and the three children of the first 
marriage. He died on shipboard and when the 
unfortunate little family reached New York, the 
mother and infant were sent to Ward's Island. The 
child died soon afterward and the mother left the 
island and was never heard of again by her step- 



464 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



children. The other children: Carl C. T., John, and 
Mary Christine, were sent to the Five Points Mis- 
sion House of Industry. Carl soon found work in 
New York, and after a time the other two chil- 
dren were sent to Marblehead. Massachusetts, where 
John was employed in a hotel rowing a small boat 
from the shore to an island hotel in Salem har- 
bor. When the civil war broke out lohn enlisted 
in the Forty-fourth Massachusetts Regiment, and 
served nine months in the vicinity of Newbern, 
North Carolina. When he returned from the service 
he went to work for Edward Hixon oi Cambridge- 
port, Massachusetts, for whom he had worked be- 
fore enlisting. He became an expert cabinet maker. 
He died unmarried. 

Mary Christine was brought up by a Marblehead 
family. She married Charles Ewell, of Abington, 
Massachusetts, and resided in Worcester, Massa- 
chusetts, and Chicago, Illinois. Both are dead. 
They had a son Carl Ewell, born 1889, who survives 
them, 

Carl C. T. Thomas, son of Frederick Carl 
Thomas, before mentioned, born in Pomerania, 
Prussia, June 22, 1838; died in Worcester, May 31, 
1905. He started in life under the most depressing 
conditions, being left alone in a strange country 
with a younger brother and sister unprovided for. 
He knew something of the wood-working business 
and found employment in the cabinet shop of Shaef- 
fer & Suckovv, manufacturers of fine furniture. He 
and Antori Burckel, who was afterwards his part- 
ner in business, learned the trade together. The 
shop was at 127 Anthony street, later on Mul- 
berry street, New York. 

In 1859 he removed to Beverly, Massachusetts, 
in order to be with his brother and sister, and 
he contributed to their support. He enlisted in 
Jul" 1861, in Company D, Fourteenth Massachusetts 
Regiment, and served three years. He was wounded 
June 19, 1864, in the battle of Spottsylvania, and 
sent horne by way of Fredericksburg. His regiment 
was in the Second Army Corps, in General Birney's 
division. General Mott's brigade, General Hancock 
commanding. Anton Burckel was in the same com- 
pany and both were transferred to the heavy 
artillery. .-Xfter the war he worked at his trade 
in Beverly, Boston, and Cambridge, Massachusetts, 
and finally decided to locate in Worcester. He 
worked first for William G. Anderson & Company, 
cabinet makers, corner of Union and Exchange 
streets, for a short time. He did wood carving 
for various furniture makers and builders. In the 
early seventies he formed a partnership with Elisha 
Witherell. under the firm name of Thomas & Com- 
pany, and established his business as cabinet maker. 
A year later his partner died. In 1873 his old friend 
and comrade Anton Burckel became his partner, the 
firm name remaining the same. Their shop was then 
at 91 Exchange street, and they made a specialty 
of wood-carving and machine work ; later they re- 
moved to the Baker building where they carried on 
cabinet making on a larger scale. After Mr. Burckel 
left the business, Mr. Thomas took another part- 
ner, Edward Minault, who was a member of the 
firm for two years. After that he was alone in busi- 
ness until his son was old enough to join the firm. 
This son. John Thomas, died July 11, 1893, again 
leaving the senior partner the sole proprietor. His 
shop was then at no Exchange street. He took 
in November, 1897, as his last and surviving part- 
ner, August E. Dick, who now conducts the busi- 
ness. (See sketch of Mr. Dick). 

The firm of Thomas 8z Company has done the 
finest interior wood-work, such as church altars 
and pews, in the churches of Worcester, and, in 



fact, all over New England. The firm always pros- 
pered and never met with failure in business. Mr. 
Thomas was a member of George H. Ward Post, 
Grand Army; Athelstan Lodge of Free Masons; 
Encampment 83, Union Veterans ; Stella Chapter, 
Order of the Eastern Star. He was a man of 
kindly, sympathetic nature, who made many friends. 
His generous care of his orphan brother and sister, 
to whom he took the place of father and mother, 
was but an instance of his character. 

He married December 11, 1865, Louise D. Allen, 
daughter of Samuel Allen (3T (mentioned below in 
the Allen family sketch). She was born Septem- 
ber 4. 1839, and resides at the home 66 Jaques 
avenue. Their children were : I. John Carl, born 
January i, 1868; educated in Worcester; was his 
father's partner; died July II, i8g6. 2. Louisa 
Augusta, born October 3, 1870; married Charles 
Amos Black, January 23. 1895 ; their children are — 
Arline Mildred, born August 15, 1897. Harold 
Everett, born October 27, 1899. 3. Bertha Allen, 
born September 9, 1872 ; was educated in the Wor- 
cester public schools and was prominent in the Old 
South church ; died at Pine Blufif, North Carolina, 
March 30, 1906; buried in Worcester. 4. Talbot and 
5. Susan Anna, born August g, 1877 (twins) ; died 
April 6, 1890. All of the children were born in 
Worcester, Massachusetts, with the exception of 
the eldest, who was born at Beverly, Massachu- 
setts. 

ALLEN FAMILY. (I) William Allen, the immi- 
gfrant ancestor of Mrs. Carl C. T. Thomas, of 
Worcester, Massachusetts, was born in Manchester, 
England, about 1602, according to a deposition made 
November 30, 1664. He was one of the Dorchester 
company on Cape Ann in 1623, and he went to 
Salem with Roger Conant in 1626. He applied for 
freemanship October 19, 1630, and was admitted 
May 18, 1631. He served on the jury in 1637, and 
was one of the grantees of Jeffreys Creek in 1640, 
but was not then a resident. Jefifreys Creek is that 
part of Salem now the town of Manchester. He 
removed to Jeffreys Creek before it was incorporated 
as a town May 14, 1645, and was one of the 
petitioners for the division of the town. He sold 
his house and land in Salem in 1652, but was one 
of the first board of selectmen of Manchester. He 
was called an influential and enterprising citizen ; 
was a carpenter by trade. When he deposed in 
1664 that he had lived in Salem for thirty-eight 
years he must have included his residence in Man- 
chester as being formerly Salem. 

He married (first) Alice , who died March 

8, 1631-2, Snd (second) Elizabeth Bradley, who 
probably survived him. He and his wife Elizabeth 
were among the early members of the Salem church. 
He made his will June 7: 1678 (?), and it was 
proved June 26. 1679. He died May 10. 1679. 
Children of William and Alice Allen were : i. 
Persis, born and died 1630. 2. Samuel, mentioned 
below. The children of William and Elizabeth Allen 
were : 3. Elizabeth, born September, 1634. 4. 
Deborah, born April, 1637. 5. Bethia, baptized Jan- 
uary 16. 1630-40. 6. Onesiphorus, born June 30, 
1642. 7. William, baptized March 31, 1646. 8. 
Jonathan, baptized July 29, 1649, probably died 
young. 

(II) Samuel Allen, son of William Allen (i), 
born in Salem, January 8, 1631-2. Like his father 
he was a housewright or carpenter, and became 
a man of property and standing. He was a select- 
man in 1676-77-88-93, in the town of Manchester, 
and held other positions of trust. He married 
Sarah who was living in 1695. His will dated 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



465 



November 21, 1702, was disallowed December S, 
1709. Children of Samuel and Sarah Allen were : 
I. Samuel, born August 2, 1663. 2. John, bom Feb- 
ruary 12, 1666. 3. Sarah, born March 12, 1668. 4. 
' William, born March 18. 1670. 5. Joseph, born 
• June 26, 1672. 6. Alice, born September 20, 1674. 
7. Rachel, born February 19, 1677. 8. Elizabeth, born 
March 18, 1679. 9. Benjamin, born June 4, 1681. 
10. Jonathan, born September 4, 1684. 

(III) Samuel Allen, eldest "child of Samuel Allen 
(2), born in Manchester, Massachusetts, August 

! 4, 1663 ; was a fisherman in his younger days and 
' later a trader, residing in Manchester. He mar- 
ried Abigail Williams, at Marblehead. March 17, 
1687. She was living in 1720; and administration 
■ was granted on his estate February 4, 1744. Chil- 
dren, all born in Manchester, were : I. Sarah, 
born July 4, 1687. 2. Abigail, born June 10, 1690. 
3. Samuel, mentioned below. 4. Hannah, born 
May 22, 1695. 5. Rachel, born October i, 1698. 6. 
Daniel, born August i, 1701. 7. Martha, born 
January 26, 1706-7. 8. Jerusha, born January 24, 
1712. 

(IV) Samuel Allen, son of Samuel Allen (3), 
born in Manchester, October 7, 1692 ; was a fisher- 
man and farmer, and lived in his native town. 

: He was the town clerk there in 1740, and a 
selectman in 1753. He married Sarah Tuck, May 
I, 1717. She was living in 1754 and he in 1758. 
Their children were: I. Sarah, baptized in Man- 
chester Church May 31, 1719. 2. Hannah, born 
: April 29, 1721. 3. Samuel, mentioned below. 4. 
' Ambrose, born December 27, 1724. 5. Jeremiah, 
' born April 16. 1727. 6. Jerusha, born August 24, 
: 1729. 7. William, born June 9, 1731. 8. John, born 
: July 30, 1733. 9. Abigail, born April 29. 1737. 
10. Joseph, born December 3, 1738. II. Dorcas, 
I born August 3, 1740. 12. Michael, born August 
! 22, 1742. 13. Mary, born March 23, 1745. 
[ (V) Samuel Allen, third child of Samuel Allen 
(4), born in Manchester, March 4, 1722-3; was 
farmer, fisherman and trader at difTerent periods, 
I residing in Manchester. He inarried February 20, 
1750- 1, Sarah Marsters, of Manchester, who died 
February 27, 1S15, at the age of eighty-six years. 
He died December 12, 1814, aged ninety-one years. 
Their children were: I. and 2. Twins, born and 
died 1752, unnamed. 3. Benjamin Marsters, born 
May I, 1753. 4. Ruth, born July 25, 1755. 5. 
Samuel, born September 25. 1757. 6. Ede, born 
December 11, 1761. 7. Nathaniel Marsters, born 
November 3, 1767, mentioned below. 

(VII) Nathaniel Marsters .Mien, youngest child 
of Samuel Allen (6), born in Manchester Novem- 
ber 3, 1767; resided in Manchester and married 
there Elizabeth Lee, of that town, December 10, 
1789. She died February 28, 1847, aged' eighty 
years and he died January 31, 1855, aged eighty- 
nine j-ears. Their children, all born in Manchester, 
were : I. Sarah, born February 22, 1791. 2. Eliza- 
beth, born January 22, 1793. 3. Nathaniel, born 
May 14, 1795. 4. Samuel, born February 7, 1799, 
mentioned below. 5. Lydia. born December 18, 
1801. 6. Benjamin, born April 8, 1803. 

(VIII) Samuel Allen, fourth child of Samuel 
Marsters Allen (7), born in Manchester, Febru- 
^■■y 7, 1799; married Nabby Smith, of Beverly. 
Their children were : I. Elizabeth Allen, born Au- 
gust 6. 1829. 2. Mary T.. born January 26, 1831. 
3. Sarah M., born December S, 1833. 4, Abby S., 
born February 9, 1835. 5. Lydia S., born March 24, 
1837. 6. .'\ugusta W. (twin), born September 4, 
1839. 7. Louise D. (twin), born September 4. 
1839, mentioned above in sketch of Car! C. T. 
Thomas, her husband. 8. Eva, born January 4, 

30 



1842. 9. Samuel L., born .April 22, 1S44. 10. Susan, 
born September 6, 1847. 

WINSLOW HARLAND ROBINSON. John 
Robinson (i), the emigrant ancestor of Winslow 
Harland Robinson, of Worcester, Massachusetts, is 
believed to have been born in Buoytown, Scotland, 
about 1770. He certainly w-as of Scottish birth. He 
came to .America when a young man and settled on 
Tinkers Island, Mt. Desert, Klaine. He married 
Betsey Fogg, probably at Mt. Desert, and after- 
ward settled at Machiasport. He was a man of 
extraordinary physique, and at the age of ninety-nine 
years or thereabouts, in 1869, rowed from Machias- 
port to Jonesport to shoot ducks. He must have 
been taken ill after he landed on Fisherman's Island, 
for there he was found by two men, nearly frozen 
to death. By his side were six ducks that he 
had shot. He was taken to the inainland and nursed, 
but did not survive the exposure. He died the fol- 
lowing day. His wife lived until after 1856. The 
children of John and Betsey (Fogg) Robinson were: 
James, married Harriet Small; Stephen; William, 
married Jane Sanborn : Hiram, lost at sea ; Rachel, 
married a Mr. Callaghan; Louise, married a Mr. 
Merritt : Lucy, married a Mr. Robbins ; Eleanor, 
married John Huntley ; Clara ; Julia, married Stephen 
Huntley. 

(II) James Robinson, son of John Robinson (i), 
was born in Machiasport, Maine, in 1811, and died 
there in 1898. He married Harriet Small. He was 
a seafaring man, and became a captain. His death 
at the age of eighty-seven was due to an accident. 
The children of James and Harriet (Small) Robin- 
son were: Edgar, born at Machiasport, married 
Lnrena Smith ; Elenor, born in Machiasport, married 
Charles Holmes ; Fred, born in Machiasport, mar- 
ried Maggie Hay ; w-as lost at sea ; Flora, born in 
Machiasport, unmarried ; Rosa, born in Machias- 
port. married Lee Pike ; Winslow H., born at 
Machiasport, April 17, 1861 ; Frank, born in Machias- 
port, married Annie Small. 

(III) Winslow Harland Robinson, son of James 
Robinson (2), was born Machiasport, Maine, April 
17, 1861. He w-as sent to the district schools of his 
native town until he was seventeen, when he left 
home to learn the ship caulker's trade. He had some 
experience as a mariner, having sailed on his father's 
ship. He came to Worcester in 1882. when he was 
tw-enty-one. He went to work for W. O. Wilder, 
who had a tin shop at 153 Front street, and was a 
dealer in stoves, furnaces, etc., and learned his trade 
there. When Mr.' Wilder sold out next year to 
T. B. Foss, Mr. Robinson was employed by his suc- 
cessor, with whom he remained for five years. Ii> 
iSSq Mr. Robinson engaged in business for himself,, 
dealing in furnaces and steam and hot w-ater heaters. 
His first store was at 20 Lincoln square. Two years 
later he removed to 47 and 49 Main street, near 
Lincoln square, w-here he was located for nine 
years. Then he removed to his present quarters, 
I Lincoln square, at 3 Prescott street, in the rear 
of the old Salisbury mansion. He has made a 
specialty of hot air furnace work, tin. copper, sheet 
iron work. He has installed in Worcester alone 
over six hundred furnaces. He has been success- 
ful in business and stands well among the business 
men of the city. 

Mr. Robinson is a well known Free Mason, 
having taken all the thirty-two degrees of Masonry. 
He is also a member of the Odd Fellows order. 
He is a member of Adams Square Congregational 
Church. He resides at 7 Lyford street, near Brittan 
square. 

He married Ida May Smith, daughter of Charles 



466 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



B. Smith, a farmer, of Denmark, Maine. Mr. 
and Mrs. Robinson have a cottage at Denmark, where 
they spend their summer vacations. Their chil- 
dren are: Paid W., born October 25, 1894; Ruth 
M., born in Worcester, September 2, 1896; Marion 
B., born in Worcester, February 14, 1898; Stanley 
S.. born in Worcester^ March 5, 1901. 

ANDREW GARDNER HILDRETH, Richard 
Hildreth -(l) was the emigrant ancestor of An- 
drew Gardner Hildreth, of Worcester, Massachu- 
setts. He settled first at Cambridge, Massachu- 
setts, where he was admitted a freeman May 10, 
1643. He was a town officer in Cambridge in 1645. 
He removed to Woburn, Massachusetts. He signed 
the petition dated May 10, 1653, with twenty-eight 
others, for the town subsequently named Chelms- 
ford. He was before that a petitioner for Woburn 
and Concord. The Chelmsford town records show 
that Sergeant Hildreth received prior to March 3, 
1663, from the general court, grants of eight separate 
lots of land amounting to one hundred and five 
acres. In 1664 the general court allowed him one 
hundred and fifty acres additional, on account of his 
having lost his right hand. 

It is believed that Richard Hildreth and his son 
James were the ancestors from which all the Hildreth 
families of the country are descended. Richard 
Hildreth died in 1688, aged eighty-three years. 
Elizabeth, wife of Richard, died at Maiden, August 

3, 1693, aged sixty-eight. 

Sergeant Hildreth made his will February 9, 
1686, in which he mentions his wife Elizabeth and 
various children. The children of Sergeant Hildreth 
were: i. James, born 1631 (by the first wife of Ser- 
geant Richard Hildreth). 2. Elizabeth, born Sep- 
tember 21, 1646. 3. Sarah, born August 8, 1648. 

4. Joseph, born April 16. 1658; married Abigail 
Wilson, December 12, 1683.; he died January 28, 
1706. S. Persis, born February 8, 1659-60. 6. Thomas, 
born February i, 1661-2. 7. Isaac, born July, 1663. 

8. Abigail, married Moses Parker, of Clielmsford. 

9. (Probably one of the eldest — mentioned as 
"natural" in the will) Ephraim, of Stowe, to whom 
the Chelmsford homestead was beqeauthed. 

(II) James Hildreth, son of Sergeant Richard 
Hildreth (i), was probably born in England in 
1631, according to an affidavit made September 30, 
1651, to be found in the Middlesex files. This 
affidavit establishes the fact that Richard was his 
father. He was a freeman in 1665. 

He died intestate. The estate was administered 
by his son-in-law, Israel Proctor. The division of 
the estate in 1695 names the children then living in 
the order of birth. James Hildreth married Mar- 
garet Ward, June i. 1659. He died April 14, 1695. 
Children were: Richard, the eldest son; Margaret, 
married Israel Proctor; Abigail; Dorothy; Ephraim. 

(III) Major Ephraim Hildreth, son of James 
Hildreth (2), born in Chelmsford. Massachusetts, 
January 9, 1680; died in Dracut, formerly part of 
Chelmsford, September 26, 1740; married Mercy 
(Parish) Richardson in T707. She was the daugh- 
ter of Lieutenant Josiah and Mercy^ (Parish) 
Richardson ; was born January 9, 1688, in Chelms- 
ford ; died December 25, 1743, in Dracut. Mercy 
Parish, her mother, w-as the daughter of Robert and 
Elizabeth (Blanchard) Parish, of Groton, Massa- 
chusetts. Lieutenant Josiah Richardson was son 
of Captain Josiah and Remembrance (LTnderwood) 
Richardson. Captain Josiah Richardson was the son 
of Ezekiel and Susannah Richardson, of Woburn. 
(See Richardson Family). 

Ephraim seems to have been a surveyor, and was 
repeatedly employed by the town. During his early 



life he was a resident of Chelmsford, and after th 
part of the town in which he lived became Draci 
he became identified with the history of the nei 
town. He was town clerk of Dracut most of th 
time from 1713 to his death in 1740, and was su( 
ceeded as clerk by his son Ephraim. It is raths 
remarkable that the succession continued throug 
four generations. After Ephraim, Jr., came Williat 
and William, Jr., in direct line. On March 3, i8o( 
Lieutenant Israel Hildreth was chosen town clerl 
making the fifth Hildreth in successive generatior 
to hold the position. 

Major Hildreth was a commissioner Septembc 
3, 1734, from Dracut to other neighboring towr 
concerning a new county, of which Chelmsfor 
was to be the county seat. He was sergeant i 
1712. He was assessor, surveyor of highway 
tithingman, town treasurer, trustee and selectma 
of the town of Dracut at various times. He serve 
on many special committees for the town. He b( 
came captain about 1722 and major about 1731 
His will was proved in 1740. It mentions his chi 
dren by name. Children were: i. Ephraim, Ji 
born July 18, 1708; died in Dracut, Massachusett 
August 5, 1769; was very prominent in Dracut, tow 
clerk, selectman, ensign and many other offices ; mai 
ried Mary Clark, of Chelmsford, February 11, 173 
2. Josiah, born February 14, 1710; died in Dracu 
August 7, 1754; married Rebecca Wright, of Dracu 
December 20. 1740; was town clerk in 1747. 
Robert (see forward). 4. Mercy or Mary, bor 
January 27, 1715: died in Dracut, Massachusett 
December 10, 1729. 5. Zachariah. born Septembi 
26, 1718; died in Dracut, January 10, 1745. 

(IV) Robert Hildreth, son of Ephraim Hildret 
(3), born at Dracut, Massachusetts, May 18, 171; 
married Sarah Abbott, of Andover. ^Massachusett 
November 15. 1734. Robert Hildreth settled i 
Dracut. He was elected deer reeve March 5. 174 
His wife was school teacher for a time in Dracu 
He served on various committees for the tow: 
Children were: i. Sarah, born in Dracut. .\ugu 
3I> 173s; married Smieon Wood, of Dracut. N( 
vember 16. 1754. 2. Bridget, born at Dracut, Mj 
16, 1737; married Eliezer Colburn, of Dracut. Ni 
vember i, 1760. 3. Robert, born at Dracut, Marc 
7. 1739: died there August 17, 1741. 4. Robert, Ji 
born at Dracut, February 23, 1740. 5. Paul (si 
forward. 6. Susanna, born in Dracut, December 
1748. 7. Benjamin, bnrn Januarv 23. 1714. 

(V) Paul Hildreth. son of Robert Hildreth (4 
was born at Dracut, Massachusetts, October 5, 174 
He was the first white settler at what is now Lewi 
ton. Maine. He was a hunter. He built a log hou! 
there in 1770, and was a resident of the village i 
1788, and was there when the place was inco 
noratJd on February t8. 1795. The route by whic 
he went to Lewiston from Dracut was down tl 
Merrimac river to the sea in a boat. He was tow« 
by a sailing vessel to Harraseket, now Freepor 
IMaine. Thence he went by portages through tl 
forest to Royalstown. now Durham, where he agai 
put out in his boat and eventually arrived at TwenI 
Mile falls in safety. He was joined in T771 t 
David Pettingill and one of the Dracut Varnum 
and one other from New Gloucester. Before he w: 
married he had his cabin on the island in the rivi 
above the falls. The light in his cabin, by whic 
he frenuently read late at night, was a beacon I 
guide the Indians who were not afraid of the rapid 
On one occasion an Indian sirl warned him of a pi' 
to murder him at night. The Indians were iealoi 
of his success in killing otter. Paul shifted tl 
lieacon. putting his lantern in his boat, anchnre 
in such a place that if the Indians came and mil 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



467 



took the light for the cabin where it usually slione, 
they would be swept over the falls and lost. The 
trick was successful and the Indians, who never 
discovered the trick, left him alone afterward, be- 
lieving that he had a charmed life. 

He married Hannah Merrill. The record of 
their children here is incomplete. Two of them 
were: i. David, born November g, 1770; died at 
Gardiner, Maine, July 12, 1848, aged seventy-seven 
years, eight months. He married April 22, 1792, 
Esther Moody, daughter, probably, of Samuel and 
Esther Moody who were early settlers of Industry, 
Maine. She was born in Waterboro, Maine, May 
16, 1770. David Hildreth settled in Industry, Maine, 
in 1804, on the place now or lately owned by 
Charles S. Rackliff. He removed later to Gardiner, 
Maine, where he owned a saw mill. He was cap- 
tain of the Industry militia company. His wife died 
in Gardiner, February 15, 1842. They had ten chil- 
dren, the two eldest of which were born in Lewis- 
ton, Maine, where Paul Hildreth lived and where 
David was born. 2. Robert (see forward). 

(VI) Robert Hildreth, son of Pauf Hildreth (i), 
born probably in Lewiston about 1780; married 
Phebe Marston, of West Gardiner, Maine. He died 
at West Gardiner, October 20, 1833; his wife died 
there February 4, 1871. Children, born in West 
Gardiner, were: i. Emma Jane, born December 
22, 1814; died April, 1902. 2. William, born Novem- 

, ber 16, 1816; died October 28, 1898: unmarried. 

' 3. Daniel, born September I, 1818; living at West 

1 Gardiner, Maine; unmarried (1905). 4. Mehitable, 
born October 12, 1822, died May 16, 1883 ; unmar- 
ried. 5. Robert Gardner (see forward. 6. Thad- 

. deus, born May 17, 1826; died young. 7. Esther, 
born September 28, 1829 ; died young. 8. Hannah, 
born May 4, 1832 : living at Farmingdale, Maine. 

(VII) Robert Gardner Hildreth, son of Robert 
j Hildreth (6), born at West Gardiner, Maine, Sep- 

teiTiber 24, 1824; was killed in the civil war July 
1 29, 1863. He was a farmer. He married Janu- 
i ary 3, 1856, Hulda Hodgton, of Framingdale, Maine, 
born October 17. 1838; died in Portland. Maine. 
He enlisted in Company E. Twenty-fourth Maine 
Infantry, in the fall of 1861 for nine months service, 
and his time had expired at the time he was killed. 
Children were: i, Charles Albert, born Novem- 
ber 18, 1856: married Carrie E. Chamel (?), of 
Lewiston, Maine, November 18, 1876 ; he is a manu- 
facturer of overalls, etc., at Lewiston, Maine. 2. 
;. Andrew Gardner (see forward). 3. Walter Thad- 
■ deus, born February 17, 1861 ; died April' 17. 1885 ; 
unmarried. 4. William Clinton, born May 10, 1863; 
married Jane Weymouth, of Webster, Maine. His 
daughter Myra Orissa, born March 26, 1884, is 
living in Worcester, Massachusetts. His son Herbert 
Leroy. born April 29, 1886, is living in Lewiston. 
Maine. He went to sea and has not been heard 
, from for some years. 

j (VIII) Andrew Gardner Hildreth. son of Robert 
•Gardner Hildreth (7), was born at West Gardiner. 
Maine, December 20, 1858. He was but four years 
old when his father was killed in the civil war. 
and the family was broken up. His mother mar- 
ried again, but lived only a few years. So Mr. 
Hildreth began life under adverse conditions. When 
a mere child he worked on the farms of those who 
were keeping him. attending the district and village 
' schools in the winter terms only. The physical 
fatigue, the loneliness and the plain living of a 
New England farm life forty years ago either made 
a boy ambitious to do better or ground the very 
heart out of him. Sometimes the work developed 
the boy into a man of great physical strength : of 
a philosophy that met every difficulty in business 



with patience and determination; of a strength of 
character that sternness alone develops. Worcester 
county has thousands of examples of successful men 
developed under similar conditions to, those of Mr. 
Hildrcth's boyhood. 

At the age of sixteen he went to work in the 
Kennebec Wire Works at Hallowell, a town near 
his native place. Lie remained in this position until 
1882, when he came to Worcester. He had arranged 
to enter partnership with his brother Walter Hildreth 
as soon as the volume of business was large enough 
to need two of them. But his brother died soon 
afterward, and although the firm was known as 
Hildreth Brothers in 1883. when the business was 
established, and for some years afterward. Mr. 
Hildreth was really alone in the business until 1890, 
when he formed a partnership with W.- J. Hall, 
under the firm name of A. G. Hildreth & Co. 
Twelve years later, in 1902, Mr. Hall retired from 
the firm, and since then Mr. Hildreth has done busi- 
ness under his own name. The first shop was at 
5,i8 Main street. From there Mr. Hildreth moved 
to the Stevens building, Southbridge street. The 
factory was moved in August. 1904, to the present 
location 25 Hermon street. In April he bought 
the land and buildings which he occupies. The 
floor space used at present is about 15,000 feet. The 
regular force employed in the factory is no. Since 
i8g8 the product has been doubled, and every year 
the business has shown a large percentage of in- 
crease over the year preceding. In 1904 Mr. Hildreth 
made 45.370 dozens of garments and sold 44,438 
dozen garments. Besides the making of overalls, 
Mr. Hildreth manufactures shirts, frocks, etc. 
Among well known specialties are his mechanic 
overalls and outing shirts. His trade extends all 
over the country. He has the best of machinery 
for the work : everything is made in the factory 
under his direct supervision. ]\Ir. Hildreth is a 
member of Ridgeley Lodge, Independent Order Odd 
Fellows. 

He married Emma Augusta Hovey, September 
12. 1880. She is a daughter of Eben Hovey, of 
Hallowell. Maine, born April 12, 1859. in Hallowell. 
Maine. Their children are: i. Pearl C, born 
October i, 1&81, died October 13. 1881. 2. Walter 
Hallowell, born July 25, 1886 ; attended the Wor- 
cester high school. (In 1902 when Mr. Hall retired 
and sold his interest to Mr. Hildreth. Walter H., 
his son. entered his father's shop to learn the busi- 
ness and assist as salesman. He is at present asso- 
ciated with his father in the business but not as 
a partner). 3. Margaret Ina. born January 29, 
1890: lives at home. 4. Bessie Andrews, born Octo- 
ber 26. 1892 ; lives at home. 

BOYCE FAMILY. Joseph Boyes (i), the im- 
migrant ancestor of Franklin James Boyce, of Wor- 
cester, was born in England about 1615. The name 
is also spelled Boyce and Boyse. It is of French 
origin meaning Wood, and probably dates back to 
the Norman conquest. Du Bois is still a common 
name in France. In Scotland, whence came most 
of the Boyes families of America, either directly 
or from the branches settled in Ulster province, 
Ireland, the family home is in Forfarshire. Jo- 
seph Boyes, who came to America, was a tanner by 
trade. He settled in Salem, where he was a pro- 
prietor in 1639. He was admitted to the church 
there .^pril 7. 1640. and was made a freeman 
May 18, 1642. He sold his house and land in 
1657. But little is known of him. His will was 
dated November 4, 1684, and proved February 18, 
1694-5. bequeathing to his wife Eleanor, son Jo- 
seph; daughters Mary Southick; Hester ; and 



468 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



Elizabeth Hanson; to Joseph's children, Joseph and 
Benjamin. 

The children of Joseph and Eleanor Boycs were: 
Hester, baptized February 21, 1640; Eliza or Eliza- 
beth, baptized at Salem, March 6, 1642, married • • 

Hanson; Joseph, of whom later; Benjamin, bap- 
tized May 16, 1647, died before 1684; Mary mar- 
ried Southick. 

(H) Joseph Boyce, son of Joseph Boyce or 
Boyes (i), was born March, 1644, baptized at 
Salem, March 31, 1644. He lived in Salem until 
about the time of his father's death. He married, 
p"ebruary 4, 1667-8. Only the first child is re- 
corded at Salem. Their children : Sarah, born 
December 4, 1668; Joseph, mentioned in grand- 
father's will, 1684; Benjamin, mentioned in will 
aforesaid; William, born about 1690, of whom 
later. 

(HI) William Boyce, believed to be the son of 
Joseph Boyce (2), was born about 1690, perhaps in 
Rhode Island. The first records relating to William 
Boyes are found at Mendon, Massachusetts, when 
he was hired as school teacher. Under date of 
August 20, 1718, we find : "Having settled with 
Thomas Sabford, town treasurer, for ye years 
1716 and 1718, the selectmen then agreed with 
William Boyce to be ye town's School Master from 
ye day of ye date until ye 4th day of March next 
to keep said school at ye direction of ye selectmen 
and that ye selectmen pay ye sd Boyce after ye 
rate of 28 pounds a year and likewise after that 
rate for the time ye said Boyce has kept school in 
ye said town of Mendon from ye 12 day of May 
last to ye day of date hereof, ye sd Boyce giving 
account to ye selectmen what time he hath lost." 
One writer gives the date of his coming to Mendon 
as 1717, but from this record it appears that he 
began May 12, 1718. He must have been well edu- 
cated to have filled the position. He was already 
a man of family and had probably taught elsewhere 
in the colonies. The fact that he came to Mendon 
at the time the first Scotch-Irish emigration be- 
gan to come makes it worth while to consider 
whether he could not have been one of these im- 
migrants. It* seems out of the question to think 
that old Mendon would hire a Presbyterian Scotch- 
man for a school teacher under any circumstances, 
such was the feeling in evidence against the Scotch- 
Irish who came into the colonies. He proved sat- 
isfactory as a school teacher and citizen. He 
continued to teach until 1728, when he was suc- 
ceeded by Grindal Rawson, son of Rev. Grindal 
Rawson, and the first person living in Mendon to 
graduate at the college. Mr. Boyce's contract in 
1721 contained the curious provision that he should 
keep a "Reading and wrighting school during the 
year, unless the town shall be presented (by the 
grand jury) for want of a grammar school, when 
he was to cease teaching at ye selectmen's orders." 
His salary was twenty-eight pounds unless "Mov- 
ing" when he should receive thirty pounds. He 
taught most of the time one quarter each year in 
four different sections of the town — at the school 
house; at the south end; at Mill river and at Great 
river (Uxbridge). He gained in favor rapidly. He 
was a selectman in 1723-24. He bought the lands 
and rights of Obadiah Wheelock, and December 5, 
1719, the town of Mendon laid out to William Boyce 
fifty acres of the seventh division, and forty acres 
of Obadiah Wheelock on the south of Wigwam 
Hill. He bought more land of John Rawson Jan- 
uary 25, 1719-20, in Mendon, and another piece the 
same day of William Hayward. He bought other 
land in Mendon January 13, 1723-4, of Woodward 
Thompson; November 15, 1726, of Nathaniel Wood- 



bury, and four parcels February 6, 173S-9, one of 
Obadiah Wheelock, one of James Heath, one of Jo- 
seph Dorr and the other of Jonathan Hayward. 

He died in 1733 in Mendon. Guardians were 
appointed for his nine children February 7, 1734-5, 
giving their approximate ages. The names of the 
other children are to be found in the administration 
papers of Jonathan, son of William Boyce. The 
children of William Boyce were: i. William, Jr., 
born 1714, died 1738. Benjamin, born 1719, resided 
in Abington in 1742, probably the one who died at 
Mendon, 1787; John, of whom later; Samuel, born 
in 1721, resided in Medfield in 1742; Jonathan, born 
1723, resided in Uxbridge in 1747, died that year, 
administrator appointed May 14, 1747; Bethia, born 
1726; Margaret, born 1726. Daniel Boyce, who drew 
land in Mendon in 1733, may belong in this list of 
William's children, but if so, he died before the 
settlement of his brother's estate in 1747. 

(IV) John Boyce, son of William Boyce (3), 
was born in 1718, in Mendon, Massachusetts. He 
probably settled about the time of his marriage in 
Uxbridge, formerly part of Mendon, where he 
owned land in 1739. He sold part of the house lot 
of his father, William Boyce, to Edmund Nurse, 
of Mendon, July 30, 1739. His brother William 
died in 1738, leaving a wife Lydia and four broth- 
ers. His brother Jonathan, blacksmith, died 1747. 
John was administrator of his estate. By deed dated 
February 15, 1747, he bought of his two surviving 
brothers their interests in the estates of the two 
deceased brothers, William Boyce, late of Mendon, 
and Jonathan Boyce, late of Uxbridge. The broth- 
ers were Samuel Boyce, of Medfield, blacksmith, 
Benjamin Boyce, of Abington, cordwainer. Benja- 
min died in 1787, leaving four children — Jonathan, 
who died without issue; Lucius; Asa, who left no 
sons ; Phebe, and in his will mentions the children 
of his daughter, -Lydia Going. It follows that John 
Boyce, of Rutland, if he belonged to this family, 
was son of Samuel or of John Boyce. Samuel was 
last heard of in Medfield, while John removed to 
Oxford Gore, while John of Rutland was living in 
Rutland. John Boyce sold out in Mendon, January 
22, 1781, to Benjamin Read and to his brother, Ben- 
jamin Boyce, who returned from Abington. This 
land was that of his father and brothers and a lot 
bought of John Legg, May 30, 1751. He sold a lot 
of land in Oxford South Gore, thirty-two acres, 
July 10, 1786, to Benoni Benson. 

He married Sarah , who survived him. He 

died at Oxford South Gore in 1791, intestate. In 
the administration of his estate the names of Pris- 
cilla. Amplias and Asenath are mentioned. Cenia 
lived there at the time. John of Rutland must have 
been son or nephew. 

(V) John Boyce, son of nephew or John Boyce 
(4). was born in 1736. He bought land in Rut- 
land of William and Sarah Phillips of Boston, 
January 19, 1767. He had been living there since 
his marriage in 1763 and for some time previously. 
He sold a lot of land in Rutland, February 14, 1769, 
to John Smith, who married his wife's sister. His 
place was in the southern part of the town. The 
history of Rutland says of him : "John Boyce had 
land in Dublin originally laid out to William Fen- 
ton, on which he lived many years. He bought 
land in Rutland, April 16. 1777, of William Whit- 
taker, and February 8, 1775, land at Paxton of 
Hollen Maynard, of Northboro. He sold land at 
Barre, May 21, 1782, to Joseph Robinson, of Barre, 
and February 18, 1784, one hundred and seven_ acres 
at Barre to the same man. John Boyce and his son 
Thomas sold out their interests in Rutland to Jo- 
seph Sweetser, of Paxton, December 14, 1813. On 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



469 



the same day he deeded various h^ts to liis son, 
John, Jr., who remained at Rutland. He deeded a 

; farm of sixty-one acres to John, Jr., June 20, 1794, 
at the time he gave an undivided half of the home- 
stead to Thomas. 

He married (first), April 7, 1763, at Rutland, 

, Martha Dickee or Dickey, who died April 19, 1810. 

' He married (second), July 23, 1812, at Rutland, Airs. 
Anna Oliver, widow of James Oliver, of Barre. 
She died November 8, 1828, aged eighty years, at 
Barre. He died at Barre, May, 1817, aged eighty 
years or more. The children of John and Martha 
Boyce were : i. Thomas, baptized November 3, 1765, 
married, February 18, 1790, Patty Reed, who died 
April 30, 1810; married (second) (intentions dated 
January 3), 181 1, Widow Margaret Thompson, of 
Princeton. Thomas had twelve children born at 

, Rutland. 2. Jane, born October 4, 1767, married 

' Elijah Stearns, Jr. (Intentions dated June 25), 
1785- 3- Martha, born at Rutland, baptized June 25, 
1769. 4. Isabel, born in Rutland, baptized Septem- 
ber I, 1771 ; married Darius Bent (intentions dated 
January 28, 1797). 5. John, Jr., born April 28, 
1773, settled in Rutland, of whom later. 

(VI) John Boyce, son of John Boyce (s), was 
born at Rutland, Massachusetts, April 28, 1773. He 
received a common school education and worked 
during his youth for his father on the farm. After 
his marriage he purchased a farm which he worked 
until 1819, when he removed to Worcester and 
bought the old Bigsbee farm, which is now owned 
in part by the heirs, his grandson, John Richard 
Boyce, located on Webster street. Although during 
his last years he was retired he continued to live 
there until his death. He was a Whig in politics 
and an Episcopalian in religion. He was in his 
younger days a member of the state militia. 

He married (first). May 28,1794, Ruth Thomp- 
son, who was born December, 1768. He married (sec- 
ond), May, 1812, Polly Bond, of Leicester, who died 
March 8, 1813. He married (third), June 29, 1815, 
Lucy H. Prouty, of Brookfield, who was born Feb- 
ruary 24, 1782, and died November 3, 1827. He 
married (fourth) Hannah D. Fuller, of Worces- 
ter. The children of John and Ruth Boyce were : 
James Thompson, born March r. 1795; Martha Patty, 
born December I, 1796; John Frazier, born Novem- 
ber 12, 1798; Ruth, born May 22, iSoi ; Clarinda, 
born March 18, 1804; Witness, born October 21, 
181 1, died November 24, 181 1. The children of 
John and Polly Boyce were : Mary Eliza, born 
March 3, 1813, died January 31, 1814. The children 
of John and Lucy were : Lucy J., born March 14, 
1819 ; Samuel Dexter, born Septemljer 24, 1825. The 
children of John and Hannah were : George Wash- 
ington, born January 7, 1830; Louisa Elizabeth, 
born July 13, 1831 ; William W., born June 14, 1834, 
died August 20, 1839. 

(VII) John Frazier Boyce, third child of John 
Boyce (6), was born at Rutland, Massachusetts, 
November 12, 1798, died August 18, 1878. He re- 
ceived his education in the district schools of his 
native town and worked afterward with his father 
on the farm until the family removed to Wor- 
cester in 1819. He came to Worcester with the 
family and learned the trade of dyer at Rochdale in 
the woolen mill there, and worked there for a num- 
ber of years. He removed to Millbury and worked 
at his trade there. He drew a quarter section of 
land (one hundred and sixty acres) from the gov- 
ernment at Franklinville, Cattaraugus county. New 
York, and for three years worked upon it from 
spring to fall. Then he exchanged it for the farm 
of Elliott Boyce, his cousin, at Spencer. Later he 
sold the Spencer property to good advantage, and 



took charge of his father's farm on Webster street, 
Worcester. He bought the place and carried on the 
farm profitably until his death. He was orthodox 
in religion and attended the Old South Church, 
then on the Worcester common. He was a Repub- 
lican in politics and served on the school committee 
for many years. He was in the militia in his 
younger days. 

He married (first), at Barre, March 6, 1838, 
Adeline Adams, of Barre, no children. He married 
(second), at Heath, Massachusetts, April 23, 1840, 
Sophia Temple, who was born March 6, 1810, daugh- 
ter of Richard and Caroline (Christie) Temple. 
Her father was a farmer. The children of John 
Frazier and Sophia Temple Boyce were: I. Ada- 
line Adams, born March 26, 1841, died May 10, 
i860. 2. Eunice Jennette, born January S, 1843, mar- 
ried Otis H. Bancroft, May 15, 1862, and they have 
four children — Adaline Jennette, born May 15, 1863 ; 
Cora Eliza, born March 22, 1865; Nettie Louisa; 
Clara May, born July 23, 1873. 3. Emma Sophia, 
born December 27, 1845, died unmarried February 
I, 1905. 4. John Richard, born February 2, 1848, 
died February 18, 1901 ; married Lizzie Cora Rock- 
well, and they have had two children — Bernice Ma- 
rion, born April 29, 1892; Raymond John, born 
February 12, 1S94. 5. Franklin James, born March 
4, 1850. 6. William Charles, born July 10, 1852, 
died July 15, 1889. 

(VIII) Franklin James Boyce, fifth child of 
John Frazier Boyce (7), was born at Worcester, 
Massachusetts, March 4, 1850. He received his edu- 
cation in the common schools, taking also two terms 
in Howe's Business College, Worcester. At the age 
of twenty years he entered the employ of Rice & 
Griffin, manufacturers of doors, sash, blinds, etc., 
at the corner of Union and Exchange streets, where 
he was located for four years, when he and his 
brother, William C, took charge of the farm until 
the father's death, when it was willed to the three 
brothers, John R., Franklin James and William 
Charles, and the two sisters. His early experience 
on the farm proved useful to him when he and his 
brother John took charge of the paternal farm. So 
well did the partnership with his brother succeed 
that it was continued after the father's death, when 
they became the joint owners of the property with 
their brother William. After the death of William 
in 1889 without issue, the two brothers, John R. 
and Franklin James, continued the same equal di- 
vision of the property in joint ownership with their 
two sisters. As the city grew the farm land be- 
came more and more valuable. Finally in 1889 Mr. 
Boyce and his brother began to build houses on the 
property and more than forty have been erected and 
sold since then. Mr. Boyce built his residence at 
284 Webster street in 1874. He also owns land in 
Auburn, a part of his present farm. When the 
father died the farm contained one hundred and 
forty-four acres ; the brothers added to until they 
owned over three hundred acres. 

In religion Mr. Boyce is liberal, formerly at- 
tending the Universalist church, now the Bethany 
Congregational church. In politics he is a Republi- 
can. He is a Free Mason, member of the Alorning 
Star Lodge, of Worcester Royal Arch Chapter, 
Hiram Council and of Worcester County Command- 
ery. Knights Templar ; Worcester Lodge of Per- 
fection, Goddard Council, Lawrence Chapter of 
Rose Croix, the Massachusetts Consistory and of 
the Aleppo Temple, Order of Mystic Shrine. He is 
a member of the Worcester Agricultural Society and 
of the New England Fair Association. . 

He married, December 28, 1881, Josephine E. 
Buck, who was born April 2, 185S, the daughter of 



470 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



Ezra and Louisa (Boyce) Buck, of Machias, New 
York. Her father is a farmer. The children of 
Franklin James and Josephine E. Boyce are: i. 
Eugene Franklin, born December 20, 1883, a student 
in Clark College. 2. Mabel Louise, born October 
16, 1885, married Albert Stevens Allen, of Auburn, 
Massachusetts. 3. Gladys Myrtle, born July i, 1888. 
4. Hazel Emma, born February 10, 1891. 

THE BELISLE FAMILY. Alexander Belisle 
(l), first of the name in Worcester, was born in 
St. Damase, Canada, December 28, 1831, son of 
Antoine Levasseur and Marguerite (Delage) Belisle. 
At the age of eighteen he emigrated alone to this 
country, and in the spring of 1847 found employment 
in the shoe factory of Captain Wood at West Mill- 
bury. He resided in St. Marcel, Canada, for a few 
years, then returned to Worcester county, and during 
most of his life followed his trade of shoemaker in 
the various factories of Worcester. He died in 
Worcester, March 14, 1903, aged seventy-two years. 

He married, in Millbury, July 10, 1853, Marie 
Dorval, who was born in St. Ours, Canada, 183J, 
the daughter of Louis and Marie (Benoit) Dorval. 
Her parents removed to Millbury in 1835. She died 
in Worcester, January 31, 1906, aged seventy-tour 
years. Of the fifteen children of Alexander and 
Marie Belisle, six died in infancy. Those who grew 
to maturity were: Josephine, married Gaspard Uu- 
puis, of of Sutton, Massachusetts ; Elmire, died 
1897, married Andre G. Lajoie, a well known grocer 
of Worcester; Alexander, Jr., of whom later; Felix 
A., of whom later ; Eugene L., of whom later ; 
George E., a lawyer, of whom later; Charles Ed- 
mond, managing editor of L'Opinion Publique of 
Worcester, of whom later; Hector L., graduate of 
Harvard teacher, of whom later ; Anna, a music 
teacher, resides at the homestead, 69 Salem street, 
Worcester. 

(II) Alexander Belisle, Jr., son of Alexander 
Belisle (i), was born at Ste. Victoire, Canada, Sep- 
tember 4, 1856. His father had returned to Canada 
on account of a long illness, returning to Worces- 
ter, December 31, 1862. Alexander, Jr., attended 
the public schools of Worcester and learned the 
trade of shoemaker with his father. He left the 
shoe business at the age of twenty-two to become 
business manager of Le Travailletir, a French news- 
paper, published in Worcester by the late Edward 
Gagnon. In 1887 he entered the insurance office of 
the late Colonel John D. Washburn, where he is 
still employed. He has taken an active part in 
politics and was the first Franco-American elected 
to the common council of his city, serving four years, 
1888 to 1891. He is at present a director of the 
Free Public Library, and one of the best known 
men among the Franco-Americans of the county. 

An interesting fact concerning his education was 
brought to mind by the death of Miss Carrie A. 
George recently. When a young man Alexander, 
Jr., attended with his father the evening school in 
Worcester then in charge of jNIiss George. Later 
she was the teacher at Cambridge street school when 
his sons went there, and all of them were in her 
class at various times. Thus she taught three gen- 
erations of the same family. Mr. Belisle is a mem- 
ber of several Franco-American societies, the Wor- 
cester County Mechanics' Association since 1882, 
and the Worcester Society of Antiquity. 

He married at the age of twenty-one, 1877, Al- 
bini Boulay, who was born at La Presentation, Can- 
ada, March 21, 1854, daughter of Narcisse and Hed- 
widge (Laviolette) Boulay, of Acton, Canada. Of 
their eight children, all of whom were born in Wor- 



cester, four sons are living, viz. : Narcisse A., born 
October 14, 1878, a clerk at present in the Worcester 
postotiice; Emilio H., April 21, 1881, graduate of 
Holy Cross College, 1906; Ferdinand J., August 20, 
1883, graduate of Clark College, 1906 ; Eugene S., 
September 3, 1891, student ni the Classical high 
school. 

{,11) Felix A. Belisle, son of Alexander Belisle 
(i), was born in St. Marcel, Richelieu, Quebec, Oc- 
tober 22, 1857. He came to Worcester when a boy 
of five years with the family, and was educated 
there in the public schools and in Foster's Bu.'-iness 
College. For some years he worked at the trade 
of shoemaking with his father. Then he engaged 
in newspaper work on the Patrie Nouzielle of Cohoes, 
New York, and later on Le Travailleur of Worces- 
ter with the late Ferdinand Gagnon. In 1885 he 
made up his mind to study law and gave up news- 
paper work to enter a law office in Lowell. He 
completed his preparation as a lawyer in Worces- 
ter in the office of Henry L. Parker and was ad- 
mitted to the bar in 1887. He entered immediately 
upon the practice of his profession, in which he 
was eminently successful. There was need for a 
capable French speaking attorney in Worcester 
county where the French speaking population is 
already large and has been growing rapidly. He 
had a very promising career before him cut short 
by his death, April 13, 1905. He was taken ill in 
the fall of 1904 after his return from a visit to the 
St. Louis fair. He was twice operated upon in 
St. Vincent's hospital and his ultimate recovery 
had been expected. He died in an attack of heart 
failure. At the time of his death Mr. Belisle was 
president of L'Alliance Francaise of Worcester, a 
member of the St. Jean Baptiste Society, the Casino 
Club and of the Bar Association of Worcester Coun- 
ty. He married Agnes C. Smith, who survives him. 
They had no children. 

(II) Eugene L. Belisle, son of Alexander Be- 
lisle (i), was born in St. Marcel, Canada, March 
10, 1859. He came to Worcester with the family 
December 31, 1862, and was educated in the public 
schools there. He also learned the shoemaker's 
trade of his father. In the early eighties he was 
an athlete of some note and was widely known as 
one of the best polo players on roller skates in 
New England. He started in business for himself 
as a grocer with a store on Hanover street, Wor- 
cester. He gave up this business to became the 
business manager and part owner of L'Opinion 
Publique, a daily newspaper in the French language 
printed in Worcester. In politics he is a Republican 
and has been prominent in public affairs for a num- 
ber of years. He was twice elected to the common 
council of the city of Worcester, serving in 1893-94- 
95, and he was also a trustee of the City Hospital. 
In 1905 he traveled extensively in Europe, and in 
April, 1906, on recommendation of Congressman 
Rockwood Hoar and of Senators Lodge and Crane, 
he was appointed consul at Limoges, France. He is 
unmarried. 

(II) George E. Belisle, son of Alexander Be- 
lisle (l), was born in Worcester, July 7, 1867. He 
attended the public schools there and was grad- 
uated from Holy Cross College in 1888. He worked 
seven years in the Worcester postoffice and ten years 
in the postoffice department in Washington. While 
in Washington he used his spare time as many 
department clerks with ambition have done and 
are doing, attending the law school of Georgetown 
LIniversity. He completed the course and was ad- 
mitted to the bar. He was an active and prominent 
member of Carroll Institute, the Catholic Club of 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



471. 



the National Capital. He succeeded to the law 
practice of his brother, Felix A. Belisle, who died 
jn 1905. He is unmarried. 

(11) Charles Edmond Belisle, son of Ale.xander 
Belisle (l), was born in Worcester, March 22, 1869, 
iand was educated there in the public schools and in 
Foster's Business College. He learned the trade 
•pi printer under Charles R. Stobbs, of Worcester, 
'then went to New York as journeyman and be- 
,came a department foreman in the great printing 
lestablishment of the city printer, Alarlin B. Brown. 
,In January, 1893, he returned to Worcester and in 
.partnership with four of his brothers founded 
■L'Opinion Publique, now a Franco-American daily 
newspaper, of which he is the managing editor and 
which he has been very successful in its field. The 
Belisles have built up also a large book and job 
printing business and have a large printing plant. 
Mr. Belisle is a member of several Franco-American 
societies. He married, July 19, 1897, Josephine M. 
. Perreault, daughter of the well known foundryman, 
,Presbey Pero (Perreault originally), of Worcester, 
.'she died February 3, 1900. They had no children. 
I (H) Hector L. Belisle, son of Alexander Be- 
lisle (l), was born in Worcester, October 8, 1874. 
'He attended the public schools and graduated in 
:i896 from the Classical high school, one of the 
I honor men. He composed the music of the class 
I song at graduation. He entered Harvard the same 
.year and was graduated cum laudc in 1900. He be- 
■came at once teacher of French "and history in the 
.high school of Lawrence, Massachusetts. In the 
■ year following he was elected principal of the John 
ik. Rollins grammar school of that city, a position 
■he has held for the past six years. He married, 
June 20, 1905, Grace Mildred Potter, of Boston, a 
'. teacher in the Dorchester high school, Boston. 
They have a son, George Edmond, born April I. 
1906. 

MICHAEL PHILIP McGRATH, of Worces- 
ter, a railroad builder and contractor, was born in 
the town in which he now resides, November 15, 

; i860, a son of Michael and Johanna (Powers) Mc- 

■■ Grath. 

Michael McGrath (father) was born in county 
Waterford, Ireland, about 1825. He married, about 

I 1849 or 1850, Johanna Powers, also a native of 
county Waterford, Ireland, born about 1S25, and the 
following day they sailed for America, landing in 

, Boston, Massachusetts, and going direct to Worces- 
ter, where he devoted his time and attention to the 
business of a contractor. About three decades ago 

, he erected a house at No. 2 Woodland street, Wor- 

, cester, the same in which his son, Michael P., now 
resides, and there spent the remainder of his days. 
He died in 1877, and his widow passed away at her 
home in Worcester in 1S93. They were the parents 

; of nine children, one of whom died in infancy, and 
the names of the others were as follows : Richard 
Desmond; William, who is employed by his brother, 
Michael P.; Mary, wife of the late James E. Fay, 
of Worcester ; Johanna, wife of Frank E. Reynolds, 
of Worcester; Patrick Desmond; ]\Iichacl P., (see 
forward); Margaret F., deceased; and John J., a 
resident of Worcester, and a prominent member of 
the Catholic church. 

The public schools of Worcester, Massachusetts, 
aliforded Michael P. McGrath the means of obtain- 
ing a practical, English education. Upon the com- 
pletion of his studies he went to Clinton, Massa- 
chusetts, where he secured employment with the 
Lancaster Gingham Company. Later he went to 
Kansas, and while a resident of that state had 
charge of gangs of men who were engaged in laying 



water pipes made by R. D. Wood & Co., of Phila- 
delphia, manufacturers of iron pipes, who were also 
the contractors for the work. Upon his return to 
his native city, Worcester, he began the contracting 
business on his own account, and his first piece of 
work was the building of the Millbury line of elec- 
tric railway. He also was awarded the contract to 
build the electric line from Rochester, New York, 
to Buffalo, seventy-eight miles, and one from Mai- 
den, Massachusetts, to Haverhill, sixty miles. He 
equips the roads complete, all ready for the cars, 
power houses, barns, etc. He has built about forty 
railroads, electric and steam, throughout various 
sections of the United States. His latest contract 
is for the building of three hundred and fifty miles of 
railroad line for the Ottawa River Railway Com- 
pany of Canada, of which Colonel Edgar McMullen, 
of Boston, is president, the project involving an ex- 
penditure of more than ten million dollars, e-xclusive 
of equipment. The line will be from Montreal to 
Ottawa, one hundred and six miles, thence to Mid- 
land, Ontario, on the Georgian Bay, where connec- 
tion will be made with the vessels which ply the 
great lakes. It is a steam road, and will run through 
a strip of territory between eighty and one hundred 
miles wide, between the Grand Trunk and the Can- 
adian Pacific railroads, and, with a terminus at 
Midland, it will be in a position to communicate 
with any port on Lakes Superior, Michigan and 
Huron. Later this is to be an electric road. 

The introduction of electrically propelled equip- 
ment for passenger and freight service will be an 
innovation in Canada, and the outcome of the move- 
ment, which the projectors believe is beyond the ex- 
perimental stage, even so far as stiff grades are 
concerned, will be watched with interest by rail- 
road men and the general public in the Dominion. 
The Ottawa River Railway is the western extension 
of the Atlantic & Lake Superior Railroad,, running 
along the south shore of the St. Lawrence river, 
between Bale des Chaleurs, Quebec, and ^lontreal, 
where it has communication with ocean-going 
steamships. The terminal stations are to be built 
at Montreal, Ottawa and Midland, in addition to 
the smaller stations along the line. The company 
will join with American and Canadian roads in 
a union station to be in the heart of the uptown busi- 
ness district in Montreal, the entrance being by tun- 
nel. The station is to be modern in every respect. 
Mr. McGrath has also the contract to equip the com- 
pany's system. The total contracts involve an ex- 
penditure of fourteen million dollars ; the road is 
to he in operation in three years. 

]\Ir. iMcGrath serves in the capacity of general 
manager of the Northampton Traction Company, and 
chairman of its executive board ; general manager 
of the Lansdale & Norristown Electric Railroad, 
which he built in 1902, and purchased May 27, 1905 ; 
general manager of the St. Lawrence International 
Electric Railroad, running from Redwood to Alex- 
andria Bay. New York, which he built in 1892 ; and 
a stockholder in two banks, several railroads, and 
a number of manufacturing concerns, the principal 
one being the Fibre Pail Manufacturing Company of 
Stockton, Pennsylvania. He is an advocate of Dem- 
ocratic principles, but not a strong partisan, as in 
Icoal affairs he casts his vote for the candidates 
who in his opinion are best qualified for office. He 
holds membership in the Knights of Columbus. In 
l8g8 he took a trip to Europe, visiting the places of 
note and interest in the Old World, including the 
home of his parents in Ireland. He married, Jan- 
uary 20, 1886. Ellen Frances Walsh, daughter of 
;\lichacl and Margaret (Power) Walsh, late of Wor- 
cester, Massachusetts, whose family consisted of 



472 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



eight children, as follows: Bridget, wife of Patrick 
Roach, of Worcester; John, deceased; Mary, de- 
ceased; Michael P.; Thomas J.; Edmund A.; Ellen 
Frances, wife of Michael P. McGrath; and Jilar- 
garet, deceased. Michael Walsh was born in county 
Waterford, Ireland, about 1828, emigrated to the 
United States about 1849, and for many years was 
employed by the old Norwich & Worcester Railroad, 
About the year 1850 Mr. Walsh married Margaret 
Power, born in county Waterford, Ireland; died 
in 1874. He died in 1891. Mr. Walsh and family 
were members of the Catholic church. Three chil- 
dren were born to Mr. and Mrs. McGrath : Michael 
J., who is a student at the Norwich University, Ver- 
mont ; Mary Eleanor, a student at the Worcester 
high school ; and Edmund. Mr. McGrath and his 
family are members of the Catholic church. 

FAYETTE ASARYL AMIDON. Roger Ami- 
don (l) was the emigrant ancestor of Fayette A. 
Amidon, manager and proprietor of the Worcester 
Market, Worcester, Massachusetts, and of perhaps 
all in this country of the name of Amidon. The 
name has been spelled variously Ammidon, Ammi- 
down, Amadon. Roger Amidon was in Salem. 
Massachusetts, before 1637, when he was mentioned 
as the owner of half an acre of meadow. There 
seems to be no evidence that he was a French 
Huguenot, except that some of his descendants 
mingled with the Huguenots and perhaps intermar- 
ried with them at Oxford. He removed to Wey- 
mouth in 1640, and was in Boston in 1643. He set- 
tled finally at Seekonk, in Rehoboth, Massachusetts. 
His house was at the northeasterly end of the 
semicircle of houses comprising the original village 
of Seekonk, and was about a mile north of the 
church in the present town. He drew his house lot 
July 18, 1648, and drew other lots June 3, 1662, June 
7, 1665, in 1668 and 1671. He was one of the 
original proprietors of Rehoboth, and was there 
probably as early as 1645, when it was incorporated. 
He married first, Sarah — , who died at Re- 
hoboth, June 20, 1668. He married (second) Joanna, 
daughter of George and Jane Harwood. She died 
July I, 1711. He was buried November 13, 1673. 
There were suspicions at the time that his death 
was not natural, and an inquest was held. He had 
four children by his first wife and three by the sec- 
ond. His estate was divided March 4, 1674, among. 
his widow Joanna ; son Ebenezer, by his representa- 
tive, John Coblech, of Swansea ; daughter Hannah, 
wife of Jeremiah Wheaton. John Harrod, of Pa- 
tucksett, brother of the widow, gave advice in the 
settlement of the estate. The children of Roger 
Amidon: I. Ebenezer, mentioned in settlement of 
estate, 1674, was in Rehoboth 1689, advanced money 
in King Philip's war, 1675. 2. Sarah, born December 
6, 1640, Weymouth. 3. Lydia, born February 27, 
1643, Boston. 4.' Hannah, born September 20, 1652 ; 
married Jeremiah Wheaton, of Rehoboth ; had eight 
children; died at Rehoboth, September 13, 1719. 5. 
Philip, see forward. 6. Henry, born at Rehoboth, 
January 24, 1671, was on list of inhabitants of Re- 
hoboth 1689. 7. Mehitable, born at Rehoboth, 
August 27, 1672 ; married, December 23, 1709, John 
Thompson, of Rehoboth. 

(II) Philip Amidon, son of Roger Amidon 
(i), born at Rehoboth, January 26, 1670, resided 
there until the death of his first wife, when he re- 
moved to Mendon. In 1717 he removed to Ox- 
ford, Massachusetts, where many French Huguenots 
settled about that time, and died there March 15, 
1747. He was a farmer and cooper. He and his 
wife joined the Oxford church in 1720. He was a 
selectman 1730, constable 1735. His will was proved 



May 12, 1747. Of his old homestead three-fourths 
belongs to the farm now or recently owned by 
Franklin H. Clark, and the other quarter belonged 
recently to Lucinda Morse. He married first, at 
Rehoboth, May 27, 169S, Mehitable, daughter of 
Samuel and Mary (Willard) Perry, born April 30, 
1680. She had one child and died at Rehoboth, July 
4, 1699, aged nineteen. He went to Mendon about 
1700 and married (second), September 16, 1700, 
Ithamar Warfield, who survived him. She was 
born March 28, 1676, daughter of Deacon John W. 
and Hannah (Randall) Warfield, of Mendon. His 
will was proved May 12, 1747. His children: i. 
Henry A., see forward. 2. Roger, born February 6, 
1702. 3. Ichabod, born May, 1704. 4. Mary, born 
March 30, 1706, married, July 18, 1728, Benjamin 
Chamberlain resided at Oxford. 5. Philip born 1708, 
resided in that part of Oxford set off as Charlton, 
and left many descendants. 6. Ephraim, born 1710. 
7. Ithamar, born April 25, 1712. 8. John, born May 
iPi 1713- 9- Hannah, born February 2, 1717; mar- 
ried Samuel Wheelock, of Hardwick. Their daugh- 
ter Mary, born 1738, married Caleb Cheney, of Men- 
don. They resided at Milford, where he was town 
clerk, selectman and lieutenant in the revolutionary 
army. They had twelve children, one of whom was 
an ancestor of General A. B. Underwood, U. S. A. 

(III) Henry A. Amidon, son of Philip Amidon 
(2), born at Rehoboth, February 8, 1699, married, at 
Mendon, March 31, 1718, Meltiah, daughter of Jo- 
seph and Hannah (Thurston) Cheney, born Octo- 
ber 14, 1690, died May 17, 1780. He was a farmer 
at Oxford and Dudley until 1744, when he removed 
to Ashford, Connecticut, where he died March 5, 
1778. His children : i. Jacob, born February 28, 
1720. 2. Mehitable, born January 15, 1723; married, 
December 12, 17.^2, William Curtis, of Dudley ; had 
James, Henry and other children. 3. Joseph, born 
February, 1725. 4. Henry, born May 3, 1727. 

(IV) Captain Henry Amidon, son of Henry 
(3), born at Oxford, Massachusetts, May 3, 1727, 
was a farmer. He settled at Pomfret, Connecticut; 
in 1752 removed to Willington, Connecticut, where 
he died. He answered the Lexington call to arms 
in 1775 2S a private from Willington. He was ap- 
pointed by Governor Trumbull captain of Third 
company, Twenty-second regiment, March 21, 1777, 
and served at New London and other places. He 
married, at Pomfret, Connecticut, September 25, 
1 75 1, Sarah Doubledee (Doubleday), who died at 
Willington, January 8, 1794. His children: I. Jede- 
diah, born May 15, 1752, died August 11, 1752. 2. 
Jedediah,. born 1753. 3. Moses, born 1756. 4. Jon- 
athan, born 1757. 5. Mary, born 1762, married Jona- 
than Flint, lived at Braintree, Vermont, where he 
died August 26, 1840; had Asaryl, born 1785; Elisha, 
1788; Joseph, 1789; Augustus? 1792; Anna, 1794; 
Sally, 1796; Polly, 1798. 6. Jacob, born March 5, 
1764. 7. William, born January 30, 1767. 8. Henry, 
born February 9, 1769. 9. Asaryl, see forward. 10. 
Sarah, born February 9, 1774 ; married Shubael 
Hall ; removed to Orange county, New York, 1799, 
died there March 27, 1841. His children were Shu- 
bael, born 1796; Sallie, 1800; George, 1805; mar- 
ried Ruth West. 

(V) Asaryl Amidon, son of Henry Amidon (4), 
was born at Willington, Connecticut, July 20, 1771. 
He served in the war of 1812. He removed to 
Belchertown, Massachusetts, where he settled, and 
died there February 7, 1853. He married, November 
29, 1799, Alethia Perry, born February 28, 1773, died 
August 13, 1757. His children: I. Asaryl, see. for- 
ward. 2. Alethia, born July 23, 1S02, died June, 1886. 
3. Bridget, born July 28, 1804, died December 11, 
1822. Sally, born August 4, 1807; married Porter 




o'^aa^^ 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



473 



Edwards, and died in Willington, Connecticut, No- 
vember 23, 184s, leaving daughter, Sarah E., born 
November 7, 1845, died April 6, 1861. 5. Samuel, 
born Alay 29, 1S09; married, April, 1835, Harriet, 
daughter of Martin and Sally (King) Sedgwick, 
born June 29, 1827, died July 12, i88g ; resided at 
Belchertown. Samuel died May 14, 1858, and widow 
removed to Springtield, Massachusetts. They had 
no Children, but adopted George Franklin Amidon, 
who lives at Springfield, and has a son George 
Samuel Amidon. 6. Polly, born November 9, 181 1, 
died January 12, 1824. 

(VI) Asaryl Amidon, son of Asaryl Amidon 
(5), born September 26, 1800, at Mansfield, Con- 
necticut; married, October 11, 1830, Aurelia Mc- 
Intire, born April 9, 1809, at Thetford, Vermont. 
He died at Belchertown, February 4, 1847. His 
widow married Foster Edwards. She died 1871, at 
IBelchertown. Children of Asaryl : I. Samuel Gil- 
lett, born October 16, 1833. 2. Edward Perry, see 
forward. 3. John Alvin, born September i, 1845, 
died November 24, 1847. 

(Vn) Edward Perry Amidon, son of Asaryl 
Amidon (6), born at Belchertown, September 4, 
1837; married, May 10, i860, Sophia Olive, daugh- 
ter of Asa and Orlinda Shumway, born March 7, 
1840, at Palmer, Massachusetts. He died at Belcher- 
town, November 12, 1874. She resides with her 
only son, Fayette Asaryl Amidon. 

(Vni) Fayette Asaryl Amidon, son of Edward 
Perry Amidon (7), was born at Belchertown, Massa- 
chusetts, July 13, 1862. He attended school in his 
native town until the age of seventeen. In 18S0 he 
removed with his mother to New Haven, Connecti- 
cut, where he went to work in a large pork-packuig 
establishment. Later he worked five years in a de- 
partment meat store. Then he went into business 
for himself, dealing in butter and eggs. His health 
failed, and he had to give up business for a time. 
He resided at Springfield and Gilbertville, Massa- 
chusetts. He resumed business in Manchester, New 
Hampshire, in charge of the butter and egg depart- 
ment in a large provision store, and remained there 
four years. He then entered into partnership with 
Oscar Swanson, Gustaf T. Malmstead and George H. 
Pettis, to start the well known Providence Market 
in Providence, a department market carrying gro- 
ceries as well as all kinds of meat, fruit and vegeta- 
bles, on a more extensive scale than had been done 
hitherto, and the venture was an instant success. 
The firm started a similar department store at Wor- 
cester, Massachusetts in October, 1894, and Mr. 
Amidon took personal charge of it. He moved to 
Worcester soon after the store was opened, and has 
a handsome home on Germain street. It is generally 
conceded that the Worcester Market, as their store 
is called, is by far the largest and most profitable 
market and grocery in the county. The credit for 
the remarkable success of the house is given in 
large measure to the business astuteness and per- 
sonal attention of Mr. Amidon. A self-made man, 
he stands high in the estimation of other business 
men of the city. He is a member of Trinity Church, 
and of its finance committee; and is a Republican in 
politics, but has never aspired to office. He is a 
member of the Board of Trade, and president of 
the Speedway Club, being an owner and admirer of 
good horses. 

Mr. Amidon married, June 16, 1895, Lucj' Ella 
Higgins, of Providence, Rhode Island, daughter of 
Cliarles and Lucy (Watson) Higgins. Her father 
died in East Greenwich, Rhode Island, in 1874, at 
the age of fifty-eight years. Her mother died in 
1881, aged fifty-seven, at Saylorsville, Rhode Island. 
She was one of nine children born to her parents. 



eight of whom lived to maturity. jMrs. Amidon is 
a graduate of the high school. 

CHARLES WALTER KING. William King, 
Esq. (i), the emigrant ancestor of Charles Walter 
King, of Worcester, was a Puritan emigrant from 
England, sailing before March 20, 1635, from Wey- 
mouth, Dorsetshire, England. The records show 
that he was aged forty, his wife Dorothy thirty- 
four, and they had with them five children : Mary, 
aged twelve; Katheryn. aged ten; William, aged 
eight ; Hannah, aged six ; Samuel, aged two. They 
settled at Salem, Massachusetts. Fie was admitted 
a freeman there May 25. 1636. He had grants of 
land of forty acres on Jeffrey's Creek, now Man- 
chester-by-the-Sea; thirty acres at Royal-side at the 
head of Bass river, now Beverly, and he located his 
homestead there. He was a grand juror in 1637. 
He was a member of the First church at Salem, but 
in 1637 joined the Antinomians and came under the 
ban of the Salem authorities. He was requested to 
sever his connection with the new church or have 
his arms taken away from him. He remained with 
tlie new faith and gave up his gun to Lieutenant 
Danforth. Later he was banished for a time for 
sheltering the persecuted Quakers. He died in 
1650-51 and his estate was administered by his 
widow Dorothy and son William. 

He married Dorothy Hayne, born in England 
about 1601 and died in Southold, Suffolk county. 
New York, where her daughters Hannah, wife of 
Richard Browne, Sr., and Deliverance, wife of John 
Tuthill, were living. The widow of William King 
bought a dwelling house and land at Salem of John 
Swasey. She sold it in 1653, and removed to Long 
Island. She sold the homestead to her son, William 
King. The records at Sherburne, England, show- 
that William King and Dorothy Hayne were mar- 
ried February 17, 1616-17. The parish of Sher- 
burne is in Dorsetshire. 

Children of William and Dorothy King were: 
I. William, of Royal-side, Salem, born about 1627-28 
in England, was persecuted as a Quaker ; he mar- 
ried Katharine Shaflin, daughter of Michael Shaf- 
lin, of Salem. 2. Samuel, of Southold, Long Is- 
land, born in England about i633-34. removed from 
Salem to Southold, where he owned some four hun- 
dred acres of land in 1658 ; died November 29, 1721, 
aged eighty-eight : married Abigail, daughter of 
William Ludlaw. 3. John, of Salem, baptized there 
November 11, 1638; in 1706 he gave deed of land 
in Salem to son Samuel : died before 1719. 4. Mary, 
born about 1623 in England, married probably, 1646, 
John Scudder, son of Thomas Scudder. 5. Kath- 
erine. born about 1625, in England, married John 
Swasey, of Salem, removed to Southold, Long Is- 
land. 1658. 6. Hannah, born in England about 1629, 
married Lieutenant Richard Browne. Sr., of South- 
old, Long Island, admitted freeman 1662, died 1686- 
87. 7. Mehitable, born abfiut 1635. baptized in Salem, 
December 25. 1636, probably died young. 8. Deliver- 
ance, baptized in Salem, October 31, 1636, married 
at Southold. Long Island, February 7, 1657, died 
there January 25, 16S8-89. aged forty-nine ; married 
John Tuthill. Sr. ; justice of the peace, member the 
colonial assembly, 1695-98, descendant of John Tut- 
hill, of Saxlingham, England. 

(II) John King, son of William King (l), was 
baptized November II, 1638. in Saleni, Massachu- 
setts. In 1682 he was called son-in-law in the will 
of Thomas Goldthwait. In 1699 with his wufe Eliza- 
beth he gave a deed to Caleb Buffam, and in 1706 
he gave a deed of land in Salem to his son. Samuel 
King. He died before 1719. 

He married Elizabeth Goldthwait. daughter of 



474 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



Thomas and Rachel Goldthwait, of Salem. She was 
baptized November 20, 1647, and married. September, 
1660. Thomas Goldthwait was in Roxbnry in 1631 
and was admitted a freeman of Salem in i6,U and 
was member of the church there. His will was 
proved at Salem. March 6, 1719. Children of John 
and Elizabeth (Goldthwait) King were: I. John, 
born October. 1662. 2. Samuel, born in Salem, May, 
1664, married Elizabeth Marsh, daughter of Zachary 
and Marv (Silsbee) Marsh, of Salem, and grand- 
daughter of John Marsh, who settled 1636-37 with 
his wife Susan (Skelton) Marsh, daughter of Rev. 
Samuel Skelton ; among their children was Ebe- 
nezer, who settled in Rutland. 3. Captain William, 
born at Salem, 1669. signed deed for partition of land 
left his father by Thomas Goldthwait, his grand- 
father; settled in Sutton, Massachusetts, with his 
brother Jonathan, and was one of the most promi- 
nent and wealthy men there ; bought land at Charl- 
ton ; died November, 1748; married Hannah Cooke, 
daughter of Isaac and Elizabeth (Buxton) Cooke, 
June 4. 1695: married (second) Rebecca Littlefield, 
of Wells. Maine, daughter of Edmimd and Agnes 
Littlefield. who came to Boston from England in 
1641 and removed to Wells. 4. Elizabeth, born Feb- 
ruary 16, 1671. married Nathaniel Aters. December 
12, 1699. 5. Jonathan, born February 16. 1674. of 
whom later. 6. Thomas, born February, 1677, died 
October, 1680. 7. Hannah, born April, 1681, mar- 
ried, June 24, 1709. Benjamin Marsh. 8. Mary, 
born May, 1687. 

(HI) Jonathan King, son of John King (2), 
was born February, 1674. at Salem, and about 1717 
settled in Sutton. At first he was not a proprietor 
but be bought a farm of his brother, William King, 
and his brother-in-law. Benjamin Marsh, a fifteenth 
of 3000 acres, in deed dated August 14, 1715. His 
house was situate a few rods east of the one now or 
lately of Solomon Severy. Subsequently he built 
another on the spot where the Severy house stands. 
At first his mother lived with him, and he was over 
fifty when he married. He married, February 2, 
1726. in Salem. Alice Verry. After his death his 
farm was divided and his son John later bought 
out the other heirs and had the homestead, and the 
other children moved out of town. Children of 
Jonathan and Alice were: I. Desire, born at Sut- 
ton. June 22, 1729. married Amos Gould, October 
31, 1749. and removed to Charlton; she died in New 
at the home of her son, Amos Gould. 2. Sarah, 
born March 11. 1731, married, December 26. 175S, 
Eliphalet Rowell. and settled in Great Barrington. 
3. Jonathan. Jr., born September 31, 1734, of whom 
later. 4. John, born January 19, 1837, married, Jan- 
uary 10. 1758, Elizabeth Town. 

(IV) Jonathan King, Jr., son of Jonathan King 
(3), was born in Sutton, Massachusetts. September 
3, 1734. He settled in that part of Petersham, which 
became Dana. Massachusetts, in 1801. He lived in 
Sutton for some time befcJVe his removal to Peter- 
sham, and bis house was on the road from Eight 
Lots School house to Millbury. nearly opposite what 
is now called the Harwood place on the west side 
of the road. He was a soldier in the revolution 
and late in life a pensioner. His widow drew a 
pension after his death until her death about 1850. 
He married (first). April 10. 1755, and (second) 
at Petersham. April 25. 1787. Rachel Claflin. Chil- 
dren of Jonathan. Jr. and Elizabeth were : i. Mary, 
married. December 14, 1780, Benjamin Davidson, 
settled in Spencer, grandparents of John C. David- 
son, of Worcester. 2. John. 3. Stephen, of whom 
later, and perhaps others. 

(V) Stephen King, son of Jonathan King (4), 
was born in Sutton. Massachusetts, about 1765. At 



the age of sixteen hf ran away from home in order 
to enlist in the American army in the revolution. 
The story that he used to tell himself as to the 
effect of being under fire for the first time is given 
in the Sutton history. His hair stood up with fright 
and he had to pull his hat down several times after 
it had been lifted from his head by the scare. He 
soon got over this feeling, however, and made a 
good soldier. Stephen King enlisted, according* to 
the revolutionary archives in the state house at Bos- 
ton, when he was sixteen years old. One record 
gives his age as fifteen and a half. He enlisted in 
the Continental army agreeable to the resolve of 
the general court of December 2, 1780, as returned 
by the enlisting officer, Seth Washburn, supervisor. 
He was in Captain Elliot's company. Colonel Davis's 
regiment. The records give his stature as five feet 
two inches (also as five feet, three inches) ; com- 
plexion, light, and his occupation as farmer. He 
was born in Sutton and engaged for the town of 
Sutton, enlisting December 25. 1780. Later he was 
in Captain Remick's company, the First Massachu- 
setts Regiment, for a term of three years. This com- 
pany, in which he served to the end of the war, 
was in the regiment of Colonel Joseph Vose (First). 
His name is on a muster roll dated at Garrison, 
West Point, April, 1781 ; he was at Camp Phillips- 
burg in May. June and July, 1781. In October and 
November. 1781. he was at York Hutts. He is 
on a list of men tried by court martial subsequent 
to 1781. King was tried December 6. 1781, by 
regimental court martial. Captain William, presi- 
dent, on the charge of stealing grain ; the charge 
was not supported and King was acquitted. He was 
at York Hutts January and February. 1782. His 
father deeded him a farm in Petersham (later Dana) 
by deed dated December i, 1793. He sold land in 
Dana. April 8, 1802, to Joel Amsden, the land deeded 
to Stephen by his father lying north of the farm 
of Jonathan. A few months later Stephen and his 
wife Mehitable sold their farm of sixty-five acres 
on the southeast comer "of my father Jonathan's 
farm." land in Dana, to Elisha Woodward, of Peter- 
sham. Stephen King died at Dana, September. 1827. 
His widow Mehitable administered the estate. Chil- 
dren of Stephen and Mehitable King were : I. 
Stephen Jr.. of whom later ; 2. Betsey. 3. John. 

(VI) Stephen King. Jr., son of Stephen King 
(^), was born in Petersham, now Dana, about 1790. 
He resided in the north part of the town of Dana 
and died there. He was a farmer. He married 
Sophia Dunham, of Brimfield. Massachusetts. Their 
children, all born at Dana, were: John, born 
May 29. 1821. of whom later ; Jesse Woodward, 
born 1824. of whom later; George, married Lucy 
Jane Barnes : Stephen, married Esther Richardson 
and their daughter Belle married Addison Marsh: 
Mary Ann, married Thomas McGrath and they had 
— Eugene. Ada. George. Abbie. Herbert. Melvin, 
and Edmund McGrath ; Charlotte, married James 
Gleason ; and their children were : James and Frank 
Gleason. 

(VII) John King, son of Stephen King (6), 
was born at Dana, Massachusetts. May 29. 1821. 
He settled in Greenwich village in the adjoining 
town, and is at present living there with his son. 
He has seven children, nineteen grandchildren and 
nine great-grandchildren, all living in 1906. He has 
six four-generation pictures, the fourth generation 
in each group representing a diflferent family. 

Mr.' King married at Hardwick in the fall of 
i8-t4 Mary J. Richardson, daughter of Seth and 
.Alice (Johnson) Richardson, and their children are: 
I. Jane Elvira, born May i. 1845. at Dana, married 
Orville L. Johnson and had two children — Eldora 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



475 



E. Johnson, born June 15, 1869; Bertha Ella John- 

■ son, born June 22, 1871, married Louis F. Conkey 
i and their children are : Annie E. Conkey, born July 
; 29, 1891, and James O. Conkey, born August 5, 1898. 

■ 2. Alfred C, now residing at Greenwich village, 
I born December 7, 1846, married Sarah E. Hall, of 
; Hardwich, and they have five children — John Hough- 
ton King, resides at Greenwich village, born July 
3. 1874, married Mrs. Hattie (Johnson) Rollins, 
January 6, 1903. and have one child — Charles Her- 
mon King, born January 23, 1904; Arthur Willard 

I King, born October 2, 1879. resides in Greenwich 
village ; Walter Austin King, born September 10, 
1882, resides at Springfield. Massachusetts, married 
Winifred W. Gray and they have one child — Austin 
W. King, born March 31, 1904; Sara M. King, born 
March 31, 1884, resides in Greenwich village: Louise 
E. King, born June 9. 1886, lives in Springfield, 
Massachusetts. 3. Sarah Eveline King, born Janu- 
ary 10, 1848, married Lucius E. Sears and they have 
three children — Lillie Eveline Sears, born April 14, 
1867, married William K. Clute, and have one child, 
Donald Sears Clute, born July 3, 1892 ; Minnie Eliza 
Sears, born January 26, 1869, married W. Erie 
Lemon: Mabel Edna Sears, born August 13, 1871 ; 
all the Sears family are living in Michigan. 4. 
Edward T. King, born November 13, 1850. married 
Mary J. Robinson, resides in Greenwich village, and 
have children— \ellie M. King, born May 2. 1872, 
married Frank Parker and tliey have two children — 

' Lowell Parker, born October iS. 1895, and Doris 
Parker, born April 2, igoo: Willia Robinson King, 
born August 13, 1875. married, December 19, 1895, 
Bertha L. Gray, who died in 1897; married (second), 

. 1898, Lena Reed and have two children — Stanwood 
King, born September 16, 1899, and Raymond King, 

' born December 14. 1900: they reside at Greenwich 
village : Edward Grafield King, born November 2, 
1880, married Nellie M. Nevins. resides in Ware, 
Massachusetts: Oscar Asa King, born October i, 

, 1883. resides at Greenwich : Harry Lucius King, 

I born September 18, 1886: Lawrence Taylor King, 
born October 16, 1895. 5. Harvey Walker King, 
born .August 16, 1852, married Mrs. Helen Cleveland 
and they have one daughter — Maude E. King, who 
married Walter Bur.gess. resides in Somerville, 
Massachusetts. 6. Delia E. King^ born Feb- 
ruarv 8. 1857, married Ira Howe, died June. 1900. 
7. Marshall J. King, born February 20, 1859, resides 
in California. 8. Albert K. King, born September 
30, 1862, resides in Oklahoma : married Ida Foster 
and they have two children — Dow King, born March 
9, iSo^: Alice King, born July 25, 1895. 

(VII) Jesse Woodward King, son of Stephen 
King (6), was born in Danna, 1S24, and died Decein- 
ber 3. 1865, aged thirty-one years. He married. 
October 21. 1848. Huldah M. Barnes, daughter of 

I Amos Barnes. She married (second) Billings Cum- 

i mings, November 22. 1859. She died December 10. 

J 1868. a,ged thirty-eight years. Children of Jesse 
Woodward and Huldah M. King were : (Tharles 

i Walter, born November 12, 1849. 

; (VIII) Charles Walter King, son of Jesse Wood- 

ward King (7), was born in Hardwick, Massachu- 
setts. November 12, 1849. He was educated in the 
public schools of Hardwick, Massachusetts, and 
worked at farming until he came of age. He went to 
Athol, Massachusetts. October 26. 1871, and engaged 
in the trucking business. He added the ice and coal 
business and had the contract for sprinkling the 
streets of the town. He was successful in his vari- 
ous ventures. In 1884. however, he decided to enter 
a larger field and came to Worcester, buying the 
livery stable at the rear of Piedmont Court. In 
May of that year he began business there and has 



continued in the same line, though on a larger scale, 
ever since. In 1886 he purchased the property at 
13 Piedmont street and added another stable to his 
holdings. He added also to his business the stable 
at 59 High street, formerly conducted by Dr. Charles 
H. Perry The premises there were remodeled and 
extensively improved and enlarged. Mr. King has 
won a prominent place among the business men of 
the city and is counted among the leaders in his 
line. He is an excellent judgeg of horse flesh, a 
careful buyer and has a liking only for handling the 
best stock. His stable is thoroughly modern. The 
personal attention he gives to details is largely re- 
sponsible for the growth of the business. 

Mr. King is a member of Ridgelcy Lodge, No. 
112, Independent Order of Odd Fellows; Worcester 
Lodge. No. 56, Ancient Order of United Workmen, 
of which he was one of the organizers ; Helping 
Hand Lodge ; and of Charles Devens Council. Amer- 
ican Mechanics. In political faith Mr. King is a Re- 
publican. His residence is at 13 Piedmont street. 

He married. March 29. 1872. Lora E. King and 
they have one child, Jesse Walter King, born in 
.\thol, March 21. 1879. now associated in business 
with his father : married, 1905, Mabel Sanborn, 
widow, of Worcester. 

(III) Samuel King, son of John King (2), men- 
tioned above, was the ancestor of Lora E. King, who 
married Charles W. King. Samuel was born in 
Salem. Massachusetts, May. 1664. In 1716 he gave 
a deed of land in Salem to Benjamin Lynde and 
others. In 1719, as the eldest son, he was one of 
the signers of a deed of partition of his father's 
estate. He died before 1738. when his sons signed 
a deed of partition recorded in Salem, 1754. 

He married Elizabeth Marsh, daughter of Zach- 
ery and Mary (Silsbee) Marsh, of Salem, grand- 
daughter of John Marsh, who settled 1636-37 with 
his wife Susan Skelton. daughter of Rev. Samuel 
Skelton. Children of Samuel and Elizabeth King 
were: i. Lieutenant Samuel, lived in that part of 
the town that became Danvers and had many de- 
scendants there. 2. Zachariah. married Hannah 
Southwick, daughter of John and Mary (Trask) 
Southwick; in 1739 he joined his brother. Ebenezer 
King, in a deed to Joseph Goldthwait of rights in 
the common lands in Salem : died about 1771, wife 
Hannah administrator. 3. Ebenezer, born 1700, of 
whom later. 

(IV) Ebenezer King, son of Samuel King (3), 
bought 120 acres of land in Rutland. August 5, 
1/54. though he may have lived there some time 
before that. He bought his farm of Joseph and 
Hepsibah Felton and added to his holdings land 
in Barre and Petersham. The Rutland history says 
of him : "Ebenezer King and wife Mary with their 
children were from Danvers. He bought the Simon 
Davis farm, where he and his so,n for many years 
kept a tavern. As early as 1724 there was an orchard 
on this farm and some of the trees were standing 
until lately. King was a town officer at Danvers 
before he moved and was prominent also at Rut- 
land. He deeded his property to his sons before 
his death. The deed to his son William of Rut- 
land District (Barre) was "on account of fatherly 
love and affection" and included several parcels of 
land, one in Petersham, one in Barre containing 
fifty acres, part of Farm No. 22, and was dated 
March 20. 1770. Ebenezer King died in 1786. and 
his estate was divided finally May 15. 1789. Chil- 
dren of Ebenezer and Mary King were: i. Joseph, 
married. November 22, 1778. Mary Church, daughter 
of Ephraim Church: married (second) Esther 

: was lieutenant in revolution. 2. William, 

of whom later. 3. a daughter married Par- 



476 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



lin and left children. Lemuel and Hannah Parlin. 
4. Hannah, married Thomas Stimpson. 

(V) William King, son of Ebenezer King (4), 
was born in Danvers, Massachusetts, about I7SO. 
He came to Rutland with his parents. He married 

Sarah , and they settled in Barre probably 

on land of his father's. He had extensive dealings 
in real estate. He bought land in 1795 of Ebenezer 
Rice at Rarre, and in 1795 of Samuel Bullard, also 
of William Russell in 1790 a farm of seventy-two 
acres and buildings. In 17S8 he bought land and 
buildings on the road from Rutland to Barre. He 
was in Barre as early as 1771, when he bought five 
acres of Moses Boyden. As late as 1804 he bought 
land in Barre of Micah Hamilton. William King 
was a soldier in the revolution, a private in Captain 
Benjamin Nye's company, Colonel Nathan Spar- 
hawk's regiment, enlisting August 21, 1777. and 
marched to reinforce General Stark. He died March 
17. 1813, aged seventy-nine years. His wife Sarah 
died February 3. 1846, at the age of eighty-nine years. 
Children of William and Sarah King were : Sarah, 
born 1777, died in Barre, April 17, 179,^: Samuel, 
born August 25, 1778, of whom later; Hannah, mar- 
ried, December 27, 1810, Luther Freeman, of Hard- 
wick : William, born in Barre, October 12, 1782, 
married Hannah Fiske, December 11, 1816; John, 
born in Barre about 1798; Samuel Lee was his 
guardian after his father died, appointed February 
I, 1814; married. May 15, 1816. Hannah, daughter 
of Daniel and Eunice (Clark) Parlin. 

(VI) Samuel King, son of William King (5), 
was born at Barre, Massachusetts, August 25, 1778, 
and settled there. He married, November 20, 1801, 
Sophia Clark, of Hardwick. She was born ^larch 
10, 1784. Their children w-ere : Mary, born June 
16, 1802, died March 5. 1810; Anna P., born Decem- 
ber 25, 1803, married Elliott B. Trow, of Hardwick, 
March 27, 1831 ; Sarah, born February 6, 1806; 
William Putnam, born October 24, 180S, married 
Caroline Morgan, of Brimfield, 1831 ; Harriet, born 
August 25, i8ro, niarried, June 23, 1831, Sylvanus 
N. Atwood : Jennison Clark, born October 2, 1811, 
married. May 26, 1833, Cynthia Carruth ; Charles, 
born December 7, 1813; Charlotte, born May i, 1816, 
married, December 22, 1836, W. B. Blodgett : Sam- 
uel, born July 12. 1818, married, 1840, Sybil Ray- 
mond, of Hardwick : Mary, born November 26, 1821, 
married, December <S, 1840, Charles M. Flagg; 
Joseph, born May 28, 1824, of whom later; Jane, 
born March 17. 1829. 

(VH) Joseph King, son of Samuel King (6), 
was born in Barre, Massachusetts, May 28, 1824. He 
married Irene Burroughs, of Dover, New Hamp- 
shire and they had seven children, viz.: Elias F., 
born in Barre, January 28, 1847, married JNIary 
Bemas, of Oakham, Massachusetts; Julia Maria, 
born in Barre, December 25, 1849, married James 
Brown, of Dana', and had — Ida, Alice. Arthur 
Brown ; Lora, of whom later : .'\nna, married George 
W. Bishop, of Claremont; Frank, had children— 
Lyman, Elias, Mary; Jennie, married Clarence A. 
Charles, of Dana ; Charles, married Florence Need- 
ham, of Coldbrook, and had Irene and Ruth King. 

fVIII) Lora King, daughter of Joseph King (7). 
was born in Barre. Massachusetts. She is the wife 
of Charles Walter King, whose name heads this 
sketch. 

GEORGE PEIRCE. Abraham Peirce (1). one 
of the "purchasers or old-comers" at Plymouth, was 
the emigrant ancestor of George Peirce. of Wor- 
cester. Abraham Peirce was born in England and 
was the first actual settler of that surname in Amer- 
ica. He was a taxpayer in Plymouth Colony as 



early as 1623, and he shared in a division of the 
common cattle in 1627. In the same year he ex- 
changed two shares he owned in a red cow for a 
ewe lamb owned by Captain Miles Standish. In 
1629 he sold some land abutting on Hobbs Hole to 
Thomas Clark for thirty pounds of tobacco. He was 
admitted a freeman in 1633, was a taxpayer in 1634, 
a house holder in 1637 """id in 1639 and 1640 had 
more land granted him. He served as a soldier in 
1643 under the famous Captain Miles Standish. In 
1645 he was one of the original purchasers of ancient 
Bridgewater, Massachusetts. He married Rebecca 

, and settled at Duxbury. His daughter Alice 

was taken to Barnstable for baptism by his wife's 
sister, Goody Scudder, and baptized July 21, 1650. 
He died 1673, and his son Abraham was appointed 
administrator June 3. 1673. His children were: i. 
Abraham, born in Plymouth, January, 1638, mar- 
ried, October 29, 1695, Hannah Glass, of Duxbury; 
he died in Duxbury, January, 1718. 2. Rebecca, 

married Wills, died Marshfield, March 30, 

1724. 3. Mary, married Baker. 4. Alice, 

baptized July 21, 1650, married Parker, died 

at Duxbury, 1673. 5. Isaac, born about 1661, mar- 
ried Alice ; he died in Middleboro, now Lake- 

ville, February 28, 1732, was a soldier in King 
Philip's war. 

(II) Isaac Peirce, son of Abraham Peirce (i), 
was born about 1661 in Duxbury, Massachusetts. 
Tradition says that he had two thumbs on one hand. 

He married Alice . He died at Middleboro, 

now Lakeville, Massachusetts, February 28, 1732. 
His will was dated 1722. His children were: 
Isaac, Jr. ; Thomas, married, April 16, 1714, Naomi 
Booth, of Middleboro: Mary, married Saund- 
ers: Lydia, married (first), July 3, 1706, John Hey- 
ford, of Bridgewater; married (second), January 
12, 1725, Aaron Seekel ; Mercy, married. May 15, 
1707, Joseph Trouant. of Bridgewater; Sarah, mar- 
ried Macomber : Rebecca, married Samuel 

Hoar, of Middleboro; she died July 12, 1765; he 
died February 13, 1746. 

Isaac Peirce, Sr., was left an orphan at the age 
of thirteen and at the age of sixteen served in the 
army in King Philip's war. For his services his 
heirs received a grant of land in township No. 4, 
in New Hampshire. This was exchanged later for 
land at Greenwich, Massachusetts, then known as 
Ouabbin. His w'ife was said by tradition to be Alice 
Chartley, w'hose fare from Scotland Isaac paid upon 
her arrival and forthwith married her. 

(III) Isaac Peirce. Jr., son of Isaac Peirce (2), 
v.'as born about 1680. He married (fifst), 1703, 
Judith Booth, youngest daughter of John Booth, of 
"Scituate. She was born March 13. 1680. They were 
married, contrary to the law of the colony, accord- 
ing to the Quaker form. Isaac Peirce was a mem- 
ber of the Society of Friends. He was persecuted 
to the extent that he was fined for not conforming 
to the law regulating marriage. He pleaded guilty, 
was fined and seems to have been let alone after- 
ward, whereas many of the Quakers had their homes 
broken up by the religious fanatics then in control 
of affairs in the colonies. Many Baptists suffered 
the same wav later. The curious ignorance shown 
by the genealogist of the Peirce family in reporting 
this court record requires this explanation here. 

John Booth, the father of Mrs. Peirce, was at 
Scituate in 1656. His son Benjamin was a partner 
of Isaac Peirce, Jr.. his brother-in-law, in the pur- 
chase of a trnct of land at Middleboro and Taunton 
in 1709. Judith (Booth) Peirce died May 4. 173.3. 

He married (second). I7.s6. Abigail . In his 

will, made 1756, he bequeaths a negro slave Jack. 
He died January 17, 1757. He was called a very 




7'/it I,K.is I^^iliskni r 



?r^ ^, 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



477 



uncompromising man and he "suffered great dis- 
quietude because his children, except one, left the 
Quakers and became Calvinist Baptists." According- 
ly he left to his Quaker son, the youngest, who had 
been "willing and obedient" the lion's share of 
his property. His children were: I. Ebenezer, born 
1704, married, December 13, 1728, Mary Hoskins, 
daughter of Henry Hoskins and granddaughter of 
William Hoskins; Ebenezer died August 14, 1796; 
his wife died October 5, 1768. 2. Isaac, born 1705, 
married, May 5, 1735, Deliverance HoUoway, of 
Middleboro. 3. Elisha, married, November 10, 173S, 
Margaret Paine, of Freetown, daughter of John 
Paine and Rebecca Davis. 4. Abigail, married, Oc- 
tober 28, 1736, John Howland, of Middleboro; she 
died 1756; he died 1790, aged eighty. 5. Judith, 
born July 4, 1709, married, December 2, 1736, Lieu- 
tenant Thomas Nelson, Jr., of Middleboro, who 
was twelve years selectman, fourteen years in gen- 
eral court, lieutenant of Fourth Company of which 
Isaac Peirce was ensign ; she died January 22, 1792. 

6. Elkanah, married, March 2, 1742, Hannah Eddy ; 
they were Quakers. 

(IV) Isaac Peirce, son of Isaac Peirce (3), was 
born about 1705. He married. May 5, 173S, De- 
liverance Holloway, of Middleboro. He was com- 
missioned ensign 1762 in the Fourth Company of 
militia. The captain was Joseph Leonard, lieuten- 
ant, Thomas Nelson, colonel, George Watson, of 
Plymouth. Ensign Peirce died September 18, 1782. 

' His wife died October 11, i8or, aged eighty-seven 
years. Their children were : George, born October 
16, 173s, married. September 14, 1757. Sarah Peirce, 
daughter of Shadrach Peirce and a relative; he died 
July 17, 1774; she died April 20, 1778. 2. An in- 
fant. 3. Enos, born September 30, 1739, married, 
December 28, 1785, Ruth Durfee, of Freetown ; he 
died July 29, 1794; she died October 9, 181 1, aged 
fifty-two. 4. David, born March 20. 1741. married, 
July, 1764, Abigail Hathaway, daughter of Ensign 
Hathaway, of Freetown : David was ensign of the 
first militia company of Freetown, served in the revo- 
lution and was accidentally killed INIarch 9, 1779, by 
the fall of a tree while cutting timber ; his widow 
married Josuha Howard, of Freetown, March 3, 
1789. 5. Silas, born July 25, 1744. 6. Lucy, born 
May 28, 1755, married, November 30, 1775, Captain 
Samuel French, soldier, deputy sheriff of Bristol 
county: died March 26, 1830; she died April 26, 
1845 ; they resided at Berkeley Tavern, Berkeley, 
Massachusetts. 

(V) Silas Peirce, son of Isaac Peirce (4), was 
born July 25, 1744. He married Anna Hathaway, 
of Taunton, October 31, 1771. She was the daughter 
of Melatiah and Anna (Hoskins) Hathaway. Silas 
was for nine months a private in the revolutionary 
army under Captain Amos Washburn, of Middle- 
boro. Ue died May i, 1816. and was buried in East 
Freetown, Massachusetts. The children of Silas 
and Anne (Hathaway) Peirce were: i. Hope, born 
February 2, 1772, married Simeon Peirce, of Taun- 
ton ; she died May 6, 1857; he died November 17, 
1859. 2. David, born October 12, 1773, died April 

7, 1809. 3. Lucy, born March 31, 1776, married Levi 
Peirce, of Middleboro, removed to Worcester county. 
4. Anna, born April 28, 1778. married Oliver Peirce, 
Esq.. of Middleboro; she died February 12, 1847; 
he died August 17. i860. 5. George, born August 
24. 1780, married Eunice Tinkham. of Rochester, 
Massachusetts ; she died June 22, 1827, aged forty- 
five. 6. Isaac, born February 10. 1786, married De- 
liverance Sherman, daughter of Nehemiah and De- 
borah (Peirce) Sherman; Isaac died 1868; he was 
a private soldier in the war of 1812 in the coast 
guard near Plymouth. 7. Judith, born April 20, 1788, 



married William E. Ellis, of Rochester, Massachu- 
setts she died May, 1861 ; resided at Rochester. 
8. Deliverance, born March 4, 1790. 9. Mcletiah H., 
born October 7, 1792, married Sally White. 

(VI) Meletiah Peirce, son of Silas Peirce (5), 
was born October 7, 1792. He was a ship carpenter 
by trade. He married Sally White, of Fairhaven, 
Massachusetts. His children were: Benjamin, 
Philip. Judith, Laura. Samuel, John M. 

(VII) Benjamin Peirce, son of Meletiah Peirce 
(6), was born in New Bedford, Massachusetts. He was 
a carpenter. He married Mary A. Vail, and their 
children were : George, born in New Bedford, July 
19. 1845; Benjamin Franklin, lives in the west; a 
child Who died at age of two years. 

(VIII) George Peirce, son of Benjamin Peirce 
(7), was born in New Bedford, Massachusetts, July 
19, 1845. He attended the public schools of his 
native place and worked on a farm during his 
youth. He was only fifteen years old, however, when 
he enlisted in the Twenty-ninth Massachusetts In- 
fantry and was sent from New Bedford to Newport 
News, Virginia, where he saw the famous encounter 
of the Merrimac and Monitor. He was in the com- 
pany of Captain Willard Tripp, of Taunton, Com- 
pany^ F, Twenty-ninth Massachusetts Volunteer 
Militia, Colonel Ebenezer Peirce. He served three 
years and seven months and was in twenty-three 
battles. He was discharged July 29, 1865, and must- 
ered out in August. Among the engagements in • 
which he took part with his company were : Hamil- 
ton Roads, Virginia: Gaines Mills,' Peach Orchard, 
Savage Station, Shady Grove, Virginia: Cold Har- 
bor, Virginia; Petersburg, Virginia; Licks Station, 
Popular Grove, Virginia; Fort Stedman, Virginia. 

He was wounded at Cold Harbor and was taken / 

prisoner at Fort Stedman. He fought in White /'/ 
Oak Swamp, Glendale, Malvern Hill, on the seven ■-/ 
days retreat with General McClellan. Second Bull's 
Run, Antietam. Vicksburg, Mississippi; Jackson, 
Mississippi; Blue Springs, Tennessee; Campbell's 
Station, Tennessee; Fort Saunders, Tennessee, and 
Totopotomoy, Virginia; he was at Petersburg in 
1865. 

After the war he followed his trade as a car- 
penter at Springfield, Illinois. After two years he 
removed to Walpole. Massachusetts. He worked 
at Boston and Foxboro, Massachusetts, also. In 
1872, soon after his marriage at Foxboro, he came 
to Worcester and settled. He began in business for 
himself ^ as a contractor and builder, and in the 
past thirty years has built many dwelling houses 
and business blocks in Worcester. Among the con- 
tracts he had was for the New Park Hotel, the 
Bellmar Hotel and part of the Standish Apartment 
Hotel. He is a member of Montacute Lodge, A. 

F. and A. M. ; of Post 10, G. A. R. ; A. O. U. W. ; 
and the American Order of Fraternal Helpers. 

He married, in Foxboro. Massachusetts, Isabella 
D. Hatch, daughter of William Hatch. She died in 
Worcester in 1884. He married (second) Sophia 

G. Hatch, sister of his first wife. He married (third) 
Mary A. Cummings, of North Brookfield. She 
was the daughter of Benjamin Cummings, Jr., a 
farmer of North Brookfield. Her grandfather. Ben- 
jamin Cummings, also of North Brookfield, married 
Mary Ann Mead. The family was prominent in 
the history of Brookfield and is one of the old Wor- 
cester county families. Mr. Peirce has no children. 
He resides at 131 Pleasant street, Worcester, Massa- 
chusetts. 

WILLIAM A. RICHARDSON. Samuel Rich- 
ardson (r) was the first ancestor in this country 
of William A. Richardson, of Worcester. Three 



478 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



brotliers, Ezekiel, Samuel and Thomas Richardson 
settled in Woburn, Massachusetts. Samuel was born 
about 1610 and the first record of his name was in 
1636. The three brothers and four others were the 
founders of Woburn, all coming from Charlestown. 
A street in Woburn, where they located, is still known 
as Richardson's Row. Samuel was selectman in 
1644-45-46-49-50-51 ; the largest taxpayer in 1645. 
His wife joined the church at Charlestown, Sep- 
tember 9, 1639. He died March 23, 1658. Their 
children were : I. Mary, baptized February 25, 1637- 
38; married Thomas Mousall, son of Deacon John 
Mousall, one of the founders. 2. John, baptized 
November 12, 1639; married Elizabeth Bacon, Mary 
Pierson, Margaret Willing. 3. Hannah and the fol- 
lowing were born in Woburn, she was born March 
8, 1641-2 ; died April 8, 1642. 4. Joseph, born July 
27, 1643 ; married Hannah Green. 5. Samuel, born 

May 22, 1646; married Martha , Hannah 

Kingsbury, Phebe Baldwinn, Sarah Hayward. 6. 
Stephen (see forward). 7. Thomas, born December 
31, 1651 ; died September 27, 1657. 8. Elizabeth, 
born 1665. 

(H) Stephen Richardson, son of Samuel (l) 
and Joanna Richardson, born at Woburn, August 
15, 1649: married January 2, 1674-5, at Billerica, 
Abigail (Read) Wyman. He took the freeman's 
oath 1690; died March 22, 1717-18. His widow died 
September 17, 1720. Their children were : i. 
Stephen, born February 20, 1675-6; married Susanna 
Wilson. 2. Francis, January 19, 1677-8; died Janu- 
ary 27, 1677-8. 3. William, December 14, 1678; 
married Rebecca Vinton. 4. Francis, January 15, 
1680-1 ; married Sarah Houghton. 5. Timothy, De- 
cember 6, 1682 ; died January 18, 1683. 6. Abigail, 
November 14, 1683 : married John Vinton. 7. Prud- 
ence, January 17, 1685-6; married Samuel Kendall. 
8. Timothy, January 24, 1687-8; married Susanna 
Holden. 9. Seth, January 16, 1689-90 ; married Mary 
Brown. 10. Daniel, October 16, 1691 ; married Jo- 
anna Mousall. II. Mary. May 3, 1696. 12. Rebecca, 
June 10, 1698; died December 6. 1711. 13. Solomon, 
March 27, 1702 ; married Abigail Evans, of Reading. 

(HI) William Richardson, son of Stephen (2) 
and Abigail Richardson, born at Woburn, Decem- 
ber 14, 1678; married September 15, 1703, Rebecca 
Vinton, born March 26, 1683, daughter of John and 
Hannah (Green) Vinton, of Woburn. They re- 
moved to Stoneham in 1710, and to Attleboro in 
1718. Their childrsn were: I. Rebecca, born Au- 
gust 4. 1704 ; died unmarried. 2. Hannah, born Oc- 
tober 28, 1706. 3. Abigail, born April rS, 1709; mar- 
ried John Shepard. 4. William, born April 17, 1712. 
?. Stephen, born September 7, 1714, died unmarried 
November 11, 1797. 6. John (see forward). 7. 
Joanna, born September 17, 1722. 

(IV) John Richardson, son of William (3) and 
Rebecca Richardson, born at .\ttIeboro, November 
27. 1719: married Elizabeth Wilmarth, April 19, 
I"t2. Their children were: i. Lucy, born Decem- 
ber 5, 1742. 2. John, born ]May 24. 1744: married 
Ruth Woodcock. 3. Wyman (see forward). 4. Bet- 
sey, born April 4, 1748. 5. Joel, born October 10, 
1750; married -Sarah Wyman. 6. Henr}', born Au- 
gust 7. I7';2; married Olive Blackinton. 

("V') Wyman Richardson, son of John (4) and 
Elizabeth Richardson, born at .\ttleboro. May 13, 
1746: married October 31. 1771. Ruth Lane, born 
at Norton, Massachusetts. December i. 1752. They 
removed to Swanzey. New Hampshire. October, 1779. 
His wife died at Acworth, New Hampshire, January 
2. 1835. He died October 14. 1839. at the age of 
ninety-three years. Their children were : I. Ruth 
and 2. Orra (twins), born August 8, 1772; 3. Azubah, 
February 8, 1775: died at .Acworth, New Hampshire, 



August, 1838. 4. Wyman (see forward). 5. El- 
kaiiah, July 9, 1780; died at Stow, Ohio, January 
8, 1836. 6. Stephen, June 4, 1783. 7. Luna, May 10, 
1785; died July II, 1824. 8. Ruth, September ' 18, 
1787. 9- Calvin, July 17, 1790; died at Wolcott, 

Vermont, July 12, 1828. 10. Lucy, 14, 1793; 

died at Newfane, Vermont, May, 1830. II. Sophia, 
July 8, 1796; died at Swanzey, New Hampshire, 
September 25, 1813, 12. Esther, April 27, 1799; died 
at Newfane, May 12, 1833. 

(VI) Wyman Richardson, son of Wyman (5) 
and Ruth Richardson, born at Attleboro, June 10, 
1777 ; married at Richmond, New Hampshire, Oc- 
tober 22, 1802, Deliverance Bolles, daughter of Elder 
Nathaniel Bolles, of Rochester and Richmond, New 
Hampshire, born at Richmond, July 23, 1782. Wy- 
man Richardson learned the blacksmith's trade from 
his father, who was also a proficient cooper, and 
worked at both trades. He died February 26, 1868, 
aged ninety years. His wife died August II, 1870. 
Their children were: I. Wyman (see forward), 
2. Nathaniel, born December 21, 1804; married 
Eurelia Young. 3, Delia, born April 23, 1807; mar- 
ried Hiram Boardman. 4. Luna Bolles, born De- 
cember 2'}, 1809; married Mary Kimball. 5. Thank- 
ful, born January 17, 1813 ; married Ethan Lord and 
had five children. 6. Almira, born October 16, 1817; 
married Jonathan Goodell and had one son, Jona- 
than. 7. Nathan Henry, born May 31, 1823; mar- 
ried Martha Ann Barber. 8. Phebe Sophia, born 
April 19, 1826; married Lorenzo N. Hewes and had 
seven children. 

(VII) Wyman Richardson, son of Wyman (6) 
and Deliverance, grandson of Wyman (5). and 
great-grandson of John (4), and father of William 
A., born at Swanzey, New Hampshire, March 5, 
1S03; married at Athol. Massachusetts, August 13, 
1827, Arethusa Southwick (Lee), born at Shutes- 
bury, Massachusetts, March 6, 1809. They settled 
at Corinth, Vermont, where the three eldest chil- 
dren were born, then removed to Athol and Fitch- 
burg, Massachusetts. They resided at Barre, Peter- 
sham and Boston. At Petersham he was the 
superintendent of a button factory which was burned 
in 1S47, when the family moved to a part of Barre 
known as Smithville, from the name of the mill 
owner, John Smith, whose machinery Richardson 
was put in charge of, after being employed first as 
a machine hand. In 1850 David J. Foster, one of 
the proprietors of the button factory that was burned 
at Petersham, opened a new shop in Boston, and 
Richardson, together with his sons moved thither 
to work for him. After a few years in Boston 
Richardson moved to Fitchburg and went into busi- 
ness as a rattan manufacturer, his sons working 
for him. Their children were: I. Solon Oscar, 
born July 3, 1828 ; married Nancy Nichols Fair- 
banks : died March 31, 1872. 2. Seneca Merrill, 
born December 5, 1829; married Emily D. Earle. of 
Worcester, and was partner in the manufacturing 
firm of Wetherbee, Rugg & Richardson, had a daugh- 
ter, Harriet. 3. Lyman Collins, born November 26, 
183 1 ; never married; located on Pacific coast; was 
in British service. 4. William Augustus, December 
20, 1833 ; married Mary Ann Cowen, daughter of 
Captain Robert Cowen, of Plymouth, Massachu- 
setts. 5. Charles Oswald, born November 13, 1839; 
died at Athol September 26, 1840. 

(VIII) William Augustus Richardson, son of 
Wyman (7) and Arethusa Richardson, was born 
at .-Kthol, Massachusetts, December 20. 1833. When 
the family moved to Barre William was seven years 
old, and there he obtained most of his schooling, 
though for a time he attended school at Petersham. 
His first work was in the mill at Smithville as a 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



479 



machine iiand. He worked at the various branches 
of the machinist's trade with and for his father, 
: becoming a mechanic of extraordinary skill. He 
went with his father to Foster's button factory, in 
Boston, and was with him in his rattan factory at 
Fitchburg. In i860 he went to Waltham as an ex- 
pert machinist for the American Watch Company. • 
In 1863 he started in business for himself in New 
York, manufacturing rattan goods but after one 
year gave it up and entered the employ of Ball & 

■ Williams, gun manufacturers, at Worcester. Later 
he went into the factory of Frank Wesson, at Wor- 
cester, to manufacture pistols under the patents of 
Gilbert H. Harrington, who subsequently became a 

■ partner of Mr. Richardson, and whom he met there 
for the first time. In 1874 the foundation of the 
Harrington & Richardson Arms Company was made, 
ill a partnership between William A. Richardson and 
Gilbert H. Harrington, to manufacture guns. They 
started in quarters at 18 Manchester street, but these 
soon were too small and they moved to 31 Hermon 
street, where they continued until March i. 1894, 
enlarging their factory from time to time as busi- 
ness grew. The firm of Harrington & Richardson 
were the exclusive manufacturers of the celebrated 
Anson & Deeley hammerless gun. the first of its 
l-:ind to be made in this country from 1880 to 1887. 
They secured a patent in April. 1887, for the safety 
hammerless. gun. and in the same year in October 
patented the cylinder catch which is still used. They 
U'ok out a design patent in 1889. applying to stocks, 
;,nd in 1895 a patent applying to lever springs. They 
'i\vn other valuable patents. In January. 1S88. the 
firm was incorporated as The Harrington & Rich- 

rdson .\rms. Company. The capital is $75,000. Mr. 

larrington was president. Mr. Richardson, treasurer. 

nd George F. Brooks, secretary. Since the death 

■t the two partners Mr. Brooks has been the man- 
iRer. The present handsome building was built 
in TS93-4. It is a five story brick structure situated 

t the corner of the Boulevard and Chandler street. 
In 1900 and igoi large additions were made to the 
tactory. It now covers 100.000 square feet and about 
t'lve hundred hands are employed. No more at- 
tractive building, architecturally, has been built for 
, manufacturing in this city of many mills and fac- 

I tories. No more prosperous and well-ordered busi- 
' ness is to be found in New England. It is one of 

the shops to which Worcester people point with 
firide, and it constitutes perhaps the most substantial 
:iiid enduring monument to the mechanical skill 
.md business sagacity of Mr. Richardson and his 
partner. Mr. Richardson's skill and love for the 

II mechanics must have been largely inherited from 
his ancestors who were blacksmiths and machinists. 
He was conceded to be one of the most skillful 
machinists in the state. Personally Mr. Richardson 
was a careful unostentatious man. generous with his 
wealth, but preferring domestic life above all things. 
He was a member of no societies or clubs. He was 
a member and trustee of the First Universalist 

.. Church and was libera! in his gifts to churches and 
11 charities. He gave a large sum to All Souls' Church. 
Since his death his wife has continued to donate 
as she thinks he would have done had his life been 
I spared. She recently gave to St. Lawrence Uni- 
I versity. of which the Rev. Dr. Gunnison, formerly 
i pastor of the First Universalist Church, is the presi- 
dent, a gift of $10,000. He was a Republican in 
politics. The dominant characteristic of Mr. Rich- 
ardson was that of most self-made men, it was un- 
tiring energy and tenacity. He stuck to an idea, 
and followed uo a project to the end. He took an 
honorable satisfaction in the knowledge that his suc- 
cess in life had come without outside aid. His 



only capital was his skilful hands at the start. He 
never would accept his wife's fortune to aid him. 
He married Mary .Ann Cowen, daughter of Captain 
Robert and Ann (Tilden) Cowen. Her father was 
a ship master at Plymouth, Massachusetts. They 
had no children but reared several. Mr. Richard- 
son died November 21, 1897. Mrs. Richardson lives 
at their handsome home, 921 Main street, Worcester. 

EDWIN HA WES. Edward Hawes (i), one of 
the early settlers of Dedham, Massachusetts, was 
the emigrant ancestor of Edwin Hawes, of Wor- 
cester. He was a mason by trade. He came from 
England and was in Dedham as early as 1648, when 
the records show that he was engaged to plaster 
the meeting house there. He died June 28, 1686. 
He married. April 15, 1648. at Dedham, Eliony 
Lumber or Lombard. (See sketch in this work of 
Manson D. Hawes). Children of Edward Hawes 
were: I. Lydia, born January 26, 1649; married 

Gay. 2. Mary, born November 4, 1650. 3. 

Daniel (see forward). 4. Hannah, born February 
I, 1654-5. married. January 5, 1676, John Mason. 
5. John, born December 17, 1657, died February 21, 
173 1-2. 6. Nathaniel, born August 14, 1660, died 
October 16, 1714. 7. Abigail, born October 2, 1662, 
married John Fales. 8. Joseph, born August 9, 1664. 

9. Deborah, born September I. 1666, married (first) 
Ephraim Pond : married (second) Bacon. 

(II) Daniel Hawes, son of Edward Hawes (l), 
born February 10, 1652, at Dedham, Massachusetts; 
tnarried, February II, 1677, Abial Gay, born April 
23. 1640, daughter of John and Joanna Gay. John 
Gay came to Watertown from England before 1635. 
and removed to Dedham in 1636. He was admitted 
a freeman May 6, 1635. He was a town officer of 
Dedham. His wife Joanna was admitted to the 
Dedham church, July 25, 1639, and John Balducke, 
her son by a former hu.sband. was baptized August 
S, 1639. John Gay died March 4, 1688, and his will 
was proved December 17, 1689. The children of 
John and Joanna Gay were: i. Samuel, born March 

10. 1639. 2. Hezekiah. born July 3, 1640. 3. Nathan- 
iel, born February 11, 1642-3. 4. Joanna, born 
March 23. 1644, married John Ware. 5. Eliezer, born 
June 25. 1647. 6. Abial (twin) Born April 23, 1649, 
married Daniel Hawes. 7. Judith (twin), born April 
23, 1649. married John Ware. 8. John, born May, 
1651. 9. Jonathan, born August I, 1653. 10. Han- 
nah, born October 16. 1656. 11. probably Elizabeth, 
who married Richard Martin at Salem in 1660. 
(Lydia Hawes married one of the sons, probably). 

Daniel Hawes died March 16. 1737-8, aged eighty- 
six years. His children were: i. Mary, born Sep- 
tember 17, 1679. married Eleazer Ware. 2. .'\bigail, 
born November 15, 1681. married Thomas Mann. 
3. Daniel (see forward). 4. Josiah. born .April 6, 
1686. 5. Hezekiah, born November 22, 1688, mar- 
ried Esther Ware. 6. Ruth, born July 9. 1691. mar- 
ried NathanieT Wright. 7. Benjamin, born JIarch 
14, 1696, married Abigail Fales. 

(III) Daniel Hawes, son of Daniel Hawes (2), 
born in Dedham. March 30, 1684. died January 15, 
T763. He settled in Wrentham. Massachusetts, in 
what is now Franklin. He married. December 20, 
1710. Reriah Mann. Their children were: i. Daniel, 
born October 24. 171 1. 2. Samuel, born January 7, 
1713. 3- Pcletiah. born October 8. 1714. married 
Judith Peck. 4. Moses, born August 28, 1716. 5. 
Aaron, born April 13. 1718. 6. Ichabod. born Sep- 
tember 18. 1720. 7. Timothy, born June 21. 1722, 
married Mary Ware. 8. Beriah (twin), born INIarch 
30. 1724. 9. Josiah (see forward). 10. Mary, born 
February it. t72:;-6. married Ebenezer Lawrence. 

11. Joseph, born March 21. 1727-8. 



48o 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



(IV) Josiah Hawes, son of Daniel Hawes (3), 
born in Wrentham, Massachusetts, March 30. 1724, 
died February 28, 1S04. He settled in Franklin, 
Massachusetts, and married, December 18, 1751, 
Maria Lyon, who died August 28, 1779. Their 
children were: i. Abijah, born August 31, (Sep- 
tember II, new style) 1752, at Wrentham, died Jan- 
uary 10. 1839, at Wrentham; settled at Union, Maine, 
married December, 1782, second cousin, Margaret 
Hawes, 'born May 9, 1756, died May 24, 1833; had 
five children. 2. Mary, born October 27, 1753, died 
August 8, 1785. 3. Mathias (see forward). 4. Je- 
mima, born January 28, 1761, died April 26, 1835; 
married, November 23, 1782; Eliab Wright or Wight, 
of Bellingham. 5. Beriah, born April 17, 1762, 
died October 20, 1818. 6. Levi, born May 22, 1765, 
died September 4, 1839; married. January I, 1793- 
Permelia Clark, who died September 4, 1839. The 
old house in which Josiah Hawes, of Franklin, lived, 
built about two hundred years ago, is standing, or 
was until recently. 

(V) Mathias Hawes, son of Josiah Hawes (4), 
born at Franklin, Massachusetts (then Wrentham), 
October 6, 1754, died November 4, 1828; married, 
January i, 1783, in Warren, Maine, Sarah Payson, 
daughter of Captain Samuel Payson, who subse- 
quently moved from Warren to Hope, Maine, where 
he died. Their children were : Sarah or Sally, 
born April 5, 1784, died December 10. 1850; mar- 
ried William Brown, son of James and Ruth Brown, 
and left many descendants. 2. James, born Novem- 
ber II, 1785, died November 23, or 24, 1793, of throat 
distemper. 3. Mary, born June 17, 1787; married, 
August 14, 1808, Simon Barrett, born at Concord, 
Massachusetts, September 24, 1765 ; resided at Hope, 
Maine: died at Augusta, Maine, April 20, 1845, and 
left many descendants. 4. Sukey (twin of Mary), 
born June 17, 1787, died of throat distemper, Decem- 
ber 20, 1793. 5. Oliver, born March 8, 1789, died 
March 11, 1789. 6. Hermon (twin), born January 
6, died January 17, 1790. 7. Pliny (twin), born 
January 6, died January 17, 1790. 8. Meletiah. born 
April 21, 1791, married, June 2, 1825, David Crab- 
tree, born February 26, 1781, resided at Hope, Maine. 
9. Otis (see forward). 10. Austin, born September 

22, 1794. died April S, I70S- H- Noyes Payson, born 
February 4, 1796, married, October 25, 1827, Abigail 
Richardson, daughter of John Wilkes Richardson, 
of Franklin, Massachusetts; resided at Boston. 12. 
July, born November 17, 1797- 13- Silas, born Au- 
gust I, 1799. 14. Lavinia Anthony, born September 
20, iSoo, married Vinal Ware. 15. Galen, born April 
13, 1802, lived on the old homestead in Union, died 
August 4, 1834; married, January 6. 1831. Harriet 
Lindley, daughter of Captain John W. Lindley; 
widow married (second) Elias Blake, of Bangor, 
Maine. 16. Levi, born December 24, 1804, died Au- 
gust 12, 1805. 17. Child, stillborn, July, 1806. 18. 
Child, stillborn, August, 1807. 19. Madison, born 
March 24, iSog, printer, resided in California ; mar- 
ried. May I. 1854. Nancy Nelson Dam. 

(VI) Otis Hawes. son of Mathias Hawes (5), 
born at Union. Maine. January 21 or 31, 1793 ; mar- 
ried, September 20, 1818, Elsie Davis, daughter of 
John Davis, of Appleton, Maine. Their children 
were: i. Sarah, born April 9, 1820, died September 

23, 18,38. 2. Silas (see forward). 3. Roxanna Nott, 
born December 18, 1823. married. 1843, Isaac C. 
Hovey and had : Arthur M. and Carrie E. 4. 
Lavinia A., born July 20. 1825, married Rev. Albert 
Thurston. 5. Philander, born September 22, 1827. 
6. Julia, born December 17, 1829. 7. Cyrene J., born 
February 9. 1833. resides in Union, Maine, unmarried. 
8. Laurinda, born July 19, 1835, married Augustus 



Vaughan. 9. Edwin, born November 3, 1839. 10. 
Charles Barrett, born November 26, 1841. 

(VII) _ Silas Hawes, son of Otis Hawes (6), 
born at Union, Maine, December 26, 1821 ; married, 
September 10, 1848, Margaret Hills, daughter of 
Sarah B. Hills. (See Hills Family sketch;. He 
resided at Union, Maine, where he owned a farm. 
Children were: i. Emma F., born December 20, 
1849, married Levi Daniels ; resides at South Union 
in the town of Union, Maine, and has one son, 
Nathan S., who married Mabel N. Moody. He 
works with his father on the farm. 2. Anna Flor- 
ence, born July 11, 1852, resides at Union, Maine; 
unmarried. 3. William, born at Union, Maine, De- 
cember 20, 1854, owns the old Hills homestead at 
Union, Maine. 4. Edwin (see forward). 

(VIII) Edwin Hawes, son of Silas Hawes (7), 
was born at Union, Maine, January 23, 1857. He 
spent his boyhood in his native town. He attended 
the district and village schools of Union and worked 
on the farm. At the age of seventeen he left home 
and entered the shops of the Walworth Manufac- 
turing Company, in Boston. This company was en- 
gaged in the steam-heating business, together with 
steam fitting, etc. Within a year a business depres- 
sion caused Mr. Hawes to leave this position, and 
he went to work next for Morey & Rogers, at Hollis- 
ton, manufacturing straw hats. After leaving the 
business he went to the shop of H. O. Bernard & 
Co., straw manufacturers, at Westborough, Massa- 
chusetts, where for nine years he was employed 
as a blocker. In 1885 he returned to the steam-heat- 
ing business, and became shop foreman for the 
firm of Braman, Dow & Company, Washington 
Square. Worcester. This is the oldest house of its 
kind in the city. The firm is in business still having 
its headquarters in Boston, and a very prosperous 
store and shop in Worcester. 

Mr. Hawes went into business on his own account 
in the same line, June i, 1893, in a small shop on 
Canal street, near the corner of Front street. He 
was successful in his venture and soon took the store 
at 246 Main street, where he remained until Flint 
& Barker took a lease on the building and he had 
to seek a new location. In 1898 he removed his 
store and shop to 185 Front street, where he was 
located for about three years. In 1900 he removed 
to his present location at 17 Vine street. The busi- 
ness was incorporated under the laws of Massachu- 
setts in 1905. The officers of the company are : 
President, Edwin Tlawes : secretary and treasurer, 
James E. L. Todd. Mr. Hawes is also treasurer of 
the Eddy Manufacturing Company, which makes 
razor strops at 42 Southbridge street. Worcester. 
He is a director of the company also. He is a mem- 
ber of Anchoria Lodge. Independent Order of Odd 
Fellows : the Hancock Club and the board of trade. 
In politics he is a staunch Republican. He belongs 
to Trinity Methodist Episcopal Church. He mar- 
ried, November 10, 1884. Hattie L. Richardson, 
daughter of Duquesnel H. Richardson, of West 
Brookfield, Massachusetts. They have one son: 
Herbert Richardson, born in Worcester, May 30, 
1887: graduate of the Worcester classical high school, 
1905. and a member of the class of 1909, Dartmouth 
College. 

HILLS FAMILY. Joseph Hills (i), the emi- 
grant, ancestor of Edwin Hawes through his moth- 
er's line, was born in the parish of Great Burstead, 
Billericay, Essex county, England. He was bap- 
tized there March, 1602. son of George Hills, who 
married Mary Simonds, of Billericay, widow of 
the late William Symonds, of Billericay, tanner. The 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



48 r 



marriage license was dated October 13, 1596, at 

which time Joseph Hills did not use the tmal "s" in 
; his surname. It appears tirst February, 1608, prob- 
' ably through a change in the vicar who kept the 

records. 

Joseph Hills married Rose Clarke, at Great 
' Burstead, July 22, 1624, and the elder children were 
' born there. Not later than March, 1632, he and 
' his family removed to Maldon, a place in Essex 

county, England, which was the birthplace of their 
; sons John and Stephen, and daughter Sarah. In 
' 163S he was an "undertaker" or stockholder in the 
' voyage of the "Susan and Ellen," which arrived 

July 17, 1638, at Boston, with him and his family. 

They made their first, abiding place in Charlestown, 

■ Massachusetts, near the Market place, but soon re- 
moved to a farm on the Mystic side. He was one 

■ of the founders of the town of Maiden. He was 
the first deputy to the general court, and continu- 

' ously represented the town in the legislature until 
1664. It was he who gave the name to the town, 
after the name of his last place of residence in 
England, Maldon. He was selectman of Maiden in 
1644 and speaker of the house of deputies in 1647. 
He was captain of the Trainband, and willed his buff 

t coat to his son Samuel, and his back sword to 
Henry Lunt, his step-son. He was one of the most 

i prominent legislators of his day. In 1666, when he 
retired from public life, he was succeeded by his 
son-in-law, John Waite, who filled the position of 
deputy for nineteen years, being speaker in 1684 
and nominated as a magistrate in 1683. 

In 164s Joseph Hills was named by the general 
court to set out the lots to settlers in the Nasha- 
way plantation. In 1650 he was second on a com- 
mittee, of which the governor was the chair;nan, to 
draw up instructions for the jMassachusetts dele- 
gates to a gathering of commissioners of all the 
colonies. In 1653 he served on a commission to 
consider the question as to whether the United 
Colonies have power by the articles of agreement 

' to engage the colonies in war. In 1654. with Captain 
Hawthorne, Captain Johnson and the treasurer of 
the colony, he was on a committee to frame an an- 
swer to the home government, which had demanded 
an explanation of certain acts. He was on a com- 
mittee to audit the treasury accounts in 1650-53-61. 
He framed the first code of laws in the colony, and 
was for many years engaged in the revision of the 
statutes. In 1648 he was one of the committee that 
reported the first codification of the laws of the 
colony, and it was he who compiled the laws, pre- 
pared the copy for the printer and supervised the 
printing. He was voted as extra compensation for 
his work five hundred acres of land on the Nashua 
river and remission of taxes in his old age. He was 
appointed more times to edit the laws than even 
Governor Bellingham. 

His wife died in Maiden, March 24, 1650, and he 

'' married (second), June 21, 1651, Hannah (Smith) 
Mellows, widow of Edward Mellows, of Charles- 
town, who died 1655. In January, 1656, he married 
(third) Helen, Ellen or Eleanor Atkinson. She 
died January 6, 1663. In one of his marriages Mr. 
Hills acted the part of magistrate as well as groom, 
and married himself. The law reeiuired marriages 
to be solemnized by magistrates. Governor Belling- 
ham set I\Ir. Hills an example by marrying himself 
to Penelope Pelham, He was called upon to come 
down and plead to a complaint against him for the 
act, but he refused to do so. Joseph Hills, being a 
magistrate to end small causes, followed the ex- 
ample of the governor, January, 1656, and was pre- 
sented to the grand jury for marrying himself con- 
trary to the laws of the colony. The records show 



that he freely acknowledged his offense therein and 
his misunderstanding the grounds whereon he went, 
which he now confesseth to be unwarrantable. And 
he was admonished by the court. (IVIiddlescx county 
records). He married (fourth) at Newbury, Massa- 
chusetts, Ann Lunt, widow of Henry Lunt, and 
made his home at Newbury his residence thereafter. 
He became blind in 1678. He died at New- 
bury, Massachusetts, E'ebruary 5, 168S. His children 
were: i. Mary, baptized at Great Burstead, Eng- 
land, November 13, 1625, died at Maiden, November 
25, 1674. 2. Elizabeth, born in Great Burstead, bap- 
tized October 21, 1627, died at Maiden. 3. Joseph,, 
born at Great Burstead, August 2, 1629, died at 
Maiden, April 19, 1674. 4. James, born at Maldon,- 
England, March 6, 1631, died young. 5. John, borti- 
in Maldon, England, March 2i, 1632, died at Mai- 
den, July 28, 1652. 6. Rebecca, *born April 20,- 
1634, died at Maiden, Massachusetts, June 16, 1674. 
7. Steven, born May I, 1636, died at Alaldon before 
1638. 8. Sarah, born at Maldon, baptized August 14, 
1637, died there August 14, 1637. 9. Gershom, born 
at Charlestown, July 27, 1639, died in Maiden, Massa- 
chusetts, between 1710 and 1721. 10. Mehitable, 
born at Maiden, Massachusetts, January i, 1641, 
died there July, 1652. 11. Samuel, (see forward). 
12. Nathaniel, born at Maiden, Massachusetts, De- 
cember 19, 1653, died there 1664. 13. Hannah, boru 
at Maiden. 14. Deborah, born at Maiden, Massa- 
chusetts, March, 1657, died at Maiden, October, 
1662. 15. Abigail, born at Maiden, October 6, 1658, 
died there October 9, 1662. 

(II) Samuel Hills, son of Joseph Hills (i), was; 
born at Maiden, July, i6=;2, died at Newbury, Massa- 
chusetts, August 18, 1732. He was a sergeant in the 
service during King Philip's war, and was in the 
battle of Bloody Brook, September 18, 1675, and 
Narragansett, December 19, 1675. He m.nrried at 
Newbury, Massachusetts, May 20, 1677, Abigail 
Wheeler, who died April 13, 1742, daughter of 
David and Sarah (Wise) Wheeler, of Newbury, 
Massachusetts. David Wheeler was the son of John 
Wheeler, who was born in Salisbury, Wiltshire, 
England, 1625, and came over in the "Confidence" 
in 163S. He married Sarah Wise, May 11, i650-. 
Children of Samuel and Abigail (Wheeler) Hills- 
were : I. Samuel, born at Newbury, Massachusetts,. 
February 16, 1680, died at Rehoboth, July 17, 1748- 
2. Joseph, born at Newbury, July 21, 1681, died at 
Newbury, November 6, 1745. 3. Nathaniel, born at 
Newbury, February 9, 1683, died at Hudson, New 
Hampshire, April 12, 1748. 4. Benjamin, (see for- 
ward). 5. Abigail, born at Newbury, September 
2, 1686, died there August 11, 1688. 6. Henry, b.irii 
at Newbury, April 23, 1688, died at Hudson, New- 
Hampshire, August 20, 1757. 7. William, born at 
Newbury, October 8, 1689, died there before January 
20, 1724. 8. Josiah, born at Newbury, July 27, 1691,. 
died there April 26, 1726. 9. John, born at New- 
bury, September 20, 1693, died after 1734. 10. Abi- 
gail, born at Newbury, June 27, 1695. H- James,, 
(twin) born at Newbury, February 26, 1697. 12, 
Hannah, (twin) born at Newbury, February 26,. 
1697. 13. Daniel, born at Newbury, December 8, 
1700, removed to Nottingham west, then to Nova 
Scotia about 1754. 14. Smith, born at Newbury,- 
April 10, 1706, died at Leominster, Massachusetts, 
August 23, 1786. 

(III) Benjamin Hills, son of Samuel Hills (2),. 
born at Newbury, Massachusetts, October 16, 1684, 
died at Chester, New Hampshire, November 3,- 
1762; married, November 7, 1709, Rebecca Ordway, 
daughter of Hananiah and Abigail Ordway. Han- 
aniah was the son of James Ordway. Rebecca 
was born December 22, 1690, died September 4,. 



482 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



1769. His children, all born at Newbury, Massa- 
chusetts, were: l. Samuel, (see forward). 2. Abi- 
gail, born November 3, 1713, married Isaac Bailey. 
4. Joamiah, born March 15, 1717, married Thomas 
llaseltine. 5. Ruth, born March 15, 1719, married 
Nathan JNIason. 6. Benjamin, born. March 12, 1721, 
died at Chester, New Hampshire, May 6, 1801. 7. 
Abner, born February 13, 1723, died at Chester, Oc- 
tober 3, 1794. 8. Jrlaunah, born November 10, 1724, 
■died October S, 1806. 9. Prudence, born February 
12, 1726, died 1773. 10. Moses, born February 9, 
1728. 

(IV) Samuel HilLs, son of Benjamin Hills (3), 
.born at Newbury, Massachusetts, August 10, 1710, 
died at Chester, New Hampshire, February 2, 1762; 
married (first), January 28, 1735, Rebecca Thurs- 
ton, of Newbury. She died May 21, 1743; married 
(second), November 18, 1743, Elizabeth Swain, of 
Newbury. She died July 31, 1793. She married 
(second) Ebenezer Dearborn, after the death of 
Samuel Hills. He had three children by the first 
and ten by the second marriage. His children were : 

I. Edmund, born in Newbury, December 7, 1735. 2. 
John, born May 25, 1738, died February 22, 1818. 
3. Samuel, born May 17, 1743. 4. Isaac, born August 
31, 1744, died at Chester, September 24, 1824. 5. 
Stephen, born at Chester, March 29, 1746, died at 
Amesbury, Massachusetts, January 31, 1831. 6. 
Elizabeth, born at Chester, January 4, 1747, died 
1778. 7. Hannah, born at Chester, June 5, 1750. 8. 
Reuben, (see forward). 9. Rachel, born at Ches- 
ter, August 6, 1754. 10. Rebecca, born at Chester, 
August 6, 1756. II. Josiah, born at Chester, October 
30, 1760, died at Chester, September 22, 1790. 13. 
Rachel. Ijorn at Chester, May 12, 1762. 

(V) Reuben Hills, son of Samuel Hills (4), 
■was born at Chester, New Hampshire, August 14, 
1752. He removed to Hawke, now Danville, New 
Hampshire, thence to Union, Maine. He was a sol- 
dier in the revolution. He was prominent in the 
Methodist church, but late in life became a Quaker. 
He married, January 18, 1779, Sarah Lurrier, daugh- 
ter of Gideon Currier. She died at Union, Maine, 
November i, 1835. He died there September 28, 
1828. Their children, ten of whom were born in 
Danville, New Hampshire, and two in Union, 
IMaine, were: i. Samuel, (see forward). 2. Sarah, 
born January 27, 1781, died at Searsmont, Maine, 
]May 3, 1862; married John Dickey, January 20, 
1803, resided at Searsmont. 3. Nathan, born July 

17, 17S4, died at Union, Maine, August 28, 1858. 4. 
Reuben, born March 2, 1786, died at Lincolnville. 
IMaine. October 3, 1874. 5. Josiah, born April 2, 
1788, died in Union, Elaine, March 28, 1875. 6. Isaac, 
born February 12, 1790. died at Lincolnville, Maine, 
January 7, 1840. 7. Nancy, born January 29, 1793, 
died at Union, Maine, May 25, 1862 ; married, Jan- 
uary I*!. 1817, Jonathan Eastman. 8. Betsey, born 
March 2, 1795. died May 8, 1796, in Union, Maine. 
g. Dr. Cyrus, born January 16, 1797, died at dish- 
ing, JNIaine, October 26, 1S60. 10. Alden, born July 
14. 1801, drowned at Union, Maine, July 17, 1807. 

II. Charlotte, born June 29, 1802, died 1804. 12. 
Louisa, born July 6, 1804. died in Union, Alaine, 
June II, 1850; married, February 14, 1822, George 
Silloway. 

(VI) Samuel Hills, son of Reuben Hills (s), 
was born at Danville, New Hampshire, November 

18, 1779. died at Union, May 16, 1853. He was a 
farmer and settled at Union. He should not be con- 
fused with a distant relative, Samuel Hills, living 
in Union at the same time, whose son, Joel Hills, 
married Abigail Havves, daughter of Levi and Pa- 
iiielia Hawes, of this same line of the Hawes family 
into which the daughter Margaret of the first named 



Samuel Hills (6) married. Samuel Hills married, 
January 11, 1816, Sarah B. Rogers, who died Octo- 
ber, 1836. Children were : i. Edward, married Al- 
mena Drake, had ten children, resided at Thomaston, 
jNIaine, and was high sheriff of the county. 2. Israel, 
resided at Appleton, Maine. 3. Benjamin B.. born 
February 18, 1821, married at Union, Amelia H. 
Oxton, of Appleton, j\Iarch 11, 1849; went to War- 
ren and built a house on the Patterson road. 4. 
Emeline, married John Walton, resides at Union. 
5. Margaret, married Silas Hawes. 6. Samuel. Jr., 
married and resided at New Orleans, Louisiana. 7. 
Sarah, born at Union, married Nathaniel Thurs- 
ton ; resides at Union. 

(VII) Margaret Hills, daughter of Samuel Hills 
(6), was born in Union, Maine; married S:las 
Hawes, before mentioned. 

DR. EMIL SAUER, a well established gen- 
eral practitioner of Worcester, and who has attained 
distinction in certain special fields of his profession, 
is a native of the city named, and comes from an 
excellent German family. 

Wendel Sauer, his paternal grandfather, was a 
resident of Hesse Darmstadt, and a shoemaker by 
trade. Prior to 1812 he entered the French army as 
a substitute. He died at the age of sixty-one years, 
and his wife at the age of fifty-one years. They 
were the parents of six children, only one of whom, 
Joseph, came to the United States. 

Joseph Sauer, son of Wendel Saner, was born in 
Hesse Darmstadt, Germany, January 29, 1839. He 
was educated in the schools of his native village, 
and at the age of fifteen years came to America, 
landing in New York after a passage of thirty-two 
days. For a time he worked in a woolen mill in 
Broad B'rook, Connecticut, and in 1859, located in 
Worcester, Massachusetts. There he found employ- 
ment in the Allen & Wheelock pistol factory, after- 
ward in the Crompton loom works, and still later 
in the carbine factory of the Ballards, with whom he 
remained until they removed their works to Xew- 
buryport, jMassachusetts. Early in the civil war 
pericid he enlisted as a musician in the P'ifteenth 
Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteers, and during 
a portion of his term of service performed hos- 
pital duty. After the war closed he opened a res- 
taurant on Front street, Worcester, subsequently 
expanding his business to a hotel, and from which 
business he retired in 1903. He married, August 
13, 1864, Caroline Meyer, born in Wittenberg. Ger- 
many. April 25, 1841, who came to the United States 
with her parents when she was seven years old ; her 
father, Francis Meyer, died at the age of sixty-five 
years. Their children were: Carrie, married Julius 
Ehlers, of Hartford, Connecticut, and they have two 
sons; Minnie, married Herman Klingle, of Wor- 
cester, and they have two daughters ; Eniil. to be 
further mentioned. 

Emil, youngest child and only son of Joseph and 
Caroline (Meyer) Sauer, was born in Worcester, 
Massachusetts, March 14, 1881. He was educated in 
the public schools of that city and after leaving the 
high school in 1899, at the age of eighteen years, he 
entered the Jefferson ^Medical College of Philadal- 
phia. completed the four year course, and was grad- 
uated with the degree of Doctor of Medicine in 
1903. He was for some time associated with the 
eminent Philadelphia specialist in gynecology and 
surgery. Professor Fisher, and subsequently went 
abroad to further study professional specialties. For 
six months he attended the Vienna General Hos- 
pital, having among other instructors the noted sur- 
geon, Dr. Lorenz. For a like period he was a stu- 
dent in Berlin, and during his sojourn there was a 




-O- i~ ^JJ'otAiyh' 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



483 



nembtr of the Anglo-American Medical Association 
if Berlin. In 1902 he made a previous trip to Europe, 
Jvith his bride, and during this time observed meth- 
ods in the Strasburg hospitals. In 1904 he entered 
ipon general practice' in his native city, matcmg a 
specialty of diseases of women and children, for 
vhich he had prepared himself by his particular 
■tudy of gynecology and pediatrics. From the rirst 
le met with unusual success. Dr. Sauer is con- 
KCted with various leading fraternal and social 
jrganizations — Morning Star Lodge, F. and A. M. ; 
..roquois Lodge, Improved Order of Red Men; the 
)rder of the Eagles ; the F'rohsinns, and the So- 
:ialer Turn Verem. He is a Republican in politics. 
i.n 1904 he was presented in the Republican pri- 
iiiary in ward seven for the nomination for school 
:ommitteeniaii, and was defeated by the narrow mar- 
i;in of forty-three votes, and in 1905 was elected to 
'tie two year term which he is now serving. Dr. 
Sauer married, June II, 1902, Ethel S. Jordan, 
daughter of the late John W. Jordan, a member of 
John W. Jordan & Company, dealers in stoves, 
■anges and furnaces. Their children are : Caroline 
'.-"ranees, born May 2, 1904; and Helen Louise, born 

iluly 5, 1905- 

Mrs. ttnel S. (Jordan) Sauer is descended from 
Samuel Jordan, a native of England, who came to 
his country in young manhood and married, in 
;8o5. Sarah Rogers, born in 1786, said to have been 
1 descendant of John Rogers, who "for heresy" was 
'lurned at the stake in 1555 under "Bloody Queen 
\lary." Of their children two daughters and three 
;;ons grew to maturity, and one of the former died 
In Michigan at an advanced age. 

• John Rogers, son of Samuel and Sarah (Rogers) 
Jordan, was born in Philadalphia, Pennsylvania, 
.''ebruary 28, 1806. His mother being left a widow, 
■lie was early thrown upon his own resources. When 
ibout ten years old he was sent to New Hampshire 

live upon a farm. He learned the trade of stone 
mason, and became owner of an excellent quarry 
lit Lynn, Massachusetts, where he settled. He was 
li man of character and ability, and an influential 
iiember of the community. He was actively inter- 
■sted in public affairs, served in both branches of 
he city council, was a captain of militia, and was 

1 member of the Masonic fraternity. He was a man 
if fine physique and handsome features. He reared 
liu interesting family of nine children, by his first 
vife, who was Susan Darling, one of a family of 
seventeen children, whom he married in Mason, 
!^ew Hampshire. His wife died in 1877, and he 
lad one child by his second marriage. His chil- 
Iren were : John W., see forward ; Susan Eliza- 
leth, married Ebenezer Harris, and resided in Fitch- 
uirg, Massachusetts; Mary A., married Warren 
3ailey, of Lynn, Massachusetts ; Sarah, married J. 
A'ilson. of the same city ; Lucy A., married a Rus- 
sell, also of Lynn ; Alexander, resides in Somer- 
.•ille, Massachusetts; Samuel, who enlisted before 
le was eighteen years old, at Lowell, Massachu- 
i^etts, to serve in the Mexican war, and died at 
'Fort Jessup, New Mexico, while en route to the 
'ront; Oliver Hazard Perry, born 1830, died in 
Worcester in 1863. leaving wife, son and three 
laughters ; Edward Darling, served in the civil war 
n Company G, Fifteenth Massachusetts Infantry 
Regiment ; he was wounded in the leg at the battle 
if Antietam, and died a few days afterward it 
iharpsburg. and was buried in Worcester; Henry 
jiarrison, died young. 

! John Warren, eldest child of John Rogers and 
Misan ( Darling) Jordan, was born in Mason, New 
iampshire, October i, 1826. At the age of eight 



years he went to live with the family of Thomas 
Kidder — the same among whom his father had 
been brought up. He lived there for live years, 
durhig that time attending the district school only 
during two short terms. When thirteen he went 
to work as a bobbin boy in a mill, and in four years 
had been advanced to overseer of a room. He' sub- 
sequently learned the tinsmith trade at Manchester. 
In August, 184s, he arrived in Worcester, his entire 
capital amounting to twenty-five cents, but he un- 
expectedly found old New Hampshire friends and 
soon procured employment. Fie enlisted for the 
Mexican war at Governor's Island, Boston Harbor. 
In 1852 he established in Worcester the business 
with which his name has been associated for more 
than a half century, which he conducted until his 
death, in 1902 — the oldest firm in Worcester in the 
hardware and plumbing business. Since the death 
of Mr. Jordan the managing company has had for 
its head his son, Frederick B. Jordan. Mr. Jordan 
was not only a successful man of affairs, but an 
honored and useful member of the community. He 
served in the common council in 1859 and 1861, 
and in the board of aldermen in 1870 and 1871. He 
was affiliated with JMontacute Lodge, Free and Ac- 
cepted Masons, in which he was a past master, and 
he had attained the thirty-second degree, Scottish 
Rite. Mr. Jordan and his family were members of 
Piedmont Congregational Church. 

Mr. Jordan married, in November, 1847, Caro- 
line C. Loring, of Townsend, Massachusetts, daugh- 
ter of Elmer and Mary (Hastings) Loring, and one 
of a family of twelve children. She bore to her 
husband four children, of whom but one came to 
maturity — Genevieve H., who became the wife of 
D. E. Forrest, of Medford, IMassachusetts. Mrs. 
Jordan died December 12, 1869, and Mr. Jordan 
married (second), November 24, 1870, Lydia Al- 
mira Perry, daughter of Joseph S. Perry. The chil- 
dren of ]\lr. Jordan by his second marriage were : 
Lillie May, born March, 1872, died young; Annie 
Rogers, born June 4, 1873, died February. 1879; 
John Warren, born June 14, 1874; Frederick B., 
born August 15, 1875, married Bessie Edwards, and 
they have two sons — Fred and Leslie ; Ethel S., born 
July 27, 1881, who became the wife of Dr. Eniil 
Sauer. 

CHARLES EDWARD HUNT. William Hunt 
( I ) was the emigrant ancestor of Charles Edward 
Hunt, of Worcester. It is believed that William 
Hunt was born in 1605 in England. He came to 
New England and settled before 1640 in Concord, 
Massachusetts. He was admitted a freeman June 
2. 1641. He was a witness to the will of a neighbor 
in Concord. William Bowstred, October 2^, 1642. He 
was a farmer. He married (first) Elizabeth Best. 
She died 1661. He married (second) ISIercy (Hurd) 
Rice, widow of Edmund Rice. 166.^. He removed to 
Marlboro, where he died October, 1667. He made 
his will October 23, 1667, leaving an estate valued at 
596 pounds. He bequeathed to wife Mary, sons Sam- 
uel. Nehemiah anci Isaac, and daughter Elizabeth 
Barnes. His children were: Nehemiah, married 
Mary Toole, 1663, and settled at Concord. Massa- 
chusetts: Isaac, see forward: William: Elizabeth, 
married Barnes ; Hannah : Samuel. 

(II) Isaac Hunt, son of William Hunt (i), was 
born in 1647 in Concord, Massachtisetts. He married 
Mary Stone, May 14, 1667. He died at Concord, 
1681. His estate was appraised April 5, 1681, and 
his wife Mary Hunt was appointed administratrix. 
Their children were : Isaac, born January 12, 1668, 
died June, 1669; Hannah, June 5, 1670, married 



484 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



Fletcher (see Fletcher sketch) ; Samuel, 

October 26, 1672; Isaac, November 18, 1675; Ebe- 
nezcr, July 12, 1677. 

(III) Lsaac Hunt, fourth child of Isaac Hunt 
(2), was born in Concord, Massachusetts, Novem- 
ber iS, 1675. He settled in Sudbury. He married 
Mary Willard. She was admitted to the Sudbury 
church. January 20, 1717-8. He left a large astate, 
having' lands at Lancaster and Rutland. The inven- 
tory of his estate amounted to 1,477 pounds. The 
children of Isaac and Mary (Willard) Hunt of Sud- 
bury, all born there, were: Isaac; Thomas, August 
20, 1701: Mary; Ebenezer ; Samuel, January II, 1709; 
John, see forward; Simon, April 20, 1713; Henry, 
March 10, 1715 ;,Abidah, July 31, 1717- 

(IV) John Hunt, sixth child of Isaac Hunt 
(3), was born in Sudbury, Massachusetts, February 
12, 1711. He removed to wdiat is now Hardwick, 
Massachusetts, and was one of the earliest settlers. 
He Hvcd for a short time at Grafton after leaving 

Sudbury. He married Mary . His farm 

and homestead was about three-quarters of a mile 
north of the common in Hardwick where Willis 
Tavern stood. He was a tavern keeper as well as 
farmer. During the revolutionary war his inn was 
a stopping place for soldiers, and as there was an 
epidemic of small pox in various places Mr. Hunt 
■went to the pest house at New Braintree to be inocu- 
lated with virus. He died of the disease and was 
buried in the orchard at the angle of the road to 
New Braintree, a few rods south of the former resi- 
dence of Colonel Stephen Fay. The children of John 
and Mary Hunt of Hardwick were: Samuel, born 
September 27, 1736; Moses, December 18, 1738, died 
June 20, 1747; Hannah, March 18, 1744; Mary, Octo- 
ber 13. 1746; John, January 31, 1749-50; Moses, Octo- 
ber 28, 1756; Joseph, December 8, 1759, married 
Elizabeth Fav and removed to Bennington, Vermont. 

(V) Mo'ses Hunt, seventh son of John Hunt 
(4), was born in Hardwick, Massachusetts, Octo- 
ber 28. 1756. He married Esther Jenney, daughter 
of John Jenney, December 10, 1778. He was a farmer. 
His homestead was in the northern part of Hard- 
wick. He died there July 10, 1822. He was a revo- 
lutionary soldier in Captain Samuel Dexter's com- 
pany. 1776, Colonel Leonard's regiment; also Captain 
Hodges' company. Colonel Job Cushing, in 1777, at 
the Bennington call. The children of Moses and 
Esther (Jenney) Hunt were: Sophia, born October 
2, 1779. married Joseph Dexter; Moses, August 27, 
1781 : Abigail, September 23, 1786; John, June 26, 
1788, married Mabel Hopkins, January 4, 1816, set- 
tled in Hadley, Massachusetts; Mary Palmer, April 
19, 1790; Esther Jenney, February 10, 1792; Zeph- 
aniah. August 4. 1793. settler in Barre ; Orsamus, 
see forward; Horace or Hiram, April 15, 1799. died 
January 15. 1803: William, June 27, 1800, died Janu- 
ary II, 1803: Hammond, July 8. 1802, died May 
20 180^; William, September 6. 1804. 

'(VI) Orsamus Hunt, eighth child of Moses 
Hunt (5), was born in Hardwick, Massachusetts, 
February 16, 1797. He married (first) Laura New- 
ton, daiighter of Silas Newton, January 7, 1821. She 
died at Granby, Massachusetts. January 14, 1851, 
aged fifty-six years. He married (second) her sis- 
ter. Caroline Newton. He died at Shrewsbury, 
Massachusetts, May 25, 1864. He was a mason by 
trade, also a contractor and builder, and lived in 
various towns as his emplovment demanded. He 
was in Stockbridge" after he left Hardwick for sev- 
eral years. He removed to Lee. Massachusetts, an 
adjacent town, where he resided for seven years. 
The family lived in Amherst for a year and thence 
removed to Granby, where he was living in 1851 
•when his wife died. F. B. Knowles, founder of the 



Knowles loom works, married a sister of Mrs. Hunt. 
The children of Orsamus and Laura (Newton) Hunt 
were: i. Addison Augustus, born in Hardwick, 
June 20, 1822, married Clarissa E. Thomas, March 
16, 1852 ; was a school teacher, died 1892, 2. Calvin 
Newton, born June 8, 1825, died May 21, 1830. 3, 
Charles Edward, see forward. 4. Edwin Newton, 
born in Lee, Massachusetts, December 14, 1834, wa& 
a soldier and died at the age of sixty years. 

(VII) Charles Edward Hunt, third child of 
Orsamus Hunt (6), was born in Stockbridge, Mass- 
achusetts, May 21, 1830. He was educated in the 
common schools in the towns where his parents lived 
during his boyhood, in Lee, Berkshire county, Mass- 
achusetts, Amherst and Granby in the same vicinity. 
At the age of fifteen he came to Worcester as an ap- 
prentice in the composing room of the old Worcester 
County Gaccttc. At that time the paper was a 
weekly owned by Estey & Evans. Political feeling 
was strong. Abolition was an absorbing topic of 
political conversation and action. Even the boys 
who carried the paper to subscribers realized the 
depth of feeling when some good citizen, angered by 
a political editorial in the Gazette, would not only 
stop his paper but would vent his feelings by chas- 
ing the paper boy away from the house when he 
came to deliver the oft'ending sheet. While in the 
Ca::ettc ofiice Mr. Hunt used to deliver papers Tues- 
day night and Wednesday morning after publication. 
There has been some change in the business of 
printing newspapers since then, not only in putting 
stereotype presses in place of Washington hand 
presses and Mergenthaler linotype machines in place 
of the compositor, but in hours of labor and wages 
paid. Mr. Hunt received his board for his work dur- 
ing the first year. He was to receive his board and 
ten dollars the second year. It is the custom to pay 
boys a dollar a day for the first year and from $8 to 
$10 the second year in Worcester newspaper compos- 
ing rooms, while the scale of wages for journeymen 
is $18 a week for day work, and eight hours per day 
instead of ten. Among other boys in the Gacette 
office at the time was Hezekiah Conant. who later 
built the big mills at Pawtucket, Rhode Island, and 
became very wealthy. 

Mr. Hunt left the Gaaettc oflSce after a year and 
a half to return to Granby, where he worked during 
the fall and winter. He worked the next year or two 
for H. S. Taylor, of Springfield, who established the 
first book and job office in Springfield, Massachu- 
setts. When he was nineteen he went to Greenfield, 
Massachusetts, and worked for one season on a hand 
press in a printing office. He attended school for 
a time at Easthampton and later taught school at 
Belchertown, Massachusetts. In the spring of 1851 
he went to work in a printing office at New Lon- 
don, Connecticut, on what was then a new and up- 
to-date press. In 1852 he was assistant teacher with 
his brother Addison at Ware, Massachusetts. In 
the spring of 1852 he went to Springfield, Massa- 
chusetts, to do the power press work on the Sf'riitg- 
Hcld Rc(>ublicaiu. After a year and a half he went 
into the job printing department of the Rcpuhtican 
office, but a few months later took charge of the job 
press room as foreman. The publishers of the Rc- 
f'uhUcan at that time were : Samuel Bowles. Dr. 
Holland, and Clark W. Bryan, the business manager. 
The firm name was Samuel Bowles & Co. When 
the panic and hard times came, just before the civil 
war, Mr. Bryan had to reduce the force and cut 
salaries. "Mr. Hunt declined to have his salary cut, 
and in 18^8 left the printing office again for the old 
farm at Granby. which his father bought in l8,w and 
which was left to the sons at the death of 
their mother, January 14, 1851. Fie conducted 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



48: 



(the farm for four years and tlicn returned 
[to Springfield to work for Joshua F. Tannett, 
(who had a small printing office, and there 
hvorked two years when the business was sold. 
'He was otTere'd his old position of foreman of the 
I press room in the Republican office at twenty-one 
I dollars per week and accepted the place. During 
'the civil war the modern newspaper was developed. 
The telegraph service became a necessity, and faster 
;and better presses were demanded. Mr. Hunt was in 
'the Repuhiican office during this important period 
iof development, at the time that the reputation of 
Uhe Republican was established. He left the paper 
I May I, 1869, and again returned to the farm at 
:-Granby, where he remained until 1872, when he 
; bought out the interests of the other owners and 
settled down on the farm until he sold it in 1887. 
Mr. Hunt took an active part in town affairs at 
Granby. He was elected superintendent of the Sun- 
day school before he had removed to the town, and 
in 1870 was elected deacon of the church. He de- 
iclined to accept either of these honors at the time, 
!but later became deacon. He was elected secretary 
[of the Town Mutual Fire Insurance Company, a 
; position he held for ten years. He was for eight 
'years a member of the school committee and de- 
klined re-election. The district schools were still in 

■ vogue there and the day of the superintendent had 
inot arrived. In his report for the year ending March 

I, 1881, Mr. Hunt advocated the grading of the 
- li'iols and concentrating them at the centre of the 
1 \\n. His views have since been adopted, but at the 
tune they caused great commotion among the old 
farmers and hurt his prestige as a safe and sane 

■ man. His friends saw to it that he was re-elected, 
;however. without his making an effort. The public 

system of which Massachusetts is so proud to-day 
■\va^ the product of some struggles, and it developed 
and is developing slowly. The struggle in which 

■ Mr. Hunt was a leader in his town went on for years 
Ithroughout the state. The graded school displaced 

the district school only after the proof of its super- 
iority' became overwhelming from actual experience. 
' Mr. Hunt declined to run for selectman, but was 
drafted into the office of assessor. Of his experience 
|in this office, he says : "I did not prove successful, 
:for when I found the lands of the rich farmers that 
■cut two crops of hay each season assessed at $20 an 
;acre while that of some of the poor struggling fel- 
llows that was not so good, assessed at $30 and in at 
:lea.-t one case $45, I insisted that there should be a 
■square deal. One old fellow, rich in mortgages, who 
'had for several years paid only a poll tax, was 
'brought to book when we found he had $4,000 on a 
building in Holyoke. The rate was one per cent 
and he was taxed on the full amount, making his bill 
•$42 in all. As I was the tax collector that year I 
had the fun of collecting it." He was not re-elected 
.assessor for obvious reasons. It is a well known fact 
[that no department of municipal affairs, even in the 
(smallest towns, is so corrupt and unjustly admin- 
istered as the assessment for purposes of taxation. 
A co-operative society or Grange was formed in 
■Granby in the seventies by twelve farmers. Mr. 
iHunt was secretary. They met once a week to 
transact business in rooms fitted up for the pur- 
•pose. They had discussions of public questions, 
lectures, etc. They bought their groceries by whole- 
'sale in Boston and saved hundreds of dollars during 
fthe four years that the society lasted. Mr. Hunt 
fsold his farm at Granby in 1887 and came to Mill- 
Ibury. Massachusetts, to manage a country place and 
'stock farm for his cousin, F. B. Knowles, the loom 
■manufacturer. The farm was sold in 1894. In 1895 
I Mr. Hunt took charge of the country place of Frank 



P. Knowles, son of F. B. Knowles, at Pacachoag 
Hill, Auburn, where a beautiful country home has 
been built and a magnificent stock farm equipped 
and developed. Mr. Hunt was in charge of the 
work until 1897, when he resigned. Since then Mr. 
Hunt has resided in Worcester and been engaged 
in the real estate business. His home is at 62 Dewey 
street. He is a member of the Old South Con- 
gregational Church, Worcester. 

lie married, September 4, 1855, Laura Warner, 
of Springfield, Massachusetts. Their children are: 

1. Hattie Maria, born March 21, 1858, at home; she 
taught school seven years at Granby and Waltham. 

2. Frank, born March, 1862, married Lucy Cathon, 
and has two children : Francis and Ruth G. ; they 
reside in Allston. 3. Samuel, born April 12, 1868, 
married Cordelia Alathers, two children: Gertrude 
and Charles ; they reside in Allston. 4. Fred, born 
September, 1870, unmarried, remained with his father 
until 1897, when he learned the trade of moulder 
and is now employed in Detroit, IMichigan, as in- 
structor. 

BIRNEY ASHER ROBINSON. Thomas Rob- 
inson (r) was the emigrant ancestor of Birney Asher 
Robinson, of Worcester. He was a proprietor of 
Roxbury about 1636. and his wife Silence was a 
member of the church there. He removed to Bos- 
ton. It was not until November 11, 1662, however, 
that he disposed of all his land at Roxbury. He 
was a mariner and sold the ship "Speedwell," in 
which many emigrants came to this country, to 
Thomas Witherly of Southwark, county Surrey, July 
27, 1640. Then he appears to have gone to Scituate 
where, in 1640, he bought land of William Gilson. 
He bought house and lands there in 1642. He 
represented Scituate in the general court in 1643. 
He was elected deacon of the second church of 
Scituate. He was a juryman at Scituate in 1644, 
and took the oath of fidelity March 3, 1644-5. He 
was proposed for freeman and probably admitted 
1650. In August and September. 1654, he bought 
two estates in Boston, adjoining each other, on the 
west side of Washington street, opposite the Old 
South church. The lots were two hundred and 
seventy feet deep. He lived there some of the 
time, though his children were taken to Scituate 
to be baptized, perhaps because he was a deacon 
there. All were baptized there except James. Isaac 
Robinson, unquestionabl}' a son of Rev. John Robin- 
son, pastor of the Pilgrims in Holland, settled in 
Scituate at the time that Thomas went there, and 
some believe that he also was a son of Rev. John 
Robinson, but proof is lacking. 

He made his will March 17. 1665, and it was 
proved April 27, 1666. He made bequests to his 
wife; to children, Thomas, James, Joseph, and Mary; 
son John supposed to be in England ; to brother 
Joseph Rocke. After his first wife Silence died, 
he married (second) Mary (Cogan) Woody, of 
Boston, in that town January 11, 1652-3. She was 
the widow of John '\Voody and the daughter of 
John Cogan, of Boston. She died October 26. 1661. 
He married (third) Elizabeth Sherman, widow of 
Richard Sherman. Her will was dated August 21, 
1666. and was proved November 16, 1667. Thomas 
Robinson died March 23, 1665-6. Children of Thomas 
and Silence (probably) were: i. John; merchant, 
supposed to be in England at the time of his father's 
death ; was administrator of brother Samuel's estate 
October 28, 1662. 2. Samuel ; merchant ; died un- 
married January 16. 1661-2, aged twenty-four years. 
3. Josiah ; apprenticed to Joseph Rocke, who was 
named in father's will: died April 17. 1660. 4. 
Ephraim, born in Scituate probably ; died Septem- 



486 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



ber 22. 1661. Children of Thomas and Mary 
(Cogan) Robinson were: 5. Thomas (see forward). 
6. James, born in Boston, March 14, 1654-5; died 
September, 1676. 7. Joseph, baptized March 8, 1656-7 ; 
married Sarah ; died April, 1713. 8. Mary, bap- 
tized February 28, 1657-8; died young. 9. Mary, 
baptized November 6, 1659; married Jacob Green, 
Jr., of Charlestown. Joseph Rocke, before men- 
tioned, married Elizabeth, sister of Mary Cogan, 
second wife of Thomas Robinson. 

(II) Thomas Robinson, son of Thomas Robin- 
son (i), born probably in Boston, but baptized in 
Scituate. March 5, 1653-4; married Sarah Dennison, 
daughter of Edward Dennison. of Roxbury. He in- 
herited part of the Robinson homestead, where he 
resided, and also his grandfather Cogan's house 
and store on the corner of Washington and State 
streets. He was a cordwainer or shoemaker by 
trade. He died June, 1700. His wife Sarah died 
in Roxbury November 15, 1710, aged fifty-three 
years. Their children were: i. Thomas, born No- 
vember 5, 1677; married Sarah Beswick, June 26, 
1707- died (s. p.) February 15, 1729-30. 2. Sarah, 
baptized December 28, 1679; married (first) John 
Ingoldsbury, May 4, 1704; married (second) John 
Perry, ilay 27. 1707. 3. Joseph, baptized Novem- 
ber 20. 1681 : died young. 4. Elizabeth, born Sep- 
tember 26, 1686; died young. 5. James, born March 
15, 1689-90. 

(III) James Robinson, son of Thomas Robinson 
(2), was born March 15, 1689-90, at Roxbury (?), 
He married, at Roxbury, Patience Ruggles, daughter 
of Captain Samuel Ruggles, of Roxbury. He was 
a housewright. The homestead of his grandfather 
on Washington street, Boston, he sold February 7, 
1711-12. He bought a house on the south side of 
Boylston street which he sold April 12, 1714, and 
removed to Rochester, Massachusetts, where Rev. 
Timothy Ruggles. his wife's brother, was settled. 
He lived there until the Spring of 1757, when he 
exchanged his farm in Rochester for one in Hard- 
wick, Massachusetts, where several of his children 
were already settled. Of his eight children Dorothy 
alone remained in Rochester, all the others settling 
in Barre and Hardwick in Worcester county. His 
farm was on the road to Ware, marked on the R. 
map "Mr. Leonard." He died shortly before March 
II, 1762, when the will was proved. His wife 
Patience died January, 1768. aged seventy-eight years. 
Their cliildren were: i. James, born March i. 1711-12 ; 
married Elizabeth Smith; settled on the River Road 
from Hardwick to Barre. in the then wilderness. 

2. Thomas, born September 15, 1713; died young. 3. 
Samuel, born November I, 1715. 4. Thomas, born 
April 20, 1718. 5. Sarah, born July 2, 1720; mar- 
ried Ebenezer Spooner, of Rochester, 1746. 6. 
Dorothy, born March 10. 1722-3 : married David 
Peckham, October 27. 1743, and Major Elnathan 
Haskell. November 26. 1749; died at Rochester, 
September 25, 1810. 7. Dennison. born July 16. 1725. 
8. Joseph, born September 13, 1727. 9. Hannah, born 
November 16, 1730; married Benjamin Green Au- 
gust 31, 1764. 

(IV) Joseph Robinson, son of James Robinson 
(3). born September 13. 1727; married Martha 
Hedge in 1753. and they settled in Barre. Six of 
their twelve children are recorded as born in Barre. 
Some of their children were:, i. Mary, born June 

3. 1754. 2. Dorothy, born February 23. 1756. 3. 
Lemuel, born January 4, 1758; his son Lemuel. Jr., 
and probably others, settled in Bennington. Ver- 
mont. 4. Martha, born November 23, 1759. 5. Sam- 
uel Hedge, born January 25, 1761. 6. Levi, baptized 
May 20. 1770. 

(V) Levi Robinson, son of Joseph Robinson (4), 



was born in Barre, Massachusetts, and baptized ir 
the First church there, !May 20, 1770; married Sep- 
tember 30. 1798. Betsey Nye, of Hardwick, in that 
town. They settled in Westford, Vermont. Theii 
children, born at Westford, were: I. Nye, bom 
March 14, 1799; had three children. 2. Annis, born 
1800; taught school at Westford, Vermont, 1S20; 
died, unmarried, 1821. 3. Charles; had two children 
4. Lucinda, married Ira Graves and had two chil- 
dren. 5. Levi, born February 23, 1808, at Westford 
Vermont, had eight children; died October 16, 1877 
6. Joseph, born November 28, 1809. 7. Stephen Pearl 
born March 16, 1S08 ; lived at Westford. 

(VI) Joseph Robinson, son of Levi Robinson (5) 
born in Westford, Vermont, November 28. iSog 
married Aurelia Cross, October 17, 1833. They set- 
tled in Fairfax and Underbill, Vermont. Theii 
children were : I. Sarah E., born August 18. 1834 
at Fairfax, Vermont ; died September 18, 1S34. 2 
Sophronia L., born October 2, 1836; died at Fair 
fax June 7, 1843. 3. Asher C, born February 15 
1839. at Fairfax. 4. Lucinda A., born July 13, 1S41 
at Fairfax; died August I, 1858. 5. Sophronia (twin) 
born March 26, 1845, at Fairfax ; died August S 
1845. 6. Malona (twin), born March 26, 1845; diec 
July 9, 1847. 7. Fillmore Joseph, born October 27 
1S49. at Underbill, Vermont. 8. Fayette H.. bon 
March 17, 1854, at Underbill; died April 7, 1S54. 

(VII) Asher C. Robinson, son of Joseph Robin 
son (6), born in Fairfax, Vermont. February i: 
1839 ; married Euretta Stevens, of Richmond. Ver 
mont, March 22. i860. She was the daugliter 
Rufus and Ann Stevens and was born in Richmonc 
Vermont, August 20, 1838; died May 27, 1903. H 
represented the town of Westford in the Legisla 
ture in 1874-5 and Chittenden county in the Senat 
in 1880-81. Their children were: i. George C 
born December 28. i860, at Clifton, Michigan; re 
sides at West Rutland, Vermont. 2. ^lortimer C 
born March 2. 1862. at Richmond, Vermont. ; 
Adelle. born at Underbill, September 9, 1863. . 
Erminie, born in Underbill, May 16, 1865. 5. Birne 
A. (twin), born August 24. 1869, at Westford. Vei 
mont (see forward). 6. Bertha (twin), born .\\i 
gust 24, 1869, at Westford, Vermont. 7. Fanny L 
born June 12, 1874, at Westford, Vermont; die 
January I, 1888. 

(VIII) Birney Asher Robinson, son of Ashe 
C. (7) and Euretta (Stevens) Robinson, was bor 
at Westford, Vermont, August 24, 1869. His bo) 
hood was spent in his native town and he attende 
the public schools there. Later he attended S 
Johnsbury Academy at St. Johnsbury, Vermont. Hi 
first business experience was with Swift & Compan; 
the meat dealers and packers, of Chicago, Illinoi 
where he worked as salesman in one of the Chicag 
branches of the concern. He left this company t 
accept a position in the office of the Vermont Marbl 
Company, of which Senator Proctor, of Vermon 
is the head, at Proctor, Vermont. Later he was ser 
to St. Louis to the branch office in that city. In 1S5 
he spent most of the year in St. Johnsbury. Vermon 
coming to Worcester, Massachusetts, to live in 189; 
After an extensive foreign trip he returned to Wo) 
cester and started on his own account in the autc 
mobile business in Worcester. When he opened h: 
first place at the corner of Clinton and Pleasar 
streets, he was the first to venture in this line c 
trade in Worcester, and has perhaps been the moi 
successful. As the demand for the machines ir 
creased he was obliged to enlarge his quarters. H 
moved first from Pleasant street to the Bellma 
block on Main street. In August, 1904. he remove 
again to a large building on Church place, at th 
rear of the First Universalist Church on Pleasai 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



487 



street. Here he conducts a general business in' auto- 
mobiles and supplies in coiniection with the garage, 
boarding and renting machines as well as dealing 
in them. He has also a repair shop, a not unim- 
portant part of the business. Mr. Robinson deals 
in a number of the leading styles of automobiles 
and has sold a large proportion of the machines 
owned in Worcester. 

He is a member of the Worcester Automobile 
Club, the Worcester Continentals, the Common- 
wealth Club and the American Automobile Associa- 
tion. In politics he is a Republican. He and his 
family attend the Plymouth Congregational Church. 
He married October 23. 1895, Mabel Fairbanks, 
daughter of William P. Fairbanks, of the famous 
Fairbanks Scale Company, of St. Johnsbury. \'er- 
mont. Her mother was Rebecca Pike. She (Mabel) 
was born at St. Johnsbury August 14, 1S71. Their 
children are: i. Bertha, born November 0. l8g6. 
2. Clifton Fairbanks, born July 13, 1901. 3. Winfield 
Fairbanks, born September 28, 1902. 

FAIRBANKS FAMILY. (I) Jonathan Fair- 
banks, of Dedham, one of the most famous of the 
pioneers on account of his large and distinguished 
posterity, and perhaps also because his home in 
Dedham is still preserved and has always been oc- 
cupied by his family and descendants, is the emi- 
grant ancestor of Mrs. Birney A. Robinson, of Wor- 
cester, and of many others to wdiom reference is 
made in this work. 

Jonathan Fairebanke (Fairbank, Fairbanks) came 
from Sowerby, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, 
England, to Boston. Massachusetts, in the year 1633, 
and in 1636 settled in Dedham, Massachusetts, where 
he built the noted old "Fairbanks House" which is 
still standing, and is to be indefinitely preserved by 
the family, which, through the Fairbanks Associa- 
tion, has purchased it. This house is an object of 
great interest to the visitors to Dedham. It is 
claimed that the oldest part of the house was built 
in 1636. The house as it stands to-day was prob- 
ably complete as early as 1654. Jonathan Fairbanks 
signed the famous Dedham Covenant which regu- 
lated the future conduct of the town. Among the 
one hundred and twenty-five signers were his sons 
John. George and Jonathan Fairbanks. Jr. Jonathan 
Fairbanks was admitted a freeman March 23, 1637-8. 
John was admitted a freeman as early as 1642. George 
about 1651 and Jonathan, Jr. in 1634. Jonathan re- 
ceived numerous grants of' land. He joined the 
church August 14, 1646. 

His will was made June 4. 1668. He evidently 
believed in the old English law of primogeniture, 
for he bequeathed the homestead to his eldest son, 
John. The house has since been occupied successively 
by John, Joseph, Joseph 2d., Ebenezer, Ebenezer 2d., 
Prudence, Sarah (Sally), Nancy and Rebecca. In 
July. 1892 the house was struck bj' lightning and 
liamaged and Rebecca Fairbanks removed for a time 
to Boston, but later returned and occupied it until 
1904 when the Fairbanks Family Association took 
possession. 

Of the immediate English ancestors of Jonathan 
Fairbanks little is known. He was evidently net of 
the ignorant lowea classes, but had a fair education 
and was. as tradition says, a man of strong common- 
sense, sound judgment and good executive ability. 
His name appears frequently in the town records, 
though he held only minor town offices. There are 
good grounds for the inference that he had more 
ample means than the average pioneer. He built 
a better house and seems to have lived in better 
style than most of his neighbors. And he left con- 



siderable property. He was born about 1600, in 
England ; died in Dedham December 5, 1668. His 
wife was Grace Lee. She died December 28, 1673, 
or May 19, 1676. 

Their children, all born in England, were: i. 
John; married Sarah Fiske in 1641 ; held olfices 
and various commissions to explore the Charles 
river, Deerficld, etc.; inherited the homestead; joined 
the church May 4, 165 1 ; died November 13, 1684; 
wife died November 26, 1683; had nine children. 
2. Captain George (see forward). 3. Mary, born 
April 18, 1622; died May 10, 1676 or June 4, 1684; 
married Michael Metcalf, April 2, 1644 (born in Eng- 
land August 29, 1620; died March 25, 1654) : mar- 
ried (second) .-Vugust 2, 1654, Christopher Smith; 
among their descendants was Judge Theron Jlet- 
calf, of the Massachusetts supreme court. 4. Susan; 
married Ralph Day. of Dedham. a mason; she died 
July 8, 1659, and he married (second) November 
15, 1659, Abigail Craft, daughter of Griffith Craft, 
of Roxbury. and widow of John Ruggles : he died 
November 28, 1677 : had six children. 5. Jonas, an- 
cester of Hon. Charles W. Fairbanks, vice-presi- 
dent of the United States; removed to Lancaster, 
Massachusetts, in 1657 ; signed the Covenant March 
7. 1659, and was called one of the "fathers of the 
town ;" he was a farmer and believed to be also a 
carpenter: in 1652 he was fined for wearing great 
boots before he was worth tw'O hundred pounds, 
which w-as contrary to a statute of 1651 : he and his 
son Joshua were killed by the Indians February 10, 
1676. during a raid in King Philip's war: he mar- 
ried May 28, 1658, Lydia Prescott, daughter of John 
Prescott. who came from Sowerby. Parish of Hali- 
fax. England. She was born in Watertown. Massa- 
chusetts, August 15, 1641. and after the death of 
Jonas, she married (second) Elias Barron, of Water- 
town, afterwards of Groton and Lancaster. Jonas 
had seven children. 6. Jonathan, born in England; 
admitted townsman in Dedham, January i. 1654-5, 
and signed the Covenant; resided at Dedham: died 
January 28. 1711-12; was a soldier in King Philip's 
war. serving in the first or Mount Hope campaigrr 
in 1675. and in several subsequent campaigns ; mar- 
ried Deborah Shepard. of Cambridge, daughter of 
Edward Shepard, who came froin England with her 
May 10. 1643 ; she died September 7, 1705 ; had 
thirteen children. 

(II) George Fairbanks, son of Jonathan Fair- 
banks (r), came with his father from England and 
resided in Dedham until about 1657, when he re- 
moved to the southern part of Sherborn. afterwards 
East Medway. now the town of Millis. He was one 
of the first settlers there and was an esteemed citi- 
zen. His homestead in Medfield remained in the 
family for four generations. The stone house orig- 
inally occupied by him was the garrison house built 
by the settlers on the Bogistow Farms, on the borders 
of Bogistow Pond, as a place of refuge and defence 
in time of Indian troubles. It was sixty-five or sev- 
enty feet long and two stories high. The walls 
were built of flat stones laid in mortar. It had a 
double row of port holes on all sides and was lined 
with heavy planks of oak. The Medway Historical 
Society has marked the site, the building having been 
long since removed. In 1662 he signed the first 
petition for the town of Sherborn. and again in 
1674 he signed the successful petition, becoming 
one of the proprietors of Sherborn. including the 
present towns of Sherborn. Holliston and parts of 
Framingham and Ashland. He was four years select- 
man of Sherborn. and was on the committee to en- 
gage and settle a minister. His sudden death by 
drowning in 1682 was a severe loss to the new settle- 



488 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



mcnt. He was a momljcr of the Ancient and Honor- 
able Artillery Company of Boston. He died Janu- 
ary 10, 16S2. 

He married October 26, 1646, Mary Adams, of 
Dedham, who died Augtist 11, 171 1, in Mendon, 
Massachusetts, probably at the home of her son-in- 
law, William flolbrook. Their children were: I. 
Mary, born November 10, 1647 ; married January 
16, 1665-6, Deacon Joseph Daniels, son of Robert 
and Elizabeth Daniels; freeman of Medfield; she 
<Iied August 9, 1682; he died June 23, 1715; had 
nine children. 2. George, born May 26, 1650, in 
Medfield, Massachusetts, inherited south part of 
father's farm; died i737; was principal inhabitant 
of the new town of Medway, October 14, 1713; mar- 
ried Rachel Adams, daughter of Peter and Rachel 
Adams, in 1671 ; she died May 12, 1678, and he 

married Susanna and Sarah ; had ten 

children. 3. Samuel, born October 28. 1652; died 
November 20, 1676. 4. Eliesur, born June 8, 1655. 
5. Jonas, born March 23, 1656-7; died November 
28. 1676. 6. Jonathan, born in Medway, May I, 
1662; resided in Sherborn, afterwards set oflf as 
Medway, probably in the old stone garrison house 
near Bogistow Pond ; was the first physician in 
Sherborn ; selectman for several years and town 
<:lerk; drowned December 19, 1719, by falling through 
the ice while crossing the river from Medfield in the 

night; married Sarah , who died July 9. 1713; 

married (second) Annie ; had si.x children. 7. 

Margaret, born June 2-j, 1664; married William Hol- 
brook, of Mendon; w-ill proved December 16, 1714; 
Jiad three children. 

(HI) Eliesur Fairbanks, son of George Fairbanks 
(2), born June 8, 1655; settled in Sherborn, Massa- 
chusetts. He drew a home lot of eighteen acres on 
the main street of Sherborn, adjoining Peters Hill; 

he was selectman in 1703. He married Martha . 

Their children were: i. Mary, born October 31, 
167S ; married May 8, 1700, Isaac Woods, of Sud- 
bury, second wife; he died July 18, 1720; had seven 
children. 2. Martha, born January 22, 1680; mar- 
ried Oliver Death, April 17, 1697; he died March 
.3. 1704-5, and she married (second) Ebenezer Le- 
land, January 9, 1708; he planted the magnificent 
elms to be see on the old Leiand place about 1708; 
had six children. 3. Lydia, born March S, 1682; 
married May 25, 1702, Edward Rice, of Marlboro 
Iborn June 20, 1672; died July 20, 1741) ; she died 
September 13, 1755; had ten children. 4. Margaret, 
born December 19, 1684; died in i6g8. 5. Mercy, 
horn October 18, 16S8; married (first) Lieutenant 
Joshua Underwood, of Sherborn. January 13, 1708; 
married (second) Joshua Fairbanks July 26. 1732; 
she died September 11, 1742; had seven children. 6. 
Eleasur, born December 29, 1690. 

(IV) Captain Eleasur Fairbanks, son of Eliesur 
Fairbanks (3), born in Sherborn, December 29, 
1690; resided there; died September 19, 1741. He 
married Martha Bullard, daughter of Captain Sam- 
uel Bullard. December 25. 1712. She married (sec- 
ond) John Phips, December 22, 1743, and removed 
to Brookfield, Massachusetts. Their children were : 
I. Eleazer, born July 23, 1716; removed to Plain- 
field, Connecticut, where he was admitted to the 
Congregational church May 24, 1753; removed to 
Killingly, Connecticut; married Prudence Cary; was 
a preacher; had seven children. 2. Joseph, born 
September 17, 1718; was commissioned Lieutenant 
of Foot by General William Shirley, Captain Gen- 
eral of his Majesty's Governors of Massachusetts 
Bay under George II in 1755; was at the siege of 
Louisburg and after its capture went to Halifax, 
where he was one of the earliest settlers ; was a 
member of the first House of Assemblv, which 



w-as convened by Governor Lawrence in 1758 with 
nineteen members; became a wealthy and Influen- 
tial man and with the most prominent people there 
was identified with the growth and prosperity of 
Halifax; married (second) Lydia Blagden, daughter 
of Samuel and Ann Blagden, and sister of Colonel 
Samuel Blagden of the American revolutionary 
army, died 1790 without issue. 3. Deborah, born 
November 12, 1719; married Joseph Twitchell, 
Esq., June 28, 1739; was captain of the militia; 
commissary for the army in 1776; town clerk, 
representative and magistrate, and the leading man 
of the town until succeeded by his junior half- 
brother, Hon. Daniel Whitney; had fourteen chil- 
dren, all born in Sherborn. 4. Moses, born August 
14, 1721 ; was in the colonial wars from April 2, 
1759 to September 29, 1760. 5. Sarah, born August 
2. 1724; married September 28, 1741, Benjamin 
Mason, son of Joseph and Mary (Monck) Mason, 
who was born in Watertown, Massachusetts, July 
14, 1717; died July 5, 1801 ; she died in Sullivan, 
New Hampshire, February 4, 1815; they settled 
in Dublin, New Hampshire; one of their descend- 
ants is the author, Alice Morse Earle, of Wor- 
cester, Massachusetts, and Brooklyn, New York. 
7. Abel, born November 28, 1726. 8. Abigail, born 
August 18, 1728; died young. 9. David, born Feb- 
ruary 2, 1731. 10. Abigail, born May 5, 1732. ir. 
Ebenezer, born June l, 1734. 12. Mary; married in 
.1757, Captain Samuel Sanger, and died without 
issue. 

(V) Deacon Ebenezer Fairbanks, son of Eleazer 
Fairbanks (4), was born in Sherborn, Massachu- 
setts, June I, 1734. He removed to Brimfield, 
Massachusetts, and settled on a farm in the north- 
east part of the town. He was an esteemed citizen, 
and a deacon in the Congregational church there. 
He died June 6, 1812. He was one of the minute 
men who responded to the Lexington Alarm, April 
19, 1775. with the rank of lieutenant. He also 
served as a private later in the war. He married 
July 2, 1761, Elizabeth Dearth, who was born Sep- 
tember 24, 1743 and died at Monson, Massachusetts, 
June 15, 1818. Their children were: I. Asa, born 
March 4, 1762 ; removed to Dublin, New Hampshire, 
in 1784, and died there July 26, 1819; enlisted in 
the revolution service at the age of fourteen and 
served on guard duty in Sherborn, at Rhode Island 
and West Point; married April 28, 1784, Hepzibah 
Adams, daughter of Captain Moses Adams; she 
was born in Sherborn, December 8, 1761; had four 
children. 2. Joseph, (see forward). 3. Betsey, born 
August 23, 1766; died September 22, 1767. 4. Eben- 
ezer, born December 15, 1768; died October 26, 
1796. 5. Henry, born December 21, 1770, at Brim- 
field; died July 20, 1827; married October 29, 1795, 
jNIargaret Bliss, born March 5, 1773 ; died June 4, 
1843, aged seventy years, two months, twenty-nine 
days ; had six children. 6. Thaddeus, born ilarch 
13. 1773; was graduated at Yale College in 1796; 
licensed to preach in 1800 ; preached as a licentiate 
apparently for some years, but was not ordained ; 
preached at Canterbury, Connecticut, for a lime; 
married Pamelia Burt ; died at Monson, jNIassachu- 
setts, December 21, 1815; had three children. 7. 
Elizabeth, born January 3, 177^; married Roswell 
Merrick; died at Dayton, Ohio, January, 1855; aged 
eighty years ; had ten children. 8. Levi, born 
August 24, 177S, at Sherborn, Massachusetts; settled 
in Brimfield, Massachusetts; died there about 1850; 
married Betsey Smith and Mrs. E. Howard; had 
one child by each. 

(VI) Joseph Fairbanks, son of Ebenezer Fair- 
banks (s), was born in Sherborn, November i, 1763. 
When he was twenty years old, his uncle Joseph, 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



489 



■who had received a lot of land in Halifax. Nova 
Scotia, in recognition of his services under the Gov- 
ernment of Massachusetts in reducing the Island of 
Cape Breton, sent for him to go and live with him. 
The vessel in which he took passage from Boston 
was forced to turn back for repairs and, as the winter 
was coming on, he returned home. In the spring 
he decided to go to Brinifield with his father instead 
of going to Halifax. His cousin Rufus Fairbanks 
went in his stead. At Brinifield he bought a farm 
and also worked at the carpenter's trade. Having 
Mr. and Mrs. Paddock, his wife's parents, in the 
family through many years of expensive illness, he 
had flow work paying for his farm, but was finally 
successful. In 1815 he sold out his place at Brim- 
field and removed to St. Johnsbury. Vermont, where 
his son, Erastus Fairbanks, was already established 
with his uncle, Mrs. Joseph Fairbanks' brother. 
Judge Paddock. He purchased a small water-power 
and timber, with which he and his son built a dam, 
a saw mill, a grist mill and a wagon shop. The 
family endured the hardships of pioneer life, to- 
gether w-ith the special and unusual discomfort of 
snow storms or frosts every month in the year. The 
growing prosperity afterwards was due to his great 
energy and ability as well as that of his sons. He 
was a man of sterling character, of the best New 
England type, influential among his neighbors and 
highly respected. 

He died suddenly September 27, 1846. His wife, 
to whom not less than to himself his sons owed 
their strength of character, died at the advanced 
age of niTiety-three years. He married October 21, 
i"go, Phebe Paddock, daughter of James and Ann 
Paddock, of Holland. Massachusetts, whose emi- 
grant ancestor came to this country with Governor 
Carver. .She was born September 6. 1760 : died 
May 5, 1853. The Paddock family gave many hon- 
ored citizens to Vermont. 

The children of Joseph and Phebe (Paddock) 
Fairbanks were: i. Erastus, born October 28, 1792, 
at Brinifield, Massachusetts, in the little red house 
near the Sturbridge line ; he died November 20, 
1864 : he came to St. Johnsbury alone in 1812 and 
for ten years afterward struggled against difficulties 
and reverses, and acquired early maturity of habits 
and purpose; frugality, industry, persistence, knowl- 
edge of men and of business ; following the inven- 
tion of the platform scale by his brother Thaddeus, 
he became the head of the firm of E. & T. Fair- 
banks & Co., a position which he held for thirty 
years during which time, under his energetic and 
skillful management, the business grew to large pro- 
portions and well established fame; in 1836 he was 
sent to the State Legislature, where from the first 
he was a leader, especially active in the interests 
of tem.perance and educational measures ; he was a 
presidential elector of the Whig party in 1848. and 
about that time was actively pushing the construc- 
tion of the Passumpsic Railroad, of which he was 
president from White River to St. Johnsbury, at 
which terminus he greeted the first engine in No- 
vember. 1850; two years later he was elected gov- 
ernor of Vermont, and among other important legis- 
lative acts he had the satisfaction of affixing his 
signature to the Prohibitory Liquor Law ; in i860 
he was elected governor again and became the war 
governor of Vermont, and at the close of his service, 
in acknowledgment of his delicate, laborious and 
successful official acts, the Senate and House passed 
joint resolutions of the most appreciative and compli- 
mentary sort, and it was found that "the salary to 
\yhich he was entitled was never touched, and it re- 
mains in the treasury of the state, another evidence 
of his generous love for Vermont, whose interests 



were dearer to him than his own, and an honor to 
both people and Executive ;" he was for fifty years 
active in the Congregational church, and in later life 
an officer and member of many benevolent boards ; 
he married Lois Grossman, daughter of Samuel and 
Lois 'Chamberlain) Grossman, born November 13, 
1792; died May 15, 1866; had nine children. 2. 
Thaddeus. born January 17, 1796, at Brinifield, Massa- 
chusetts ; died in St. Johnsbury, Vermont, April 12, 
iSSO. As a child he was slender and delicate in 
health, nervous and diffident and, indeed, he never 
enjoyed good health. Much of his early education 
was received at home from his mother. He learned 
the use of tools early in life. Moving to Vermont 
with his father in 1815, after building their mills, 
he first made wagons, then in 1823 established a small 
iron foundry, doing much of the work with his own 
hands, and being joined by his brother Erastus, went 
on under the name of E. & T. Fairbanks. His 
parlor stove and his patented cooking stove sold 
well, where only the open fire had been used before, 
and "he invented and introduced the plow^ with cast 
iron mold board, now universally used, its novelty 
being attested by the patent he received on it. 

In 1829 he built hemp dressing machines and as 
manager of the hemp mills had to weigh what he 
bought. To fill this need he invented the platform 
scale. The first scales were for weighing wagons 
and their loads, but he soon extended the principle 
to all kinds and styles of scales until several hun- 
dreds of varieties were on the market. He obtained 
thirty-two patents in this country on scales alone, 
besides patents for a hemp machine, stoves, plow, a 
device for creating draughts, a steam-heater, a feeo- 
water heater, which was patented on his ninetieth 
birthday, and a refrigerator which he gave away 
at a time when he lacked the means to develqp_ it, 
which has proved to be worth more than a million 
dollars to its owners. The Fairbanks Scales have 
won prizes at all the World's Expositions. In 1842 
he and his brothers established St. Johnsbury Acad- 
emy, and he gave liberally to educational and charit- 
able' organizations. He married January 17, 1820, 
Lucv Peck Barker, a native of St. Johnsbury, whose 
father Barnabas Barker came with his father John 
and w:ere the first settlers of the town. Both John 
and Barnabas Barker were revolutionary soldiers, 
and were in the battle of Bunker Hill. She was born 
.A.pril 29, 1799; died in St. Johnsbury, December 
29. 1866; she had two children. 3. Joseph Paddock, 
born November 26. 1806. 

(VII) Joseph Paddock Fairbanks, son of Joseph 
Fairbanks (6). was born in Brimfield. Massachu- 
setts, November 26. 1806; died in St. Johnsbury, 
Vermont. May 15, 1855. He began life as a lawyer, 
but joined his two brothers in the scale manufac- 
turing business, and was in partnership with them 
twenty-two years to the time of his death. His 
business abilities were of the very first order. Much 
of the early success of the enterprise was due to his 
sagacity, minute attention to details and facility in 
dealing with men and with business difficulties and 
problems. His mind was strong, capacious, alert and 
remarkably w'ell balanced. He took broad views of 
cvervthing. was deeply religious and unsparing in 
his efforts for the good of men. He was intelligently 
familiar with law, theology, science, history, and 
literature. He was averse to public life while at 
the same time, in more ways than men ever knew, 
he w^as influencing public opinion and pushing needed 
reforms. He was influential in the Legislature, es- 
pecially in securing the passage of the Prohibitory 
Law and acts to improve the school system. He 
sent out hundreds of pages of letters and press 
articles on almost every theme of current interest. 



49° 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



He was literally a leader of thought in his day. He 
was a man of strong individuality, though never 
alienating the love and respect of those from whom 
he differed. He was henevolent and generous. He 
was only forty-eight years old when he died. 

He married in Derry, New Hampshire, June ir, 
1835, Alniira Taylor, daughter of James and Persis 
(Hemphill) Taylor. She was born October 12, 181 1. 
She married (second) September 4, 1857, Rev. W. 
W. Thayer, of St. Johnsbury, and died there Janu- 
ary 20, 18S3. The children of Joseph Paddock and 
Almira (Taylor) Fairbanks were: i. Edward Tay- 
lor, born May 12, 1836. at St. Johnsbury, Vermont. 
He was educated at Yale College, class of 1859, and 
at Andover Theological Seminary. He spent two 
years and a half abroad in study and travel. He 
was ordained January I. 1868, as pastor of the Con- 
gregational Church in St. Johnsbury, and since Janu- 
ary, 1874, has held his pastorate there. He wrote 
the history of St. Johnsbury. and many pamphlets. 
He is connected with many educational and religious 
organizations. He received the honorary degree of 
D. D. from the University of Vermont in 1893. Pie 
married in Derry, New Hampshire, July 9, 1S62, 
Emma Cornelia Taplin, daughter of Guy Carleton 
and Sally Malvina (Cady) Taplin, of Montpelier, 
Vermont, where she was born March 11, 1844. They 
have one child. Cornelia Taylor, born June 25, 1876. 
2. William Paddock, born July 27, 1840. 

(VHI) William Paddock Fairbanks, son of Jo- 
seph Paddock Fairbanks (7), was born at St. Johns- 
bury. Vermont, July 27, 1840. He entered Dartmouth 
College in 1S58, but left before completing the course 
to engage in business. He was for several years in 
the office of E. & T. Fairbanks, and a member of 
that firm. Upon its incorporation in 1874 '"■£ was 
made secretary and treasurer. He held the same 
office in the St. Johnsbury and Lake Champlain 
Railroad Company and offices of trust in other cor- 
porations. 

While in Jilichigan he was a member of Gov- 
ernor Pingree's staff and ably represented his 
native town in the Legislature in 1884-85-86. 
In 1888 he went to New York as secretary 
of the Fairbanks Company of the city, ■ where 
he remained until his death, which ' occurred 
suddenly December 15, 1895. He was a man of 
force and strong personality, wise, careful and ac- 
curate in business dealings ; of quiet tastes ; benevo- 
lent and generous. He married in St. Johnsbury, 
Vermont, April 18, 1861. Rebecca Pike, daughter 
of Dennison and Huldah (Johnson) Pike, of Water- 
ford, Vermont. ^ where she was born November 8, 
1841. Their children were. i. Almira Taylor, born 
February 12, 1865; married Januarv 17, 1888, Her- 
bert W. Blodgett of St. Johnsbury: has one' child, 
Donald F. Blodgett, born June 6, 1895. 2. Mabel, 
born August 14, 1871. 3. Joseph, born December 12, 
1881. 

(IX) :\Iabel Fairbanks, daughter of Colonel Will- 
iam Paddock Fairbanks, was born at St. Johnsbury, 
Vermont, August 14, 1871. She married October 23, 
1895, Birney A. Robinson of Westford, Vermont 
(See sketch of Birney A. Robinson.) 

CARL ELWOOD BURLINGAME. Sheldon F. 
Burlmgame (i), son of Harris and Sarah Avis 
(Warren) Burlingame, was born at East Killingly, 
Connecticut, March 30. 1851, He was educated in 
the public schools of his native town. His father 
was a carpenter, and all the family had an inheritance 
of unusual manual dexterity and mechanical in- 
geniiity. Sheldon w-as set to work to learn the ma- 
chinist's trade in Worcester, in the shop of Abra- 



ham Burlingame on Cypress street. In years past 
the steam engines made by A. Burlingame & Co. 
were among the best, and many of them are in use 
in Worcester, giving the utmost satisfaction. After 
Sheldon Burlingame learned his trade he went to 
Philadelphia wdiere he worked for several years. 
He worked at his trade in New Jersey for a time, 
but when he was prepared to enter business for 
himself he returned to Worcester and opened a 
shop on Central street, where he built steam engines 
and did repairing. 

After a few years he removed to Florida where 
he w^as employed by Governor Drew, of that state, 
as master mechanic in the New Branford mills. 
He followed his trade for several years in the South, 
living at New Branford, Live Oak, High Springs, 
Columbia City and ot"her towns. He returned North 
and worked for a short time for his brother, Abra- 
ham Burlingame. Early in the nineties he turned 
his attention to gas and gasoline engines, believing 
that these were the coming engines for small plants. 
The development of the gasoline engine for use in 
the automobile has exceeded all predictions of the 
most sanguine. Meanwhile Mr. Burlingame has es- 
tablished an exceedingly busy little shop at Green- 
dale, where he has for ten years been making an 
excellent machine, and his business is rapidly grow- 
ing. The gasoline engine to-day is in demand on 
every up-to-date farm as well as in small manu- 
facturing plants. The name of Mr. Burlingame's 
firm is the Greendale Gas Engine Company. His son, 
Carl E., a skillful mechanic also, is in business 
with him as partner. The factory is at 416 West 
Boylston street, at the end of the Greendale car 
line. 

The Greendale engine is wonderfully simple com- 
pared to the mechanisms called gas engines fifteen 
or tw-enty years ago. This engine is started with 
crank such as those used on automobiles, and the 
operation of starting the machine, which was form- 
erly difficult and trying, and not always successful 
even when undertaken by an expert, is now very- 
simple. The gasoline tank is in the base of the 
machine out of sight. It seems beyond belief to 
the man who operated the old style gas engine that 
this machine has only two valves, one for inlet, 
the other for exhaust. The inlet valve works by 
suction: the exhaust valve is water-jacketed. The 
cylinder is of one casting and jacketed. All parts 
are made interchangeable, after the custom now 
prevailing in all the best manufactories. The engines 
leave the Greendale factory set up and in running 
order after a thorough test. The makers have no 

• fear of trouble or accident wdien sending them to the 
most inexperienced owners or the most difficult posi- 

• tions, such as for use to run portable saw mills; 
dragged about the country on a cart in all sorts 
of weather, exposed to rain and having often very 
little attention from the operator. The machines 
are rim by unskillful farm hands to cut feed, to 
saw wood, to run threshing machines, to operate 
electric light plants, to pump water for private 
reservoirs, and for a thousand purposes formerly 
requiring manual labor. The result nft'sets the 
growing scarcity of help on the farm, and^ saves the 
life and strength of the farmer and his family, 
making the disagreeable and discouraging features 
of agriculture far less numerous. Mr. Burlingame 
understands the revolution that he is helping to eft'ect 
with his machinery in agricultural conditions. One 
of his engines has been run three weeks day and night 
without a stop. Another five horse-power engine 
was used eighteen months on a truck for sawing 
wood, in constant use. w-ith a total repair bill of 
thirty-five cents. That shows the usefulness and 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



491 



perfection of the modern gas engine. Four sizes 
are made three and a half, five, seven, and fifteen 
horfo-power, the cost ranging from $175 to $360. 
Several himdred of these machines operated either 
by gas or gasoline are in use in and about Worces- 
ter county, and giving universal satisfaction. The 
company does not hesitate to print the entire list 
of those to whom machines have been sold. The 
modern gas engine is a machine that sells itself. 
Each customer makes others. Mr. Burlingaine is 
a Free Mason, having joined a southern lodge. He 
was formerly a member of the Worcester County 
Mechanics' Association. 

He married, November 26, 1872, Ida F. Chase, 
daughter of Israel and Polly (Young) Chase, of 
Killingly, Connecticut, born in Killingly, September 
10. 1855. Their children are: Carl Elwood (see 
forward). Maud S., born May 19, 1881, married 
Robert C. Svveetser, instructor in chemistry at the 
Worcester Polytechnic Institute, and has one child, 
Sedric Sheldon ; resides at 2 Randall street. Wor- 
cester : Juniata, born in New Branford, Florida, 
.\ugust 5. 1888: ]Marion Pearle, born in Worcester, 
December 24, 1896. 

Carl Elwood Burlingame, son of Sheldon F. 
Burlingame. was born at East Killingly, Connecti- 
cut, September I. 1876. His education was obtained 
in the schools of the various towns in Massachu- 
setts and Florida where his parents made their home 
during his youth. He graduated from Branford 
.\cademy at Branford, Florida, in 1893. He learned 
the machinist's trade and worked for the A. Bur- 
lingame Co., engine manufacturers, for the Wheelock 
Engine Company and for the Marcus Mason Com- 
pany, builders of cofifee machinery. He entered 
partnership with his father when the Greendale 
factory was built, and has had a large share in 
building up the business of the company. His busi- 
ness ability, mechanical skill and persistent energy 
have shown good results in the business. He is gen- 
erally regarded as one of the very promising young 
manufacturers of the city. He is unmarried. He 
is a member of the order of Knights of Pythias and 
was formerly a member of the Worcester County 
Mechanics' Association. He is a member of the 
Congregational church at Greendale. 

FRANK H. HAMBLIN. manufacturer of wire 
goods, Worcester, Worcester county, Massachusetts, 
was born in East Boston, August 23. 1853. a son 
of Joseph G. and Elizabeth (Hartwell) Hamblin. 

Joseph G. Hamblin was one of the earliest set- 
tlers of East Boston, and a builder and real estate 
operator, having built over one hundred houses on 
his own property. During the latter part of his 
life he was an assistant United States Assessor. 

Frank H. Hamblin obtained his education in the 
public schools of Boston, and afterwards studied 
for a professional career. Deciding to go into 
business, however, he was variously employed until 
18S3. when he removed to Worcester, and engaged 
in the manufacture of wire goods. The following 
year he incorporated the firm known as the Ayres 
Manufacturing Companv ; the name being changed 
in 1887 to Hamblin & Russell Manufacturing Com- 
pany. Mr. Hamblin becoming its treasurer which 
office he continues to hold. When this business was 
connnenced Mr. Hamblin employed only five or six 
hands in a building on Front street, which is now 
the Commonwealth hotel. Owing to the rapidly 
increasing business the firm were forced to seek 
larger quarters, and accordingly removed their estab- 
lishment into the boot and shoe factory of J. H. 
Walker on Water street, which was subsequently 
purchased by the firm. The enterprise has been one 



of the greatest success, and three hundred hands 
are now employed in the factory. They make the 
largest variety of household utensils of any like 
concern in the country, also hardware specialties. 
The firm occupies about 80,000 square feet of floor 
space. Mr. Hamblin is a member of the Worcester 
Board of Trade, Commonwealth and Congregational 
clubs. He married, in 1889, Mercy P. Sturtevant, 
who bore him one child, Howard Parker. After 
the death of his first wife, Mr. Hamblin married 
Nellie Tucker, of Worcester, in i8gr, and they have 
three children : Louis Tucker, Marion Laurette and 
Robert Hartwell. 

EDWIN RUTHVEN MORSE. No family has 
ranked higher in eastern Massachusetts for the past 
two hundred and fifty years than the descendants 
of Samuel Morse, of Dedham. The family has had 
many distinguished members, not the least of whom 
is Samuel F. B. Morse, to whom the world owes 
so much for the telegraph. 

(I) S.amuel Morse was born in England in 1586. 
He sailed for New England in the ship "Increase," 
April 15, 1635, and settled at Dedham. He was ad- 
mitted a freeman there October 8, 1640. and later 
removed to the adjoining new town of Medfield, 
where many of his descendants have lived. He was 
a town officer of Dedham and one of the proprietors. 
He died April 5, 1654, and his will was proved 
January ,30, 1654. His widow died June 20, 1655. 

He married in England Elizabeth , who was 

forty-eight years old when she emigrated, born there- 
fore about 1587. Their children were: A son. John, 
born 161 1, died November 16, 1657; Daniel, born 
1613 ; Joseph, mentioned below; Abigail, married 
Daniel Fisher, of Dedham; Mary, married Samuel 
Bullen ; Jeremiah, went east. 

(II) Joseph Morse, son of Samuel Morse (l), 
the immigrant, also a progenitor of Edwin Ruthven 
Morse, of Worcester, was born in England in 1615. 
He settled first in Watertown, but in 1637. after his 
father came, removed to Dedham. He married in 
1638, Hannah Phillips. While he was clearing the 
land at Medfield and preparing the house for his 
family they lived at Dorchester, but he died before 
he had his new' home ready and the growing corn 
and unfinished log house were left for his children 
to care for. The widow married in 1658. Thomas 
Boyden. who died in Boston in 1676 at the home 
of her eldest daughter. The children of Joseph and 
Hannah (Phillips) Morse were: Samuel, born 1639, 
mentioned below: Hannah. 1640: Sarah, 1643: Dor- 
cas, 1645. died 1725; Elizabeth. 1647, died 1715; 
Joseph, 1649. died 171S, settled in Sherborn; Jere- 
miah. 1651 ; A child, who died young. 

(III) Samuel Morse, eldest child of Joseph Morse 
(2), was born in Dedham, Massachusetts. 1639. He 
inherited part of his father's and grandfather's es- 
tate. His house built in 1663 on the knoll east of 
Main and Pound streets junction was burned by the 
Indians in 1676. and was not rebuilt on that site, 
where the old cellar hole is or was lately visible. 
He built his second house near that lately of John 
Ord. Jr., and the old well is still in use. In 1705 
he was a lieutenant of militia and teacher of the 
school at Medfield. In 1706 he obtained leave to 
flow the land "near the cowpens" for a fulline mill, 
which was built on the site of the stone mill lately 
owned by Crehore. Samuel Morse was selectman 
six years and deputy to the general court in 1707. 
He married. 1665, Elizabeth Wood, who died in 1682. 
He married (second). 1684, Sarah Thurston, who 
died in 1688. He died in 1718. The children of 

■ Samuel and Elizabeth (Wood) Morse were: Sam- 
uel, born 1665; Elizabeth, March 21, 1668; Hannah, 



492 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



August 31. 1669, died young; Ruth, March 21, 1672; 
Joseph, 1674; Joshua, April 2. 1677, mentioned be- 
low: Elcazer, August 10, 1680; Benoni, June 19, 
j6cS2, died 1704. Children of Samuel and Sarah 
(Thurston) Worse were: Solomon, born 1684. 
died 1704; Sarah, 16S6, married Isaac Bullard, of 
Sherborn. 

(IV) Joshua Morse, sixth child of Samuel Morse 
(,3), was horn on the homestead at Medfield, Massa- 
chusetts. April 2, 1677. He inherited part of the 
farni of his father in Medfield and bought much land 
on his own account. He was an innholder and owned 
a grist mill and saw mill. He built the house now 
or lately on the Jeremiah Johnston place. He mar- 
ried. 1699, Elizabeth Pcnniman, daughter of Samuel 
Penniman, of Rraintree. born 1675. died 1705. He 
married (second) Widow Mary Paine, of Brain- 
tree, who died in 1747. He was largely interested 
in the settlement of Sturbridge, Massachusetts, and 
the first meetings were held at his tavern to organize 
the proprietors. He was deputy to the general" court 
six years. He died in 1749. The children of Joshua 
and Elizabeth (Penniman) Morse were: Eliza- 
beth, born 1701 ; Zipporah, April 20, 1702 ; Samuel, 
May 4, 170,3, settled in Uxbridge; Mary. 1707, set- 
tled in Worcester, married Love'll ; Jemima, 

1709; Joshua, December 28, 1710: Eliakim, 1712; 
Lydia. October 27. 1714: Ruth, October 6, 1716; 
Ebenezer. mentioned below : Joseph, November 30, 
1721. married Olive Mason, and settled in Nova 
Scotia. 

(V) Rev. Ebenezer Morse, son of Joshua Morse 
(4). was born in Medfield, Massachusetts, March 2, 
1717-8. He graduated at Harvard College in 1737 
and was settled as minister of Shrewsbury North 
District, now Boylston. Massachusetts, December 26, 
I74.1- _ His relations with his parish were pleasant 
until just before the revolution when political feeling 
was intense. He was summarily dismissed June, 
I77.n. and excluded from his pulpit for "toryism :" 
confined to the town limits and later re-dismissed 
hy advice of an ecclesiastical council. He then prac- 
ticed medicine during the remainder of his active 
days. He died in 1802, at the age of eighty-four. 
He married Persis Bush, daughter of John' Bush, 
November 27, 1745. He married (second) Rebecra 
Symmes, widow of Thomas Symmes, who died in 
the revolution. The children of Rev. Ebenezer and 
Persis (Bush) Morse were: Dr. John, mentioned 
■below: Mary, born December 24 1747: Eliakim 
March 8, 1750, died 1758; Joshua! March 8, 1752! 
mentioned below; Ebenezer, June 11, i7c;4. died 
young: Ebenezer, July 10, 1755: Joseph, January, 
1757. married Sophia Bigelow: Amherst, November 
II. 1760; Annis, May 19, 1764; Marv, August 12, 
1767. 

(VI) Dr. John Morse, eldest son of Rev. Ebenezer 
Morse (;), was born in Shrewsbury (now Boyls- 
ton 1, July 15, 1746: married Mav 11, 1769, Eliza- 
beth Andrews, mentioned below, of Boylston, They 
removed to Ncwfane, Vermont', and settled on the 
farm late of Elwin Ingram, June, 1774. Theirs 
was the twentieth family to settle. He was the first 
physician and for many years the only one in the 
town; his services were of inestimable' value to the 
Pioneers. He died April 7, 1822, on the farm which 
he had cleared and on which he had lived half a 
century. His children were: Elizabeth, born March 
2. 1770, at Boylston: John, January 15 1773 at 
Boylston; Ebenezer, July 14. 1775, at Newfane; 
Jonathan, January 9. 1778; Mary, September 10, 
1782: Thomas .Andrews, mentioned below. 

(VII) Thomas Andrews Morse, youngest child 
of Dr. John Morse (6), born March 13, 1786 He' 
married Lucinda Wood. He was a man of great 



industry and excellent character. He died July 29, 
1840. His children were : Caroline, born November 
28, 1810; Elizabeth A, (VIII), married Austin J. 
Morse (VIII), mentioned below; Frederick J., Octo- 
ber 23, 1814; Franklin B., September 20, 181 7; Ann 
W., June 8, 1822; Andrews T.. October 17, 1824. 

(VI) Joshua Morse, fourth child of Rev. 
F.licnezer Morse (s), was born in Shrewsbury North 
District (Boylston), March 8, 1752. He married 
Levinah Holland, of Boylston, daughter of Ephraim 
Holland, sister of the wife of Luke Knowlton, who 
came to Newfane, Vermont, with him in 1773 and 
settled on the farm lately owned by Welcome Allen, 
then removed to the Dr. Olds place on Newfane 
Hill and subsequently to the farm later owmed by 
Sabine Morse. He died October l, 1828. The chil- 
dren of Joshua and Levinah Morse were: Tabitha, 
liorn in Boylston, September 8, 1773, died unmar- 
ried 1817; Amherst, mentioned below; Ephraim, 
May 23, 1778; Joseph, September 16. 1780, died Janu- 
ary 26, 1792; Luke, February 6, 17S3; Persis, Janu- 
ary 17, 1785; Eunice, March 28, 1787; Eunice, Au- 
gust 30, 1789; Windsor, January 7, 1793; Sewall, 
April 12, 179s, died I79S; Betsey, August 24, 1796. 

(VII) Amherst Morse, second child of Joshua 
Morse (6), was born in Newfane. Vermont, April 
2.S. 1776- He married Abigail Holdcn, February 11, 
1800, and settled on the farm now or late of Mar- 
shall Houghton in Newfane; afterwards removing 
to his father's farm on Newfane Hill, where he lived 
until his death July 20, 1842. The children of Am- 
herst and Abigail Morse were : Maria, born May 4, 
1804, married Nathaniel Cheney, of Wardsboro, 

Vermont, October 27, 1S25, removed to Brattleboro; 
Abigail H., born May 20, 1807, married Huntington 
Fitch, April 23, 1832, removed to Columbus, Ohio; 
Austin J., mentioned above and below ; Sabin P., 
March 15, 1817, married Sarah C, Pitts, September 
12, TS39. owned the homestead. 

(VIII) Austin J. Morse, third child of Amherst 
Morse (7), was born in Newfane, Vermont, Novem- 
ber ir, 1812. He married, April 9, 183S, Elizabeth 
A. Morse (VIII), mentioned above, the daughter 
of Thomas Andrews Morse (VII). Married (sec- 
ond) Catherine Miller, March 18, 1847. He resided 
at Newfane many years and also at Fayetteville, 
Vermont. He was an extensive farmer and cattle 
drover. He was a representative in the legislature 
in 1863 and 1864; a delegate to the constitutional 
convention in 1870. He removed to Brattleboro, 
where he died April 18, 1895. The children of 
Austin J. and Elizabeth A. (Morse) Morse were: 
Edwin Ruthven, mentioned below ; Amherst, who 
was a soldier in the civil war, a prisoner in Libby 
and died from its effects. The children of Austin 
J. and Catherine (Miller) Morse were: Ellen, Mrs. 
M. T. Reed, of Vermont; Allie F., unmarried. 

BRADSTREET FAMILY. (I) Governor Simon 
Bradstreet was an ancestor of Edwin Ruthven ^Nlorse, 
of Worcester. He was born in Hobling. Lincoln, 
England, in 1603 ; received his A. B. at Cambridge 
in 1620; A. M. in 1624; was appointed assistant 
to the Massachusetts Bay colony March 18, 1630, 
and came with Governor Winthrop in 1630. He was 
secretary of the colony from August 23, 1630, to 
1636; deputy governor 1673-8: governor 1679-86; 
again after the rising against Sir Edmond Andros 
1689-92. Pie died March 27, 1697. aged ninety-four. 
He married Ann Dudley, daughter of Governor 
Thomas Dudley, who was born in Northampton, 
England, in 1576, came to Massachusetts in 1638 
with the commission of deputy governor, was gov- 
ernor from 1634 to 1640: was one of the signers of 
the charter of Harvard College. Anne Dudley was 
the first poetess of note in New England ; one of her 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



493 



brothers was later governor of the colony and a 
nephew was chief justice. She died September l6, 
1672, and Governor Bradstreet married (second) 
Ann Gardner, widow of Joseph Gardner, daughter 
of Emanuel Downing; she died 1683. The chil- 
dren of Governor Simon and Ann (Dudley) Brad- 
street were: Samuel (H. C. 1653) ; Dorothy, married 
Rev. Seaborn Cotton; Simon, born September 28, 
1643; Hannah; Mercy, 1647; Dudley, 1648; John, 
born July 22, 1652. 

(II) John Bradstreet, son of Governor Simon 
Bradstreet (l), was born at Andover, Massachu- 
setts, July 22, 1652; married, June 11, 1677, Sarah 
Perkins, daughter of Rev. William Perkins, of Tops- 
field. He was living in Salem in 1681, but most of 
his life was spent in Topsfield. Their children were : 
Simon, mentioned below ; John, born January 30, 
1693; Mary, November 27, i6g6; Samuel, August 
4, 1699. 

(III) Simon Bradstreet, eldest child of John 
Bradstreet (2), was born in Topsfield, Massachu- 
setts, April 14, 1682 ; married Elizabeth Capen, Octo- 
ber 12, 171 1. Their children, all born in Tops- 
field, were: Elizabeth, born August 28, 1712; Simon, 
April 21, 1714; Dudley. May 27. 1716; John, March 
2, 1717-8: Margaret, born April 24, 1720, married 
Thomas Andrews, mentioned below ; Priscilla, Sep- 
tember 27, 1722: Lucy, November 25, 1724; Joseph, 
May 13. 1727; Mercy, November 27, 1728; Mary, 
May 10, 1731. 

(IV) Margaret Bradstreet, daughter of the pre- 
ceding. (See .Andrews). 

ANDREWS FAMILY. (I) Robert .^ndrews 
was the immigrant ancestor of Edwin Ruthven 
Morse, of Worcester, through Elizabeth Andrews, 
who married Dr. John Morse (VI), as given above. 
The mother of Elizabeth Andrews was Margaret 
(Bradstreet), mentioned above. Robert Andrews 
was a native of Boxford, England, who settled in 
Bo.xford. Massachusetts, in 1656, bringing with him 
six children and settlin.g on a one hundred acre 
farm bought of John Lambert, of Rowley. He 
bought other land later. He died May 29, 1668. 
His will was made May 16, 1668, and proved July 
I, 1668. His widow was Grace Andrews, died De- 
cember 25. 1700, and her will made September 4, 
1699. was proved January 4, 1702-3. Both are buried 
at Topsfield. Their children, born there, were: Mary, 
163S: Hannah, 1642; Elizabeth, 1645, married Samuel 
Simonds (see sketch of the Simonds family) ; 
Thomas, 1645, resided at Boxford ; John, 1648, set- 
tled in Boxford, mentioned below; Robert. 1651 ; 
Rebecca, married Samuel Marble; Joseph, Septem- 
ber 18, 1657. great-great-grandfather of Governor 
John .A. .Andrew: Sarah, 1658: Ruth, May 27, 1664. 

(II) John Andrews, son of Robert Andrews (i), 
was born 164S; married, July 9, 1713, Patience -An- 
drews: married (second) Hannah Kimball, April 
28, 1724. They settled at Boxford. The children of 
John and Patience were: Hannah, born April 28, 
1715; Thomas, mentioned below; Mary, May 25, 
1720. The children of John and Hannah were: Sam- 
uel, baptized Mav 28, 1727; Jeremiah, born August 
7, 1727: Daniel, December 27, 1729. 

(Ill) Thomas Andrews, second child of John 
Andrews (2), was born in Bo.xford, Massachusetts, 
September 4, 1717; married, at Topsfield, November 
27, 1730. Margaret Bradstreet. daughter of Simon 
Bradstreet, whose ancestry is given above. Her sis- 
ter Lucv married Robert Andrews and bntb Robert 
and Thomas removed to the North District of 
Shrewsbury, later called Boylston. Mas.sachusetts. 
Thomas Andrews died at Newfane, Vermont, in 
1760. His eldest children were : David ; Jonathan, 



died unmarried; Elizabeth, who married Dr. John 
Morse. (Stated above). 

(IV) Elizabeth Andrews, daughter of Thomas 
Andrews (2), married Dr. John Morse. (Sec sketch 
above.) 

(IX) Edwin Ruthven Morse, son of Austin J. 
Morse (8), was born in Newfane, Vermont, Febru- 
ary 24, 1843, and died in Worcester, August 30, 
1S87. Mr. Morse was for many years a provision 
dealer with a store at 145 Main street, Worcester, 
a man of high standing in business and successful. 
He was well known in Masonic circles, being a mem- 
ber of Montacute Lodge, Worcester Royal Arch 
Chapter, the Worcester County Commandery and in 
the Scottish Rite had taken all the degrees including 
the thirty-second. In politics he was a Republican, 
but never sought public office. 

He married Martha E. Osgood, of Minneapolis, 
Minnesota, March 16, 1869. She was born in New- 
fane, Vermont, daughter of Willard Emory and Han- 
nah (Park) Osgood and granddaughter of Deacon 
Jonathan Park, who was an officer in the revolu- 
tionary war and fought in the battle of Bennington. 
She was educated at Wesleyan Seminary and was 
a teacher in the public schools of Minneapolis before 
her marriage. Their only child was: Lulu Mabel, 
born in Worcester, February 24, 1884, educated in 
the Worcester public schools and at a business 
college. 

HOMER RISING KING. John Alden (i), 
made famous by Longfellow in the poem "Court- 
ship of Miles Standish," was an ancestor of Homer 
Rising King, of Worcester, Massachusetts, and of 
others named elsewhere in this work. 

John Alden was born in England in 1599. He 
joined the Pilgrims on the "Mayflower" at South- 
ampton as the ship was on its way to America. 
When the ship stopped there for supplies he was 
hired as the cooper. He had not been with them 
at Leyden and was probably not a member of the 
Independent church, but soon joined. He cast 
his fortunes with the Pilgrims after enduring the 
hardships of that first terrible winter at Plymouth, 
when so many died. He was doubtless influenced 
in this decision by his love for Priscilla Mullens, 
the story of which, with some embellishment, is 
told in "The Courtship of Miles Standish." She 
was the daughter of William Mullens, who came on 
the "Mayflower" with his family. John and Pris- 
cilla were married in the spring of 1621. When 
the common property of the colony was divided in 
1627 Alden went with Captain Standish, Elder 
Brewster, John Howland, Francis Eaton and Peter 
Brown to Mattakeeset, the Indian name of the 
territory now included in Duxbury, Marshfield, 
Pembroke, Hanson and Bridgewater, Massachu- 
setts. For several years they were obliged to re- 
turn to Plymouth during the winter season to com- 
bine all their forces against the possible Indian 
attack that was always dreaded and not unex- 
pected. The residents in Plymouth in winter also 
gave then an opportunity to attend worship, and the 
records show a written agreement of Alden and 
others in 1632 to remove their families to Plymouth 
in the winter. 

In 1633 Alden was appointed assistant to the 
governor, an office which he held for nearly the 
whole of the remainder of his life, serving w'ith 
Edward Winslow, Josiah Winslow, Bradford, 
Prince and Thomas Hinckley. From 1666 until 
his death he held the office of first assistant, was 
often called the deputy governor, and was many 
times acting-governor in the absence of the gov- 



494 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



ernor. From 1640 to 1650 he was also deputy to 
the colonial council from Duxbury. Winslow's 
history of Duxbury says of him: "Holding offices 
of the highest trust, no important measure was 
proposed, or any responsible agency ordered in 
which he had not a part. He was one of the coun- 
cil of war, many times an arbitrator, a surveyor 
of lands for the government as well as for indi- 
viduals, and on several important occasions was 
authorized to act as agent or attorney for the colony. 
He was possessed of a sound judgment and of 
talents which, though not brilliant, were by no 
means ordinary. Writers who mention him bear 
ample testimony to his industry, integrity and ex- 
emplary piety, and he has been represented as a 
worthy and useful man of great humility, and emi- 
nent for sanctity of life, decided, ardent, resolute 
and persevering, indifferent to danger, stern, austere 
and unyielding, and of incorruptible integrity. He 
was always a firm supporter of the church, and every- 
thing of an innovating nature received determined 
opposition." From the Puritan point of view Alden 
was a model if the description of his virtues is truth- 
ful. He took his part in making the life of the 
Quakers at Plymouth colony intolerable. 

On the Alden farm there stands the house built 
by John Alden's son Jonathan, having been oc- 
cupied by eight generations of Aldens in direct line. 
It is the oldest house in New England with three 
exceptions, the old Fort at Medford, built in 1634; 
the Fairbanks house at Dedham, built in 1636; and 
the old stone house at Guilford, Connecticut, built 
in 1640. Here Alden spent his declining years. He 
died in Duxbury, September 12, 1686, aged eighty- 
seven, the last of the famous band of Pilgrim 
F'athers, and the last of the "Mayflower" company 
except only Wary AUerton, who died in 1699, aged 
ninety. 

John .Alden had eleven children, only eight of 
whom are known. These were: I. John, born at 
Plymouth about 1622 ; Freeman, 1648, at Boston ; 
died j\Iay 14, 1702. aged eighty-nine years; mar- 
ried, April I, 1660, Elizabeth Everell, widow, daugh- 
ter of William Phillips. 2. Joseph, (see forward). 
3. Elizabeth, born 1625, died at Little Compton, 
Rhode Island, aged ninety-three; married William 
Peabody. 4. Jonathan, born about 1627, captain, 
married, December 10, Abigail Hallett. S; Sarah, 
married Alexander Standish, son of Captain Miles 
Standish. 6. Ruth, married John Bass, of Brain- 
tree, from whom the Presidents Adams descended. 

7. Mary, married Thomas Delano, of Duxbury, son 
of Philip Delano, who came in the "Fortune" in 
1621. 8. David, prominent man of Duxbury. 

(II) Joseph Alden, son of John Alden (i), born 
in Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1624, died February 

8, 1697. He inherited land at Bridgewater, where 
he settled, and also at Middleboro. Massachusetts. 
He was admitted a freeman 1659. He married Mary 
Simmons, daughter of Moses Simmons, Jr., who 
came in the "Fortune" in 1621 and settled at Dux- 
bury. Joseph Alden's will was dated December 14, 
1696, and proved March 10, 1697. His children 
were: l. Isaac, born at Bridgewater, married (sec- 
ond) Mehitable Allen, December 2. 1685. 2. Joseph, 

(see forward). 3. John, born at West Bridgewater. 
died September 29, 1730, aged fifty-six ; married 
Hannah White, daughter of Ebenezer White, of 
Wej'mouth. 4. Elizabeth, married, 1691. Benjamin 
Snow. 5. Mary, married, 1700, Samuel Allen. 

(III) Joseph Alden, son of Joseph Alden (2), 
born at Bridgewater, Massachusetts. 1667 ; died Jan- 
uary 22, 1747. He was deacon of the church there 
and a prominent man. His will was dated Novem- 
ber 12, 1743. He lived at South Bridgewater. He 



married, 1690, Hannah Dunham, daughter of Daniel 
Dunham, of Plymouth. She died January 13, 1748, 
aged seventy-eight. Their children were: i. Daniel, 
born January 29, 1691, married, 1717, Abigail Shaw 
and settled in Stafford, Connecticut. 2. Joseph, born 
August 26, 1693, died December 9, 1695. 3. Eleazer, 
born Septernber 27, 1694, married, 1720, Martha 
Shaw; he died January 30, 1773. 4. Hannah, born 
1696, married (first) Joseph Alden; married (sec- 
ond), 1722, Mark Lothrop, of Easton. 5. Mary, born 
April 10, 1699, married, second, 1719, Timothy Ed- 
son. 6. Joseph, born September S> 1700, died Octo- 
ber 5, 1700. 7. Jonathan, born December 3, 1703, 
died November 10, 1704. 8. Samuel, (see forward). 
9. Mehitable, born October 18, 1707, died April 11, 
1737. 10. Seth, born July 6, 1710, died September 

6, 1784; married Mehitable Carver; settled at Bridge- 
water. 

(IV) Samuel Alden, son of Joseph Alden (3), 
born at South Bridgewater, Massachusetts, August 
20, 1705, died 1785; married, 1728, Abiah Edson, 
daughter of Captain Joseph Edson, and settled at 
Titicut. Their children were: I. Abiah, born 1729, 
married Seth Harris, lived at North Bridgewater. 
2. Mehitable, born 1732, married Joshua Packard, 
lived in Maine. 3. Sarah, born 1734, tnarried Tim- 
othy Packard. 4. Samuel, born 1736, died 1816; 
married Plannah Williams. 5. Josiah, (see for- 
ward). 6. Simeon, born 1740, settled at Bridge- 
water and Titicut; married, 1763, Mary Packard. 

7. Silas, died aged twenty-one. 8. Mary. 9. Hosea, 
killed by kick of horse; married two daughters of 
Josiah Washburn. 

(V) Josiah Alden, son of Samuel Alden (4), 
born in Bridgewater, Massachusetts, 1738 ; settled in 
his native town, later in Wales, Massachusetts. He 
married. 1761, Bathsheba Jones, of Raynham, Massa- 
chusetts. Their children were: I. Elijah, settled 
at Brimfield and Ludlow : was soldier in revolu- 
tion ; married Rebecca Fuller. 2. .Azel (son), born 
1770. died 1854, married. 1791, Bethany Wilbur. 3. 
.•\biah. married Benjamin Winchester. 4. Bathsheba. 
5. Charity, married Peter Trask, of Raiulolph. \'er- 
mont. 6. Josiah (see forward). 7. Lucy, married 
-■Xmos Fletcher. 8. Rebecca, married Benjamin Snoe ; 
settled in Belchertown, Massachusetts. 9. Benjamin, 
married Polly Hodges. 

(VI) Josiah Alden, son of Josiah .Alden (5), 
born 1773; died September 3, 1833; married (first) 
Olive Brown; married (second) Widow Bates. 
Children of Josiah and Olive (Brown) Alden were: 
X. .Azel (son), born August 12, 1792, died October 
22. i860, married Mary Bramard. 2. Justus, born 
September 15, 1793, died September 30. 1831 : mar- 
ried Betsey Porter. 3. Zenas, born November i, 
1795, died January i, 1840; married Betsey Taylor. 

4. Charity, born June 5. 1707, died August it. 1829. 

5. Washington Brown, born July 14. 1799, died Aug- 
ust 5, 1859: married Hannah B. Bartlett. 6. Charles, 
born December 6, 1803, died May 22, 1862 : married 
Margaret Moore and Louisa Paine. 7. John, mar- 
ried Huldah Wright. June 17. 1827. 8. Orsamus, 
born June 5, 1808, married, June 28. 1^42, Eliza .Ann 
Lehman. 9. Mary Needham, born September 13, 
1810, married, October 27, 1831, Henry Fuller. 10. 
Eunice Brown (see forward). 

(VII) Eunice Brown .Alden, daughter of Josiah 
-Alden (6). born at Ludlow. Massachusetts, Decem- 
ber 23. 1813. married, March 24. 1833. Marvin King, 
of Longmeadow, Massachusetts. They settled at 
Ludlow, where he had a farm. He died in Ludlow,, 
Januarv i, 1903. aged ninety-five years. His wife 
died 1863. Their children were: i. Mary Madelia, 
born February 9, 1834. married, November 26, 1852, 
Justus Alden. 2. Marvin Henry, born .April 5, 1835. 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



495 



,;. Ann Frances, born February 28, 1837, married 
I. harles Henry Knapp, of Nortbampton, 4. Samuel 
Alden, born December 15, 1838, magistrate; sergeant 
m civil war. 5. Jnlia Isadora, born Marcb 22, 1841. 
0. Arthur Delano, born May 13, 1843. corporal in 
civil war. 7. Homer Wasbington. born December 
8, 1844, died September 5, 1846. 8. Homer Rising, 
born June 4, 1846. 9. Olive Eugenie, born May 14, 
1R4S. 10. Frank E., born May 26, 1850, died Oc- 
• her I, 1S52. II. Frederick Augustus, born Novem- 
. r 17, 1852. 12. Lelia Imogene, born December 23, 

1854- 

(V'HI) Homer Rising King, son of Marvin (7) 
and Eunice Brown (Alden) King, was born ii,i Lud- 
low. Hampton county, Massachusetts. June 4, 1846. 
He attended the district schools of his native town 
and worked on his father's farm until the age of 
seventeen, when he enlisted in Company I, Twenty- 
seventh Massachusetts Infantry, Captain Henry A. 
Hubbard, Colonel Horace C. Lee, of Springfield, 
Massachusetts, under whom he served two years. 
He was with his regiment in the following battles : 
Wallhollow Junction, Virginia; Fairfield church, 
\'irginia ; Cold Harbor, Petersburg, Bermuda Hun- 
dred, and in the battles in front of Richmond up 
to 1864. He was mustered out at the end of the 
civil war. He returned to Ludlow and entered the 
grocery and provision business. In March. 1866, 
he gave up his store and went to Colorado. He 
travelled on foot from Atchison, Kansas, to Fair- 
play and South Park, Colorado, a distance of seven 
hundred miles. He engaged in placer-mining and 
in the provision business for four years. He was 
elected trial justice and deputy, county clerk for 
Jefferson county, Colorado, for three years. In 1870 
he came east and with his brother, Arthur D. King, 
started in the grocery and provision business in Wii- 
braham. ilassachusetts. Three years later he re- 
moved to Worcester, where he followed the same 
business, dealing also in cattle. He has for many 
years been in the wholesale business only, dealing 
;n meats and cattle. In 1880 he bought the farm 
of one hundred and forty acres at Tatnuck, in Wor- 
cester. It is well equipped for his business of deal- 
ing in cattle, and slaughtering purposes. 

Mr. King has been repeatedly honored with pub- 
lic office. He was for three years alderman in 
1893-94-95, and served on the committees of water 
End highways, being the chairman. He was a mem- 
ber of the common council also in 1890-91-92. and 
chairman of the same committees for three years. 
He represented the eighth ward district in the gen- 
eral court. He was on the water supply committee 
two years, and served on the special committee that, 
dedicated the Massachusetts monument at Anderson- 
ville. Georgia, in 1901. He is a life member of 
Atlielstan Lodge of Free Masons ; Worcester Lodge 
of Perfection and Eureka Chapter. He is a mem- 
ber of the State Grange, Patrons of Husbandry : of 
Commonwealth Lodge, United Order of American 
Mechanics, and of Post 10, Grand Army. 

He married. December 9, 1S69, Hattie L. Ward, 
daughter of E. L. Ward, of Worcester, sister of 
Mrs. H. ]\I. Tompkins. (See sketch of Tompkins 
Family.) They have one child: Mabel L. King, 
born February 9, 1S76. 

THE MOONEY FAMILY, represented in the 
present generation by Nicholas Joseph Mooney, 
Richard Henry Mooney, A. M., and John Francis 
Henry Mooney, residents of Worcester. Massachu- 
setts, was founded in this country by Patrick Mooney, 
farmer, who came from Carrick-Beg, county of 
Waterford, Ireland, 1842, and settled in Worcester, 
Massachusetts, where a number of his descendants 



arc now to be found. He was accompanied by his 
daughter and son-iii-law, Mr. and Mrs. John Blade, 
and his two sons, Richard and Nicholas, bis wife, 
Nancy (Hagerty) Mooney, having died in Ireland. 
Patrick Mooney, accompanied by Mr. and Mrs. John 
Blade, went to Wisconsin, wJiere he engaged in 
farming, and subsequently became the owner of one 
of the largest and most productive farms in liis 
region, which he cultivated and improved, and re- 
sided on up to the time of his death. Nicholas 
Mooney. aforementioned, died in Worcester, Massa- 
chusetts, June 12, 1848, and was the first person 
buried in St. John's cemetery. 

Richard Mooney, son of Patrick and Nancy 
(Hagerty) Mooney, was born in Ireland, from 
whence he came to the United States with his father. 
He was a builder and contractor, learning his trade 
in Ireland, where he served an apprenticeship of 
seven years, becoming at the same time a practical 
surveyor and architect. He was continuously en- 
gaged in his business and built a large number of 
houses in Worcester. By prudent and careful man- 
ao-ement he acquired considerable landed property, 
and was one of the most prominent men of his day, 
taking an active part in all town and numicipal af- 
fairs. Being among the earliest Irish residents of 
\\'orcester, and a man of education and business 
ability, his assistance and advice w-as often sought 
by his countrymen. His home was a center of in- 
formation for the Irish people, and he not only re- 
ceived their letters but often wrote their replies. 

Richard Mooney was married in 1845, at St. 
John's Church, Worcester, ^Massachusetts, by the 
Rev. Matthew W. Gibson, to Margaret Doyle, a 
native of the county of Waterford. Ireland. Their 
children are: Julia A., married James H. Mellen, 
had seven children ; William R., John F. H., Annie 
T.. Catharine. James, deceased ; Francis, deceased, 
and Richard F. Mellen. Nicholas Joseph, mentioned 
hereinafter. Annie Statia, died September 24, 1874. 
Richard Henry, mentioned hereinafter. John Fran- 
cis Henry, mentioned hereinafter. Margaret Eliza- 
beth, married John J. Foley, who was for many 
years organist at St. Anne's Church; he died in 
1902, leaving five children: Margaret, Catherine, 
Anna. Elizabeth, and John J. Foley. Richard Moon- 
ev. father of these children, died February 16, i860, 
aged forty years, as the result of an accident, caused 
by the giving away of a scaffolding. His widow Mar- 
garet (Doyle) Mooney, died at her home, 78 Madi- 
son street. Worcester, December 19, 1905. aged eighty 
years. The funeral services were conducted in St. 
Paul's Church, of which she was a benefactor. At 
the time of her death, she was the oldest Irish Cath- 
olic in Worcester, in point of residence. She located 
in Worcester in 1842, when the city was only a 
town. She was one of the attendants at the laying 
of the corner stone of the College of the Holy Cross 
in 1843. and was one of the original members of 
St. John's parish, being present at the exercises 
of the laying of the corner-stone of that church in 
1846. Mrs. Mooney is survived by three sons — 
Nicholas J.. Richard H., and John F. H. — and one 
daughter, Mrs. Margaret M. Foley. Another daugh- 
ter, Mrs. James H. Mellen, died May 9. 1885. 

Nicholas Joseph Mooney, son of Richard and 
Margaret (Doyle) Mooney. was born in Worcester, 
Massachusetts, October to, 1848. He attended the 
public schools of his native city, and after complet- 
ing his studies worked as a carpenter, machinist 
and boot crimper. In 1877 he was appointed a mem- 
ber of the police force of Worcester, Massachusetts, 
by Hon. Charles B. Pratt, mayor. After a service 
of fifteen years on the force, he resigned therefrom, 
and later engaged in the fire insurance business. 



496 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



beginning as an agent for the Germania Fire Insur- 
ance Company of New York. In 1902 he became 
general local manager of the companj', which he still 
represents. He also represents the Reliance, of 
Philadelphia; Commcricial Union, of New York; 
American Insurance, of Boston; the Worcester 
Mutual ; and the Merchants and Farmers. In the 
insurance business Mr. Mooney has been successful 
in an eminent degree, building up one of the largest 
and best known offices in this line in Worcester. 
His advice is considered safe and sound in all 
financial matters, and is often sought in estimating 
the value of real estate and in investments. He 
is one of the original incorporators of the Bay State 
Savings Bank, and a me<nber of its investment com- 
mittee. 

Mr. Mooney has always taken an active interest 
in all public and municipal affairs, laboring efficiently 
in forwarding every material and moral interest. 
He was a member of the common council for two 
terms, serving on important committees and always 
on the finance committee. During the famous strike 
of the Knights of Saint Crispin, in 1870, Mr. 
Mooney was secretary of the organization and was 
a prominent factor in the management and direct- 
ing of the same during that troublous time. He is 
a member of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, 
and of the Father Matthew Total Abstinence 
and Mutual Benefit Society, of which he was presi- 
dent for five consecutive terms, and was serving 
in that capacity when the society presented a testi- 
monial to the late Hon. George Frisbie Hoar, in 
recognition of his public services, and he was ap- 
pointed to make the presentation speech. He is a 
charter member of the Police Relief Association of 
Worcester. In politics he is a sterling Democrat. 

In 1885 Mr. Mooney married Joanna M. Healey, 
of Cambridge, Massachusetts. Their children are: 
Frances C.. John J., Richard J., died March 25, 
1905 ; Rachel, Annie, and Julia. 

Richard Henry Mooney, A. M., son of Richard 
and Margaret (Doyle) Mooney, was born in Wor- 
cester, Massachusetts, and has always lived there. 
He attended the public schools of his native city, 
and entered the College of the Holy Cross, Wor- 
cester, from which he was graduated in the class 
of 1879, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. Dur- 
ing his college course he took a very high rank in 
his class, gaining prizes in English composition, 
elocution, mathematics and physics. Having decided 
to make teaching his profession, he entered the theo- 
logical and pedagogical department of the Laval 
University of Montreal, Canada, where he pursued 
a special course in theology, moral and dogmatic ; 
sacred Scripture and history of sacred writings ; 
literature ; ancient, medieval and modern history ; 
history of education; psychology and philosophy. 
He then became a special student in the State Nor- 
mal school, at Worcester, under the direction and 
supervision of Professor E. Harlow Russell, princi- 
pal of the school, a recognized authority in pedagogy 
and child study. In June. 1881, he received his 
diploma from the State Normal school, and his 
degree of Master of Arts from his alma mater. 

In September, 1881, he began his work of teaching 
in the Adams Square school, Worcester, which was 
then an ungraded school, where he taught everything 
from the alphabet to algebra. In September. 1882. 
he was appointed by the school committee principal 
of the Quinsigamond school, over which he still 
presides. In the growth and development of this 
school Mr. Mooney takes pardonable pride, and the 
entire village of Quinsigamond, which is the largest 
and most thriving of the many suburbs of Wor- 
cester, the location of the South works, so-called, 



of the American Steel and Wire Company, is con- 
tributory to this educational institution. VVhen Mr. 
Mooney first took charge of the school there were 
five teachers in charge of about two hundred pupils, 
but at the present time (1906) there are twenty-five 
teachers in charge of over one thousand pupils. 
The graduates of this school are now engaged in 
the various active pursuits of life, in the shop, office, 
store, in the army and navy, in public service in 
dift'crent departments of the city and county, in the 
legislative department of the state government, and 
the customs department of the United States. It has 
always been the constant aim of Mr. Mooney in 
training the pupils under his charge to thoroughly 
qualify them for the duties of life. He does not 
leave them on the threshold of the school-room, but 
meets them out in the w'orld in the various walks 
of business, professional, and social life, and cheers 
them on in their undertakings. In his career as a 
teacher he has manifested diligence, industr\-, exe- 
cutive ability of a very high order, decision, energy, 
and a careful preparation of every detail in school 
organization, discipline, and teaching. In school 
economy, methods of culture and history of educa- 
tion — in all that goes to make a thorough and prac- 
tical master of pedagogy, and in the science and art 
of education, he holds high rank. Many of the 
methods and devices occasionally put forward by 
lecturers at school conventions as new and original, 
have been in vogue in the Quinsigamond school 
for many years. Especially is this so in regard to 
promotions, individual work with pupils, special 
attention to defective and backward pupils, small 
classes, continuous and generous use of the black- 
boards by pupils and teachers, and in many other 
aids, devices, methods, and principles of teaching. 

Mr. Mooney's collateral work has always been 
along the lines of educational thought, activity and 
philanthropy. He has interested himself very much 
in the organization of societies which he foresaw 
would or might do some good. In 1887 he was 
elected secretary of the Alumni Association of the 
College of the Holy Cross, his alma mater, and he 
has built up that organization to its present pros- 
perous condition. In 1899 he organized the Young 
Ladies' Lyceum of the Church of the Sacred Heart, 
Worcester, over which the Right Rev. Thomas J. 
Conaty, now Bishop of Los Angeles, California, 
presided, and was appointed its first president. In 
1890 he organized the Worcester County Total Ab- 
stinence LInion, comprising the active total abstin- 
ence societies in the towns and cities of the county, 
and was appointed its lecturer. He has also organ- 
ized many total abstinence societies for young men 
and young ladies throughout Worcester county, and 
has lectured on temperance in many cities and towns 
in New England. He was one of the incorporators 
of the St. Vincent Hospital, House of Providence, 
and of St. Joseph's Industrial Home, Millbury, 
IMassachusetts. 

Mr. Mooney has published several books as aids 
in the work of teaching. In 1891 he published "One 
Thousand Questions and Answers on LInitcd States 
History. Civil Government, Literature and Finance," 
also "One Hundred Questions and Answers on 
Alcohol." In 1892 he published historical papers, 
containing, with notes, the "Declaration of Inde- 
pendence," the "Articles of Confederation." the 
"Constitution of the United States." "Washington's 
Farewell Address," and "••K Table of the Presidents." 
In 1892. by vote of the Worcester County Teachers' 
Association in convention assembled, he prepared a 
classified list of books for supplementary reading 
by grades for the public schools. In 1893 he pub- 
lished "Patriotic Prose and Poetry." All of these 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



497 



books have had an extended circulation. Mr. 
Mooncy has now in preparation "A Short History 
of Ireland," and Elementary Algebra, and a Prob- 
lem Book in Arithmetic. 

During the winters of 1886-87-88-89-go Mr. 
Mooney lectured before the pupils of the various 
evening schools on historical, scientific and other 
subjects. He has spoken before many local audi- 
ences, teachers' associations and societies in adjacent 
cities and towns on literary, educational and patri- 
otic subjects. He is often introduced by presiding 
officers as "the silver-tongued orator." In 1895, 
while serving as president of the Worcester County 
Teachers' Association, he presided over the largest 
convention of that association ever held up to that 
time. He is a member of the Massachusetts Teachers' 
Association. On Memorial Day. 1895, Mr. Mooney 
was the orator on behalf of the Grand Army of 
the Republic and the citizens in general at the 
soldiers' monument on the common, where he de- 
livered one of the most eloquent and patriotic ad- 
dresses ever heard there. In May. 1899. he spoke 
under the auspices of the Men's Union of the Trinity 
Methodist Episcopal Church on the Catholic Relig- 
ion. In 1895 Ml"- Mooney was chairman of the 
conniiittee which organized the Schoolmasters' Club 
of Worcester county, of which G. Stanley Hall, 
president of Clark University, was the first president, 
and Mr. Mooney held that office in 1899. Mr. 
Mooney presided at the first dinner given by that 
club. Mr. Mooney is an associate member — a life 
member — of the George H. Ward Post, No. 10, 
Grand Army of the Republic, and is always a wel- 
come speaker at its gatherings. He was a member 
of the committee of fifteen, chosen at a meeting 
of citizens, to arrange for the reception and dinner 
in honor of the soldiers who returned from the Span- 
ish-American war. In 1896 he was chairman of tlie 
committee which inaugurated the first course of 
lectures for teachers ever given in Worcester. In 
September of that year, as editor and proprietor, 
he began the publication of the "School Register," 
a monthly paper devoted to the interests of educa- 
tion. 

Mr. Mooney takes an active interest in public 
and civic aflfairs, and is always ready to perform bis 
duty as a citizen. He believes that a quiet, con- 
servative intercourse between the world and the 
school is of mutual benefit. In 1885 he was appointed 
by the executive of the commonwealth to the office 
of justice of the peace, which commission he still 
holds, a period of twenty-one years, which is an 
eloquent testimonial to his ability as an adjudicator 
as well as of his sterling integrity. He is a member 
of the board of trade and serves on the committee on 
municipal affairs. As president of the Quinsigamond 
Improvement Society, he has been instrumental in 
securing many improvements for the village in the 
way of better roads, sidewalks, electric lights, shade 
trees, electric car service, and finally, after years of 
agitation and hearings before different committees 
of the city government, a public play ground for the 
youth of the village, called Greenwood Park. 

In 1892 Mr. Mooney married Edith Genevieve 
Loring, of Westborough, Massachusetts, daughter 
of Willard Loring, of that town. Mrs. Mooney was 
graduated from the Westborough high school and 
from the State Normal school, at Worcester, and 
previous to her marriage was a teacher in the pul)lic 
schools of Worcester. Their children are: Mai- 
garet Loring. Richard Henry. Jr., Miles, and Edith 
Loring Mooney. The family home is on Vernon 
street, in the southern part of the city of Worcester, 
and is surrounded by a spacious lawn and four 



acres of land. The estate is dotted with many fruit 
and ornamental trees. 

Mr. Mooncy is a member of no organization or 
society not connected with his profession of teach- 
ing. Everything is subordinated with him to the 
great work of turning out good, intelligent and pa- 
triotic citizens. In religion he is a Catholic, in poli- 
tics a Republican. 

John Francis Henry Mooney, A. B., son of 
Richard and Margaret (Doyle) Mooney, was born 
in Worcester, Massachusetts. After his graduation 
from the public schools he entered the College of 
the Holy Cross, where he was graduated in 1879, 
with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. He immed- 
iately took up journalism and for tw-enty years was- 
connected with the ]Vorccstcr Evening Gazcltc as 
reporter, and was also the local daily correspondent 
of the Boston Globe. He is now (1906) engaged 
in the insurance business with his brother. Nicholas 
J. Mooney. In 1884 he was elected a member of the 
house of representatives in the state legislature from 
ward 5, and served on the committee on education 
which reported the free text book bill, which was 
passed that year. He served six years as a member 
of the Worcester Light Infantry, in which he at- 
tained the rank of sergeant. He is a member of 
the Ancient Order of Hibernians and was for a long 
time president of his division. He is a member of 
the Independent Order of Elks. Mr. Mooney is 
one of the best known men in Worcester, meeting, 
in his work for a number of years men of all condi- 
tions and in all walks of life. He is a sterling 
Democrat. 

JOHN J. POWER. William Power, father of 
Alderman John J. Power, of Worcester, Massachu- 
setts, was born m Waterford. Ireland, about 1850. 
He belonged to a well known and numerous family 
of this surname, among whom there were many 
men of distinction in Ireland. He came to America 
in 1869, when a young man, and made his home in 
Worcester. He had learned the carpenter's trade 
thoroughly in the old country, and was a skilful 
mechanic. For the first year he worked for John 
P. McDonald, carpenter and builder, of Worcester. 
In 1870 he started in business for himself, and soon 
became one of the leading carpenters of the city ; 
in the course of his career he built over three hun- 
dred houses in Worcester. He had many con- 
tracts also outside of the city, and continued actively 
in business until his death. January 29, 1894. He 
was a member of the Ancient Order of Hibernjans, 
and of St. John's Roman Catholic Church. His home 
was always in the fourth ward where he was highly 
esteemed, and had considerable influence among his. 
fellow citizens. He owned a number of houses in 
that ward. He married Nora Ahassey in St. John's 
Church, Worcester. Their children arc : Alice G., 
resides at home: John J. (see forward) ; M. Agnes, 
resides at home: William H. : George A., student in 
the Harvard Medical school : James T., student at 
Worcester Polytechnic Institute ; Thomas F.. stud- 
ent at Amherst College : Henry R.. student in the 
Worcester Classical high school, orator of the class, 
of 1906. 

John J. Power, son of William Power, was 
born in Worcester, Massachusetts. October .31. 1876. 
He received his education in the public schools of 
Worcester, and at Holy Cross College. He became 
associated in business with his father while still in 
school. His father died when he was less than 
eighteen years old and he succeeded to the business 
and care of the estate, being the eldest son. He con- 
tinued the business successfully, and has since car- 



498 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



ried on a general contracting and building business. 
He is a member of the builders' exchange and of 
the board of trade. He belongs to the Washington 
Club. In politics he is a Democrat, and he has 
taken a strong interest in public affairs. He was 
elected from ward four, a member of the common 
council for the years 1901-2-3-4, and of the board 
of aldermen for 1905-6. He has served on all the 
important committees of the city council and is, 
notwithstanding his youth, one of the veterans of 
the city council; an efficient and faithful official. 
Alderman Power resides in a handsome new resi- 
dence at No. I Granite street. He built the house 
for his own use. He married, October 31, 1905, 
Hannah M. Kehoe, daughter of Michael and Mary 
Kehoe, of Worcester. 

ROBERT LYONS COLBERT, for many years 
identified with the business interests of Worcester, 
in which city he has spent the greater part of his 
life, was born in Boston, Massachusetts. July 2, 
1837, a son of Robert Lyons_and Rebecca (Stevens) 
Colbert, of Boston, whose family consisted of four 
other children, namely : George, who died while 
serving in the .\rmy of the Potomac during the civil 
war; Benjamin B., who died in 1903, was a soldier 
in the Ninth Company of Massachusetts Volunteer 
Infantry ; Elizabeth, died in infancy ; and William. 
Robert Lyons Colbert (father) was probably a native 
of Boston, was of German descent, and followed 
the trade of a sail maker. His wife. Rebecca (Stev- 
ens) Colbert, was a native of Boston, Massachusetts,' 
and a descendant of an English family who were for 
many years residents of Boston. 

Robert Lyons Colbert attended school in Boston 
until twelve years of age. when his father died, and 
he then went to live at Hanson, Massachusetts. At 
the age of seventeen he returned to Boston and 
secured employment in the last factory of John 
Armstrong, where he thoroughly mastered all the 
details of the trade. In 1S56 he came to Worcester 
and entered the employ of Samuel Mawhinney, the 
well known last manufacturer and in 1869 was ad- 
mtted to partnership with his employer. This con- 
nection continued until Mr. Mawhinney moved his 
business to Brockton, Massachusetts, and Mr. Col- 
bert continued to manufacture lasts in Worcester 
until Eebruary, 1905. when the business was incor- 
porated as the Colbert Last Company, his associates 
Iseing A. B. Taylor and Louis A Wheeler. Mr. 
Colbert is a member of Athelstan Lodge, Eureka 
Chapter. Worcester Coimty Commandery, and Grand 
Locfge of Perfection, Free and Accepted Masons. 
He is also a member of the Worcester Board of 
Trade, Worcester Mechanics .Association, and the 
Hancock Club. He is a Republican in politics. Mr. 
Golbert married Mary Elizabeth Field, of Nantucket, 
Massachusetts, and they are the parents of one 
daughter, Sadie Golbert. 

JOSIAH H. CLARKE. Joseph Clarke (i), the 
emigrant ancestor of the late Josiah Howe Clarke, 
of Worcester, was one of the pioneer settlers in 
Dedbam. Massachusetts. He was a proprietor in Ded- 
ham. September 28. 1640. He was one of the first 
thirteen settlers of Medfield. Massachusetts. He was 
admitted a freeman there May 18. 1653. His home- 
stead was on the south side of South street, Med- 
field. and the old cellar hole near the corner of Oak 
street still indicates the location of his house. He 
was selectman in 1660, but was .seldom in office. He 
died in 1684. His wife Alice, wdiom he probably 
niprried in England, died in 1710. Their children 
were: Joseph, born July 27, 1642; Benjamin, .see 
forw;iril ; Ephraim, born February 0. 1644; Daniel, 



born September 29, 1647, died in 1676 of wounds 
received from the Indians during the attack and 
burning of Medfield; Mary, born March 12, 1649. 
married, 1673, John Boyden ; Sarah, born February 
20, 1651, died 1704; John, born 1652, died 1720; 
Nathaniel, born 1658; Rebecca, born 1660, died 1739. 

(II) Benjamin Clarke, second child of Joseph 
Clarke (l), was born in Dedham, Massachusetts, 
February 9, 1644. He married, 1665, Dorcas Morse. 
He had a grant of land in Medfield, "near the way 
as you go to Nantasket." His house was on Main 
street, opposite Pound street. The original well is 
said to be still in use. His house was burned by the 
Indians in 1676, and he built again on the same spot. 
What is known as the Peak House in Medfield is 
an addition subsequently made to his second house 
in or about 1762. After the old part decayed and 
was torn down, the present structure w'as moved to 
its present location. Its unique shape has attracted 
much attention and is even believed to be one of the 
houses left from the burning in King Philip's war. 
Benjamin Clarke was a very prominent citizen. He 
was for seventeen years selectman of the town and 
two years deputy to the general court. He died in 
1724 and his widow in 1725. Their children were: 
Hannah, born October 22, 1666, died 1757; Benjamin, 
born November 20, 1668, died at the Eastward; 
Theophilus, see forward ; Tabitha, born December 
ID, 1672 ; Timothy, born December 19, 1674. died 
1676; Timothy, born May 12, 1677; Edward, born 
November 11. 1679, died 1746, at Medway ; Ebenezer, 
born 1682. died 1683; Rebecca, born 1684, died 1687; 
.Seth. born 1687. 

(III) Theophilus Clarke, third child of Benjamin 
Clarke (2), was born in Medfield, Massachusetts, 

September 25, 1670. He married Rachel . 

They settled in Medfield, where he lived until after 
her death, December i, 1717. He married (second) 
Elizabeth Cutler, of Reading, Massachusetts, Feb- 
ruary 24, 1718. Thereafter he lived in Medway. 
He had twelve children by the first marriage and 
three bv the second. The children of Theophilus 
and Rachel, all born in Medfield, were : Ebenezer, 
born January 21, 1690, died 1700; Rachel, December 
13. 1692; James, March 7, 1693-4; Rebecca, January 
2! 1694-5; Benjamin; Theophilus. born April 16, 
1698, died August 28, 1716; Deborah, October 12, 
1701 ; Zebiah. November i, 1703; Caleb, (see for- 
ward); Dorcas, March 13, 1706-7; Mary, Alay 5, 
1 710; Abigail, April 20, 1712. "The children of 
Theophilus and Elizabeth (Cutler) Clarke: Esther, 
January i. 1719; Lieutenant Theophilus, April 19, 
1722. died in service 1760; Benjamin. March 17, 
1724. 

(IV) Caleb Clarke, ninth child of Theophilus 
Clarke (3), of Medfield, and Medway, was born in 
Medfield. Massachusetts, September 24, 1705. He 

married Phebe . Th?y were living in Fram- 

ingham in 1734, when he appears among the tax- 
payers. In 1735 he was in Sudbury, the adjoining 
town. His brother Theophilus settled in Holliston, 
which adjoins Framingham on the other side. They 
had ten children born in Sudbury and perhaps others 
before they settled Jhere. The children of Caleb 
and Phebe Clarke were : Phebe. born .August 26, 
1735: Rebecca. March 28, 1737; Rachel, October 7, 
1738; .Abigail. March 19, 1740-1. died March 20, 
1741; Benjamin, see forward; Seth, June 29, 1746; 
Calvin. August 26, 1735, a soldier in the revolution, 
married Martha Hunt; Jonas (twin), born June 15, 
1751; Abigail (twin), born June 15, 1751 ; Zeliiah, 
February 12, 1753, named for her aunt, her father's 
sister. Caleb. Jr.. was probably his eldest son. 

(V) Benjamin Clarke, son of Caleb Clarke (4), 
and his fifth child, was born in Sudburv, Massa- 




^^^^^-^^^^ /^^ 




WORCESTER COUNTY 



499 



■chusetts. July 17, 1744. He seems to have been a 
>oldier in the revolution credited to Framingham. 
lie married, October 19, 1768, Abigail Hiuit, daugh- 
ter of William and Mary Hunt. She was born in 

, Sudbury, December 17, 1750, and married there. 

' She died February 11, 1830, in Marlboro, aged 
seventy-nine years. He died April 15. 1S29, aged 
-eighty-six years. They settled in Marlboro, which 
was a colony of Sudbury. Some of their children 
were born in Sudbury, however. They probably 
■moved in 1776. The children of Benjamin and Abi- 

[ gail (Hunt) Clarke were: Mary, born in Sudbury, 
December i8. 1769, married, August 29, 1787, Simon 
Eanies; Abigail, born in Sudbury, March 22, 1772; 
Sarah or Sally, March 30, 1774, died young; Benja- 
min, see forward; Sally, May 4, 1780, married, Sep- 
tember II, 1798, Jonathan Weeks; Nancy, March 5, 
17S2: Betsey. October 10, 17S4, married, February 
20, 1S05, Levi Colby. 

(VI) Benjamin Clarke, fourth child of Benjamin 
Clarke (5). was born in Marlboro, April 2, 1778. 
He married in 1800, Catherine Eustis, and they had 
sixteen children, among whom was Benjamin, born 
about 1801. He settled in Marlboro and all his chil- 
dren were born there. He was a farmer. 

(VH) Benjamin Clarke, eldest son of Benjamin 
Clarke (6), was born in Marlboro, Massachusetts 
about 1801. He married Lucy Howe, of Marlboro, 
born November i, 1794, the daughter of Josiah and 
Molly CAdams) Howe (married February 24, 1770). 
Josiah Howe was the son of Josiah and Mary (Good- 
ale) Howe (married August 12. 1741). Mary Good- 
ale was the daughter of Benjamin and Hannah Gond- 
ale. Josiah was born December 22, 1720. He was the 
son of Josiah and Sarah (Rigelow) Howe (married 
June 14, 1706), and he died June 14. 1766. The 
latter Josiah Howe was born in 1678 and was the son 
of Josiah and Mary (Haynes) Howe, who were 
married March 18, 1672. The last named Josiah 
was the son of John Howe (l). (See Howe Fam- 
ilv elsewhere in this work, for John Howe (i), of 
Sudbury.) Benjamin Clarke was a prosperous 
farmer of Marlboro. Massachusetts. Three of his 
children came to Worcester to live : John B., who 
was associated with his brother Josiah H. in the 
•dry goods business ; Dr. Henry, see forward ; Josiah 
Howe, see forward. 

(Vni) Dr. Henry Clarke, son of Benjamin 
•Clarke (7). was born in Marlboro, Massachusetts, 
October 3, 1824. He attended the schools of his 
native town and spent several years at the acad- 
•emies in Leicester and Marlboro. He began his 
professional studies in the office of Dr. Henry 
Sargent, of Worcester, in 1847. In 1848 he entered 
the Harvard Medical School, where he distinguished 
liimself and won the Boylston prize. He was grad- 
uated in 1850, and after a year spent in the hospitals 
■of Paris and Vienna began to practice medicine in 
Worcester. To his practice he devoted himself 
with a zeal and industry that often overtaxed his 
physical strength, never very robust, and in 1861-67 
lie went to Europe for rest and study. ■ During 
the civil war he was for several months, in 1S62, 
at the front as a volunteer surgeon. He was for 
■several years in the fifties city physician. He was a 
member of the school board, and for fourteen years 
pbvsician to the countv jail. He was one of the 
original trustees of Memorial Hospital under tlie 
will of Ich^bod Washburn, and was surgeon at the 
City Hospital from the first. He died after a short 
illiT-ss .'\nril tt. 1S80. aged fifty-five years. Though 
at his death he had barely passed middle life ai^d 
in aspect and manner appeared vouncer thnn his 
years, he stood in the very first rank of Massachuscts 
surgeons and physicians. As a surgeon he was re- 



markable bold and skilful. He was often called in 
ditticult cases. 

(VIII) Josiah Howe Clarke, son of Benjamin 
Clarke (7), was born in Marlborough, Massachu- 
setts, December 26, 1827. He received his early 
education in the public schools of his native town. 
He also attoiidcd Leicester Academy. At the age 
of twenty he engaged in the retail dry goods busi- 
ness in Marlboro as a member of the firm of Buck- ' 
lin. Clarke & Co. About two years later he re- 
moved to Worcester (in 1850), where he worked 
for his brother's firm, Newcornb, Thayer & Clarke, 
established in 1846. In 1851 his brother, John B. 
Clarke, becaine the sole owner. In 1853 he sold the 
store to Josiah, who was for more than forty-four 
years identified with the business. In 1S64 Thomas 
B. Eaton entered the firm with Mr. Clarke under 
the name of J. H. Clarke & Co. In 18S2 Mr. Eaton 
withdrew and Mr. Clarke admitted Hannibal A. 
Johnson and Charles H. Carpenter as partners. Mr. 
Carpenter had been connected with the business for 
.-^ome time. Mr. Johnson came from Jordan, Marsh 
& Co., Boston. In 1897 Mr. Clarke withdrew from 
the firm, selling to his partners. Thomas E. Knight 
was admitted as a partner and for a time the old 
name was retained. Mr. Knight withdrew and the 
firm became Johnson, Carpenter & Co. The firm 
went out of business January i, 1906, on account of 
the illness of Mr. Johnson. 

For some years Mr. Clarke's store was located 
in the Partridge block, opposite the Central Ex- 
change on Main street, but for thirty odd years it 
was located at the last location, 353 Main street in 
the American House block. The business has always 
been conducted as a legitimate dry goods store. 
Two floors were occupied and some thirty clerks 
and assistants employed. Mr. Clarke made a for- 
tune in this business, and none stood higher in Wor- 
cester among business men. At the time he sold 
out his interests in the store he had large financial 
interests requiring his attention. He was for many 
years a director of the Worcester National Bank. 
He was a trustee and member of the finance com- 
mittee of the State Mutual Life .Assurance Com- 
pany ; a director of the Norwich & Worcester Rail- 
road Company; tlie Worcester & Shrewsbury Rail- 
road, now part of the consolidated system: the Wor- 
cester Gaslight Companv; the State Safe Deposit 
Company; the McKav Shoe Machinery Company of 
Boston ; the Union Trimmer Company of Boston ; 
director and vice-president of the Sherman Enve- 
lope Company and trustee of the Worcester County 
Institution 'for Savings. He was an active member 
and vestryman of All Saints Protestant Episcopal 
Church for more than thirty years. He was a mem- 
ber of the common council in Worcester in 1862. 
He was a Republican in politics. Mr. Clarke was 
fond of travel and in 1865 made a voyage around 
the w'orld, remaining some time at Foo Choo with 
his brother, Adason L. Clarke, who was consul at 
tliat port. He went west and to Europe several 
times, and in 1898 travelled to the far east, includ- 
ing Greece, Turkey, Egypt and the Nile. 

Mr. Clarke married in 1858. Frances C. Ayres, 
daughter of Horace and Mary (Wood worth) .\yres. 
She was born in Worcester, March 18, i8,?6. She 
died in Worcester, July it, 1840. aged thirty years. 
Her father married (second). November 19. 1844, 
Ciroline Corbett. By the first marrince thev had: 
Julia .A.nne. born 1833, died 1839; William J., born 
nnd died 1858: Frances C, wife of Josiah H. Clarke. 
Pv the second marriage Mr. Ayers had one son, 
Horace C Ayers, born iS.so, died 1806. Mr Clarke 
died in Worcester, May .30, 1904. The children of 
Josiah Howe and Frances (.'\yers) Clarke were: 



500 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



Mary Woodwortli, born January 8. 1862 ; resides 
at home with her mother at 50 Ehn street; Frances 
Ayres, born July 4, 1868; married Leonard P. Kin- 
nicut, professor in the Worcester Polytechnic In- 
stitute (see Kinnicutt Family in this work) ; Grace 
Howe, born September 29, 1869, died June 10, 1870; 
Josiah Howe, Jr., born August 13, 1872, died April 
19, 1895. 

FRANK EUGENE POWERS, a well known 
citizen of Worcester, Massachusetts, prominently 
identified with the coal and lumber industries of the 
state, is descended from an old and honored family 
of England. He is a representative of the eighth 
generation in this country. 

The family name of Powers, or Power, as it was 
originally, is from the old Norman name "le Poer," 
and was Unowm in England in the time of William 
the Conqueror, one of whose officers, at the battle 
of Hastings, bore that name, as appears on the roll 
of survivors in Battle Abbey. From that time on- 
ward the name has occupied an honored place in 
the history of England. In the Herald's College 
a curious incident is related of Richard le Poer, 
high sherifT of Gloucestershire, 1 187, that he was 
killed while defending the Lord's day. When King 
Henry II invaded Ireland, 1171, an important com- 
mand seems to have been given to Sir Roger le 
Poer, an "English knight." and, "for his distinguished 
services rendered," large tracts of land were be- 
stowed upon him by the crown. Haverty's history 
says, the county of Waterford and the British parlia- 
ment have had many members in their ranks from 
his descendants, from whom, and from the native 
Celts who took the name of the estates to which 
they were attached, the name has become very coin- 
nion in that country. 

In this country the name can be traced back to 
several people. In 1643 the name of John Power 
appears in the Farmers' Genealogy of New England, 
and about the same time Nicholas Pow-er appeared 
in Massachusetts, but made his permanent home in 
Rhode Island, where he married and had one son, 
Nicholas. He was followed by several generations, 
each having one son. the last having no male issue, 
and the name of this branch of the family became 
extinct. By records in the town of Charlestown we 
find that the wife of John Power was authorized 
to make sale of the house and lands of her absent 
husband. He is referred to as John Power, "hosier." 
and it is likely that not finding his business profit- 
able in the new country, he returned to Europe and 
then sent for his family. A writer in the "New Eng- 
land History and Genealogical Register. Volume 
XXII.'' says the early settlers bearing the name of 
Powers in New England, came originally from Es- 
sex. England. The fact is that the names of Walter 
and William Power were common there, and Walter 
seems to have settled with other families from that 
part of England, a daughter of one of which fami- 
lies he married. That the tow-n where he settled 
was named for Lord Littleton, member of parlia- 
ment for Essex, and other similar circumstances, 
would lead to the conclusion that he came from that 
district. 

( I ) Walter Power, the direct ancestor of Frank 
Eugene Powers, was born 1639 ; died February 22, 
1708. He appears on the Middlesex county records, 
in 1654, as a boy of about fourteen. Little is known 
of him. He probably had no great educational ad- 
vantages, and depended upon the strength of his 
body and sterling conimonsensc to establish a home 
for himself and family. He settled on a tract of 
land in or near Concord, which took the name of 



Concord village, now the town of Littleton, 
adjoining the Indian town of Nashobe, about 
year 1661. He bought of Thomas Waban and c 
Indians, in 1694, one-fourth of the townshif 
Nashobe. His remains were doubtless buried in 
old "Powers' burying ground," which was on 
Concord road about two miles from the comi 
in a southeasterly direction. He married, Marcl 
1661, Trail Sheppard, daughter of Deacon R 
and Thankes Sheppard, of Maiden. She seem 
have been a woman of considerable education, 
from the position which his sons later took m 
community, we may take it for granted that 
were well educated for the times. The sons s 
at various times, to have added the final "s" to 
name. 

(II) Daniel Powers, fourth son of Walter 
and Trail (Sheppard) Power, seems to have 
the first to add the final "s" to the family name, 
was born May 10. 1669. Married (first), Apr 
1702, Elizabeth Whitcomb ; married (second) Ma 
Bates. He settled in Littleton, and his children ■ 
all born in Nashobe or Littleton, although some 
found recorded in Groton. 

fill) Peter Powers, fourth son of Daniel 
and Elizabeth (Whitcomb) Powers, born in I 
died August 27, 1757. His early youth was s 
on the farm of his father. After his marriagf 
removed to that part of Dunstable now know: 
Nashua ; during the summer and fall of 1730 
built the first house in Hollis, New Hampshire, 
in January. 1730. removed, with his young wife 
two children, through the primeval forest to 
new home. They were the first settlers in that 
thriving town. Here their first daughter was I 
she being the first child of English descent 
in the town. There were forty families within 
town limits in 1738, and he, with others, petiti( 
for a town charter. He was prominent in the 
ficial business of the town, and particularly si 
devising ways and means for the building of a n 
ing house, and in maintaining a preacher. \\ 
living in Dunstable he had received a commis 
as captain of militia, from Governor Wentw< 
He was sent by the government at the head o 
exploring party through the Connecticut river 
ley, in 1754, but the news of renewed hostilities 
tween the English and French armies, prod 
such a commotion that his report was never 
lished. and was finally deposited in the rooms oi 
Connecticut Historical Society, in Hartford. Ca[ 
Powers raised a company of men. mostly resid 
of Hollis. in 1755, to march under Colonel Jo 
Blanchard, against the French at Crown Point 
the shores of Lake Champlain. In this company ' 
enrolled Jonathan Powers, and Levi, Stephen 
Whitcomb Powers, the last three named being 
of Captain Peter, who died shortly after this ur 
taking. He was one of the most prominent 
in the community. He married Anna Keyes in : 

(IV) Stephen Powers, second son of Cap 
Peter (3) and Anna (Keys) Powers, was i 
presumably in Dunstable. October 28. 1729. He i 
ricd. July i.^. 1775, in Hollis. New Hampshire. 

(V) William Powers, son of Stephen (4). i 
ried Pameiia Wright, of Pepperell. 

(VI) Jonathan Jackson Powers, son of Wil 
(5) and Pameiia (Wright) Powers, was bon 
Pepperell, July 29, 1807. and died in Worce 
Massachusetts, June 7, 1870. He resided in Pep 
ell and Shirley, where, for a time, he kept a ; 
of general supplies. He was a cooper by trade, 
turned his attention to various other occupati 
being gifted naturally as a mechanic, and abl 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



50 r 



take advantage of any opportunity which presented 
itself. He spent the last ten or twelve years of 
liis life in Grafton, Massachusetts. 

He married, October 12, 1825, Priscilla E. Reid, 
who died October 9, 1864. Their children were: 
I. Pamelia Emily, born January 2.3, 1827; married 
Elbridge Farnsworth. 2. Caroline Augu.sta, Novem- 
lier IT. 1S28: married Nathan B. Chandler. 3. John 
Jackson, of whom later. 4. Charles Barron. June 
ig, 1832; married Sarah Hemphill. 5. Lusy Anne, 
October 9. 1833 ; married Jabez J. Harnden. 6. Han- 
nah Elizabeth, June 8, 1835 ; married Charles A. 
Longley. 7. William Henry, February 7, 1837. 8. 
.\lbert Louis, November 19, 1838 ; died November 8, 
'8.39- 9. Marcius Alarton, September 14, 1840; died 
January 29, 1859. 10. Martin Van Buren. January 
S. 1S43. II. Harriet Lewis, August 24, 1844: mar- 
ried Alonzo Wessen ; died in Nebraska, 1876. 12. 
Perlina Parker, September 18, 1846 : married Charles 
Bohannan, of Mollis, New Hampshire. 13. Martha 
Chloe, January 27, 1850; married (first) Henry 
Bohannan, of Hollis, New Hampshire; married, 
I second) 'John Hildreth, of Townsend, Massachu- 
.-ctts. 

(Vn) John Jackson Powers, third child and 
eldest son of Jonathan Jackson (6) and Priscilla 
E. (Reid) Powers, was born in Pepperell, Massa- 
chusetts, September i, 1830. His education was 
acquired in the schools of his native town. When 
still quite a lad, he worked for Major Longley, a 
■ prominent citizeti of Shirley, who desired to adopt 
I him, having no son of his own. At the age of nine- 
teen he commenced w-orking for the Old Colony 
Railroad, now a part of the New Haven system, and 
later for the Worcester & Nashua Railroad, now 
a part of the Boston & Maine system. He was 
division master on the Worcester & Nashua, and his 
brother-in-law' succeeded him when he resigned in 
order to take a similar position wMth the Providence 
& Worcester Railroad. Eventually he became road- 
master, a position of great responsibility. He re- 
signed from railroad work after thirty-five years 
of continuous active w'ork in various positions. He 
was known among the railroad men of the state 
as an expert in practical railroad matters, having 
"been actively engaged during the important period 
of introduction, early growth, and development of 
the railroads of tlie country. The contrast between 
the railroads of 1849, when he began, and those of 
1884, when he retired from this field of activity, 
is one of the most remarkable and sensational dem- 
onstration of American prosperity and progress. In 
the early seventies, he started in the coal business 
in Millbury, wdiile his son Frank was still a boy at- 
tending school. In this he met with unusual and 
immediate success. Later, in partnership w-ith his 
son, established a coal business in Worcester, Massa- 
chusetts, under the firm name of J. J. & F. E. 
Powers. This. also, was successful from the very 
beginning, and Mr. Powers demonstrated great busi- 
ness ability in the years that followed. His career 
was cut short by sudden death while he was with 
his men in the field on his farm, at Grafton, June 
19. 1893. He was an honored and valued citizen, 
and had filled, very acceptably, several town offices. 
He was a strict temperance man. and a Republican. 
He married. May 18. 1852. Anna Maria Stevens, 
born September 26, 1833; died ^larch 31. 1897, 
daughter of Seth Stevens, of Townsend. Massachu- 
setts. Her direct ancestor, Solomon ' Stevens, was 
one of the pioneer Baptists of Townsend. in 1769, 
when the church was weak and small : his home was 
the headquarters of the preachers. His son. John 
Stevens, was one of the founders of the Baptist 



College in Granville, Ohio, now Denison University, 
and he was president of this institution until he was 
more than eighty years of age. Dr. John Steven's 
eldest son, William A. Stevens, is now professor 
of the New Testament Interpretation in the Roches- 
ter Theological school. 

Children of John Jackson and Anna Maria 
(Stevens) Powers are: I. Edgar Norton, born 
July 2, 1853; died July 26, 1853. 2. Cora Isabelle, 
March 7, 1856. Attended the public schools of her 
native town, and for several years was a student at 
the Oread Institute, a school for young girls, which 
existed from 1854 until 1881, and which enjoyed an 
excellent reputation. It was located in the southern 
part of the city of Worcester in a building called 
"Oread Castle." She married, December 7, 1887, in 
Grafton, Frederick A. Dodge, of Sutton. He oper- 
ated a grain mill at Saundersville, Massachusetts, 
and also conducted a retail and wholesale business, 
at No. 362 Social street, Woonsocket, Rhode Island. 
He was lay reader in St. John's Episcopal Church. 
He died April 11. 1906. Mrs. Dodge is a member 
of the Congregational church in Grafton; the St. 
John's guild ; and the Woman's Club, of Millbury. 
Their children are: I. Chester A. Dodge, born in 
Grafton, .-Vugust 21, 1890; is now (1906) a junior 
in the Grafton high school. 2. Leslie Powers Dodge, 
born in Grafton, June 24, 1894. 3. Frank Eugene 
(sec forward). 

(VIII) Frank Eugene Powers, only surviving son 
and youngest child of John Jackson (7) and Anna 
Maria (Stevens) Powers, was born in Grafton, 
Massachusetts. July 17, 1858. He acquired a good 
education in the public schools of his native town, 
and attended the high school for a time. When he 
removed to Worcester he took a course in the com- 
mercial school there. He was but seventeen years 
of age when he took charge of the business inter- 
ests of his father in Millbury. In 1879 he bought 
out his father's interest in this business, and con- 
tinued it alone for some time, adding building ma- 
terials and lumber to the coal business. Business in- 
creased in volume and he was busily engaged until 
1890. when he sold out to H. M. Goddard. In the 
meantime, in 1886, the business in Worcester had 
been commenced, and he devoted more time to this. 
This was located on Southbridge street, and having 
a chance to secure land on Southgate street, which 
was much better suited to the requirements of the 
business, they moved to this location, which has been 
the home of the concern since that time. Mr. Powers 
bought out the interest of his father in Worcester in 
189T. and since the death of the latter, in 1893. has 
conducted the business under his own name. Dur- 
ing the past twenty years he has won a high standing 
for himself in the commercial circles of the city. 
He is a quiet man and devotes himself strictly to 
business affairs, rarely taking a vacation. He and 
big family have resided, since removing from Mill- 
bury. at No. ,38 Maywood street, Worcester, Massa- 
chusetts. They are members and attendants at 
the Piedmont Congregational Church, and devote 
much time to charitable undertakings. He is a 
member of the Commonwealth Club of Worcester, 
a director of the Millbury National Bank, a trustee 
and a vice-president of the Millbury Savings Bank. 
He married, June 15, 1882, Laura Belle Lincoln, 
daughter of Dr. W. H. Lincoln, of Millbury. Mrs. 
Powers was educated at Millbury. Massachusetts, 
and is a graduate of Mount Holyoke. She is a metn- 
ber of the Woman's Club of Worcester. Their chil- 
dren are: i. Frank Lincoln, born in Millbury, June 
12, 1883 : now associated with his father in the busi- 
ness in Southgate street. 2. Hiram Stevens, in Mill- 



502 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



bury, September 29, 1884; now a junior in Har- 
vard College. 3. Gladys, born in Worcester June 
13, 1892, is attending the public schools in that 
city. 

CHARLES ARCHIBALD MIDDLEMAS. 
Peter Middlemas (l), grandfather of Charles 
Archibald Middlemas, of Worcester, Massachusetts, 
was born in Scotland. He settled in Nova Scotia. 
He was a millwright by trade. He learned his 
trade in the old country and followed it in Nova 
Scotia. 

(.11) Jolm S. Middlemas, son of Peter Middlemas 
(l), was born in Nova Scotia. He married Re- 
becca Parker. He was a contractor and builder. 
They had seven children, five sons and two daugh- 
ters. 

(Ill) Charles Archibald Middlemas, son of John 
S. Middlemas {2), was born in Middleton, Annapo- 
lis county, Nova Scotia, November 11, 1859. He 
attended the common schools of his native town. 
He worked with his father as a carpenter and in the 
general store owned by his brother-in-law. He also 
learned the plumber's trade. He came to Worces- 
ter in 1882 and bought the business of J. D. Sisson 
& Co. at 33 Southbridge street, corner of Allen court. 
The business was originallv on the site of the pres- 
ent Federal building. He has built up a large busi- 
ness and reputation for skill and reliable work. 
Among the contracts for plumbing that he has had 
during the past few years are the Windsor, the 
Boynton buildings, the City Hospital, Rawson & 
Gibbs building, Main street; the Standish Apart- 
ment Hotel, the Royal Worcester corset factory, 
the City Farm, the Bellmar, the Brunsw'ick, the 
State Insane Asylum at Medfield, Massachusetts. 
In recent years he has been heavily interested in 
street railway enterprises. He built the Worcester 
& Webster Street Railway in 1899. He built the 
Gardner & Templeton line and the St. Albans, Ver- 
mont. Street Railway, of which he is the treasurer. 
Mr. Middlemas is now engaged in the hay, grain 
and feed business at No. 258 Park avenue, Worces- 
ter, in a building which he erected for the purpose. 
He began business November 25, 1905. He is a 
Free Mason, a member of the Worcester County 
Commandery, Knights Templar. He is also a 
member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. 

He married, November 11, 1885, Clark J. Prouty, 
daughter of Frank and Josephine (Hitt) Prouty, of 
Spencer. They have one daughter, Sybil Frances, 
born January 15, 1896. 

ERNEST AUGUSTUS TIMME was born in 
Hatzberg, Germany, a city in Hanover, October 20, 
1821. He was educated in his native place and 
learned the trade of engraver. At the age of twenty- 
six years in the year 1847 he came to America. He 
worked the first winter in New York city and the 
foUownig spring went to Worcest'fer, Massachusetts, 
to work for Mr. Wheelock in Allen's pistol fac- 
tory. After several years he went to work for J. 
B. Knox, who carried on business as a steel letter 
cutter and die sinker. While working there Mr. 
Timme added steel letter cutting to the business. 

Mr. Timme started in business on his own ac- 
count with a partner, J. P. Bailey, at 144 South 
Clark street, Chicago, makmg steel dies and similar 
goods. Mr. Timme bought out his partner and con- 
ducted the business alone for some years. Then 
he returned during the civil war and worked for 
various manufacturers of firearms, in which he was 
an expert mechanic. He was employed by Colt, of 
Hartford. He returned to Worcester in 1864 to 
his former employer, J. B. Knox, who was in part- 



nership with Mr. Lang in the manufacture of dies,, 
seals, steel stamps, etc. Mr. Kno.x established this 
business in Worcester in 1854. Mr. Timme bought 
the interest of J\Ir. Lang and eventually became 
sole owner of the business. The shop was at Har- 
ruigton, corner of Main and Front streets, for 
many years. It is now located at 554 Main street. 
In his line of work Mr. Timme had lew equals. He 
was a good business man and prospered. In iS6^ 
he bought a country place in Holden, Massachu- 
setts, a town adjoining Worcester, where he en- 
joyed the pleasures of agriculture as a diversion 
from the cares of his shop and business. He died 
March 26, 1890. During the last few years of his 
life he had as partner his son, Augustus F. Timme^ 
and the firm name was Ernst A. Timme & Son. 

Air. Timme married (.first) Rebecca Read, of 
Worcester. He married (second), in 1862, at Hart- 
ford, Connecticut, Henrietta Anna Albimus, a na- 
tive of Hamburg, Germany, who died at Worces- 
ter, February 20, 1890. The children of Ernst 
Augustus and Rebecca Timme were : A son who- 
died in infancy ; Carrie R., died November 7, 1905. 
The children of Ernst Augustus and Henrietta A. 
A. Timme were : Agnes L., married Henry C. 
Meyer, of Worcester, and they have two children; 
Ernst H., and Anna Meyer. Augustus F., unmar- 
ried, mentioned below; Hannah H., married Louis 
Gilbert, of Milford, Massachusetts, and they have 
two children: Emil and Alton (twins); Louise 
C, married William Fisher, a farmer of Holden,, 
and they have five children: Charles, George, Mil- 
lard, Edna, Albert ; Ernst, died at the age of four 
years; Albert S., resides in Boston, unmarried; 
Minnie C, a trained nurse. 

Augustus F. Timme, son of Ernst Augustus. 
Timme, was born in Worcester, October 5, 1865. 
He was educated in the public schools and learned, 
the trade of die sinking and engraving w'ith his 
father. He was taken into partnership by his 
father and the firm became E. A. Timme & Son. 
After his father's death in 1890 he became the 
sole owner, but the name of the firm was con- 
tinued unchanged. Mr. Timme manufactures dies> 
steel stamps, stencils, seal presses, seals, brands,, 
door plates, checks, embossing dies, etc., does all 
kinds of engraving on metal, also manufactures 
rubber stamps for the trade. His shop is at 554. 
Main street. He is unmarried. 

GEORGE WILLIAM HOUCK, son of John T. 
and Annie (Phebus) Houck, was born in Frederick 
City, Maryland, January 29, 1864. On the paternal 
side his ancestors were of German origin. 

He was educated in his native town in the pub- 
lic schools. At the age of seventeen he left home 
and located in Massachusetts. After working on 
a Shrewsbury farm for some months he decided 
to learn the trade of mason. He served his ap- 
prenticeship under William F. Dearborn, the well 
known contractor and mason, of Worcester, and 
worked for him afterward as a journeyman. But 
at the age of twenty-two years he started in busi- 
ness for himself, and for twenty years has con- 
ducted a successful business. Excepting for a few 
years in the early nineties he has been alone in 
business. At that time he was in partnership with 
James Miles of Worcester under the firm name of 
Miles & Houck. Mr. Houck has built a large num- 
ber of substantial brick and stone structures in the 
city and county of Worcester. In later years he 
has invested heavily in Worcester real estate. He 
has a ten tenement apartment house at 89 Pleasant 
street ; the Whittier block, corner of Fruit and Pleas- 
ant street; a large block on Crown street and he is- 



WORCESTER COUXTY 



50.^ 



building a new apartment house on Chatham street. 
He has built mostly on his own account lately. 

In addition to his building contracts he has 
taken a number of large railroad contracts. He 
had the contract and built the Worcester and Clin- 
ton Electric Railway. He built a portion of the 
electric lines at JNlilford. He constructed the Buf- 
falo, Hamburg & Aurora Railroad in 1901. He 
built another railroad at Penn Yan, New York. 

]\Ir. Houck is a member of Montacute Lodge of 
Free Masons, Worcester, and of Worcester Chap- 
ter, Royal Arch Masons. In politics he is a Re- 
publican. 

He married, October S, 1S84, Annie Margaret 
Whittier, daughter of Elias and Charlotte (Curtis) 
Whittier. She was born in Enfield, Maine, March 
24, 1866. The children of George William and 
Annie M. Houck were: I. Harvey Arfue, born at 
Worcester June 11, 1886; graduate of the Classical 
High School, Worcester, 1905; at present a collector 
of the New England Telephone Company. 2. Char- 
lotte Annie, born at Worcester, December 21, 1887: 
graduate of the Classical High School; bookkeeper 
in the auditing department of the New England 
Telephone Company. Among the buildings con- 
tracted are Gray block, corner Summer and Thomas 
streets, Day block, 306 Main street, Higgins block, 
Main street. Forest block, corner Main and Austin 
streets, nine on upper High and Summer streets, 
ten for the insane colony at Medfield, Jane Chase 
block in Hudson, and many others. 

PHILIP M. PFAFFMANN. Alartin Pfaftmann 
(i), the father of Philip M. Pfaffniann. of Worces- 
ter, was born in Germany. He was a gardener and 
florist. He was educated and learned his trade in 
his native land. He came to America in 1848 when 
a young man and settled on Long Island, New York, 
and later removed to South jMarshlicld, Massachu- 
setts, where he was employed by Colonel Fletcher 
Webster as head gardener. Colonel Fletcher 
Webster was the son of Daniel Webster. At 
that time he was living on what is now known as 
the Caswell place, about two miles from his fath- 
er's farm. Mr. Pfaiifmann worked there until the 
death of his employer's father, in 1852, when he be- 
came head gardener on the Webster homestead. He 
filled this position for Colonel Fletcher Webster until 
1870, when he purchased a nursery at Quincy, Massa- 
chusetts, started in business on his own account, 
and has since then continued in that business. He 
married, at South Marshfield, i\Iargaret Law-ley. 
Two of their children died in infancy. The others 
are : Charlotte, Philip M., see forward ; Catherine, 
Caroline, Sibylla, George, see forward; Adeline. 

(II) Philip M. Pfaffmann, second child of iNIartin 
Pfaffman (i), was born in South Marshheld, Massa- 
chusetts, November iS, 1855. He was educated in 
the public schools of Marshfield. He learned the 
trade of carpenter. In 1885 he came to Worcester 
to work at his trade for his father-in-law, Lucien 
Bonaparte Butler, manufacturer of satinets, at 1469 
Main street. He learned the business incidentally 
from the ground up and became useful to the 
owner in the management of the business. He pur- 
chased the business of Mr. Butler in 1899 and has 
since carried it on successfull}'. Mr. Pfafifniann is 
is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fel- 
lows, of the lodge, encampment and the Patriarchs 
Militant, Grand Canton. He is also a member of 
the Royal Arcanum. 

He married, November 22, 1883, Helen Butler, 
daughter of Lucien Bonaparte Butler. Mr. Butler 
was born in Rhode Island, and married Elizabeth 
O. Ingalls, a native of New York state. He began 



life as a mill hand and worked his way up to the 
position of proprietor. He is counted among the 
substantial men of affairs of the city. He is an 
Odd Fellow and belongs to the Commonwealth Club. 
He resides at 1404 Main street. The children of 
Philip M. and Helen (Butler) Pfaffmann were: 
Ethel May, xMaude, Gladys, Philip M., Jr. 

(II) George Pfaffman, son of Martin Pfaflfmann 
(1), was born in South Marshtield, Massachusetts. 
He married Mabel Shaw, daughter of John Shaw, 
former president of the Home Market Club, the head 
of the linn of John Shaw &: Co., dealers in chem- 
icals and dye stuffs at India Wharf, Boston. George 
Pfaffman is a member of the firm. His home is ni 
Quincy, Massachusetts. The children' of George and 
-\Iabel (Shaw) Pfaffmann are: John and Carl. 

GEORGE jNIASON RICHARDSON. Samuel 
H. Richardson (1), father of George Mason and 
Charles C. Richardson, of Worcester, was born De- 
cember 16, 1811, in Dana, Massachusetts, formerly 
Hardwick, Massachusetts. He was in his early 
years a merchant, later a farmer. He formerly lived 
on what was later the town farm of Hardwick. He 
then bought a farm near the line between Hard- 
wick and Petersham in the northeast part of Dana, 
where he lived for many years. Shortly before his 
death in 1895 he removed to Dana Centre. Mr. 
Richardson was a delegate to the constitutional con- 
vention from Dana in 1853. 

He married, March 31, 1836, Caroline Chipman 
(intentions dated at Petersham, March 4, 1836). 
She was born December 10, 181 1, six days after his 
birth, and she died January 31, 1895, 0"e day before 
his death. They were buried in the same grave. 
They had lived together as man and wife for fifty- 
nine years. 

The children of Samuel H. and Caroline (Chip- 
man) Richardson were: I. George M., of whom 
later; Charles C, born March 30. 1840, married 
Sarah Lloyd, of Canada ; resided first at Dana, now 
at the corner of Highland and Dover streets. Wor- 
cester; he is superintendent of a department of the 
Royal Worcester Corset Company and in charge of 
the machinery ; he is a machinist by trade ; ilartha 
J., born September 25, 1841, was a school teacher 
for many years in Petersham. Phillipston, Barre, 
Athol, Orange, Dana and Hardwick ; after she re- 
tired from teaching she was elected on the Dana 
school committee ; she died February 8, 1901 ; Ella 
L., born June 20, 1850, was a school teacher until 
recently, now residing in Ware, Massachusetts ; 
^lary C, born February 12, 1856, married George 
Joslin. of Dana, and has one daughter. 

(II) George Mason Richardson, son of ^amuel 
Mason Richardson, was born at Hardwick, Massa- 
chusetts. He attended the public schools and New 
Salem Academy, and graduated at Wilbraham, 
Massachusetts. He learned the trade of machinist 
at Barre, Massachusetts, and followed it in various 
positions since. He worked in Worcester for a 
year, then for five years he was in charge of sewing 
machines used in the Knowlton shops in West Up- 
ton. He made a specialty of the machinery used in 
hat manufacture and worked in the hat shop at 
Medway, JNIilford and Fishkill on Hudson. New 
York, and in New York, where for seven years he 
had charge of machinery used in the sewing and 
making of men's hats. He returned to his native 
state and for a time worked for a hat manufactory 
at Westboro. F'or the past twelve or thirteen years 
he has been an expert machinist for the Royal Wor- 
cester Corset Company of Worcester. 

He resides at 14 Dover street. In politics Mr. 
Richardson is a Republican. 



504 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



He married (first), September 26, 1865, Alice 
Cutting Hastings, of Petersham, who was born July 
6, 1838, and died September 12, 1870. They bad one 
child, Alice Gertrude, born June 3, 1870, deceased. 
Mr. Richardson married (second), April 21, 1874, 
Lucy A. JMoore, of whom later. 

(I) John Moore, the pioneer ancestor of Lucy 
A. (Moore) Richardson, wife of George Mason 
Richardson, of Worcester, came from England to 
Sudbury before 1643 when he appears as proprietor 
there. His son John was of age and was also pro- 
prietor in 164?. John, Sr., bought a house of Ed- 
mund Rice, the progenitor of the Rice Family of 
Worcester. This house was in the east part of the 
town in the south part of what is now Wayland. 
He was admitted a freeman in Sudbury, July 9, 
1645. Later he bought land of John Stone and a 
house in Sudbury. He signed the Lancaster cove- 
nant March II, 1653, and drew forty acres of land 
there November 30, 1653. His son John settled 
there and possibly other sons and daughters. He 
stayed in Sudbury and became a prominent man 
there. He was a prosperous farmer. His will was 
dated August 25. 1668, and proved April 7, 1674. 
He mentioned his sons and daughters. 

He married Elizabeth Whale, daughter of Phile- 
mon Whale. Their children were : Elizabeth, mar- 
ried Henry Rice ; Mary, married, September 8, 
1661, Richard Ward; he was drowned; she married 
(second) Deacon David Stone; Lydia, born June 24, 
1643, married Samuel Wright ; John, married Ann 
Smith, daughter of John Smith, the pioneer ; Will- 
iam ; Jacob, born April 28, 1645 ; Joseph, born 1647, 
married Lydia Hayward; Benjamin, of whom 
later. 

(II) Benjamin Moore, youngest son of John 
Moore (i), was born in Sudbury. Massachusetts, 
December 13, 1648. He married, November 11, 
1686, Dorothy Wright, who died October 20, 1717. 
They lived in Sudbury. In 1726 he divided his land 
between his sons, William, Edward, Hezekiah, 
Uriah and Peter. The children of Benjamin and 
Dorothy (Wright) Moore were: Dorothy, born 
September 18, 16S7; Abigail, December 2, 1688; 
Prudence, July 4, 1690, died young; William, Peter, 
Edward, Hezekiah. September 13, 1696; Uriah, of 
whom later; Comfort, July 22, 1704; Benjamin. 

(HI) Dr. Uriah Moore, eighth child of Benja- 
min Moore (2), was born in Sudbury, Massachu- 
setts, about 1700. He married, October 5, 1721, Abi- 
gail Haynes, daughter of David and Tabitha Haynes, 
who was born in Sudbury, March 8, 1700-1, and 
died October 16, 1729. He married (second) Mary 

, who died October 19. 1741. He married 

(third), January 2, 1742, Parnel Parker, who died 
m 1746; as his widow administered his estate. She 
was probably the daughter of Thomas Britnall. He 
had two sons : David, of whom later ; Uriah. 

(IV)' Ensign David Moore, son of Uriah Moore 
(3). was born in Sudbury, Massachusetts, January 
21, 1722. He married, December 22, 1743, Hannah 
Parker, daughter of his father's third wife. He 
was a soldier in the revolution. He was lieutenant 
in Captain John Nixon's company. Colonel Abijah 
Pierce's regiment, April 19, 1775. He was later 
captain in Colonel John Nixon's regiment, June 
S) 1775. and also in Colonel Whitney's regiment, 
(the Second Worcester). He died in 1808 and his 
will was proved at Cambridge ; his oldest son, Will- 
iam, was named executor. 

The children of David and Hannah (Parker) 
Moore were: i. L'riah, born July 3, 1744, died April 
27, 1746; Abigail, October 25. 1745, died March 27, 
1751 ; William, of whom later ; Susanna, December, 
J747; Uriah, September, 1751, was a soldier in the 



revolution; David, March 2, 1754, was a soldier in 
Captain Haynes' company ; Thaddcus, November g, 
1758; Timothy, January 9, 1761, married, April 2, 
1780, Hepzibah Nixon, daughter of General Nixon; 
revolutionary soldier; Reuben, November 21, 1762, 
was in the revolution in 1781 ; Abigail, November 
12, 1764, married, April 8, 1784, Joshua Bacon, of 
Lincoln. 

(V) William Moore, third child of David Moore 
(4), was born in Sudbury, October, 1747. He was a 
corporal in Captain John Nixon's company, Colonel 
Abijah Pierce's regiment, April ig, 1775, and also in 
the army in 1777. He married Abigail Wheeler, 
October 12, 1769. He died March 29, 1836. 

The cliildren of William and Abigail (.Wheeler) 
jNIoore as recorded in their native town, Sudbury, 
were: Elisha, born January 7, 1770, died young; 
Caleb, November 2, 1771, may have been the Caleb 
who bought land in Bolton in 1791 of John Rich- 
ardson, though other branches of the family settled 
there; Uriah, December 20, 1773, died young; Uriah, 
April 4, 1776, may have gone to Salem (David 
Moore, of Salem, of the Siidbury family, was 
guardian of the children of Uriah in 1821 and sold 
land in Worcester county to Enoch Wiswall and John 
Hunting) ; David, of whom later; Marv. December 
26, 1780; William, December 14, 1782; Abigail, Feb- 
ruary 13, 1785; Sarah, May 19, 1787; Elisha, August 
7, 1792, was given a lot of land in Hubbardston in 
Worcester county by his father, William Moore, 
of Sudbury, in 1813 ; Wheeler, April 24, 1795; Han- 
nah, August 29, 178—. 

(.VI) David Moore, fifth child of William 
Moore (5), was born in Sudbury, Massachusetts. 
Family tradition has it that be lived for a time in 
Salem. Members of his father's family went to 
Salem, unquestionably, and also to Boylston. Uriah 
Moore, probably his father's brother, sold land in 
Boylston to Abijah -Moore, perhaps his son, in 
Boylston in 1791. Uriah lived in Bolyston. Abijah 
died in 1796, leaving young children, for whom 
Henry Powers, of Berlin, was guardian. There 
was also in Boylston before David Moore a Hugh 
Moore, who left land in New Salem to his son 
Hugh. He was possibly of the Salem family also. 

David Moore probably came to Boylston to live 
with relatives, for in 1805 he married a Boylston 
girl. As mentioned above David ;\Ioore, of Salem, 
was guardian of Uriah Moore and other children 
of Uriah Moore, and sold land in Worcester county 
in 1821. This David, of Salem, was born in Sud- 
bury, according to his son, David !\Ioore, who was 
born in 1817 and was living in 1904 in Salem. He 
was very likely a son of one of David Aloore's 
(Boylston) uncles. 

He married (first), April 26, 1804, Fanny Tilton, 
who died December 10, 1806. She was the daugh- 
ter of Joseph and Elizabeth Tilton, of Boylston. 
^lost of the children were born in Hamilton, near 
Salem, Massachusetts. Some were born in Prince- 
ton, where Uriah !\Ioore, uncle of David ^loore, 
settled and where he and his wife died. Abijah 
Moore, born October i, 1757, at Princeton, son of 
Abijah and Eunice Moore, who was born in Prince- 
ton and came to Boylston to settle the estate of 
David JNloore. He probably knew his wife as a 
girl in Princeton, Hamilton or Ipswich. 

The children of Joseph and Elizabeth Tilton 
were: Fanny, born January 14, 1782, at Hamilton; 
Nathan, born at Hamilton, September 11, 17S3; 
Joseph Tilton, July 16, 1785, died October 20, 1802; 
Dolly Tilton, September 2. 1786; Oliver Tilton, Sep- 
tember 14, 1788; Aaron Tilton, July 17, 1792, died 
December 2, 1793 ; Ann Tilton, September 2, 1794; 
Betsey Tilton, December 28, 1796; Aaron Tilton, 



i 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



o'-'o 



May I, 1799. The last three were born at Prnicc- 
toii' Joseph Tilton died March 6 or 7. 1847, aged 
eiglity-seven years, six months. His widow, Novem- 
ber 19, 1841, aged eighty. David Moore's wife 
Fanny died December 10, 1S06, after having one 
child, David Tilton Moore, born August 14, x8o6, 
of whom later, wlio was raised in his mother's 
family. 

David Moore married (second) Dolly Hastings, 
April 6. l8og, in Boylton. Members of this family 
also came to Princeton and Boylston to settle. She 
was born September 2, 1786. David Moore removed 
about 1817 with his children by the second wife to 
Athens, Ohio, where he died. He was a carpenter 
and had a mill at Boylston at one time. The chil- 
dren of David and Dolly (Hastings) Moore were: 
Fanny, born September 4, 1809, died April 5, 1810; 
Chandler Carter, January 22, 181 1; Eliakim Hast- 
ings, June 19, 1812. (His son is Bishop David Hast- 
ings Moore, of the Methodist Episcopal church, 
formerly of Ohio, now living in Portland, Oregon ; 
he served his church four years in China, Japan 
and Corea) ; Eliakim, died at Athens, Ohio, April 
4. 1900; Joseph, February 8, 1814; Elizabeth Upton, 
January 28, 1816, died 1816; Lorinda, born in .\th- 
ens. 1818; Solomon, Patience, Lorenzo. 

("VII) David Tilton Moore, eldest son of Da- 
vid Moore (6), was^ born in Boylston, Massachu- 
setts, August 14, 1S06. His mother died when he 
was only a few months old and he was brought 
up by his grandmother Tilton. He inherited the 
Tilton homestead at Boylston. He succeeded his 
grandfather and carried on the farm during the 
active years of his life and left a competence when 
he died' in 1879. 

The following tribute was written by a fellow 
townsman : "Mr. Moore was a life-long resident of 
this town (Boylston). His brother, E. H. Moore, 
was a representative in Congress from Ohio, to 
which state his father early removed. Mr. ^loore 
was a very prosperous farmer and in connection 
with his sons at the time of his death owned and 
occupied one of the largest and finest farms in this 
section. 

"Mr. j\Ioore throughout his active life and until 
within a few years of his death when compelled by 
failing health to relinquish all care and an.xiety, 
was an honored and useful citizen, deeply identify- 
ing himself with every enterprise that had for its 
object the promotion of the prosperity of the town 
and the social and moral elevation of its people. He 
was frequently called upon to act in official posi- 
tions of honor and trust, and he served the town 
of Boylstou- upon the boards of selectmen and 
assessors, much of the time in association with the 
late Capt. Andrews whom in death he so quickly 
followed. 

"In early life he took a deep interest in educa- 
tional matters and served for many years upon the 
Boylston school committee. Possessed of abundant 
means, ever kind and courteous in his bearing, al- 
ways acting under a sense of his duty, in every de- 
partment of life in which he was called, he ex- 
hibited a firm and dignified course, carefully seek- 
ing and zealously guarding the rights of himself 
and others. Of a vigorous mind and rare and dis- 
criminating judgment, success was always sure to 
follow in whatever he undertook. He had long been 
a leading and perhaps one might more truthfully 
and unostentatiously say the leading member of the 
Congregational Church and Society, which he was 
ever ready to assist ; and to his wise counsel and 
generous hand the church was indebted more than 
to anything else for its financial prosperitv and by 
his associates in the church he will long be revered 



as a faithful Christian member, a wise and true 
counselor and ever ready friend." 

He married Sally Wellington, daughter of John 
and Elizabah (Temple) VVcllington and grand- 
daughter of John and Mary Gould (Hurd) Welling- 
ton. Fler grandfather, John 'Wellington, married 
(first) Mary Gould Ilurd, a sister of General Ihird, 
of the revolution, and settled in Michigan. They 
had four children : John, of whom later ; Ebenezer, 
Priscilla and Sally. He married (second) Priscilla 
Cutting, and had one child, Jonathan Wellington. 

The son, John Wellington, born 1765, died 1825, 
married Elizabeth Temple. The Wellingtons set- 
tled in Old Boylston after the revolution. The chil- 
dren of John Wellington were: Polly, married Da- 
vid Kendall, late of Worcester, (see Kendall sketch 
in this work); Betsey; Eben, September 23, 1805; 
John, April 25, 1806; Lucy Andrews, November 
16, 1807. died 1865; Thomas Hurd, November 12, 
1809; Sally. April 24, 1811, died September 10, 1886, 
wife of David Tilton Moore; Judith, September 
4. 1812; William, November 6, 1814. deceased; Asa, 
December 14. 1816, died Alay 10, 1892 ; Lydia 
Brooks, August 11, 1819 (or August 10) ; Agnes or 
Annis, April 14, 1821, died November 19, 1902; 
Eunice, February 26, 1823, died August 16, 1903. 

The children of David Tilton and Sally (W^elling- 
ton ) Moore were: William Alfred; Sarah Eliza- 
beth, born July 22, 1836; George Harris, July 29, 
1838; Olive Kendall, February 20, 184 1 ; Lucy Ann, 
married George Mason Richardson, mentioned 
above; Charles Walter, October 5. 1847; Harriet 
Fanny, January 11, 1850; Jennie Mar, October 6, 

1857. 

(Vni) Lucy Ann Moore, fifth child of David 
Tilton Moore (7), was born in Boylston, Massa- 
chusetts, January 4, 1843 (not January 7, as given 
in the Boylston records). She attended the public 
schools in her native town. Having developed an 
aptitude for drawing and painting, she studied art 
under Mrs. Kellogg, corner of Fourteenth street 
and Fifth avenue, New York. She studied also 
under Miss Edgar at Newburgh, New York. Miss 
Edgar studied in Rome and Florence for fifteen or 
sixteen years. She then took lessons in sketching 
of Joseph Greenwood, the famous artist. She has 
developed talent for painting and has devoted a 
large part of her time to her profession. She is 
known among Worcester artists for her clever work 
and her constant interest in art. The following is. 
a partial list of the pictures painted by Lucy A. 
Richardson : A scene on the Charles River ; Edge 
of the Wood; Mirror Lake; The Christ Child, 
copied from the original paintings in Rome : Beatrice 
Cenci. by Guido Reni. one of the old masters, by 
Miss L. Edgar; A Summer Morning, owned by Dr. 
W. E. Ball, city; Under the Oak, owned by Mr. O. 
S. Kendall, Jr., 15 Fruit street, city; A Wood In- 
terior, owned by Mrs. C. E. Sawyer. Brooklyn, New 
York ; .^t Close of Day, owned by Mrs. C. Goddard, 
Grafton; Poppies, owned by Mrs. Arthur Rockwell, 
Westboro : Summer Morning, owned by Westminster 
Library ; Bancroft Tower, owned by Miss L. E. Case, 
Osaka, Japan. 

Alice G. Richardson, daughter of George Mason 
Richardson, was educated in the public schools, at 
Mt. Beacon Academy and at the State Normal 
school at Albany. She taught schools at Fishkill- 
on-Hudson, New York, for two years ; at Attleboro 
and Milford, Massachusetts. Then she attended 
Becker's Business College as a student, taking the 
full course. She then taught in the evening high 
school in Worcester one year. She died at the 
verv beginning of a promising career, May 22, 

1899. .laiai 



»5o6 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



CHARLES HENRY KNAPP. William Knapp 
(l), the emigrant ancestor of Charles Henry Knapp, 
of Worcester, was in VVatertovvn as early as 1630, 
as lie is referred to in the Colonial records of No- 
vember 3, 1630. He died August 30, 1659, aged 
about eighty years, and accordingly his birth must 
have occurred about 1579, and he was over fifty 
j'cars of age when he emigrated to New England. 
Nicholas Knapp also settled at Watertown in 1630, 
and the presumption seems warrantable that they 
came together from England prior to the month 
of March, 1630. If Nicholas was his brother he 
was much younger; he was not his son. 

William Knapp was a carpenter by trade. He 
was one of the proprietors of Watertown in 1636, 
and in 1655 he made a deed of gift to his son, John 
Knapp. The will of William Knapp mentions his 
wife Pristilla, who was the widow of Thomas 
Akers, also children: William, Jr., married Mary 

, died September 25, 1676; John, born 

1624; James, born 1627, married Elizabeth War- 
ren; IMary, married Thomas Smith; Judith, mar- 
ried JMichael Cady, of Watertown; Anne, married 
Thomas Philbrick ; her death occurred prior to the 
death of her father; Elizabeth, widow of 



-, of St. Mary, Suffolk county, England ; 
she sent power of attorney, December 27, 1660, for 
collection of her dues. Most of the estate was 
bought up by Nathaniel Coolidge. 

(H) John Knapp, son of William Knapp (i), 
was born in England, possibly at Bury St. Mary's, 
in Suffolk county, where his sister lived, in 1624. 
He was also a carpenter by trade. He was ad- 
mitted a freeman in 1652. He sold land to John 
Fiske in 1666, and a very large number of real es- 
tate transactions of his are on the records. He 
married. May 25, 1660, Sarah Young, and their 
children w-ere : John, born May 4, 1661 ; Sarah, born 
September 5, 1662 ; Henry, Isaac, Daniel and Abi- 
gail. His will was dated January 22, 1695-96, and 
proved April 27, 1696. His estate was administered 
by his brother-in-law, Henry Young. It mentions 
his wife Sarah, and children, Henry, Isaac, John, 
Daniel and Abigail. 

(III) John Knapp, son of John Knapp (2), was 
born May 4, 1661, in Watertown, Massachusetts. 
He settled in Newton, Massachusetts, the adjoin- 
ing town. He married, August 4, 1686, Sarah Parks, 
and their children were : John, born in Newton, 
December 11, 1688, died 1730; he married (first), 
July 13, 1713, Mary Whitney, of Watertown, and 

married (second) Sarah , who died in 1736. 

James, born February 4, 1690. John Knapp (HI) 
died 1733; his wife died 1727. 

(IV) James Knapp, son of John Knapp (3), 
was born in Newton, Massachusetts, February 4, 
1690-91. He married, April 2, 1714, Elizabeth Bond, 
who died January 12, 1715-16, and their child was 
Jonathan, born October 23, 1714. He married (sec- 
ond), October 10, 1716, Mary Fiske, and their chil- 
dren were : James, born in Watertown or Waltham, 
baptized November 24, 1723; Elizabeth, born at 
Watertown, May 15, 1729; John, born October 31, 
1731. James Knapp (IV) died about 1748, and his 
son James had a guardian appointed in Worcester ; 
the guardian was Benjamin Flagg. The Flaggs 
and Kings intermarried and there was some rela- 
tionship between the lad and his guardian. The 
names on the bond of James Knapp were : James 
Moore, John Chandler and Moses Marcy, of Wor- 
cester, Massachusetts. 

(V) John Knapp, son of James Knapp (4), 
was born in Waltham or Watertown, October 31, 
1731. His father died in 1748, when he was about 



sixteen years of age. The probate records at Wor- 
cester show that on May 17, 1748, Benjamin Flagg, 
of Worcester, was appointed his guardian. He was 
described as John Knapp, son of James Knapp, late 
of Waltham, aged about si.xteen years. The sureties 
and witnesses were James Moore, John Chandler 
and Moses Marcy, of Worcester. John Knapp mar- 
ried (first), about 1760, Anna : , and settled 

in Petersham, Massachusetts, where their seven chil- 
dren were born, namely: Lydia, April 10, 1761 ; Levi, 
May 16, 1763; Jazaniah, October i, 1765; James, May 
20, 1767; Anna, September 22, 1770; Lucy, Jaim- 
ary 31, 1773; Molly, June 24, 1775. John Knapp 
married (second) Elizabeth Felton, of Teniplcton. 
Intentions dated January 2, 1779. 

(VI) Jazaniah Knapp, son of John Knapp (5), 
was born in Petersham, Massachusetts, October i, 
1765. He married, October 25, 1798, Elizabeth 
Howe, of Petersham, and they settled in that town. 
Elizabeth, or Betsey, as the name is given on the 
town records, was born July 4, 1773, daughter of 
Asa and Mary Howe, of Petersham. Their chil- 
dren were: Eliza, born September 21, 1799, died 
February 15, 1801 ; Lucy, born June 12, 1801, mar- 
ried Erastus Swan, died at Athol, June 28, 1877; 
Levi, born May 13, 1804; Mary II., born October 6, 
1807, died March 8, 1813; Mehitable, born in Peter- 
sham, March 31, 1810, married Seth Cole, died at 
Geneseo, Henry county, Illinois, April 20, 1864. 
Jazaniah Knapp (VI) died March 21, 1812; his wife 
died September 17, 1835. 

(VII) Levi Knapp, son of Jazaniah Knapp (6), 
was born in Petersham, Massachusetts, May 13, 
1804, and died there June 7, 1888. He married 
Fidelia Ballou, and they settled in Petersham. Their 
children were : George, never married ; John, en- 
listed in Company H. Fourth Regiment, Heavy .Ar- 
tillery, August 10, 1864, and was discharged June 
17, 1865, at Fort Richardson, Virginia, at the close 
of the war: he married Mrs. Morgan, widow, re- 
sides in Petersham ; Caroline Elizabeth, married 
Jerome Lord, of Athol, and has a son. Palmer J. 
Lord ; Mary Jane, born in Petersham, October 19, 
1844 ; Charles Henry, born in Petersham, August 
12. 1846; Harry Taft, born in Phillipston, married 
Mrs. Carrie Adele Jackson, widow, December 31, 
1884, and their children were : Grace Adele, born 
November 25, 1885; Florence Lillian, born Septem- 
ber 26, 1887; Edwin LeRoy, born July 14, 1889; 
Elsie Mildred, born December 28, 1893; Annie 
Laura, born September 2, 1897. 

(VIII) JNIary Jane Knapp, daughter of Levi 
Knapp (7), was born in Petersham, Massachusetts, 
October 19, 1844. She married, September 27. 1868, 
William Henry Damon, then of South Hampton, 
Massachusetts, born in Chesterfield, Massachusetts, 
February 10. 1842. When only a year old William 
H. Damon was taken by his parents to Worthing- 
ton, Massachusetts, where he lived until he was 
fourteen. He went to work in a Northampton store, 
and after remaining there four years went to Spring- 
field and worked as a clerk in a store until he en- 
listed in the civil war, remaining in the service for 
three years. He married (first) Sarah A. Elliott, 
of Southampton, Massachusetts, March 10, 1866; 
she died at Springfield, Massachusetts, I\Iarch 12, 
1867. Immediately after his marriage to Mary Jane 
Knapp, Mr. Damon settled in Easthampton, ^lassa- 
chusetts, on a farm, and the first four children were 
born there. .After living there for seven years they 
removed to Northampton and there resided for four 
years. They then moved to Old Hadley, Massachu- 
setts, thence to West Brookfield, then to Barre, 
where they remained three years, then to North 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



507 



Brookfield, where tliey remained one year, and for 
the past three years has resided at New Braintree, 
Massachusetts. 

The children of William Henry and iSIary Jane 
(.Knapp) Damon were: Lillian Augusta, born De- 
cember 21, 1869, in East Hampton, JNIassachusetts, 
died there August 31, 1870; Minnie Jane, born 
March 6, 1871, married Albert L. Woodis, February 
II, 1892, in North Brooktield, Massachusetts, where 
he was born, and they have one child ; Annie 
Augusta, born in Easthampton, July 19, 1873 ; 
Charles Henry, born in Easthampton, December 
3, 1875 ; Bcnnie W., born in Northampton, JNIarch 
8, 1879; Lizzie Carrie, born in Old Hadley, March 
26, 1883. 

tVHI) Charles Henry Knapp, son of Levi 
Knapp (7), was born in Petersham, Massachusetts, 
August 12, 1846. He was educated in the Petersham 
schools. After the age of twelve he worked for 
wages on a farm, and during the school term in the 
winter he worked for his board. A sample of the 
work imposed upon young children by the hard 
conditions existing as lately as iifty years ago is 
shown by a story told by Mr. Knapp. The town 
shoemaker offered him a pair of cowhide boots, 
when he was only thirteen years old, in payment 
for sawing four cords of wood for the church. He 
sawed the wood and secured the boots. It must be 
said that the shoe business would be very dull, if 
each pair cost the sawing of a big woodpile like 
that. That incident showed the determination and 
grit of the boy. He left Petersham to stek a larger 
held in Worcester, being then twenty years old. His 
first employment was in the wood working depart- 
ment of the Ames Plow Company, and during his 
two years connection with this company had con- 
siderable experience in the machinist trade as well 
as in wood working. For a short time thereafter 
he worked at his trade in Worcester, and then en- 
gaged in business for himself as a contractor and 
builder. 

Mr. Knapp performed a large part of the build- 
ing for H. H. Bigelow at the time when Mr. Bige- 
low was very actively engaged in building, erecting 
a block containing seventy-two rooms for him, also 
the buildings for the dummy railroad which that 
gentleman constructed to make Lake Quinsigamond 
accessible to the people of Worcester. Mr. Knapp 
built the Lakeside Boat Club-house, the Dodge Pa- 
vilion, and tine residences for Edwin Ames, Louis 
Dean, Frank Gray, and E. D. Cheney. He also 
built about forty dwelling houses at Lake View. 
The larger part of his work has been the construc- 
tion of dwelling houses in Worcester, he having 
built ten or twelve yearly, and in all has been the 
contractor or builder for nearly two hundred houses 
in the city. He made a specialty, as many other 
Worcester builders have done, of building houses 
to sell when he had the opportunity. Mr. Knapp 
resides at No. 17 Baker street, Worcester, and at- 
tends to business at his home. He is an attendant 
of the First Universalist Church. He belongs to 
the Worcester County Mechanics' Association and 
to the Worcester Agricultural Society. 

Mr. Knapp married (first). April 23, 1874, Eliza- 
beth S., daughter of Levi Miles, of Hubbardston, 
Massachusetts. She died in Worcester, November 
3, 1895. He married (second), February 3, 1897, 
Annie Elizabeth, daughter of Captain Merrick 
Houghton. 

John Houghton (i), the emigant ancestor of 
Mrs. Charles Henry (Houghton) Knapp, was born 
in England in 1631. He came to New England in 
the ship "Abigail" in June, 1635, when he was only 
four years old. He came from Eaton Bray, Bed- 



ford county, England, and may have been born 
there. He resided in Dedham until after his mar- 
riage to Beatrix , about 1658-59, ;'nl then 

settled in Lancaster, Massachusetts. His will was 
proved in 1684. His cousin, Ralph Houghton, was 
one of the early settlers in Lancaster, Massachu- 
setts. It is believed that he was in Lancaster as 
early as 1652. 

(H) Jonas Houghton, son of John Houghton 
(l), was born in Lancaster (probably) in 1660. He 
married, February 16, 1681, Mary Berbeamc (or 
Berban), of Wohurn, while the family was staying 
there on account of the Indian troubles. Woburn 
records say that she was born there and married in 
Lancaster. After his father's death he settled in 
Bolton on his father's land on Vaughn's Hill. Jonas 
Houghton served in Queen Anne's war. 

(III) James Houghton, son of Jonas Houghton 
(2), was born in Woburn or Lancaster, 1700, bap- 
tized August 3, 171S. He served in the Indian war 
under Captain John Lovewell and Captain John 
White in 1724-35. He also had power of attorney 
to represent Jonathan Parlin, of Concord, who for 
the same service was to draw land. He sold Jon- 
athan Parlin's right to Josiah Richardson, October 
Si i733> and his own to William Richardson, of 
Lancaster, October 30, 1733. His wife Mary is 
mentioned in the deed. He married, October 8, 
1725, Mary Jones, of Concord. He died in Lancas- 
ter, August 9, 1770. 

(IV) Nathaniel Houghton, son of James Hough- 
ton (3), was born in Lancaster, September 5. 1729. 

He married Mary , and they settled in that 

part of Lancaster, now Sterling, or Bolton, Massa- 
chusetts. The children of Nathaniel and Mary 
Houghton were : Nathaniel, born in Lancaster, 
July 16, 1759; Ephraim, March 28, 1761 ; Stephen, 
JNIa'y 8, 1765; Josiah, November 20, 1768; Manasseh, 
April 18, 1771 ; Mary, November 30, 1773 ; Tilly, 
March 20, 1776; Jonas, July 25, 1778. 

(V) Manasseh Houghton, son of Nathaniel 
Houghton (4). was born in Lancaster. April 18, 
1771. He settled in Sterling, Massachusetts. The 
children of Manasseh Houghton were : Nancy, born 
December 20, 1798; Heman, October 31, 1800; 
Eunice, December 17, 1802; Manasseh, October 6, 
1804; Eli, January 21, 1807; Merrick, December 24, 
1809; Susan, April 15, 1811 ; Torry, July 3, 1813; 
James, February 18, 1816. 

(VI) Merrick Houghton, son of Manasseh 
Floughton (5), was born in Sterling, December 24, 
1809. came to Worcester in 1865 and spent the 
remainder of his life there. The children of Cap- 
tain Merrick Houghton were : Mary Caroline, boni 
February 25, 1838; George Merrick, January 20, 
1840; Hattie Kendall, April i, 1842; Annie Eliza- 
beth, February 19, 1845, aforementioned as the wife 
of Charles Henry Knapp ; Sarah Ensebin. ]\Iarch 
21, 1847; and John Lynds, August 23, 1849. 

THOMAS ASA SHAW. Abraham Shaw (i), 
the immigrant ancestor of Thomas Asa Shaw, of 
Worcester, came from Halifax. York county, Eng- 
land and settled in Dedham, INIassachusetts, before 
1636. In that year he signed the famous Dedham 
Covenant. In the old country he was a clothier and 
a man of some property. He was a planter at 
Dedham. When he first came to America he went 
to Watertown, JNIassachusetts, where he was a pro- 
prietor in 1636 ; his house was burned in October 
of that year, whereupon he seems to have removed 
to Dedham, where he was a constable in 1636-37-38. 
and was admitted a freeman March 9, 1637. He 
removed to Cambridge and was a town officer there 
in 1640. He was owner of coal mines in Halifax 



5o8 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



and November 2, 1637, shortly before his death, he 
received a grant of half the coal and iron he might 
iind in the common lands. He was given a permit 
to erect a corn mill Fcbrnary 12, 1637. Mary, snp- 
posed to be his wife, was admitted to the church 
at Charlestown, July i, 1646. He died in 1638, and 
his will, made November of that year, was proved 
before the end of the year. He mentions Joseph, 
John, Mary and Martha, his children, and Nicholas 
Byram, son-in-law. Of the children Joseph removed 
to Weymouth; John is mtntioned below; ilary was 

born about 1638; Martha born about ; 

Susanna married Nicholas Byram before 1638. 

(H) John Shaw, son of Abraham Shaw (i), 
was born about 1625-30. He married Alice Phillips, 
of Weymouth, where they settled and where their 
eleven children were born, viz. : John, about 1655 ; 
Elizabeth, February 26, 1656; Abraham, October 10, 
1657; Mary, May 24, 1660; Nicholas, March 23, 
1662; Joseph, April 15, 1664; Alice, July 6, 1666; 
Hannah, April 7, 1668; Benjamin, June 16, 1670; 
Abigail, July 15, 1672; Ebenezer, April 24, 1674. 

(,IIi) John Shaw, eldest son of John Shaw (2), 
was born about 1655, in Weymouth, Massachusetts. 

He married Hannah , and their children, 

born in Weymouth, were : Hannah, born December 
16, 1679, probably died young ; Abraham, born Feb- 
ruary 14, 1685 ; Hannah, born April 26, 1687 ; John, 
born January 20, 1690; Mary, born May 5, 1691 ; 
Benjamin, born July 25, 1693, mentioned below. 

(IV) Benjamin Shaw, youngest son of John 
Shaw (3), was born July 25, 1693. The records of 
him are meagre. He married Hannah Rogers, of 
Abington. His children: Benjamin, born 1728; 
William, mentioned below. 

(V) William Shaw, son of Benjamin and Han- 
nah Shaw (4), was born in Abington, February 22, 
1730. He was a tanner and shoemaker by trade. 
He removed to the North Parish in 1754 and settled 
there. He was "an excellent moral and religious 
character and of very industrious habits." He mar- 
ried, 1754, Hannah West, who died November 9, 
1772. He married (second) Dorcas Smith, June 
24, 1/73', she died July 23, 1797, aged sixty-four 
years. He died January 17, 1809, aged seventy-nine 
years. The children of William and Hannah Shaw 
were: Hannah, born March 26, 1755; William, born 
January 14, 1757 ; Dan, mentioned below ; Isaiah, 
born October !'9, 1760, died November 19, 1760; 
iRhoda, born August i, 1762; Napthali, born June 
20, 1764; was a revolutionary soldier; graduated at 
Dartmouth in 1790; taught school in Boston; studied 
theology and settled at Kensington, New Hamp- 
shire, and remained twenty-one years; bought a 
farm in Bradford, Vermont, near his brother Dan ; 
had four children by wife, Mary Crafts ; Betsey, 
born June 12, 1766 ; Michael, born September 25, 
1768; Patience, born August 28, 1770; Molly, born 
November 4, 1772. The only child of William and 
Dorcas was: Abigail, born January 29, 1775. 

(VI) Colonel Dan Shaw, third child of Will- 
iam Shaw (5), was born in Bridgewater, Massa- 
chusetts, November 15, 1758. He was a tanner and 
currier by trade. He married in March, 1780, Joanna 
Perkins, daughter of Deacon Isaac Perkins, of Mid- 
dleboro, Massachusetts. She was born January 5, 
1761. They came immediately to Lyme, New Hamp- 
shire, to make their home. He established a tannery 
there, the first in that section, and a bark mill, be- 
came a leading citizen, was selectman, and held other 
positions of trust and honor. He had much to do 
with maintaining the efficiency of the state militia, 
rose from the ranks to the command of his regi- 
ment, and was for many years prominent in military 
circles. To his energy and enterprise is due the 



building of the county road from where he lived to 
Lyme Plain. He joined the orthodox church when 
sixteen years old and later was deacon. He became 
liberal in his views later in life, and even pubii^hed 
a pamplilet dissenting from doctrine preached by 
Rev. W'llliam Conant, and advocating more liberal 
views. About 1805 he left Lyme and bought a farm 
in Bradford, Vermont, his place being on the west 
side of the River road, where later Amos Clement 
lived. He preached often in his later years along 
the lines of universal salvation, and became mor- 
bidly interested in religion, so much so that it un- 
dermined his health, mentally and physically. His 
wife Joanna died at Lyme, November 22, 1803, and 
he married (second) Mary Bliss. He died at Brad- 
ford, November 14, 1814, and she married (second) 
Colonel Freeman, of Hanover, New Hampshire. 

The children of Colonel Dan and Joanna Shaw 
were: Nancy P., born December 16, 1780, married 
Joshua Balch, of Lyme, June 15, 1800, and died 
there January 24, 1850; Dan, Jr., born October 13, 
1782, died May 4, 1805; Samuel, born November 12, 
17S4, died March 31, 1803; Joanna, born April 3, 
1787, married Abel Kent, Jr., of Lyme, January i, 
1806; died November 4, 1856; Asa, mentioned be- 
low; Abraham Perkins, born June 20, 1813, married 
Mary Jenkins, daughter of Joseph Jenkins, of Brad- 
ford, June 20, 1813 ; they resided at Bradford; he 
was a cabinet maker; Naphthali, born jNIay 20, 1793, 
married, January 21, 1817, Hannah Worthern, of 
Bradford; she died August 16, 1844; he died Sep- 
tember 3, 1861 ; Pollycarpus, born February 25, 
I797> went to Indiana; died February I, 1849; Man- 
dana, born April 9, 1799, died June 6, 1801, at 
Lyme. 

(VII) Asa Shaw, son of Colonel Dan Shaw ^6), 
was born February 20, 1789. He married Eliza T. 
Slade, of Hanover, born November 14, 1801, daugh- 
ter of Thomas and Elizabeth (Thurston) Slade. 
Her father was born September 29, 1776, and her 
mother July 22, 1780, and they were married Feb- 
ruary 22, 1801. Her mother died November 25, 
1801, and her father married (second) Polly Thurs- 
ton, her mother's sister, February 12, 1807. They 
had a daughter, Polly Thurston Slade, December 3, 
1807, and the mother died September 27, 1808, aged 
twenty-two years. The grandfather, Samuel Slade, 
was born September 15, 1747, married, November 
28, 1773, Sarah Durkee, born November 18, 1755, 
and they had thirteen children : Isaac Davis, born 
November 30, 1774; Thomas, mentioned above; 
Esther, born June 13, 1778; Samuel, born October 
12, 1780; Sally (twin) born September 16, 1782; 
Polly, (twin) born September 16, 1782, died Octo- 
ber 4, 1784; Polly, born November 27. 1784; Harry, 
born May 19, 1787; Becca, born May 19, 1789; 
Susa, born JNIay 2, 1791 ; Elizabeth, born August 
3i> 1793; Eunice, born September 15, 1795; Lavinia, 
born August 29, 1797, died August 3, 1800. 

Asa Shaw was a merchant, senior partner of the 
firm of Shaw, Hewes & Perkins, of Lyme Plain. 
Later the firm was Shaw & Churchill. He was the 
leading citizen of the town for many years ; post- 
master, town clerk for thirty-seven years, a member 
of the legislature in 1832 and 1833. For more than 
forty years he was a member of the Congregational 
church at Lyme, and his life was that of an ex- 
emplary Christian. He was a Free Mason. He 
died July 4, 1861, and his widow removed to Wor- 
cester, where she died at the home of her son. Their 
children were: Thomas Asa, mentioned below. 
Eliza, born 1824, died unmarried, 1884, at Lyme. 

(VIII) Thomas Asa Shaw, only son of Asa 
Shaw (7), was born in Lyme, New Hampshire, 
April 27, 1S27. He attended the district schools 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



509 



of his native town, and Thetford and Hebron Acad- 
emies, Vermont. He served in his father's store, and 
was clerk in a general store in Buffalo, New York, 
and Newark, Ohio, for several years. In 1864 he 
came to Hartford, Connecticut, and estal)lished a 
flour and grain store, which he conducted with 
marked success for thirty-three year.~. He had 
several partners in his early days in business, one 
after another, but only for a short time, preferring 
to do business alone. He built up one of the larg- 
est stores of its kind in that section, and was pru- 
dent and successful in business. All the years of 
his business in Hartford he was at 542 Main street, 
and at a store nearly opposite, near the corner of 
Trumbull street. He was a Democrat in politics, 
but never cared for public office. He was devoted 
to business exclusively, and belonged to no clubs 
or social orders. He attended the Congregational 
church, but was not a member. In 1884 he made 
arrangements to remove his store to Worcester, 
and he bought his present residence at that time, 
24 King street, but decided to remain in Hart- 
ford, and although he lived in Worcester and had 
his family here, he continued in business in Hart- 
ford until December I, 1897, when he retired and 
has since lived quietly at his home on King street. 
He married, October ri, 1865, JMarie Persis Bond, 
daughter of Thomas Bond. (.For her ancestry see 
the Bond Family, sketch of Oran A. Kelly in this 
work). Their only child was Dr. Thomas Bond 
Shaw. 

(IX) Dr. Thomas Bond Shaw, only son of 
Thomas Asa Shaw (8), was born at Worcester, 
Massachusetts, December 3, 1866. He attended pub- 
lic and high schools of Hartford, Connecticut, but 
took his last year and was graduated from the Wor- 
cester Classical high school in 1886, and was grad- 
uated at Yale University in 1890. He attended the 
New Y'ork College of Physicians and Surgeons in 
1891 and 1892, then entered Dartmouth Medical 
College, where he was graduated in 1893. He re- 
ceived hospital training in the Roosevelt and other 
New York city hospitals. In 1894 he was surgeon 
on a Ward line mail steamer to Cuba and Mexico. 
For two years (1895-96) he took instruction in the 
Allgemeine Krankenhaus, Vienna, and the Hotel 
Dieu, Paris. He located in Worcester, in 1897, open- 
ing an ofiice at 47 Pleasant street, and has built up 
an extensive practice, and made for himself an ex- 
cellent reputation as a physician and surgeon. He 
is a member of leading professional bodies — the 
Massachusetts Aledical Society, Worcester District 
Society and American Academy of Medicine, and 
of the Life Insurance Examiners. He is staff sur- 
geon of the Second Regiment Infantry, !Massachu- 
setts Volunteer Militia. He is a member of the 
Union Congregational Church and of its parish. He 
is a member of the following societies and clubs : 
Secretary and treasurer of the Yale Alumni Asso- 
ciation of Central and Western Massachusetts, Dart- 
mouth Colkge Alumni Association, Alumni Asso- 
ciation of Kings County Hospital, Brooklyn, Han- 
cock Club, Automobile Club, Tatassit Canoe Club, 
Commonwealth Club, Uptown Club, Lakeside Boat 
Clul). and Worcester Continentals. Dr. Shaw resides 
with his parents at 24 King street, Worcester. 

WALTER H. RICHARDSON, D. D. S. Ed- 
ward Eugene Richardson, father of Walter H. 
Richardson, and son of Heman Richardson, was 
born at Holden, Massachusetts, October 23, 1845. 
He received his education in the common schools of 
Holden. working on the farm when not in school. 
He became an attendant in the State Lunatic Asylum, 
Worcester, where he worked two or three years. 



Then he served an apprenticeship in the machinist's 
trade in the shop of R. Ball & Co., Worcester. He 
was employed by this hrni for about ten years, until 
it went out of business, when he took a position 
with the N. A. Lombard concern, corner of Union 
and School streets, and worked there more than 
hftcen years. He worked for Davis & Nelson for 
two years and for the North Emery Wheel Com- 
pany about the same length of time. About 1901 
he entered the employ of Wehingcr & Co.. where 
he remained a year and a half. He then took up 
farming at the old place in the west part of Hol- 
den, on Muschopauge street. His father left the 
farm to him and his brother Isaac, whom he bought 
out about 1886, and has since carried on the farm 
there. He attends the Holden Congregational 
church. In politics he is a Republican. He is a 
life member of the Worcester County Mechanics' 
Association of Worcester. 

He married, October i, 1868, Victoria .Augusta 
Bolton, born April 18, 1840, daughter of Ransom 
and Fidelia (Traverse) Bolton, of Gardner. Massa- 
chusetts. Her father was a farmer. Their children: 
Edith August, born April 29, 1869, married, Octo- 
ber 17, 1888, Joseph Hildreth Hadley, of Princeton, 
Massachusetts, and they have — Helen Augusta Had- 
ley, born February 3, 1889; Ruth Hildreth Hadley, 
born iMarch 15, 1891 ; Maud Esther Hadley, born 
November 22, 1895; Edith Richardson Hadley, born 
January 4, 1897; Alice, born October 5, 1900, died 
June 24, 1901; Joseph Hildreth, born July 9, 1903. 
Elmer Eugene, born June 29, 1872, married, June 
15, 1889, Sarah ^lay Keyes and thty have— May 
Eugenie, born December 14, 1900; Arthur Edwin, 
born May 11, 1903; Edward Eugene, born June 18, 

1904. Walter Herbert, see forward. 

Walter Herbert Richardson, son of Edward 
Eugene Richardson, was born in Holden, Massa- 
chusetts, November 22, 1874. His parents moved to 
Worcester when he was two years old, and he re- 
ceived his early education there in the public schools. 
The family returned to Holden to live when he 
■was eleven years old, and he was graduated from 
the Holden high school. He then took the full 
course at Hinman's Business College, graduating in 
1890. He entered the employ of the Worcester Cor- 
set Company as bookkeeper and remained two years. 
He was bookkeeper for the Singer Sewing Ma- 
chine Company two years. He decided to study 
dentistry for a profession and entered the University 
of Pennsylvania, where he was graduated in 1897 
with the degree of D. D. S. In the fall he opened 
an office at 520 State Mutual building, Worcester, 
where he practiced for three years. He left to asso- 
ciate himself with Dr. John F. Adams, at 4 Elm 
street, where he was located six years. In June, 
1906, Dr. Adams retired and Dr. Richardson re- 
moved from the old' office, which was one of the 
buildings torn down to make way for the new Slater 
building, to his present quarters at 11 Elm street. 
Dr. Richardson enjoys a large and select practice, 
many of his patients coming from a distance. He 
resides at 303 Lincoln street. Worcester. In politics 
he is a Republican. He belongs to Quinsigajnond 
Lodge of Free Masons, Worcester, since January 
IS, 1904; to Eureka Chapter of Royal Arch Masons 
since May 24, 1904, and to Worcester County Com- 
mandery. No. 5, Knights Templar, since September 
27, 1906 ; belongs also to Worcester Lodge of Per- 
fection, fourteenth degree ; Goddard Council, Princes 
of Jerusalem, sixteenth degree ; Lawrence Chapter, 
Rose Croix, eighteenth degree, since Februarv 23. 

1905, all Scottish Rite Masonry. He is a member of 
Tatassit Canoe Club, the Uptown Club, and Leices- 
ter Country Club. He was a charter member of 



5IO 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



the Worcester Golf Clul). He is a meiiibL-r of the 
National Dental Association, Massachusetts Den- 
tal Society, the Central District Dental Association, 
the Northeastern Dental Association, the National 
Federation of Dentists. While at University of 
Pennsylvania was a member of the college society. 
He rowed with the University of Pennsylvania 
(Freshman Varsity) crew in 1894. Was also a mem- 
ber of the Huston Club of • Philadelphia, Pennsyl- 
vania ; of Delta Sigma Delta fraternity, and of the 
Sophomore Society Theta Nu Epsilon. He was 
manager in 1895 of the Dental Football Team. He 
served three years in the Worcester Light Infantry 
in Company C, Second Regiment, Massachusetts 
Volunteer Militia. 

He married, October 12, 1897, Mary Silence War- 
ren, born January 24, 1875, daughter of Berthicr 
Warren and Eunice Chace (Boyden) Warren. (See 
sketch of the Warren family of Holden.) Their 
only child is Berthier Warren Richardson, born 
August 20, 1900. 

HERMAN S. HASTINGS was born February 
2, 1873, at Berlin, Massachusetts. He is the son of 
Samuel H. and Harriet (Barnes) Hastings. His 
paternal grandfather was Henry Hastings, born and 
reared at Roxbury, Massachusetts. He was a farmer. 
His great-grandfather was Captain Henry Hastings, 
a soldier in the revolutionary war ; also an officer 
in the militia. He was a man of much means and 
a prosperous farmer. The maternal grandfather 
of Herman S. Hastings was Daniel Barnes, an in- 
fluential farmer in Berlin, Massachusetts, where he 
spent the better part of his life. The father of Her- 
man S. was a contractor and builder of much 
eminence. He had four children: Matilda, mar- 
ried George H. Hastings ; Nettie L., who married 
R. W. McOrmand: Leo L., Herman S. 

Herman S. Hastings was educated at the public 
graded schools of Worcester, and later attended 
the Boston University Law School. At eighteen 
he graduated from the Foster Business College of 
Worcester. For a time he followed bookkeeping, 
but later became secretary of the Worcester Repub- 
lican committee, during which period he was assoc- 
iated as a lawyer with Frank L. Dean, of Wor- 
cester, and devoted much of his tirrie to the adjust- 
ment of estates. In 1901 he was elected secretary 
of the Worcester Agricultural Society, the oldest and 
wealthiest organization of its kind in the United 
States. Two years later he was appointed secre- 
tary of the Worcester Metal Trades Aassociation. 
a manufacturers' association, which place he still 
fills with much credit to all concerned. Politically he 
is an active worker in the Republican party. He 
has held all the offices of the Worcester Republican 
Club, which has a membership of five hundred. As 
an accountant and bookkeeper he stands at the 
head among his profession in Worcester. 

ROGER FREEMAN UPHAM. John Upham 
(l), probably of Somersetshire in England, came 
to America in the company with Rev. Joseph Hull 
known as the Hull colony in 1635. With him were 
his wife Elizabeth, aged thirty-two, Sarah Upham, 
probably his sister, aged twenty-six, and his children, 
John, Jr.. aged seven. Nathaniel aged five, Eliza- 
beth aged three. His wife was probably Elizabeth 
Webl). These emigrants made their home at Wey- 
mouth. W'here John LTpham was made a freeman 
September 2, 1635. at the same time that Rev. Mr. 
Hull acquired his citizenship in the colonies in the 
same way. In 1636 Mr. Upham drew land at Wey- 
mouth and from time to time afterward added by 
purchase and drawing. He was a prominent figure 



in the colony from the outset. He was one of the 
six who treated with the Indians for lands at Wey- 
mouth. He was appointed a commissioner to try 
small cases. He was selectman in 1645-46-47, and 
was a deputy to the general court. He removed to 
Maiden, about 1648, and was elected selectman there 
in 1651-52-53. He was commissioner also for Mai- 
den. In August, 1671, he married Hollie, 

probably Katheryn, widow of Angell Holland. He 
was moderator of the town meetings in Maiden in 
1678-79-80. He was a deacon of the church for 
twenty-four years. He and his son were interested 
in the^ settlement of Worcester at the time of King 
Philip's war. He died February 25, i68i, aged 
eighty-four years. 

His children were: i. Nathaniel, born May 23, 
1629-30, in England, married Elizabeth Steadman, 
March 5. 1661-2, died March 20, 1661-2, leaving no 
children ; widow married Henry Thompson, i66g. 
2. Elizabeth, born 1632, married Thomas Welch, 
had thirteen children, died January 12, 1705-6. 3. 
Phineas. born probably 1635. 4. Mary, married 
John VVhittemore, died June 27, 1677. 5- Priscilla, 
born 1672. married Thomas Crosswell, died 1717; 
she had twelve children: she died December 8, 1717. 

(Ill Lieutenant Phineas Upham, son of John 
(i) Upham, of Maiden, w-as born in 1635 at Wey- 
mouth or during the voyage from England. He mar- 
ried Ruth Wood. April 14, 1658. He bought land 
in Maiden in 1663 and resided there. In 1673 he 
surveyed a road from Maiden to Cambridge. In 
the year 1672 he first became interested in the set- 
tlement of Worcester together with other Maiden 
men. He drew a lot of fifty acres July 8. 1673, in 
consideration of his services in promoting the col- 
ony. The grant was confirmed in April, 1675. The 
breaking out of Philip's war at this junction turned 
the attention of the lieutenant from real estate to 
the battlefield. He was commissioned as lieutenant 
in the little army of the colonies as early as Sep- 
tember of the year 1675. The forces under General 
Winslow met the Indians in battle December 19, 
1675. In this fight, which is known as the storming 
of Ft. Canonicus or the battle at the Great Swamp 
Fort, he was mortally wounded. With other 
wounded he was carried to Wickford from the field 
of battle. H was sent to Rhode Island, January 6, 
1675-6, and later was borne to his home at Maiden. 
The march from Rhode Island is called the Hungry 
March. There was much sufTering from lack of 
food and the horses were killed and eaten on the 
way. In October, 1676, he died. The general court 
made a special appropriation to pay the cost of his 
long illness and gave the widow ten pounds, as she 
was left with seven small children to support. The 
wife was Ruth, widow of Edward Wood, who died 
in Charlestown, August 20. 1642. She died Janu- 
ary 18, 1696-7, at the age of sixty years. The Up- 
ham Genealogy says of him : "In battle Lieutenant 
LTpham exhibited the character of a brave man and 
patriot, purchasing with mortal wounds the palm 
of victory and the government was not unmindful 
of his great sacrifice but bore testimony upon the 
records to the long and good services he did to the 
country and the great loss sustained by his friends 
in his death." His children were : Phineas, born 
May 22, 1659; Nathaniel, born 1661 ; Ruth, born 
1664, died December 8. 1676: John, born December 
9. 1666. married Abigail Hayward (or Howard) ; 
Elizaljeth. married Samuel Green. October 28, 1691 ; 
Thom.Ts, born 1668: Richard, born 1675. 

(Ill) Nathaniel Upham. son of Lieutenant 
Phineas LTpham (2). of Maiden, was born at Mai- 
den, 1661. He married Sarah Floyd, who died aged 
fifty-three, October 14. 1715. He died November 






'0'g.t/(y'ij"S uyhJicc^y?-iy, 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



511 



II. 1717. and left by will his property to liis chil- 
dren. His gravestone is to be seen at the old bury- 
ing ground at Maiden. He had the rank of ser- 
geant in the militia. His children were: Natlianiel, 
born 1685-6; Sarah, born i688-g, married Samuel 
Samuel Grover, 1713; Ruth, born 1691, married 
Nathaniel Nichols, 1716-7; Dorothy, married John 
Coleman, 1723, died 1734-5, at the age of forty-two; 
Noah, born 1696; Joanna, born 1699, married Sam- 
uel Wesson, 1717; Lois, born 1701, married James 
Hill, 1727; Eunice, born 1707, married Benjamin 
Wesson, April 18, 1726. 

(IV ) Noah U'pliam, son of Nathaniel Upham 
(3), of Maiden, Massachusetts, was born at Maiden, 
1694. married Lydia Jenkins, daughter of Obadiah 
and Mary Jenkins and widow of Joseph Lewis, of 
Swanzey. She died October 14, 1762. He lived at 
MaUlen until he was thirty-three years old, when 
he removed to Poinfret, Connecticut, and bought a 
farm of one hundred and three acres with buildings, 
fences, etc., built, for Joseph and Elizabeth Ses- 
sions for five hundred pounds. The date of the 
deed 1727 is probably the date of their removal 
from the old home in Maiden. In 1748 he was living 
in Poinfret, Connecticut. He died February 8, 1766. 
His children were: Noah, born at Maiden. 1720, 

married Hannah ; Benjamin, born April 10, 

1723, married Ann Wood ; Lydia. born January 3, 
1725. at Maiden ; Mary, born October 22, 1730, at 
Pomfret, died at Mansfield, October 31, 1745. 

(V) Noah Upham, son of Noah Upham (4). 
■of Maiden and Promfret, Connecticut, was born at 
Maiden, Massachusetts, 1720. He married Hannah 

, who was the administratrix of his estate 

October 2, 1750. He died September 16, 1750. only 
thirty years old. His father was appointed guardian 
•of his minor children. Their cliildren were: Joseph, 
hor:i March 30, 1748, married Mary Fletcher, re- 
sided at Mansfield, Connecticut; Noah, born De- 
cember 18. 1740, married Rebecca Freeman and set- 
tled in Marathon, New York ; Mary, married Aaron 
Blackman. of Windham, Connecticut. 

(VI) Roger L'pham. son of Noah L'phani C5), 
was born at Mansfield or Pomfret. Connecticut, De- 
cember 18, 1749. He married Rebecca Freeman, 
March 26, 1771. She was a daughter of Prince 
Freeman and born June 14. 1749. She was a sister 
of E.xpericnce Freeman, who married Jane Uphain, 
January 17. 1781. He married (second) after the 
death of Rebecca, Widow (Newell) Solace. He 
moved from Mansfield, Connecticut, to Hanover, 
New Hampshire, and thence to Monson, Massachu- 
setts. In 1808 he went to Marathon. New- York. He 
died in Cincinnatus, New York, February 17, 1817. 
Their children were: John, born November - 22, 
1772, lived and died in Woodstock, Connecticut, 
had a son Freeman ; Roger Freeman, born January 
3- '777- married Anna Howard; Clarissa, born March 
18, 1785. in Hanover. New Hampshire, married. 
May 14, 1807. Spencer Keep, of Monson. New York, 
and died there May 6, 1829 ; Newell Noah, born 
August 5, 1793, married Isabella Green, died Sep- 
tember 10, T878. 

(VII) Roger Freeman Upham. son of Roger 
Upham (6), was horn in Mansfield, Connecticut, 
Januarv 3, 1777. He married. November 2,^. 1802, 
.'\nna Howard, at Woodstock, Connecticut. She was 
born at .^shfield. Connecticut, December 27. 1779, 
died at Belchertown, Ostober 14. 1857. He removed 
from Connecticut to Belchertown, Massachusetts, in 
1812. He died in Belchertown, March 14, 1858. 
Their children were: Howard, born December 17, 
1803. married Cynthia Freeman Childs. resided at 
Belchertown ; Freeman, born April i, 1805. married 
Elizabeth Livermore ; Lucius, born July 7, 1S07, 



died December 12, 1855, married, no children; .-Vmos, 
born August 2, 1809, married Eloisa Leonard, re- 
sided at Castile, New York; Anna, born February 
25 i8il, died at Enfield, Massachusetts, unmar- 
ried: Newell, born September 6, 1812, married twice; 
Whitman, born December 6, 1814, died January 22, 
1825: Lathrop, born J.muary i, 1816, married Calista 
Livermore; Hrinnah, born December 17, 1817, mar- 
ried Abijah Child, September 24, 1840; Porter, born 
October I, 1820, died April 17, 1872, unmarried; 
Martha, born November 18, 1822. married George L. 
Washburn, of Castile, New York ; Emily, born" Au- 
gust 25, 1825, married, April 7, 1847, Gilbert Mc- 
Kenny, died January 8, 1883. 

(VIII) Freeman Upham, son of Roger Freeman 
Upham (7), was born at Mansfield, Connecticut, 
April I, 1805. He married Elizabeth Livermore, 
daughter of David Livermore, of Spencer, Massa- 
chusetts, who was born June 18, 1809. They set- 
tled in Worcester, Massachusetts. He was a prom- 
inent contractor and builder. He died February i, 
1876. ■ They had one child, Roger Freeman, born 
at Worcester, September 13, 1848. 

(IX) Roger Freeman Upham. son of Freeman 
L'pham (8), was born at Worcester. September 13, 
1848. The other lines of Mr. Upham's ancestry 
are not less interesting. A prominent ancestor 
on his mother's side was Oliver Watson, of 
Leicester, a revolutionary soldier. His mother 
was » Livermore, a lineal descendant of John 
Livermore, who settled in Watertown in 1638, and 
of his son. John Livermore. who was a lieutenant 
in the King Philip war, fighting in the same troops 
with which Lieutenant Phineas L'pham served. The 
great-grandfather of Roger Upham, David Liver- 
more. was a soldier in the revolution. He was in 
Captain Ebenezer Mason's company from Spencer, 
which marched to Lexington at the Lexington alarm 
and joined the regiment commanded by Colonel 
Jonathan Warner. 

Roger Freeman LTpham was educated in the pub- 
lic schools of his native city. He was the salutatorian 
of the class of 1866 at the Worcester high school. 
Immediately after graduation he entered the office 
of the People's Fire Insurance Company of Wor- 
cester as entry clerk and was soon advanced to the 
position of bookkeeper. In a few years he had be- 
come assistant secretary, a position that he occupied 
when the great Boston fire of 1872 which ruined 
so many fire insurance companies caused the failure 
of the People's Company. Mr. Upham soon after- 
ward entered the office of the Worcester Mutual 
Fire Insurance Company, with which he has been 
associated ever since. 

The Worcester Mutual Fire Insurance, of which 
Mr. L'pham has been secretary for twenty-five years 
and of which he is also the treasurer, is the oldest 
mutual fire insurance conducting business in the 
state of Massachusetts. It w-as organized in 1823 
and its first president was Levi Lincoln, who re- 
signed within a year to become the governor of the 
Commonwealth. The presidents have been among 
the most prominent men of their day — Rejoice New- 
ton, Frederick William Paine, Anthony Chase, 
Ebenezer Torrey, John A. Fayerweather. Mr. Up- 
ham has been president of the Massachu.setts Mutual 
Fire Insurance L'nion. an organization composed 
of the managers of the various fire insurance com- 
panies of the state. Mr. LJpham is a vice-president 
of the Worcester Five Cents Savings Bank, trustee 
of the Rural Cemetery Corporation and secretary 
of the Home for Aged Men. He is interested in 
other social and charitable organizations in the city. 
He is a Republican in politics. 

He married. June 16. 1873, Clara C. Story, daugh- 



512 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



ter of Simeon N. Story. She was born April 2, 
1850. They have one child, Edith Story, born Sep- 
tember 21, 1882. 

WATSON FAMILY. The surname Watson is 
derived from "Wat," the familiar form for Walter, 
with the termination "son," signifying therefore, son 
of Walter. It is of English origin, though the fam- 
ily for some generations before coming to America 
lived near Londonderry in the northern part of 
Ireland and intermarried with the Scotch-Irish peo- 
ple there. The Watson family of England bore 
arms and members of the family were Barons of 
Rockingham. To this branch of the family it is 
believed that the American family's descent may be 
traced. 

Edward Watson, of Lydington. Rutland county, 
had fifteen children. His eldest son and heir 
died in 1530, leaving a son Edward, of 
Rockingham Castle, county Northampton. His son, 
the second Baron of Rockingham, married Lady 
Anne Wentworth. eldest daughter of the Earl of 
Stafford,, and bad two sons : Lewis, who became 
the Baron of Rockingham, and Thomas, who took 
his mother's name, Wentworth. The son of this 
Thomas (Watson) Wentworth became Earl of Mal- 
ton and later also the heir of the barony of Rochester. 
The arms of the family, brought to America by the 
first emigrant, are : Parted Pr. Pale first argent on 
Chevron Azure three crescents or between . three 
martletts sable. (See the Watson Family of Leicester, 
printed for the family). 

(I) Matthew Watson, the immigrant ancestor, 
was from Londonderry, coming to Boston in 1718 
with his wife, Mary O'rr. Her father was a victim 
of the Catholic soldiers at the time of the siege 
of Londonderry. He was not only killed but his 
head was severed from the body and borne on a 
pike. A branch of this Orr family settled in New 
Hampshire, where the largest number of the Scotch- 
Irish immigrants in 1718 settled. The Watsons spent 
the first season in Framingham, Massachusetts, and 
in 1720 settled in Leicester and built their home. 
In that year Mr. Watson introduced the potato in 
that section. Before the year closed he was killed 
by a falling tree, and his widow and children had 
to take up the task of carrying on the farm. In 
Ireland Mr. Watson had been a manufacturer and 
dealer in linens and cloth. He married there in 
1695 and eight of their nine children were born in 
Ireland, the youngest being born on shipboard on 
the way over. 

The children: Matthew, born March, 1696, died 
at Barrington, Rhode Island, January 17, 1803. aged 
one hundred and seven years ; married Bethia Reed ; 
had a remarkable career ; left an estate worth $80,000, 
a fortune in his day; Samuel, born 1698, died at 
Leicester. March iq, 1776; Patrick, born 1706; 
Robert; William; Elizabeth, born 1709, died Decem- 
ber I, 1815; Margaret, married a Mr. McNeal ; John, 
born November, 1716, died at Palmer. November 9, 
1795; Oliver, of whom later, 

(II) Oliver Watson, son of Matthew Watson 
(i), was born in 1718 on the voyage to America; 
spent his early life in Leicester. He bought 2,000 
acres of land there from Joel Whittemore : at the 
time of the incorporation of Spencer, May 14, 
175.'^. bis place was included in the new town ; it 
is the first farm over the line on the old post road 
from Leicester to Spencer. He became one of the 
leading citizens. In 1771 he was third in point of 
wealth; he was selectman in 1755, 1756, 1757, 1760 
to 1767 inclusive, 1771-1778; town treasurer 17,^7 
to 1768 inclusive; assessor 1755, 1756. 1757. 1760 
to 1767 inclusive, 1771, 1778; four years in the gen- 



eral court. He was a patriot before and during the 
revolution ; he was a delegate to the provincial con- 
gress in Watertown in 1775, and was also a member 
of the committee of safety and correspondence of 
that year. He was deacon of the Spencer church. 
Three of his sons served in the revolutionary army. 
He died December 20, 1804, aged eighty-six years. 
He married (first) Elizabeth Blair, of Worcester, 
December 4, 1742. She died December 4, 1779, 
aged fifty-five years. He married (second) Hannah 
Peters, of Brookfield, November, 1782. She died 
]\Iarch 6, 1808, aged eighty-four years. The chil- 
dren of Oliver and Elizabeth Watson, all born in 
Spencer, were: Oliver, born November 18, 1743; 
Robert, of whom later; Elizabeth, born January i, 
1748; Mary, born April 30. 1752; James, born July 
20, 1754; Abigail, born November 27, 1759, married 
Reuben Whittemore ; Martha, born June 18, 1763, 
married Benjamin Green ; David, born March 17, 
1766. 

(III) Robert Watson, second child of Oliver 
Watson (2), was born in Spencer, May 28, 1746; 
married, 1777, Tamer Whittemore, who was born 
June 12, 1757, and died October g, 1S.36. He died 
January 20, 1806. He was a Minute Man in Cap- 
tain Eben. Mason's company from Spencer in 1775 
and marched to Lexington. He inherited the home- 
stead and alw-ays lived in Spencer. His children : 
Amos, born March 2, 1778. married Polly Wood; 
Betsey. October 28, 1779; An infant, born October 
i.^, 1781, died next day; Jeremiah, of whom later; 
Charles, October 15, 1784; Robert, October 16, 1787, 
married Lydia Watson, who died April 11, i88g, 
aged one hundred and two years; Sally, July 18, 
1788, married Simeon Sibley; Aaron, born 1800, 
died October 28, 1813; Tamer, married, September 
4, 1816, Josiah Green; she died October 13, 1820; 
Polly, married Jonathan Ryan, of Charlton; A child, 
born April 4, 1796, died young; A child, born Octo- 
ber 27, 1797, died young; Sibilla, born February 24, 
1799. married William Mouley, Ashtabula, Ohio. 

(IV) Jeremiah Watson, fourth child of Robert 
Watson (3). was born December 14, 1782, in Spen- 
cer ; married Chloe Sprague, daughter of James and 
Chloe (Baldwin) Sprague, Sr., July 6, 1809, She was 
born December 30. 1786, and died i860. He died 
January 2, 1856. Their children : Lodicea Amanda, 
born April 5. i8ro, married Horace Waite, of Leices- 
ter; Lory Sprague, of whom later; Emily, born 
July 14, 1817, married Thomas Hersey ; Roswell, born 
July 31. 1819, died November 6, 1820; Roswell S., 
born February 26. 1822, died December, 1876 ; George 
Henry, born .'Kpril 29. 1828, died October 30. 1828. 

(V) Lory Sprague Watson, second child of Jere- 
miah Watson (4), was born in Spencer, May 4, 
1814. He obtained his education in the common 
schools, and while living with his father helped on 
the farm and learned the carpenter's trade, at which 
he worked in Snencer for a short time. In i8j2 
he removed to Leicester and in company with his 
brother-in-law. Horace Waite, under the firm name 
of Waite & Watson, began the manufacture of hand 
cars and stripping cards. In 1845 Mr. Watson pur- 
chased his parner's interests and continued alone, ad- 
ding to the business the manufacture of wire hcddles. 
His business constantly grew and he had to increase 
his facilities from time to time. The business was 
incorporated in i8qo with Mr. Watson as president, 
a position he continued to fill imtil his death. His 
son, Edwin L. Watson, was associated with him 
in the business as secretary and treasurer of the 
companv. and after his death he became the oresi- 
dent. The name of the corporation is the L. S. 
Watson Manufacturing Co. 

Mr. Watson took a leading part in public affairs 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



513 



Aiuc^Lci. He was for scv 
tmaii and assessor; ir. 



KcpUJJ). 

National 

i church, 

, .fc .und am', t 

I. His inters- 

: of the town, 

vjrally respected a: 

as. 

rried, Februa- 
born April 2. 

daughter 01 ^. 
Luther, of Spencer. 
I §87, Mrs. Hannah ■ ' 
II S. Watson, h-,s 
.' 27, 1825, tb' '- 
Watson died > 
Sprague and 1 ' 
:s, of whom h'.i 

Kdwin Lucius ^ 
A'atson (5), w, 
January 22, t8 - 
'er. He was <■■'- 
cr and in Wil 
.e became ear! 
ihe manufacture 
: -ss was incorpcrat 
iry and treasure- t- 
■5 the burden of tl. 
iers. Since the r» 
11 the presideni 
Company. Ai 
■nproved tottou k. 
. ription. Hand s:' 
:^ths from eight < 
red steel wire 
i'.ave a high . , 
They are made on -i, 
I for the purpose. Th 
'luttles, pickers and 
i landless Steel Te 

Mr. Watson was a 
:al Bank, now in 
. but has declined 
mber of the Cong, 
as active in getti; 
'nnect Worcester, 1 
:ire.>ident of the ^^ 
reet Railway Com[ 
rried, June 10, )86'; 
>f John D. and 
of Leicester. Sh? 
ied March x 1893. 
12. 1896. Rhoda > 
Walter Cogswell. 1 
iienry Luther Wat.'i 
«ue Watson (^')- .■ 
-!45. He was 
town and Wi; 
moved to Mir' 
McMiring bus' 
.lid wa> 
mess. 1 
11 1 1 ten yeai 
'iHrary. 

He married. Nov... 
Hrown. daughter of Hu-,; 



rn March 30, 1848, 

married (second), 

y, daughter of 

ipleton. Massa- 

54. The chil- 

\ VVatson were : 

clia B., born 

\ ?. The chil- 

erc : Henry 

born May 

• child of 

Leicester, 

1 ill the 

r .\cad- 

■d with 

>IiMied 

time 

^ctor 

■ of 

e is 

md- 

tson 

tive 

of 

ster 

res- 

iche 
' S. 
•wis- 
are: 



iissioiicr, ) 
ti the p; 



the 
lill- 
boiit 
' and 
iries 
b>Im 
ipiot 

c'lUl- 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



513 



in Leicester. He was for several years in succession 
selectman and assessor ; in 1868 and 1870 he repre- 
sented the town in the general court, serving on 
important committees. The handsome public library 
building of Leicester was his gift to the town; it 
is a standing monument to his generosity and pub- 
lic spirit. In politics Mr. Watson was an active 
and loyal Republican. He was a director of the 
Leicester National Bank and president of the Leices- 
ter Savings Bank. He was an active member of the 
Congregational church, and a liberal contributor to 
the building fund and to the various departments of 
the church. His interests were thoroughly identified 
with those of the town, and no man in his day was 
more generally respected and esteemed by his fel- 
low-citizens. 

He married, February 23, 1&37, Mehitable Luther, 
who was born April 22, iSli, and died October 19, 
1885, the daughter of Sylvester and Catherine 
(Howe) Luther, of Spencer. He married (second), 
June 16, 18S7. Mrs. Hannah (Grout) Watson, widow 
of Roswell S. Watson, his brother. She was born 
November 27, 1825, the daughter of Joel Grout. 
Lory S. Watson died May 21, i8q8. The children 
of Lory Sprague and Mehitable Watson were : Ed- 
win Lucius, of whom later ; Henry Luther, of whom 
later. 

(VI) Edwin Lucius Watson, eldest child of Lory 
Sprague Watson (5), was born in Spencer, Massa- 
chusetts. January 22, 1841. He is at present living 
in Worcester. He was educated in the public schools 
of Leicester and in Wilbraham and Leicester Acad- 
emies. He became early in life associated with his 
father in the manufacture of hand cards, and when 
the business was incorporated in 1890 he became 
the secretary and treasurer of the corporation. For 
many years the burden of the business has been on 
his shoulders. Since the retirement of his father 
he has been the president of the L. S. Watson Manu- 
facturing Company. At present the company manu- 
factures improved cotton and wool hand cards of 
every description. Hand stripping cards are made 
of all lengths from eight to fifty inches of hardened 
and tempered steel wire. The patent heddles of the 
company have a high reputation among manufac- 
turers. They are made on machinery specially de- 
signed for the purpose. The company also manu- 
factures shuttles, pickers and lug straps, and is agent 
for the Endless Steel Tempered Tinned Wire 
Heddle. Mr. Watson was a director of the Leices- 
ter National Bank, now in liquidation. He is a 
Republican, but has declined to accept public office. 
He is a member of the Congregational church. Mr. 
Watson was active in getting the electric railway 
built to connect Worcester, Leicester and Spencer, 
and was president of the Worcester, Leicester & 
Spencer Street Railway Company. 

He married. June 10, i86g. Louesa M. Cogswell, 
daughter of John D. and Fanny H. (Leonard) 
Cogswell, of Leicester. She was born July 15, 
1846, and died March ,'^, 1893. He married (second), 
September 12, i8g6, Rhoda M. Lawson. His only 
child was Walter Cogswell, of whom later. 

(VI) Henry Luther Watson, youngest child of 
Lory Sprague Watson (5), was born in Leicester, 
July 12. 1845. He was educated in the schools of 
his native town and Wilbraham Academy. In 1867 
he removed to Minnesota and entered the woolen 
manufacturing business. In 187.^ he returned to 
Leicester and was interested in the card manufac- 
turing Iiufiness. He was a soldier in the civil 
war. For ten years he was trustee of the town 
library. 

He married. November 21, 7867. .\melia Maria 
Brown, daughter of Hugh C. and Sarah (Young) 
33 



Brown, of Leicester. She was born March 30, 1S48, 
and died December 27, 1873. He married (second), 
May 16, 1876, Gertrude Moore Ray, daughter of 
Trask and Mary (Davis) Ray, of Templeton, Massa- 
chusetts. She was born June 18, 1854. The chil- 
dren of Henry Luther and Amelia M. Watson were: 
Edwin R., born August 20, i868; Amelia B., born 
December 6, 1873. died August 27, 1882. The chil- 
dren of Henry Luther and Gertrude were: Henry 
Ray, born February 27, 1885; Gertrude, born May 
24, 1892. 

(VII) Walter Cogswell Watson, only child of 
Edwin Lucius Watson (6), was born in Leicester, 
May 21, 1870. His education was received in the 
public schools and at the famous old Leicester .Acad- 
emy of his native town. He became connected with 
the L. S. Watson Manufacturing Co., established 
in 1842 by his grandfather, and at the present time 
(1906) is the manager of the company and director 
of the corporation. He has served the town of 
Leicester for five years as town treasurer. He is 
a trustee of the public library, of which his grand- 
father was the founder, and in which the WatsoiJ 
family has always been interested. He is an active 
Republican, and takes an interest in the affairs of 
the town and state. He is a member of the Leicester 
Congregational Society, of which he is at the pres- 
ent time the treasurer. 

He married, December 6. 1893, Lelia Blanche 
Jordan, daughter of John Quincy and Mary S. 
(Lane) Jordan, of Leicester. She was born in Lewis- 
ton, Maine, February 25. 1872. Their children are: 
Wilbur Lory and Clifton Edwin. 

AMOS A. GOULD, who is now leading a re- 
tired life at his home in Leicester, surrounded with 
peace and plenty, and realizing to the full that there 
is no reward so satisfactory as the consciousness 
of a life well spent, was born in Douglas, Massa- 
chusetts, August 28, 1841, one of fourteen children 
born to Sylvester and Julia A. (Aldrich) Gould, 
the former named being for many years a prominent 
resident of Douglas, ^Massachusetts. 

At the early age of three years Amos A. C.ould 
was brought by his parents to the town of Sutton, 
where he resided six years, after which he located 
in Oxford, remaining there two years, from thence 
he removed to Charlton, and after a residence of 
ten years there came to Leicester, where he resides 
at the present time (1905). He devoted his time 
and attention to box making, which line of busi- 
ness he successfully conducted up to his retirement 
from active pursuits. The esteem in wdiich he is 
held by his fellow-citizens is evidenced by the fact 
that he was chosen to fill various offices of trust 
and responsibility, among them being tax collector, 
in which he served ten years; constable, in which 
he served fourteen years; assessor, in which he 
served two years, and water commissioner, in which 
he served six years. He adheres to the principles 
of the Republican party. I\Ir. Gould married (Thar- 
lotte E. Kent, a daughter of Emerson and So- 
phronia (.-Kyers) Kent, of Leicester, Massachusetts, 
and one child was the issue of this union: Sarah 
S., deceased. Mrs. Gould passed awav August 26, 
1900. 

HENRY CLAY HALL. John Hall (r). the 
etnigrant ancestor of Henry Clay Hall, late of Mill- 
bury, Massachusetts, was born in England about 
1605. The English ancestry has been traced, and 
the surname has been common for many centuries 
in England, originating, it is said, in Saxony. John 
Hall came to America in 1633. He was in the Pequot 
war in 1637, was made a freeman of the Massachu- 



514 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



setts colony as early as 1634, and probably lived in 
Boston until 1639, when be removed to New Haven, 
Connecticut. He married Jane Woolen, of Boston, 
who had lived in the family of William Wilkes, of 
Boston, and probably came with his family, for he 
paid her fare. After her marriage she had to 
bring suit against him for unpaid wages for serv- 
. ices in his household. John Hall became one of 
the early proprietors of Wallingford, Connecticut, 
and he and his descendants have been conspicuous 
in the history of that fine old town ever since its 
settlement. The first list of proprietors contains 
the names of John Hall, David Hall and Dr. Hall, 
the latter being Isaac Hall, son of Francis Hall, of 
Fairfield, Connecticut. In 1669 Samuel Hall and 
John Hall signed the first covenant of planters at 
Wallingford. Just before his death John Hall and 
his son, John, Jr., were on a committee together, 
in his sixtieth year he was freed from military 
service by order of the general court, dated 1665. 
He served the town of Wallingford as selectman 
in 1675, and in many other important commissions. 
He died March 3, 1676, making an oral will on his 
deathbed. Children of John and Jane (Woolen) 
Hall : 1-2. John and Sarah, twins, baptized August 
9, 1646. 3. Richard, baptized July 11, 164S, (his 
daughter married Governor Thomas Fitch). 4. Sam- 
uel, born May 21, 1646. 5. Daniel, about 1647-S. 6. 
Thomas, March 25, 1649. 7. Jonathan, April 5. 
1651. 8. David, March 17, 1652. 

(H) John Hall, son of John Hall (i), born 
probably in Wallingford, 1641, baptized August 9, 
1646, died at the age of seventy-six, September 2, 
1721. He married, December 6, 1666, Mary, daugh- 
ter of Edward Parker, of New Haven. She died 
September 22, 1725. John Hall became the first 
deacon of the church at Wallingford, was selectman 
and deputy to general court 1687, and held other 
positions of trust. Rev. Aaron Hall, formerly min- 
ister at Keene, New Hampshire, had one of the sil- 
ver spoons of John Hall, marked "John and Mary 
Hall." He and his son John and brother Samuel 
Hall were on a conunittee to treat with Rev. Mr. 
Whittelsy and offer to buy him a home lot on Dea- 
con John Hall's land if he would come to Walling- 
ford. John, Samuel, Thomas and David Hall had 
land in Meriden in 1689. John Hall had numerous 
other land grants. Children of Deacon John and 
Mary (Parker) Hall: l. Elizabeth, born August 
II, 1670, New Haven. 2. Daniel, born July 26, 1672. 
3. :Mary, June 23, 1675. 4. Nathaniel, February 8, 
1677. 5. John, March 14, 1681. 6. Lydia, January 
22, 1683. 7. Samuel, December 24, 1686, died young. 
&. Esther, born August 30, 1692. 9. Caleb, Septem- 
ber 14, 1697. 

(HI) John Hall, son of Deacon John Flail (2), 
born in Wallingford, March 14, 1681, married, June 
28, 1707, Elizabeth Royce, who died September 2, 
1755, aged sixty-six years. He died April 27, 1766, 
aged eighty-five years. They resided at Walling- 
ford, where he was a prominent citizen. Children 
of John and Elizabeth (Royce) Hall. 1-2. Isaac 
and Peter, twins, born July 22, 1709. 3. John, De- 
cember 28, 1712. 4. Abel. 5. Asahel, born January 
19, 1717. 6. Royce, December 26, 1718, (Yale 173S) 
<1ied May 29, 1752. 7. Abigail, born jSIarch 7, 1723. 
8. Elizabeth, July 9, 1725. 9. Benjamin, April 4, 
1728. 10. Elisha, September 15, 1730. 11. Sarah, 
August 25, 1732. 

(IV) Asahel Hall, son of John Hall (3), born 
in Wallingford, June 19, 1717. died November 11, 
1795: married, July 29, 17 — , Sarah Goldsmith, died 
February 23, 1784. Their children: i. Catherine, 
born August 6, 1739. 2. Joel, May 21, 1741. 3. 
Sarah, March 5, 1743, died young. 4. Asahel, born 



May IS, 1745, died young. 5. Jerusha, born August 
31, 1746, died young. 6. Sarah, born June 9, 1748, 
died young. 7. Asahel, born July 16, 1750, died 
young. 8. Mehitable, born March 13, 1753. 9. 
Aaron, born July 28, 1755, died October 6, 1759. 10. 
Charles, born November 12, 1757. II. Asahel, born 
January 14, 1759. 12. Aaron, born November 4, 
1760. 

(V) Aaron Hall, son of Asahel Hall (4), born 
in Wallingford, November 4, 1760, died September 
30, 1839, aged seventy-nine years. He married. May 
24, 1781, Elizabeth Cook; married (second), De- 
cember II, 1820, Sarah, widow of Charles Hall; 
married (third), June 18, 1827, Anna Brooks. He 
was a soldier in the revolution, and was with Wash- 
ington in the New Jersey campaign ; he served from 
1777 to 1781. Children of Aaron and Elizabeth 
((iook) Hall: i. Benjamin Atwater, born April 
6, 1782. 2. Elizabeth, October 23, 1783. 3. Electa, 
September 9, 1785. 4. Aaron C, November 11, 
1787. 5. Mary, January 20, 1790. 6. Asahel, April 
6, 1792. 7. Salmon, August 12, 1793. 8. Anna, Jan- 
uary 6, 1796. 9. Caroline, December 21, 1798. 10. 
Kirtland, July 4, 1805. 

(VI) Dr. Asahel (or Asa, as he was generally 
called) Hall, son of Aaron Hall (5), was born in 
Wallingford, April 6, 1792. He was studying to be 
a physician when the war of 1812 broke out, and 
he entered the service when only about twenty years 
old as an army surgeon, and was stationed at Fort 
Griswold, Connecticut. After the war he located 
in Dutchess county. New York, and lived at Rhine- 
beck, F'tshkill and Poughkeepsie. During the last 
twenty years of his life he lived in Poughkeepsie, 
and practiced there. He married Catherine (Van- 
derberg) TofTee, of Rhinebeck. widow, descend- 
ant of one of the ancient Dutch families of New 
York. Dr. Hall died in Poughkeepsie in 1877, and 
his wife in 1880, at the age of eig;hty-eight years. 
Children of Dr. Asa and Catherine Vanderberg 
Hall: I. Henry Clay. 2. George Vanderberg, resides 
in New York city. 3. Anna, married Silas Woodell, 
lived and died in Poughkeepsie. 4. Dewitt ClitUon, 
resides in New York city. 

(VII) Henry Clay Hall, son of Dr. Asahel Hall 
(6), born in Dutchess county. New York, August 
17, 1820, died in Millbury, Massachusetts, October 
29, 1901. He was for nearly thirty consecutive 
years in the consular and diplomatic service of the 
United States in Cuba and Central America. His 
public life was remarkable and brilliant. He served 
in the foreign field under eight presidents from 
Buchanan to Cleveland and his long and honorable 
career is believed to be without parallel in the 
history of the consular or diplomatic service. 

After leaving .school he went to Mexico as agent 
for a cotton mill, and remained there nine years, 
holding this position during the Mexican war, when 
few Americans cared to remain in Mexico. He 
returned to his home in Fishkill, New York, where 
he was engaged in commercial business until 1853. 
In the fifties he went to Cuba. His first appoint- 
ment was consular agent for the United States 
at Matanzas. He was promoted to vice-consul 
March 18. 1864. his appointment signed by Presi- 
dent Abraham Lincoln. He did effective work for 
his government during the civil war in detecting 
blockade runners which were often ecpupped in 
Cuba. He was appointed vice-consul general at 
Matanzas, February 27, 1869, and consul general 
Januarv 15. 1872. He was appointed vice-consul 
general at Havana, December 8, 1873, and consul 
general December 24, 1879. He was appointed, 
.4pril 17. 1882, minister resident in Central .Amer- 
ica, and July 13, 1882, received a new commission 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



515 



from President Arthur as envoy extraordinary and 
minister plenipotentiary to the Central American 
Republics. He resided front 1882 to 1889 at Guate- 
mala, and represented the United States in five 
of the Central American States. At present this 
district has been divided in two parts. For many 
years Mr. Hall held the position of dean to the 
diplomatic corps, and retained his position when 
Cleveland was president. He remained in the service 
until 1892, during Harrison's administration. After 
leaving the consular service he became interested 
in the Nicaragua Canal, and he dratted the original 
treaty which provided for its building. It was a 
great disappointment to him when the plan which 
seemed to be in a fair way to be executed failed 
at last. Doubtless the more recent coup d'etat 
in Panama would have been even more distressing 
to Mr. Hall when it seemed finally decided that 
the United States would build over the Nicaragua 
route. Mr. Hall's health compelled him to relinquish 
his duties in Central America, being afflicted with 
rheumatism. He made his home in Millbury near 
the residence of the mother of Secretary Taft, and 
there spent his last days, and died October 29, 
1901. and is interred at Poughkeepsie, New York. 
He never lost interest in public affairs. He kept 
himself well informed, and followed closely the great 
public cjuestions of national importance. Although so 
nuich 111 his life was passed on foreign shores he 
was always thoroughly American in his ideas. He 
was an interesting talker on the events of his life 
and times, but extremely modest and professionally 
reticent, too modest to speak n>uch of his own 
work. It is a remarkable fact that Mr. Hall was 
seventy-six years old when he cast his first vote, 
fur he was out of the country so much that he had 
not acquired a legal residence in the United States 
imtil he came to Millbury after he retired from 
]iul)lic life. His services in behalf of Central Amer- 
ua are gratefully remembered there, where he was 
■generally known as the "Father of the Nicaragua 
Canal." 

Mr. Hall was a Mason, initiated in Sylvan Grove 
Lodge, No. 275, of New York city, March 25, 
1856. He was a member of some local societies 
and clubs -in Cuba and Central America. He ap- 
in'eciated the value of the Masonic order, and oc- 
i-asionally told an incident in the life of his wife's 
lather, Antonio Echeverria, who was an eminent 
j merchant of Cuba in his day. Before the youth- 
ful American Republic sent its warships to the 
Mediterranean to destroy the pirates, .\merican ship- 
"ping suffered constantly. Mr. Echeverria was once 
•on his own ship on the way from Africa to Cuba, 
when taken by pirates. It was the custom then to 
make the captured sailors and passengers walk the 
plank over the side of the vessel into the sea, to 
■suffer death by drowning. Some of the prisoners 
were ready for the fatal step and all had resigned 
themselves to their fate, when the pirate chief was 
recognized as a fellow Mason by Mr. Echeverria, 
und remained faithful to his Masonic pledges even 
at that critical moment. The lives of the prisoners 
were saved, and the Cuban merchant loaded with 
costly gifts before they parted company. Mrs. 
Hall remembers inany of the articles that her father 
brought from this remarkable adventure. The secre- 
tary of the lodge wrote to Mrs. Hall after the 
death of her husband : "In his death this lodge 
Itas Inst one of its oldest rnembers. an upright and 
true Mason, an honor to the fraternity and this 
Lodpe." 

During his official life he was the means of 
destroying the coolie trade in Cuba, and perhaps 
iijul< more satisfaction in this act of humanity than 



in an other experience. He was appointed a repre- 
sentative of the Chinese government at the suggestion 
of the Washington authorities of the Chinese and 
American governments, and was able to put such 
evidence in the way of the Chinese government 
that Chinese laborers were forbidden and pro- 
hibited from engaging in the voluntary slavery which 
had disgraced China and all those countries en- 
gaged in the cruel business. When a Chinese coolie 
was sold by the Spanish government to a Cuban 
jilanter for about $,300 for eight years of service, 
the Chinaman was practically doomed to slavery for 
life, as the pittance he received would not help 
to give him a start in life. 

Mr. Hall's services in the interests of the Amer- 
ican nation were during some critical times, when 
it took a man of iron will and cool brain to 
stand firmly at his post and defend his country's 
honor. He was in Havana during the civil war, 
holding the post of consul general in the days of the 
ci\il war, and his conduct of affairs in those perilous 
times, when his life was in constant danger, at- 
tracted the attention and admiration of diplotriats 
the world over, and won for him the highest praise 
and approval of President Lincoln and his cabinet. 
For thirty years he was the trusted servant of 
his country in foreign lands. In many respects his 
career was unique. 

Mr. Hall married, March 27, 1856, at Wilming- 
ton, Delaware, Leila Echeverria, daughter of 
.•\ntonio and Sarah (Newell) Echeverria. Her 
father was born in Florence, Italy, but lived nearly 
all his life in Cuba, where he was a leading mer- 
chant in the foreign trade. Her mother came of 
the Newell family of Marblehead, Massachusetts, 
where she was born. This family is one of the 
oldest and best known of Essex county. Leila 
was born in Matanzas, Cuba, July 15, 1828, and 
was educated there and in the United States. She 
is a remarkably well preserved woman, cultivated 
and charming in manners, bright and entertain- 
ing in conversation. She resides part of the year 
in her Millbury home. She has no children. 

ALDEN E. BACON, a lifelong resident of the 
town of Leicester, born October ,•?, 1872, is a son of 
Frank A. and Emily (Bond) Bacon. Frank 'A. 
Bacon (father") was born in Paxton, Worcester 
county, Massachusetts, from whence in later life 
he removed to Leicester. He was identified with 
the Baptist church, and was a Republican in poli- 
tics. By his marriage to Emily Bond, of Leicester, 
the following named children were born: George 
F., conductor of street railway, resides in Worces- 
ter, Massachusetts, is married, but no children have 
been born to this union : Charles A., a resident of 
Shre-vvsbury, Massachusetts, married Annie Eaton, 
of that town, and they have four children : Ruth, 
Haezl. Arthur and Eunice Bacon; Mary E., resides 
with her mother at Leicester. .-Mdeii E., see forward. 

The educational advantages enjoyed by Alden 
E. Bacon were obtained at Leicester Academy, from 
which institution he was graduated. Throughout 
his active career he has followed the quiet but use- 
ful calling of a,gricullure, and by industry and good 
management his land yields abundant harvests 
which well repay him for the labor expended 
thereon. He has served his town in the capacity 
of overseer of the poor and superintendent of streets, 
his incumbency of office being noted for, efficiency 
and capability. He holds membership in the Con- 
gregational church, and his political affiliations are 
with the Republican party, the principles of which 
he firmly advocates and upholds. Mr. Bacon mar- 
ried, October 30, 1894, (Tynthia Anna Gilman, a 



5i6 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



resident of Connellsvillc, Pennsylvania. No cliil- 
dren have been born of this marriage. 

MILO BOLTON, a well known and esteemed 
citizen of Leicester, in which town he has resided 
for more than half a century, is a native of Ver- 
mont. He is engaged in the card clothing business, 
from which he dtrives an income that is ample 
to supply his family with the necessaries and some 
of the comforts of life. He is a member of the 
Congregational church, and a Republican in 
politics. 

Mr. Bolton married Mary A. Loring, born in 
Leicester, ilassachusetts, in 1833, a daughter of John 
and Eliza (Ayers) Loring, who were the parents of 
four cliildren. John Loring' was born in Spencer, 
December 10, 1795. The death of his wife occurred 
January 26, 1837. Mr. Loring married (second), 
May 12, 1839, Clarinda Reed, born at Rutland, 
Massachusetts, December 4, 1806, died March 7, 
1884, leaving three children. Four children were 
born to Mr. and Mrs. Bolton, namely: Waller E., 
married Jennie Tilden, of Hyde Park, Massachu- 
setts , and one son was the issue, Milo Oscar Bolton; 
Herbert L., Oscar, Fred Augustus, a farmer by 
occupation, married Dora Brown, and resides at 
Monroe, New Hampshire. Mrs. Bolton, the mother 
of these children, received her education at the 
academy in Leicester, and prior to her mariage 
taught school in that town for eight years, unclud- 
ing one winter in Cherry Valley. 

ESTABROOK FAJNHLY. Joseph Estabrook 
(i), the pioneer ancestor of the Estabrook family, 
of Worcester county, and of James E. Estabrook 
and Arthur E. Estabrook, of Worcester, was born 
in Enfield, Middlesex county, England. He came 
to New England in 1660. He entered Harvard col- 
lege and graduated there in 1664. He was ordained 
soon afterward as the colleague of Rev. Edward 
Bulkeley, of Concord, Massachusetts, and on the 
death of the pastor in 1696, succeeded him, fill- 
ing the position with honor to himself and his peo- 
ple until his death, September 16, 171 1. He was 
succeeded by Rev. Joseph Whiting (H. C. 1661). 
Joseph Estabrook was admitted a freeman May 3^ 
1665. His biographer tells us that as a preacher 
he was plain, practical and persuasive. In his inter- 
course with his people he was grave, affectionate 
and greatly beloved. In fact, he was generally 
known as "The Apostle." He was invited to take a 
church in Boston and urged to go to a larger field 
by friends who knew his powers. But great things 
have originated in the little town of Concord, the 
greatest men of America history have been born 
there, and lived there — men like Estabrook, who 
helped frame the characters of the early generations 
there, men of his spirit and pride in his own town, 
though its population was small and its business fu- 
ture unpromising. His salary at Concord was only 
forty pounds a year in money, and forty in farm prod- 
uce of various kinds. The Boston News Letter said of 
him at the time of his death : "He was eminent for 
his skill in the Hebrew language,, and a most ortho- 
dox, learned and worthy divine, of excellent prin- 
ciples in religion, indefatigably laborious in the 
ministry, and of holy life and conversation." He 
was chaplain of the Massachusetts legislature. He 
married, May 20. 1668, at Watertown, Mary Mason, 
daughter of Captain Hugh Mason, the Indian fighter, 
and his wife, Esther Mason. (See Mason sketch.) 
She was born December 18, 1640. The children of 
Rev. Joseph and Mary (Mason) Estabrook were: 
Joseph, born at Concord, Massachusetts. Alay "6. 
1669. Benjamin, February 24, 1670-1. (H. C. i6go). 



first minister at Lexington, Massachusetts, installed 
October 16, 1696; died July 22, 1697, married Abi- 
gail Willard, and had two children. His widow 
married (second) Rev. Samuel Treat, and hacL 
three children, one of whom was the mother of 
Robert Treat Paine, signer of the Declaration of 
Independence, attorney-general, and supreme court 
justice. Mary, born at Concord, October 28, 1672, 
married Jonathan Green, April 30, 1700. Samuel^ 
born Concord, June 7, 1674 (H. C. 1696), taught 
grammar school at Concord 1706-10, and assisted 
his father in the ministry; was ordained June 13, 
1711, as the first pastor of Canterbury, Connecticut, 
where he served until his death, June 26, 1727. 
He married, Alarch 3, 1713, Rebecca Hobart (-ame 
family as Hubbard), daughter of Rev. Nehemiah 
and Sarah (Jackson) Hobart, of Newton, Massa- 
chusetts. Daniel, born F'ebruary 14, 1676, married 
at Concord, November 21, 1701, Abigail Flint, born 
January 11, 1675, daughter of John and Mary 
(Oakes) Flint; removed to Weston, thence to Sud- 
bin-y ; ciied January 7, 1735. Ann, born December 
30, 1677, married, January 26, 1709, Joshua Haynes, 
of Sudbury. 

(II) Joseph Estabrook, son of Rev. Joseph Esta- 
brook (i), born Concord, Massachusetts, May 6, 
1669. He settled first in Hingham, and in 1710- 
moved to Lexington, Massachusetts. He was the 
eldest deacon there in 1716, and held the office until 
his death, September 23, 1733. He was highly 
respected, and filled almost every town office, in- 
cluding town clerk, terasurer, selectman, assessor 
and representative ■ to the general court. He was 
captain of the military company and school teacher. 
He was often employed as surveyor. He died Sep- 
tember 23, 1733. 

He married, December 31, 1689, Millicent Woodis, 
daughter of Henry W. Woodis. She died March 
26, 1692. He married (second), August 25. 1693, 
Hannah Loring, of Hingham, daughter of John 
Leavitt and widow of Joseph Loring. The child 
of Joseph and Millicent Estabrook was: Joseph, 
born October 10, 1690, died August 19, 1740. The 
children of Joseph and Hannah Estabrook were : 
John, born July 28, 1694, married, October 27, 1720, 
Prudence Harrington ; Solomon, born December 22, 
1696, died July 7, 1697; Hannah, March 2. 1698. 
married. May 23, 1717, Joseph Frost; Millicent, 
March 21, 1700. marriecl (first) Jonathan Rand and 
(second) in 1764. John Chamberlain; Elijah. August 
25, 1703, married, 1733. in Sherborn, Hannah -. 

(HI) Joseph Estabrook, son of Joseph Esta- 
brook (2), born Hingham, Massachusetts, October 
10, 1690. He married at Lexington, July S, 1713, 
his step-sister. Submit Loring. They had two chil- 
dren. She died March 31, 1718, and he married 
(second), March 26, 1719, Hannah Bowman. He 
succeeded his father as a leading citizen in all the 
walks of life. He became captain of the military 
company and deacon of the church. He was town 
clerk, assessor, treasurer, and selectman at vari- 
ous times. He bought the Estabrook farm, in 
Holden, of Gershom Rice, five shares, July 29, 
1724, so that the Estabrook family dates back to the 
very settlement of Worcester. He died August 19, 
1740, and his widow married, July 19, 1753. Cap- 
tain Benjamin Reed, of Lexington. She died April 
15. 1774, aged seventy-two years. 

Children of Joseph and Submit (Loring) Esta- 
brook: Joseph, born June 27, 1714, died July 17, 
1714; Joseph, March 16, 1717-8, clied March 18, 
1717-8. The children of Joseph and Hannah ( Bow- 
man ) Estabrook : Joseph. April, 1720, died De- 
cember 7, 1747; Hannali, September 26. 1725. died 
September 29. 1728; Benjamin, born October 9. 1727, 





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WORCESTER COUNTY 



517 



•died December 29, 1728; Hannah, born October 9, 
1727, died December 29, 1728, (probably one of the 
two foregoing is an error of record — Ed.) ; Benja- 
min, born December, 1729, married Hannah Hub- 
bard, May 9, 1757; was revolutionary soldier; Han- 
nah, born October 6, 1731, married Ebenezer Hub- 
bard; Solomon, born June 10, 1733, died October i, 
1733; Samuel, born June 16, 1735, entered Harvard 
■College; died July 25, 1754; IMillicent, born July 
.25, 1738, married James Barrett ; Ebenezer (post- 
humous), born September 21, 1740, married Kuth 
Reed. 

(IV) Ebenezer Estabrook, son of Joseph Esta- 
-brook (3), born Lexington, Massachusetts, Septem- 
ber 21, 1740. He married, December 13, 1759, Ruth 
Reed, the daughter of Captain Isaac and Rebecca 
Reed, born November 7, 1741. Soon after they 
were married they removed to Holden, about 1760, 
probably, and made their home there, where so 
many of their descendants have since lived. He was 
an influential citizen of Holden, was selectman 
twelve years, and representative to general court 
four years. He died June 29, 181 1. She died June 

•9, 1782. Children of Ebenezer and Ruth (Reed) 
Estabrook: I. Molly, born February 27, 1760, mar- 
ried Solomon C. (iheney. 2. Hannah, born Feb- 
ruary 27, 1762. 3. Ebenezer, born February 19, 
1764. 4. Jonathan, born April 4, 1766. 5. James, 
born May 16, 1768. 6. Joseph, bora August i, 1770. 
7. John, born January. 11, 1773. 8. Rhoda, born 
March 19, 1775. 

(V) James Estabrook, son of Ebenezer Esta- 
brook (4), born May 16, 1768, at Holden, Massa- 
chusetts. He married December 15, 1795. Betsey 
Lovell, at Holden. She W'as born July 28, 1775. He 
died at Holden November 26, 1825. She died 
February 22, 1826. They lived in Holden, and all 
their children were born there. He was prominent 
in town affairs. In 1821 he was elected selectman, 
and served in that capacity in 1822-23-24. The 
other members of the board in 1821 were, Samuel 
Damon, Silas Flagg, Abner Perry, John Davis, 
all prominent men, whose descendants have been 
honored in the city of Worcester as well as the 
town of Holden. It would be difficult to find five 
men of their day who have had a more illustrious 
ancestry in ^Massachusetts, or have been followed 
by more distinguished posterity. Children of James 
and Betsey (Lovell) Estabrook: i. James, born 
September 4, 1796, married November 15, 1822, 
Alniira Read, of Rutland, Massachusetts. 2. Ben- 
jamin, born July 2, 1798. 3. Betsey, born De- 
cember 18, 1800. 4. Millie, born Jilarch 24, 1803, 
married Rev. John Davis Pierce. 5. Simon Read, 
born December 31, 1805, married, 1828, Frances A. 
Scarborough, daughter of Philip Scarborough, of 
Brooklyn, Connecticut. She died June, 1834. and 
he married (second), March 2. 1836, M^ry Bushnell, 
daughter of General Andrew Bushnell. of Hartford, 
Ohio, born April 29, 1815; removed to Warren, 
Ohio, in 1837, and lived there until killed by the 
cars on a railroad July 7, 1871 ; she died October 
20, 1879. 6. Eliza Barrett, born September 17. 1S09, 
marriecl Julv 2, 1834, John Crowell of Warren, 
Ohio. 

(VT) Colonel James Estabrook, son of James 
Estabrook (5), was born in Holden, Massachusetts, 
September 4, 1796. Although known generally as 
a Worcester man, he never forgot his native town. 
He was raised in Holden and attended school there, 
and the Leicester academy. He got his start in 
hfe there. Colonel James Estabrook, as he was 
always called, obtained the title as the commander 
of the last regiment of cavalry maintained in the 
county, He led his regiment, in 1824, at the re- 



ception to Lafayette in Worcester, having the right 
of line as escort. He was not only prominent as 
an officer of the town, and as a military man at an 
early age, but as a Free Mason. In 1825 the Wor- 
cester County Commandcry, Knights Templar, was 
organized, at Holden, with Colonel Estabrook as 
the Eminent Commander. Some of the ceremonies 
were held on the Holden common. He marri_ed 
Almira Read of Rutland, in 1822 and removed 'to 
that town for a time. In 1828 he came to Wor- 
cester to live, and, with the exception of a few 
years spent in Boston, his life was identified with 
the town and city of Worcester, and he played 
an important part in its development and prosperity. 
In 1829 he began business in Worcester in the re- 
tail .grocery trade, with Gen. Nathaniel Heard as 
partner, in the old Green store, as it was called, 
but soon removed to Boston. L^pon his return to 
Worcester he again opened a grocery store. His 
second location was in Lincoln square, in the Salis- 
bury block. He was not only a successful merchant, 
but became interested in real estate and various 
manufacturing enterprises. He was for many years 
one of the most active business men of the city, a 
leading citizen in every sense of the term. He was 
sheriff of the county when the coalition of the Dem- 
ocrats and Free Soilers defeated the old Whig party, 
and put Governor Boutwell in office. The Whigs 
temporarily recovered power, and he lost the place 
after two years. He was an officer in the custom 
house, Boston, for a time. But usually he affiiliated 
with the minority party and, therefore, held few 
offices. He was one of the eight men who voted 
for Andrew Jackson. It must be admitted that his 
prestige in his party all over the state would have 
placed within his reach almost any office, had his 
party been in the ascendancy. He was self-educated 
but well-educated, for he had a shrewd and con- 
scientious teacher. He was the only man elected 
to the Worcester Fire Society, then and now the 
most exclusive, and one of the oldest, organizations 
in Worcester. He was evidently welcomed, when 
he first came to Worcester, as a man of importance. 
He was active in the Old South Church and later 
in Union Church. He died in Worcester, 1874. 

In 1841 he sent a characteristic greeting to 
Holden on the occasion of the centennial celebration 
there. It was: "The Early Settlers of Holden: 
Distinguished for their love of order, peace and so- 
briety, and piously devoted to the cause of civil 
and religious liberty, may we, their descendants, 
cherish their virtues and not prove recreant sons 
by neglecting to do all in our power to hand them 
unimpaired to those who shall come after us." The 
late Hon. John D. Washburn wrote of him : "In 
stature he was below middle height. His complex- 
ion was very dark. His manner quick, his eye 
bright and intelligent. * * He was courteous to 
his opponents; refrained from the imputation of un- 
worthy motives, and carried none of the bitterness 
of party contest into the relations of private life." 

The old homestead was located where the Nor- 
wich & Worcester freight station is now. He mar- 
ried .-^Imira Read, of Rutland, Massachusetts. 1822. 
Children of James and .\lmira (Read) Estabrook: 
I. Almira Rowena Julietta, born July 31, 1824. 2. 
James E., born October 29. 1829, at Worcester. 3. 
Arthur Edgar, born in Boston, August 11. 183?. 

4. Francis .Mbert, born April 22, 1835, in Boston. 

5. Willis Herbert, born in Worcester, November 
29. 1843. died December 4, 1844. 

(VII) James E. Estabrook, son of Colonel 
James Estabrook (6), was born in Worcester, 
Massachusetts, October 29, 1829. He attended the 
Worcester public schools and fitted for college in the 



5i8 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



Worcester high school. He was graduated from 
Yale College in 1851. He then studied law with 
Judge Benjatiiin F. Thomas, in Worcester, attended 
the Harvard law school and was admitted to the 
bar in the autumn of 1853, at the age of twenty- 
three. Later he became the law partner of Dwight 
Foster, late justice of the Massachusetts supreme 
court, and practiced law until the outbreak of the 
civil war. 

Colonel Estabrook, as he is generally called by 
his friends, responded promptly to the call for 
arms, altliough politically he had acted with the 
Democratic party. His example was of particular 
value to the Union cause at that lime. He was 
assigned to duly on the staff of General Charles 
Devens, and later served on the staff of General 
Benjamin ¥. Butler, in the Department of the Gulf. 
ComptUed to resign from the service by sickness, 
he returned to Worcester. His father left a large 
estate, and the increase in real estate values added 
to it materially. Mr. Estabrook found his pri- 
vate interests sufficient to engross his attention and 
abilities, and since the war he has not actively pract- 
iced law. He has been active in politics, however, 
and has been a leader of the Democratic party in 
this section for fifty years. Not only in Worcester 
and Massachusetts but in national affairs he has 
been an influence in shaping history. He has been 
a delegate to almost every national convention of 
the Democratic party since the close of the civil 
war. He has been chairman of the Democratic 
state central committee of Massachusetts, as well 
as the county, district, congressional, and city com- 
mittees of his party. Even his political opponents 
have given him respect and esteem. Judge Adin 
Thayer, who for many years was leader of the 
dominant Republican party in Worcester county, 
was a close personal friend of Colonel Estabrook. 
They knew how to retain their friendship even in 
the exigencies of political controversy, because both 
played fair and both deserved the respect and con- 
fidence of their followers and the people. It was 
the natural and graceful thing for the Democratic 
leaders to induce President Cleveland to appoiiit 
Colonel Estabrook postmaster, when a Democratic 
administration came into power. He served with 
credit during his term of office. He was succeeded 
by the late J. Everts Greene, for many years the 
associate editor of the IVorccstcr Spy, when the 
Democratic administration was ended. Colonel Esta- 
brook served the city of Worcester on the school 
board. He was president of the common council 
in 1861 and served in the legislature in 1874. He 
represented the city for some time in the general 
court. He has been a director of the free public 
library, a position most congenial to him. He has 
one of the best private libraries in the city, and 
has always been fonder of books than of any other 
recreation or amusement. He never married. He 
has made his home with his brother for many years 
in his handsome residence, 8 Lagrange street, Wor- 
cester. 

(Vn) Arthur Edgar Estabrook, son of Colonel 
James Estabrook (6), was born in Boston, August 
II, 1832, but came to Worcester with his parents 
when very young. Except for two years, 185 1 to 
1853, he has lived in Worcester. He was educated in 
the Worcester schools. His life has largely been 
associated with that of his father whom he assisted, 
until his death, in his various business enterprises, 
and since then in the care and management of the 
estate. He and his brother, James E. Estabrook, 
have been associated together in their business in- 
terests. He is an officer of the Union Congrega- 
tional society. He is considered a man of sagacity 



and high business principles by the business leaders- 
of the city. He married November 15, 1873, Emily 
H. Hicko.x at Cleveland, Ohio. She was educated 
in the public schools of Akron, Ohio. She died in 
1882. Children of Arthur Edgar and Emily H. 
(Hickox) Estabrook: I. Millicent Barrett, born in 
Worcester, October 20, 1874, tutored by jNfiss Wil- 
liams for ten years ; graduated at Smith College ia 
1895. 2. Jane D., born in Worcester, September 14,. 
1876, educated by Miss Williams, her tutor ; gradu- 
ated at Smith College in i8g6. She married Dr. 
Arthur Errell, September 6, 1905. He is a pro- 
fessor in the Worcester Polytechnic Institute. 

NELSON FAMILY. Thomas Nelson (r), the 
immigrant ancestor of the Nelson family of Grafton,, 
to which Charles H. Nelson belonged, was the 
wealthiest of the Yorkshiremen who founded Row- 
ley, Massachusetts. He was given the prefix "Mr." 
in the early records, signifying a man of high 
station. He came first to Boston and was one o£ 
the twenty families that emigrated with the Rev. 
Ezekiel Rogers from Rowley, England, in December,. 
1638. They probably spent the winter in Salem and 
vicinity, and Nelson went with them in the spring 
to a place between Ipswich and Newbury, called at 
first Mr. Rogers's Plantation. In the following Sep- 
tember the general court gave it the name Rowley. 
Nelson lent money on mortgage to Richard Evered, 
of Cambridge, showing that he had money to invest 
when he came over. Thomas Nelson was admitted 
a freeman May 23, 1639; was deputy to general 
court 1640 and 1641 ; and commissioner of the court. 
In 1643 he was chairman of a committee to make 
a survey of the town and lay out and register lots. 
In October, 1644, he was appointed magistrate with 
power to perform marriages. He built mills in 
1640-42. In January. 1644, the town granted him 
thirty-six acres on the mill field, ten of which were 
to encourage him in building a mill. The Ne-lson 
mill was built just above tide water on Mill river, 
where there have been mills down to the present 
time, now owned by Nathaniel N. Dummer, a de- 
scendant of the family to which the wife of the 
immigrant Nelson belonged. Nelson's grist milt 
was leased in 1643 to John Pearson. He went to- 
England on business and died there. He made his 
will here, adding to it when about to start for home, 
December 4. 1645, and August 6. 1648. It was 
proved February 21, 1650. He bequeathed to his son 
Phillip a double portion ; to sons Thomas and Samuel 
and daughter Mercy. He refers to his aunt Katherine 
Witham. and to a legacy she had left to his eldest 
son, Phillip. Richard Bellinghani and Richard Dum- 
mer were executors, and had charge of the educa- 
tion of the three youngest children. He left to his 
wife Joan his mill, mill house and lands at Rowley 
for her life, the reversion to his children. The 
commissioners of the estate found in Mr. Dummer's 
hands 1.685 pounds. The division of the houses 
and lands was agreed upon September 16, 1676, by 
the sons Philip and Thomas Nelson, and John Stocke, 
who married tlieir sister Mercy, his attorney. Benja- 
min Alford. acting for him. The probate account 
shows that the administrator went to York and Hull 
to collect moneys due the estate, proved the will, 
and had it recorded in England. He married first 
, who came with him and died soon. He mar- 
ried (second), contract dated February 15, 
1641-2, Joan, daughter of Thomas Dummer, 
niece of the famous Richard Dummer. Thomas 
Dummer was from Chicknell, North Stone- 
ham, county Hants, England, and came in the 
"Bevis," May, 1638, with daughter Joan, aged 
nineteen years, settled at Rowley, Newbury and* 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



519 



Salisbury. His will was proved in England, Novem- 
ber 9. 1650. In it he mentions his eldest daughter 
Jane Nelson. Children of Thomas and Joan (Dimi- 
nier) Nelson: i. Phillip, born in England, 16,56, 
died August 19. 1691. 2. Thomas, born in England, 
1638, died April 6, 1712. 3. Mercy, born at Row- 
ley, February 26, 1643-4; married John Stork. 4 
Samuel, born 1646. at Rowley. 5. Mary, born Decem- 
ber 21. 1648, at Rowley. 

(II) Sergeant Thomas Nelson, second son of 
Thomas Nelson (i), born in England, 16.38. died 
April 6, 1712. He married Ann, daughter of Francis 
Lambert, the immigrant settler. She died January 2, 
1678. He married (second), May 18. 1680, Mary 
Lunt, of Newburg, died May 28, 1688. He married 
(third), April 9, 1690, Philippa Platts, of Rowley, 
died October 10. 1709. He was admitted a freeman 
May 3, 1665. The gravestone of Thomas Nelson 
at Rowley has the following inscription : "Here Lyes 
buried Mr. Thomas Nelson, who died April ye 5th, 
1712. 

" who lived a saintlike, harmless life. 

Loved all good books, but no bad strife. 
Who dyed a quiet easie death 

And to Christ resigned his breath 
So live, tny sons, my Christ O seek. 
And when you die. like Christ be meek." 

The children of Thomas and Ann Nelson were : 
I. Thomas, mentioned below. 2. Dorothy, born Feb- 
ruary 14, 1662. 3. Hannah, born June 22, 1665. 4. 
Jonathan, born November 20, 1667, died 1690. 5. 
Elizabeth, born February 25. l66g ; died December 
31, 1688. 6. Gershom, born July 11, 1672; removed 
to Mendon. died there September 15. 1727. 7. Fran- 
cis, born February 19, 1675. Children of Thomas 
and Mary Nelson : 8. Ephraim, born March 23, 
1681. 

(III) Thomas Nelson, eldest child of Thomas 
Nelson (2), born March 16, 1661 ; died May 20, 
1719, aged fifty-nine years. He married Hannah 

, 1690. They resided at Rowley, and there 

their children were born : I. Samuel, born February 
14. 1691 : married. September 3. 1721. Hannah 
Palmer ; removed to Upton about 1728, where Han- 
nah, his wife, died November 13, 1788. aged ninety- 
two years. 2. Hannah, born December 17, 1693, 
removed to Upton. Massachusetts, with her brother. 
3. Abigail, born February 4. 1696: died May 12, 
1716. 4. Lieutenant Jonathan, mentioned below. 5. 
Dorothy, born Rowley. 170T. died at Upton, 1794; 
resided with brother Jonathan : never married. 6. 
Elizabeth, born in Rowley, October 5, 1704; married 
Joseph Aspinwall, June 5. 1728. 

(IV) Lieutenant Jonathan Nelson, son of Thomas 
Nelson (3). was born in Rowley, E)ecember, 1698, 
died at Upton. August 29. 1792, aged ninety-four 
years. He settled in Upton. He married first, Mary 

, died February 16, 17,50. He married (second), 

1732, Sarah Ames, died March 6, 1740. He mar- 
ried third (intentions dated November 27), 1742, 
Anna Jones, died May 7, 1780. Children of Jona- 
than and Sarah Nelson: i. Jonathan, born 1732, 
died September 16, 1732. 2. Nathan, born October 
7, 1733. died young. 3. Mary, born February 6, 
1735-6; died April 15, 1736. 4. David, mentioned 
below. 5. Jonathan, born January 26. 1739-40; died 
March 10, 1740. Children of Jonathan and Anna 
below. .=;. Jonathan, born January 26. 1739-40: died 
March 8. 1743-4. 7- Sarah, born 1741 ; married 
Stephen Williams, of L^xbridge, Massachusetts. 8. 
Mary, born August 14, 1745; died May 24, 1826, 
aged eighty-one years ; married Grindall Wood, of 
Mendon. who died June 29. 1825: one son and four 
daughters. 9. Hannah, born June 5, 1749 : married 
Thomas Harden, 1770; joined Shaker settlement 



at Harvard; one son, Shadrach. 10. Lois, born March 
19. 1752; married White, of Gorham, Massa- 
chusetts. II. Isaac, born October 16, 1755; died 
December 30, 1812. from injuries received from 
falling tree; married Hannah Fisk, of Upton. 

(V) David Nelson, son of Lieutenant Jonathan 
Nelson (4), born June 4, 1737, in Shrewsbury, 
Massachusetts. He married first, 1761, Susannah 
Bachelder. of LTpton : second, Susannah, daughter 
of Jolin Brigham. November 24, 17S5. He died 
March .30, 1830, aged ninety-three years. His widow 
died March 12, 1830. aged eighty-five years. Chil- 
dren of David and Susannah (Bachelder) Nelson: 
I. Abijah, born at Shrewsbury, March 28, 1762; 
married Sarah, daughter of Asa Mixer, 1791- 2. 
Susannah, born December 30, 1764; married Captain 
Peter Salter, 1784; removed to western New York; 
three sons and two daughters. 3. Thankful, born 
September 21, 1766. 4. David, Jr., born ^L^y 23, 
1769; married Lucy Adams, of Northbridge; nine 
daughters. 5. Solomon, born August 10, 1771 ; mar- 
ried Elizabeth Dunn, of Northbridge; removed to 
Ohio: four sons and three daughters. 6. Jonathan, 
born July 6, 1773; married Eunice Stone, March 8, 
1798. 7. Daniel, born December 15, 1775: removed 
to Ohio ; married Sarah Smith, of Orange, Ver- 
mont. 8. Josiah. mentioned below. 9. Amasa, born 
October 2. 1780; married a daughter of Daniel Mix- 
ter. 10. Sarah, born March 20, 1783 ; married, 1806, 
Isaac Newton : four sons and two daughters. 

(VI) Josiah Nelson, son of David Nelson (s), 
was born in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts. February 
15. 1778. He lived on the homestead of his fathers 
in his native town. He married Sophia Goddard, 
June 28. 1812, at Shrewsbury. Their children ; I. 
James Horace, born October 29, 1814 ; died Febru- 
ary, 1815. 2. Luther Goddard, born March 31. 1816; 
married Sarah Newton. 3. Henry Harrison, born 
January 23, 1818. 4. Henry, born February 20, 1819; 
married Susan Vickers ; two sons. 5. Jasper Stone, 
mentioned below. 

(VII) Jasper Stone Nelson, son of Josiah Nel- 
son (6), was born in Shrewsbury. Massachusetts, 
June 2. 1822, on the old hoinestead that has been 
in the Nelson family since revolutionary days. He 
attended the district school of his native town and 
worked on the farm after the fashion of the farm- 
er's boy of his day until he was eighteen years 
old. He finished his education with one term at 
Worcester Academy. He learned the trade of shoe- 
maker from his elder brother, and until about 
twenty-three years old he divided his time between 
the farm and the bench. In 184.^ his career as a shoe 
manufacturer began in Shrewsbury. The shop in 
which his first shoes were made was a plain wooden 
building ten by thirteen feet, situated only a few 
rods from the house in which he was born. His 
business prosocred. and he doubled the size of his 
little shop. He and his brother worked together. 
They selected the leather and other stock, prepared 
it themselves for the shoemakers, most of whom 
sewed and treed and lasted the boots and shoes 
in their own little shops on their farms. The Nelson 
brothers were also their own salesinen. They 
managed to produce satisfactory goods and their 
business prospered. In 1848 Mr. Nelson removed 
to what is now North Grafton, and became asso- 
ciated with James S. Stone of Boston, a native and 
former resident of Grafton. In 1850 Stone & Nel- 
son purchased a tract of land near the Boston & 
.Albany station, and with it a building which forms 
part oif the present establishment. Mr. Nelson bought 
out his partner November i. 1857. and carried on 
the business in his own name until January I. l86g, 
when George H. Rugg. a former employe became 



e;2o 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



his partner. In 1873 Charles H, Nelson, his only 
son. also became a partner. Four vears later Mr. 
Rugg retired, January i, 1877, and the firm during 
the rest of its existence was known as J. S. Nelson 
& Son. The factory, which was originally thirty by 
forty feet, two stories high, has been enlarged from 
time to time to meet the requirements of steadily 
growuig business, until at the time of Mr Nelson's 
death the buildings were 30 by 264 feet, four stories 
high^ and the firm employed two hundred hands. 

_ Durmg the civil war he was on a special com- 
mittee chosen by the town to co-operate with the 
selectmen in charge of the military affairs of the 
town, and he was foremost in the work of relief 
for those left destitute by the soldiers at the front 
or bereaved by their death. He led the movement 
to give aid and encouragement to the troops in 
every way. He was on the board of selectmen two 
years, and a representative to general court in 
1870-71. He was a stanch Republican in politics. 
Mr. Nelson was an ideal employer, never losing 
the knowledge that he himself gained as a shoemaker 
at the bench, nor his sympathy and understanding of 
the men who worked for him. He was just and 
honorable in dealing with his hands. In turn the 
men loved and respected him. He was an earnest 
supporter of the temperance movement a man of 
law and order, loving justice and righteousness He 
w,-is an active member of the Baptist church and 
a liberal contributor to its various funds. One who 
knew Mr. Nelson wrote of him: "To known Mr 
Nelson at his best was to know him as a friend 
and those thus favored— and there w^ere many for 
he was a man to attract others— found in him at all 
times, and under all circumstances, the courteous 
.gentleman the genial companion and sympathetic 
lielper. He was a man of strong attachments, loyal 
to his friends and eminently domestic in- his habits- 
he loved his home, and \vas not easily enticed away 
from Its luxury and comforts." In person Mr 
Nelson was a man of fine physique and command- 
ing presence, blessed with a vigorous constitution 
and until the closing year of his life he enjoyed 
excellent health. He died October 22. 1S84 while 
\et upon the rising tide of a prosperous business 
career, beloved and mourned by all who knew him 
He married October v. 1848, Mary E. Wheelock; 
daughter of Gardner Wheelock. She was born Janu- 
ary i. iSj.q. and died June 26. i8g6. Their children- 
I. tmm.i Elizabeth, born July .v, 1849; died Decem- 
her T;. If565__ 2. Charles Horatio, mentioned below. 
.?. Carrie Oilman, born September 24, i8« ■ died 
July g. 1869. 

(VHI) Charles Horatio Nelson, son of Jasper 
btone Nelson (7). was born in Grafton. Massachu- 
setts, January 9, 1852. He was educated in the pub- 
ic schools of his native town, and at an early age 
became familiar with the various departments of 
Ins fathers factory. He became a partner at the 
age of twenty-one. and the firm name became J S 
Nelson & Son. He acted successively as salesman' 
buyer and manager of the concern, and for twenty 
years ?fter his father's death he conducted the busi- 
ness. The change from firm to a corooration affected 
the name slightly. The J. S. Nelson Shoe Company 
succeeded J. S. Nelson & Son. Mr. Nelson was 
principal owner and president of the concern He 
increased the business, improved the plant with new 
machmery. and continued its history of prosperity 
and growth up to the time of his last illness The 
line of footwear produced in late vears bv this factory 
was used exclusively bv the high-class retail trade 
in all parts of the United States: before this the 
company h.ad only manufactured the plainest kind 
of goods. Although not an old man when he died 



Mr. Nelson was a veteran among shoe manufac- 
turers. He had taken part in the revolution of ways 
and means of making shoes, and had the intelligence 
and foresight to profit instead of losing by the 
changes. He was an example of progress 
and enterprise in this line of business. About 
a year before his death his health failed and he 
Had to withdraw from active business. Ow- 
mg to his continued illness the business was wound 
up, the corporation dissolved, and the factory that 
had so long been the centre of an important in- 
dustry became silem and empty. The Boot and Shoe 
Kccordcr said of hmi at the time of his death • "He 
was for many years a leading representative of the 
Wew England shoe manufacturing business having 
been first associated with his father in the produc- 
tion of mens and women's plain shoes at North 
t.ratton. and in later years becoming the head of the 
business. * - * His social qualities endeared 
him to a large circle of friends in and out of the 
trade. In Boston he was among the best known of 
the many shoe manufacturers who visited the city 
frequently. Hi,s erect figure and quick alert step 
made him conspicuous at all times, while his hearty 
gretting was invariably forthcoming" 

The following tribute from the pen of a close 
personal friend was published in the Boston Herald- 
■ 1. Ir typical virtues of a high-minded and up- 
right New England maufacturer even those who 
kiiew him only casually could readily bear witness 
His energy, resourcefulness, integrity and courage 
here could be seen toward his emploves who de- 
pended on him, his liberality toward aiiy that stood 
in need ot h,m— these, though obviously visible to 
only a limited circle, could also not be hidden But 
the fine poise of his intellect, his stern, uncom- 
promising with wrong, his delicate perception of 
true beauty in art, going straight to the core thereof 
with keen discernment; his truly classic enthusiasm, 
as distinguishing from the fancy of the faddists 
tor nature's flowers, in nature's own seasons, in 
natures own surroundings: his democratic whole- 
heartedness withal in everything that appealed to 
him from whatever field of letters and life, and only 
the best did appeal to him— these qualities stamping 
hmi as they do as one of nature's own noblemen 
were of necessity, visible only to the few. He had 
ample means to satisfy his love for flowers to 
have them within his own reach at all seasons of the 
year. But instead, he had the poet boy's joy in 
going himself into nature's own hidden recesses to 
gather them there with his own hands, even if he 
had to walk miles, and into regions where nature 
exacts her tribute of discomfort to the flesh before 
vie ding up her treasures. In spite of his four 
and fifty years Charles Horatio Nelson was a young 
man ; young to the last in his energy, young "in his 
tee ing. young in his enthusiasms: young above all 
in his devotion to loved ones. He was Hked by all' 
loved by not a few, and he inspired with a passionate 
devotion to himself those who were entitled to 
passionate devotion from him. In Charles H Nel- 
son, his townsmen in Grafton, where he was' born 
where he had lived all his days, lose not only a great 
industrial force, which will henceforth be missed 
there even materially, but thev lose also a most 
valued citizen, who never shrank from the perform- 
ance of a public duty, even if it involved conse- 
quences disagreeable to himself. But his friends 
mourn in him a soul the like of which is only rarely 
met. and the void created in their hearts" bv his 

^i^j't"""^. tjiey feel to be one that cannot be 
nlled. (I. P.) 

Tn the town of Grafton he was a large and fre- 
quent benefactor. More than one public gift serves 





l^-^c^oOn^C^^ (2^^^^^^^-^^^ 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



521 



as a memorial to liim and his lamented father. In 
politics Mr. Nelson was a Republican, but was too 
busy to take public office. He w'as a member of 
the Republican town committee. He served the town 
from 1886 to 1890 as selectman and declined a re- 
■election. He was a charter member of the Algonquin 
Club of Boston, a member of the Conmionwealth 
Club of Worcester, and of the Tatassit Canoe Club 
also of Worcester. He married, January 2, 1897, 
Annie Boleyn Brown, at Providence. Rhode Island, 
who survives him. She is the daughter of James 
Brown, a native of Pictou, Nova Scotia, of English 
ancestry. Her mother was Candace A. (Wheelock) 
Brown, daughter of L. S. Wheelock, a descendant 
of Ralpfi Wheelock, one of the pioneers of New 
England. Her grandfather was Robert Brown. Mr. 
Nelson died December 30. 1905. 

FRANCIS A. RICHARDSON, deceased, for 
forty years a resident of the town of Leicester, was 
■born in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, September 16, 
18,34, and died at his home in Leicester, Massachu- 
setts. May 31, 1889. He was educated in the schools 
of his native town, and then removed to Millbury, 
residing there until he was fifteen years of age, 
when he took up his residence in Leicester. He 
devoted his entire attention to the card clothing 
trade, and this line of business enabled him to 
provide a comfortable home for his family. In 
religion Tie was a Congregationalist and in politics 
a Republican. 

Mr. Richardson married, August 13, 1856. Sarah 
A. Knowles, born October 4, 1834, in the old Wash- 
burn mansion at Leicester, Massachusetts, where she 
now (1905) resides and which was built in 1789, 
it being one of the oldest houses in that town. She 
was educated at a select school in Leicester. Two 
children were the issue of this marriage: May A., 
born July 26, 1862, in Leicester", died August I, 
1862 : and Edward, born December 5, 1865, died 
September 11, 1866. Mrs. Richardson is a member 
of the Congregational church. Edward Knowles, 
father of Mrs. Sarah A. Richardson, was born in 
Hardwick. Massachusetts., September 13, 1799. He 
was educated in the schools of that town, and later 
learned the trade of carpenter which he followed 
for a number of years in the town of Leicester, 
Massachusetts. He attended the Congregational 
church, and was a Republican in politics. By his 
marriage to Sarah Bi.gelow, of Spencer, a daughter 
of John Bigelow, who came to that town from 
Framingham, the following named children were 
born : Dennis Wright, born October 5, 1829, died 
1833 : Sarah A., born October 4. 1834. widow of 
Francis A. Richardson : George E., born February 
10. 1S36. died T871 ; and John B., born June 3, 1837, 
died ^larch 17, 1850. 

JOHN EDWARD BACON, a merchant of 
Spencer. Worcester county, Massachusetts, was there 
born July 11. 1837. He was the son of Berthier 
and Cynthia Ann (Wilson) Bacon. His father is 
a tanner by trade and his mother, Cynthia Ann 
Wilson, was the daughter of Jacob and Lydia Wil- 
son, of Snencer. Massachusetts. 

John Edward Bacon received his first educational 
training in the cotnmon schools of Charlton, and at 
the age of sixteen years went to Leicester Academy, 
later to Quabog Seminary of Warren, !Massachu- 
«etts. and then to the high school at Spencer, Massa- 
chusetts. After leaving the school room he started 
in the boot manufacturing business. In 1865 he 
entered the Charles & George Watson Boot Manu- 
lacturing Company, and in 1866 the firm name was 
changed to George Watson & Co., Mr. Bacon then 



becoming a member of the firm. One year later 
he took hold of the business himself and conducted 
an establishment under the firm name of Kent & 
Bacon for eight years. In 1875 his business con- 
.solidatcd with that of Bush & Grout, and continued 
that way for two years. From 1877 to 1880 the firm 
was known as Bacon & Co., and for the next thir- 
teen years as Bacon. Kent & Co. From that time, 
1889. he conducted the business alone for the re- 
mainder of his life. During middle life Mr. Bacon 
engaged in school teaching, and also in the grocery 
and provision business with Asa Lamb. 

Mr. Bacon's political sympathies lie with the 
Republican party, and he served in the legislature 
in 1893 and 1894, on the State House and agricul- 
ture committee, being chairman of the latter in 1894. 
He was school committeeman of Spencer for a num- 
ber of years. He was also on the board of select- 
rnen for a number of years. In religious afifairs he 
affiliated with the LTniversalist faith, and was very 
active in organizing the Universalist church of Spen- 
cer. Mr. Bacon was very fond of music, and had 
charge of the church choir for a number of years. 
He was a member of the Masonic Order. 

On January i. 1867, he married Mary J. Hersey, 
of Spencer. Massachusetts. Miss Hersey is a daugh- 
ter of Nathan Hersey, who was born January II, 
1809. and the granddaughter of Elijah Hersey, who 
was born 1750 and died 1850. Her father, Nathan 
Hersey, was sheriff of Worcester county. He mar- 
ried Harriet Lamb, of Spencer, April 18, 1838. 
Their children were : Lucinda .'\nn, born 1840. died 
1842 : Harriet Newhall, born May 3. 1842, and Mary 
Jane, born September 2, 1845. Nathan Hersey died 
November 6, 1895, and his wife died October 20, 
1849. The children born to Mr. and Mrs. John E. 
Bacon were : Linus Hersey. born October 22, 1872, 
married. June 28. 1899. Edith Florence Hnwiand, 
W'ho was born in Oxford. July 8, 1871. Their chil- 
dren are Rachel, born September 11, 1900, and Mary, 
September 21, 1902. William E., born October 8, 
1874. married, .August 3, 1S97, Sarah Antoinette Car- 
penter, born August 16, 1875. They have one child, 
Gertrude Louise, born January 22, 1899. Mr. Bacon 
passed away February 4, 1898. 

LUCIAN A. T.\YLOR. Robert Taylor (i), the 
inmiigrant ancestor of Lucian A. Taylor, of Wor- 
cester. Massachusetts, was born in England about 
1620. He resided at Scituate. Massachusetts, and 
at Newport. Rhode Island. He was a rope maker 
by trade. He was admitted a freeman in 1655. served 
on the jury October 21, 1673. at Newport, was 
prison keeper, appointed October 29, 1673, by the 
general assembly. He died at Newport, January 
13. 1688. He married, November, 1646, Mary 
Hodges. Their children were : Mary, born Novem- 
ber, 1647. married, 1664, George Hulate. Ann, Feb- 
ruarv 12, 1650; Margaret. January 30. 1652: Robert, 
October 4. 16^3, died June 12. 1707: married Deborah 
Peckham : John, of whom later : Peter, July, 1661. 
died 1736: James, died October 7, 1690; married 
Catherine . 

(II) John Taylor, son of Robert Taylor (i), 
was born in Newport. Rhode Island, June. 1657, 
died June 9, 1747. at Little Compton, Rhode Island. 
He settled at Little Compton. His will was dated 
.•\pril 24. 1743, and proved 1747. John and Robert 

Taylor, executors. He married (first) Abigail , 

who died September 16, 1720. He married (second) 

Sarah , who died 1764. Her will was dated 

October 27, 17^6, and proved .August 7, 1764. The 
children of John and .Abigail Taylor were: Mary, 
born October 25. 1682: Anna. Sentember, 1686: 
Margaret, July, 1688: Lydia, .^pril, 1691 : John, 



522 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



January 7, 1694, of whom later ; Robert, Decem- 
ber, 1695 ; Philip, May 13, 1697. 

(III) John Taylor, son of John Taylor (2), 
was born in Little Compton. Rhode Island, January 
7, 1694. He settled at Providence and married 

Neomy or Naomi . Their children were: John, 

born August 6, 1716, of whom later: Elizabeth, 
January 3, 1717; Benjamin, January 27, 1719; Char- 
ity, May 10, 1 72 1. 

(IV) John Taylor, son of' John Taylor (3), 
was born in Providence, Rhode Island, August 6, 
1716. 

(V) Richard Taylor, the son of John Taylor 
(4), was born in Providence about 1750. He mar- 
ried Susannah, who died May 20. 1830, aged seventy- 
eiglit years, making her birth in 1752. Some of their 
children were: William, born November 4, 1783, 
died April 17. 1816; married, February 14, 1808, 
Ruth Smith : Richard. Jr., borp about 1775, of whom 
later : Stephen, of whom later. 

(VI) Stephen Taylor, son of Richard Taylor (5), 
was born about 1770 in Rhode Island, and died 
1810, aged forty years. He married Freelove Har- 
ris. Among th^r children was Jared Taylor, of 
whom later. 

(VII) Jared Taylor, son of Stephen Taylor (6), 
was born in Scituate, Rhode Island. He lived at 
Woodstock. Connecticut, where he died and was 
buried. He was a farmer. He married Catherine 
Truesdell. and their children were : Henry Fenner, 
John Erstine, Sophia Truesdell, Elizabeth Elvira, 
Andrew Harris. Lucian A., of whom later ; a boy 
who died in infancy. 

(VIII) Lucian A. Taylor, son of Jared Taylor 
(7), was born in Burrillville, Rhode Island, June 
20, 1846. He obtained his early education there 
and at Woodstock, Connecticut, whither the family 
removed when he was twelve years old. At Wood- 
stock he went to school in the building his grand- 
father built for the town. When he was sixteen 
he enlisted in the Eighteenth Connecticut Volun- 
teer Regiment and served three years in the civil 
war. Before he was seventeen years old he was 
captured at the battle of Winchester and imprisoned 
at Belle Isle and Libby prisons. He was exchanged 
later, after undergoing great suffering from want 
of proper food and clothing. He served in various 
campaigns under Generals Milroy, Sigel, Hunter, 
Crook, and Sheridan. He was at Lynchburg and 
in the Shenandoah valley campaign. He was mus- 
tered out in June. 1865. He returned to Wood- 
stock and resumed his studies at Woodstock Acad- 
emy and Howe's Business College. Worcester. 

In April, 1867. he entered the ofifice of the city 
engineer of Worcester, the first assistant employed 
in the office. He was connected with the city en- 
gineering department for seventeen years. He was 
in charge of work for the sewer and water de- 
partments. In 1884 he was elected water commis- 
sioner and served also in 1885 and part of 1886. 
He resigned to accept a position in Boston. In 
1888 his employer died and he went into business 
for himself as general consulting engineer. He made 
a specialty of public works, such as reservoirs, dams, 
water works and sewer systems. He has had his 
headquarters in Boston. He has had charge of the 
construction of the water works of many of the 
principal cities of New England and has also been 
engineer of construction and consulting engineer 
for many cities and towns in Massachusetts. He has 
often been called as an expert in litigation over 
water works and has often served as appraiser in 
condemning land property for water works, etc. 
He has designed many water works for towns and 
villages. Mr. Taylor is a member of the American 



Society of Civil Engineers, the Boston Society of 
Civil Engineers, the Connecticut Society of Civil 
Engineers, the New England Water Works Asso- 
ciation, George H. Ward Post, No. 10, Grand Army 
of the Republic, and the Worcester County Me- 
chanics' Association. 

He tnarried, August 29, 1868, Jennette Arnold^ 
of Putnam, Connecticut. She was the daughter of 
Alexander and Nancy (Bellows) Arnold. Their 
children are : Edwin A., graduate of the Worcester 
Polytechnic Institute, Civil Engineer, employed by 
the Atlantic Coast Railway; has two children: Eva 
M., lives at home with parents, at 8 Dean street. 

LEVI HUBBARD HOWE. John How (i), 
the English progenitor of Levi Hubbard Howe, of 
Holden, Mas?achusetts, was descended from an 
ancient and distinguished family. His im:uediate 
family descent, we are told, is from the Hows 
of Hodinhall. Very little is known of the English 
ancestry beyond the name and that John How lived 
in Warwickshire and was the father of John How, 
the immigrant ancestor, of whom later. 

(II) John Howe, son of John How (i), came 
to New England when a young man and is said 
to have been at Watertown for a short time. He 
settled in Sudbury in 1639 and lived there nearly 
twenty years. In 1642 he was selectman, and in 
1655 was appointed by the minister and selectmen 
to "see to restraining the youth on the Lord's Day." 
He was admitted a freeman May 13, 1640. He 
was one of the Sudbury petitioners to the general 
court in 1657 for the grant of land which con- 
stituted Marlboro, and he was the first white man 
to settle in what is now the flourishing city of Marl- 
boro. He has had a host of descendants in that 
town and the vicinity, though some of the families 
of this name are descended from another early 
settler in Marlboro, Abraham Howe, who came 
there from Roxbury. Edward Howe, of Water- 
town. Massachusetts, was some relation of John 
Howe. John Howe settled about a hundred rods 
from Spring Hill meeting house, a little east of 
the present road from Spring Hill to Feltonville. 
He was a neighbor and friend of the Indians until 
the war broke out in ,1675, and was often an arbi- 
trator and advisor. He was selectman of Marl- 
boro. He petitioned the general court September 
30. 1662. to be excused from training because he 
was "aged, thick of hearing and maintained three 
soldiers in the family," It is likely that these three 
sons fought in King Philip's war. He kept the 
first public house in Marlboro. 

He died at Marlboro May 28, 1680. His will was 
made May 24. 16S0, and proved June 15, follow- 
ing. He bequeathed to his wife Mary: children 
Samuel. Isaac. Josiah Thomas, Eleazer, Sarah Ward, 
Mary Witherby : grandchild John, son of John. 
The children of John and Mary Howe were : John, 
Jr.. born August 24, 1640. married, January 22. 1662, 
Elizabeth : he was killed by the Indians: Sam- 
uel, born October 20, 1642. married, June 5, 1663, 
Martha Bent: Sarah, born September 25, 1644. mar- 
ried. June. 1667. Samuel Ward; Mary, born June 
18. 1646, died 1647; Isaac, born August 8. 1648, 
married. June 17, 1671, Francis Wood; Josiah. mar- 
ried, March 18, 1671, Mary Haynes, of Sudbury; 
Mary, born January 18. 16,^4, married, September 
18. 1672. John Witherby: Thomas, born June 12,, 
1656, see forward : Daniel, born June 3, 1658. died. 
1661 ; Alexander, born December 29. i66t, died Jan- 
uary following; Eleazer, born January 18. 1662, 
married. 1683. Hannah How. daughter of Abrahara 
How. the inuiiigrant. 

(III) Thomas Howe, son of John Howe (2), 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



523 



was born in Sudburj^ Massachusetts, June 12, 1656. 
He became one of the most prominent citizens o£ 
his day in Marlboro. He held the principal town 
olTices, assessor, selectman, etc., and was deputy to 
the general court. He doubtless fought in King 
Philip's war and afterward he took part in a severe 
engagement with Indians at Lancaster ; he became 
colonel of his regiment and was the most prominent 
military man of his section. He was one of His 
Majesty's justices of the peace. He kept a public 
house at Marlboro in i6g6. He married (first), 
June 8, 1681, Sarah Hosmer. She died April 7, 
1724, and he married (second), December 24, 1724, 
Mary Barron. He died February 16, 1733. aged 
seventy-seven years. Children of Colonel Thomas 
and Sarah Howe were: Tabitha, born March 29, 
1684, married, April 2, 1713, James Eager; James, 
born June 27, 1685, married Margaret Gates; Jona- 
than, born April 23, 1687, married, April 5, 171 1, 
Lydia Brigham ; Prudence, born August 2, 1678, 
married, January 5, 1715, Abraham Williams; 
Thomas, born June 16, 1692, see forward; Sarah, 
born August 16, 1697. 

(IV) Thomas Howe, son of Colonel Thomas 
Howe (3), was born in Marlboro, Massachusetts, 
June 16. 1692. He settled in Marlboro also. He 

married Rebecca ■ , who died July 3, 1797- He 

died at Marlboro, April 2, 1777. Their children, all 
born at Marlboro, were: Thomas, born June 20, 
1710; Mary, June 30, 1718; Ezekiel, June 29, 1720, 
see forward; Simon, October 28, 1722, married 
Lydia Baker, of Littleton, Massachusetts; Sarah, 
July 4, 1725. married, 1746, Benjamin Hoar; Re- 
becca, August 16, 1727. 

(V) Ezekiel Howe, son of Thomas Howe (4), 
was born in Marlboro, Massachusetts, January 29, 
1720. He was brought up at Marlboro and married 
there Elizabeth Rice, daughter of Samuel and Abi- 
gail (Clapp) Rice, descendant of Edmund Rice, 
the immigrant, a sketch of whom is given elsewhere 
in this work. Ezekiel Howe removed to Worcester 
about 1743, and is the ancestor of many of this 
surname in Worcester county. Children of Ezekiel 
and Elizabeth Howe were: Patience, born June 10, 
1742, at Marlboro; Elizabeth, born at Worcester, 
February 12, 1744; Ebenezer, born November 4, 
1746, settled' in Winchendon, Massachusetts; Joel, 
born November 2, 1748: Jotham, see forward; Lucy, 
born April 20, 1752; Rebecca, born April 3, 1754; 
Ezekiel, Jr.. born March 20, 1756. 

(VI) Jotham Howe, son of Ezekiel Howe (5), 
was born at Worcester, Massachusetts, June 17, 
1754. His name appears in a list of revolutionary 
soldiers that were enlisted for active service, in 
Captain Samuel Thomson's company. Major Asa 
Baldwin's division, of Colonel Denny's regiment, 
September 26. 1777. to reinforce the northern de- 
partment of the Continental army. He lived at 
Winchendon a few years, where his brother Ebenezer 
settled. He bought a farm in Holden, February 23, 
1773. of Moses Stickney, formerly Colonel Hatch's. 

He married, July 2. I770, Dorothy Smith, at 
Worcester. She was born in Holden, March i, 
1751, daughter of Isaac and Martha (Davis) Smith. 
He settled in Holden in 1773. He was a farmer. 
He and his wife belonged to the Congregational 
church until November 15, 1784, vvhen at their own 
request thev were dismissed and recommended to 
Mr. Gair's.'of Medfield. evidently a Baptist society, 
for the church record states: "the objections offered 
against the church were admitting persons without 
a verbal relation of a work of grace on the heart, 
and baptizing infants without warrant from the 
word of God." 

Children of Jotham and Dorothy Howe, all born 



in Holden, were: i. Dolly, born November 11, 
1770. 2. Patty, born May 25, 1779, married, August 
7, 1797, Isaac Fuller, of Holden, and had Amasa. 
3. Dorothy, born September 12, 1780, married, No- 
vember 28, 1799, Aaron Holt, of Holden, and they 
had— Joel, 'born March 30, 1803; Jotham How, born 
born February 22, 1805. 4. Jotham, Jr., born April 
17. 1783, see forward. $■ Thomas, born August 19, 
1785. married Sally Walker, September 25, 1806, 
at Holden, and they had: Amasa, born November 
13, 1807; Lyman, born December 13, 1811 ; William, 
born June i', 1814; Thomas, born April 8, 1816; Joel, 
born May 11, 18 18. 

(VII) Jotham Howe, son of Jotham Howe (6), 
was born at Holden, Massachusetts, April 17, 1782. 
He was a farmer and cooper by trade, and he fol- 
lowed his trade to some extent besides conductmg 
his farm, which was situated in the northeast part 
of the town. He joined the Baptist Society of 
Templeton, March 13, l8o,i, and was exempted from 
being taxed to pay the Congregational church ex- 
penses. He was later a constituent member of the 
Holden Baptist church. 

He married (intentions dated June 29), 1807, 
Elinor Henrv of Princeton. Their children were: 
Almira. born at Holden, September 27, 1808, died 
Januarv, 1832: Jotham, Jr., born May 23, 1810; 
Sukev,'born September 30, 1813; Silas, see forward; 
Harriet Newell, born July 13, 1827, died July 6, 
18^3. 

'(VIII) Silas Howe, son of Jotham Howe (7), 
was bom in Holden. Massachusetts, October 5. J814. 
He was educated in the common schools of his 
native town, and during his youth assisted his father 
on the farm. Then he worked in the saw mill 
at the North woods, and during the busy seasons 
used to work nights and half the days as well, put- 
ting in eighteen hours out of twenty-four in the 
mill. When he was twenty-two years of_ age. he 
went to live on the homestead of his wife's father, 
Benjamin Hubbard, in the northern part of the 
town, and later he bought the farm, which con- 
tained some one hundred and ten acres. He car- 
ried on this farm for a period of forty years or 
more. In his younger days he taught school for 
several terms. He did an extensive teaming busi- 
ness and burned charcoal for the market before 
the days of anthracite and bituminous coal. He ciit 
timber" and sold lumber and fire wood besides his 
general farm work. He was a man of great activity 
and energy, and used to say that he did not know 
what it \vas to be tired. His physical endurance 
must have been remarkable and it was tested almost 
daily through a long life of hard labor. He was 
thrifty, saving and shrewd in making investments, 
and acquired a competence. He invested largely in 
government bonds at a time when financial support 
was appreciated by friends of the LTnion. He used 
to answer those who questioned the wisdom of his 
course by saying that, which ever way the war 
went, he stood as good a chance as anyone. _ In 
this case he combined shrewdness and patriotism. 
He was a close student of public affairs, a well- 
read man on many subjects, a man of independent 
iudgment. common sense and self-reliance. In re- 
ligion he was a Baptist, and in politics a Republi- 
can. He served on the district school committee, 
was overseer of the poor and highway surveyor. 
He died at Holden. October 29. 1891. 

He married. April 24, 18.^8, Persis Walker Hub- 
bard born September 24, 1815. daughter of Benja- 
min 'and Polly (Walker) Hubbard, of Holden. Her 
father was a' farmer, and one of the charter mem- 
bers of the Baptist church. Children of Silas and 
Persis W. Howe were: Augustus Franklin, born 



524 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



April 19, 1839, died October 2i. 1879; Charles Nel- 
son, born January 27, 1S41 ; Levi Hubbard, born 
August 23, 1845, see forward; Mary Chandler 
(twin), born October 10, 1847, died February 5 
1869; Joseph Leander (twin), born October 10 
I847; Hervey Newton, born June 4, 1849, died Sep- 
tember 27, 1849; Silas A., born September 18, i8s6 
died August 6, 1878; Frances N. • ^ ■ 

/o\^^^-' h'^"' ^^"bbard Howe, son of Silas. Howe 
(8J, was born at Holdcn. Massachusetts August 23 
1845. He began his school life rather early and at- 
tended the public schools of Holden until he was 
hfteen years old, working at the same time on his 
fathers farm. At the age of sixteen years and 
until he was twenty-five, he carted wood from 
Holden to Worcester, bringing back groceries coal 
and general merchandise for the Holden merchants 
In 1871 he removed to Princeton, where he bought 
of his uncle, Warren Hubbard, an eighty-five acre 
farm in the south part of the town, and conducted a 
dairy farm, selling his milk and eggs in Worcester 
largely to private customers. In 1894 he returned to 
Holden to take charge of the homestead and he 
remained there eleven years. In 1892 shortly after 
his fathers death, he bought his present farm of 
twenty-four acres at Holden Centre of Thomas W 
Crieason. It was known as the Ethan Davis place 
at that time. He has been especiallv successful with 
his dairy and has a large herd of cows. His resi- 
dence IS one of the finest in the town. 

Mr. Howe is a member of the Baptist church 
and one of the executive committee, of which he has 
been the chairman. In politics he is a Republican 
and has been delegate to various nominating con- 
ventions of that party. He was tax collector of 
Holden 1895-96, and is at present (1906) the presi- 
dent of the Cemetery Commission. He served as 
road commissioner while in Princeton He is a 
member of Anchoria Lodge, No. 42, Odd Fellows, 
of Worcester. He is also a member of the Wor- 
cester Agricultural Society, of the Farmers' and 
Mechanics Association of Holden, the Worcester 
County Bee Association, and the Harvest Club of 
Holden. 

He married, May 3, 1871. Angelina Rouett Moore 
born March ir, 1848, daughter of William and Ange- 
line (Chafhn) Moore, of Holden. Her father was 
a farmer, was prominent in town affairs. He was 
an active member of the Holden Rifle Club of 
Ma.^sachusetts Volunteers. Children of Levi Hub- 
^'=":'J,.-!"J Angelina R., all born in Holden, were- 
I. William Josephine, born August i, 1874, married 
September 2. 1896, George C. Johnson, of Holden' 
and they have : Robert Howe, born November 19 
1898: Raymond Walker, born July 14, 1902- Benia- 
niin Hubbard, born December 14 1904 o Edith 
Georgia, born December 22, 1875, 'resides with par- 
ents. 3. Clara Persis. born June 16, 1877 mar- 
ried June 18, 1902. Edward Franklin Drawbridge 
of Brnokline. 4. Olive Angeline, born February •'' 
1880, married, November 26, 1903, George Herbert 
Marsh, of Holden. 



water, a blacksmith by trade, bought of James Linds- 
ley, January 4, ,742-43. for one hundred and thirty 
pounds current money, hfty acres of land in Stafford 
the deed having been recorded January 24, 1742-43' 

UrZ,,"',''^"u^ l^'' purchase, he seems to have re- 
turned to Bridgewater where, February 2? 1744 
was recorded the intention of his marriage -to Dinth 

fn 97;ff r"l^ ^""hT ^'"^'^ '° ^■'f'^' th'^y returned 
o Stafford where May 30, 1748, he purchased twen- 
ty-five acres of land of James Blodgett, deed re- 
corded July 19, 1748, and states that both the parties 

Dfn'nb°/p^''^°[,1- 7''^ ^'"''^^'=" °f Thoma'sand 
Dinah (Perry) Wood, as recorded at Stafford, were ■ 

la ]V:n Tj^'^'T/y r^-.''^7-AS; John, January 
20, 1749; Nathan, March 16, 1752; next child record 
was torn, name not readable; Ruth August is 17^6- 
Lydia, August 22, 1758. 

Nathan Wood, born March 16, 175^ married 
fo"'V. ^'-^'^y' November 30, 1780, and die'd August 
28, 1806. Their children were born in Stafl^ord, but 
on account of the condition of the record the names 
and dates cannot all be deciphered. They had a 
daughter , Celinda, died May 3, I793; Nathan 



EDWARD MARVIN WOOD comes of Colonial 
ancestors. The progenitor of the familv was John 
Wood, abas Atwood. who settled in' Plvmouth 
Massachusetts as early as 1636. and died leaving a 
wi 1 probated March 7, 167.=;, which mentioned sons ■ 
John,. Nathaniel, Isaac, and six daughters For 
many generations their descendants have paid tribute 
to the old historic Plymouth Colony 

Among the early settlers of Stafford, Hartford 
*i°,j"'^'' .A-'^r"'^'^""'*' ■'V"« the families of Wood 
Alden, Fuller, Foster and others from Plvmouth 
county, Massachusetts. Thomas Wood, of Bridge- 



i\ra,4,i At'- 1 ■-"■■■-", ^i^u iviay J, 1/93 iNatnan 
-Marble Abijah, and Homer John, born April 2 
1794, throu.gh whom the ancestral line is continued' 
AT w "T -f°'i",Wood, the grandfather of Edward 
M. Wood, was born m Stafford, Connecticut April 
2, 1794, his father, Nathan Wood, dying when he 
was twelve years of age. At the age of eighteen. 
Homer J. Wood entered the employ of the United 
states government at the armory in Springfield re- 
maining there continuously for fifty years, living to 
Q^Q^^A ° s^v/'ity-four years, and died October 15 
i«0«. A part of the land now occupied by the Spring- 
held Armory was formerly owned by him 

Corbin O. Wood, father of Edward M Wood 
born August 25, 1821, invented and patented several 
improvements in guns. He was first employed at 
the United States armory in Springfield, but in 18=;' 
entered the employ of the late Ethan Allen, of Wor- 
cester, as a contractor, and employing as contractor 

r'-uf ^i y*" ™u" '" ""^ "'^'''"S °f g""s. He was a 
skillful straightener of rifle barrels, an art which at 
that time was confined to comparatively a few men 
He retired from active business in the year 1883 
to enjov in tranquility the fruits of his previous 
years of skillful labor and success. In early life he 
was somewhat of a musician, playing the violin in 
the church choir. After having retired from busi- 
ness, he made violins as a recreation, duplicating bv 
actual measurement the celebrated violins of 
Guanarius and Stradivarius and producing some 
realv fine instruments. He was a man of natural 
intelligence, a great reader of books, of progressive 
Ideas, and mechanical ingenuity 

May 18, 1843, he married Eunice A., daughter of 
Marvin Kirkland. of Agawam. She died December 
3, 1890, havnig been the mother of two children, 
Sarah C. and Edward M. He died in the year 1904 
at the age of eighty-three, leaving an honorable 
record. 

Edward M. Wood, a resident of Worcester was 
?''iv;?T,7 ''^'^"tJ' y*^^" ^ manufacturer of edge tools 
at Millbury. He was born in Springfield. Massachu- 
setts January 27. 1851, attended the public schools 
ot Worcester and the Wesleyan Academy at Wil- 
braham. He strove to become broad-minded by 
good reading and the liberal education which asso- 
ciation with the men of the Commonwealth in- 
spires. With a desire to acquire a thorough knowl- 
ed.ge of_ mechanical processes by actual labor under 
proper instructions, he was taught in the machine 
shop of Ethan Allen mechanical drawing, pattern 
making, and the operation of various machine tools 
as lathes, planers, milling machines, etc. Turning his 




^, 



C^^c^i-^a^^t^ 7^, CLrzrZr-z^ 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



525 



attention to the commercial side of manufacturing, 
after serving an apprenticeship in the hardware store 
of White & Conant, lie, at the age of twenty-one, 
with a partner, opened a hardware store on Main 
street near Frankhn square, in Worcester, and buy- 
ing out his partner in 1S79 he continued the business 
successfully until 1884, when he disposed of the same 
to W. H. Willard & Co., who are at the present 
time (1906) continuing the business at the same 
place. In 1884 he became connected with the Buck 
Brothers Riverlin Works, edge tool manufactory in 
Millbury, and was for a number of years the senior 
member of the firm. This enterprise is a fair rep- 
resentation of an old Sheffield industry, transplanted 
to this country and firmly established, and is the 
culmination of efforts of three generations of skill- 
ful edge tool makers. The Riverlin works were 
established in 1853 and occupy a substantial brick 
building erected for the manufacture of edge tools, 
which is surrounded by neat cottages, forming an 
attractive little village. The product of this firm is 
of a high order of excellence, enjoying an enviable 
reputation, and consignments are sent on orders to 
nearly all parts of the world. The tools made here 
are adopted as samples by the United States 
government. 

While not claiming to be an inventor, Mr. Wood 
has by inheritance and training acquired an inclina- 
tion toward things mechanical, and his knowledge 
in that direction has enabled him to contrive devices 
for greatly facilitating and improving the process 
of the manufacture ot the output which has in turn 
contributed materially to the success and enlarge- 
ment of the Riverlin works. He retired from this 
firm, and from active business in 1905. He has 
made several foreign trips, believes in out-door re- 
creation and is connected with several social clubs, 
being a member of the Society of Antiquity, the 
Worcester Club, the Tatnuck Country Club, and was 
for many years a member of the Art Students Club. 
He is an enthusiastic automobilist. being among the 
first to take up that form of recreation, having been 
interested as far back as 1894, when he visited the 
shop of one of the first makers of automobiles in 
Paris, long before they came into general use. 

Mr. Wood married. May 27. 1879, Annie M. 
Buck, of Millbury, and two children were born to 
them, Bessie, March 24, 1882, died April 10, 1892 ; 
and Helen Frances, February 18, 1888. Mr. Wood 
is by profession a Congregationalist and a member 
of Piedmont church, as are also his wife and daugh- 
terer. The family resides at No. 6 Ripley street, 
Worcester, Massachusetts. , 

STONE FAMILY. Gregory Stone (i), the 
immigrant ancestor of Lyman T. Stone, of Boylston, 
Massachusetts, was baptized in Great Bromley, Essex 
county. England, April 19. 1592. According to his 
own deposition made September 18, 1658, he was 
born 1591 or 1592, his age being about sixty-seven 
years. His age at death, November 30. 1672, was given 
as eighty-two years. He was probably born, there- 
fore, in 1591. He was the son of David and Ursula 
Stone, and grandson of Simaii and Agnes Stone, all 
of England. He had a brother. Simon Stone, who 
also emigrated to America, sailing in the ship "In- 
crease." .April 15. 1635; settled in Watertown ; was 
admitted freeman May 25, 1636 ; town ofticer and 
deacon ; died September 22, 1665. Various other 
immigrant settlers have been erroneously supposed 
to be brothers of Gregory ; Rev. Samuel Stone of 
Hartford was not a brother. Gregory Stone was 
admitted a freeman with his brother Simon, May 25. 
1636. He was a proprietor of Watertown, but re- 
sided most of his life in Cambridge. He had some 
famous orchards for his day. His farm vas on 



the present site of the Botanic Gardens of Harvard 
University. He was one of the most prominent 
men of his day; a deputy to the general court; was 
elected deacon of Shepard Mitchell's church, and 
served thirty-four years, being the last survivor of the 
original membership ; was a civil magistrate, and one 
of the governor's deputies. His will, proved De- 
cember 14, 1672, mentions his wife Lydia and her 
children by her former husband — John Cooper and 
Lydia Fiske ; his sons Daniel, David, John and Sam- 
uel ; daughter Elizabeth Porter; daughter Sarah, wife 
of David Miriam ; grandson John, son of David 
Stone. He married in England. July 20, 1617, Mar- 
garet Garrad, born December 5, 1597, died August, 
1626, in England. He married (second) Lydia 
Cooper, widow, who died June 24, 1674. Her son by 
her former husband was John, married Anne Spar- 
hawk; her daughter Lydia married David Fiske. 
Children of Gregory and Margaret Stone: i. John, 
mentioned below. 2. Daniel, baptized July 15, 1620; 

settled in Cambridge; married Mary ; was a 

physician. 3. David, baptized September 22, 1622; 
resided at Cambridge ; married three times — Eliza- 
beth, Dorcas and Hannah. 4. Elizabeth, baptized 
October 3, 1624, buried in Nayland, England. Chil- 
dren of Gregory and Lydia Stone: 5. Elizabeth, bap- 
tized March 6, 1628; married Anthony Porter. ,6. 
Samuel, baptized February 4, 1630; died September 
27, 1715; resided at Lexington; married first, Sarah 
Stearns, of Watertown; married (second), June 7, 

1655, Abigail . 7. Sarah, baptized Felsruary 8, 

1632; died 1677; married July 12, 1653, Joseph Mer- 
riam (Miriam). These children were baptized at 
Nayland, England. 

(II) John Stone, son of Gregory Stone (l), 
liaptized at Nayland, England, July 31, 1618, died at 
Cambridge, Massachusetts, May 5, 1683. He re- 
moved to Sudbury with the early settlers, was a 
proprietor there, and shared in three divisions of fand. 
He bought of the Indians at Nalick, May 15. 1656, 
ten acres of land on the south side of the riyer at 
Sudbury, and his purchase was confirmed by general 
court 1656, together with a grant of fifty acres 
of land for services, etc. He added to the tract he 
already owned in what is now the village of Saxon- 
ville, in the town of Framingham, until he owned 
a very large stretch of land. He built his house where 
the present railroad station is located in Saxon- 
ville. He built the first house in w-hat is now the 
village of Cochituate, in the present tow'n of Way- 
land, then Sudbury. He built in all six houses in 
Sudbury and Framingham and built the first mill 
in Framingham, in 1659, at the falls now known as 
Stone's Mills, a corn mill, and his son Daniel built 
there the first saw mill. He was appointed fence 
viewer 1654, town clerk 1655, and was admitted a 
freeman 1665. In 1645 he sold his house in Sud- 
bury to John Moore. He was the first to build his 
house in Framingham. He located, without having 
a grant, at Otter Neck, on the west side of Sud- 
bury, in 1646-7. He married. 1638. Annie, born in 
England, daughter of Elder Edward and Margaret 
Howe, natives of England. Children of John and 
.Annie Stone: r. Hannah, born June 6, 1640: mar- 
ried July I, 1658. John Bent. 2. Mary; married Isaac 
Hunt; second .April 30, 1681, Eliphalet Fox. 3. 
Daniel, born .August 31, 1644. mentioned below. 4. 
David, born October 31. 1646; married Susanna. 5. 
Elizabeth, born 1650; married 1678 Samuel Stow. 
6. Margaret, born October 22. 1653: married William 
Brown January n, 1605. 7. Tabitha born May 20, 
165s ; married November 3. 1674, John Rice. 8. 
Sarah, born Sontember 22. 1654: married Jacob Hill, 
o. Nathaniel, born May 11, 1660: married Sarah Wayt 
of Maiden .April 25, 1684. 10. John, non compos 
mentis, ir. , died young. 12. , died young. 



526 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



(III) D.-iniel Stone, son of John Stone (2), born 
Angnst 31, 1644, died 1719, aged seventy-five years. 
He had the mill, and May 22, 171 1, sold a quarter 
interest in the water privilege to Samuel How, Sr., 
of Sudbury, but bought it back February 15, 1714. 
The mills remained in the Stone family until 1824, 
when the business was incorporated. Daniel settled 
in one of his father's houses near his father's resi- 
dence. He was one of the first board of selectmen 
of the town of Framingham in 1700, and was for 
two years deacon of the Sudbury church before that. 
He married, November 2, 1667, Mary (Moore) 
Ward, widow, a school teacher in 169,3-4 >n Sud- 
bur'- died June 10, 1703, in Framingham. He mar- 
ried (second) February 6, 1704, Abigail Wheeler, 
died October 28, 1711. He married (third) Novem- 
ber 18. 1712, Ruth Haynes, of Sudbury. His son 
John administered the estate. Children of Daniel 
and Mary Stone: i. Daniel, mentioned below. 2. 
Anne, born January 15. 1670. 3. Tabitha, born May 
4. 1673; married David Haynes. 4. Sarah, born Feb- 
ruary 14, 167s ; married James Rice. 5. Mary, born 
August 10, 1677; married Jonas Rice. 6. Elizabeth, 
born November 9, 1678; married Joseph Livermore. 
7. Abigail, born February 13, 1680; married Dr. John 
Sherman. 8. John, married Anne Tileston of Dor- 
chester, January 31, 1706-7; died November 26, 1710; 
she died March 25, 1733. 

(IV) Daniel Stone, Jr., son of Daniel Stone (3), 
born in Sudbury. Massachusetts, November 22, 1668, 
died at Framingham, December 22, 1702, aged thirty- 
four years. Although a young man when he died, 
he was selectman and town treasurer of Framing- 
ham in 1702, and served in the expedition to Canada 
under Phipps in 1690 with the Sudbury company. 
He married Patience Brown, who died November 13, 
1722, at Framingham. She married (second) Na- 
thaniel Rice. Children of Daniel and Patience Stone : 

1. Priscilla. married James Fo.x, of Dorchester. 2. 
Beulah, born .\ugust 23, 1695; married, January 14, 
T719, Tosiah Brown, of Sudbury; (second) Colonel 
Timothy Minot. of Concord. 3. Keziah, born July 
29. 1697; married March 5, 1728 Eliab Moore. 4. 
Micah. mentioned below. 5. Lois, born November 
21, 1701; married Moses Maynard, of Sudbury, 
March 18, 1723-4. 

(V) Micah Stone, son of Daniel Stone. Jr. (4), 
born on "The Island," Sudbury, now Wayland, 
March 11. 1699, died October 13, 1738, of small pox, 
at the age of thirty-nine years. He resided in 
Framingham and was selectman there 1732 until his 
death : deputy 1734 and 1735. He married, April 

2, 1724, Abigail Stone, of Lexington. She mar- 
ried (second) January 22, 1752, Colonel Joseph 
Perry, and she died October 4, 1796, at an advanced 
age. Children of Micah and Abigail Stone: i. 
Josiah. born December 23, 1724 : married Anne 
Haven. February 24, 1746-7; died April 2, 1785. 2. 
Daniel, mentioned below. 3. Micah, born May 30, 
1729; married Rachel Haynes, of Sudbury, Octo- 
ber II, 174S: married (second) Sarah Bacheller, 
widow, of Grafton. 4. John, born March 28, 1731 ; 
died in army, December 6, I75> 5. Moses, born 
June 26, 1734: married Hannah Moore, of Sud- 
bury. November 14, 1754 ; died in Framingham, July 
13. 1813. 6. Eliab, born May 5, 1737; married, Octo- 
ber 17, 176=;. Sarah Hubbard, of Concord; died Au- 
gust 31, 1822: graduate of Harvard 1758; teacher 
at Sudbury; ordained minister at Reading, May 20, 
1761. 

(VI) Daniel Stone, son of Micah Stone (.=;"), 
born at Framingham, Massachusetts, April 11, 1727, 
died .'\pril 3, 1813, aged eighty-six years. He was 
selectman 1767-68. His house was burned in 1766. 
He and his wife are buried in the Church Hill 
cetnetery at Framingham Centre, near the middle 



of the yard, in a lot enclosed by iron fence. He mar- 
ried, 1749, Persis Haynes, born 1728 and died May 
7, 1804. aged seventy-six years. "Their children : i. 
Persis, born July 17, 1750; died March i, 1752. 2. 
Nahum, born November 25, 1752; married Hannah 
Haven ; died at Grafton, 1805. 3. John, mentioned 
below. 4. Daniel, born September 5, 1760; mar- 
ried Sally Buckminster, born 1770, died April 9, 
i84,s ; he died November 9, 1834. 5. Persis, born Au- 
gust 15, 1762; married Buckley Adams, February, 
1785. 

(VII) John Stone, son of Daniel Stone (6), 
born at Framingham, February 17, 1757, died at 
Cambridge, August 18, 1844. His occupation was 
hotel keeping, at which he was popular and suc- 
cessful. At one time he worked for Governor LiV' 
ingston at Livine-ston Manor, New York, and his 
son, Peter Royal Stone, was named for the governor, 
John Stone had hotels at various times in Wayland 
and Sudbury. He finally bought a farm at Cam- 
brid.ge. w'here he and his daughter Abigail lived after 
the death of his wife. He married, June 25, 1778, 
Ann Hunt, born 1760, died October 20, 1829. Their 
children: i. John, Jr., born 1779, died December 
16, 1807, at Washington, Vermont. 2. Peter R., .mar- 
ried Lavinia Winship, of Lexington ; died May, 
1875, buried at Mt. Auburn. 3. Daniel, married Mary 
Jackson, of Boston; died at Newton, i860. 4. Walter, 
born January 13, 1796; died .'\ugust 22, 1869; mar- 
ried lane Merriam, born July 13. 1797, died May 
23. 1873. 5- William, mentioned below. 6. Nancy, 
married Hatch, of New York. 7. Mary, mar- 
ried Daniel Learned. 8. Hannah, married Reuben 
Hastings, of Northboro. 9. Abi,gail, died unmar- 
ried. 10. Persis, married (Toolidge Jones, and died 
of consumption soon after her marriage. 

(Villi William Stone, son of John Stone (7), 
born at Sudbury, May 13, 1787, died there March 
10, 1862. He followed his father's business of keep- 
ing hfitel, and was proprietor of taverns at Way- 
land, Sudbury and Stow. He was an earnest worker 
and became well-to-do. He married, October 25, 
1805. Sukey Cutter, born February 6, 1786, at Sud- 
bury, and died there January 18, 1871. Their chil- 
dren: I. Dana, mentioned below. 2. Emeline Susan, 
born October 16, 1808: married Abel Dakin, of Way- 
land, and (second) Walter Rogers, of Sudbury, July 
10. 18=1. 3. William born December 2, 1810; un- 
married; died at sea on whaling voyage and buried 
in Indian Ocean. 4. John, born November 8, 1812, 
at Stow- ; died April 15, 1S92. 5. George W., born 
Januarv 23, 1815, died September 30. 1871 ; mar- 
ried Maria Dttdley, born at Wayland, 1835, died July 
10. 1889. 6. .■\lbina. born September 5, 1817; married 
Warren Barker Hale, June 29, 18.34. 

(IX) Dana Stone, son of William Stone (8), 
born at Stow, Massachusetts, February 19. 1S06. 
He attended the common schools at Sudbury. He 
worked at farming at Marlboro and Wayland, and 
also engaged in stage driving. After his first wife's 
death he settled in Northboro. He died June. 1883. 
He married first. Mary A. Whitney, a native of 
Weston, Massachusetts, and descendant of John 
Whitnev, of Watertown, the immigrant ancestor of 
mo<:t of the Massachusetts families of Whitney. He 
died June. 1S83. In his younger days he was in 
the state militia and trained for many years. He 
was at one time road commissioner of the town 
of Northboro. He was first a Whig in politics, later 
a Democrat. He, attended the LTnitarian church. He 
niprried (second) Mary Newton, of Northboro: 
(third") I ois Newton, of the same town, and 
(fourth) Mrs. Nancy Rogers, also of Northboro. 
Children of Dana and Mary A. (Whitney) Stone: 
I. George Dana, born November 10. 1833. resided in 
Northboro. 2. Mary Ann, born October I, 183S, 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



527 



July 3., .569. -arned ^l^^^^^^^^^/'^lS^n. 
l,apri.L-<l, Little M.,<c,Klcn. ^;^'-',-- 'f^,,^,,^, died 

Scpleinber >6. '<>30. ^ ;'. '^^ .'."i at'^High Wycombe. 
„,„|, S..,an, J»"8l»' „;'|,i7'B..,ck ci.m.y 

„„„„, j„.„,. ,..„w„K., ..,„ . ;;;;;«;,«/«<;, s..»^L.,,,.,B,^ 

,l„.„ Sl.rcli IJ. IcOlowmg 5- «'=»■ ^ ,„j 
little M ssctidm. May 6, i-v<J- ,?J h,,,, ti,.Te 

,en.b.r 27. 16.5 ; .ti.arnoJ ^ a^ctli . ? J,^^^. 



■ ,1 Fmerv Coolidgc wlw Md a position on a 

•"'P'MSach e : 4 Sn;an h'k.>, born OctolK-r 
-mi, MasaacnusLUb. <j William born No- 



*'■ ? " ■: tit, t, sSif afoSS nS:';,an!.'5 

;\r.; or a period of eleven months, and was In, - 

mmmmm 

1901 . null I-cbrnary 13. i«/0' 

^'" 1 \mv t'tX 3 l.ois M., born Noven>ber 

^.?;.d Frncit 1 ct" at.d had one daughter, Clarissa. 
V Alfred A., born Mareh m .876. 0. Herman 11.. 
horn May 30 1878; enlisted in ' wcnty-second Reg.- 
norn »"'J' o c' , Infintrv afterwards in the 

^' "„ ?^c<MSor<^- l^ns'au. 8. Latir. A., born 
]Z-2Tml\ m.rlA Rupert j^'-"'^. ^I^'^^ '^^'^^ 
uvo children: Bernard R. and Ltliel Ircn... 



FnvVARD FOSTER BI.SCO. F.dxNnrd Bisco(i) 
is U,?'first\°o." ancestor of Edward 1 "^- K--; 
„( Wnrrc.t-r and lie Hi'co family of Worci^ur 

con,.i, m™* »«■'■ ■"" •»"' ',"'"! °m"" ';t.;, 

ESe^iS'itSSi'-t-ffiitJi-rrM; 

,- icn-k- nnrricd Huch Vonables. .hily 0. ^y-•/■ 
nt'l tdetliss nden'^ 4 Agnes, bnried at Amersham, 
SeJtemLr'" I596: will dated J'-'v 30- J59^; -- 
ried Thomas Webl^e of Agmondcsh.im, Bucks 
county, September .6., 1567. .- J'>bn, marned Joan 

^'■"\n) John Biseo. son of E.lward Bi.co d), 
lived it little Misscndcn. He Nvas a yeoman. IK 
l;:j;fi^. ,606: h. will was dated^^^ 

"t^^dJ^Z'^r^^i ^Jl\^.^^.n. mar- 
ned Joan Randall. July .8. .5(^. at Little > ':^^;;^ , 

Her will i. dalcd March ^^ •',''7-^' ""I J .■'''.';, 
16" Childrai of Jolni and Joan (Kaiid..ll) Msu) 
w^rc: I Edward, bapti/cd at L.tllc Missendon 



ii-mber 27, loib, uiainv." ^ 

l:;;pu«d tittle Miss^iden^ January ^^^-^^ ,,, 

ned there ^ '^'".^^'^'y^'l'^;,, ;T.pti^ed Litti. Mis- 
vfidcn^'lS t bt^ed thele Nove iber I.. .5«3. 9- 

-9?-fe;l^^::.^roS.r^i^^o^?. 
'•^'''^',r'='^B::;;&^"'i:t^an?'buned''^ 

la.rf ,oj,, a,id »a! i.t /„ f ','A°"" , .JSj Oc,..b.T 

\" 'SrB.Si;'iu;t;;;^j^-.:> "..-.- 
"Sirs^Strs^iji^^SiiH 

uaus-ucr o» 1 ^^^■"■\=' Christopher Thomlinsmi, citi- 
f.r, :;;::[' SprorLon!f;;n. who was buned at Bun- 

, F e d O80-1. 6. Fhcbe, born 1594. L'ttic M.^- 
1 I'd V ami' 7. Walter, bapti/.ed Amer.ham, 

Uecallb^ I '. '^4/ btiried • there February .7. 

'"°-\'l\') Nathaniel Bisco. son of Edward Bi-00 
f^', bapti/cd Little Missenden, bngland. No- 

r^'^W^'ln^^^64.^'hr^::^te'^n^^^rcuS 
i;"^ fined n'^und:.. m that year his l«rn w.t^t 

M,n Wmcol. October =, .65.. tbe '"^ >;^'^ j ^^^'^^ 
luul that he had bought of the town, lli^ son 
V h-inie Bisco, Jr., was one of the witnesses on 
Nathaniel ^'^^"'J ' , ^^ jatcd London, Sep- 
the deed. llf/\V\V\v, j'to the hands of the 

o /r Briscoe, as he tisnally spelled the name) 
.' . 1 . 1; U," l.c ore the dat ■ oi the letter. Na- 

U,l;niel'tft hll'^^r^^ol:^ children in Massachu- 



5^8 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



setts when lie returned to Kiigland, and from them 

uite d,ed at Watertov.n, and was buried there No- 
vember 20, ,642. IJc was commonly known bot°i 
."England and An.eriea as -.he Rich Tanner " H.s 

dMV;r^6'o '''''"''"''• "^'^"'^^ LittirMissen? 
uu, May 18, 16^9; mentioned in is father's letirr 
and by Governor Winthrop as a gentleman bom 
was the hrst usher of Na'thaniel Ea , d e " s^ 

vardT::;!" Y '^''ir °^ ""^ '".st,tutio„'',i;" la . 

ton nn, ???■ -• ^^"^' '"^"''^^ ■J"l"""^' Bro gl- 

to En^la r fp l "^f P'"°P<='''y "''"^" I'e returned 
to i-n-and. (broughton hrsl settled but in u,-n. 

:-r;'ir'',"^'""' """^ '"^ ched kovember if 
i/oo aged eighty-seven; had nine children) Marv^ 

rer%''6'''6:o-'"Tho"''= ^f^-"'-'. E"gland/Septe„H 
oer 10 1019, Ihomas iiroughton was the sun of 
Edward Broughton of London, j. John born .6 " 
baptixea June ,3. 1623. 4. SarV h ptim Litdl; 
Missenden, May 7, 1626, married W 1 an Bo 1 
Esq. from whom Dr. Henry Bond, th • l?J le-. ol st 

she j!efl''T' " descended; They had nrnf hi!d t 
6ne (lied i'ebrnary, 1(192-3. ^'^'i, 

tV.^^^-*- •''^'"\ l^'^co. son of Nathaniel Bjsco (s) 
the etingranl, bapti/ed June 23, 162 j at Little \ll 

lus ith?"" '^ New England 'iifSS' 
Ills Jathcr and mother. He leariied his 

fr^nV^ofSva.'r""'- V,= «- "'""Ucd'a 
18 6-0 "^,,^\'3''-'^'"«-". Massachusetts, Apri! 
ri;„i r.r »■ ,, "■ "lained, December , .. ,6w 
Lhzabe h Buleston; she died August 18 i"68q ind 
Jie died October 18, i6go. iJis will dlt,'-,! n -V ' 
-5, .690 and proved November 2 ', fo lowmg ' >' 
Tard riff ^'"•^-"'-'^"■' Abraham Jackson Vd^' eT 

r d November 20. i6;9, Abraham Jack on-^^bont 

(VI) Thomas Bisco, son of John Bi-co (-) 
born Waterlown, Massachusetts. Apri i 6,°. k i 

b'er;?'-^,(^sVr"'"V-^' '^°- J'^^ ">a'4d.%ece , 
n h'tM^t " •"^!:.''""«hter of Samuel and Han 



iv.li M, ■ \ o ' """K'ner 01 :sann;el ai 

Ihomas, baptized Mav. 1689. 

K„ ^\''.' J"'"' Hi-eo. .son of Thomas Bisco (6) 

born Watertown. Massachusetts, October 22 iC,!,' 

•• 1710-ir. barah Remington. His will is dnfrrl 
A.Kr 1|„, |„„|, „( |,„ j,„ ^,|„|j ,,^, „,„„4j \^ y„»- 



'4. 1737, Abigail Mason, born in Watertown Or.n 
ber 10. ,7,5. daughter of Joseph and Mary 'mo'iL)' 

VV at .town, where he was justice of the peace town 
aerk, representative 1733 and 173.1. Mary Monk 
_.vas daughter of Elias and Hope^ Monk of that 
part of Dorchester now called Stoughton Joseph 
Mason w.-is son of Joseph Mason and his wife Mary 
Fiske and was born October 2, 1688. AL^ry-pitke 

December I i, T 'f"^'A/" ,'^"*'''^'"d> "'^""•^'l 
ucccmijcr II, i6,-,t Sarah Wyeth, eldest child of 

se»i'"M'.so^'''i^' °^ Cambridge Mas.sacliuse, s Jo! 
seph Mason.Sr., was son of Capt. Hugh Mason 
...e ot the hrst settlers of Watenuwn, Mas.S 
sttt» and mo.st proiTiincnt among the p'onecrs- 
deputy to general court ten years; selectman heny-' 

irTfi-^^""'^',"P'="" -^',^>' S. '652; died Octo- 
Mav ; '^'^-aeed seventy-three; wife Esther died 
;m- \^^-- "-hildren of Thomas and Abigail 
Mason) B.sco : i John, born Watertown. A?,? 

.?'\r^^ , • ^'^^"'^'- ^°"^ J"'y '8. '7-JO. settled 

\f- 7 ' ', ^ ''"'-''t -^P"' ■5°' '77,5. and he married 
Maiy. daugii.er ot Joseph and Grace (Bond) Mason- 

.'""":""• '<•!-• '"= ^'-■'"'•n<=d from Woodstock, Co,: 
'lecticut, to Watertown. 

(IX) John Bisco, son of Thomas Bisco (8) 
born Watertown, April ,0, ,738. He was a soldier 
..t Lake George, 1756-7, He removed to Spencer 
Massachu.seits. ,7fi3. He married, May 10 ,764 
Deborah I'routy, born October ig, 174^. d.iugl r 

de/rD '.■■:;;: -'"" ^^'-"''"^ ^:'-^"'y- °f Sjfencer 'si e 
died December 22 1795, and he inarried (second) 
November ,795. Mrs. Esther Moore, of Worce \e r 
He died November 15, 1808. He .settled in the ccn-' 

tie niV. f "'' T'\ °" '^' ^"'" ='i" known as 
the Bisco farm. The history of Spencer says- "He 

wa,s a gentleman of good education, sound Judgment 

■ ^nl i""''''''f ^i''.'''™'^'^'--" He had the respect 
.nd coiifidence of his townsmen to an unusual de- 
gree He held the highest offices of honor and 
trusty From 1767 until his death ho was town clerk, 
selectman, assessor or treasurer. He was repre- 
sentative in general court 1777, 1780, i7,Si and 
member ot slate constitutional convention 1770 He 
\vas appointed ju.stice of the peace, with the duties 
of magistrate, by Governor John Hancock, in March 
'/»r. lie was deacon of the Spencer church "As 
a magistrate he was correct, faithful and impartial 
as ,1 churchman he was devout, pious and ex-^ 
^mplary: as a citi/cn and man he was honest, digni- 
hed and patriouc (From the inscription on his 
«r,ive.s one Children of Deacon John an<l Deborah 
(Iroufy) Bisco: , John, born M.iy 29, 176^ de 
May ,8,2. uninarried. 2. Eli.abetl,. born October 

ot Capt. Elienezer Mason, who removed from Water- 
own to Spencer :_ she died in Nelson. New Vork. 

,n\,';!"r i, "■■" ^^^''"'"y 7, 1770, graduate,! Dart- 
month College .798: candidate for minisirv. I.nt died 
Soi. before he was settled. 4. Jacob, born June 12, 
1772. m.-irried January i. 1790. Sarah, daughter of 
(.apt. John Draper. 5. Abigail, born hily 2.S. 1777 
n-arried November 7, 1799, David J^routv, Jr. son 
of Major David Prouty ; she died April 22 18.6 

f, ''^Xn-5- r""' ^ u'''\t'-' '^^- "^"'•'•^d December 
'.r iXo^. George W. Harwood. son ot Mai Peter 
Harwood, of Brookfield, Mas.sachusetts. 




^/Tjzdyf (/}t^^f? 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



5-'9 



(X) Jacob Hisco. son of Jolin Bisco (g), born 
Spencer, Massachusetts, Junt 12, 1772; married 
Sarah, flaiiglitcr of Capt. Jolni Draper. He in- 
herited liis fatlier's homestead, and lived and died 
in Spencer. He died April 7. 1837, aged sixly- 
five years. His wife Sarah died May 27, 1855 
Children of Jacob Bisco: i. Dwight, see forward. 
2. Chloe, born August 20, 1800, married, August 
18, 1818, Spencer Prouty, son of Reuben and Sally 
(Bartlett) Prouty. He was born at Marlboro, Ver- 
mont, September 20, 1796. She died February 22, 
1823, at Spencer. 3. Adeline, liorn November 16. 
1801. married. May 18, 1817, .'\biathar Johnson, son 
of Abiathar and Mcribah (Fuller) Johnson; he was 
born at Weston, Massachusetts, September 30, 1795, 
died at Worcester, November 6, 1863; she died at 
North Brookfield, Massachusetts, September 14, 1837. 
4. Foster, born July 10, 1803 (died at Spencer, 
June 18, 1S81), m.irried, September 16, 1830, 
Eunice Whipple Rice,, daughter of Jonas and 
Esther (Bixby) Rice, of Worcester; she was 
born at Worcester, December 25, 1802, died at 
Spencer, January 17, 1863; he niarricl (second), 
October 27, 1864, Mrs. Eliza Walli>, of Clicrry Val- 
ley, Leicester, who was bornJunt>2, 1813. and died at 
Spencer, March 24. 1877; he married (third), June 
26, 1877, Martha Cecilia Rising, daughter of Julius 
and Statia Rising; she was born at West Suffitld. 
Connecticut, November 11, 1832. 5. Emily, born 
September 10, 1804, married, 1827, Liberty 
Prouty, son of Eli and Rehekali (Browning) 
Prouty; he was born at Spencer, July i, 
1800, died at Spencer. February 27, 1854; 
she died at Spencer, April 6. 1857. 6. .Mdcn, born 
October 25, iSwi. married, August 17. 1833, Selinda 
Martin, of Oxford, Massachusetts; she was born 
February 24, 1810, died at Melrose. Massachusetts, 
May 19, 1874; he died at Leicester, January 11, 1843. 
7. John, born October 9, 1808, married, November 
25. 1835, Letftia Moore Lee, of Wnodbridge, New 
Jersey: she was hjrn December 30, 1816, died in 
New York city. March 18, 1892 ; he died at New- 
York city, February 7, 1895. 8. Hull, born Novem- 
ber 10. 1810. died umn.arried at Spencer, April 23, 
1836. 9. Roswcll. born April 16. 1S13, married, Au- 
gust 0, 1838, Abigail Watson Whitlemore, daughter 
of Daniel and Fanny (Prouty) Wbittemore; she was 
born in Spencer October 13, 1818. died May 10, 
18S6; he died May 5, l8g6. 10. Lavinia Bisco, horn 
Ausrust 16. 181 5. married. May 10. 183S, Reuben 
Randall Hills, son of Nathaniel and Mary (Ran- 
dall) Hills; he was l)orn at Richmond. New Hamp- 
shire, March 5, i8r2. died at Leicester, ,\pril 5, 
1893 : she died at Leicester. April 30, looi ; they cele- 
brated their golden wedding May 10, 1888. it. 
Jacob, born October 8, 1817, m:irried. April 15. T849. 
Emcline Stalia Rising, daughter of Julius and Statia 
Rising; she was born at West Suflield. Connecticut, 
June 7, 1827: he died at Dudley, Massachu.setts, 
March 25. 1896. 

(XI) Dwight Bisco. son of Jacob Bisco (10), 
was born at Spencer, Massachusetts. .April 27, 1799. 
For sixty years he was one of the leading citizens 
and business men of the town of Leicester, which 
adjoins Spencer, his native place. He was raised 
in Spencer and worked on his father's farm until 
twenty-two years of age. when with a silver dollar 
(as his biographer. Rev. Samuel May put it) as his 
only money capital, he caine to Leicester and went 
to work for Cheney Hatch, mamifacturer of card 
clothing — a business of which at that time Leicester 
had almost a monopoly. "Bringing with liim." Mr. 
May says, "good character, intelligence, habits of 
industry and self-control and not afraid of work, 
he stcadilv acquired skill in this intricate and dif- 

34 



ficult manufacture." In 1S26 he associated himself 
as partner with Lsaac Southgate, Joshua Lamb. Ji^hn 
Stone and Jtjseph A. Denny (Sec Denny Family), 
another house in the same business. In i8.}3 Mr. 
Denny nnd he bought the interests of the other part- 
ners and cjiitinued the busmess under the name of 
Bisco & Denny iiiuil Mr. Denny's death in 1875. 
It was then passed on by Mr. Bisco into the hajids 
of his sons and of Mr. Denny's only son, he con- 
liiming to occupy himself in the factory until Feb- 
ruary, 1882, when he withdrew entirely. He was 
then in hie eighty-third year. In nnddle life he 
bad invested the chief part of his savings in the 
Leicester Boot Company. It was trnfortimale. and 
was brought to. end by the burning of the company's 
buildings and stock. The investment was a total 
loss. Mr. May says that with quiet courage he 
applied himself ag.iin to business as closely as in 
his youth, and was enabled in a few years 10 make 
good his loss and to present to his eight children 
at a Thanksgiving dinner table, $500 each. He was 
a leader in town affairs, repeatedly a selectman of 
the town, a member of the state legislature in 1847 
and 1848. director of the Leicester Bank for eleven 
years and treasurer of the Pine Grove Cemetery 
Company for forty years, deacon of the Unitarian 
Congregational church, and for forty years the 
treasurer. 

He married, at Leicester, Massachusetts. Ruth 
Woodcock, daughter of John Woodcock, Sr., 
and sister of John, Joscphus and Lucius Wood- 
cock, January 8, 1826, and they lived together 
more than fifty years when they celebrated their 
golden wedding, January 8, 1876. "we saw them." says 
Rev. Mr. Coolidgc, "standing together a spectacle 



rarelv witnessed, an unbroken fami 



-parents, 



children and grandchildren — a circle which death 
had then never entered. But in Septcsnbcr of that 
\ear Mrs. Bisco died. She was born in Rutland, 
Massachusetts, December 13, 1802, and died in 
Leicester, September 20, 1876. Mr. Bisco died De- 
cember 7, 1882. In a notice of him in the Christian 
Register, Abraham Firth wrote of his public life, of 
"his marked faitlifulness in ,-,II these relations and 
in every sphere 01 life in whii h he moved. He was 
always found on the side of virtue and of political 
and spiritual freedom. Brought up under the teach- 
irg of Calvinism, it never satisfied him" One who 
was long in daily business association with him wrote 
in the Worcester Spy "he was known among his as- 
sociates as an honest, upright man, of superior senses 
and judgment." His pastor, during his later years, 
wrote of him, "I hive never known a truer man, 
nor one of .greater strength of character." A mem- 
orial book of Mr. and Mrs. Dwight Bisco has been 
l)ublislicd. 

The children of Dwight and Ruth (Woodcock) 
Bisco were: i. Emily AVesta, born April n, 1826, 
married, August 29, 1848, Josiah Quincy Lamb, son 
of Liberty and Harriet (Stone) Lamb, of Oxford; 
she died at Webster, February 4, 1895 ; he was born 
at Oxford, May 9, 1823, died at Webster, February 
23, 18S6 ; their children : Clara Adeline Lamb, born 
;it Webster, October • 7, 1849, married Willi:iin 
Morris, and had .Mice Josephine, born June 2, 1877; 
Ruth .Anna Lamb, born March 26, 18.^3. niarried. 
January 22, 1884, Charles Herman Klei)art, son of 
llcnry and Johanna Dorothy (Lippold) Klebart, who 
was born in Rcietherbaek, Germany, December 25, 
1S41, and their children are: Arthur Herman Kle- 
bart. born at Webster, February 10. 1885 ; Leroy 
Elmer, born at Webster, August 5, 1886. died ,\u- 
gust 25, t886; Marion Emily, born March 15. 1888; 
Ixjuisc Frances, born June 10, 1893. 2. Charles 
D'.vight, see forward. 3. George, born November 



530 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



28, 1830, married, November 24, 1853, Ellon Jose- 
phine Hill, daiifihtcr of Stephen and Charlotte 
<.Laml)) Hill; she was born in Portsmouth, New 
H.-inipshire, July 6, 18.5.=; ; they resided in Manchester, 
New Hampshire, where they eeleb'ratcd llieir golden 
wedding November 26, 190,?; tlieir only cliild, Cliarles 
Edwin, born July 31. 1856, resides at Mancliester. 
•4 Jolm Waldo, born July 10, 1834, married, July 
30, 1857, Ellen Maria ICames, daughter o£ William 
A. and Hannah Park (Waite) li^ames ; she was horn 
at Worcesler. Dccendjer ,^0, 18.17; lie resided in Wor- 
cester and there died December i. i'jo4; their oidy 
child, Annie Louise, born June 15, i8fj2, married, 
June 20, 1882, Joseph liradford Sargent. (See Sar- 
gent sketch). 5. William, see forward. 6. Henry 
B., .sec forward. 7. Edward F., see forward. 8. 
Fred Alden, horn February 25, 1847, married, June 
16, 1881, Abbic Eliza Hodges, daughter of Ira and 
Jane Hodges; she was born in Winslow, Mi.ine, 
January 28, 1859; he died in Leicester, Jime 5, 1891; 
tlicy liad two "children: iMederick Rayn\ond, Ikuii 
at Leicester, January 19, 188,^, died October 31, 1905; 
Lur:i Rosamond, born in Leicester, May 28, 1884. 

(XH) Charles Dwight Bisco, second child of 
Dwight Pisco (11), was born in Leicester, January 
fi, 1828. lie married, Novend)er 29, 1853, Elizabeth 
Ann Outley, at St. Louis: she was born in Dublin, 
Ireland. August 15, 1833. died at New Orleans, Lou- 
isiana, December 6, 1880. He died at Newark, New 
Jersey, December 3, 1895. 'Iheir children were: I. 
Harry Dwight, born at St. Louis, October 26, 1854, 
married. April 26, 1876, Libl;y Carpenter, of Troy, 
New York, daughter of William O. Carpenter; he 
•died at New York city, September 27, 1890. 2. 
Joseph Outley, born March 24, 1858. 3- Agnes 
Loui.se, born June 2-,, 1866, married, December 25, 
18S6. Horace Hurlburt Mitchell, one child. Mar- 
guerite Frances Mitchell, born in Newark, New 
Jersey. July 22, 1888. 

(XI) William Pisco, fifth child of Dwight Pisco 
< u ). was born in Leicester, February 21, 1839. He re- 
ceived a connnon school cduciiion in his native town. 
At the age of sixteen he began his apprenticeship in 
the card clothing manufactory of his father at 
Leicester. He became a skilful card machine opcr:i- 
tOT and continued in this occupation until the busi- 
ness was sold in 1890 to the American Card Cloth- 
ing Company. William, and in fact all his broUiers 
except Edward, learned the trade of their father, 
serving .a three years apprenticeship. Mr. Pisco 
never married. He was a quiet studious disposition 
.-aitid a love of nature that has been like an avocation 
to liim. He is a skilful painter in oil and water 
•colors, and is especially fond of painting flowers. 
Mr. Bi.sco is also interested in genealo.gy and local 
liistory. He is the family historian and has col- 
lected a vast amount of material about the fann'ly, 
axid also incidentally alx)ut matters of local inter- 
est. He has some very valuable scrap books for 
any student of Leicester history. He lives in the 
house in which he was born in Leicester with his 
brother, Henry Pisco. The homestead is full of 
treasures of antique furnit\ire, plate and china 
handed down for many generations. Mr. Pisco has 
among other articles of family interest the Bisco 
coat-of-arms painted in colors on parchment. The 
arms are : Az. three greyhounds courant sa. seiz- 
ing a hare ppr. The family motto is : "Grata sume 
■manu." He is a member of the Young Men's Chris- 
tian .Association of Worcester, and of tiic First Con- 
gregational Church of Leicester. In politics he is 
a Kepnblican, 

(XH) Henry Bisco, sixth child of Dwight 
Bisco (11), was born in Leicester, March 10, i84r. 
He attended the public schools of his native town 



and also I^icester Academy in 1859 and i860. At 
tlie age of sixteen he was apprenticed for three years, 
and except for the three months in winter while 
school kept he worked at his trade until he enlisted. 
He earned fifty dollars the first year, seventy live 
dollars the second and one hundred and twenty-five • 
dollars the third year. He served in the civil war' 
in Company F of the Forty-second INIassacbusetts . 
Volunteer Infantry, r.nder Captain John D. Cogs- 
well and Colonel Isaac Purrill. Wlien he was unist- ! 
ered out of the service he went back to Leicester 
and has worked at his trade ever since. Me is ;ui 
expert card machine operator. He continued with 
the American Card Clothing Company after his 
father's business was absorbed by that concern in 
1800. He worked in the ceniral factory in Leicester 
until March, 1905, since then he has worked in the 
Worcester factory. Mr. Pisco lives in the Pisco 
homestead and has inherited many rare specimens 
of antique colonial furniture, china, pewter, etc. He 
is a mend)er of Quinsigamond Lodge of Free Masons 
of Worcester, and has been president of the Leices- 
ter Masonic Association. He is at present quarter- 
master sergeant of George II. Thomas Post. No. 
10, (jrand Army of the Republic, and has filled about 
all the chairs. He was for seven years the com- 
mander. In politics he is an independent and in 
religion a Unitarian. He has for some years been 
treasurer of the Unitarian church at Leicester. He 
organized the relief corps connected with the Grand 
Army post while he was the conmiander. and his 
wife was the first president. It is called George 
H. Thomas Relief Corps, No. 152. 

He married (first), at Ware, Massachusetts, Au- 
gust 29, 1S64, Laura Melvinia Stowc, daughter of 
Jolm T. and Lavinia Stowe. She was born in Graf- 
ton, July 31, T846. died at Leicester. September 29, 
1884. He married (second), at Worcester, June 
16, 1S87, Moselle Olnistead, daughter of Sylvanus 
Eaton and Anna R. (Dean) Olmstcad. She was 
born in New Braintree, November 20, 1858. The 
children of Henry and Laura M. Bisco were: 
Alice Maria, born August 6, 1868; Herbert Henry, 
born at Leicester. October 8, 1876. 

(XII) Edward Inister Bisco, son of Dwi.ght Bisco 
(ri), was born in Leicester, Massachusetts, February 
19, 1844, He was brought up in his native town and 
aUended the public schools there. He graduated 
from the high school in 1862, and went into the 
Leicester Bank (later the Leicester National Bank) 
to learn the banking business. Tn October. 186.!;, 
he took a position in the National Park Bank of New 
York city, where he gained valuable metropolitan 
experience, filling various positions there uiuil July 
I, 1872, when he was elected secretary of the Wor- 
cester Safe Deposit and Trust Company to succeed 
the late Samuel T. Bigelow. He came to Worcester 
at that time, and has since made his home there. He 
w.as secretary of this trust company until October, 
iSor, when he w-as elected president. In 1903 there 
was a revolution in (!ie banking business of Wor- 
cester. The controlling interests in the Worcester 
Safe Deposit and Trust Company changed hands, 
and in February the Trust Company absorbed two 
of the largest and most prosper.jus national hanks 
of the city — the Central National Rank and the City 
National Bank. Later in the year two more banks 
were absorbed — the First National Bank and the 
Citizens' National Rank of Worcester. The name 
was changed later to the simpler form of Worcester 
Trust Company. When Mr. Bisco became an officer 
of the bank in 1872 the deposits amounted !o about 
Si, 200,000. When the consolidation loolc place t'lc 
deposits amounted to $3.,30O,ooo. After the con- 
solidation the deposits aggregated $9,000,000. The 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



531 



slircwd aiul pnulont niaiiagcni<;rU of Mr Bisco haJ 
nuich to do wiih l.ringing his bank to llie foremost 
position among the banks and . trust companies of 
Massachusetts, the largest outside of Boston. He 
was called to the luesidcncy of the Washington 
Trust Company of Boston, October I. iyo4. /Ib^' 
banking rooms of this company are at 20 Milk street, 
Boston Mr. Bi.sco stands in the front rank of the 
successful bankers of the stale. He has attained 
this position through much natural al.ihly and con- 
stant devotion to his profession. He began at the 
io«cst round of the ladder with a sa ary of $100 
a vear and has ihoroughly deserved all the success 
that he has won in life. Mr. Bisco continues to re- 
side at 11 Irving slreel. Worcesier. He is a mem- 
ber of the Commonwealth Club, and of tin: iatassit 
C-inoc Club, a trustee of the People's Savings liank 
of Worcester, and commissioner under the city 
government of the Jnc(|ucs I-und of the City Hos- 
pital He and bis family attend the l-irst tjniversal- 
ist Churdi. He is a Republican. He married, No- 
vember JO, vA-rb Anna EUr.i Sprague. daughter ot 
Austin ami Laura (Wilson^ Spragne, of Leicester. 
She is a descendant of William Siuagiie, of Hing- 
ham Massaobuselts. who was a proprietor there ui 
i6^6 He was a brotlicr of Kichard Spragne am 
Ralnh Spraguc, both of Cbarlcstown. The only child 
of Edward Foster Bisco is Adeline Maud, wlio re- 
sides with her parents in Worcester. 

DR\PEK FAMH.Y. Thomas Draper ( I i . an- 
cestor of Edward E. Bisco, lived am^ died 111 York- 
shire Eneland. in the parish of Hcmpstontell and 
vicarage 01 Halifax. He was a clothier by trade. 
His children were: Thomas; John; William ; James ; 
Mary; Martha; all except James died m England. 

(H) James Draper, .son pf Thomas Draper y), 
born in HempMoniell. England, 1618, came to Rox- 
bury Massachusclts, where he was a proprietor 
l640-';o He was proprietor of Lancaster in 1654. 
He is generally kii^wn from his religious tendencies 
as James Drapet,\the Puritan. His gravestone is 
to be seen in iht West Roxbiiry graveyard. He 

„,;,rric(r»«5r--**'''"*''^''''- "'^" '^^'"^ '""" ^'"'' '^'"^ 
parish in England. He died July, I(x;i, aged seA-enly- 
seven years. His children were James, John, Moses, 
Daniel, Jonathan. 

(HI) James Draper, son of Jame^ Draper (2). 
was born about 1660. He married Abigail Whitmg 
of Dedham. He died April .30, Tf)9S. aged forty- 
four years. His wife <iied October 25. I/2I, aged 
fifty-nine. Their children; Nathaniel, Wdliam, 
Jaiiies. Gideon, I^benezer. 

(I\M James Draper, sr-n of James Draper (.?), 
born in Rcxburv, Massachusetts, about 1694, mar- 
ried Rachel Aldrich, who died early without issue. 
He married fsecond") Abigail Child. November 12, 
17IQ. She was noted for musical gifts. They lived 
in Dedham. He was captain of the militia company 
there He died April. 1768; sl;e died November 12, 
1767 Their children; I. James, born September 22, 
1720, died Dedham, November 8, T745. 2. Abigail, 
born December 12. 1721, marvicd Henry White. 3- 
John, born June 16. I7;?3- 4. Joshua, born Decenibor 
25 1724. 5. Tosiab. 6. Rachel. 7- Mary. 8. Abi- 
j.^ii. 9 Samuel, and three others, all by the second 
wife. The first four came to Spencer, Massachu- 
setts. 

(V) Tamos Draper, son of James Draper (4), 
born Roxlniry, Mass:ichusetts. September 22, 1720. 
married Mebitablc Whiting, of Dedham, Noveniber 
12. 1742; (second) Martha Ward, widow of William 
Ward Jr of Sonlbboro, He died March 2, 1781. 
She died Septendicr, 1/91. Their children were: I. 



Rebecca, married Benjamin Bemis, Jr., Noveniber 
17, 1768. 2. John, born November id, 1745. ,3. 
lames, born July 2.1, i747. was in the revolution. 4. 
Ira, born February 14. 1753. 5. Mchitablc, born 
/Xiigust 29, 17.0, married Noah Forbush, of Brook- 
iield, N.v,er..;,er 9. 1779. , . 

(VI) John Draper, son of James Draper (5), 
married Rebecca, <l.iughler of Deacon John Muzzy, 
December 24, 1770. He died December 22, 1822, 
;igeil seventy-seven years. His wife Rebecca died 
.•\pril 29, 1818. 'I'beir children were born in Spencer. 
1 le was a private in Captain Ebenezer Mason's coiu- 
p;iny of minute men. Colonel Jonathan Warner's 
regiment, which marcbed on the Lexington alarm. 
,\pril ig, 1775. He w;is sergeant in C:ipl;iiii Joel 
Green's company. Col, Ebenezer Leamed's resjiment, 
enlisted May 3, 1775 ; was in Capt. Josiali W'hitc's 
company, Lt. Col. Benjamin Flagg's division. Col. 
Saniuel'Denny's regiment. 1777. and in Capt. David 
Prouty's company. September 25, 1/77., which 
niaiThed to reinforce the Northern army. The chil- 
dren of John Draper; i. /.enas, born May 31, 1772, 
piarried Jemima, daughter of Israel Allen. 2. Olive, 
born January 30, 1774, married Elias Hatch. Novem- 
ber 10. 1791. 3. Sarah, born August 8. 1779. '"ar- 
rie<l Jacob Bisco (X), 1799. 4- Charles, married 
Thomas Loriiig, September 28, 1803. 5. Nancy, born 
October 28, 1783. married Samuel Glea.son. Feb- 
ruary 3, 181 r. 6. P.ecca, born April 10, 1786, mar- 
ried' January 18, 1S17, Willard Prouty. 7. John, 
born July 22, 1788. married Lavinia, daughter of 
Eli Prouty, December 4. 181 7. 8. Rhoda, born July 
10, 1791, married. 1817, Ebenezer Cogswell. 9. Elca- 
zer Bradshaw, born .August 26, 1795. married. May 

15. 1821, Louisa Prouty. 

(VI; Sarah Draper (or Sally), daughter of Jolm 
Draper (6), born Spencer, Massachusetts, August 
8. 1779 married, 1799, Jacob Bisco (X), grandfather 
of Ivdward 1". Bisco. 

JON.ATHAN NELSON FLAGG. Thomas 
Fla.gg (l), immigrant ancestor of Jonathan Nelson 
Flagg. of Worcester, is the progenitor of all the 
colonial families of this name in Massachusetts. He 
was born donliticss in England, and came t.> .\meric3 
in April, T637, in the service of Richard Carver, ot 
Skratliy, England, where Flagg may have come from 
aNo. Flagg was twenty-one years ohl, hence his 
ve.ir of birth was i6l6. He settled at Watertown, 
^LlSsachusetts, and was yeoman, lieutenant, |>ro- 
prietor and town officer there and selectman in 1671. 
1674, 1675. 1(176, and 1678. He lost his left eye by 
a gunshort wound previous to 16,^,9. He died Feb- 
rii;iry 6. 1697-8. His will, dated March 5, 16^)7, 
and proved I'ebruary 16, 1697-8, bequeaths to wife 
Mary; sons Michael, Thoma»». Eleazer, .\llen and 
Ben.f.imiii; daughters Mafy and Elizabeth Bigelow 
and Rebecca Cooke: grandchildren John Flagg and 
heirs of deceased son Gershom. The widow Mary, 
born 1619, made will L')ccember ^, 1702. proved 
.■\]iril 21. 1703: names children Mary and Elizabeth 
Bigelow'; Rebecca Cork and Benjamin Flagg. Chil- 
dren of Thomas and Mary Flagg. I. Gershom, !iorn 
April 16, 1641. 2. John, born June 14. 1643: died 
February 6. 1696-7. 3. Bartholomew, born Febru- 
ary 2^, 1644-5. 4. Thomas, born April 28. 1645. 
?.' Michael, born March 23. 1 650-1 ; died October 

16. 1711 ; was one of the earliest proprietors of Wor- 
cester at (ho first .attempt to .settle. 6. Eleazer, born 
Mav 14, 1651. ancestor of many Worcester county 
ramilies. 7."F.lizabcth. born March 22, 1654-5; died 
.\iigiist 9, 1729: married Joshua Bigelow-, settler 
at Worcester and Westminster. 8. Mary, born June 
14, 1657; died September 7, 1720. 9. Rebecca, bo.n 



53^ 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



September 5. 1660; married Deacon Stephen Cook. 
lo. Benjamin, mentioned below. 11. Allen, born 
May 16, 1665; died Novcml)?r 17, i/ii. 

(II) Bciijamin Flagg, son ol Thomas Flagg (i), 
was born June 25, i502. He removed to Worcester 
and settled there as one of the early proprietors, 
was admitted a freeman April 19, 1690, and died 
there May 3, 1741. He married, September 26, 1690, 
Experience, daughter of Richard Child, of Water- 
town. She died at Worcester, 1747. Children of 
Benjamin Flagg and wife l^xperience : I. Benjamin, 
born August 25. 1691 ; died at Worcester June 12, 
1751; selectman, captain, sheriff. 2. Experience, born 
May s, 1O93; married, October 26, 1713, Caleb Ball, 
of Concord. 3. Abigail, born .^pril 16, l6o.|-5. 4- 
Bartholomew, born Novembc- lO, 1697, mariner of 
Bristol. 5. Elizabeth, born December 28. 1699; mar- 
ried Peter King. 6. Gershom, mentioned below. 7. 
Mary, baptized April 9, 1704. 8. Ebenezer, born Jan- 
uary 21, 1705-6. 9. Richard, born May 30. 1708; 
lieutenant Holden company, died November 12, 1799, 
aged ninety-two years ; he settled in Holden, and his 
son was Colonel Samuel, who was selectman of 
Worcester 1790-1808; owned 240 acres on Green 
street. 

(III) Gershom Flagg. son of Benjamin Flagg 
(2), born in Watertown, Massachusetts, July 11,1702, 
removed to Worcester with his father and settled 
in the adjoining town of Shrewsbury. He had lot 
No. 36 in Shrewsbury in 1729. He married Han- 
nah, daughter of Captain John Keyes, January 6, 
1725. Their children, all born in Shrewsbury, wer; : 
I. P'trsis, born June 8, 1726. 2. Stephen, mentioned 
below. 3. Jotham, born July 30. i7.io; married Re- 
becca Kendall. 4. Solomon, born March 6, 1733. 5. 
Gershom, Jr., born January i, 1735. 6. Thankful, 
born January 21, 1739. 

(IV) Stephen Flagg, son of Gershom Flagg (3), 
born in Shrewsbury, Mas.sachusetts. July 2;?. 1728, 
settled there and married. December 6, 1750, Judith, 
daughter of Eleazer Taylor, She died in Boylston, 
February 21, 1810, aged eighty years. Their chil- 
dren, all born at Shrewsbury, were: !. John, Oc- 
tober 4, 1751. 2. Solomon, August 13, 1753, died 
1756. 3, Stephen, March 23, 1755, died 1753- 4- 
Judith, March 6, 1757; married 1777 Samuel An- 
drews. 5. Stephen, mentioned below. 6. John, De- 
cember 21, 1760; died January .30, 1785. 7. Solomon, 
April 21. 1764; died July 5, 1810; married, October 
17. '7S9, Rebecca Dakin, 8, Benjamin, May 25, 
1766. 9, Lucretia, June 2, I76r>. 10. Gershom, Sep- 
tember 2. 1770. 

(V) Stephen Flagg, Jr.. son of Stephen Flagg 
(4), born June 8, 1759, at Shrewsbury, died at Boyls- 
ton, May 25, 1828, aged sixty-nine years. He settled 
in Boylston, formerly Shrewsbury, North District. 
He was a soldier in the revolution, in Captain Asa 
Rice's company. Colonel Job Cushing's regiment, in 
1777, at the Bennington Alarm : also in Captain 
Joseph Warren's company. Lieutenant-Col 'nel 
Wheelock's regiment, with the rank of corporal, 
1777 ; also in Captain David Moore's company. Col- 
onel John Jacob's regiment. Light Infantry, in Riiode 

Island campaign 1779. He married Betsey , 

who died .\pril i, 18.38. aged seventy-seven years. 
Their children were: i. Abijah. mentioned below. 
2. John, born May 9, 1790. 3. David, February 17. 
1794. 4. Stephen, March 14, 1796: died August 30, 
1849 at Boylston. 5. Mary (Polly), February 19. 

178,^; married Gough, who was the father 

of John B. Gough. the g.-ent temperance orator. 6, 
Betty, March 17, 1787, 7, Sally, November 22, jySfy 
8. Dolly, October 18. 1788. 9. Lydia, April 27, 1792, 
married Benjamin Fassett. 

(VI) Deacon Abijah Flagg, son of Stephen Flagg 



(S), born in Boylston, Massachusetts, August 27, 
1784. died tluro December, 1850. He was a farmer 
dirough his active life. A man of strong religious 
views, he served the First Congregational Church at 
Boylston as deacon. His farm is at present occu- 
pied by Montraville Fl,-igg. In politics he was a 
Whig. He trained with the militia company of 
Boylston. He married Mary, born February 18, 1786, 
divd March 3, 1863, aged seventy-six years, daughter 
of James Longley, a very prominent citizen, repre- 
sentative to general court thi, teen years, town treas- 
urer, selectman eighteen years, and chairman of the 
board thirteen years, assessor seventeen years and 
chairman twelve, member of school committee, jus- 
tice of the pe:ice (See Longley family). Children 
of Deacon Abijah and Mary Flagg: I. William 
Frederick, born at Boylston, April 2, 1808, and had 
children: Sarah, Fanny, Edward. 2. Montraville, 
born at Boylston. January 31, 1810; died February 
17, 1888: married Parney Houghton, of Boylston. 
3. Nahuni, mentioned below. 4. John Dexter, born 
.-Vugust 3, 1815; mr.rried Elizabe'h Drtvenport : chil- 
dren — John Nathaniel; George Abijah; Estella V.; 

Harriet E, ; Mary Maria, 5, Mary, married 

Stewart, 6, Israel, died aged eighteen years. 

(Vin Kahum Flagg, son of Deacon Abijah 
Flagg (6), was born at Boylston. Massachusetts, July 
15, 181 1, and died April i. 1862. He was educated 
in the common schools of his native town and began 
life on his father's farm. He followed farming 
through his active life on the part of the homestead 
which he inherited He puichused large tracts of 
woodland which he rut off at various times and sold 
to good advant.ige The farm was divided before 
the father's donth between Nahum and his brother 
Montraville, each working his part separately. He 
was a member of tlie Boylston Congregational 
church, and served on the parish committee. In 
politics he was a Republican. He served the town 
as highway surveyor. In early life he was in the 
militia. He married, at Worcester, Hannah. Brackett 
Nelson, born June 13, 1812, daughter of Jonathan 
and Hannah (Nelson) Nelson, of Upton. Massa- 
chusetts. Their children: i. Jonathan Nelson, born 
May 3, t8.|0. mentioned below. 2. Emma Elizabeth, 
born September 27, 1842. 

(VIII) Jonathan Nelson Flagg, son of Nahum 
Flagg (7), was born at Boylston. May 3. 1840. He 
was educated in the common schools of that town 
and at the Wi rcestcr Academy. He then taught 
school at Lonsdale, Rhode Island, for two winters, 
working at home on his father's farm in the sum- 
mers. In i860 and 1861 he taught school at Rut- 
land, Massachusetts, and later at Boylston until he 
was Iwonty-six yoars old. After his father's death 
he carried on the homestead until 1R67. when he 
sold it. He bought another farm at West Boylston 
and conducted it two years. .August 23, 1,870, he 
entered tlic employ of the United States and Canada 
Express Company at Worcester as messenger, a 
position that he filled for seventeen years. In 
July, 1887, he accepted the position of janitor of the 
Vv'orcestvr County Mechanics' Association in charge 
of Mechanics' Hall, Worcester, and has fillcd that 
position to the present time. He is a member of 
Central Congregational Chiirch, Worcester. In poli- 
tics he is a Republican, and has frequently been 
elected delegate to various nominating conventions. 
He was collector of taxes in Boylston two years, 
and member of the school committee there for tive 
years. He is a member of W-ircester Lodge. No. 56, 
I. O, O, v., and of Wachusott Eiic.nnip- 
ment. No. 10, of which he has been an of- 
ficer ; and of the Worcester County Mechan- 
ics' Association, He married first, September 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



533 



7, 1867, M. Edna Andrews, born in Boylslon, 
July 7, 1842, daughter of Kobert and Martha 
(Toombs) Andrews. Her father was a farmer. He 
married (second) June 4. iS'79, Anna Belle, daughter 
of John and Olive (Hobbs) Drew, of Soniersworth. 
New Hampshire. Her father was a foreman in 
machine works there, and later at the navy yard at 
Porthmouth, New Hampshire. Children of Jona- 
than Nelson and M. Edna Flagg: I. Robert Nelson, 
iiorn July 9, 1870. 2. Lucy Edna, August 10, 1871 ; 
died March 20, 1872. 

GEORGE A. EL.-\GG. of the same family, traces 
his line to Beiijamin Flagg (5), son of Stephen 
Flagg (4), who was born May 25, 1766, at Shrews- 
bury, Massachusetts. He settled in the north pre- 
cinct of Shrew.sbury, now Boylslon. He married 
August 26, 17S7, Persis Dakin, at Boylston, and she 
(lied March 24. 1S48, aged seventy-nine years, at 
Boylston. Their children were: Lucretia, born 
November 24, 1787; Joseph, of whom later; Hcpzi- 
bali, December 13, 1791; Benjamin, January 2, 1794; 
Judith. March 13. i7(56; Levi, April 21, 1798; Seth, 
July 15, 1800; Sally, February 19, 1803; Persi";, 
March 5, 1809. 

(VI) Joseph Flagg, son of Benjamin Flagg (5). 
was born at Boylslon, Massadmsetts, October 22, 
17S9. He settled in his native town and was a 
farmer. He was a highly respected citizen. He 
married Patty Hastings, December 26, 1815. Their 
children, all born at Boylston, were : Persis. De- 
cember 2,^. 1816: Levi Lincoln, of whom later: Mary 
Martha. Marcii 23, 1820; Edward \\'I:ipple, June 7, 
1822: Ezra Hastiiig.s, November I, 1823; Seth Aldcn, 
December 22, 1825; Henry Martin, August 19, 1830; 
Clcora Maria, August I. 18,^3. 

(VH) Levi Lincoln Flagg. son of Joseph Fla.gg 
(6), was born in Bo^dston, Massachusetts, Septem- 
ber 20, 1818. He attended the district schools of 
his native town and of Shrewsbury and then went 
to work in the good oid way, as a farm hand. I'Vjr 
the hrst two years he worked for neighboring 
farmers for the sum of ei^'ht dollars per month 
v.'ith board. His next position bronght him one him- 
dred and si.xty dollars per year. With money saved 
by frugal management from this small income, he 
bought the homestead of his father and thereafter 
he divided his time between the farm and the live- 
stock business, in both of which he was successfid 
financially. He is living on his farm at Boylston, 
at present, active in spite of his advanced age. 

He is a Repul)lican in politics and has always 
been active in public affairs. He was assessor for 
twenty-five years, representative to the general court 
and for a period of thirty years was on the board 
of selectmen of the town of Boylston. a remarkable 
tribute on the part of his fcilow-townsmen to his 
ability and good judgment, such as few men in any 
'own of the CommoinvcsUh have ever received. .\ 
service of thirty years is sometimes found in the 
offices of town clerk or town treasurer, but the in- 
stances of such loi;g service as that of Mr. Flagg 
in the office of selectman are very rare in the past 
as well as in the present generation. 

He married. 1847, Caroline liarnes, who died in 
1872. Their children are: Elmer E.. married Pres- 
ton P. Lane, and they have two children : Christo- 
pher L. ; Arthur, married Elizabeth Blackinan. and 
:hev have two children; Joscpli Walter, married 
'sabel Whittcn ; George A., of whom later; Alice 
married George Hazzard, and died, leavin.g four 
hildren : Jennie L; Mary M.. married ^ierritt 
Stewnrt. and they have seven children. 

fVHI) George A. Flagg, son of Levi Lincoln 
Flagg (7). was born in Boylston. Massachusetts. 
June 14, 1855. He was educated in the public schools 



of liis native town, i'lir throe years he leniaincd at 
linn'.c after his schooling was ended and assisted his 
fatiier on the farm. Then he bought a farm in Boyls- 
ton and conducted it on his own account. In addi- 
tion to his farm he has dealt to a consideralile ex- 
tent in cattle. He is counted among the most suc- 
cessful and prosperous farmers of the town. 

Mr. Flagg has invested largely in local electric 
railway companies, wdiich have given such an enor- 
mous advance in the value of suburban farm prop- 
erty. In politics Mr. Flagg is a Republican and has 
been honored by his feliow-citizens with many posi- 
tions of responsibilty and trust. He has served as 
collector of taxes, assessor, and town treasurer of 
Boylston. He and his family attend the Congre- 
gational church. 

Mr. Flagg married. February 21, 1888, Mary L. 
Bruscau, daughter of Joseph and Mary (HawsviMe) 
Bniseau. of Worcester. Their nine children are: 
Mabel, born May 4, 1888; Ixvi Lincoln. April i6, 
1890; Frank E., January 21. 1892; Caroline E'.iza- 
bcth, August TO, i8q;, died December i, 1900; Ger- 
trude Elizabeth, August 24, 180S; Augustus, July 
21, 1897. died January 4, 1901 ; J. Walter. Jidy 16, 
1899: George A., September 21, 1901 ; Henry M., 
October 28. 1904, 

JOHN N.\THANIEL FLAGG. of the same fam- 
ily, is a son of John Dexter and Elizabeth (Daven- 
port) Flagg, the former of whom was born in Boyls- 
ton, August 3, 1815. Provided with a good educa- 
tion which was completed at Philips (.\ndovcr) 
.Vcademy, he adopted agricultural as an occupation 
and followed it in Worcester, Westboro, MilJsbury 
.uid Spencer successively. John Dexter Flagg died 
December 23, 1893. In early life he was a member 
of the state militia. Politically he acted with the 
Republican party, but never aspired to oflice. He 
w;is an active member of the Congregational church. 
His wife. Elizabeth, who is also deceased, became 
llic mother of six children, namely: George A., 
I'"ste!!c v., Harriot E., Mary, Maria and Joint Na- 
thaniel, the principal subicct of this sketch. 

John Nathaniel Flagg was born in Boyl-ton, 
October 12, iS.s.^. He pursued the primary branches 
of his education in the public schools of his native 
town, and coninleted his studies at a private school 
in Boston. When a yoimg man he engaged in team- 
ing, but subsequently turned his attention exclusively 
to agriculture in Boylston. which he is now fol- 
lowing with profit. In politics he is a Republican 
and has served with ability as road commissioner. 
He is .T member of the local grange, Patrf>ns of 
Husbandry. His religious affiliations are with the 
C.iipregational church. Mr. Flagg married, Janu- 
arv 8, 1879, Abbie Frances Ball, daughter of J:imes 
Emerson Ball, a pro'^pcrous farmer of Boylston. Mr. 
and Mrs. Flagg liave no children. 

FRANK EUGENE DUNTON. a manufacturer 
of Spencer, Massachusetts, was there born August 
28. 1846, a son of Warren H'amilton and Eliza 
(Jones) Dunton, and grandson of .Abner Dunton. 
Flis grandfather, .\bner Dunton, lived in Brookficld 
for a number of years, and in March, 1807, was 
uniteil in marriace to Mary Dickcrnian. in Boston, 
Massachusetts. His son, Warren Hamilton Dttnton, 
lather of Frank E. Dunton, was born in Brookficld, 
M ;s-:icbnsetts. December it, 1820. He married Eliz.i 
Jones (See Erastus Jones), of Spencer, and their 
i hildren were: Henry Asa, born 1844. died in in- 
fancy; Frank Eugene, born 1846; Mary Lucy, born 
i8.(0. married Arthur M. Stone, of Worcester, Massa- 
cbn<e'ts, September 7, iSfio; .Vngclina Powers, born 
1*^5?. dic<l in infancy. Warren Hamilton Dunton 
die<l .\ugust 15. 1853. at the age of thirty-three years. 



534 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



Frank E. Duntoii, second son of Warren H. Dun- 
ton, ac(|uiri'<] liis early eclncation in tlie common 
schools of his native place, and later attended high 
school. After leaving the school room, he learncil 
the boot manulacturing: business with E. Jones & 
Co.. and in 1867 in conjunction with D. A. Drury, 
established a boot factory at Spencer in the old C. 
& G. Watson shop under the firm name of D. A. 
Drury & Co. This association continued for three 
years, when Mr. Dunton sold his interest in the 
busine.-s. He then entered tic firm of E. Jones 
& Company, then consisting of Erastus Jones. H. 
P. Starr and K. E. Dunton. Since Mr. Starr's rc- 
tiracy from the firm in r88ij the business has been 
conduried by Erastus Jones and F. E. Dunton. 
Politically Mr. Dunton is a Republican, and in relig- 
ious affairs affiliates with the Congregational church, 
of which he was treasurer for twenty-one years. He 
was one of the founders of Spencer National Bank 
and is one of its board of directors. He was in- 
strumental in establishing the Savings Bank and 
kept its first set of books. 

On June 20, 1871, Mr. Dunton married Jennie 
L. Prouty, daughter of Isaac Prouty. (See Prouty 
Family) and their children -.ypre : Lewis W., born 
November 3, 187J, married, June 28, IQO.S, Grace D. 
Taylor, of Rockland, Maine: Charles Erastus, born 
December 25, 1876, married Cora M. Watson, of 
Spencer, Massachusetts. October it. 1898; (Mrs. 
Cora (Watson) Dunton is a daughter of Frank 
Boice Watson, who was a provision merchant of 
Spencer, Massachusetts) ; Florence Prouty, born 
September 14, 1880. Messrs. Lewis W. and Charles 
Erastus Dunton are associated with the E. Jonrs 
Co., of Spencer. 

ABRAHAM CAPEN. for many years a well- 
known merchant of Spencer, Massachusetts, was 
born in South Spencer. November 20, 1825. son of 
Abraham and Lydia (Mason) Capen, of Spencer, 
and grandson of James Capen. a farmer of Spencer, 
Massachusetts. His father, Abraham Capen, was 
a farmer of Spencer; he married for his first wife, 
Polly Hinds. After the decease of his first wife, 
he ni.7rricd Anna Bemis, and their children were: 
Alfred, Aurelia, Alonzo and Annie. Mrs. Capen 
died, and Mr. Capen took for his third wife Lydia 
Mason, of Spencer, and the following children were 
born : Abraham, Mary, Eliza, Ebenezer, James and 
Susan. 

Abraham Capen, the eldest son of Abraham and 
Lydia (Mason) Capen, was educated in the Pine 
Wood school house of Spencer, and after leaving 
the school room worked first at farming, and then 
entered into the meat business, in which occupation 
he was engaged for twenty-three years. Then the 
ice and coal business took up hi<; attention for about 
fifteen years, and he subsequently returned to farm- 
ing. Politically Mr. Capen affiliated with the Re- 
publican party, and he was a nieinbcr of the board 
of selectmen for ten years, also overseer of the poor. 
He wMs a member of the Grange. In religious af- 
fairs he accorded with the Congregational faith. 

Mr. Capen married, September 18, 1859, Sarah 
L. Craig, of Leicester, Massachusetts, the daughter 
of Nathan and Duicina (Huntington) Craig. The 
following children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Capen : 
Wallace A., deceased : Nathan Craig. i86r, super- 
intendent of streets of Spencer and also stock farmer 
of Leicester: Stella Maria, deceased, married Benja- 
min Choate Richard.son, of Vermont; Clarence A., 
deceased. 

ER.^STUS JONES. Lewis Jones (i), the im- 
migrant ancestor of Erastus Jones, of Spencer, 



Massachusetts, came from England and settled in 
Roxbury in New England before 1640. He was a 
member of the churcli there in 1640. He lived in 
Ro.xbury until about 1650, when he removed to 
Watertown, where many of his descendants have 
made their homes. He owned land near Fresh Pond 
and in other parts of Watertown. He died April 
II. 1684, and the inventory of his estate is dated 
.'Vpril 20, 1684. His will is dated January 7, 1678-y, 
and was proved June 14, 1O84. The children of 
Lewis and Anna Jones were: Josiah, born 164,1, 
of whom later : Phcbe, born at Ro.xbury, January 
2T, 164S, died tliere 1650; Lydia, married Jonathan 
Whitney; Shubael, born July i, 1651. 

(II) Josiah Jones, son of Lewis J<jncs (i), was 
born in 1643. He was admitted a frc-man April 18. 
1690. He settled in that part of Watertown now 
Weston ; was a charter member of the Weston 
Church and was elected deacon January 4. 1709-10. 
He was captain of one of the 'Watertown comp.inies, 
and about 1O90 the town wa.5 divided into the dis- 
tricts of Weston, Watertown and Walthain, of winch 
the officers in command of the military companies 
were respectively : Lieutenant Jones, Captain Gar- 
field and Captain Bond. Later Josiah Jones was 
made captain. He was sclcctiuan of Watertown in 
1685-86-87-90-1702 to 1709 inclusive. Among his 
real estate was a farm of one hundred and twenty- 
four acres purchased of John and Sarali Stone, sit- 
uated on the uortli side of the Sudbury highway, 
about two miles from Sudbury. He died October, 
1714. 

He married, October 2, 1667, Lydia Treadway, 
who died September 17, 1743, aged ninety-four years. 
Their children: Lydia, born Augu t 25, 1O68, mar- 
ried Nathaniel Coolidge ; Josiah, born October 20. 
1670; Alary, born December 10, 1(172; Nathaniel, of 
whom later; Samuel, born July 9, 1677, died January 
17. ^7'7-^', James, born September 4, 1O79; Sarah, 
born February 6, 1681, married John Warren; .A.nna. 
born June 28, 1684, married Deacon Joseph Mixer; 
John, born March 19, 1686-7 ; Isaac, baptized May 
23, 1(190, settled at Bolton, Connecticut. 

(III) Nathaniel Jones, fourth child of Josiah 
Jones (2), was born in Watertown, December 31, 
1674. He became a prominent citizen of Watirtown, 
was one of the first settlers of Worcester, and later 
in life went to Falmouth, York county, Maine, and 
settled there. He was a captain of the Weston 
company. In 17 19 he drew forty acres in the first 
division and was one of the third and permaneut 
colony to settle Worcester. He was selectman of 
Worcester in 1722-23, and represcntive to the general 
court in 1727. He left Worcester about 1730 and 
settled in Falmouth, now the state of Maine. 1 (e 
was in Falmouth in 1731 when he deeded land in 
Sutton, though in 1729 when he deeded land there 
to his .son, Nathaniel Jones, Jr., he was still of 
Worcester. An extra grant of land on account of 
an error in a previous grant was made to Captain 
Nathaniel Jones in Worcester, March 17, 1735. Cap- 
tain Jones had land in Oxford which he fold in 
1737- While in Worcester Captain Jones kept a 
tavern on the road to Leicester, about a mde beyond 
New Worcester, and for a century afterward it was 
known as the Jones Tavern. 

He married (first) Mary Cook, and they had 
eleven children, five of whom were bor:: in Worces- 
ter. He married (second) Marv Flagg, and had 
three more children, the youngest of whom was 
born in Falmouth, Maine. He died in F'almouth, 
November, 1745. The children of Nathaniel Jonrs 
were: i. Phinehas, born February 2S, 1704-5, died 
November 3, 1743 ; settled in Portland or Fal- 
mouth (?), had three daughters. 2. Nathaniel, of 




Cy^ a.j./,^ujQ ^^^^-^ 




WORCESTER COUNTY 



535 



whom later. 3. Stephen, born August 17, 1/09, "'^r 
IT I ilv u i-r-, l-y'i'-' J""«i settled 111 1-al- 
:;;c^al/ cL'lm ba?thcr'lMu,K.h;.s; was captain uf a 
c"mpany > l!'= U"'^'"'''^ expc.lil.ouMu 174O and wa. 
kXa during an attack by the 1-rcncb January /, 
Vylb he leff Iw^. sons and two daughters. 4- Noah, 
Zt Notanbcr 26, 17.1. ."-ried l^'^^^J'^y; 
I i?\ of Worcester. 5. Jonas, born April ^^, 
:^f„!ariieiSUer.fi^3. ^.i^^;;^.^: 

rrKch^:^rseuiid-];;i3o^r''r U 

bo ; in Worcester. October .4. '<-••;. "'^,^'-'.'^<' 4' 
Na tucket girl and died m the West Indies, h. 
^aral 9 Mary, borr. August ic, .7.9. lO- lunncc, 

^^r1^I/li:i^t ^- Mose- ^ad^nc'daiS;: 
le" 13 tyd- S: jabe., inherited the farm at 
Faimouth, had three wives 

(IV) Nathaniel Jones, Jr., second child ot C. p- 

tair. Nathaniel J.mes (3), r,"%''"T i'^'sV, ,,?n Lel- 
at Weston Ma.Ksachnsetls. He lived m Sutton, Lei 
cestera.^ Charlton. He married, aecordmg to 
Bond, four tmies, but the -^^^^"'^^^^''^t\^^ 
onlv three of the marriages. Ihe hist wite nau 
seven clnldren, of whom linos and Asa alone wxre 
iv'ng a he time of the father's death ••> >795. >• >" 
thauel was living m Leicester m 17.;-'. '".V'-i, , 
befo e he removed to the Country Gore as thai ton 
was then called. He was a Baptist and belonged to 
The- Su ton li.ptist Church. He hied a cenit.cate 
with o hers at Charlton in 176. to secure exeinp 10. 
?rom paying rates for the f"PP°'-^ °< ^h-^^.^''^/," 
church or parish. His third son, Daniel, was k.lle 
by the French at the attack on lieonderoga m 

''^^The children of the first marriage were: i. 
Enoi born about t-.^o. perhaps "'Stitton, married 

A„-„lia, before 1750. settled m t.luirlt.jn 

2 A a, born about 1735. married (intentions dated 
N<u-nber 6) •.7('A l^""""^ ^ade, of Clouce ter 
^Daniel, killed in .758 at Ticoneeroga Chid o. 
Nathaniel and Hannah: 4- M^'rV. 1»^'" = 1, I),' ' 
Aumist 12, 1742. married in 17O1, "'*-'>"/'';!";. '^''■■'i 
e S eeter. No children recorded of Nathaniel 
Ind^Elizabeth Butler (intentions Ided at Leicesj-^^^ 
both recorded as of the Country '^;ore) 1 he '■h-ld" 
of Nathaniel and l-Uanor (W.odvs«.rd) o,v^- ,^^^ 
was of Newton, Massachusetts, ."^0,,, dated 
Anril 10 17^8 S- b. h, born June 5, i/y> "• l''"' 
n-d be n. September 28, .7(>0. 7- I'l-.uehas, born 
February 7, 17<>^. wa. a soldier in the revolution. 8. 
Elearor born December 26, 1764. AH the e.gb 
ddd"" just named were mentioned u^ Xhc'^M A 
the father made in T795, except Danul. who s.as 

''TvT'Eli Jon«. '"" °f Natbamel Jones Jr., (_4). 

was born in Charlton ^lassachusctts,Jime./.9. 

He was a private in Captain Abijah Lambs LUail 
on ccmipaify, Colonel Jonathan Hf "an s rcgmien 

in 17-6 and 1777 He settled at Charlton, mairitd 
hen-:Vprd V//-,786, Lydia Lamb, and died there 
February 13, 1812. Lydia (Lamb) J'""--^/l'^'l -^if. 

■27, 1848 Their children: Dr. Asa, of whom lat.r 
Kli, born April 16 (1789; Susannah January 20, 
.702; Ebene/.er, May 15, 1794; Lyeha, May 21. '/9''. 
Erastus, iVlarch 31, 1800; Hannah, June- 24, i8o(). 

(VI) Dr. Asa Jones, eldest son ot bli Jones t.-,). 
was born in Charlton, Massachusetts, February 20, 
,787 He studied medicine for a number of year, 
and settle<l in S,.eneer, where he practiced bis pro- 
fesMon during all the active years of h's life. He 
was onb'fort^four years old -hen he died October 
2^ iSu He married, December 22, lbl4, Luey 
Dunbar,' the daugluer . of '1"''"'"" ^ ^"J Lucret.a 
(Smith) Dunbar, of Leicester; she died at Spencer, 



July 27, 1844, aged htty-four years, riicir children: 
\ ary Wlvile I'orn September 9 .8.7, ^J^^ 
married Kev Gideon Johnson, of Haverhill, Uua, 
lor May 7ri8>9, "larr.ed Warren H. Dunto.i, May 
o i8.,4 Asa Thomas, born August .7, 1820, tounder 
:^'f tlic si:.-, factory in Spencer; FrasU.s, of whom 
later; Luey Dunbar, born .Migusl 2. 1828; 

(Vm Erastus Jones, fourth child of Dr. Asa 
lones (0), was l>orn m Spencer. Massachuse ts 
sVptembe/ u, .825. He was educated in t''- P"bho 
schools of Spencer, completing his <^""rse of study 
ai the high school. He spent severed y^-ars m th^ 
e,np!oy ot' his brother, Asa i '-"-.■'.''""- ;^;°,^^! 
a slioc mannfaeiurer in Sncneer. Asa 1. Jones De 
ga 10 make boots and shoes in 184. in the o <1 Liver- 
^, ore house at the corner of Mam and N;>:t'\f «^ ; 
When Erastus was of age he was admitted to part 
ne r'lvp by bis brother and the hrm name became 
\ r &. E Jones. This partnership continued until 
;W,"when Uie senior member of ^ '«='?,;■" ^,^^='^«„t 
Old Ile/ekiah P. Starr was admitted. The stjlc ot 
"0 tirm then became E. Jones & <^--^.-J^"^J^l 
has been familiar to the shoe trade . of the com try 
as well as to all the people of the vcnmy lor toriy 
v.ars or more. The present Jones 'aetory was 
\uiU in i.S(.o. but has been enlarged to scvcra 
, i es its original capacity, and the hrm -s a Imos 
eonsiantiv given cmplovmet to several bund td 
ha ds The factory i.s a' live-story structure, e.ghty 
fee U^ng, with two ells of like dimensions, and ha». 
caoacity of more than twenty-hve hundred P.^'r» ot 
shoes a day. The firm has been very succes^ful. 
W^ le all tl?^. latest maeliinery has been adopted and 
ahanced ideas in Production sought for the man- 
agement has avoided speculation and risks ot all 

■""llr Tones has been president of the Spencer Na- 
tional Bank since its organization m I87.> =^'" °^ 
d,out twenty-hve years vv^s t!ie preside.', tru ee 
d member of the board of investment of the Spe - 
r Savings Bank. He was town treasure^ e^ 
Snencer for a number ot years and also town elcrk. 
1. K-A he was representative to the general com , 
id In 806-97 ^vas state senator from the lourlh 
• Vr otlrTenatorial district During his hrst term 
in the senate he was on the committee on banks and 
•ung and chairman of the joint standing com- 
■ ee on liquor laws. During his second year he 
w- s ch." man of the committee on banks and l)a.il<- 
^tg so a member of the committee on. taxation and 
on printing. He is an earnest and consistent Rcpub 

""M;"jSnes'^d his wife are members^of the C>rr- 
.regational church of Spencer. llic Spencer .S«.i 
tad o Mr. Jones not long ago: ''Mr. Jones is a 
^^m o markid characteristics, in both Ins business 
nd pr v" ; hie, and his generous dispus.tion through 
Img years of intercourse has endeared him to his 

busTness associates and !"y"'^^°"^: .^'"'"'"^^et en. I'u 
have found him a man of tew words, hut yet en 1 11 
o convey an unmistakable meaning le ^;; 'Ifet 
to r lult if that be possible; nevertheless there is 
-m energy in his quietness which has made his bu .- 
1,, . n .,u-cess * * * His life trom the be- 
^mi^ing o? hs business career has been one of un- 
ginnim, ui ■"= y i.„,p= has been a generous 

„r of John B. H. Starr, oi Tbomaston, M.-tine hey 
hVve f.H'r children: Lucy L, born July 3. '852, inar- 
'i«r Charles L. Kingsbury, of Boston, Massachu- 
setts- Julia E., horn January 5. i^.-,t) . Mai > 1 .. 
born' July T. iW'^i. married, June 4. >89i. Abert 
Weur of Boston, a member o Harvard College 
faculty; Everett Starr, of whom later. 



536 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



(VIII) Everett, Starr Joncs, younnest cliild of 
F.rastus Jones (7), was born in Spencer, Massacliu- 
selts, November 28, 1864. He was graduatcj at 
Harvard University in the cla,>s of i8go. He was 
employi'd actively for several years in ibe factory 
of his father's iirm and became the general superin- 
tendent of the factory. For about two years he 
was with the American Ballot Company, engaged in 
the manufacture of election apparatus. In the spring 
of 1897 he left this company and in the fall sailed 
for Germany, spending a year and a hall at the 
universities of Leipsic and Berlin. Upon his return 
he accepted a position as teacher of German in the 
Providence Classical high school. In the fall of 
1899 he was appointed an instructor in the depart- 
ment of modern languages at Tome Institute, Port 
Deposit, Maryland, where he has ever since been 
engaged. 

He married, July 8, 1897, Anna Arnold Hunt, of 
Boston. They have three children : David Everett, 
born in Charlotlenburg, Germai.y, November 12, 
1898; She'don Stair Jones, born at Fort Deposit, 
Maryland, June 2, 1900: Erastus, born 1905. 

LONGLEY FAMILY. John Longley (1), father 
of the immigrant ance.^for of the Longley family of 
Shirley, Massachusetts, and of Charles I. Longiey, 
of Boylston, was a resident of Frisby, Lincoin coun- 
ty, Ei'.yland. He was a clerk. Shortly after his 
son and heir William went to America, John Long- 
ley died, and August 8, 1638, William, his son, made 
a letter of attorney (power of attorney) to Thomas 
Meckc, of Wynllete, St. Mary, Lincoln county, to 
sell and rent lands, goods and legacies descended to 
him from his father. Owing to an error in the rec- 
ords at Lymi in the name of William when his 
land was granted to him. Savage and others were 
led to believe that Richard Longley was the father 
of William. It is doubtful if any Richard Longley 
ever lived in Lynn in the early days. If so, Will- 
iam knew him not. William seems to be the only 
son who emigrated to America. 

(II) William Longley, son of John Longley 
(l), was born in I"risbie, Lincoln county, England, 
in 1614. He came to Lynn as early as 1638, and was 
admitted a freeman March 4, 1639. lie resided in 
Lynn twenty-two years, and was a prominent citizen 
and office holder there. He removed to Groton 
about 1659. His name appears first on the Groton 
records in 1663, and in iuOS he was elected select- 
man. William Longley had to go to the courts to 
correct the title to his lands at Lynn which he drew 
in 1638, and on which he had lived over twenty 
years. It seems that through a clerical error Will- 
iam's name was entered as Richard Longley on the 
proprietors' book, and the court records give ample 
proof that no Richard Longley existed, so the title 
was cured and doubtless William was able to deed 
his land to the purchaser when lie went to Groton 
to live. He liad to leave Groton, of course, in 
1675, on account of King Philip's war, and he went 
to Chailestown to live during the hostilities. He 
served at one time as clerk of writs, indicating that 
he was well educated. He died November 29, 1680. 
His will, made November 3, 1680, was recorded 
April to, i68i ; bequeathing to wife Joanna, sons 
John and William, daughters, Mary Lenimond, Han- 
nah Tarbell, Lydia Nutting, and Sarah Rand, and 
their children specified. 

He married, in England, Joamia Goffe, sister of 
Thomas Goffe, who was deputy governor of the 
Massachusetts Bay Company that received a grant 
from the Crown, March 19, 1628. Goffe was a mem- 
ber of both Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay com-, 
panics; was a I'lerchant of London; lost money on 



the business of chartering ships for the colonists 
of Governor Winthrop and others. His widow mar- 
ried (second), Benjamin Crispe, and she died in 
1698. The children of William and Joanna (GofTc) 
Longley were: i. John. 2. Mary, married, 1666, 
Samuel M. Lemont. 3. Sarah, born October 15, 
1660; married June 17, 1679. Thomas Rand, father 
of Robert Rand, to whom a grant of a thousand 
acres of land was given by the general court in 
what is now New Hampshire, on account of the 
losses suffered by Governor Goffe, his great-uncle. 
4. Lydia, married James Nutting. 5. "vVilliam, Jr., 
mentioned below. 6. Hannah, married Thomas 
Tarbell, Jr. 7. .\nn. 8. Elizabeth, married James 
Blood. 

(III) William Longley, Jr., son of William 
Longley (2), was born about 1640, at Lynn, Massa- 
chusetts, anel removed with his father to Groton 
in 1661, or earlier. He was well educated, and stood 
well among his townsmen. He was town clerk from 
1666 to ihe time of his death in i6t)4, when he and 
his family were victims of an Indian raid. All were 
slain except three of the children, who were carried 
into captivity. The house was rilled and burned. 
Near where it stood the mutilated bodies were 
buried by the neighbors and the spot marked by a 
small stone. A few year.s ago a more suitable monu- 
ment was erected to mark the site of the massacre 
and locate the graves 01 the victims. It is said in 
Butler's History that the daughter Jemima, who had 
been tomahawked and scalped with the others, was 
found alive sitting upon a rock, that she recovered, 
married and raised a family. Those who were 
captured were : Betty, Lydia and John. Betty died 
of starvation. Lydia was sold to the French in 
Canada, became a Catholic, entered a convent and 
became very zealous and bigoted. She wrote letters 
to her brother John, expressing her sorrow that he 
should remain under the influence of a heretical 
faith through which none could attain salvation. 
John, who was about twelve years old when he was 
captured, told the Indians that his father's sheep 
were shut up in a barn and would starve unless 
they would permit him to go back and let them out. 
He promised to return if they W'ould let him go 
back ; they consented and he kept his word and ap- 
parently won their admiration and conlidcnce at the 
same time. He made the best of his predicament 
and often said in after years that he liked the wild 
life he led among them and hoped he should never 
have to return to civilization. And when the gov- 
ernment finally ransomed him after five years, he 
had to be taken with force. But soon after his re- 
turn to Groton he entered upon his duties as a 
citizen with interest and zral. He was well edu- 
cated and. a man of uncommon ability. 

William Longley, Jr., married Lydia . He 

married (.•■econel), May 15, 1672, Deliverance Pea.se. 
fiis children: Betty, died in captivity; Jemima, 
scalped, but lived ; Lydia, the nun ; William, born 
February 17, 1675; John, mentioned above and a'.so 
below ; Joseph, born January 6, 16S7. 

(IV) John Longley, son of William Longley, 
Ji'-, (3). was born in 1683, at Groton, Massachu- 
setts. Fie was captured by the Indians. July 27, 
1694, and lived with them until ransomed in 1699. 
.\itxT he was brought back by force and educated, 
he became a leading citizen. He was town clerk 
six years, deacon of the church from 1722 to tlie 
time of his death, 1750; town treasurer and parish 
treasurer and deputy to the general court, lor three 
terms. He was called a good man and an exemplary 
Christian. He died May 25, 1750, aged sixty-seven 
years. He married (first) Sarah Prcscott, of Gro- 
ton, who died March 8, 1718. FIc married (second) 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



00/ 



about 1^20, Dcborali Houghton, who ilicd November 
7, 1763. His first wife was a sister of Hon. Ben- 
jamin Prescoti, father of Colonel William Prescott, 
of Bunker Hill fame, of Colonel James and of IJr. 
Oliver Prescott, of Groton. The children of John 
and Sarah were: Sarah, born March 28, 1700: 
William, February 13, 170S; John, January 6, 1710; 
Jonas, January 22, 1712; Lydia, June 2O, 1716, niar- 
rii.d Amos Parnsworth. Among the children of 
John and Deborah Longley were: Zacliary, lorn 
August 30, 1721; Joseph, September 12, 1724, died 
of wounds in tlie revolutionary army at Greenbush, 
New York, 1758; Jonathan, November 18, 1726; 
Zachariah, J-une 7, 1729; Nathaniel, September 6, 
1731; Robert, March 11, 1733-4. 

(V) William Longley, .son of John Longley 
(4), was born in Groton, Masiachusctts, February 
7, 1708. He settled in what is now the South Vil- 
lage of Groton, and his house was on the north side 
of the Catacunemaug on the side of the hill about 
half wa)' between the river and the present location 
of the Fitchburg Railroad. He and Samuel Hazen 
built the first grist mill in Shirley, and later added 
3. saw mill. The mills tood on the north side of the 
river. His brothers Jonas and William also settled 
in -.vhat is now the town of Shirley, then Groton, 
in 1751, thirty years after the lirst settlement there, 
and two years before it was incorporated as a dis- 
trict of Grotoi'.. The Shirley history contains an 
interesting account of the removal of the three Long- 
ley families through the wilderness to their new 
homes in Shirley. The trip took three days, though 
only about ten miles as the crow flies. William 
Longley died at Shirley, May 15, 1788. He married, 
January 4, 1734, Mary Parker, of Groton. Their 
children were: i. William, born at Groton, d'.ed 
young. 2. Mary, born at Groton, October 13, 
1736, died in 17.19. 3- William, born at Groton, 
May 23, 1738; v.as a miller; left numerous de- ' 
scendants in Shirley. 4. Sarah, born at Groton, 
February 18, 1740; married (first) Janus Willard, 
(second) a Mr. Hall, of Swansea. 5. Anna, born at 
Groton, March 10, 1742; married .Samuel TSartlolt. 
6. Lydia, born at Groton, December 31, 1743; mar- 
ried Thomas Bennett, of Lancaster. 7. Israel, born 
at Groton, October 12, 1745, progenitor through his 
son Lsrael, of a large family of the name in Nova 
Scotia and vicinity. 8. Nthcmlah, born at Grotoi!, 
September 4, 1747; married Miriam Sawtell, of 
Shirley. 9. Mary, born at Grutoii, November 4, 
1749; married John Priest, of Lancaster. 10. Joshua, 
born at Groton, July 23, 1751; married Bridget Mel- 
vin, of Concord. 11. James, mentioned below. 12. 
Abigail, horn at Shirley, December I, 1755; died 
October, 1758. 

(VJ) James Longley, son of William Longley 
(5), was born at Shirley, Massachusetts, November 
4i 1753. He married Molly P.artlctt, of Norlhbor- 
ough, who died August 27, 1831. He resided in 
Boylston during his active life, and died there Jan- 
uary 14, 1837. He had to begin early in iile to 
«arn his own living. He was bound out to Samuel 
Gamble, of Northborough, a carpenter by tr:iJe, 
and received rather shabby lre;itiiKnt that would 
not be allowed under modern conditions. 'J'he boy 
was not properly fed nor clothed, and received no 
schooling. He completed his apprenticeship accord- 
ing to the terms of his father's agreement. As soon 
.;is he becanie of age he obtained work in a hotel at 
Northboro and arranged with a private teacher to 
assist him in acquiring a knowledge of the alphabet 
and the first principles of education. He learned 
raijidly and cion mastered all that was taught in his 
<lay in the public schools. He was a student all his 
life. He became captain of the military company. 



He was for nearly half a century a justice of the 
peace, an office that formerly possessed the import- 
ance of local magistrate. For many years he was 
assessor and selectman and deputy to the general 
court. He was a soldier in the revoluion. First he 
lerved a; n.ariner under Conmiodorc Moody, and 
made several successful cruises. He afterward 
joined the land forees, and was with the army under 
(ieiieral Sullivan m the famoiis retreat after the 
Da^tle of Long Island. He w.is in the campaign that 
end'jd with the surrender of General Burgoyiie. He 
settled in Boylston, Massachusetts, shortly before 
chc end of the war. During his declining years he 
enjoyed a pension. He was loyal to the new govern- 
ment at the time of Shay's Rebellion, and held a com- 
mission for its suppression. He was m thai night 
niarcli from Hadley to Petersham through a biiuding 
storm of snow. 

The children of James and Molly Longley were: 
I. Otis, born December 8, 1784, married Lydia 
Patch, of Worcester ; had si.x children, all bern in 
Boylston. 2. Mary, born in Boylston, b'ebruary 18, 
1786; married, February 18, 1808, Deacon Abijah 
Flagg, who died December 22, 1850; they had seven 
children. 3. Jonas, born November ll, 1787; married, 
December 22, 1812, Susan Smith, of Xorlhboro; 
he died at Westborough, January 31, i86<3; lluy had 
four children. 4. Jonathan, born June 21, 1789; 
graduate of Harvard, a preacher of di.-iiniction ; 
never married ; died January 26, 1850. 5. James, 
born June 22, 1791, died June 10, 1793. 6. Israel, 
born November 21, 1792, died June (>, 1793.^ 7 
James, born September 3, 1794; married Sally Eus- 
tice, of Boston, July 3, 1838; he was an alderman 
of I'oston. 8. Israel, born November 8, 1795, died 
November 30, 1812. 9. Betsey, born May 28, 1799; 
married Daniel Barnes, of Berlin ; they had ten 
children, all born in Boylston. 'o. Parker, men- 
tioned below, n. Lois, born May 26, 1805; mar- 
ried, April 29, 1829, Joseph Dudley. 

(VTI) Parker Longley, son of James Longley 
(,6), was born in .Shirley, November 22, iSoo. He 
married, April 3, 1832, Lydia D. Green, of North- 
boro. lie was never possessed of firm health, and 
was obliged to go abroad in his youth, following 
the sea for a number of years and visiting Nova 
Scotia, where he had relatives, and various other 
places. He was a man of kindly and generous na- 
ture, and was highly esteemed by all v.-lio knew him. 
He followed fanning through life. In polities he 
was a Whig, and in his last years a Republican. 
He attended the Congregational church. His wife, 
Lydia Davis, the daugluer of Aaron and Lydia 
(Goddard) Green, of Northboro, died at Boylston, 
October 9, 1877. Their children were: 1. Edwin, 
born October 3, 1833, died October 17, 1833. 2. Ed- 
win Franklin, born August 29, 1834; married Emily 
Sie|)hcnson, of Northboro, January 19, 1856. They 
iiave three children: Nellie Anna, born September 
4, 1857; Edwin Franklin, born November 19, 1858, 
died February 17, 1859; Charles Herbert, born De- 
ceml)er 28, i860. 3. Charles Israel, mentioned be- 
low. 4. Asahel Parker, born November 11, 1840, 
resided at Marlborough. 

(VHl) Charles Israel Longley, son of Parker 
Longley (7), was born in Boylston. Massachusetts, 
April 12, 1837, and was educated there in the public 
schools. lie went to work first for his brother, Ed- 
win F. Longley, Marlboro, who was a large manu- 
facturer of boots and shoes, later of shoe boxes. 
After four years in this business,_ he returned to 
Boylston, purchased the interests of his brothers in 
the homestead, and conducted it the rest of his life. 
He took a lively interest in public aflfairs. He was 
a Republican in politics, and active in fl:e party or- 



538 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



ganization, serving frequently as delegate to sen- 
atorial and other conventions. He was for seven 
years on the board of assessors, and for two years 
collector of taxes. He was one of the trustees and 
clerk of the Boylston Social Library for nearly 
twenty years, and was among those who helped or- 
gp.nized and promote the Boylston Public Library 
which was the successor of the Social Library, and 
he was on the first board of trustees. In his early 
days he was a member of the militia company. He 
was an active member o. the Congregational church, 
and served on tlic Parish Comniiitee. He was in- 
terested in music and had a will trained -voice For 
many years he was the leader of the church choir. 
Few men m lioylston had a larger sphere of inHu- 
euce in his day, and none was more highly respected 
and loved than Mr. Longley. >le died September 5, 
igoo, having been an invalid for eighteen years pre- 
vious to his death. 

Mr. Longley married, Jiuie 4, 1864. Olive Esther 
Stratton, daughter of Jonatli.ui and Laura (Wick- 
wire) Stratlon, born October 12, 1840. Her father 
was a fanner and whcelwriglit. Their children, all 
born in Boylston, were: I. George Henry, born 
February 5, 11367; married Lena Walker, of Boyls- 
ton, and has one child — Harriet Walker, born Sep- 
tember 7, 19OJ. 2. Walter Stratton, born .September 
29, 1870; married Jennie R. Lancourt, of Worcester, 
aiid has one child. Henry Wright, born September 2, 
1900. 3. Levi Parker, born January 5, 1873; mar- 
ried Sallie N. Miller, of Hagerstown, Maryland, 
and has one child, Bertha Miller, born September 
9, iijoj. 4. Charles Frederick, born February 12, 
1876. 5. Jame.5 Edwin, born F'ebruary 22, 1880. 

WALTER EVERETT MYRICK, of Spencer, 
Massachusetts, was born March 2(1, 1872, the sou 
of Charles Willis and Catherine (Woodhead) My- 
rick, and grandson of Nathaniel Myrick, who was 
born in Last Dennis, but lived in Spencer the 
greater part of his life, engaged in the wire manu- 
facturing business, one of the leading industries of 
Spencer, of which he was one of the founders in con- 
junction with Richard Sugden. W. E. Myrick's 
father, Charles Willis Myrick, was a boot and shoe 
manufacturer of Spencer, Massachusetts, with Ed- 
ward Kent, under the firm name of Kent & Myrick, 
and his wife, Catherine Woodhead, was a native of 
England. 

Walter E. Myrick received his early education 
in the common schools of his native place, and later 
attended high school, thus aciiuirnig a good, general 
English education. After leaving school he first 
engaged in the cranberry business for four years, 
and later for about eighteen months he was en- 
gaged in boot and shoe manufacturing business, as 
stockholder of the Tyler Moulton Shoe Company 
of Brookhcld. He subsequently returned to the 
cranberry business, in wbieli he is at present en- 
gaged, conducting a profitable and extensive busi- 
ness, and is the owner of bogs in Wareham and 
Carver in the cape. He holds the offices of presi- 
dent and manager of the Chandler Bog Company 
and the Myrick Bog Company, both of Plymouth 
county. Mr. Myrick's political sympathies lie with 
the Republican party, and he is a member of Spencer 
Lodge, F. and A. M., Worcester Chapter, R. A. ^L, 
and L O. O. l'. In religious affairs he accords with 
the Universalist faith. 

Mr. Myrick married Fanny Chandler Packard, 
of Wareham, Massachusetts, the daughter of FVee- 
nian G. Packard, a wheelwright, and Sarah Abby 
I'ackard. Nathaniel W., a younger son of the late 
Charle^ Wiilis Myrick, married Helen Fairchild, of 



Los Angeles, California, where Mr. Myrick is treas- 
urer of Consolidated Iron and Pipe Company 

FRANK ADAMS DRURY, a member of the 
banking firm of Drury & Bonney, of Worcester, and 
also actively interested and identified with other 
financial enterprises, was born in Spencer, Worces- 
ter county, Massachusetts, July 12, 1S68, a sou of 
Franklin and Caroline H. (.Bemis) Drury, grand- 
son of Drury, of Spencqr, a prosperous 

farmer, and great-grandson of Drury, who 

located in Spencer from Boston early in the eight- 
eenth century. F'ranklin Drury (father) was a boot 
manufacturer of Spencer, and he and his wife were 
the parents of four children: .'\ugenette, wife of Ed- 
ward G. Desoe, of Springfield, Massachusetts, and 
mother of two clnidren: Roland and Harold; Carrie. 
wife of Abner C. Clark, of Spencer, and mother of 
three children: Edilh, Mal)el, and Earle; Sadie, wife 
of A. G. Lamb, of Worcescr, and mother of two 
children: Miriam and Gladys; and F'lank Adams 
Drury. 

In 1884, after completing a common and high 
school education, F'rank Drury became con- 
nected with the Spencer National Bank, assumed ihe 
position of cashier in 1889 and held the saint until 
his resignation in 1901. He then came to Worcester 
and engaged in the banking business under the 
name of Drury & Bonney, which has continued to 
the present time (1906). He was largely instru- 
mental in the organization of the Merchants' Na- 
tional Bank of Worcester, and is a director and 
vice-president of the Spencer National Bank. He 
holds membership in tic Worcester, Commonwealth 
and Congregational Clubs. He gives his political 
support to the candidates of the Republican party, 
the principles of which he firmly believes to be for 
the best form of government. 

Mr. Drury married, June 4, 1891, Ellen S. Prouty, 
daughter of Lewis Prouty, a boot manufacturer, 
who was a son of Isaac Prouty, of Spencer. (See 
Prouty family). They are the parents of one 
child : Percival Prouty Drury, born August 9, 1895. 
Mr. and Mrs. Drury are members of Plymouth Con- 
gregational Church of Worcester. 

ARTHUR NEWTON BOOTH. Edward Booth 
(i), the great-grandfather of Arthur Newton Booth, 
of Worcester, was born in England, about I77S- He 
came to America when a young man and settled in 
Otter Creek, Walliiigford, Vermont. He married 

Hill. He was a farmer. He met his death 

accidentally about 1812 from the overturning of a 
wagon in which he was riding. After his death his 
widow and family removed to Poisdain, New York, 
and later to ParishviUe, New Y'ork. His children, 
all born in Waliingford, Vermont, were: Ludwick,. 
who was a shoemaker by trade; Norman, who was 
a tanner; Edward Skinner, see forward; Lavina, 
married Ira Sayles, a farmer. 

(II) Edward Skinner Booth, son of IMward 
Booth (l), was born about 1808, in Otter Creek, 
Waliingford, Vermont. He settled in ParishviUe, 
New Y'ork, and v u.-^ a prosperous farmer there. 
Among his childre: was John Hill Booth, of Wor- 
cester, see forward. 

(HI) John Hill Booth, son of Edward Skinner 
Booth (2), was born in ParishviUe, New York, 
J.iiiuary 16, 1839. He attended school there and 
then learned the trade of painter. At the age of 
twenty-three, August 18, 1862, he enlisted in Com- 
pany A, F'ifty-third Massachusetts Regiment, and 
served one year. He was in the battle of Port Hud- 
son and at Fort Bisland in Louisiana. Returning 





4Z^ 




WORCESTER COUNTY 



539 



;rom his service in the civil war, Mr. Booth went 
to illinuis anj later to Michigan, wlurc he engaged 
in farming. He returned after a time to New York, 
however, and worked at his trade of house paint- 
uig in liornellsviilc. He removed to FitchbiirK, 
.".'assachusctt.s, where he worked at his trade, lie 

,is also eniploysj at Lowell for a tinu'. lie came 
lu Worcester, May 30, i!S87, and was soon afterward 
appointed night janitor of the old city hall. When 
the new city I'.all was built he retained his position 

;d holds It at the present time. He is a member 

I George H. Ward Post, No. 10, Grand Army, the 
\ icierit Order of United Worlcnieii, \ ictor Loflge. 

m1 a member of the Laurel Street Methodist 

jurch. 
He married (first) Charlotte Soplna May, (hiuyli- 
trr of Nathan and Sophia Powers May, of Sterling, 
.Massacluiseits, and they liad one child. He mar- 
ried (second), March 0, li56s, Maria Lucy Parks, 
daughtir of Aaron Parks. Her parents were both 
born in Vermont. He marrieil (third.) Semira Au- 
gusta Wheeler, daughter of l-oren/.o and Jane 
(Spoilord) Wheeler. There wire tlirce children by 
the second wife, none by the third. 

The only child of John Hill and Charlotte Sophia 
May Koolh, Jennie L., died 111 infancy. The chil- 
dren of John Hill and Maria Lucy iJooth were: 
itic May, died in infancy: V'olnej Harvey, born 

,igu.-t 23, 1867, married Nora Moore, resides in 
. pringlield, Massachusetts; Arthur Newton, see for- 
,\ ird; Clayton O., born November 25, iS/J, died 
July 20, l8yO. 

(IV) Arthur Newton Booth, son r f John llill 
Booth (3) was liorn in (ianhier, Illinois, June 5. 
1869. He attended the public schools at Hornells- 
ville. New York; Pitrhburg and Worce-ter, Massa- 
chusetts. After completing his education he began 
to learn the carpenter's trade under M. L. Hail. 
for whom he worked three years; then for about 
seven years for Charles A. Vaughan, the builder 
, ;'d contractor, becoming foreman for Mr. Vaughan 
:: important and difficult work. In likjCi he started 
in business for himself, and achieved success from 
the lust. He is kn nvn as one of the most reliable 
and responsible builders in the city with a thor- 
ough practical knowledge of his busiiiess. As a 
workman is known by his chips, the following build- 
ings among those Mr. Booth built in the past ten 
years testify to his skill and ability as a builder: 
The residence of Frank L. Coes, Coes Square; N. 
S. Li?comb, n large double house, the first built on 
the Merrilleld estate; Thomas Brown's, Germain 
street: Edwain Halls, Obirlin street; lulward Mc- 
Cabe's, and J. K. Hcaly's, Forrest street; Arthur 
Ballard's; Louis E. Booth's, Dean street, near High- 
land; Deacon H. H. Merriani's at Shrewsbury. Mr. 
Booth built the liandsome residence, 18 SchussU r 
road, in which he lives. He has had the contracts 
for many of the tenement houses in Worcester, lie 
built school houses at Northville and Trowbridgc- 
ville for the city and t)ie Highland Street Church 
of Christ. Mr. Booth has a wood-working shop at 
51 Hernion street, where he gets out his own linish 
and cabinet work. He is a member of Worcester 
Lodge of Olid !•'•. Hows, of Wachusetts Encampment, 
Canton, Worcester, No. 3, Atlielstan Lodge of F'ree 
Masons and F.unka Royal Arch Chapter. 

He married, Novimbcr 25, 1891, Annie T. Hol- 
land, daughter of lliomas and Ellen (Curranl 
Holland. Her father was born in England and her 
mother in Ireland. Their children are: Clayton 
Thomas, died youn.g; Ethel May, born May 11, 
1893; Mildred Evelyn, born February 14, 1896. 



lU'ZEKIAH PRINCE STARR, who is now 
Lading a retired life at his liumc iii Spencer, sur- 
rounded with peace and plenty, and realizing to the 
full that there is no reward so satisfactory as the 
consciousness of a life well .-pent, was born in 
Ihomaston, Maine, January 14, 1832, a son of John 
Bentley and Isabella (.Prince; Starr, of Tlionias- 
:on, Maine, and grandson of Richard Starr, a Bap- 
tist minister of Maine. The family of which He/e- 
kiah P. Stan is a member consists of two other 
children: John B., and Mary Isabella, wife of Eras- 
tus Jones, of Spencer, whose personal history and 
genealogy are contained in this publication. 

The educational advantages enjoyed by Hezekiah 
P. Starr were obtained iu tile common schools of 
Thomaston, Maine, and llie grammar school at 
Bath, Maine. He then served an apprenticeship at 
the trade of tin and sheet iron worker, which line 
of business he continued for five years. In 1S54 he 
located in Spencer, wher^' in the following year he 
entered the employ of A. T. and E. Jones, boot and 
shoe manufacturers, with whom he continued to be 
associated up to 1802, when the senior member of 
the firm retired from the company and Mr. Starr 
became a member of the company thertafler known 
as E. Jones & Co. Mr. Starr retired from business 
ill 1888. Mr. Starr was one of the founders of 
Spencer Savings Bank and also one of its board of 
trustees. A Republican politically he served as 
member of board of selectmen, and in earlier years 
was especi;illy actively interested in Spencer's lire 
dvpartiiienl. He was a member of Commonwealth 
Club, of Worcester, Massachusetts. 

Ill January, 1857, Mr. Starr married Ellen Smith 
Prouly, daughter of Isaac Prouty, who died January 

7, 18G0. One child was the issue of this union : 
Ellen Prouty Starr, born January 4, 1858, died .May 

22, i8y8; she was the wife of Chester T. Linley, and 
luotluv of three children: Helen Frances, born May 
2, i8yo; Isabella Prince, ■jorii November i, 1892; 
and Richard Starr, born October 26, 1896. On April 

23, 1867, Mr. Starr married Ellen E. Lamsoii, of 
Worcester, daughter of Eli B. Lamson, and her 
death occurred March 22, iiSy4. The children of this 
inarria.ge are as follows : Sarah Lamson. born Jan- 
uary 31, 18O8, dieil Jar,u:iry 15, 1900; she became 
the wife of Ralph B. Stone, of Spencer, April 23, 
1891, and their children were: Gerald Starr, born 
March 9, 1897; and Marjorie Adele, boru Feliruary 
14, l89(.). Erastus Jones Starr, born December 19, 
1869, married, August I, 1893, F'lora Elizabah Bemis, 
of Spencer, and their children are: Conant Lam- 
son, born February 16, 1895; Ellen Beiiiis, born 
August 2, 1896; and llezekiah Prince, bori Julv 27, 
1899. 

BOND FAMILY. Jonas Bond (1), pro.genitor 
of the Bond family of Worcester county. .Massachu- 
setts, lived in Bury St. Edniuiuis, Suffolk county, 
England. He moved there about iSyo. after the 
birth of his second child, and was buried there 
.•Vugust s, 1601. He belongs to an ancient English 
family. He married Rose Wood and their children 
were: I. Oliver. 2. John, elder of the name, two 
being given the same name, both living. 3. John, 
the younger, baptized December 2O, 1591 ; married, 
June 28, I()I2, Lydia Tixtott, and had eight chil- 
dren. 4. Bartholomew, born in Bury St. Edmunds, 
mentioned in father's will. 5. William, baptized De- 
cember 28, 1595. 6. 'I'homas, baptized September 

8. 1597; maltster, of Bjuy St, Edniurds. 7. Eliza- 
beth, baptized March 12, 1599; married (second), 
February 8, 1625, Deacon Ephraim Child, of Water- 



S40 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



I 



town, Massachusetts. 8. Margaret, baptized Decem- 
ber 10, 1600. 

(II) Thomas Bond, son of Jonas bond (i), was 
family and resided in the PlynioiUb. co!'.':i" 

born in Hury St. Edmunds, England, 1597, and bap- 
tized September 8, 1597. lie settled tlicrc, married 
and had children: i. Thomas, baptized September 
22, 1622. 2. John, baptized February 5, 1624. 3. 
William, mentioned below. 4. Henry, baptized April 
5, 1628. s. Elizabeth, baptized March 12, 1630. 6. 
Thomas, baptized May 31, 1632. 7. Mary, baptized 
January 31, 1636. 8. Jonas, baptized August 5, 1638, 
grocer at Bury St. Edmunds. 

(III) William Bond, son of Thomas Bond (2), 
■was the immigrant ancestor. He was born at Bury 
St. Edmunds, J625, and baptized there September 
3, 1625. He probably came to New England in 1630 
with Oeacon Ephraim Child, whose wife Elizabeth 
v,-as sister of Bond's father. He settled on what is 
lately kno.vn as John P. Cushing's place, in Water- 
town, and was an ancestor of the historian. Dr. 
Bond. William Bond became one of the foremost 
men of his day; was town clerk, justice of the peace, 
captain of the Watertown military company; on the 
council of safety in 1689; was a deputy to the general 
court; first speaker under the new charter uniting 
Plymouth with Massachusetts Bay Colony, and pre- 
sided in 1691, 1693 and 1695, He was admitted a 
freeman 1682, and jomed the church in full com- 
muuiou March 27, 1687. He served witli Captain 
Prentice and Deacon John Stone on the committee 
to rebuild Lanca.ster after King Philip's war. He 
died December 14, 1695. An agreement for the di- 
vision of his estate was made January 23d following 
between sons William, Thomas, Nathaniel, and 
Elizabeth Barsham and Richard and Mary Coolidgc. 
He married, February 7, 1649-50, Sarah, daughter of 
Nathaniel Bisco, the rich tanner. (See Bisco fam- 
ily). She died February, 1692-3, and he married 
(second), 1695, Elizabeth, widow of John Nevinson. 
Children of William and Sarah Bond: I. William, 
born J^ecember 1, 1650, lieutenant and deacon. 2. 
John, December, 1652 ; freeman April 18, 1690, 
houscwright and sergeant. 3. Thomas, mentioned 
below. 4. Elizabeth, born November 30, 1650 ; inar- 
ried Captain Nathaniel fiarsham. 5. Nathaniel, born 
January 19, 1658-9, died young. 0. Natlianiel, born 
January 9, 1659-60, lieutenant, admitted freeman 
April 18, 1690. 7. Sarah, born July 27, 1661 ; mar- 
ried Dr. Palgrave Wellington. 8. Jonas, born July 
13, 1664; lieutenant colonel and justice of the peace; 
died April 21, 1727 9. Mary, married, June 22, 
1693, Richard Coolidgc. 

(IV') Thomas Bond, son of William Bond (3), 
born in Watertown, December 23, 1654, died De- 
cember 17, 1704. He settled in that part of Water- 
town now Weston. He married, September 30, 
1680, Sarah, born i66r, daughter of Thomas Wool- 
son, of Newton. Bond died 1704, and administration 
on his estate \vas granted to his widow Sarah 
and son Tiiomas, January 22, 1704-5. Their chil- 
dren: I. Thomas, mentioned below. 2. Sarah, born 
Decfmber 2, 1685; married, February 12, 1701-2, 
James Tredway. 3, William, born February i, 
1687-8. 4. Mary, baptized December 7, 1690, married, 
December 29, 1709, Isaac Bigelow. 5. John, born 
July 14, 1695. 6. Isaac, born July 22, 1698, cord 
wainer, resided in Sherljorn, Natick and Suilbury. 

(V) Thomas Bond, son of Thomas Bond (4). 
born at Watertown, April 29, 1O83 ; married, y\ugusl 
25, 1706, Lydia Spring; he died May 17, I7,i7; his 
widow married, June 20. 1744, Deacon John War- 
ren, of Weston. Children of Thomas and Lydia 
Bond: i. Thomas, born May 3, 1708. settled in 
Newton. 2. Jonatlian, mentioned below. 3. Henry, 



born September 6, 1712. 4. Amos, born August 23 
1714; died September 29, 1762. 5. Thaddeus, born 
January 15, 1716-7; married in Marlborough, March 
24, 1740. Mary Rice; married (second), April ii, 
1745, Prudence Warren, of Weston. 6. Lydia, bori 
iVIay 21, 1718; married, March 21, 17445, Sami:. 
Fiske. 7. Phinehas, born Janu.iry 8, J724-5. .^ 
Abijah, born November 28, 1727. 

(VI) Deacon Jonathan Bond, son of Thomas 
Bond (s), was born at Watertown, November 7, 
1710. He resided at Waltham, Mendon and West- ' 
borough. He married, April 13, 1732, at Waf i 
town, Mary Harrington and settled in the West Pr 
cinct of Waltham, whence he moved to Mendon in , 
1743, and thence to Westborough in 1750. He served 
in Capiain Benjamin Woods' company as lieutenant 
in 1755 in the French war, and in Captain Flagg's ' 
company in 1757. He was dismissed from the Wa-. 
tertown church to that of Westborough, September 
^9. 1757, and was for many years deacon of it. He 
died Jaimary 11, 1780. Cliddren of Deacon Jonathan, 
and Mary iJond : i. Mary, born at Watertown, De- 
cember 2. 1732; marriea Aaron Warner, of Upton, 
and settled in Westborough. 2. Jonathon, born ' 
April 22, 1736, mentioned below. 3. Thomas, born 1 
January 30, 1737. 4. Eunice, born at Waltham, Feb- ' 
ruary 18, 1742; married Newton, of West- 
borough. 5. Joseph, born at Mendon, July 6, 1744; 
married Hepsiiiah Pratt, and settled in Westbor- 
ough; removed to Bondstowii, now Hampton, Ohio. 
6. Lydia, born at Mendon, January 12, 1747; married 
Moses Wheelock. 7. Elizabeth, born at Westbor- 
ough, March 28, 1752, died 1756. 6. Lucy, born June 
22, 1755- 

(VH) Jonathan Bond, son of Deacon Jonathan 
Bond (6), was born at Watertown, April 22, 1736. He 
settled in lioylston, Massachusetts, was deacon of tlie 
church there, and died there 1794. His will was dated 
November 1, 1793, and his son Juhn was executor. He 
married Ruth Tyier, wdio died at North Brooktield 
April 26, 1814. After the deatli of Deacon Bond 
she went to live with her son, Deacon Jonathan 
Bond, and married (second) October 11, 1809, Rob- 
ert Bruce, of North BrooKtiold. Children 01 Deacon 
Jonathan and Ruth 15ond: i. Jonathan, born at 
Sturbridgc, March 17, 1760. 2. Joseph, born March 
8, 1702; died October 16, 1781. 3. .Solomon, born 
May 9, 1764. 4. Mary, born at Brooklield, August 
27, 17 — . 5. Sarah, born May 14, 1771 ; married 
Abijah Pierce, of Boylston. 6. Ruth, born .March 
14, 1771 ; married John liond, of Boylston, and died 
soon, leaving sen Tyler. 7. Eunice, born August 
'5- 1775. <'t Boylston; married lohn Gates, of Strat- 
ford. 

(Vllt) Jonathan Bond, Jr., son of Jonathan 
Bond (7), was born at Sturbrid;^e, Massachusetts, 
March 17, 1760. He settled at Boylston, and mar- 
ried, 1784, Lucy, daughter of Jiobert Andrews, Sr. 
She died October 14, 1817, aged tifty-eight years, 
five months, eighteen days. He married (second) 
Mrs. Mary Cobb, December 3, 1818; he died at 
Boylston, Scptcmher 3, 1821, aged si.xty-one ytars, 
six months. He was deacon of the churcb. .1 Boyls- 
ton and representative to general court. Children 
of Jonathan and Lucy Bond: r. Joseph, born No- 
vember 20, 17S4, mentioned below. 2. Lucy, born 
December 8, 1786. 3. Lucinda. May 5, 1790. 4. 
Joanna Hurd, January II, 1792. 5. Eli, May 28, 
1794. 6. Elliott, June 29, 1797. 7. Ruth Tyler, N 
venibcr 10, iHoi. 

(l.\) Joseph Bond, son of Jonathan Bond (ti), 
was born in Boylston, .Massachusetts, November 20, 
1784. He was educated in the public schools. He 
kept a general store in his native town until 1832, 
when he bought the farm on Lincoln street where 



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WORCESTER COUNTY 



541 



his grandson, Charles Elliott Boii.l, now lives, about 
half way between Worcester and BoyUton, and is a 
cry productive and valuable estate. He lived there 
iv" rest of his life. He was a prominent member 
: the Second Parish (First Unitaria'i; Church, 
.1 an active religious worker. In politics he was 
. Whig until that party disbanded, wlun he joined 
111; Kcnublican parly. He died in i.Sd.^, and left 
ii.s farm to his son, Joseph Elliott Bond. He mar- 
,1 (published Septeniber 2) I1H14, Sophia, daugh- 
of Moses Smilh. of Sterling. Their chlidrcu : 
phia, born at Boylston November 9, 1S15; Joseph 
liott, born at Boylston June 20, 1S20. 
(,X) Joseph .'illiott Boi.d, son of Joseph Bond 
I ,1, was born in Boylston, June 20, 1820. He was 
iucatcd in the public schools of Boylston and Wor- 
ker and at Worcester Academy. As the only son he 
is associated with his fathtr in conducting the 
rill, and at the death of his father he succeeded to 
r ownership of the homestead. He was a Uni- 
nan in religion, and was one of the original mem- 
•s of the Republican parly in Worcester. He mar- 
i Jnlia .'\nii. daughter of Silas and Hannah 
Loweli) Barber, who resided in the vicinity of 
rber's Crossing, Worcester. Children of Josop!; 
'lott and Julia Ann Bond, all born in Worces- 
i:r: I. Elizabeth Sophia, July 21, 1847. 2. iM.nry 
( l.apin, January 2j, 1850. 3. Florence An.elia, Jau- 
' •■''y '5. 1^57- A- Charles Elliott. 

(W) Charles Elliott Bond, son of Jotcph Elliott 

\',',n(l (10), was born in Worcester, October 3, 1851. 

Me attended the public schools of his native tovn 

1 took the course of study at the old Worcester 

' idciiiy, then located at Lincoln Square. He also 

IV a commercial course in Howe's Business Col- 

e, Worcester. He assisted his father on the hoine- 

:d, and lated succeeded his father in the owiier- 

i;p of the farm. Mr. Bond has lived all his life in 

hou.c on Lincoln street, and is one of the best 

iwn citizens of that locality. He is an active Re- 

.'.lilican, and has frequently served his party as 

'irlegate to nominating conventions. He is a mem- 

of Worcester Grange, I'atrons of Husbandry, 

hd Quinsiganiond Lodge of Odd Fellows. He is :i 

iitarian in religion, but usually attends the First 

iiiversalist C!hurch. He married, November 17, 

So, F'anny Louise, born in Chelsea. Massachu- 

'ts, IJeccniber 26, 1850, daughter of George Fraii- 

- Kingman and Lydia (Loring) Kingman. Her 

her was a prominent sail maker of Chelsea. They 

ve no children. 

EVERETT KENDALL. Francis Kendall (i). 
t, c immigrant ancestor of Everett Kendall, of Boyls- 
'II, Massachusetts, born in England in 1620, gave 
hiS age as about thirty-eight years in a deposition 
December, 1658. He settled in Woburn. Massachu- 
setts, in 1640, or earlier, and was one of the thirty- 
.10 men of Charlestown who signed the town orders 
r Woburn. He was on the Woburn tax list in 
45 v-'iih his brother, Thomas Kendall, and was 
.'Inutted freeman May 26, 1647. When he married, 
ueccniber 24, 1644, ALtry Tidd, his name was re- 
corded "Francis Kendall, alias Miles,'' and the 
family tradition explains this alias by the fact that 
he was said to have left Iv.igland without the con- 
sent of his parents. His brother Thomas seems 
never to have used any other name. Francis Ken- 
dall served the town at different times eighteen 
years on the board of selectmen, and often on im- 
portant committees, such as the laying out of lots 
to the proprietors and the building of the meet- 
ing house. He was tithinc: man in 1676. He got 
into trouble with the Puritan church because he did 
not believe very much in infant baptism, failed to 



attend communion, and w.-'s even found guilty of 
attending .Anabaptist meetings. He was aiso lined 
for being late once at a selectmen's meeting He 
died 1708, and his wife died 1705. His wiil was 
dated May 9, 1706. Jle was a miller, and left his 
corn mil! to sons John, Thomas and Samuel. This 
old mill was in the ownership of the family for six 
generations. The present null, known as Kendall's 
Mill, was built by S.-.muel Kendall shortly after 
171^'" Children of Francis and Mary Kendall- 1 
John, born July 2, 1646. 2. Thomas, January 10, 
1648-y. 3. Mary, January 20, 1650- 1 ; nwried Israel 
l<ecd. 4. Elizabeth, born January 15, 1652-3, married 
hrst, Ephraim Winship; second, James Pierce. 5 
Jlannah, born January 26, 1654-5; marri.'d Wiiliaiii 
Green, Jr., as his second wife. 6. Rebecca, born 
-March 2, 1657; married Joshua Eaton, December, 
1700. 7. Samuel, mentioned below. 8. Jacob, born 
January 25, 1660-1. 9 Abigail, born April 0, lOOO; 
married William Reed, May 24, 1C86. 

(H) Samuel Kendall, son of Francis Kendall 
(I J, born in Woburn. Massachusc.i.s, March 8, 
1659, settled about 2742 in Lancaster. Massachusetts, 
and is the progenitor of the Stcriing lainily as well 
as that of Boylston and othtrs of the vicinity. His 
will was made December 6, 1742, and proved 1749. 
He died about 1749, when he was ninety years old. 
He married, November 13, 1O83, Rebecca, tiaugl.ter 
ot Isaac Mixer. She died October 2;, 1691 He 
married (second), March 3, 1692, Mary" daughter of 
XViUiam Locke. Children of Samuel and Rebecca 
Kendall were: i. Samuel, mentioned below. 2 
Isaac, born September 13, i6S6; married, October 
9, i7o6, }Iannah Walker, and settled in Ashford, 
Connecticut. 3. Joshua, bcrn March, 1689; married, 
-March 25. 1710, Susannah Harringttjn; resided at 
Watertown, Massachusetts, and Ashiord, Connecti- 
cut. 4. Rebecca, born July 0, i6gi ; died November 
25. 1691. 5. Mary, born February 3, 16^2-3; died 
.\ugust 14, 1727. 6. Rebecca, born January 26, 
10y4-5; married Samuel Russell. 7. Abigail, born 
March 3, 1697; marMed William Nichols, of Read- 
ing, 1719-20. 8. Ebenezcr, born May 16, 1700; mar- 
ried Hanna'i . 9. Ruth, born April 2?, 1703; 

married Bancroft. 10. Tabitha, born January 22, 
1706-7; married, 17:9, Naihan Richardson. 

(Ill) Samuel Kendall, son of Samuel Kendall 
(II), was born August 13, 1684. He married Pru- 
dence about 1710. Their children were; 

1. Samuel, mentioned below. 2. Rebecca, born 
A'lgust 27, 1714. 3. Stephen, born March 10, 1717. 

,,(IV) Samuel Kendall, son of Samuel Kendall 
(HI), was born September 4, 1711. He settled in 
Sterling, -Massachusetts, and married Phche Brin- 
tain September 23, 1736. Sterling then was known 
as Chocksett, part of Lancaster. These ch.ldren of 
Samuel and Phebc were baptized in Sterling by 
Rev. Mr. Mellen: i. Samuel, baptized February 
17, 1745- 2. Rebecca, baptized F'ebruary 17. 1743. 
3. Abigail, baptized July 20, 1746. 4. Caleb, bap- 
tized -May 15, 1748. s. Bartholomew, baptized Feb- 
ruary 18, 1749. 6. Caleb, baptized March 24, 1750. 
7. Bartholomew, baptized February 28, 1753, 8. Wiil- 
ian;, baptized October 13, 1754. 9. Phebe, baptized 
July 3. 1757. 10. Lucy, baptized Fe'i.ruary 10, 1763. 
II. Lucinda, baptized November 14, 1762. 

(V) Caleb Kendall, son of Samuel Kendall (4), 
born 1750, baptized in Sterling (Cbocksett) Chi:rch, 
March 24, 1750, settled in Boylston. He married 
first, Priscdla Savoo', who bore him four children. 
He married (secord), April i;, 17&S, Mrs. Lucy 
(Baldwin) Kendall, widow of Thomas Kendall. She 
died at Boylston, November 22, 1845, aged eighty-five 
years. Children of Caleb and Priscilla: i. Priscilla, 

2. Zipporah. 3. Caleb, Jr.; married, June 24, 1803, 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



543 



«listrict) in 1780. Ho was iiKHk-rator of llic pro- 
prietors' meeting, April 3, 1792. He deeded a farm 
10 liis eldest son Jolin in 1787; nnollier to IVlatiali, 
Jr., in 5797. He died in 171)8. and his estate was in 
process of settlement in July, i7i>S. 

He married (intentions dated November 4), 1743, 
Elizabeth Darling. 'I'luir children were: John, 
settled in Mendon; Pelatiah, settb.-d in Mendon, sec 
forward; Abigail, Joshna. Mary. Kuth, Phinehas, 
Elizabeth. The foregoing are probably not in the 
correct order of birth. 

(V) Pelatiah Darling, Jr., son of Pelatiah 
Darling (4). was born at Mendon, Massachu.sclls, 
.■\pril, 1700, and was a soldier in the revohition, 
serving in Captain Peter Peniiiman's compaiiy. 
Lieutenant Colonel Nathan Tyler's regiment, in T776 
and 1777. He deeded his farm to Pelatiah Darling, 
Jr., in 1831. He married, July 2J, 1790. Phila Taft, 
born January 4. 1772. died September 6, 1841. He 
died April 3, 18.^9. Their children were: Newton, 
born .\ugiist 22, 1701 ; Maria, born March 22, 1794; 
X'cwbury, born Sejitember 18. 1707, see forward; 
I'hila born September 4. l8(X); l\-latiah, Jr, had the 
old homestead; Cyrus, Willis, Hannah. 

(\I) Newbury Darling, son of Pelatiah Darling, 
Jr. (S). \\"is born at Mijlvillc, Massacliusetts, Sep- 
ifiuber 18,. 1797. He became a manufacturer of 
•scythes at Eastliampton, Connecticut, and at Mill- 
villo, Massachusetts. During the latter part of his 
life he lived on a farm. He married, August 17. 
1824, Olive Kellcy, born December it, i8oi6. died 
November 4, 1867. the daughter of Wing and Diama 
Kellcy. Her f.ilher was born M.iy 15. 1773, died 
December 17, 18.36; her mother Diama Daniels, was 
born March 14. 1774. died February 14. 1842. The 
•children of Wing and Joanna (Fowler) Kellcy 
(Joanna born August 22. 1774. died October 12, 
1797), were: Nancy, Lydia. .'\bigail. The children 
of Wincf and Diama (Daniels) Kelley were: Joamia. 
born December I, 1803 ; Ruth, born November 4. 
1804; Olive, mentioned above; Diama, born Octo- 
ber 14, 180S: Abby, born January 15, iSii; Albert, 
born March 30, 1S13: Margucritta Lucy, born Sep- 
tember l,^. iSt7. The children of Newbury and 
Olive (Kelley)) Darling were: Isa.lora. born Feb- 
ruary 20. 1826; Albert Newbury, see ffirward; Ellen 
M. born Juno 21, 1S29; F.va, burn November 13, 
1829. died December 29. 1830; Homer Wing, see 
forward ; Susan Caroline, born January 2, 1834, at 
Easthamjjton, Connecticut, died (■'ebruary. 1900; 
Newton, born June i.S, 1840, at Easthampton, see 
forward: Warren Pollard, born December to, 18.(3, 
did July 25, 1844. 

(VH) Albert Newbviry Darling, son of New- 
bury Darling (6), was born at Easthampton, Con- 
necticut, August 31, 1827, died at i\icndon, Massa- 
chusetts, December 22, i()02. He received a com- 
niuii school education at Easthampton. supplemented 
by instruction in a private school. He became asso- 
ciated with his father in the manufacture of scythes 
at Millvillc, AL-issachuselts. .Vfier giving uj) this 
business he was engaged in various enterprises, 
among which was a grocery store in Millvillc, Massa- 
chusetts. In 1869 he went to Brooklyn as treasurer 
!if the Brooklyn Watch Case Company, and there 
resided until 1S88, when he retired from active busi- 
ness and went to Mendon to live. Mr. Darling was 
a large owner of stock in the h'ahy's Watch Case 
Company and the Brooklyn Watch Case Company. 
He was a Republican in politics, but devoted his at- 
tention almost exclusively during his active lifs to 
his business and acquired a large competence. 

He married (first), June 21, 1852. at Miilville, 
Julia A. Wilson, who died June 13, 1853. He mar- 



ried (second), November 19, 1855, at Johnston, 
Rhode Island. Frances M. Potter, who was born 
in 1833 and died February 14, l86o. He ni.irricd 
t third), at Worcester, April 3, j86i, Harriet E. 
Field, who was born at Coldbrook, .Massachusetts, 
September 23, 1833. She resides at the homestead 
m Mendon. The children of Albert Newbury and 
!■ ranees (Potter) Darling were: Julia I'lanccs, 
born at Millvillc, Massachusetts, February 27, 1857, 
resides at .Mendon :!ud is an active member of the 
Unitarian church ; Bert, born April 2, 185S, at Bur- 
riilville, Rhode Island, died August ,30. 1859. The 
children of Albert Newbury and Harriet l\. ( l''icld) 
Darling were : Albert W., born August 3, 1862, at 
Millvillc, JMassachusetts, died at Warren. Rliode 
L-land, June 24, 1903; married, May, 1887. in Hope- 
dale, Abbie Dudley, who was born May, 1807, in 
Mendon; F'lorcnce. burn July 2, 1S67, at Provi- 
dence; Henry Field, born at Providence, September 
4, 1S69, died at Brooklyn, July 3, 1870; Ju>tin, born 
at Brooklyn, Now York, F'ebruary 27, 1871, died 
same day ; Everett F"., born !Niarch 3, 1875, married, 
F'ebruary 3, 1905, Bcrth:i Ehlers, born September It, 
1875, ill Trinidad, and they have — Ruth Elders Dar- 
lin.g, born F'ebruary i, 1906, at New Rochelle, Nov/ 
York. 

(VH) Ellen M. Darling, daughter of Newbury 
Darling (6), was born at Easthampton, June 21, 
182.4, died 1887. She married Edw;ird Thayer 
Their children were: Albert S., Edward D., Ellen 
O., Ernest L. Thayer. 

(VH) Homer Wing Darling, son o£ Newbury 
Darling (6), was born at Easthampton, Connci''i- 
cut, January 8, l8.j2, died December li, t892. He 
was a farmer during the greater part of his life. 
He married, April 7, 1837, at Uxbridgr, .Abbie Cook, 
who was bora at U-\bridge, November 11, 1839. 
Their children were. i. Emily, born March 28. 
1858, at Burrillvillc, Rhode Island; marrird. May 2, 
1S70, Samuel Benneit; their children art; Edith, 
born at Mendon, June 13, 1878, married, August i, 
1896, Timothy Raymond Scott, and their cliildren 
arc : Florence, born October 17, 1897, at Provi- 
dence; Robert, born June 8, 1902; Florence, born 
August 21, 1882, at Mendon. 2. George Homer, 
born F'ebruary 7, i860, at U.xbridge, marriid, Jan- 
uary 24, 1883, Annie Parkinson, and their children 
are: Ida Olive, born December 19, 1883. at Men- 
don: Abbie M., born August 13, 1887: Homer, born 
September itj, 1893. .]. Grace, born July 14, 1872, 
at Mendon, married, February 16, 1898, Fred Piatt, 
and their children are : Infant son, born December 
27, 1898, at Lynn: Marjorie Piatt, born December 
31, i89<j). at Saugus; Doris Piatt, born September 
24, 1900, at Saugus; Gertrude Piatt, born October 
24, 1902, at Saugus. 

(VII) Newton Darling, son of Newbury Darling 
(6), was born at Easthampton, Connecticut. June 
15, l8.to, died January 31, 1805. Ho was in various 
lines of business in early life, but for many years 
was interested in the Brooklyn Watch Case Coni- 
p.i'iy, of which his brotlur was treasurer for many 
years. He married, at Mendon, October 10, i8()7, 
Mary Hastings. Their children were: Clare, Chris- 
tine, Clarence. 

WILLIAM HENRY HASTINGS. The Hast- 
ings family of Boylston are the descendants of 
Thomas Hastings, who came from Ipswich, Eng- 
land, as a stowaway on a ship which arrived in 
Massachusetts Bay, April 10, 1634. He settled in 
Scituate, where he married, and many of his de- 
scendants are to be found in this connnonwealth. 

Nathaniel Hastings, William Hastings' grand- 
father, was a lifelong resident of Boylston, and a 



544 



WORCESTER COUNTY 



prosperous farmer of his day. lie served in ihe 
local militia company. Eli Hastings, father of Will- 
iam H. Hastings, was born in Uoylston, .^pril 29, 
1831. In his earlier years lie was a noted cattle 
dealer in that section, but the active period of his 
life has, for the most part, been devoted to tilling 
the soil. He formerly took an interest in civic af- 
fairs, serving as road commissioner for a nimiber of 
terms, and di<-d May 25, 1906. Eli Hastings married 
Adeline Maynard, daughter of Asa and Adelaide 
(Mivter) Mayiiard. Slie disd about 1884. 

William Ikiiry Hastings, the principal subject of 
this sketch, was born in Boylston, January 27, i860. 
He ac-quired his education in the Boylston public 
schools. When a young man he engaged in the 
live-stock business, which he followed with gratify- 
ing success for a number of years, or until unable to 
compete with the western cattle shippers, and he 
then engaged in farming exclusively. For two years 
he served a.i an assessor, and is at the present time 
chairman of the overseers of the poor. In politics 
he is a Republican. He is heartily in sympathy with 
all movemen'.s relative to the general improvement of 
the communitj', and is an active member of the local 
grange. Patrons of Husbandry. In his religious be- 
lief he is a Congrcgationalist. 

In 1885 Mr. il;.otiiigs married (first) Arvilla 
Snow, a native of Eastford Midway, Nova Scotia. 
The children of this union are Eli Leigh, born in 
18S7; and William Earle, born in 1889. His present 
wife, who was, before marriage, Melinda Anaistasia 
Tumbling, daughter of John Austin and Elizabeth 
(Micncr) Tumbling, of Lahave. Nova Scotia, is 
the mother of one son, Calvin Raymond Hastings, 
born October 27, 1900. Since retiring from the 
cattle business Mr. Hastings has enga.ged extensively 
in market, gardening and the growing of apples ; also 
conducts quite an extensive dairy farm. 

DAVIi:i CARROLL, one of the early Irish set- 
tlers of Worcester, was born in Bruree, county 
Limerick, Ireland, August 15. 1814. son of David 
and Ellen (Fitzgerald) Carroll, natives of Ballin- 
garry, county Limerick, Ireland, vviiose family con- 
sisted of four other children, namely : James, John, 
Mary and Anne. The CarroUs were well-to-do 
farmers, and belonged to the powerful and ancient 
Irish sept of the (3'Carrolls. To this sept also be- 
longs the ancestors of Charles Carroll, of Carroll- 
ton, a signer of the Declaration of Independence. 

David Carroll, of this review, learned the trade 
of a cabinet maker in early manhood. He and his 
brother James and sister Mary left their native 
townland of Rockhill, Bruree parish, in April, 1840, 
and after a voyage of about thirty days landed in 
Mirimichi, on the northeast coast of New Bruns- 
wick, where they remained for about four month.s, 
David and James being employed at shipbuilding 
and the sister as a domestic. In October of that 
year they came to Boston, Massachusetts, and late 
in the following month came to Worcester, David 
and James being employed, in the meantime, re- 
pairing bridges on the old Boston & Worcester Rail- 
road. As early as 1842 David Carroll paid a real 
estate tax in the city of Worcester, but later he took 
a notion to try farming, and in 1856 moved to Charl- 
ton, having purchased a large farm in that town 
unon which he lived until 1873, when he returned to 
Worcester. In 1875 he purchased the hou.se at No. 
1 28 Central street, in which he has resided ever 
since. 

Mr. Carroll and his wife were among the first 
(Micner) Tumbling, of Lahave, Nova Scotia, is 
contributors to the fu!:d to build St. John's Church. 
They were members of Christ's Church, the first 



Catliulic cluirch that was built in Worcester, occu- 
pying the site now covered by St. John's Church. 
For more than thirty years Mr. Carroll has been a 
communicant at St. Anne's Church. He contributed 
his labor as a carpenter, free for sixty days to erect 
the first St. Anne's church on Shrewsbury street, 
which was abandoned when the new St. Anne's 
Church was built. In 1846 Mr. Cairoll was selected 
by Rev. M. W. Gibson, then pastor of St. John's 
Church, to purchase a site for a Catholic cemetery in 
some central location, the Catholic burying ground 
at Tatnuck, from which t!ie bodies were removed 
this year (1906), being considered too far out of 
the way. He purchased a tract of land for the ceme- 
tery from old "Deacon" Brooks, south of Cambridge 
street, between the old Norwich & Worcester and 
the Providence &. Worcester railroads. After the 
price had been agreed upon, however, the good "Dea- 
con" found out that this land was to be used as a 
Catholic cemetery, and accordingly refused to give 
the dec-,!. Mr. Carroll then purchased a tract of 
sixteen acres from the Hon. Eli Thayer for one 
hundred dollars an acre, it being stipulated in the 
agreement that four hundred dollars should be paid 
down. That tract formed the nucleus of St. John's 
cemetery, which at present covers an area several 
times the size of the original tract. 

David Carroll married, October 6, 184J, Margaret 
Piucell, burn near Limerick, Ireland, daughter of 
James and Mary (Quinn) Purcell. the former named 
having been an uncle of Archbishop Purcell. Their 
children are: Thomas Edward, born December 23, 
184s, married Bridget Butler, of Oxford, Massachu- 
setts, January, 1S73, and their children are: Addie, 
Florence, Gertrude, Julia Cecelia. Charles, Edward 
Thomas, David Oiester, Margaret and Mildred. 
John, born May, 1855, married Mary Weism;'.n, of 
Millbury, Massachusetts. Margaret, born August 
2(), 1856. Mary Jane, born August 13, 1858, Julia, 
born August 3. i860, married Eugene M. Moriarty, 
of Worcester, Massachusetts. 

LEANDER SIBLEY, who for many years prior 
to his death, April 7. 1890, led a retired life at his 
lioiiie in Spencer. Massachusetts, surrounded with 
peace and plenty, and realizing to the full that there 
is no reward so satisfactory as the consciousiics.s of 
a life well spent, was born in Hardwick. Massachu- 
setts, July 10, 1838, son of Sardius and Mary (John- 
son) Sibley. 

John Sibley, the founder of the American branch 
of the Sibley family, was a native of England, from 
whence he emigrated in 1629, took freeman's oath 
at Old Salem, and settled in Sutton, Massachusetts. 
The line of descent from this pioneer ancestor is 
as follows : Samuel Sibley, who came to Sutton, 
1652. and his wife Sarah (Leland) Sibley, born 
in England, 1625, also took up her residence in that 
town th."; same year. Even Sibley, who came to 
Sutton in 1680. James -Sibley, Moses Sibley. Sarah 
Sibley, who was born in Sutton, 1755, died 1842. 
Charles Sibley, who married Huldab. Harwood, of 
Barre, Massachusetts. Sardius Sibley, father of 
Leander Sibley, was born in Barre, Massachusetts, 
1S04. He married Betsey Johnson, of Barre, Massa- 
chusetts, and their children were: Huldah, born 
1827, wife of the Rev. Benjamin Stevenson; and 
Sardius J., born 1820, On .\pri! 4, 1831, Mr. Sibley 
married for his second wife Mary Johnson, who 
Ixjre him the following children: Betsey, born in 
Barre, 1834, became the wife of Roland Oakes, of 
Holyoke. Mary Jane, born in Hardwick, 7836, be- 
came the wife of Joseph Perce, of Worcester. Le- 
ander, born in Hardwick. 1838. Charlotte Ellen, 
born 1840, became the wife of Orlando Remington, 







cp6£-t^ 




WORCESTER COUxVTY 



545 



(if Fitchlnirg. Jtilin M., born 1842, became the wife 
of Samuel S. iJciinis. of Hardv.ick. Emily L., born 
.844. 

Lcandcr Sibley was deprived of a father's care 
at the age of four years, lii-i mother being left with 
six children to rear and educate, but, being a woman 
of strength of character and experience, she was 
equal to the task and guided her children in such 
a way tiiat they all became useful and active uJcm- 
hcrs of society. During his boyhood he dc|)eiided 
[lartly on his own exertion, and his education was 
acquired in the public schools ol Hardwick and the 
acadenn at New Salem. At the age of nineteen he 
had an illness wiiich left him a cripple for the re- 
mainder of his life, but notwithstanding this he led 
a useful and industrious life. For seventeen years 
he taught seho<il in Hardwick, a profession for whicli 
he was well qualified. In 1873 he removed to Spen- 
cer. Massachusetts, and opened a news and variety 
store, thereby carnin.ij a comfortable livelihood, and 



in i')S5 he disposed of the business and retired from 
active labor. During his residence in Hardwick, Mr. 
Siblev served as a member of the board of assessors, 
and he also filled a similar office in Spencer, in 
addition to serving as a member of the school com- 
mittee, commissioner of public parks, and commis- 
sioner of reads. He was an active and consistent 
member of the Universalist church, and donated 
gcnfrnus'y toward the building of a new struCurc 
for that denomination 2. year prior to his death. He 
u.is a Republican in politics and aided to the best 
of his ability toward the success of tiie measures 
adopted by that party and to the election of its 
canilidates. 

On fJclober 24, 1876. Mr. Sibley married Hen- 
rietta E. Fales, daughter of Charles Fales, a boot 
niainifac.lurer of Brookfield, and gr.uidclaughter of 
Daniel Fales. Xo children were born of this mar- 
riage. 



INDEX 



j\cl;inis, 1 lollaiul J., +43 
Adams. 1 liomas. 446 
AWcii, Eunice B., 494 
Aldeii F"anii!y, 494 
Alflfii. Josiah, 494 
Aklrich, Cyrfiuis, 126 
Aldricli. I'iiiiic. 127 
Allen, Allji-rt S.. 370 
Allen, Alvan, 370 
Alien. Ch.irlcs A.. 368 
.Mien Faniily. 464 
Aniidon, .Vsaijl. 473 
.\niidon, Edward P, 473 
Aniidcn. Fayette A.. 47-> 
Anderson, Mjalniar S.. ,^49 
.Andrew-. .Mliert W.. 326 
Andrews l-'aniily, 493 
.Andrews, Willard, 328 
.Allurton, Alfred, 221 
.'\llu-rton. Hes.--ie F., 222 
.Atlicrton. IVank. A., 221 
Allierton. Ralph E., 222 
Alhy, .-\ndrew, 274 
.Atliy, JaiiH-; :\., 274 

Haclc. jijbn R., 349 
Back, William. 349 
IJaeon, Alden E., 515 
Uacon, ji)lin F.., 521 
Bacon, Mary J., $21 
Kailev, Frederic \\'.. 370 
liailey, Noah S.. 37! 
Bailey, William F... 371 
Baldwin. Charles C. 312 
Baldwin. Daniel, 310 
Baldwin, i'i.niily. 3C9 
Baldwin. J.ilin D., 310 
Bancroft. Aniirtvv J.. 79 
Bancroft, Bertram A., ^3i 
Bancroft. Enovh. 333 
Bancroft Family, 332 
Bancroft, Stowell, 80 
Bancroft. Timothy. 333 
P.arber, Benjamin A,. 368 



I5arker, .\llien A.. 423 
Barker, Kacyetta B.. 424 
Barker, John B.. 423 
Barker. Moody M , 423 
Barnard J'"aniily. 348 
Barnard. Franklin, 349 
Barnard, Keliecca. 349 
Barry. Russell W.. 120 
Barlol, George, 86 
Barlnl, George M, 85 
Barton, Edmund M., 14 
Barton, Family, 13 



Hi, 



Barton. William S., 14 
Bate-, l^lijah. 117 
Bales. Henry T.. 432 
Bates. Henry W.. 431 
Bates, John W., 432 
Bate>, 'I'heod re C, II5 
Bazeley, Margaret, 347 
Bclisle, .Alexander. 470 
Belisle. Charles E.. 471 
Pjeli-le. Engene L., 470 
BelisJc Ivimily, 470 
Belisle. Felix A.. 470 
Belisle, George E.. 470 
Belisle, Hector L., 471 
Bemis Daniel W.. 144 
Bemis. John M., 141 
Bends, Merrick, H3 
Bern:,-, Saninel F., 142 
I rry Ivinr'y, 119 
Jerry,. Harriet Gage, 120 
Berry, Zehina E., 120 
Bigelow, Ahrahani, 214 
liigclow, .'\K xandcr, 214 
l!ij;el,nv. Amos, 360 
l^iijelow. Converse, ,360 
Bigelow, Eleanor J., 361 
Bigclow Family. 268 
Bigelow, (iecjrjre A., 213 
Bigclow. Georsc C, 359 
Bigeliw. Humphrey. 269 
Bigelow. Silas, 269 
Bisco. Charles D.. 530 
Bisco. Edward F., 527 
Bisco. Dwi.«ht. 529 
Piisco. 1 lenry, 530 
Bisco. William, 530 
Bishop. John W.. 174 
Black Faniily, 154 
Blackmer. Amos. 3/3 
Blacknier, Francis T.. 373 
Blackmer, I'reilerick W., 372 
B>lackmer. William H., 373 
Blake, (jeorgc l-"., 242 
Blake. George F.. Jr.. 244 
Blake, Thomas D.. 244 
Blake. Tncrea>c. 243 
I'diss, Ahel B.. 365 
Bliss. Harrison. 36^ 
Bliss. William Tl.. .^13 
Blodgctt Family. 107 
Blodget. Harri-on. lot* 
Blodget. Walter H.. 107 
Blodget, Walter H. Tr , 108 
Blo.:d. Thonias F. 75 
Blood, William 1 L. 72 
Bolton, Milo. 516 
I 



Bond. Charles E.. 541 
Bond Faniily, 539 
Bond. Joseph, 540 
Bond. Joseph E., 541 
Booth, Arthur N., 538 
Booth, Charles M., 300 
Booth, Edward .S.. 538 
Booth, John H., 538 
Boyce Family, 467 
Boycc, Franklin J.. 469 
Boyce, John P., 469 
Bratllcy, Henry O.. 367 
Bradley. John E., 367 
Bradli;y, Osgood. 367 
Bradstreet Family, 492 
Brainion, Henry, 206 
Brannon. John. 206 
Rrierly, John T., 447 
Brooks, Charles E., 216 
Brooks, Xalhaniel, 216 
Brooks, Walter F., 215 
Brown, Aaron, 1 14 
Brown, .Alhert, 39 
Brown, Alhert S., 40 
Bri wn, Benianiin. 306 
Brown, Charles F.., 42 
Brown. Edward .\.. 30S 
Brown, Edwin. 38 
Brown F'amily, 305 
Brown, Henry \\\, 40 
Brovvn, Janus M., 114 
Brown, John, 114 
Brown, T. Stewart. 40 
Brown, Theodore P., 113 
Brown, William O., 307 
Buck. Bar'ncv. 388 
Buck; Edgar'E.. -!87 
Buck. William 1... 38S 
Buffington. Charlotte E. W., 113 
Bnftington. Elisha D.. Ill 
P.tiffington, Sanuiel. 112 
Bullock. .Alexander H.. 20. 
Bull6ck. AugiisUis G.. 19 
Bullock, Brigham \'.. 21 
Bullock. Flora B.. 22 
Burke. James H.. 332 
Burlingame. Carl E.. 490 
Burton. E?ra. S3 
Burton, is'ahuni. 83 
Butcher, E<lwin, 435 
Bnlleriek. Ehenezer. 300 

Cajien. .Abraham. 5,14 
Carr. George W.. 372 
Carroll David, 544 
Cary Family, 295 



\ 



IXDEX 



C'lry, I'ostor H., J07 
.CO'. Hiram V., 2(j7 
Cary, Luther, jg? 
Cliact. Cliarlc-i JI., 72 
Cliace Family, 70 
Chamlitrlain l-"ainily. ;;20 
Chainl)er!ain. John. ,521 
Chanilxrlaiii. Rol)i;rt J I., 322 
Chamberlain. Thomas, 3,21 
Chandler, Alice (i.. 67 
Chandler Family, 64 
Chandler Family, 180 
Chandler. John G., 67 
Chandler, Natlianiel, 66 
Cliapin. Henry. j,|6 
Chapman Family, 156 
Chase, Anthony, fS 
Chase, Charles A,, 88 
Chase, Walter S.. 447 
Childs, Uenjaniin W., 209 
Claflin, Charles W., 241 
Claflin F'amily, 240 
Claflin, James, 241 
Clarke, Benjamin, 499 
Clarke, Henry, 499 
Clarke, Josiah H., 498 
Clenienee, Richard H., 222 
Clemencc, George H , 22J 
Clongli, Arthur. 444 
Clough, Benjamin F"., 445 
Clough, David, 444 
Clon.gh, Adelia J., 445 
Clough Family, 4.1.1 
Coate";, George IF, 235 
Coes, .'Xury G.. 100 / 

Goes Family, 56 
Cocs, Frank L., 58 
Coes, Frank L. R.. 58 
Coes, John H., 100 
Coes, Loring, 57 
Cole, Alonzo, 126 
Cole, Alonzo W., 125 
Cole, Elisha, 125 
College of the Holy Cross, 245 
Colton Family, 107 
Comcy, Elhridge G., 76 
Comey, Pcrley P., 75 
Cone Family, 236 
Cooley Family, 107 
Cowee, Aaron, 441 
Cowee, Edward A., 440 
Cowee. Mary. 442 
Crawford, Elias B., 412 
Crawford Family, 410 
Crawford. James, 411 
Crawford. Sidney, 412 
Crawford, William H., 412 
Crawford, William T., 4ri 
Curtis, Albert W.. 293 
Cnrti?, Benjamin F., 293 
Curtis, Samuel G , 292 
Curtis, Samuel G., 293 
Cuthbertson, Alexander, 337 
Cuthbertson, Elizabeth, 337 
Cuthbertson Family, 3.57 
Cuthbertson. Marv A., 337 

Dadnnm Family, 165 
Dadmun, Jeduthan, 166 
l)admun, William S., 166 
Hanielson, George W., 313 
D.qvoer, Joseph C, 191 
Darling, Albert N., 543 
Darling Family, 542 



Darlint;-, Julia F., 543 
Darling, Homer W., 543 • 
DarliiiK, Newl)ury, 543 
Darling. N'cwton, 543 
Davis Family, 319 
Davis, Horace A., 189 
Davis, John VV., 319 
Davi-, Rodney 11., 13O 
Davis, Sanniei, 137 
Davis, Samuel E., 137 
Davis. Walter 11., 319 
Davis, Wc.Ky, 188 
Davis, William L., 320 
Denny, Daniel E., .^oi 
Denny, Edwards W. , 302 
Denny, Isaac, ,p2 
Despcr, Elvira (Orcutt), 316 
Despcr, Henry A., 316 
Desper, Henry A., 318 
Desper, James, 316 
Desper, William E.. 316 
Dewey. Charles A., 37 
Dewey Family, 37 
Dew'i-y, Francis II., 37 
Dewey, Francis H., Jr.. .^8 
Dewey. Sarah B., 38 
De Witt, .Mexander, 435 
De Witt. .Mexander, 436 
De Witt, Horace S., 436 
De Witt, Nancy, 436 
Dexter Family, 241 
Dexter. William H.. 241 
Dick, August E., 463 
Dickinson Fajiiily. 108 
l>ickin<(in, J^amuel F., 109 
Dickinson, Mary W., IIO 
Dickinson, William, no 
Doane, Cheney. 363 
Doane, Thomas, 363 
Dodge, Edward H., 325 
Dodge. Edward M., .324 
Dodge, Henry H.. ,324 
Dodge. Malachi F., Jr., 17 
Dodge, Pliny, 324 
Dodge, Thomas H., 16 
Doggett, Perez F., 54 
Doggett, William S., 53 
Dollivcr, Edward B.. 271 
Dolliver I'amily, 269 
Dclliver, Henry W.. 271 
Dolliver, Samuel B., 271 
Draper Family, 531 
Draper, James, 531 . 
Draper, John, 531 
Draper, Sarah, 531 
Drawi)ridge Family, 318 
Drury, Frank A.. 5.38 
Dnnton, Frank V.., 533 



Eagan, 

Earle, 

Earle 

Eaton, 

Eaton, 

Eaton, 

Eaton, 

Eaton, 

Eaton, 

Eddy, 

Eddv, 

Eddv, 

Eldred 

Eld red 

Eldred 



454 



Thom;us I- 
Elmer, 452 
Family, 450 
.•\inos M., 429 
Avcrv. 1Q5 
Charles B.. 195 
Marston. 430 
Marston, Jr., 431 
Mary H., 4,31 
Henry W., 219 
Lewis. 220 
Samuel. 220 

Family. 115 

l-'rederick .A. 

Mary .S.. 115 



"5 



Eldred, William, IJ5 
Ellmwoi d. Daniel, 400 
Fllinwood, Daniel \V., 399 
Ellmwood, Danitl W., 400 
Ellmwcod. Eugene, 4G0 
Fllinwood, James, 400 
Emerson, Benjamin F.. q8 
Emersvn, Benjnniin K., 98 
Emerson, Kendall, '/) 
E.-talirook. .Vrthur E., 318 
Fstahrook Family, 516 
F.stabr. ok, James, 5:7 
Estabrook, James E., 517 

Fairbanks, Amos, 192 
Fairbanks Family, 487 
Fairbanks, Henry, 192 
Fairbanks, Joseph P., 489 
Fairbanks, Mabel, 490 
Fairbanks, William H., 191 
Fairbanks, William P., 41)0 
Fales Family, 175 
Fiske, Cliarlcs N"., .?8j 
I'iske. Daniel. 3»Si 
i'iske, Jeremiah, 162 
Fiske, Jeremiah, 164 
Fiske, Stephen B., 382 
Fiske, Walter 11., 380 
Flagg, .-\bijah, 532 
Flagg F'amily, 179 
Flagg, George A., 533 
Flagg. John N., 533 
Flagg, Jonathan N., 531 
Flagg, Joseph, 333 
Flagg, Levi L.. 533 
Flagg, N'ahum. 532 
p-letcher, Charles .A.. 262 
Fletcher, Benjamin F., 263 
Fletcher, Calvin, 4.38 
Fletcher, Edward l'., 437 
I'letcher Family, 117 
I'lelcher, Rufiis R.. 4.58 
Fontaine, Felix D.. 334 
I'orbes, Ephraim T., 353 
Forbes, Jonathan. 3^3 
Forbes, William T., 352 
Foskett, Fben, 177 
Foskett, George M., 158 
Foskett, Samuel W.. 176 
Foster I'amily, 176 
Foster, Rufus, 176 
Foster, Thomas R., 176 
I'owler, Charles, 181 
Fowler, Rufus B., 180 
Fox Family, 184 
Fox. William B.. 185 
Frazcr, Charles, 67 
Freeman Family, 156 
Frost I'amily, 413 
Frost, l-'rederick E.. 415 
Frost. George W., 414 
Frost, Joseph, 414 
Fyfe I-'amily, 1S9 
F'yfc, William, 189 
Fyfe, William E., 189 

Gage, Anson, 401 
Gage, Eliphas S., 401 
Gage Family, 40t 
Gaskill, .Mbert, 257 
Gaskill, Francis A., 256 
Gaskill, George A.. 257 
(iaskill, Lcbbens, 257 
Gates, Charles B., 190 



IXDKX 



549 



Gates Family, loi 

(iatos Jiilui. I'X) 

(jalcs. Simon, \oj 

(i<i(l(1ai-(l, DolaiK) A., ioi 

(ii cUlard, Dorraiict S., iij() 

(lotldard, n\vi}<'i\l. 2(X> 

(iinlilard l'"amily. 197 

f.oddard, liarry W.. 200 

Golberl. Kolu-rt L.. 498 

(joodiiow, Kdward A.. 58 

Cioodniiw, I'Mward, 60 

(ioiild. Amos A.. 513 

(Jouldiiiy, lU'iiry. J51 

Cioiildiiig, William 11., .350 

(irceii, Aiulii w II.. 27 

(■rctn, P.iTiiai-d, 68 

(irten, I'.zra, 67 

(jftoii Family, JJ 

(irfi'ii, 1 U-iiry A., 427 

(irccii, James, j6 

droin, James. .34 

(irecii, Jnlm. 30 

(ineii, John, Jr., 34 
^.(ircin, Jolm P.. Jfj 

Green, .Martin, .30 

Green, Oliver B., 29 
.^ireen, Sanuiel F., J9 

Green, Samuel M., 35 

Green, Sanuicl S., 31 

Gricn, William O., 35 

(^.reenwood, Aaron, 3yj 

Greenwood, Cliarle.s, 391 ' 

tirecinvuod, Moses, 391 

(irimcs, Joseph, 392 

Gro.^venor, Charles W.. 3jfi 

Gni.svcnor, Jonathan P., i^s 

(ii'Ut I'amily. 48 

Grout, John W., 49 

I ircntt, Jinathan, 48 

lladuen, Ohadiah 15., 63 
Hale, John O., 453 
ilale, Oliver, 453 
1 lali, Aaron, 514 
Hall, Asahcl. 514 
llall, Ch.irles S., 330 
Hall. Henrv C, !;i3 
Hall, Leila' F... 51? 
Hamblin. Frank H,, 491 
llanihlin, Joseph G., 491 
Hamilton, CaHin W'., 394 
Hamilton, Charles .\.. .393 
Hamilton, I-^dward, 394 
Hamilton, I'anny M., 394 
Hamilton, James P., 392 
llanitnond. Andrew H., 314 
Hammond I'aniily, 1,39 
Hammi'Kl. Riehard H.. 315 
Hanselmaii, Joseph 1".. 246 
Harlow F'amily, 454 
Harlow F'amilj. 45Q 
Harlow, Frederick B., 459 
Harlow, ticorge II., 460 
Harlow, Gideon, 457 
Harlow, Margaret, 459 
Harlow. William T., 458 
1 larrington, Chauncey G., 357 
Harrington, Daniel A., 417 
HarrinRton Family, 357 
llarrinifton Family. 415 
Harrington. F'rancis A., 417 
Harrington. Jonathan. 417 
Harrington, Mary, 418 
Harris, Chailes M., 35 



Harris, Hemy I''., 35 
Harthan. .-Vntipas S., 377 
Harihan, Silas E., 376 
Harihan. Silas S., 377 
Hartshorn, Calvin I.., ,382 
Hartshorn, .Xnliur E., .385 
Ilartsliorn, John W,, 384 
llart>horn, Jonas. 383 
Hartshorn, Sarah, 384 
Hartshorn, Su.-an. .383. 
Haskell. William H., 72 
Haslinss, Herman S., 510 
Ha^lings. \Villi;im 11., 543 
Hawes, Edwin, 479 
Hawcs, Otis. 480 
Hawes, Silas. 480 
Hawkins. Arthur C., T50 
Hawkins, Nathaniel C, 150 
Herindene Faiuily, .38S 
Ikriiuleiie. J.imes. 388 
Hewett, l-'lhridtje. 128 
Hewelt, (;e.>rKe F'., 128 
I'lewell, .William. 128 
Heywood, Albert S., 63 
lleywood, Charles H.. 429 
Heywoiul. Charles 1... 429 
Heywood. Daniel, 429 
Heywofod F'amily 428 
Heywood. FVank E.. 63 
Flcywood, Sanuiel R., or 
Ilifdreth, .Andrew G.. 466 
Hildrelh. Cliarles H.. 263 
Hildreth l'"amily, 401 
Hildretli, F'redeiiclc -A., 4<'3 
Hildreth, (ieorge F.. 442 
Hildnth, Geor,i>e F"., 463 
Hildreth, James D., 442 
Hildreth, James O., 462 
Hildreth James N., 4'>3 
IliUlreth, lohn H.. 463 
Hildreth, Paul, 4^ 
Hildreth, Robert. 467 
Hildreth, Sarah -.A., 463 
Hildreth, Georgianna E., 463 
Hills F'amily. .|.Ho 
Hills. Margaret, 482 
Hills, Samuel. 4S2 
Hilton F'amily, 358 
Hilton, William. 358 
Hoar, George F., 1 
Hoar, Rockwood, 4 
Hoar, Samuel, 2 
Hohhs, Clarence W., 224 
Hohhs, George, 91 
1 lobbs, George W., 91 
Holibs, Horace. 91 
Hobbs, William, 22=. 
Hobbs. William H., 90 
}Iobbs, William W., 225 
Holt Family, 92 
Holy Cross College, 245 
Homer, Charles A., 3.34 
Homer, Lyman. ,33.=; 
Hopkins, Edward E., 421 
Hopkins, Family, 418 
Hopkins. F'redcrick F., 420 
Hopkins, Frederick S., 421 
Hopkins, George S., 420 
Hopkins, Herbert P., 420 
Home Family, 3.^2 
Home. Ichabdd. 352 
Home, Thomas, .352 
Horticultural Society, 64 
Houck, George W., 302 



Hiughtoii Family. 263 
Houghton, Herbert O.. 265 
Houghton, Mercy R.. 2(>i 
Houghton, .Merrick. 507 
Houghton, Stillman, 264 
Howe, Oamel A., 282 
Howe, Eliphalet, Jr., 283 - 
Howe F'amily. 366 
Howe, Joiham, 523 
Flowe, Levi 1!., -,22 
Howe. Samuel .V, 283 
Howe, Silas, 523 
Howe, William, .366 
Humes. John F., ,34" 
Humes, John R., 348 
Humes, Warren, 347 
Hunt, Charles E., 483 
Htint, James, 295 
Hunt, Moses, 484 
Hunt, Orsannis, 484 

Ingraham, .Mbert W., 173 
Ingraham, De.xter, 171 
Inpraliam, Edward P., 172 
Ingraham. Emery IJ.. 172 
Ingiahani F'amily, 170 
Ingraham, Louis A.. 172 
Ingraham, Nathaniel IL, 173 
Ingraham, William F"., 173 
Inman, Albert H.. 197 
Inman, William 11., 197 

Jennison, Bcnjaiiiin. 440 
Jennison, George, 439 
Jennison, George. 440 
Jewett, ICben, 304 
Jewett, F.bcnezer, 304 
Jewett. Warren C, ,303 
Johnson, Charles R.. .396 
Johnson, Theodore S., .395 
Johnson, Theodore W., 395. 
Jones, Asa, 535 
Jones, Erastus, 534 
Jorjorian, Elea/.er D., 448 

Kendall, Charles D,, 161 
Kendall, Everett, 541 
Kendall Family, 159 
Kendall, Frederick II., 162 
Kendall, Horace. 161 
Kendall, John, 162 
Kendall, John M.. 162 
Kendall, Oliver S.. 542 
Kendall, .Sanford C, 161 
Kilbourn, Jeremiah, 212 
KilI>ourn. William A., 212 
Kilhurn. William. 212 
King, Charles W., 473 
King. Homer R., 493 
King, Jesse W., 475 
King. John, 474 
Kinnicutt I'-amily. 231 
Kimiieutt. F>ancis H.. 231 
Kinnicutt. Frank P., 231 
Kinnicutt, Leonard P.. 232 
Kinnicutt, Lincoln N.. 231 
Kinsley, Ben A.. 249 
Kinsley, Daniel, 248 
Kinsley, Daniel, 250 
KinsUy Family. 249 
Knapp, Charles II., 506 
Knapp, Levi, 506 
Knapp, Mary J.. 506 
Knowlcs Family, 120 



JD^ 



INDEX 



Knowles, Francis B., 122 
Knowlci, SiiiKon, Ijr 

l.ng.in, David. 69 
l.oftaii, James. 68 
l.oiigley, Chnrles I.. 537 
1-oiiglcy F:\inily, 536 
I-oiijrley, Jnir.cs, 537 
1-oiigIcy, I'arker, 537 

Macauley, Tliomas, 276 
Wacgowan, Henry A., 272 
Mann, Aarcn, 375 
Mann. Albert G., 374 
Mann, John, 375 
Manning, David, 75 
Manning Family, 73 
Manning. Theodore. 75 
Marble, Jerome, 371 
"A'larble, John P., y/2 
Maxwell, Alexander, 336 
Maxwell, Arthur L., '^^y 
Maxwell, Roswell, 336 
Maynard Family, 106 
McGauley Family. 276 
McGauiey, Thomas F., 276 
McLiaulcy, Walter J., 277 
McGown, Henry, 194 
McGown, Joseph. i()4 
McGrath, Michael P., 471 
McKibbcn. Frank P., 398 
McKii)!>en, Frank R., .397 
^IcKil)ben, VVilli.iJii W., .W7 
Meilen. Henry, 203 
Afcllcn, Leonard, 294 
Melfen, Walter L.. 295 
Mcrrifield, Alpheus, 354 
MerriOeld Family, 3';j. 
Mcrrifield, William t.', 354 
Midillcmas. Ciiarles A., 502 
Middlemas, John S., 502 
Miles, James, 291 
Miles, Walter J., 291 
Mills, Cyru-, 3,-?2 
Mills. George H.. 331 
Mirick Family, 274 
Moen, Augustus R.. 55 
"Moen Family, 55 
Moen, PiiiliT) 1.., 55 
IMocn. Philip W.. 56 
Mooney Family. 495 
Mooncy, Nicholas J., 495 
Mooney. Richard H., 49(5 
Moore, Baxter, ,391 
Moore, David T., 505 
Moore, Lucy A., 505 
Moore, Natlianicl C, 391 
Til core, Pliny, 390 
^Torgan, Charles F., 107 
Morgan, Charles H., 105 
Morgan, Francis H.. \q6 
Morgan. Hiram. 104 
Morgan. Pr.ul B., 102 
Mc rgan. Ralph L., 106 
Morse, Amherst. 492 
Morse, Austin T . 492 
Morse. Edwin R.. 491 
Munroe. Alexander C. 279 
Munroe. Charles. 2P0 
'Munroe. N'athan, 280 
Murdock, FTlisha. 408 
Murdock. Frank L.. 407 
Murdock. LnciusuVtvir'S _ 



1?'?>' 



f$ 



' 4k 



Murray, Grace P., 314 
Myrick, Walter M.. 538 

Nelson, Charles H., 520 
Nelson Family. 518 
Nelson, Jasper S.. 519 
Norcross, Arthur VV., 261 
Norcross, James A., 260 
Norcross, James F., 26r 
'Norcross, Jesse O., 262 
Norcross, Mary F.llen, 262 
Norcross, William E., 261 

Otis, Albert S.. 208 
Otis, Benjamin B., 207 
Otis, Harrison G.. 206 
Otis. Mary E., 206 
Otis, John C. 208 
Otis, John P. K . 208 

Paine Family, 131 
Paine I'amily ,343 
Paine, Nathaniel, .sas 
Parker, Chester, 218 
Parker, Edmund L., 147 
Parker l<'aniily, 145 
Parkor Family. 217 
Parker Family, 232 
Parker. George A., 217 
Parker, ireiborl, 218 
Parker. Herbert L., 146 
Parker, John L.. 146 
Parker. Xew W.. 147 
Parkhurst. Charle- F. W., 50 
I'arkhurst. Wtllinglon E., 49 
Parsons Family, 379 
Parsons. Norman P... 380 
Parsons, Samuel B., 380 
Par.ions. Solomon. ,380 
Peckham Family, 312 
Peckbam, Fcnner H , 313 
Peckham. Fcnner H., Jr.. 314 
Peirce, Benjamin, 477 
Peiroe, George. 476 
Pcllelt. Jolm C, 406 
Pellett. Thomas A.. 406 
Pennington. Lawrence W.. 192 
Perry, Charles H.. 237 
Perry, Josiah G., 238 
Perry, Nathan. 2,^8 
Pevey. Amos .'\., 299 
Pevey, Beni;miin .\., 299 
Pevey. Bcninnii" M.. 300 
Pevey. Charles K. 300 
Pevey, Edward P., 299 
Pevey F'amily. 297 , 
Pevey, Franklin M.. 299 
PfafFmann. Philip M.. 503 
Pickett, Josiah. 50 
Pierce. Granger. 450 
Pierce, Rufns J., 450 
Pierce. Scott T.. 449 
Pike, Jane C. .«7 
Pinkerton. .Alfred S.. 355 
Porter. .Ahira. 461 
Porter Family. 460 
Porter, .Srmniel, 161 
Porter. Walter C. 461 
Potter F-amily. 403 
Potter. Luke. .103 
Power, John J.. .107 
Powers. Frank E.. 500 
Powers. John Ti^.'^ot 
Pratt, Ennna A , 2,\^ 



Pratt, Frederick S.. 2X 
Pratt, Henry .S., 89 
Pratt, Sumner, iiC'y 
i'utnam, Davis, ,342 
Putnam Family, 3.^7 
Putnam, Otis E., 342 

Read, Calvin. 259 
Read, Charles F.. 258 
Reed, F'rcderick E., 2.S2 
Reed. John, 2^4 
Reed. Mary F., 158 
fieed, Micah, 157 
Reed, Micah T., 157 
Reed, Samuel. 254 
Reed, Thomas H., 156 
Rice, Dexter, ^2^ 
Rice, George H., 322 
Rice, Lewis W., 323 
Rice, William E., 4,, 
Richardson, Emily O.. 453 
Richardson, Francis .■\., 521 
Ricluirdsor., George ^L, 303 
Richardson, Mary S.. 169 
Richardson, Seneca M., 452 
Richardson, Walter H.. 509 
Richardson, William .A., 477 
Richardson, Wyman, 478 
Richardson, Wyman, Jr., 47 
Robinson, .\sher C, 48(S 
Robinson.' Birney .\.. 485 
Robinson Family 2." 
Robinson, James, 238 
Robinson, James, 465 
Robinson. Joseph. j,'&b 
Robinson, Stephen, 258 
Robinson, Stephen A., 258 
Robin.son. Winslow H., 465 
Roe, .Alfred S., .385 
Roe. Austin ^L, 386 
Roper Family, 224 
Rugg, , Arllnir P.. 70 

f Rugg, Gilbert J., no 

iRugg, Oliver W., 77 
Rugg, Prentice ^f., 78 
Russell, Elias, 187 
Russell, Elias H., 186 
Russell, George S , .-500 

SafFord. Arthur L., 93 
Safford, Charles. 94 
Salisbury Family, 5 
Salisbury, Stephen, 6 
Salisbury. Stephen, Jr., 7 
Saner, Emil, 482 
Sawyer. Stephen, 265 
Sawyer. Stephen. Jr., 2(17 
Scott, Charles C. 402 
Scott. Charles C. 403 
Scott, Charles N., 205 
Scott. Clinton B., 403 
Scott. David. 204 
Scott, David, Jr.. 204 
Scott, Ebenezer W., 402 
Scott, George T., 205 
Scott, Nelson R., 203 
Searls, Phinehas. 247 
Searls, William. 247 
Searls. William P., 246 
Sessions, Frank E., 273 
Sessions, George. 273 
Sessions, Waldo E., 273 
Shattuck Family, 2.w 
Sh.nttiick. James II., 2^2 



IXUEX 



00' 



Shatuick, Josiah, 251 
Shattuck, William 11. 252 
Shaw, Asa, 598 
Shaw, Thomas A., 507 
Shaw, Thomas B., 509 
Shu man, Hcnajah, 434 • 
Shcrmuti Family, 107 
Sherman, Giorgc II., 4,33 
Sherman, Hazard. 434 
Sihley, Leandcr, 544 
Skinner. Henry A, 442 . 
Skinner, Otis. 442 
Smith, F.llen M. G., 49 
Soiithgate Family, 254 
Southgatf, John P., 255 
So\ithgate, Roiilicn H . 2j6 
Soutliworlh Famiiy, 210 
Sonll-.worth. Nathaniel, 21 1 
Sniithworth, Simeon, 211 
Spaulding, Albert A., 328 
Spaiilding, Augustus. 329 
Spaulding, Dua, 329 
Sprague, Augustus, B. R., 43 
Sprague, Caroline F., 43 
Sprague F'amily, 42 
Sprague, Lee, 43 
Starr, llczekiah P.. 539 
State Normal School, 187 
Stewart Boiler Works, 194 
Stewart, Charles M., 194 
Stewail, James C, 194 
Stewart. John C, 194 
Stone, Christopher C, i.l7 
.Stone. Dana, 526 
Stone I'amily, 107 
Stone Family, 525 
Stone, George. 149 
Stone, James, 149^ 
Sionc, Lyman 1'., 527 
Stone, Walter A., 149 
Stone, William. 526 
Stonebargcr Family, 230 
Stowe, Henry H., 99 
Stowe. Moses. 100 
Strecter, liavid, 290 
Streeter, Preseott P.., 290 
Strecter, Stephen P., 289 
Sumner, Flrastus, 85 
Sumner Family. S3. ■" 
.Sumner, George. 85 

Taft, Jolm, 223 
Tatt, Lyman J.. 2.''2 

Taylor, Jared, 522 
Taylor, Lucian A.. 521 
Tennty. Abijali W., 285 
Tenney, Arthur B., 2R5 

I'enney Famiiy, 284 ' 

Tenney, Thomas, 285 



Thayer, Aldcn, Jr., 135 
Thayer, Charles D., 135 
Thayer, Fli, 134 
Thayer F'aniily, 132 
Thayer, George A., 135 
Thayer, John R., 133 
Thayer, Mowry R., 133 
Thomas, Bertha A., 464 
Thomas. Carl C. 1 ., 463 
Tidd Family, 107 
Tinnne, Hrnesi A., 502 
Torr-'y, Khenezer, 410 
Torrey Family, 314 
Torrey, Joiejih R.. 409 
Torr^'y, William. 410 
Trowhri'.lge Family, 355 
Trowbridge, Janie-;, 355 
Trowbridge, William, 355 

I'pliam, I'reeman, jil 
I'pham, Roger F"., 510 
L'pham, Freeman, 51 1 

Vaiighan, Charles A., 238 
X'aughan, George P., 239 
Vaughan, John, 239 

Wadsw'orlh l-'amily, 129 
Ward, Charles R., 422 
Ward, Fbenezer, 422 
Ward. Edw.>rd L)., 422 
Ward Family, 107 
Ward Family, 421 
Ward, John, 422 
Warner, Amory P., 28S 
Warner, Emerson, 287 
Warner, Phineas, 288 
Warren. Berthier, 169 
Warren, Eunice C, 169 
Warren Family, 130 ""^ 
Warren Faiinjv^ i62_- -' 
Warren, >tenry W., 169 
Warren, Sann:el. 169 
Warren, Waterman G., 168 
Washburn, Charles, 11 
Washbu;-n, Ch.ir'cs F.. 11 
Washburn, Charles G.. 12 
Washburn. F.lihu B., 
Washburn, Family, 8 
Wa-^liburu. Fr.incii. 12 
W;!>blun'M, klialiod, 9 
Washburn. Israel. 9 
Washlnrii. John I)., 13 
Washbuni, \\'illiam A,, 13 
W.asb.burn. William M . 12 
Watson, Edwin L.. 513 
Wat-on i'amily. 512 
Watson, Lory S., 512 



Watson, Walter C, 513 
Wellington Family, 389 
Wellington, Fred W., 389 
Wellington, Ncheniiali, 389 
Wellington, Timothy W., 3S9. 
Wells, Alonzo R., 277 
. Wells, Moses. 278 
Wesson, Daniel B., 229 
Wesson, James E.. 228 
Wesson, Rufus, 229 
Wesson, Rufus, Jr., 229 
Wesson, Walter G., 230 
Wetherbee, Judah, 227 
Wheeler, Edward W., t>0 
Wheeler, I'.dwin W., 153" 
Wheeler, Erastus W., 153 
Wiiitcomb, Alonzo, 427 
Whitoomb. Alonzo W., 424 
Whitiomb, Carter, 426 
White, Franklin B., 138 .' — 
White, Fred W.. 285 
White, Hosea, i %g 
White, Lowell, 286 
White, Merrick D., 286 
White, Rollin G., 330 
White, Sylvanus, 138 
Whitman, Charles, 227 
Whitman F'amily. 226 
Whitney, Anna Henshaw, 82 
W'hitncy, Asa H.. 82 
Whitney, Edward, 47 
Whitney Family, 46 
Whitney Family, 81 
Whitney, John, 47 
Whitteniore. Eli J , 94 
Whittemore, Eric II., 96 
Whitteniore, Oliver. 96 
Wilder, Alexander H., 203 
Wilder, Harvey B., 201 
Wolcott Family. 107 
Wood. Bernard, 234 
Wood. Cyrus G.. !s8 
Wood, Edward .M..'524 
Wood. Mary S.. 159 
Wood, Peter, 234 
Woodcock Family, 15 
Woodcock. John, 15 
Wocdcock. Theodore E., 15 
Woodward. Edwin, 183 

Woodward Faniily, 181 

Woodward. Henry, 183 
Woodward, Lenuiel h'.. 1,^5 
Woodward. Rntus. 183 
Woodward, Snuuiel. 1S3 
Woodward, .Samuel ]',.. 183 
Worcester Normal Scliool, 1S7 
Wyr.iaii, Horace, 404 
Wyman, Horace \\'.. 406 
Vouiig, Arthur O., 241 














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